Current Affairs Questions

Explanation :

• Natgrid is the integrated intelligence grid connecting databases of core security agencies of the Government of India to collect comprehensive patterns of intelligence that can be readily accessed by intelligence agencies.
• The project, initially started in 2009 after the Mumbai terror attack in 2008, with a budget of Rs. 2,800 crore, is an online database for collating scattered pieces of information and putting them on one platform.

Significance

• Natgrid, once fully functional, will help in real-time tracking of a terror operative or suspect.

Explanation :

• On 14^th September, 2019, Rajasthan launched the first-ever public information portal named Jan Soochna Portal-2019.
• The portal has been developed by the information and technology department and will have information pertaining to 13 departments on a single platform.
• It is being launched in accordance to the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.

Aim

• It aims to provide information to the public about government authorities and departments empowering them with access to useful information.

Explanation :

• The Government has launched the Curriculum for Life Skills (JeevanKaushal) programme designed by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
• The program has been framed for Undergraduate courses across the country.
• The Designed program is for 8 credit points and can be accommodated in any semester of the course.

Aim

• Inculcation of an Emotional Intelligence
• Development of Intellectual Competencies
• Development of verbal and non-verbal communication skills

It will comprise of four courses:

• Communication skills
• Professional and Leadership skills
• Problem-solving and Decision-making
• Universal human values

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online

Explanation :

• On 12^th September, the ongoing 14^thConference of Parties (COP14) to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) witnessed the official release of the Drought Toolbox, which can be used by countries to assess drought risks in their regions much in advance, and prepare to deal with the water scarcity.
• It uses 30 parameters, including soil moisture, rainfall data and temperature data of the present and past.
• It has been developed by UNCCD in collaboration with Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Meteorological Organization(WMO) as well as from the University of Nebraska in the USA.

Significance

• It will help the countries in framing their respective national drought policies in due course based on monitoring, forecast, and early warning.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online

Explanation :

• EQUINOO is an oscillation between enhanced cloud formation and rainfall over the Western Equatorial Indian Ocean (WEIO) and suppressed clouding over the Eastern Equatorial Indian Ocean (EEIO), west of Sumatra.
• When the surface sea temperature in WEIO is above 27.5 degree Celsius, it is called as a positive EQUINOO phase. This leads to enhanced clouding, which is then suppressed in the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean.
• This increased cloud formation throughout this monsoon season is the main reason for the above-average rainfall in India.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online

Explanation :

• In one of the major efforts towards doubling the Farmers Income, Prime Minister launched theNational Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP) for eradicating the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Brucellosis in the livestock, on 11^thSeptember, 2019 in Mathura in Uttar Pradesh.
• The NADCP aims to eradicate Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Brucellosis in the livestock and to vaccinate over 500 million livestock including cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats and pigs against foot and mouth disease.
• The programme aims at vaccinating 36 million female bovine calves annually in its fight against Brucellosis disease. The programme has two components - control diseases by 2025 and eradication by 2030.

Foot and Mouth Disease(FMD)

• It is a highly communicable disease affecting cloven-footed animals caused by a virus of7 different types.
• It is characterized by fever, formation of vesicles and blisters in the mouth, udder, teats and on the skin between the toes and above the hoofs.

Brucellosis

• It is an infectious disease that occurs from contact with animals carrying Brucella bacteria. It can infect cattle, goats, camels, dogs, and pigs.
• The bacteria can spread to humans if you come in contact with infected meat or the placenta of infected animals or on consumption ofunpasteurized milk.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online

Explanation :

• Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal (KWDT) is a tribunal set up by the Central Government in 1969 under the Interstate River Water Disputes Act, 1956 to resolve the disputes between the states of Karnataka, Maharashtra and then undivided Andhra Pradesh over sharing of Krishna river water.
• The first report (1976) divided the 2060 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of Krishna water at 75 per cent dependability into three parts: 560 TMC for Maharashtra, 700 TMC for Karnataka and 800 TMC for Andhra.
• The second KWDT was instituted in 2004 and delivered its report in 2010, which made allocations of the Krishna water at 65 per cent dependability and for surplus flows as follows: 81 TMC for Maharashtra, 177 TMC for Karnataka, and 190 TMC for Andhra Pradesh.
• After the creation of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh in 2014, Andhra Pradesh insisted that the allocation of Krishna waters be reworked among four states, instead of three.

Krishna River

• It is an east-flowing river that originates at Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra and merges with the Bay of Bengal,.
• It flows through Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Together with its tributaries, it forms a vast basin that covers 33% of the total area of the four states.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online

Explanation :

• With effect from 3rd September 2019, India has been declared free from Avian Influenza (H5N1), which has also been notified to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
• India was last declared free of the disease in 2017.
• Humans can be infected with avian, swine and other zoonotic influenza viruses, such as avian influenza virus subtypes A(H5N1), A(H7N9), and A(H9N2) and swine influenza virus subtypes A(H1N1), A(H1N2) and A(H3N2).

Avian Influenza

• It refers to the disease caused by infection with avian (bird) influenza (flu) Type A viruses.
• It was first reported from Hong Kong in 1997. Since then, there have been many outbreaks across the world. India too has had multiple outbreaks since 2005.
• Human infections are primarily acquired through direct contact with infected animals or contaminated environments, these viruses have not acquired the ability of sustained transmission among humans.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online

Explanation :

• The government’s plan of establishing National Genomic Grid for India-specific cancer research, the grid to be formed will be in line with the National Cancer Tissue Biobank.
• It will collect samples from cancer patients to study genomic factors influencing cancer and identifying the right treatment modalities for the Indian population.
• It will have four parts, with the country divided into east, west, north and south.

National Cancer Tissue Biobank (NCTB)

• It is a state-of-the-art non-profit community-based tissue bank, is a joint initiative of Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India and Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM).
• It is the first of its kind facility in India, aimed at providing researchers with high quality of cancer tissues and the patient data in order to facilitate cancer research that will lead to improvements in cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online

Explanation :

• The Asteroid Impact Deflection Assessment (AIDA) project seeks to explore the defence mechanism through deflection. It is an ambitious double-spacecraft mission to deflect an asteroid in space.
• AIDA is a joint collaboration between European Space Agency (ESA), the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Observatoire de la Côte d´Azur (OCA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA), and the John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
• The purpose of this two-spacecraft system is to deflect the orbit of one of the bodies that make up the binary asteroid Didymos, which orbits between Earth and Mars. While one spacecraft will collide with a binary Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA), the other will observe the impact and survey the crash site in order to gather as much data as possible about this method of asteroid defense.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online