National Current Affairs – UPSC/IAS Exams- 28th August 2019

Child Well-Being Index

Topic: Important Indices

In News: Non government organisation World Vision India and research institute IFMR LEAD has released India’s child well-being index recently.

Highlights of the index:

• Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Puducherry topped the charts in the child well-being index. Meghalaya, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh featured at the bottom.
• Focusing on the three key dimensions, 24 indicators were selected to develop the computation of the child well-being index. The report highlights the multi-dimensional approach towards measuring child well-being going beyond mere income poverty.
• The research has brought to the fore compelling insights on child well-being in India. One of the primary objectives of this index is to garner attention to the under-researched theme of child well-being in India, and inspire further academic and policy conversations on related issues.
• Some of the key indicators that need to be studied in the future include mobile usage, digital access, financial literacy, mental health and quality of relationships per se, between parents/peers and children.

Significance of the Report:

• The India child well-being index is a crucial report that can be mined both by the Government and civil organisations to achieve the goal of child well-being. This report provides insights on health, nutrition, education, sanitation and child protection.
• The dimensions of the index include healthy individual development, positive relationships and protective contexts.
• The report, meanwhile, calls for States to look at their respective scores on the dimensions of child well-being, and to prepare for priority areas of intervention with specific plans of action.
• It also hopes to trigger policy level changes, seek better budgetary allocations and initiate discussions with all stakeholders, which can help in enhancing the quality of life of all children in the country.

Source: The Hindu

Tarantula Spider

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: In an interesting find, researchers have sighted a critically endangered species of tarantula for the first time beyond its known habitat in the Eastern Ghats.

More on the Topic:

• The spider belonging to the genus Poecilotheria and commonly known as the Peacock Parachute Spider or Gooty Tarantula.
• The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) categorised it as Critically Endangered.

Source: Indian Express

Mitra Crater

Topic: Science and Technology

In News: Chandrayan has captured pictures of number of craters on the moon including the Mitra crater which was named after Indian physicist Sisir Kumar Mitra.

More on the Topic:

• The name was given by Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN), part of International Astronomical Union (IAU), after a successful review in 1970, seven years after the death of Mitra.
• Typically, members of an appropriate IAU task group suggest names when the first images of the surface of a planet or satellite is obtained but as higher resolution images become available, a specific name is recommended.
• The suggested names are reviewed by the task force which submits it to the Working Group to take a final call based on votes.

About Moon Craters:

• Moon craters are bowl-shaped landforms created by two processes: volcanism and cratering. There are hundreds of thousands of moon craters ranging from less than a mile across to giant basins called mare, which were once thought to be seas.
• The largest crater on the Moon is called South Pole-Aitkin Basin. It’s about 1,600 miles across (2,500 kilometers). It’s also among the oldest of the Moon’s impact basins and formed just a few hundred million years or so after the Moon itself was formed.
• Because of the Moon’s lack of water, atmosphere, and tectonic plates, there is little erosion, and craters are found that exceed two billion years in age.

About Sisir Kumar Mitra:

• Mitra led the research in ionosphere–the upper region of the atmosphere–and radiophysics.
• He was the first to introduce the teaching of radio communication in India.
• His book, ‘Upper Atmosphere’ published in 1947 is still considered the Bible for research workers in the field of ionosphere.

Source: Indian Express, Wikipedia

Clouded Leopard

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: According to a new research, only 9.44% of the studied region was ‘highly’ suitable for clouded leopards (Neofelis nebulosa)

More on the Topic:

• The species range extends from the Himalayan foothills in Nepal through mainland south-east Asia to China. It inhabits mixed evergreen forests in its area of occurrence.
• The island populations of Sumatra and Borneo have been identified as a separate species Neofelis diardi . In India the species Neofelis nebulosa occurs in the states of Sikkim, West-Bengal, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura
• Due to the various threats to the survival of the species in the wild the species has been ranked as Vulnerable of IUCN Red list of Threatened species and Schedule I of the Wild Life Protection Act; Govt. of India it is also included in CITES Appendix I due to the extensive illicit trade
• It is the state animal of the Indian state of Meghalaya
• In 2018, India added clouded leopards to its Recovery Programme for Critically Endangered Species to aid more research and strengthen conservation efforts.

Source: The Hindu

Advisory Board for Banking Frauds (ABBF)

Topic: Economy

In News: The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has constituted an ‘Advisory Board for Banking Frauds (ABBF)’ to examine bank fraud of over ₹50 crore and recommend action.

Headquartered in Delhi, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will provide required secretarial services, logistic and analytical support along with the necessary funding to the board.

More on the Topic:

• Besides the chairman, the Board consists of three other members.
• The tenure of the Chairman and members would be for a period of two years from 21st August, 2019.
• The board’s jurisdiction would be confined to those cases involving the level of officers of General Manager and above in the Public Sector Banks in respect of an allegation of fraud in a borrowal account.
• It would function as the first level of examination of all large fraud cases before recommendations or references are made to the investigative agencies by the respective public sector banks (PSBs).
• Lenders would refer all large fraud cases above ₹50 crore to the board and on receipt of its recommendation or advice, the bank concerned would take further action in such matter.
• The Central Bureau of Investigation may also refer any case or matter to the board where it has any issue or difficulty or in technical matters with the PSB concerned.
• It would also periodically carry out frauds analysis in the financial system and give inputs for policy formulation related to the fraud to the RBI.

Source: The Hindu Business Line

Oxytocin

Topic: Health

In News: The final decision on whether the government can block private pharmaceutical companies from manufacturing and selling vital pregnancy drug oxytocin in India has been deferred, with the Supreme Court deciding the issue needs further deliberation.

More on the Topic:

• The health ministry in April 2018 notified a ban on private firms from manuacturing and selling oxytocin, stating that it wanted to restrict the responsibility of supplying the drug to a Karnataka-based public sector manufacturer to avoid its misuse in the veterinary field.
• The Delhi high court had quashed the Centre’s December 14, 2018 notification, which had banned its sale by private manufacturers and retail chemists, saying the sale was allowed. Essentially, this meant that only KAPL could produce the drug as there is no other public sector enterprise doing so. However, Delhi high court quashed the amended order too. The central government moved Supreme Court against the Delhi high court order.
• Oxytocin has also been dubbed the hug hormone, cuddle chemical, moral molecule, and the bliss hormone due to its effects on behavior, including its role in love and in female reproductive biological functions in reproduction.
• Oxytocin is a hormone that is made in the brain, in the hypothalamus. It is transported to, and secreted by, the pituitary gland, which is located at the base of the brain. It acts both as a hormone and as a brain neurotransmitter.
• The release of oxytocin by the pituitary gland acts to regulate two female reproductive functions: Childbirth and Breast-feeding.
• Oxytocin helps contract the uterus and induce delivery, control bleeding, and promote the release of breast milk. Its use is especially crucial to prevent new mothers from excessively bleeding after giving birth—a common cause of maternal deaths. According to an India sample registration scheme survey conducted in 2001-2003, postpartum hemorrhage accounted for 38 per cent of maternal deaths.

Why it was Banned:

• Oxytocin is a naturally-occurring hormone that causes uterine contractions during labour and helps new mothers lactate. However, the drug is misused in the dairy industry where livestock is injected with Oxytocin to make them release milk at a time convenient to farmers.
• Oxytocin is also used to increase the size of vegetables such as pumpkins, watermelons, eggplants, gourds, and cucumbers. This can cause hormonal imbalance in the consumers.

Source: The Hindu