National Current Affairs – UPSC/IAS Exams- 29th August 2019

Antibiotic resistance in Ganga

Topic: Health/ Environment and Ecology

In News: The government has commissioned a ₹9.3 crore study to assess the microbial diversity along the entire length of the Ganga and test if stretches of the 2,500 km long river contain microbes that may promote “antibiotic resistance”.

More on the Topic:

• The project, expected to last two years, is to be undertaken by scientists at the Motilal Nehru Institute of Technology, Allahabad; the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur; Sardar Patel Institute of Science & Technology, Gorakhpur, as well as start-up companies, Phixgen and Xcelris Labs. The latter two provide genome sequencing services, which in this case will involve mapping the genomes of the microbes sampled.
• The aims of the research project, according to a note by the National Mission for Clean Ganga under the Jal Shakti Ministry is to indicate the type of “contamination” (sewage and industrial) in the river and “threat to human health (antibiotic resistance surge)”, identifying sources of Eschericia coli, a type of bacteria that lives in the gut of animals and humans. While largely harmless, some species have been linked to intestinal disease as well as aggravating antibiotic resistance.

Gravity of the Problem:

• In 2014, researchers from Newcastle University in the U.K. and IIT-Delhi sampled water and sediments at seven sites along the Ganga in different seasons.
• They reported in the peer-reviewed Environmental Science and Technology that levels of resistance genes that lead to “superbugs” were about 60 times greater during the pilgrimage months of May and June than at other times of the year.
• A 2017 report commissioned by the Union Department of Biotechnology and the U.K. Research Council underlined that India had some of the highest antibiotic resistance rates among bacteria that commonly cause infections.

Model Mains Question: What is Antibiotic resistance? Suggest steps to mitigate the issue.

Source: The Hindu

Plastic waste-diesel Converter

Topic: Environment and Ecology/ Technology

In News: Union Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences inaugurated a demonstration plant for converting plastic waste to diesel based on at the Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP) of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in Dehradun.

More on the Topic:

• The plant, which was developed based on a technology by IIP researchers, can convert one tonne of plastic waste into 800 litres of diesel every day.
• The fuel will be of automotive grade. It meets the specifications for use in vehicles.
• Using the technology, polyolefinic waste can be converted into diesel. This type of waste accounts for about 70 per cent of total plastic waste in the country and is the least bio-degradable.
• The process is also environmentally friendly.

Source: Down To Earth

G7 Summit

Topic: International Groupings

In News: The 45th G7 summit was held on 24–26 August 2019, in Biarritz, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France. PM Modi was invited to attend the G7 Summit as a special guest of French President Emmanuel Macron.

Highlights of the Summit:

• The French President was trying his hand at mediating US and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
• Besides Iran, G-7 is worrying about a lot of other issues – The Amazon forest fires, Brexit and the escalating tariff war between the US and China, the French threat to impose new taxes on American technology companies.
• The world has more mediations to work with than Kashmir issue.
• Kashmir might certainly be there if the situation in the Valley gets out of hand and the military tension between India and Pakistan escalates.
• Trump has been harsher with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that was designed by the West to advance globalising capitalism.
• He believes the WTO hasn’t worked for the American labour. He is ready to bring the global trading architecture down in favour of bilateral deals.
• Trump demanded a fresh look at India’s economic and security issues.

Way Forward in-front of India:

• The sooner India takes to rework its internal and external economic strategies, the easier it will be to cope with the emerging global political challenges.
• India should rework the political compact with the people of the Kashmir Valley and generate sustainable support for the new constitutional arrangement.
• This task is complicated by Pakistan’s furious bid to internationalise the issue. But, Kashmir is not making world leaders lose sleep.

About G7 Summit:

• G7 Summit is an event conducted annually where world leaders from seven powerful economies of the world come together to discuss burning issues happening around the globe.
• They, by mutual understanding, also form policies or figure out remedies for the concerned issue.
• The G7, originally G8, was set up in 1975 as an informal forum bringing together the leaders of the world’s leading industrial nations.
• The summit gathers leaders from the European Union (EU) and the following countries:
• Canada
• France
• Germany
• Italy
• Japan
• the United Kingdom
• the United States

Source: Indian Express

Xenotransplantation

Topic: Health/ Science and Technology

In News: Pioneering transplant surgeon Sir Terence English, who had performed the first heart transplant in the United Kingdom in 1979, declared that his team would transplant a pig’s kidney into a human’s body by end of 2019.

More on the Topic:

• With a lack of human cadavers as donors, researchers are looking at animal organs as viable alternative.
• A pig’s genetic make-up and internal organs are similar to a human’s. Its weight, lipids, arterial pressure, heart rate, renal function, electrolyte balance, and digestive system match those in the human body
• Disadvantage with xenotransplantation: fear of transmission of viruses from animals to humans and high rejection rate (human body’s immune system starts working against any foreign organ).

Source: The Hindu

National Digital Library(NDL)

Topic: Government Initiatives

In News: Bangalore University plans to launch an e-library, where students and staff can download books available online through the university’s library app. The university has taken up this project under the National Digital Library of India initiative.

More on the Topic:

• Human Resource Development Ministry under its National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology launched NDL in 2018.
• NDL is the Single Window Platform that collects and collates metadata from premier learning institutions in India and abroad, as well as other relevant sources.
• NDL is a digital repository containing textbooks, articles, videos, audio books, lectures, simulations, fiction and all other kinds of learning media.
• Anybody can access the digital library anytime and anywhere absolutely free of cost and is a step towards “Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat”.
• More than 50 lakh students have registered themselves in the National Digital Library with about 20 lakh active users.
• NDL has been integrated with UMANG App.
• UMANG stands for Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance developed by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY)and National e-Governance Division (NeGD) to drive Mobile Governance in India.
• UMANG provides a single platform for all Indian Citizens to access pan India e-Gov services ranging from Central to State to Local Government bodies and other citizen centric services.

Source: The Hindu

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)- Challenges

Topic: Government Policies

In News: Despite government’s support for the promotion of clean cooking fuel, large people in India still rely on solid fuels.

Challenges:

• Behavioral Challenges: Most people believe that food cooked on a chulha(Mud stoves with wood or dung cakes as fuel) was healthier and tastier. In contrast, rotis cooked on gas cause indigestion.
• They also believe cooking with solid fuels was healthy for the person cooking too: fumes purified the eyes because they caused tears, and in blowing into a traditional stove, a woman did exercise.
• Poverty: Even after the free connection and subsidy many if the rural households are not able to afford refueling cost.
• Gender Issues: In most of the houses cooking was done by women but the decisions regarding cooking medium was taken by men and they were not aware of the difficulty faced by the women counterparts.

Measures to improve LPG usage among Rural House Holds:

• Communicating the harms of solid fuels and the benefits of cleaner fuels: A large anti-tobacco style campaign communicating that solid fuels harm respiratory health, may change these beliefs. Similarly, advertisements that food cooked on gas can be as tasty and healthy as food cooked on a chulha would be helpful.
• Reducing the cost of LPG cylinder refills in rural areas
• Promoting gender equality within households particularly in cooking and related tasks.

About Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana:

• It aims to provide LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) connections to poor households.
• Under the scheme, an adult woman member of a below poverty line family identified through the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) is given a deposit-free LPG connection with financial assistance of Rs 1,600 per connection by the Centre.
• Eligible households will be identified in consultation with state governments and Union territories. The scheme is being implemented by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

Source: The Hindu

Fit India Movement

Topic: Culture

In News: Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched the Fit India Movement.

More  on the Topic:

• Fit India Movement aims to motivate every Indian to incorporate simple, easy ways of staying fit in their everyday life.
• Recipients of this year’s Sports Awards were also present at the event.
• Kushti, kabaddi, gatka, kho-kho, mallakhamb, kaliryapattu were performed at Fit India Launch event.
• Pehlwani/Khushti is a form of wrestling from the Indian subcontinent. It was developed in the Mughal Empire by combining native malla-yuddha with influences from Persian varzesh-e bastani.
• Gatka is the name of an Indian martial art associated with the Sikhs of the Punjab region, and with the Tanoli and Gujjar communities residing in mountainous regions of northern Pakistan who practice an early variant of the martial art. It is a style of stick fighting, with wooden sticks intended to simulate swords.
• Mallakhamba/Mallakhamb is a traditional sport, originating from the Indian subcontinent, in which a gymnast performs aerial yoga postures and wrestling grips in concert with a vertical stationary or hanging wooden pole, cane, or hanging rope.
• Kalaripayattu is an Indian martial arts and fighting system that originated in Kerala and practiced by warriors of Kerala.

Source: PIB