Daily Current Affairs for UPSC CSE
Topics Covered
- Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Care and Maintenance of Case Property Animals) Rules, 2017
- National Metrology Conclave, National Atomic Timescale and the ‘Bhartiya Nirdeshak Dravya Pranali’ (Indian Reference Materials system)
- Bird Flu
- School Bag Policy
- Facts for Prelims
1 . Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Care and Maintenance of Case Property Animals) Rules, 2017
Context : The Supreme Court asked the Centre to “delete” its three-year-old law which allowed seizure and subsequent confiscation of livestock from people who depended on these animals for a livelihood, even before they were found guilty of cruelty towards them.
About the law
- The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Care and Maintenance of Case Property Animals) Rules, 2017 says, “If the accused is convicted, or pleads guilty, the magistrate shall deprive him of the ownership of animal and forfeit the seized animal to the infirmary, pinjrapole, SPCA, Animal Welfare Organisation or Gaushala already having custody for proper adoption or other disposition.”
- 2017 Rules allow a Magistrate to forfeit the cattle of an owner facing trial under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. The animals are then sent to infirmaries, gaushalas, pinjarapole, etc. These authorities can further give such animals for “adoption
Details of the verdict
- A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde warned the government that it would “stay” the implementation of a 2017 law, which allowed authorities to seize cattle on a mere suspicion that they suffered cruel treatment at the hands of their owners or were being primed for slaughter. These animals, the law prescribes, would then be lodged in gaushalas as “case property” to await the court’s verdict.
- In short, a farmer, a livestock owner or a cattle trader loses his animals before being found guilty of the charge of cruelty.
- According to the judgement rules are plainly contrary to Section 29 of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, under which only a person convicted of cruelty can lose his animal.
2 . National Metrology Conclave, National Atomic Timescale and the ‘Bhartiya Nirdeshak Dravya Pranali’ (Indian Reference Materials system)
Context : PM dedicated the National Atomic Timescale and the ‘Bhartiya Nirdeshak Dravya Pranali’ to the nation, and laid the foundation stone for the National Environmental Standards Laboratory through videoconference addressing National Metrology Conclave .
About National Metrology Conclave
- National Metrology Conclave 2021 is being organised by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Physical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL), New Delhi, which is entering into its 75th year of inception.
- The theme of the conclave is ‘Metrology for the Inclusive Growth of the Nation’.
National Atomic Timescale & ‘Bhartiya Nirdeshak Dravya Pranali
- The National Atomic Timescale generates Indian Standard Time with an accuracy of 2.8 nanoseconds.
- Bhartiya Nirdeshak Dravya is supporting testing and calibration of laboratories for quality assurance.
- The National Environmental Standards Laboratory will aid self-reliance in the certification of ambient air and industrial emission monitoring equipment
3 . Bird Flu
Context : Bird flu has been reported among wild geese in Himachal Pradesh, crows in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and ducks in Kerala.
What is avian influenza or bird flu?
- It is a highly contagious viral disease caused by Influenza Type A viruses which generally affects poultry birds such as chickens and turkeys.
- There are many strains of the virus – some of them are mild and may merely cause a low egg production or other mild symptoms among chickens, while others are severe and lethal.
How does the bird flu spread?
- Wild aquatic birds such as ducks and geese are the natural reservoir of Influenza A viruses and the central players in the ecology of these viruses.
- Many birds carry the flu without developing sickness, and shed it in their droppings. Since birds excrete even while flying, they provide “a nice aerosol of influenza virus, shedding it all over the world
- From water birds, many of whom migrate and travel long distances, the viruses are thus further spread to poultry and terrestrial birds. Sometimes, the virus jumps over to mammals such as pigs, horses, cats and dogs.
When and how did the bird flu start infecting humans?
- Bird flu outbreaks have been affecting poultry around the globe for decades, and culling of infected birds has been a common measure to contain the spread. But it was in 1997 when humans are first known to have contracted bird flu following an outbreak in a live bird market of Hong Kong. It was the H5N1 strain of the virus, and 6 out of 18 infected humans died of the disease.
- It was contained, but re-emerged a few years later in various other parts of the globe and caused hundreds of human deaths, particularly in Southeast Asia. Movement of infected poultry and migratory birds, and an illegal bird trade are believed to be the causes of the spread. Some mammals such as cats and lions were also infected.
- Subsequently, several other strains of the virus such as H5N2 and H5N8 jumped from animals to humans, thus becoming a global public health concern.
- Generally, people coming in close contact with infected alive or dead birds have contracted the H5N1 bird flu, and it does not usually spread from person to person, as per the WHO. There is also no evidence, the WHO says, that the disease can be spread to people through properly prepared and cooked poultry food. The virus is sensitive to heat, and dies in cooking temperatures.
Mortality
- H5N1 is severe and deadly – around 6 out of 10 confirmed cases in humans have led to deaths (though the actual mortality rate may be lower due to under-reporting of asymptomatic cases).
- If the virus mutates and becomes easily transmissible from person to person, say by altering its shape to grab human cells much more effectively, it can potentially cause a pandemic.
- Also, flu viruses are more prone to mutation because they have a segmented genome. All known strains of flu – including the seasonal flu and the pandemic flu – have jumped from birds to humans in this way.
Bird flu in India
- In India, no case of bird flu in humans has been detected so far, according to the Union health ministry. The department of animal husbandry has reported 25 episodes of H5N1 bird flu in poultry in 15 states from 2006 (when the first outbreak occurred in Maharashtra and Gujarat) till 2015. It has also been detected in crows.
Bird flu: What are its symptoms and treatment?
- Unlike in birds, where it generally infects the gut, the avian influenza attacks the respiratory tract of humans and may cause severe respiratory illnesses such as pneumonia or Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS).
- Its early symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, and sometimes abdominal pain and diarrhoea.
- Antiviral drugs, especially oseltamivir, improve the prospects of survival in humans, according to the Union health ministry.
4 . School Bag Policy
Context : The Directorate of Education has issued a circular asking schools to follow the new ‘School Bag Policy, 2020’ released by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
Details of the Policy
- According to the circular, schoolteachers should inform the students in advance about the books and notebooks to be brought to school on a particular day and frequently check their bags to ensure that they are not carrying unnecessary material.
- The weight of the school bags, as per the policy, should be 1.6 to 2.2 kg for students of Classes I and II, 1.7 to 2.5 kg for Classes III, IV and V, 2 to 3 kg for Classes VI and VII, 2.5 to 4 kg for Class VIII, 2.5 to 4.5 kg for Classes IX and X and 3.5 to 5 kg for Classes XI and XII.
- Teachers should take the responsibility of checking the weight of school bags of the students every three months on a day selected for the whole class and any information about heavy bags should be communicated to the parents.
- To reduce the weight of the school bag, the circular says that it is the duty and the responsibility of the school management to provide quality potable water in sufficient quantity to all the students in the school so that they do not need to carry water bottles from their homes.
- It adds that files and thin/light exercise books should be preferred to thick/heavy ones.
Importance
- Heavy school bags are a serious threat to the health and well-being of students. The heavy school bag has severe/adverse physical effects on growing children which can cause damage to their vertebral column and knees
5 . Facts for Prelims
About EXIM Bank
- Export-Import Bank of India (EXIM Bank) is a specialized financial institution, wholly owned by Government of India.
- It was set up in 1982, for financing, facilitating and promoting foreign trade of India.
- The headquarters is in Mumbai.
- EXIM Bank extends Lines of Credit (LOCs) to overseas financial institutions, regional development banks, sovereign governments and other entities overseas, to enable buyers in those countries to import developmental and infrastructure projects, equipments, goods and services from India, on deferred credit terms.
Pangolins
- Pangolins, or scaly anteaters as they are otherwise known, are unique mammals covered in hard scales, comprised of keratin. They predate almost exclusively on ants and termites and are predominantly nocturnal and elusive, secretive mammals.
- There are eight extant species of pangolin. They comprise the Chinese pangolin, Indian pangolin, Sunda pangolin and Philippine pangolin, which inhabit Asia, and the white-bellied pangolin, black-bellied pangolin, giant pangolin and Temminck’s pangolin, which occur in Africa.
- Paleo-archaeological evidence suggests pangolins may have evolved in Europe but the extant species are found only in Asia and Africa. They fulfil a similar ecological niche to anteaters in South America, but are unrelated, each having evolved to fill similar ecological roles through convergent evolution.
- The word pangolin is derived from the Malay word ‘penggulung’ which means roller – representative of how pangolins behave when they feel threatened, rolling up into a ball.
- They are poached and illegally traded in huge numbers in Asia, while in Africa they are hunted for wild meat and use in traditional African medicine, though evidence now suggests African pangolins and their derivatives are being targeted for trade to Asian markets. Consequently, pangolin populations are in severe decline and are thought to be locally extirpated in parts of both Asia and Africa.
- Out of the eight species of pangolin, the Indian Pangolin and the Chinese Pangolin are found in India.
- Both these species are listed under Schedule I Part I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
- Pangolin can curl itself into a ball as self-defense against predators such as the tiger.
- World Pangolin Day is celebrated on the third Saturday in February, is an international attempt to raise awareness of pangolins and bring together stakeholders to help protect these unique species from extinction.
Aurangabad
- Aurangabad was built in 1610 by Malik Ambar of the Nijamshahi dynasty.
- It was renamed Aurangabad by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb when he made it his capital.
- Aurangzeb, who lived in Aurangabad until his death, tortured and killed Chhatrapati Sambahji Maharaj, son of the Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.