Daily Current Affairs For UPSC Civil Services Exam
Topics Covered
- Cincerous Vultures
- Bhima Koregaon Battle
- Screening Protocol
- India – Pakistan Relationship
1 . Cincerous Vultures
Context : Cinereous vulture usually migrates from the mountainous regions of Europe and Asia to warmer places, including India. It comes to northern parts of India up to Rajasthan, but now it is seen at Hazaribagh in Jharkhand.
Features
- The cinereous vulture is one of the heaviest and largest raptors in the world. It is a dark brown and broad-winged species with a slightly wedge-shaped tail. The bald head and neck are a bluish gray, with a fluffy collar which is lighter in older birds.
- In many countries, this bird is called ‘monk vulture’, because of it’s upright standing neck feathers that resemble the hood of a monk.
- IUCN Status – Near Threatened
2 . Bhima Koregaon
- Covered under Current Affairs of 26/12/2018
3 . Screening Protocol
Context : A woman in Chennai claimed that she had been infected with HIV following a transfusion at a government medical college.
The standard procedure for accepting blood from a donor
- Besides probing the donor’s medical history and current health, the standard procedure is to mandatorily screen for five diseases — HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, syphilis and malaria — before blood is collected
- Blood-testing equipment being used across Tamil Nadu is procured by National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) from vendors who follow WHO standards.
When it can go wrong
- It can happen due to human error and also because of poor quality of equipment.
What is Anti Retro viral Therapy (ART)
- ART are medications that treat HIV.
- The drugs do not kill or cure the virus. However, when taken in combination they can prevent the growth of the virus. When the virus is slowed down, so is HIV disease.
- Antiretroviral drugs are referred to as ARV. Combination ARV therapy (cART) is referred to as highly active ART(HAART).
4 . India – Pakistan Relationship
Context : Exchange lists of convicts who have completed terms. Exchange of list of nuclear installations
Sharing the list of Nuclear installations
- The list was handed over in accordance with Article-II of the Agreement on Prohibition of Attacks Against Nuclear Installations and Facilities between Pakistan and India.
- The agreement, which was signed on December 31, 1988 and entered into force on January 27, 1991, provides, inter alia, that the two countries inform each other of nuclear installations and facilities to be covered under the agreement on the first of January of every calendar year.
Exchanging Lists of Prisoners
- In total, India and Pakistan handed over a list of 834 citizens languishing in each other’s jails.
- This list is a bi-annual exercise that is part of the 2008 agreement on consular access between the Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Government of the Republic of India..
- Kulbhushan Jadhav does not figure in the list. This is because Pakistan believes that Jadhav is neither within the category of “civilian prisoners” nor “fishermen” – the two types of jailed citizens for which the neighbours exchange lists.