Daily Current Affairs : 8th April

Daily Current Affairs for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

1. Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project
2. Neelakurinji
3. Small finance banks
4. Candida auris
5. UN Peacekeeping
6. Eutrophication
7. World Health Statistics Overview
8. Domkhar Petroglyps

1 . Event Horizon Telescope Project

Context : Scientists are expected to unveil on Wednesday the first-ever photograph of a black hole, a breakthrough in astrophysics, providing insight into celestial monsters with gravitational fields so intense no matter or light can escape. Groundbreaking result is from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project

What is Blackhole Event Horizon

• A black hole’s event horizon, one of the most violent places in the universe, is the point of no return beyond which anything — stars, planets, gas, dust, all forms of electromagnetic radiation including light — gets sucked in irretrievably.

About Event Horizon Telescope Project

• The EHT is an international collaboration that has formed to continue the steady long-term progress on improving the capability of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) at short wavelengths in pursuit of this goal. 
• This technique of linking radio dishes across the globe to create an Earth-sized interferometer, has been used to measure the size of the emission regions of the two supermassive black holes with the largest apparent event horizons: SgrA* at the center of the Milky Way and M87 in the center of the Virgo A galaxy.
• The first — called Sagittarius A* — is situated at the centre of our own Milky Way galaxy, possessing 4 million times the mass of our sun and located 26,000 light years from the earth. A light year is the distance light travels in a year, 9.5 trillion km.
• The second — called M87 – resides at the centre of the neighbouring Virgo A galaxy, boasting a mass 3.5 billion times that of the sun and located 54 million light-years away from the earth.

Objectives of the EHT Project

• Imaging a blackhole
• Testing General Relativity
• Understanding accretion around a blackhole
• Understanding jet genesis and collimation

2 . Neelakurinji

Context : Wildlife experts say the recent large-scale wildfires on the grasslands where Neelakurinji (Strobilanthes kunthiiana) blossomed widely last year after a period of 12 years could have wiped out all the seeds of the endemic flowers from the area.

About Neelakurinji

• Kurinji or Neelakurinji (Strobilanthes kunthianus) is a shrub that is found in the shola forests of the Western Ghats in South India. 
• Nilgiri Hills, which literally means the blue mountains, got their name from the purplish blue flowers of Neelakurinji that blossoms only once in 12 years.
• Of all long interval bloomers Strobilanthes kunthianus is the most rigorously demonstrated, with documented bloomings in 1838, 1850, 1862, 1874, 1886, 1898, 1910, 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970 1982, 1994, 2006 and 2018
• Other Kurinji species, such as Strobilanthes cuspidatus, bloom once every seven years, and then die. Their seeds subsequently sprout and continue the cycle of life and death.
• Kurinjimala Sanctuary protects the kurinji in approximately 32 km² core habitat in Kottakamboor and Vattavada villages in Idukki district of Kerala

3 . Small Finance banks

Context : Although the consensus opinion in the industry is that small finance banks do not pose a threat to either conventional banks or non-banking financial companies (NBFC), the sector has nevertheless been seeing remarkable growth in credit disbursement as well as deposits, albeit on a low base.

About Small Finance Banks

The objectives of setting up of small finance banks will be to further financial inclusion by

• provision of savings vehicles, and
• supply of credit to small business units, small and marginal farmers, micro and small industries and other unorganised sector entities, through high technology-low cost operations.

Scope of activities

• The small finance bank shall primarily undertake basic banking activities of acceptance of deposits and lending to unserved and underserved sections including small business units, small and marginal farmers, micro and small industries and unorganised sector entities.
• There will not be any restriction in the area of operations of small finance banks.

Capital requirement

• The minimum paid-up equity capital for small finance banks shall be Rs. 100 crore.

Prudential norms

• The small finance bank will be subject to all prudential norms and regulations of RBI as applicable to existing commercial banks including requirement of maintenance of Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR). No forbearance would be provided for complying with the statutory provisions.
• The small finance banks will be required to extend 75 per cent of its Adjusted Net Bank Credit (ANBC) to the sectors eligible for classification as priority sector lending (PSL) by the Reserve Bank.
• At least 50 per cent of its loan portfolio should constitute loans and advances of upto Rs. 25 lakh.

Eligible promoters

• Resident individuals/professionals with 10 years of experience in banking and finance;
• Companies and societies owned and controlled by residents will be eligible to set up small finance banks.
• Existing Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs), Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs), and Local Area Banks (LABs) that are owned and controlled by residents can also opt for conversion into small finance banks.
• Promoter/promoter groups should be ‘fit and proper’ with a sound track record of professional experience or of running their businesses for at least a period of five years in order to be eligible to promote small finance banks.

4 . Candida auris

Context : The germ, a fungus called Candida auris, preys on people with weakened immune systems, and it is quietly spreading across the globe

About Candida auris

• The fungus, called Candida auris, is a yeast that normally lives harmlessly on the skin and mucous membranes
• The deadly fungal infection is resistant to major antimicrobial medications is spreading globally, and scientists aren’t sure where it came from.
• According to The New York Times, a drug-resistant form of the fungus has popped up across the globe, including in England, Spain, India, Venezuela and the United States.

Why it is a Concern

• It is often multidrug-resistant, meaning that it is resistant to multiple anti-fungal drugs commonly used to treat Candida infections.
• It is difficult to identify with standard laboratory methods, and it can be misidentified in labs without specific technology. Misidentification may lead to inappropriate management.
• It has caused outbreaks in healthcare settings. For this reason, it is important to quickly identify C. auris in a hospitalized patient so that healthcare facilities can take special precautions to stop its spread

5 . UN Peacekeeping

Context : External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said on Sunday that India evacuated its entire contingent of peacekeeping forces, comprising 15 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, from Tripoli after the situation there “suddenly worsened”.

About UN Peacekeeping

• Peacekeeping has proven to be one of the most effective tools available to the UN to assist host countries navigate the difficult path from conflict to peace. 
• UN peacekeeping is a unique global partnership. It brings together the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Secretariat, troop and police contributors and the host governments in a combined effort to maintain international peace and security. Its strength lies in the legitimacy of the UN Charter and in the wide range of contributing countries that participate and provide precious resources.
• UN peacekeepers provide security and the political and peacebuilding support to help countries make the difficult, early transition from conflict to peace.
• UN peacekeepers come from all walks of life, with diverse cultural backgrounds and from an ever-growing number of Member States.When they serve under the United Nations they are united by a commitment to maintain or restore world peace and security. They share a common purpose to protect the most vulnerable and provide support to countries in transition from conflict to peace. Peacekeepers are civilian, military and police personnel all working together

Principles

1. Consent of the parties
2. Impartiality
3. Non-use of force except in self-defence and defence of the mandate

Role of Security Council

• The Security Council has primary responsibility, under the United Nations Charter, for the maintenance of international peace and security.
• It is for the Security Council to determine when and where a UN peace operation should be deployed.

Role of General Assembly

• Financing Matters – As all UN Member States share the costs of peacekeeping, the Assembly apportions these expenses based on a special scale of assessments, taking into account the relative economic wealth of Member States, with the permanent members of the Security Council required to pay a larger share because of their special responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.
• The General Assembly monitors the performance of UN Peacekeeping through its Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations.
• Under the UN Charter, however, the General Assembly cannot discuss and make recommendations on peace and security matters which are at that time being addressed by the Security Council but in accordance with the General Assembly’s “Uniting for Peace” resolution of November 1950 [resolution 377 (V)], if the Security Council fails to act, owing to the negative vote of a permanent member, then the General Assembly may act. This would happen in the case where there appears to be a threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of aggression. The General Assembly can consider the matter with a view to making recommendations to Members for collective measures to maintain or restore international peace and security.

6 . Eutrophication

Context : Discolouration of water continued in the Periyar. Discolouration was due to the poor quality of water as a result of eutrophication.

What is Eutrophication

• Eutrophication is characterized by excessive plant and algal growth due to the increased availability of one or more limiting growth factors needed for photosynthesis, such as sunlight, carbon dioxide, and nutrient fertilizers
• Eutrophication occurs naturally over centuries as lakes age and are filled in with sediments
• However, human activities have accelerated the rate and extent of eutrophication through both point-source discharges and non-point loadings of limiting nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, into aquatic ecosystems (i.e., cultural eutrophication), with dramatic consequences for drinking water sources, fisheries, and recreational water bodies 

Consequences

• Threatens the survival of Acquatic life form – When aquatic ecosystems experience increased nutrients, the phytoplankton and other photosynthetic plants grow explosively, commonly known as algal blooms. As an outcome, the algal blooms limit the amount of dissolved oxygen required for respiration by other animal and plant species in the water. Oxygen depletion happens when the algae/plant life die and decompose. The reduction in oxygen level threatens the survival of acquatic life forms.
• Deterioration of water quality and limits access to safe drinking water
• Poisoning and impact on human health : The cyanobacteria, also referred to as dinoflagelates which generates red tide (a phenomenon caused by alagal bloom), release very powerful toxins with high poison levels in the water even at very low concentrations. The anaerobic conditions created by explosive plant growth in the water also results in the doubling of the toxic compounds. It can also cause death in humans and animals even at the least concentration when ingested in drinking water

7 . World Health Statistics Overview

Context : Women outlive men everywhere, the World Health Organization (WHO) said recently while releasing its World Health Statistics Overview 2019. “Whether it’s homicide, road accidents, suicide, cardiovascular disease — time and time again, men are doing worse than women

Published by World Health Organisation

Details of the Report

• For men and women combined, average life-expectancy has increased by 5½ years since the turn of the century — from 66.5 years in 2000 to 72 years in 2016 — while “healthy” life expectancy (the number of years lived in full health) increased from 58.5 years in 2000, to 63.3 years in 2016.
• Based on recent mortality risks the boys will live, on average, 69.8 years and the girls 74.2 years — a difference of 4.4 years. Life expectancy at age 60 years is also greater for women than men: 21.9 versus 19.0 years
• The report attributes the discrepancy to differing attitudes to healthcare between men and women. For example, men “are less likely than women to take an HIV test, less likely to access antiretroviral therapy and more likely to die of AIDS-related illnesses than women. The same principle applies for tuberculosis sufferers, with male patients less likely to seek care than women.
• The study also indicates that the life expectancy gap is narrowest where women lack access to health services. Maternal deaths contribute “more than any other cause” to reducing female life expectancy.
• The risk of maternal death is hugely different between high-income and low-income countries. Data indicate that one in 41 women dies from a maternal cause in a low-income country, compared with one in 3,300 in a high-income setting.

8 . Facts for Prelims

Domkhar Petroglyps

• The Domkhar Petroglyps is located at Domkhar village in Leh, next to the banks of Indus River.
• Petroglyphs are images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art.
• Such petroglyphs are found scattered widely across Ladakh: some noteworthy places outside Domkhar are Tangtse, Khaltse, Kharu and Biama.
• It consists of drawings of animals with horns, perhaps mountain goats; there’s one with a scorpion in the midst of a crowd of people; another shows a hunting scene.
• The archaic scripts on these rocks have been discovered to be similar to those found among the nomadic tribes of the steppe region of Central Asia who lived 2,000 years ago.