Daily Current Capsules - 09th

September 2019

Space Awareness

The Chandrayan 2 Mission lost its communication with the Control Centre at the ISRO headquarters

Relevance IN – Prelims ( all about the chandryaan -2 mission) + Mains ( GS III

awareness in the field of space)

What’s the NEWS

Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was witnessing the descent of the

Chandrayan 2 along with the ISRO Scientists at Bengaluru said “India is

proud of our scientists! They’ve given their best and have always made

India proud. These are moments to be courageous, and courageous we

will be!”

The lander Vikram of Chandrayaan-2 lost communication with the ISRO

few minutes before its scheduled landing on the moon. ISRO experienced

this setback soon after Vikram successfully started its final descent.

The lander had begun its descent normally and, for the first 13 minutes,

decelerated as per the plan. But after that, the deceleration does not seem

to have gone ahead as per the requirement.

The most possible consequence of this scenario is that the lander went on

to crash-land on the moon’s surface with a speed greater than was

required for a safe landing.

Chandrayaan-2 successfully entered the Moon's orbit on August 20 and it

was expected to touchdown the surface of the moon early on September

7. The entire journey of Chandrayaan-2 took 48 days.

Know! all about Chandrayaan-2

Chandrayaan-2 was an ISRO mission comprising an orbiter and a soft

lander Vikram and a rover Pragyan.

According to the ISRO, the primary objective of Chandrayaan-2 was to

demonstrate the ability to soft-land on the lunar surface and operate a

robotic rover on the surface.

Other scientific objectives of the Chandrayaan-2 mission were - studies of

mineralogy, lunar topography, the lunar exosphere, elemental abundance,

and signatures of hydroxyl and water ice.

The lander and rover were supposed to have a lifespan of only 14 days,

and their science output would have been limited.

The two instruments on the Pragyaan Rover were supposed to collect

information to assess the elemental composition of the moon’s surface

and determine the relative abundance of different elements near the

landing site.

The lander had three instruments which were meant to study the lunar

atmosphere, its temperature gradient and thermal conductivity. One of the

instruments was also supposed to measure seismic activity on the moon’s

surface near the site of landing.

It was an opportunity for India to become the fourth country in the world

to make a soft landing on the moon. It would have been a huge

technological achievement for ISRO and India that could pave the way

for future Indian space missions.

Objective was to explore the South Pole

The lunar South Pole always remains in the dark and it is quite interesting

for scientific discoveries. Scientists believe that the shadow part of the

Moon may be larger than its North Pole.

According to the scientific discoveries, the possibility of the presence of

water was also very high at the South Pole. Chandrayaan-2 was expected

to attempt a soft landing in a high plain between two craters, Manzinus C

and Simpelius N, at a latitude of about 70° south.

Defence

Kargil to Kohima (K2K) - Glory Run was Flagged-off

Relevance IN – Prelims ( about the Marathon by IAF)

What’s the NEWS

To commemorate 20th year of Kargil Victory and to live up to the true

tradition and motto of Indian Air Force - “Touch the Sky with Glory”, a

unique expedition Kargil to Kohima, Ultra-Marathon- “Glory Run” is

undertaken by IAF from Kargil War Memorial, Drass (J&K) to Kohima

War Cemetery, Kohima (Nagaland).

Know! more about it

Kohima and Kargil are the two forward most outposts of India in the East

and in the North where two most fierce battle of modern India were

fought in 1944 and 1999 respectively.

K2K – Glory Run will commence on 21 Sep 19 and culminate on 06 Nov

19.

A team of 25 Air Warriors will cover the distance of more than 4500 Km

in 45 days by running an average of 100 Km per day.

The aim of the expedition is to promote awareness for ‘Pedestrian

Safety’ and recently launched ‘Fit India Movement’ along with paying

tribute to brave hearts who made the supreme sacrifice.

This will be followed by second phase of training at Leh.

The team will undertake this adventure activities involving camping and

living outdoors, managing and surviving in snow, rain and extreme

climate through varied terrain of Ladakh, HP, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar

Pradesh, Bihar, West-Bengal, Assam and Nagaland.

IAF has been promoting adventure activities for its personnel and has

achieved various feats at national and international level. Through

adventure activities, IAF attempts to showcase and instill the qualities of

camaraderie, team spirit and courage which are very foundation of a

fighting force.

Food Processing

First Mega Food Park in Lakkampally of Telangana state inaugurated

Relevance IN – Prelims ( about the food park, its working and objective) +

Mains ( GS III food processing )

What’s the NEWS

Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Hon’ble Union Minister of Food Processing

Industries inaugurated the first Mega Food Park in Telangana

Know! the benefits

The Mega Food Park will leverage an additional investment of about Rs.

250 crore in 22 food processing units in the park and generate a turnover

of about Rs. 14000 crore.

The Park will also provide direct and indirect employment to 50,000

youth and benefit about 1 lakh farmers. Mega Food parks shall

facilitate doubling of farmer’s income by 2022 which is a primary agenda

of Govt in the field of agriculture.

Mega Food Parks shall further complement the Govt’s scheme by

reducing post harvest losses and hedging the farmer’s risk. Mega Food

Park shall provide gainful employment to women and hence help support

their livelihood.

The Mega Food Park Scheme is being implemented in order to give a

major impetus to the food processing sector by adding value and reducing

food wastage at each stage of the supply chain with particular focus on

perishables.

Mega Food Parks create modern infrastructure facilities for food

processing along the value chain from farm to market with strong forward

and backward linkages through a cluster based approach.

Common facilities and enabling infrastructure is created at Central

Processing Centre and facilities for primary processing and storage is

created near the farm in the form of Primary Processing Centers (PPCs)

and Collection Centers (CCs). Under the Scheme, Government of India

provides financial assistance upto Rs. 50.00 Crore per Mega Food Park

project.

Infrastructure Development

Constitution of task force for drawing up National Infrastructure Pipeline of Rs. 100

Lakh Crore from FY 2019-20 to FY 2024-25

Relevance IN – Prelims ( about the task force ) + Mains ( GS III economic

development + infrastructure development)

What’s the NEWS

To achieve the GDP of $5 trillion by 2024-25, India needs to spend about

$1.4 trillion (Rs. 100 lakh crore) over these years on infrastructure.

In the past decade (FY 2008-17), India invested about $1.1 trillion on

infrastructure. The challenge is to step-up annual infrastructure

investment so that lack of infrastructure does not become a binding

constraint on the growth of the Indian economy.

Rs.100 lakh crore would be invested on infrastructure over the next five

years. Infrastructure projects will include social and economic

infrastructure projects.

To implement an infrastructure program of this scale, it is important that

projects are adequately prepared and launched. In pursuance of this, an

annual infrastructure pipeline would be developed.

To achieve this task, a Task Force under the chairmanship of Secretary

(DEA) has been constituted by Union Finance Minister to draw up a

National Infrastructure Pipeline for each of the years from FY 2019-20 to

FY 2024-25 as below:

The Terms of Reference of the Task Force are as follows:

a. To identify technically feasible and financially/ economically viable

infrastructure projects that can be initiated in FY 2019-20.

b. To list the projects that can be included in the pipeline for each of the

remaining 5 years between FY 2021-25. c. To estimate annual infrastructure investment/capital costs.

d. To guide the Ministries in identifying appropriate sources of financing. e. To suggest measures to monitor the projects so that cost and time overrun

is minimized.

The National Infrastructure Pipeline would include greenfield and

brownfield projects costing above Rs 100 crore each.

The Task Force will submit its Report on the pipeline for FY 2019-20 by

31st October, 2019 and on the indicative pipeline for FY 2021-25 by 31st

December 2019.

Government Schemes

PM to launch National Animal Disease Control Programme for Foot and Mouth Disease and Brucellosis and National Artificial Insemination Programme

Relevance IN – Prelims ( about this programme and its objective)

What’s the NEWS

The Prime Minister will be launching National Animal Disease Control

Programme for Foot and Mouth Disease and Brucellosis on 11 September

2019 in Mathura. He will also launch National Artificial Insemination

Programme during the event.

Know! more about it

Pashu Vigyan Evam Arogya Mela and launch Babugarh Sex Semen

facility and simultaneous countrywide workshops in Krishi Vigyan

Kendras (KVKs) in all the 687 districts of the country on the topic of

vaccination and diseases management, Artifical insemination and

productivity, etc.

National Animal Disease Control Programme for Foot and Mouth

Disease and Brucellosis is a 100% centrally funded programme, with a

total outlay of Rs.12,652 crore from 2019 to 2024. It aims to control Foot

and Mouth Disease and Brucellosis by 2025 with vaccination and

eventual eradication by 2030.

Health Sector

The Exhibition ‘Superbugs: The End of Antibiotics?

Relevance IN – Prelims ( about superbugs and about antibiotics) + Mains ( GS

II issues relating to development and management of social sector/services

relating to health

What’s the NEWS

The exhibition was recently ’organised by National Council of Science

Museums (NCSM) of Culture Ministry in New Delhi

Know! about the exhibition

The Exhibition explores how society is responding to the enormous

challenge of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and antibacterial resistance

(ABR) in particular featuring scientific research from across the globe

and personal stories of those waging war on Superbugs.

Antibiotic has reduced our immunity, which has become a serious

problem and it is our duty to create awareness among the future

generation about the limited use of antibiotics.

The exhibition has been organised by National Council of Science

Museums (NCSM) in collaboration with Science Museum, Group,

London, Wellcome (UK) and supported by ICMR.

Bacteria, tiny organisms capable of causing disease are becoming

resistant to our most powerful weapon against them, antibiotics and

turning into Superbugs. Today antibiotic-resistant 'Superbugs' kill up to

7,00,000 people a year. By 2050 that could rise to 10 million.

The exhibition has three major sections: Microscopic, Human and Global.

Microscopic Section explores the hidden world of bacteria. Be it their

size or characteristics, evolution of superbugs or history of antibiotics; the

exhibits of this section will take you on a journey in which you can zoom

into the world of microbes, explore the touch screen multimedia to

understand how bacteria evolve into superbugs or flip a digital e-book to

know the history of antibiotics.

On the other hand, Human Section showcases several stories, specifically

from India, of how people are reaching out to combat the challenge of

antibacterial resistance.

When antibiotics stop working, lives are put at risk. People catch

infections that can’t be treated. Hospitals find it difficult to keep the

spread of bacteria under control.

Know! about Antibiotics

Antibiotics are medicines used to prevent and treat bacterial infections.

Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria change in response to the use

of these medicines.

Bacteria, not humans or animals, become antibiotic-resistant. These

bacteria may infect humans and animals, and the infections they cause are

harder to treat than those caused by non-resistant bacteria.

Antibiotic resistance leads to higher medical costs, prolonged hospital

stays, and increased mortality.

Know! about AMR

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR or AR) is the ability of a microbe to resist

the effects of medication that once could successfully treat the microbe.

The term antibiotic resistance (AR or ABR) is a subset of AMR, as it

applies only to bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics.

Resistant microbes are more difficult to treat, requiring alternative

medications or higher doses of antimicrobials. These approaches may be

more expensive, more toxic or both.

Microbes resistant to multiple antimicrobials are called multidrug

resistant (MDR). Those considered extensively drug resistant (XDR) or

totally drug-resistant (TDR) are sometimes called "superbugs"

Bilateral - Relations

6th India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue begins in New Delhi Representational Pic

Relevance IN – Prelims ( about SED) + Mains ( GS II bilateral relations)

What’s the NEWS

The 6th India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) begins in

New Delhi.

Know! more about SED

The three-day dialogue will comprise of round table meetings of

joint working groups on infrastructure, energy, high-tech, resource

conservation, pharmaceuticals and policy coordination.

The Indian side will be led by Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Dr Rajiv

Kumar and the Chinese side by Chairman of National Development

and Reforms Commission (NDRC).

The SED was set up between the erstwhile Planning Commission

and National Development and Reform Commission of China during

the visit of Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to India in December

2010. It has served as an effective mechanism for enhancing bila teral

practical cooperation.

The dialogue will comprise of round table meetings of Joint Working

Groups (JWG) followed by technical site visits and closed door G2G

meetings.

SED will focus on collaboration between two countries on areas of

Infrastructure, Energy, Resource Conservation, High-Tech,

Pharmaceuticals and Policy coordination.

Know! more about SED

India-China SED was established in December 2010 between erstwhile

Planning Commission and National Development and Reform

Commission (NDRC) of China during the visit of then Chinese Prime

Minister Wen Jiabao to India.

Since then, the SED has served as an effective mechanism for enhancing

bilateral practical cooperation.

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