Daily Current Affairs 17 February 2020 | UPSC

Current Affairs Of Today Are

1) The urban bent­toed gecko: Cyrtodactylus Urbanus

• Guwahati, the largest city in the Northeast, has yielded a new species of lizard – the urban bent­toed gecko.
• The new species of lizard, zoologically named  Cyrtodactylus Urbanus, is markedly different in molecular structure, blotch, and color from the  Cyrtodactylus guwahatiensis, or the Guwahati bent­toed gecko, that was discovered two years ago.
• The study on the urban bent­toed gecko has been published in the latest edition of Zootaxa, a peer­reviewed scientific mega journal for animal taxonomists
• All bent­toed geckos in Northeast India were thought to be a single species, the Cyrtodactylus khasiensis found primarily in the Khasi Hills of Meghalaya.
• Though the urban bent-toed gecko falls within the khasiensis group, it differs from other members of this group in mitochondrial sequence data as well as aspects of morphology such as the number and arrangement of certain pores in males, the number of midventral scales and color pattern.
• Guwahati is home to 26 species of amphibians, 57 species of reptiles, 214 species of birds and 36 species of mammals. The city provides that edge for urban biodiversity to thrive because it encompasses 18 hills, eight reserve forests, two wildlife sanctuaries and a Ramsar site (wetland) besides the Brahmaputra river. 

Source: The Hindu

2) Melghat tribals free from thyroid Goitre

• For long, the massive enlarged thyroid glands among the Korku tribals living in Amravati’s Melghat region have puzzled doctors. Doctors would see Korkus, mainly women, with these abnormal growths, known as goiter, weighing over one to two kilograms. An annual surgery camp held at a remote hospital in Chikhaldara has however changed that. 
• While goiter remains prevalent, doctors now see smaller growths in the tribe. At the 19th annual camp held early this month, 16 people from the tribe — 13 women and three men — underwent goiter surgeries
• Lack of adequate medical attention is the main problem. They would seek medical help only when it became difficult to function with the growth on the neck
• Iodine deficiency is known as the common cause of goiter. But the staple diet of Korkus is fish, a rich source of iodine, and there is the availability of iodized salt too. Doctors believe there are genetic factors at play

What is Goitre?

• A goiter (GOI-tur) is an abnormal enlargement of your thyroid gland. Your thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland located at the base of your neck just below your Adam's apple. Although goiters are usually painless, a large goiter can cause a cough and make it difficult for you to swallow or breathe
• Iodine deficiency. Iodine is essential for the production of thyroid hormones and is found primarily in seawater and in the soil in coastal areas. In the developing world, people who live inland or at high elevations are often iodine deficient and can develop goiters when the thyroid enlarges to obtain more iodine. Iodine deficiency may be made worse by a diet high in hormone-inhibiting foods, such as cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower.

About Thyroid Gland

• Your thyroid gland produces two main hormones — thyroxine (T-4) and triiodothyronine (T-3). These hormones circulate in your bloodstream and help regulate your metabolism. They maintain the rate at which your body uses fats and carbohydrates, help control your body temperature, influence your heart rate, and help regulate the production of proteins.
• Your thyroid gland also produces calcitonin — a hormone that helps regulate the amount of calcium in your blood.
• Your pituitary gland and hypothalamus control the rate at which T-4 and T-3 are produced and released.

Source: The Hindu

3) ISRO to launch GISAT­-1

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is preparing to launch GISAT­1, a new earth observation satellite, in the first week of March.
• GISAT­1 — Geo Imaging Satellite — will be the first of two planned Indian EO spacecraft to be placed in a geostationary orbit of around 36,000 km. It will apparently be in a fixed spot looking over the Indian continent at all times.
• All Indian EOs have been placed so far in a 600­oddkm orbits and circle the earth pole to pole. GISAT­1 will be launched from the Sriharikota satellite launch center. “With this satellite, which has high­resolution cameras, we can keep a constant watch on our borders, monitor any changes in the geographical condition of the country, etc.,

Source: The Hindu

4) Railway Minister Piyush Goyal inaugurated the first phase of East-West Metro in Kolkata

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal inaugurated the first phase of East-West Metro in Kolkata.

About:

• The passenger's services in this 5.8 Kilometers stretch will run between Salt Lake’s Sector five and Salt Lake Stadium. The remaining 10.6 Kilometers starches of East-West Metro will be completed by December 2021.
• More than 2,400 crore rupees have been spent for the first phase of East-West Metro. On completion, it will connect two old cities Kolkata and Howrah.
• It will be Country’s first underwater train lines where trains will play in tunnels under river Hooghly. 

5) National Health Mission (NHM) Child Health Review 2019-­2020

• Madhya Pradesh has recorded the highest percentage of newborn deaths of 11.5% against the total admissions to government­run sick newborn care units (SNCUs) in the past three years across the country, a rate ominously spiraling since 2017, according to the National Health Mission (NHM). 
• The country’s average is 7%. 
• Although admissions of neonates (under 28 days) in the State have dropped from April 2017 to December 2019 remaining lower than West Bengal, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh — the percentage of deaths at 12.2% surpassed Bihar’s last year.
• Meanwhile, West Bengal, where 34,344 neonatal deaths occurred in the period, the most in the country, the declining percentage of deaths from 9.2% in 2017 to 8.9% in 2019 coincided with a slump in admissions. 

Reason for this

• Staff crunch, low community referrals, absence of a special neonatal transport service to health centers,  and the non­availability of enough units to cater to increasing institutional deliveries had contributed to the spike in the percentage of deaths
• We have just half of the required staff nurse's strength at the units across the State. For instance, in the Jabalpur unit, there are only 14 against a required 22 nurses
• As the units are located at hospitals with the delivery load of more than 3,000 infants per year, mostly in district headquarters, transporting neonates on time is crucial. “Although there is a dedicated service to transport pregnant women to hospitals from remote areas, there is none for neonates, who are mostly dependent on the 108 ambulance service

Gender and Area wise death

• Madhya Pradesh has also recorded an abysmal sex ratio in admissions. Even with a sex ratio of 931 as per the 2011 census, 663 girls were admitted against 1,000 boys in the three years, against the country average of 733.
• In almost three-fourths of the cases relating to boys, more admissions can be attributed to the prevailing bias against the girl child in society
• In Bhopal, the capital city of Madhya Pradesh, one in every five children admitted to a unit died in the three years — the highest death percentage of 19.9% in the State, ten times above the NHM’s mandated key performance indicator of below 2%.
• Urban areas report a higher death percentage as they offer tertiary care, and admit several serious cases from peripheral districts

6) India and Norway to work jointly towards mitigating marine plastic litter and microplastics; Issue Joint statement.

India marks the beginning of the super year of Biodiversity with the hosting of the 13th Conference of Parties (COP) of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), an environmental treaty under the aegis of United Nations Environment Programme, from 17th to 22nd February 2020 at Gandhinagar in Gujarat.

India – Norway Joint Statement on Climate and Environment

• Meeting at the beginning of the '2020 Super Year' for the environment, the Ministers stressed that they will do their share to ensure that the 2020s will be a decade of rapid action on climate and environment.
• The two sides expressed interest to continue and strengthen the mutually beneficial cooperation on the environment and climate between the two countries, including on ocean affairs.
• Actions that target climate change and air pollution at the same time pose a win-win situation. The two sides recognized that such actions should be stepped up, and agreed to work together to raise this agenda.
• The Ministers recognized that the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol for phasing down the use of Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) could prevent up to 0.40C of warming by end of the century, Further, noting that universal ratification of Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol shall allow the realization of its full potential.
• The Ministers noted the results of the projects supported by Norway on issues/aspects related to the phase-down of HFCs. It was agreed to continue such projects for facilitating a smooth transition towards energy-efficient solutions and technologies while phasing down HFCs.
• If managed properly, the ocean holds the key to meeting many of the Sustainable Development Goals. Integrated ocean management is central to achieving a sustainable blue economy. In 2019 Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Solberg welcomed the signing of the MoU on India-Norway Ocean Dialogue and the establishment of the Joint Task Force on Blue Economy for Sustainable Development. The two Ministers were pleased with the progress that has been made under this MoU, including the establishment of the Marine Pollution Initiative. They were particularly satisfied that Norway and India will sign a Letter of Intent on integrated ocean management including sustainable Blue Economy initiatives.
• The Ministers also noted the importance of delivering concrete, scalable solutions for ocean health and wealth at the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon in June 2020.
• The Ministers further noted the importance of sustainable management of chemicals and waste and welcomed the cooperation between India and Norway on the implementation of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and on the minimization of discharge of marine litter.
• The Ministers emphasized a shared understanding of the global and urgent nature of marine plastic litter and microplastics and underlined that this issue cannot be solved by any one country alone. They are committed to supporting global action to address plastic pollution and exploring the feasibility of establishing a new global agreement on plastic pollution.
• The Ministers agreed to support and work together with other political leaders to prompt a global and effective response to curb the direct and indirect drivers of biodiversity loss. They agreed to work together to deliver an ambitious, strong, practical and effective global biodiversity framework at COP15 of CBD to be held in Kunming, China, in 2020.
• The Ministers further discussed the conservation of migratory species of wild animals. The Ministers recognized the importance of integrating ecological connectivity into the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.
• The Ministers stressed that international supply chains and finance must de-invest from deforestation and destruction of nature and invest in companies and projects that improve smallholder livelihoods while promoting sustainable production and consumption. They agreed to continue the discussion on forests and deforestation-free supply chains.
• The Ministers stressed that the fifth United Nations Environment Assembly of the United Nations Environment Programme offers a good opportunity to call for greater international action on several environmental issues, in particular strengthening action for nature to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
• Minister Rotevatn thanked Minister Javadekar for the great hospitality extended to him and his delegation during the visit. He invited Minister Javadekar to visit Norway and the Arctic, to further strengthen the collaboration between India and Norway on climate and environment.
• Norway and India will explore areas of cooperation in forestry and linking the same with climate change

Source: PIB

7) India signs 14 MoUs with Russia for defense support

• In a step forward towards addressing the issue of regular spares and support for Russian military equipment with the armed forces, 14 MoUs were signed between Indian and Russian companies for setting up joint ventures covering a range of equipment from modern T-­90 tanks to legacy Pechora air defense systems.
• The MoUs were signed during the 5th India Russia military industry conference held during the Defexpo 2020 in Lucknow. They come under the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) on joint manufacturing of spares in India signed last September for mutual cooperation in the manufacturing of spares, components, aggregates and other material related to Russian or Soviet­origin arms and defense equipment.
• Lack of timely spares and support has been a constant issue faced by the military, a major part of which consists of Russian defense hardware.
• The first ‘Request for Proposal’ for manufacturing of parts in India under the provision of IGA was also handed over by the Navy to the identified Indian industry
• One important MoU was signed between the Bharat Dynamics Limited and the Almaz Antey of Russia for exploring the feasibility of a joint venture in India for the production of various subsystems of “air defense missile systems like Tunguska, Kavadrat, the OSA­AKA, Pechora air defense system as well as the Shilka self­propelled air defense gun system”. 
• There are also agreements on emerging technologies — Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, blockchain and robotics based on Russian technologies under the proposed Indo­Russian Joint Venture ICT Center of Excellence.

Source: The Hindu

8) Small altitude changes may significantly cut the climate impact of aircraft

• Altering the altitude of less than 2 percent of flights may reduce aircraft-linked climate change by 59 percent, according to a study.
• Aircraft contrails -- the white streaks aircraft left in the sky -- could be as bad for the climate as their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions
• The team led by scientists at Imperial College London in the UK found that flight altitude changes of just 2000 feet could lessen their effect.
• This combined with using cleaner aircraft engines could reduce contrail-caused harm to the climate by up to 90 percent, according to the study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
• Changing the altitude of a small number of flights could significantly reduce the climate effects of aviation contrails

About Contrails

• This new method could very quickly reduce the overall climate impact of the aviation industry
• When hot exhaust gases from aircraft meet the cold, low-pressure air of the atmosphere, they produce white streaks in the sky called 'condensation trails', or contrails.
• The contrail fumes include black carbon particles, which provide surfaces on which moisture condenses to form ice particles.
• Most contrails last only a few minutes, but some spread and mix with other contrails and cirrus clouds, forming 'contrail cirrus' that linger for up to eighteen hours
• Previous research suggests that contrails and the clouds they help form have as much of a warming impact on the climate as aviation's cumulative carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, because of an effect known as 'radiative forcing'. This is where the balance is disrupted between radiation coming to the Earth from the Sun and heat emitted from the surface of our planet going out to space, forcing a change in the climate, according to the researchers.
• The key difference between CO2 and contrails, however, is that while the gas will have an impact in the atmosphere for hundreds of years, the impact of contrails is short-lived, and could therefore quickly be reduced, they said.
• The researchers have used computer simulations to predict how changing aircraft altitudes might reduce the number of contrails and how long they linger, which would reduce their warming impact.
• This is because contrails only form and persist in thin layers of the atmosphere that have very high humidity, the researchers explained. Because these layers are thin, small changes to flight altitudes would mean that aircraft could avoid these regions, leading to fewer contrails forming
• Using data from Japan's airspace, the team found that just two percent of flights were responsible for 80 percent of radiation forcing within the airspace.
• A really small proportion of flights are responsible for the vast majority of contrail climate impact, meaning we can focus our attention on them
• Taking into account the congestion in the airspace above Japan, the team simulated these planes to fly either 2000 feet higher or lower than their actual flight paths.
• The researchers found that the contrail climate forcing could be cut by 59 percent by altering the altitudes of 1.7 percent of flights. The diversion in flight paths caused less than a tenth of a percent increase in fuel consumption.
• The reduced contrail formation more than offset the CO2 released by the extra fuel.

Source: DD News