Janasevaka program
Context :
The Karnataka government on 4th February propelled the Janasevaka scheme in a couple of metropolitan organization wards to guarantee home conveyance of different administrations like proportion cards, senior resident personality, and wellbeing cards. The plan, which was propelled by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, will relate to 53 administrations, including 11 divisions.
About Janasevaka program :
- Janasevaka, under the Sakala Plan, is a program to profit the advantages of government plans at the doorstep, especially for the assistance of Senior Residents.
- Chief Minister referenced that the goal is to make the lives of the residents of Karnataka simple by propelling this plan.
- Sakala intends to guarantee in-time conveyance of taxpayer driven organizations to residents by rehearsing inventive and proficient administration frameworks through limit working in government and enabling residents to practice their entitlement to support.
- On the off chance that the plan functions admirably, it will be executed across Bengaluru in all the 27 get together fragments, Kumar stated, including that based the analysis in Bengaluru, it will stretch out to Mysuru, Mangaluru, and Hubballi-Dharwad.
- Under the plan, there will be one volunteer in each ward. These volunteers have been re-appropriated.
Cost Free Help Line :
A cost-free helpline planned to set up for this plan, which will work from 8 am to 8 pm. An entirety of Rs 115 charged to give the home delivery administrations. Notwithstanding it, the Karnataka government has likewise chosen to look for data under the RTI Act simple by making it on the web. Individuals can apply from home by paying the charge on the web. This will make the procedure bother free, as mentioned by the Chief Minister.
Vikram Sarabhai
Context :
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) are conducting various events at national level in a year long programme to commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai.
About Vikram Sarabhai and his contributions :
Vikram Sarabhai was born on August 12, 1919. Sarabhai was instrumental in forming India’s future in astronomy and setting up the country’s space research facilities.
Key contributions :
- Based on his persuasion, the Indian government agreed to set up the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) in 1962.
- Sarabhai was the first chairman of the committee. The INCOSPAR was restructured and renamed as Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 1969.
- Sarabhai founded the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad in the year 1947. The laboratory started its operation from RETREAT, Sarabhai’s residence in Ahmedabad. Its first topic of research was cosmic rays.
- He also set up India’s first rocket launch site in Thumba,a small village near the Thiruvananthapuram airport in Kerala.
- Vikram Sarabhai was also responsible for bringing cable television to India. His constant contact with NASA paved a way for the establishment of Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) in 1975.
- Sarabhai was the mastermind behind building India’s first satellite, Aryabhata.
- He was one of the founding members of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA).
- Vikram Sarabhai received the Padma Bhushanin 1966 for his contribution to India’s progress. He was also awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1972, posthumously.
Scientists Discover Warm Water in Antarctica below Doomsday Glacier
Context :
Environmental change is quick, affecting the living creatures on land and sea the same. Because of the extraordinary increment in an unnatural weather change levels, the icy masses are softening at a higher rate than at any other time. No big surprise, the ocean levels are rising, and progressively seaside regions are getting inclined to the overwhelming impacts of this incredible wonder.
Thwaites Glacier :
As indicated by the news reports, the researchers have just found warm water underneath the Thwaites Glacier, which earned the epithet Doomsday Glacier for being Antarctica’s quickest softening ice sheets. Estimating 74000 sq mi, this ice sheet evaluated to be the size of Florida in the United States of America. This disclosure has raised an alert about the icy mass breakdown, which can prompt almost 3 ft to ascend in the ocean level. Where the ice sheet is in contact with the ocean has been recorded as 2-degree Celsius over the frosty temperature. The essentialness of Thwaites lies in the way that it eases back the ice behind it from effectively going into the sea.
Ice Break Down :
It isn’t clear, be that as it may, to discover the pace of decay of the icy mass. As indicated by contemplates, it may entirely fall in 100 years or a couple of decades. The warm water present in the establishing line alludes to the plausibility of a quick breakdown. Purportedly, a submerged robot called Icefin advanced underneath the outside of the dissolving icy mass and found the uncommonly warm temperature. It was a beautiful yellow remotely worked robot submarine that dropped through a 2300 ft profound gap, which was bored through the ice sheet.
The revelation is a piece of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration, a US-UK-based research firm that dives into the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica, analyzing how quickly it may dissolve. Analyst David Holland is now frightened to observe warm waters in a cool area like Antarctica that signs at the expanding a dangerous atmospheric deviation and environmental change all through the planet.
India develops new vaccine to control classical swine fever
Context :
The Indian Institute of Veterinary Research (IVRI) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has developed a new vaccine to control classical swine fever.
About the vaccine and it’s significance :
It is a live attenuated CSF cell culture vaccine (indigenous strain).
The indigenously developed vaccine will help in saving rabbits as the currently used vaccine (lapinized CSF vaccine) is produced by sacrificing large numbers of rabbits.
Besides, the new vaccine gives immunity for two years as compared to 3 to 6 months protection under the currently used vaccines.
The new vaccine will be a part of the government’s One Health Initiative.
What is Classical Swine Fever (CSF) :
Hog Cholera or Classical swine fever (CSF) is a contagious viral disease of domestic and wild swine.
It happens due to the viruses that bring viral diarrhea in pigs and ailments in sheep.
The disease does not harm humans but all-important precautions are advised to follow.
Concerns for India:
- Classical Swine Fever (CSF) is one of the biggest pigs’ diseases in India. It causes a loss of about 400 crores of rupees per year in India. This has led to a decrease in the population of pigs in 2019.
- India currently requires 22 million doses of the CSF (Classical Swine Fever) vaccine every year. However, currently, only 1.2 million doses are being produced. The reason behind its less production is that only 50 doses can be prepared from the spleen of a rabbit.
Sources: the Hindu.
Maharashtra tops list of States hit by global medical data leak
Context :
Greenbone Sustainable Resilience, a German cybersecurity firm, has published a report on medical data leak. This is the second report.
Key findings :
- Medical details of over 120 million Indian patients have been leaked and made freely available on the Internet.
- Leaks include a massive number of records, including images of CT scans, X-rays, MRIs and even pictures of the patients.
- The report also places Maharashtra at the top of the States affected by the leak. Followed by Karnataka.
Ranking of the countries :
This is the second edition of the report and it classifies countries in the “good”, “bad” and “ugly” categories based on the action taken by their governments after the first report was made public. India ranks second in the “ugly” category, after the U.S.
Concerns :
- The leak is worrying because the affected patients can include anyone from the common working man to politicians and celebrities. In image-driven fields like politics or entertainment, knowledge about certain ailments faced by people from these fields could deal a huge blow to their image.
- The other concern is of fake identities being created using the details, which can be misused in any possible number of ways.
Issues to be addressed :
The report says the leak was facilitated by the fact that the Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS) servers, where these details are stored, are not secure and linked to the public Internet without any protection, making them easily accessible to malicious elements.
Sources: the Hindu.