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Insights Daily Current Affairs, 08 June 2017

 


Insights Daily Current Affairs, 08 June 2017


 

Paper 2 Topic: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.

 

Agreement between India and Somalia on transfer of sentenced persons

 

The Union Cabinet has given its approval for signing and subsequent ratification of the Agreement on Transfer of sentenced persons between Indi and Somalia.

  • Signing the Agreement with Somalia shall facilitate the Indian prisoners imprisoned in Somalia or vice-versa to be near to their families, for serving remaining part of their sentence and shall facilitate their social rehabilitation.
  • The Government of India has signed bilateral Agreements on Transfer of Sentenced Persons with United Kingdom, Mauritius, Bulgaria, France, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Bangladesh, Brazil, Israel, Bosnia & Herzegovina, UAE, Italy, Turkey, Maldives, Thailand, Russian Federation, Kuwait, Vietnam, Australia, Hong Kong, Qatar, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Bahrain and Estonia.

 

india-somalia

 

Background:

Prior to 2004, there was no domestic legislation under which foreign prisoners could be transferred to the country of their origin to serve the remaining part of their sentence, nor was there a provision for the transfer of prisoners of Indian origin convicted by a foreign court to serve their sentence in India. The transfer of such prisoners to their own native countries shall facilitate their social rehabilitation.

Hence the Repatriation of Prisoners Act, 2003 was enacted for achieving the above purpose. For achieving the objectives of the Act, a treaty/agreement is required to be signed with countries having mutual interest with us on this matter.

 

Sources: pib.


 

Paper 2 Topic: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

 

‘Vatsalya – Maatri Amrit Kosh’

 

The ‘Vatsalya – Maatri Amrit Kosh’, a National Human Milk Bank and Lactation Counselling Centre was recently inaugurated at the Lady Hardinge Medical College (LHMC).

 

vatsalya amrut

What you need to know about this?

“Vatsalya – Maatri Amrit Kosh” is established in collaboration with the Norwegian government, Oslo University and Norway India Partnership Initiative (NIPI).

  • It is a national human milk bank and lactation counseling centre that will collect, pasteurize, test and safely store milk that has been donated by lactating mothers and make it available for infants in need.
  • In addition, this facility will protect, promote and support breastfeeding of their own healthy mothers by providing lactation support to mothers through dedicated lactation counsellors.
  • This project will not only act as a dedicated centre to support breastfeeding and improve infant survival but also act as the teaching, training and demonstration site for other milk banks to be established under the Ministry Of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

 

Sources: pib.


 

Paper 2 Topic: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

 

WHO revises antibiotics protocol

 

In an effort to curb antibiotic resistance, the World Health Organization (WHO) has divided the drugs into three categories — access, watch and reserve — specifying which are to be used for common ailments and which are to be kept for complicated diseases.

  • This is the biggest revision of the antibiotics section in the 40-year history of the essential medicines list (EML).

 

Categories:

  • Access: Commonly used antibiotics will be under the ‘access’ category. Antibiotics in this group will be available at all times as treatment for a wide range of common infections. This includes amoxicillin, a widely-used antibiotic to treat infections such as pneumonia.
  • Watch: The second line of antibiotics, slightly more potent, have been categorised under “watch”. The ‘watch’ group covers antibiotics that are recommended as first or second choice treatment for a small number of infections. Ciprofloxacin, used to treat cystitis (a type of urinary tract infection) and upper respiratory tract infections (like bacterial sinusitis and bacterial bronchitis), falls under this category. The WHO has recommended that prescription of these drugs should be dramatically reduced to avoid further development of resistance.
  • Reserve: Potent drugs to be used only as a “last resort” fall under the ‘reserve’ category. This group includes antibiotics such as colistin and some cephalosporins that should be considered last-resort options, and used only in the most severe circumstances when all other alternatives have failed, such as for life-threatening infections due to multidrug-resistant bacteria.

 

Significance of this move:

  • The new WHO list should help health system planners and prescribers ensure that people who need antibiotics have access to them, and ensure they get the right one, so that the problem of resistance doesn’t get worse.
  • The new categorisation will further guide countries in ensuring access to appropriate antibacterial agents and support antimicrobial stewardship effort.

 

Sources: the hindu.


 

Paper 2 Topic: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

 

Centre clears kambala Bill

 

The Union Ministry of Law and Justice has cleared the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Karnataka Amendment) Bill 2017, legalising kambala — the traditional slush track buffalo race — and will send it to the President for his assent.

  • The approval by the President will help in the smooth conduct of ‘kambala’ (the traditional slush track buffalo race) in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts of Karnataka.

 

kambala-buffalo-race

Background:

The Karnataka Legislative Assembly had cleared the Bill in February 2017. Governor had referred the Bill to the President for his assent. The Bill seeks to exempt kambala and bullock-cart racing from the ambit of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960.

 

About Kambala:

Kambla in its traditional form is non-competitive with buffalo pairs made to race one after another in paddy fields, which is considered a thanksgiving to the Gods for protecting the animals from diseases.

Over the years, it has however become an organised sport with animal rights activists claiming that the buffaloes run in the race due to fear of being beaten, which the organisers dismiss, saying no violence is involved and that several modifications had been made to ensure that it is an animal friendly event.

 

Sources: the hindu.


 

Paper 2 Topic: Important International institutions, agencies and fora, their structure, mandate. 

 

Astana to Host SCO Summit

 

Astana, the Kazakh capital is hosting the two-day summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

  • The 2017 summit would gather the leaders of China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and would be the first one with Islamabad and New Delhi as full-fledged members of the international organization.
  • The next summit of the organization would take place in 2018 in China.

 

astana

Background:

The SCO was established on June 15, 2001 in Shanghai by six countries. At the 2016 summit held in Uzbekistan, the SCO leaders signed memorandums on the accession of India and Pakistan to the organization.

 

Sources: the hindu.


 

Facts for Prelims:

 

Oldest Homo sapiens fossils discovered:

  • The oldest fossil remains of Homo sapiens, dating back to 300,000 years, have been found at a site in Jebel Irhoud, Morocco. This is 100,000 years older than previously discovered fossils of Homo sapiens that have been securely dated.
  • This marks the first discovery of such fossils in north Africa, and widens the “cradle of mankind” to encompass all of Africa.

 

Crete airport project in Greece:

  • GMR Infrastructure subsidiary GMR Airports Ltd., in partnership with Greek infrastructure firm Terna S.A., has bagged the project to develop, operate and manage the new international airport of Heraklion at Crete Island, Greece.
  • It will be the designated airport operator in the consortium for the greenfield project.

 

South Korea to freeze new THAAD deployment:

South Korea has suspended any further deployment of a controversial US missile defence system until an environmental impact assessment ordered by new President Moon Jae-In is finished.

What you need to know about THAAD missile?

The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or simply abbreviated as THAAD, is a missile defence system that is designed to intercept and destroy short and medium-range ballistic missiles in their final flight phase. First proposed in 1987 and then finally deployed in 2008, the THAAD cannot be used as a form of attack against an enemy. Its role, by use of a powerful radar, is to simply track and destroy missiles before they are launched.