04-07-22 Daily-Kerala-KPSC Current Affairs

Health Minister of Kerala, Veena George, recently confirmed the outbreak of Anthrax in Athirappilly of Thrissur district, after finding several carcasses of wild boar.

Anthrax is a serious infectious disease, which is caused by spore-forming bacteria.

It has usually been found in southern states of India. It is less frequently found in northern states.

The disease has been reported in Andhra Pradesh, Nadu, Jammu & Kashmir, Assam, Orissa and Karnataka.

Anthrax is also called as woolsorters disease or malignant pustule. It is a rare but serious disease, caused due to rod-shaped bacteria called Bacillus anthracis. These bacteria occur naturally in Soil. As per WHO, Anthrax is a disease of herbivores, affecting wild as well as domestic animals. It is a zoonotic disease; thus, it is transmissible from animals to humans. There are some cases of person-to-person transmission. However, it is a rare phenomenon.

Humans get infected with Anthrax disease directly or indirectly from animals or animal products. They get infected when spores enter the body, through eating contaminated food, drinking contaminated water, breathing, or through scrapes or cuts in the skin. After entering the body, spores get activated and start multiplying & spreading in body.

The PSLV Orbital Experimental Module is a platform which will perform in-orbit experiments through the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket.

It is a four-stage rocket in which first three spent stages will drop into the ocean and the final stage will end up as space junk after launching the satellite into orbit.

However, in PSLV-C53 mission, spent final stage will be used as a stabilised platform for performing the experiments.

POEM comprises of a dedicated Guidance and Control (NGC) system for Attitude stabilisation.

Governments think tank published its report titled Harnessing Green Hydrogen- Opportunities for Deep Decarbonisation in India. This report has been prepared in collaboration with Delhi-based think tank RMI India.

In its report, NITI Aayog has recommended to reduce or exempt the GST & Custom duties on production of green hydrogen, in order to boost the production in India.

It also proposed to set up green hydrogen corridors as well as offer grants to start-ups that are working on green hydrogen solutions domestically.

According to it, government should focus on bringing a cost reduction pathway for green hydrogen production in country.

-WEP report on Take-Home Ration, presents a set of good and innovative practices that have been adopted by states & UTs, in implementation of Take-Home Ration value chain.

Take-Home ration is provided by Government of India, under Supplementary Nutrition component of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS).

It is provided to fill the gap in nutrition amongchildren, and pregnant & lactating Women (PLW).

It suggests to build a robust system for procurement, standardized process, full coverage, Supply Chain Management & monitoring to ensure complete transparency, sustainability, leverages local ties, and bring a culture of collaboration and trust within a community.

Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) and Ministry of Skill development & (MSDE) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for creating a collaborative ecosystem, which will imparting skill development training in Capital Goods sector.

PARTNERSHIP between MHI and MSDE aims to facilitate training in several engineering trades.

Training will be facilitated through Qualification Packs (QPs), that have been developed by MHI related Sector Skill Councils (such as Infrastructure, Automotive, Instrumentation and Capital Goods).

Such QPs have been developed under phase two of the Scheme for Enhancement of Competitiveness in Capital Goods Sector.

The National Health Authority (NHA) and IRDAI has decided to develop a National Health Claims Exchange.

The National Health Claims Exchange will be developed as a digital platform, for settling the health claims.

National Health Authority implements Indias public health Insurance or assurance scheme called Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY)

In the index, four Indian cities viz., Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi, and Mumbai, have been ranked among top 20 sustainable cities.

In it, 36 cities were ranked on the basis of Urbanisation pressure, carbon emissions, Climate risk, and government initiatives.

Index has been topped by Singapore.

It is followed by Sydney, Wellington, Perth, and Melbourne.

These are the top five green-rated cities in commercial real estate in Asia-Pacific region.

Among the Indian cities, Bengaluru was ranked first. While in the Asia-Pacific region, it has been ranked 14^th.