Daily Current Affairs for UPSC IAS: 10th January 2023

New System To Measure And Grade Hospital Performance:

NHA is introducing a new system to measure and grade hospital performance under the flagship scheme Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY).

• The objective of the new system is to shift the focus of measuring performance of hospitals from volume of services provided to the value of healthcare services.
• The new initiative will introduce the concept of ‘value- based care’, where payment will be outcome based and providers will be rewarded according to the quality of the treatment delivered.
• Under the new model, the providers will be rewarded for helping the patients improve their health, which consequently will reduce the effects of disease in the population in the long term.
• Under value-based care, the performance of AB PM-JAY empanelled hospitals will be measured based on five performance indicators such as: 1. Beneficiary Satisfaction; 2. Hospital Readmission Rate; 3. The extent of Out-of-Pocket Expenditure; 4. Confirmed Grievances and 5. Improvement in-patient’s Health-Related Quality of Life.

National Health Authority (NHA):

• It is the apex body responsible for implementing AB PM-JAY. It has been entrusted with the role of designing strategy, building technological infrastructure and implementation of “National Digital Health Mission” to create a National Digital Health Eco-system.
• It is the successor of the National Health Agency, which was functioning as a registered society since 2018. Pursuant to Cabinet decision for full functional autonomy, National Health Agency was reconstituted as the National Health Authority in January 2019.
• An attached office of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare with full functional autonomy, NHA is governed by a Governing Board chaired by the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare.
• It is headed by a Chief Executive Officer (CEO), an officer of the rank of Secretary to the Government of India, who manages its affairs. The CEO is the Ex-Office Member Secretary of the Governing Board.
• To implement the scheme at the State level, State Health Agencies (SHAs) in the form of a society/trust have been set up by respective States.

Molecular Sponge-Like Material To Remove Contamination From Water:

Team at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune came up with a custom-designed unique molecular sponge-like material macro/microporous ionic organic framework, which can swiftly clean, polluted water by soaking up contaminants.

• Commonly utilised sorbent materials often trap these pollutants through ion-exchange strategy to purify water but suffer from poor kinetics and specificity.
• To mitigate this issue, IISER has prepared a newly engineered material called viologen-unit grafted organic-framework (iVOFm).
• The material employs amalgamation of electrostatics driven ion-exchange combined with nanometer-sized macropores and specific binding sites for the targeted pollutants.
• The size and number of tunable macropores along with the strong electrostatic interaction of iVOFm can quickly remove various toxic pollutants from water.
• The fast pollutant trapping capacity is attributed to faster diffusion of pollutants through the ordered interconnected presence of macropores in the material.
• This cationic compound is adaptable for sequestering various pollutants and is a possible solution to the water pollution problem.

iVOFm:

• Viologen-unit grafted organic-framework (iVOFm) is a unique molecular sponge-like material to clean polluted water by soaking up the contaminants in it.
• There are carcinogenic pollutants in freshwater sources that are removed using sorbent materials and ion-exchange techniques, but these techniques are not effective enough. iVOFm aims to improve this.
• iVOFm employs amalgamation of electrostatics driven ion-exchange combined with nanometer-sized macropores and specific binding sites for the targeted pollutants.
• The inherent cationic nature of iVOFm and macroporosity allows fast diffusion of pollutants.
• Unlike normal sorbent materials, this material is found to be very selective toward toxic pollutants. It can be used several times just like a bath sponge.

Joshimath Declared a Landslide Subsidence Zone:

Due to land subsidence, Joshimath – a key transit point for tourists travelling to Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib – developed cracks, causing panic and protests among the local population.

• Joshimath has been declared a landslide-subsidence zone and over 60 families living in uninhabitable houses in the sinking town have been evacuated to temporary relief centres.
• Cracks on walls and buildings were first reported in 2021, as Chamoli district of Uttarakhand experienced frequent landslides and flooding.
• As per reports, the Uttarakhand government’s expert panel in 2022 found that several pockets of Joshimath are “sinking” owing to man-made and natural factors.
• It was found that a gradual settling or sudden sinking of the earth’s surface due to the removal or displacement of subsurface materials has induced structural defects and damage in almost all wards of the city.
• Joshimath is a hilly town located on the Rishikesh-Badrinath National Highway (NH-7) in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand.
• The city serves as a tourist town as it acts as an overnight rest stop for people visiting Badrinath, Auli, Valley of Flowers, and Hemkund Sahib, among other important religious and tourist locations in the state.

MV Ganga Vilas : World’s Longest River Cruise

The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways stated that the Prime Minister of India will flag off the world’s longest river cruise ‘MV Ganga Vilas’ from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh on the 13th of January 2023.

• The luxury cruise will cover a distance of more than 3,200 kilometres across 27 river systems in five States in India and Bangladesh.
• The 51 days cruise is planned with visits to 50 tourist spots including World Heritage Sights, National Parks, river Ghats, and major cities like Patna in Bihar, Sahibganj in Jharkhand, Kolkata in West Bengal, Dhaka in Bangladesh and Guwahati in Assam.
• The MV Ganga Vilas vessel is 62 meters in length and 12 meters in width.
• It has three decks, and 18 suites on board with a capacity of 36 tourists, with all the amenities to provide a memorable and luxurious experience for the tourists.
• The ship follows sustainable principles at its core as it is equipped with pollution-free mechanisms and noise control technologies.

Parshuram Kund Festival:

The Arunachal Pradesh government informed that Parshuram Kund Festival (PKF), is to be celebrated from 12 to 16 January 2023.

• Parshuram Kund Festival is a Hindu pilgrimage site situated on the Brahmaputra plateau in the lower reaches of the Lohit River and 21 km north of Tezu in the Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh, India.
• Devotees and sadhus take a holy dip in its water each year on the occasion of Makar Sankranti, in January.
• It is also known as the Kumbh of the Northeast.
• It is dedicated to a mythological figure sage Parshuram.
• This popular festival attracts pilgrims from Nepal, from across India, and from nearby states of Manipur and Assam.
• The project “Development of Parasuram Kund is sanctioned under the Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive’ (PRASHAD) Scheme of the Ministry of Tourism.

New Species Of Dwarf boa:

Scientists have discovered a new species of dwarf boa in the Ecuadoran Amazon and named it after an Indigenous activist.

• Dwarf boa belongs to the family Tropidophiidae living high in the cloud forests of northeastern Ecuador.
• The species is unusual for having a “vestigial pelvis” characteristic of primitive snakes and taken as evidence by some that snakes descended from lizards that lost their limbs over millions of years.
• Its habitat includes tropical piedmont and lower evergreen montane forests.
• The snake is alight brown in coloration with noticeable black blotches on the belly and muted blotches running down the back.
• Dark brown pigmentiaotn is found through the center of the head.

SPRINT Scheme:

The Indian Navy has recently inked an agreement with Sagar Defence Engineering Pvt. Ltd for acquiring armed autonomous boat swarms under the ‘SPRINT’ initiative.

• ‘SPRINT’ Scheme is an initiative to promote development of niche defence technologies by domestic companies.
• The task of development of this technology is one of the 75 challenges that have been introduced by the Indian Navy under Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav last year.
• To achieve ‘Aatmanirbharta’ in defence, Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Organisation (NIIO), in conjunction with the Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO), aims to induct at least 75 new indigenous technologies/products into the Indian Navy till august 2023.
• This collaborative project is named SPRINT {Supporting Pole-Vaulting in R&D through Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX), NIIO and Technology Development Acceleration Cell (TDAC)}.
• It was launched by Prime Minister in July, 2022.
• It will transform Navy from a ‘Buyer’s Navy’ to a ‘Builder’s Navy.

Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Organisation (NIIO):

• Defence Ministry had launched the NIIO in August 2020, to encourage innovation and indigenisation for self-reliance in defence sector.
• Naval Technology Acceleration Council (N-TAC) will bring together the twin aspects of innovation and indigenization and provide apex level directives.
• Working group under the N-TAC will implement the projects.
• Technology Development Acceleration Cell (TDAC) has been created for induction of emerging disruptive technology in an accelerated time frame.