Daily Current Affairs for UPSC IAS: 19th April 2023

Digital Health Summit 2023:

Digital Health Summit 2023 was organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Goa.

Major Highlights of Digital Health Summit 2023:

• It highlighted the importance of digital health innovations and how they can empower exponential medicine, including 3D printing, point-of-care diagnostics, robots, bioinformatics, and genomics.
• It aims to create a digital public goods framework to promote standards for interoperability, data privacy, and data security.
• It emphasised the need for “citizen-centric” digital health systems with equitable access to high-quality treatments.
• It also highlighted that health-tech is the most significant aspect of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and taking pre-emptive steps remains the key.

Animal Pandemic Preparedness Initiative:

The Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying has launched an Animal Pandemic Preparedness Initiative (APPI) under One Health Approach to address the threat of diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans.

• One Health approach recognizes the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health.
• The Ministry has also launched Animal Health System Support for One Health (AHSSOH) project, funded by the World Bank.
• Animal Pandemic Preparedness Initiative (APPI) is in line with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global One Health strategy, which emphasizes the importance of multisectoral collaboration in addressing the threat of zoonotic diseases.
• It will help to improve veterinary services and infrastructure, disease surveillance capabilities, early detection and response, build the capacity of animal health professionals, and awareness among farmers through community outreach.
• The initiative aims to enhance India’s preparedness and response capabilities to prevent and control zoonotic diseases, thereby safeguarding the health of both animals and humans.

First Global Buddhist Summit:

PM will inaugurate the first Global Buddhist Summit in New Delhi on April 20th and 21st.

• Conducted by the Ministry of Culture+ International Buddhist Confederation (IBC)
• Theme: “Responses to Contemporary Challenges: Philosophy to Praxis.”
• The summit aims to enhance cultural and diplomatic relationships with other countries and mark the significance and importance of India in Buddhism, as Buddhism was born in India.
• The summit is an effort towards engaging the global “Buddhist Dhamma” leadership and scholars on the matters of Buddhist and universal concerns, and to come up with policy inputs to address them collectively.
• The discussion at the summit will explore how the Buddha Dhamma’s fundamental values can provide inspiration and guidance in contemporary settings.
• The summit will witness the participation of eminent scholars, Sangha leaders and Dharma practitioners from all over the world, who will discuss pressing global issues and look for answers in the Buddha Dhamma that is based on universal values.

Jivhala Scheme : Maharashtra Govt

Jivhala scheme offers loans to Yerwada jail inmates in Maharashtra.

• Jivhala scheme is a loan scheme named Jivhala  launched by the Maharashtra Department of Prisons.
• It is for the inmates who are serving sentences in various jails across Maharashtra.
• The scheme, was implemented by the Department of Prisons and Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank.
• It has been started in Pune’s Yerawada Central Jail.
• The credit scheme, named Jivhala, means affection in Marathi.
• It is primarily for inmates who are undergoing a prison sentence of more than three years.
• In the initial phase of this scheme, a Rs 50,000 loan will be given.
• The interest rate that will be applicable is 7%.
• Out of the interest that will be earned by the bank, 1 per cent will be contributed by the bank to the prisoners’ welfare fund.
• For issuing this loan no guarantor or mortgage is required

The Olkiluoto 3 Reactor:

Europe’s most powerful nuclear reactor, The Olkiluoto 3 reactor has completed its test phase in Finland.

• The Olkiluoto 3 reactor is an EPR (European Pressurized Water Reactor).
• It is the first new-generation EPR, or European Pressurized Reactor, plant to have gone online in Europe.
• It is located in Finland and built by the French-led Areva-Siemens consortium.
• It is the most powerful nuclear reactor in Europe with capacity of generating 1,600 megawatts.
• Its Construction began in 2005.
• It covers approximately 14% of Finland’s electricity demand.

India Ransomware Report 2022:

The Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT-In) has reported that ransomware attacks are not only motivated by money but also by geopolitical conflicts.

• Ransomware is a type of malicious software or malware that is designed to block access to a computer system, network, or data until a ransom is paid.

Major findings :

• The number of reported ransomware attacks in India in 2022 was 53% higher than in 2021
• Target Ransomware attacks targeted critical infrastructure organizations to disrupt services and extract ransom payments
  Sector most impacted The IT/ITeS sector in India was the most impacted by ransomware attacks, followed by the finance and manufacturing sectors
• Most prevalent variants Lockbit was the most prevalent ransomware variant in India, followed by Makop and DJVU/Stop, Makop and Phobos; Vice Society and BlueSky were new variants
• The RaaS (Ransomware-as-a-service) ecosystem is becoming more prominent, allowing even non-technical individuals to launch ransomware attacks
• The restoration time is about 10 days for infections in reasonably large infrastructure networks

World Hemophilia Day 2023:

World Hemophilia Day was recently observed to raise awareness about the rare blood disorder and help those suffering from it lead a better life.

• Hemophilia Day was first commemorated by the World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) in 1989 in remembrance of Frank Schnabel, who was born on April 17, 1942, and spent his entire life working to make the lives of those who were affected by Hemophilia.
• The theme for World Hemophilia Day 2023 is “Access for All: Prevention of Bleeds as the Global Standard of Care”.
• Hemophilia is a genetic disorder that affects the body’s ability to form blood clots.
• People with hemophilia have deficiencies or abnormalities in certain clotting factors, which are proteins that help the blood clot.
• It is caused by a mutation or change, in one of the genes, that provides instructions for making the clotting factor proteins needed to form a blood clot.
• Symptoms: Signs and symptoms of hemophilia vary, depending on the level of clotting factors.
• Males are much more likely to have hemophilia than are females.

Mangrove Pitta : Recently Sighted

Odisha forest officials have recently sighted 179 mangrove pitta birds in the first ever census conducted of these exotic and colourful birds in the country.

• Mangrove Pitta is a species of passerine bird in the Pittidae family native to Southeast Asia and South Asia.
• Scientific Name: Pitta megarhyncha
• Distribution: Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, and Thailand (primarily the west coast of the southern Thai peninsula).
• It is found in mangrove and nipa palm forests where it feeds on crustaceans, mollusks and insects.
• They are colourful birds which have black head with brown crown, white throat, greenish upper parts, buff under-parts and reddish vent area.
• Conservation Status:
  • IUCN: Near Threatened

Blastomycosis Infection In The United States:

At least one person died and around 100 were confirmed or suspected to be infected by blastomycosis in the United States.

• Blastomycosis is an infection caused by a fungus of the genus Blastomyces.
• It is found in moist soil and decomposing wood and leaves in the mid-western, south-central and south-eastern states of the US.
• The microscopic spores from the fungus can get dispersed in the air and travel freely.
• Human beings can contract blastomycosis by inhaling the spores.
• It is not contagious between animals and people through the air.
• The symptoms of blastomycosis in animals are similar to the symptoms in humans.
• Symptoms: Fever, Cough, Breathing difficulty and muscle aches etc.
• Treatment: Itraconazole is a type of antifungal medication that is typically used to treat mild to moderate blastomycosis.

Naval Defence Drills In The Sea Of Japan:

Russia’s Pacific Fleet recently conducted naval defence drills in the Sea of Japan.

• Sea of Japan is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean.
• It is located in Eastern Asia that is bounded by Japan and Sakhalin Island to the east and by Russia and Korea on the Asian mainland to the west.
• Its area is 377,600 square miles (978,000 square km).
• The sea itself lies in a deep basin, separated from the East China Sea to the south by the Tsushima and Korea straits and from the Sea of Okhotsk to the north by the La Perouse (or Sōya) and Tatar straits.
• To the east it is also connected with the Inland Sea of Japan by the Kanmon Strait and to the Pacific by the Tsugaru Strait.
• It influences the climate of Japan because of its relatively warm waters.
• There are no large islands in the Sea of Japan. Except for the South Korean island of Ulleungdo, all the other small islands are situated near the eastern coast of the sea.

Stablecoins:

The United States Congress recently made an attempt to create a legislative framework for the increasingly popular stablecoins.

• Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies whose value is pegged, or tied, to that of another currency, commodity, or financial instrument.
• Stablecoins aim to provide an alternative to the high volatility of the most popular cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC).
• Unlike cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, stablecoins’ prices remain steady, in accordance with whichever fiat currency backs them.
• Stablecoin are open, global, and accessible to anyone on the internet.
• They’re fast, cheap and secure to transmit.

Cryptocurrency:

• Cryptocurrencies are digital or virtual currencies in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of their units and verify the transfer of funds.
• These currencies operate independently of a central bank.
• The economic transactions underlying cryptocurrency are decentralized, distributed and disbursed.
• The first and most famous cryptocurrency, bitcoin was introduced in 2009.

India-Brazil-South Africa Forum:

The trilateral India-Brazil-South Africa forum is likely to receive increased diplomatic focus, according to persons aware of the matter.

• IBSA Forum is a Trilateral Dialogue Forum of India, Brazil and South Africa which was created in the year 2003.
• The grouping was formalised under the name of the IBSA Dialogue Forum under the Brasilia Declaration.
• Objective is Promoting ever closer coordination on global issues between the three large multicultural and multiracial democracies of Asia, South America and Africa, and contributing to enhancing trilateral India-Brazil-South Africa cooperation in sectoral areas.
• IBSA Fund was established in 2004 which facilitates the execution of human development projects to advance the fight against poverty and hunger in developing countries.
• It is managed by the UN Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC).