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The Union government’s scheme to provide 5 kg of free foodgrains every month to 80 crore Indians, which is slated to end this December, will be extended for another five years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mr. Modi made the announcement while addressing a poll rally in Durg district of Chhattisgarh.
The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) was introduced in 2020 as a pandemic relief measure, providing 5 kg of free foodgrains per beneficiary a month in addition to the 5 kg of subsidised foodgrains they were entitled to under the National Food Security Act.
In December 2022, as PMGKAY came to an end after multiple extensions, the Union Cabinet decided to make NFSA rations free for one year. That will now be extended further, the PM announced.
News
IL-38s that heralded long-range surveillance for Navy fly into sunset (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
A journey that commenced on October 1, 1977, with the commissioning of the Indian Naval Air Squadron (INAS) 315 at Goa, ends with the de-induction of the IL-38 today, said Commander Mrinmoy Ghosh.
Cheers erupted from the crowd while several became emotional reminiscing their long association with the aircraft that served for 46 years.
The IL-38 Sea Dragon heralded long-range maritime surveillance for the force and now the Navy has Dorniers at the lower end and the P-8Is at the higher end of surveillance and is looking to induct C-295 aircraft in the medium-range maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) role in the future, in addition to adding more long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles.
The aircraft (IL-38) has laid the foundation for long-range patrol as well as anti-submarine warfare (ASW) for the Indian Navy.
It has good electronic intelligence, signal Intelligence and sensor capability. We used the aircraft in all major operations and exercises.
Over a period of time it gets difficult to maintain the aircraft, and its coming to the end of its service life. Old has to give way to new,” the Navy chief.
World
Ranil questions ‘double standards’ of U.S. in Gaza and Sri Lanka (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has accused the West, and the U.S. in particular, of “double standards” in addressing human rights concerns in Gaza and Sri Lanka.
All measures taken to combat terrorism must comply fully with states’ obligation under international law. In particular, international human rights law, at the inauguration of a courts complex.
Naming the U.S. and Canada, Mr. Wickremesinghe said: “They all got together and passed a resolution against Sri Lanka”.
He was referring to the October 2022 resolution passed by the UN Human Rights Council that, among other things, called upon the Sri Lankan government to ensure the “prompt, thorough and impartial investigation and, if warranted, prosecution of all alleged crimes relating to human rights violations.”
Contending that “what applies to us must also apply in Gaza,” Mr. Wickremesinghe said: “What the U.S. has told us, they must also ensure is enforced in Gaza.”
Science
Quick detection of drug-resistant H. pylori possible (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
A two-step PCR-based assay of a small region of the Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) bacteria can help detect H. pylori infection and also identify clarithromycin-resistant bacteria and those which are drug-sensitive in six-seven hours has been developed by a team of researchers from the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (ICMR-NICED), Kolkata.
Since H. pylori bacteria grow slowly, it takes about a week to culture the bacteria and a couple of more weeks to test for drug-sensitivity, which the new diagnostic assay bypasses.
The molecular-based assay has been found to have 100% sensitivity and specificity. There is an increasing trend of clarithromycin-resistant H. pylori bacteria in India leading to a decreasing success rate in treating the infection.
Most of the infections caused by the bacterium H. pylori are asymptomatic, 10–15% of them develop peptic ulcer disorders or stomach cancer.
In India, H. pylori infections affect 60-70% of the population. H. pylori infection is often acquired during childhood and remains in the stomach throughout life if not treated with antibiotics effectively.
So, if someone suffers from gastroduodenal diseases along with the detection ofH. pyloriinfection, eradication of the bacteria provides the most effective treatment. Importantly, H. pylori infection is one of the robust known risk factors for gastric cancer.
FAQ
Why did India abstain from the call for truce? (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
On October 26, nearly three weeks after the terror strikes by Hamas on Israel, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) voted on a resolution calling for an “immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce” in the hostilities, that was voted for by 120 member countries, while 14 countries voted against it.
India was amongst 45 countries that abstained, a vote for which the government has received criticism from the Opposition, with many calling India’s vote a “break from the past”.
Israel, that has conducted an incessant bombardment of the Gaza Strip over the past month, where two million civilians are trapped, rejected the UNGA vote, calling it “despicable”.
Explaining India’s vote this week, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said that India’s vote was consistent with its stand on terrorism, adding that India takes a strong position on it because Indians are “big victims of terrorism”. In particular, government sources said that UNGA resolution (A/ES-10/L.25) lacked an “explicit condemnation” of the October 7 terror attacks by Hamas, in which 1,405 Israelis were killed, and about 240 were taken as hostages by Hamas militants.
The UNGA resolution did condemn acts of violence against Palestinian and Israeli civilians “including terrorism”, and also called for the immediate unconditional release of the hostages.
However, India had wanted more, voting in favour of an amendment authored by Canada that would have inserted more specific references, that was not passed by the UNGA.
Significantly, none of the government’s own formal statements since October 7, including India’s “Explanation of Vote” delivered after the resolution was passed, have named Hamas directly, nor have readouts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s conversations with foreign leaders since the attacks referred to Hamas.
New Delhi has also not as of yet designated Hamas a terror group, something Israeli Ambassador to India Naor Gilon has demanded.
What is the status of Kavach installations? (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
The deadly collision between two passenger trains in southern India’s Vizianagaram district in Andhra Pradesh which killed 14 people and injured fifty persons could have been averted if Traffic Collision Avoidance Systems (TCAS) were in place.
East Coast Railway officials indicated that the indigenously developed TCAS called ‘Kavach,’ was not installed on the route where the Visakhapatnam-Palasa and Visakhapatnam-Rayagada trains collided.
Kavach is a cab signalling train control system with anti-collision features. Simply put, it plays the role of a watchdog over the existing signalling system.
It was developed over a period of 10 years, starting in 2012, by the Indian Railways Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO).
Kavach is designed to give out warnings to the loco pilot in case he does not notice the ‘red signal,’ and instead of stopping, is going to overshoot the signal.
After giving warnings on the locopilot’s display, if the pilot does not slow down below 15 kilometres per hour, the Kavach system automatically applies brakes to bring the train to a halt.
In the Kavach set-up, the railway stations along the route where this tech is sanctioned to be deployed are provided with three components.
First is Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology in the tracks. RFID tech uses radio waves to identify people or objects.
It uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and read information contained in a wireless device from a distance without making physical contact or requiring a line of sight.
Secondly, the locomotive, which is the driver’s cabin, is provided with RFID readers, computer, and brake interface equipment. And finally, radio infrastructure which are towers and modems are installed at railway stations.
Business
‘Oligopolies’ control over rare earths is key green transition snag’ (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Countries’ energy transition efforts face significant uncertainty due to the oligopolistic control over mining and processing of rare earth elements that were critical to scale up green technologies, Chief Economic Advisor V. Anantha Nageswaran observed, adding that external funding to help developing countries move away from fossil fuels could also be potentially ‘weaponised’
The CEA also urged investors in developing countries’ green transitions to not let greed dominate the creation of public goods and expect to ‘have their cake and eat it too’ by pushing for higher returns on investments even as they sought risk mitigation interventions.
Stressing that public investments must play a major role in green transitions, he pointed out that major transformation efforts such as post-World War II reconstruction, space exploration and the development of the Internet were driven by the public sector for a reason.
Public investment in carbon sequestration, carbon sinks, battery storage technologies and green hydrogen will obviate problems with intellectual property rights and help assert the global public nature of solutions at The Energy Transition Dialogues hosted by Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet earlier this week.