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8th JANUARY, 2024
PRASADAM: India’s first health food street launched in Ujjain
- The Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare recently inaugurated ‘PRASADAM,’ India’s first Healthy & Hygienic Food Street at Neelkanth Van, Mahakal Lok in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh.
- PRASADAM aims to connect people across the country with pure and safe local and traditional food, aligning with the vision of ‘Viksit Bharat.’
- The food street provides various facilities, including a kids’ play area, drinking water, CCTV surveillance, parking, public conveniences, and seating spaces.
- ‘Prasadam’ enhances Ujjain’s tourism and preserves its culinary heritage, contributing to economic development.
- Financial support is extended to states and Union Territories under the National Health Mission, with funding distribution ratios of either 60:40 or 90:10.
- Standard branding of these food streets will follow FSSAI guidelines, with Neelkanth Van, Mahakal Lok in Ujjain being the first of 100 food streets planned across the country.
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About ‘Viksit Bharat’ Vision:
- ‘Viksit Bharat@2047’ envisions transforming India into a developed nation by its 100th year of independence in 2047.
- The vision covers multiple development aspects such as economic growth, social progress, environmental sustainability, and good governance, among others.
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Inland Waterways Development Council
- The Inland Waterways Authority of India is hosting the inaugural meeting of the ‘Inland Waterways Development Council’ in Kolkata, addressing key issues related to the advancement of inland waterways.
- The comprehensive agenda includes initiatives like “Harit Nauka – Guidelines for Green Transition of Inland Vessels” and the “River Cruise Tourism Roadmap 2047.”
- The meeting focuses on fairway development, private sector engagement, and optimizing cargo transport efficiency in Inland Water Transport (IWT).
- It also aims to promote eco-friendly vessels for passenger transportation, explore economic benefits in river cruise tourism, and advocate for sustainable practices in inland waterways development.
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About Inland Waterways Development Council:
- The Government of India founded it in October 2023 with the aim of comprehensively developing inland waterways and the associated Inland Water Transport (IWT) ecosystem.
- The focus is on enhancing cargo efficiency, facilitating passenger movement, and promoting river cruise tourism, with the active involvement of States and Union Territories.
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9th JANUARY, 2024
Voice Cloning: AI-generated voice scam
- In India, voice clone fraud is on the rise, with a May report showing that 47% of surveyed individuals have been impacted by an AI-generated voice scam, nearly double the global average.
- India stands out globally with the highest number of victims to AI voice scams.
- According to McAfee, 66% of Indians are likely to respond to urgent calls appearing to be from a friend or family member seeking money.
- The report highlighted effective excuses like messages claiming the sender was robbed (70%), in a car accident (69%), lost their phone or wallet (65%), or needed financial aid while traveling abroad (62%).
- Additionally, the report revealed that 86% of Indians share their voice data online or via voice notes at least once a week, making these tools highly potent in fraudulent activities.
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India’s first national landslide susceptibility map
- Following severe monsoon-induced floods and landslides, an IIT Delhi team has created India’s first national landslide susceptibility map.
- Using 1.5 lakh known landslides from sources like Geological Survey of India and 16 conditioning factors, including soil cover and proximity to roads, the team employed ensemble machine learning methods for analysis.
- The high-resolution map (100 sqm. resolution) provides a detailed overview of landslide susceptibility in India, revealing both known and previously unrecognized risk areas.
- Recognizable areas like the Himalayan foothills, Assam-Meghalaya region, and Western Ghats showed high susceptibility, while new risk zones were identified, including parts of the Eastern Ghats north of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
- Accessible online, the map is available to the public, allowing anyone to interact with the data without requiring technical expertise.
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10th JANUARY, 2024
Bio-Imaging Bank
- Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai, India, the largest cancer hospital, is using AI for early cancer detection through a ‘Bio-Imaging Bank.’
- The bank includes radiology and pathology images, clinical details, treatment specifics, and metadata, serving as a resource for training and testing AI algorithms.
- Deep learning is applied to create cancer-specific algorithms for early detection, utilizing data from 60,000 patients.
- Initially focused on head and neck cancers and lung cancers, the project aims to have at least 1000 patients for each cancer type.
- The project addresses tasks like screening for lymph node metastases, nucleus segmentation, classification, predicting biomarkers, and therapy response prediction.
- Funding comes from the Department of Biotechnology, in collaboration with IIT-Bombay, RGCIRC-New Delhi, AIIMS-New Delhi, and PGIMER-Chandigarh.
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SBI report’s arguments against India’s recovery being K-shaped
- A “K-shaped recovery” means different parts of the economy recover at different rates after a recession, unlike a uniform recovery.
- In India, despite robust overall economic growth, there is growing inequality in how different sectors recovered post-pandemic.
- The report focuses on income, savings, consumption, expenditure patterns, and public welfare policies.
- It questions the use of old indicators like low two-wheeler sales or fragmented land holdings to assess recovery.
- For example, low two-wheeler sales might indicate increased savings used for buying real estate or a shift to purchasing used/entry-level cars.
- Zomato data illustrates rising disposable income in non-metro areas.
- Referring to income tax data for FY22, the report notes a decline in the Gini coefficient from 0.472 to 0.402 between FY14 and FY22.
- It points out that 36.3% of individual tax return filers in the lowest income group in FY14 have moved up to higher income groups.
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Mulya Pravah 2.0
- Mulya Pravah 2.0 guidelines from the University Grants Commission (UGC) aim to promote ethics and values in higher education.
- Introduced due to unethical practices highlighted in a survey, such as favoritism, sexual harassment, and gender discrimination.
- Focuses on building value-based institutions by instilling respect for fundamental duties, constitutional values, and national bonding.
- Emphasizes transparent administration, unbiased decision-making, and ethical standards for the institution’s and public’s interest.
- Encourages integrity, fairness, respect for constitutional values, inclusiveness, and global citizenship.
- Stresses the importance of confidentiality but also supports the right to information for accountability.
- Teachers are expected to be role models, maintaining good conduct, and staff and students’ unions should support administration constructively.
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11th JANUARY, 2024
DRDO’s counter-drone system
- The DRDO has finished developing its counter-drone system, ready for production.
- It’s a comprehensive system for detecting, identifying, and neutralizing drones, effective against different types, including micro drones.
- The technology can counter attacks, use soft and hard kill measures.
- Users can customize it for various challenges.
- Transfer of Technology (ToT) has been provided to private industries like BEL, Adani, L&T, and Icom.
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Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra
- PM Modi recently interacted with Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra (VBSY) beneficiaries after its 50-day completion, connecting with around 11 crore people.
- During the drive, nearly 12 lakh new applications were received for Ujjwala connections and various other schemes like Suraksha Bima Yojana, Jeevan Jyoti Yojana, and PM SVANidhi.
- Health checkups covered over 2 crore people, including one crore TB checkups and 22 lakh sickle cell checkups.
- The government aims to expand the beneficiary count to two crore through initiatives like the “NaMo Drone Didi Scheme,” which showcased a demonstration of around one lakh drones during VBSY.
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Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra:
- Aim: Promote and publicize government welfare schemes.
- Enroll potential beneficiaries by collecting details during the yatra.
- Schemes covered: Ayushman Bharat, PMJAY, PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana, and others.
- Target: Cover over 2.55 lakh Gram Panchayats and over 3,600 urban local bodies by January 25, 2024.
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Momentum Investing
- Momentum investing dominates performance charts.
- It involves buying assets with rising prices and selling those with falling prices.
- Contrary to traditional advice, it follows a “buy high, sell higher” philosophy.
- Investors hope that upward momentum continues, allowing profitable future sales.
- Momentum investing can outperform benchmark indices, generating high returns.
- However, it carries the risk of unsustainable price movements and potential heavy losses for investors.
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12th JANUARY, 2024
Einstein Probe (EP)
- China launched the Einstein Probe (EP) to observe mysterious phenomena in the universe.
- A Long March-2C carrier rocket carried the lotus-shaped satellite, a mission of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
- Dedicated to time-domain high-energy astrophysics, it features wide-field X-ray telescopes (WXT) and follow-up X-ray telescopes (FXT).
- Purpose: Capture first light from supernova explosions, search for X-ray signals accompanying gravitational wave events, and discover dormant black holes and celestial objects.
- The satellite’s X-ray detection technology is inspired by lobster-eye telescopes.
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Proba-3 mission
- India to launch ESA’s Proba-3 mission in September 2024.
- Led by the European Space Agency, it’s the world’s first precision formation flying mission.
- Aims to create a 144-m long solar coronagraph, forming an artificial eclipse to study the Sun’s corona.
- Proba-3 consists of two small satellites: a Coronagraph spacecraft and a solar-disc-shaped Occulter spacecraft.
- The Occulter, flying 150 meters apart, casts its shadow onto the Coronagraph, allowing detailed imaging of the solar corona.
- Provides insights into the origins of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and measures total solar irradiance.
- The unique formation flying serves as a testbed for future multi-satellite missions.
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Bharat Tex 2024
- India’s textile industry, with industry associations, to host “Bharat Tex 2024.”
- Global textile mega event organized by 11 Textile Export Promotion Councils, supported by the Ministry of Textiles.
- Scheduled in New Delhi from February 26-29, 2024.
- Aim: Showcase India’s entire textile value chain, highlighting strengths in fashion, traditional crafts, and sustainability.
- Aligned with India’s 5F vision: Farm to Fibre to Factory to Fashion to Foreign, covering the entire textile production process.
- Features pavilions on Sustainability and Recycling, discussions on global supply chain resilience and digitization, fabric testing zones, product demos, and masterclasses.
- Provides a platform for knowledge exchange, information dissemination, and Government to Government and Business to Business interactions.
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13th JANUARY, 2024
Swachh Survekshan Awards 2023
- President of India presented ‘Swachh Survekshan Awards 2023’ in New Delhi.
- Indore and Surat declared cleanest cities; Navi Mumbai ranked third.
- Indore ranked cleanest for the seventh consecutive time.
- Clean Cities (population <1 lakh): Sasvad, Patan, and Lonavala top; Madhyamgram, Kalyani, and Haora at the bottom.
- Cleanest Cantonment: Mhow Cantonment Board in Madhya Pradesh.
- SafaiMitra Surakshit Sheher: Chandigarh.
- Ganga Towns: Varanasi and Prayagraj ranked 1st and 2nd.
- Best Performing State: Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh ranked 1, 2, and 3; Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Sikkim, Karnataka, Goa, Haryana, Bihar follow.
- Rajasthan, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh ranked at the bottom.
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Current status of TB in India
- 2,537,235 TB cases reported in 2023.
- Public sector TB cases notified: 1,699,119, achieving 93% of the target.
- Private sector TB cases notified: 838,116, achieving 89% of the target.
- TB cases decreased compared to 2022.
- In 2022, TB notifications were 13% higher than in 2021.
- Private sector’s contribution to TB notifications has steadily increased: 21% in 2017, 25% in 2018, 28% in 2019, and 31% in 2020.
- Despite declining cases, private sector TB notifications consistently fall short of NSP 2022-2025 targets.
- NSP estimates around 0.54 million TB patients not captured by surveillance and services, potentially in the private sector or the community.
- NSP for Tuberculosis (2017-2025) launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, aiming to achieve SDG targets by 2025, five years ahead of the global target.
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14th JANUARY, 2024
Agnipath Scheme
- Agnipath scheme, also known as Tour of Duty, introduced in 2022.
- Soldiers, called ‘Agniveers,’ recruited for four years.
- At the end of the term, only 25% of recruits retained for regular service.
- Eligibility: Candidates aged 17.5 to 21 years.
- Offers a short-term avenue for youth to serve the country in the Armed Forces.
- Aims to enhance the youth profile of the Armed Forces.
- Finalized after extensive consultations by Army Chief General Manoj Pande.
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AKASH-New Generation Missile
- DRDO conducted a successful flight test of AKASHNG missile.
- New Generation AKASH is a state-of-the-art surface-to-air missile for IAF.
- Designed and developed indigenously by DRDO.
- Aimed at destroying high maneuvering, low radar cross-section agile aerial threats.
- Produced by defense public sector units and other industries.
- Multiple advanced versions of the missile are in development.
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Henley Passport Index (HPI) 2024
- India’s Passport ranked 80th in the Henley Passport Index 2024.
- Index includes 199 passports and 227 travel destinations.
- France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, along with Singapore and Japan, have the most powerful passports.
- Henley Passport Index is compiled by Henley & Partners, based on IATA data.
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