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7th Nov Current Affairs News Analysis | Prelims & Mains 2021
Fast radio bursts detected in the Milky Way
HEADLINES:
Fast radio bursts detected in the Milky Way for the first time
WHY IN NEWS:
- It is the latest studies, published in a recent edition of the journal Nature.
- The latest studies reported that two radio telescopes, one in the United States and the other in Canada detected a FRB on April 28 this year.
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3: Space
ISSUE:
FAST RADIO BURSTS
- FRBs were first discovered in 2007 and there are still many gaps in information regarding them.
DIFFERENT THEORIES
- A number of theories have been suggested about the causes of FRBs including alien starships and colliding black holes.
- Many theories have also suggested that FRBs are caused by neutron stars, that are the corpses of stars which died in explosions called supernovas.
- Neutron stars are formed when the core of a massive star undergoes gravitational collapse when it reaches the end of its life.
MAGNETARS
- Magnetars are the most powerful magnets in the cosmos.
- Their magnetic fields are 5,000 trillion times more powerful than that of the Earth.
- The source of the FRB was traced to a magnetar known as SGR 1935+2154, located about 30,000 light-years from the earth.
- It lies in the centre of the Milky Way, in the constellation Vulpecula.
- The FRB generated by this magnetar was so powerful that it emitted as much energy in one millisecond as the sun does in 30 seconds.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- The FRB was not only the closest such signal ever recorded near the Earth.
- It was also 3,000 times brighter than any other magnetar radio signal detected till now.
- The scientists also concluded that most FRBs in other galaxies also were generated by magnetars.
SOURCES: DownToEarth | 7th Nov Current Affairs News Analysis
India-Italy Virtual Summit
HEADLINES:
India-Italy Virtual Summit
WHY IN NEWS:
A Virtual Bilateral Summit between Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Italy Prof. Giuseppe Conte was held on 6th November, 2020.
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 2 : IR
ISSUE:
INDIA-ITALY RELATIONS
- Prime Minister Prof. Conte extended invitation to Prime Minister Modi to visit Italy as soon as conditions permit.
- The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen cooperation against common global challenges, including the Covid-19 pandemic.
- The leaders discussed a wide range of issues including political, economic, scientific & technological, space and defence cooperation.
- On regional and international issues, both sides agreed to coordinate closely at multilateral fora especially G-20.
- Italy will assume the Presidency of G-20 in December 2021 followed by India in 2022.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- Together, India and Italy will be part of the G20 Troika from December, 2020.
SOURCES: PIB | 7th Nov Current Affairs News Analysis
All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN)
HEADLINES:
NPPA plays crucial role in making Cancer Drugs affordable
WHY IN NEWS:
Following NPPA’s price rationalisation initiated in February 2019, 526 brands of 42 anti-cancer drugs showed price reduction up to 90%
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3 : Application of Nano Medicines
ISSUE:
- All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN) has also appreciated the steps taken by NPPA to curb profiteering in sale of anti-cancer medicines by capping the trade margin in public interest.
ALL INDIA DRUG ACTION NETWORK
- All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN) is an independent network of several non government organizations working to increase access and improve the rational use of essential medicines.
- AIDAN and its partners recognize that poverty and social injustice are the greatest barriers to health and sustainable development.
AIDAN WORKS
- To promote the essential medicines concept.
- To ensuring that they are available at affordable prices when treatment is needed, especially for the poor.
- For greater transparency in all aspects of decision making around pharmaceuticals.
- To promote the rational use of medicines: that all medicines marketed should meet real medical needs and offer value for money.
- For better controls on drug promotion and the provision of balanced, independent information for prescribers and consumers
IASbhai WINDUP:
- Today also cancer remains as one of the leading causes of adult illness and death due to chronic and non-communicable diseases (NCD) world-over including in India.
- There were around 0.8 million cancer deaths in India in 2018 against 9.5 million globally.
SOURCES: PIB | 7th Nov Current Affairs News Analysis
Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI)
HEADLINES:
Need emergency action to avert measles and polio epidemics, warn UN bodies
WHY IN NEWS:
$655 million would be needed to address the immunity gaps in non-Gavi eligible countries and target age groups
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3:Diseases
ISSUE:
WHAT IS POLIO?
- Polio is a crippling and potentially deadly disease that affects the nervous system.
- Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a disabling and life-threatening disease caused by the poliovirus.
- The virus spreads from person to person and can infect a person’s spinal cord, causing paralysis (can’t move parts of the body).
GLOBAL POLIO ERADICATION INITIATIVE (GPEI)
- Global Polio Eradication Initiative is to complete the eradication and containment of all wild, vaccine-related and Sabin polioviruses.
- The World Health Assembly passed a resolution to eradicate polio in 1988.
- The Global Polio Eradication Initiative, along with its partners, has helped countries to make huge progress in protecting the global population from this debilitating disease.
- An estimated 16 million people today are walking who would otherwise have been paralysed by the disease.
- Now the task remains to tackle polio in its last few strongholds and get rid of the final 0.1% of polio cases.
SITUATION IN INDIA
- India was declared polio-free in January 2014, after three years of zero cases.
- The last case due to wild poliovirus in the country was detected on January 13, 2011.
RECENT OUTBREAK
- Pakistan and Afghanistan are among the two countries where polio is still endemic.
- Failure to eradicate polio would lead to global resurgence of the disease, resulting in as many as 200,000 new cases annually, within 10 years- WHO .
IASbhai WINDUP:
- We cannot allow the fight against one deadly disease to cause us to lose ground in the fight against other diseases.
- Other deadly diseases also threaten the lives of millions of children in some of the poorest areas of the world.
- We need additional financial resources to safely resume vaccination campaigns and prioritize immunization systems that are critical to protect children and avert other epidemics besides COVID-19.
- COVID-19 has had a devastating effect on health services and in particular immunisation services, worldwide.
- What we need are the resources and commitments to put these tools and knowledge into action.
- If we do that, children’s lives will be saved.
SOURCES: DownToEarth | 7th Nov Current Affairs News Analysis
Cybersecurity breach
HEADLINES:
Another Indian pharmaceutical giant reports cybersecurity breach within two weeks of ransomware hack on Dr Reddy’s
WHY IN NEWS:
Indian pharmaceutical company Lupin confirms ‘security incident’-Lupin
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3: Cyber Security
ISSUE:
IASbhai WINDUP:
- While some data breaches can be attributed to human error or a system glitch, already 50% of them in the healthcare sector are due to malicious attacks.
- IBM pegs the average time to around 329 days — that’s nearly a full year of data being exposed.
SOURCES: THE IE | 7th Nov Current Affairs News Analysis
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