The Indian Navy and The Japan maritime Self-Defence Force is scheduled to start the Fifth edition of India – Japan Maritime Bilateral Exercise called in the Arabian Sea from October 6, 2021.

Key Facts

• Last edition of the JIMEX exercise was held in September 2020.
• During the three-day exercise, Indian navy will be represented by indigenously built Guided Missile Stealth Destroyer Kochi and Guided Missile Frigate Teg.
• Missiles will be commanded by Ajay Kochhar, who is the Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet Rear Admiral.
• Japanese side will be represented by JMSDF ships Kaga, a Guided Missile Destroyer, an Izumo Class Helicopter Carrier and Murasame. It will be commanded by Commander Escort Flotila – 3 Rear Admiral IkeuchiIzuru.
• Apart from these ships, P8I Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft, integral helicopters, Dornier Maritime Patrol Aircraft, and MiG 29K fighter aircraft will also take part in the exercise.

Aim of the JIMEX-21

JIMEX-21 is being conducted with the aim of developing a common understanding of operational procedures and enhancing an inter-operability by conducting a multitude of advanced exercises, in the entire spectrum of maritime operations. These multi-faceted tactical exercises will consolidate the coordination developed by both the navies.

Union Health Minister, Mansukh Mandaviya, released a report titled “The State of the World’s Children 2021: On My Mind: promoting, protecting and caring for children’s mental health” on October 5, 2021 in New Delhi. The state of World’s Children 2021 report is UNICEF’s global flagship publication.

Key Points

• The report highlights the significant impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health of the children.
• This report is significant because, mental health is an old issue & emerging issue. Furthermore, COVID-19 was a test of mental stress for entire world.
• As per UNICEF report, about 14 percent of 15 to 24-year-olds in India, accounting for 1 in 7, reported feeling depressed or they were having little interest in doing things.

This report examines the mental health of child, adolescent and caregiver. It focuses on risks and protective factors at critical moments if life course. It also digs into the social determinants which ultimately shape mental health and well-being. The report also calls for commitment, communication and action in order to promote good mental health for every child. It also seeks to protect vulnerable children and care for children facing the challenges.

• UNICEF’s state of the World’s Children Report 2021 has warned that children and young people might feel the impact of COVID-19 on their mental health and well-being for several years.
• The report highlights that, how children and young people carried the burden of mental health even before COVID-19.
• As per report, children with mental health disorders in India are mostly undiagnosed and hesitant in asking for help or treatment.
• 50 million children in India were affected by mental health issues, before the pandemic. Out of them, 80 – 90 per cent children have not asked for support.
• As per survey conducted across 21 countries, 14 per cent of respondents aged 15 to 24 years in India reported feeling depressed.

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has proposed an amendment to the Forest conservation act 1981, in a bid to liberalise the forest laws.

Status of the amendments

Ministry has sent the proposed amendments to all the state governments, asking for their objections and suggestions within 15 days. The draft proposal will be drawn and placed before Parliament after taking suggestions from states into consideration.

Key facts

• The amendment puts forward stringent norms for the conservation of forest, by hiking the penal provisions for offenses.
• Amendment also provides for maintaining “pristine forests”. Non-forestry activity will not be allowed within the pristine forests, under any circumstances.
• Under the amendment; deemed forests, that have been listed by state governments up to 1996, will continue to be considered as forest land.
• Land acquired by the Railways and the road ministries before 1980, on which forests came up, will not be considered as forests.
• Amendment would also reduce the flow from foreign exchange for importing wood & wood derivatives of approximately Rs 45,000 crore by means of encouraging plantations and afforestation.

Delhi Cabinet has given its financial nod for ambitious “Health Information Management System (HIMS) project”.

HIMS health card

• Under the HIMS project, each citizen will be provided with a health card, that will act as a repository of their medical information.
• Using the health card, doctors would be able to see a patient’s medical history
• It will enable the patients to make appointments from home.

What data can be accessed?

Health card will be a unique health identifier for each individual using which everything, from the medical history of patients to appointment dates, can be accessed.

Who will be issued the card?

Citizens aged 1 to 18 years will get their health card linked to their parent’s health card, while new-borns (aged up to 1 year) will be linked to their mother’s health card.

On the occasion of World Teacher’s Day, “United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)” released its “State of the Education Report (SOER)-2021 for India: No Teachers, No Class”, on October 5, 2021.

Key Facts

• This report is the annual flagship publication of UNESCO New Delhi. Report is prepared on the basis of extensive research.
• This is the third edition of the State of Education Report.
• This year, report focuses on the theme of “teachers, teaching and teacher education”, highlighting that work of teaching is complex.
• The report attempts to provide understanding on the key aspects of the teaching profession and also provides a profile of 9.6 million teaching workforce.
• Report also highlights the challenges of intricate teaching routine as well as their professional development.
• Findings in the report were prepared on the basis of analysis of Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) and Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) data.

• As per report, there are around 1.2 lakh single-teacher schools in India. It accounts for 7.15 percent of 11.51 lakh schools. Out of this, 89 per cent are in rural areas.
• 51 percent of total schools are employing 95 lakh teachers.
• Report notes that, India requires 11.16 lakh additional teachers to meet the current shortfall.
• States with high percentage of single-teacher schools are- Arunachal Pradesh (18.22%), Goa (16.08%), Telangana (15.71%), Andhra Pradesh (14.4%), Jharkhand (13.81%), Uttarakhand (13.64%), Madhya Pradesh (13.08 %) and Rajasthan (10.08 %).

A team of Indian scientists have developed a non-toxic, environmentally friendly, biodegradable polymer using guar gum and chitosan.

Key Facts

• Guar gum and Chitosan are polysaccharides that are extracted from guar beans and shells of crab & shrimps.
• Fabricated guar gum-chitosan film with high water stability, high mechanical strength, and excellent resistance against harsh environmental conditions can be used in packaging applications.

Polysaccharide

Polysaccharide is one of the biopolymers having high potential for use in synthesis of packaging material. But due to some drawbacks of polysaccharides, like low mechanical properties, low barrier properties and high water-solubility, they are not preferred for packaging materials.

Guar gum-chitosan composite film

To overcome the challenges associated with polysaccharide, the team of scientists fabricated a guar gum-chitosan composite film. It is a cross-linked polysaccharide that do not use any plasticizer with the help “solution casting method”.

Properties of the film

The Fabricated biopolymer composite film had high water stability, high mechanical strength as well as excellent resistance towards harsh environmental conditions. The fabricated cross-linked film is not easily soluble in water. As per scientists, it did not dissolve even after 240 hours. Furthermore, the mechanical strength is higher compared to general biopolymer. It is highly water repellent or hydrophobic because of its high contact angle of 92.8º.  Water vapor permeability is low as compared to the film made only from chitosan.

The Ministry of Tourism is organising a “Buddhist Circuit Train FAM Tour and Conference from October 4 to October 8, 2021 in a bid to tap the potential of the Buddhist tourism.

About FAM Tour

• The FAM tour will comprise of the visit of prominent Buddhist sites as well as conferences at Bodh Gaya and Varanasi.
• This conference is likely to be attended by 125 delegates including tour operators, media, hoteliers, and officials of Ministry of Tourism & State Governments.
• Around 100 local tour operators and other stakeholders of tourism & hospitality sector will attend the event at Bodh Gaya and Varanasi for discussing the key issues with respect to the development and promotion of tourism in the circuit.

Buddhist Tourism in India

India is among world’s largest reservoirs of history, culture, heritage, philosophy, and religion.  With these reservoirs, India is counted amongst the most desired destinations for tourists as well as pilgrims. India has a rich ancient Buddhist Heritage comprising of important sites associated with Lord Buddha. Indian Buddhist heritage is of great interest for the followers of Buddhism across the world. It has remained an inspiration & guide to traditions and customs of India.

The Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare is observing the “Mental Health Awareness Campaign Week”, starting from October 5, 2021.

Highlights

• The campaign will culminate on October 10, 2021.
• October 10 is also marked as the “World Mental health Day”.
• Mental Health Awareness Campaign Week is being observed in India with the aim of encouraging people’s participation in breaking the stigma associated with Mental Disorders.

Activities under the campaign

Other activities being held under the Mental Health Awareness Campaign Week include:

1. Virtual awareness workshops by NIMHANS, Bengaluru in association with Educational Institutions & other organisations
2. Cycle rallies in Delhi,
3. Green ribbon campaign,
4. Short film release in regional languages,
5. Launch of #breakthestigma hashtag campaign and
6. Quiz or slogan competitions on mental health.

Department of Ex-servicemen welfare working under ‘Ministry of Defence’ has integrated ‘Electronic Pension Payment Order’ (EPPO) with the Digi Locker.

Key facts

• Electronic Pension Payment Order is generated by Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (PCDA) Pension, Allahabad.
• EPPO has been integrated with Digi Locker for enhancing Ease of Living of Defence Pensioners.

Significance of the move

This move will enable all the Defence Pensioners to obtain the latest copy of Pension Payment Order, instantly from Digi Locker. Initiative would create a permanent record of Pension Payment Order in the Locker. It will also do away with the “time eliminate delays” in reaching the Pension Payment Order to new pensioners. Necessity to hand over a physical copy for the order will also be eliminated with the new initiative. It will also enable the Defence Pensioners to access Electronic Pension Payment Order from anywhere on the globe.

Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (PCDA) Pension, Allahabad was registered as a Service Provider. It will provide Electronic Pension Payment Orders of more than 23 lakhs Defence Pensioners using the Digi Locker platform.

About DigiLocker

It is an Indian digitization online service under the Digital India initiative, provided by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). The locker provides a cloud account to every Aadhaar holder and enable them to access authentic documents or certificates like vehicle registration, driving license, academic mark sheet etc in digital format. All these documents are accessed from the original issuers of these certificates. Locker has 1GB storage space for each account for uploading scanned copies of legacy documents.

Union Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh, launched state-of-the-art Heli-borne survey technology on October 5, 2021.

Highlights

• Heli Survey Technology was launched for ground water management.
• In the first phase, the States of Rajasthan, Punjab, Gujarat and Haryana are being taken up for the heli-borne survey.
• Survey was started from Jodhpur in Rajasthan on October 5.

• This technology has been developed by CSIR-NGRI Hyderabad.
• The state-of-the-art technology, Heli Survey Technology, will be used to map the groundwater sources in arid regions.
• Survey will help in utilizing groundwater for drinking purposes.
• Heli-borne geophysical mapping technique will provide high-resolution 3D image for sub-surface up to a depth of 500 meters below the ground level.

This project has been developed with the aim of mapping potential groundwater sources and its management in providing safe drinking water to people in the water scarce arid regions of India.

The Nobel Prize 2021 for physics was awarded to three scientists from Japan, Germany and Italy. Secretary-general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Goran Hansson, announced the winners on October 5, 2021.

Key facts

• Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann were awarded for their work in “physical modelling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming”.
• Second half of the prize was awarded to Giorgio Parisi for his “discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales.”
• As per Nobel Prize Panel, Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann have laid the “foundation of our knowledge of Earth’s climate and how humanity influences it”.

Demonstration by Syukuro Manabe

Since 1960s, he had demonstrated how increases in amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases the global temperatures. This demonstration laid the foundations for current climate models.

Demonstration by Klaus Hasselmann

He had created a model to link weather and climate. This model helped in explaining why climate models can be reliable despite the chaotic nature of weather. He also demonstrated ways to look after specific signs of human influence on the climate.

Ministry of road, transport & highways launched a scheme for “Good Samaritans” on October 4, 2021.

Key facts

• Scheme will be effective from October 15, 2021 and will run till March 31, 2026.
• Under the scheme, a cash award of Rs 5,000 will be provided per accident, to those saving the life of a road accident victim by rushing the person to hospital within the ‘golden hour’ of the accident.
• Cash award will be provided to motivate the general public in order to help the road accident victims in emergency situation.
• Cash award will also be accompanied with a certification of appreciation.

National Level Awards

• Besides award in each case, ministry would also be giving 10 national level awards for the “worthiest Good Samaritans”.
• Most Worthy Good Samaritans will be selected from those who have been awarded during the entire year.
• They will be given an award of Rs 1,00,000 each.
• MoRTH will provide Rs 5 lakh of initial grant to the transport department of states and UTs for awarding the cash prize.
• As per amendment, if Good Samaritan informs about the incident to the police at the first hand, then police will provide an acknowledgement on official letter pad, after verifying details from doctor.
• Individual Good Samaritan will be awarded a maximum five times in a year.

• The Nobel Prize for chemistry has been awarded to German scientist Benjamin List of the Max Planck Institute and Scotland-born scientist David W C MacMillan of Princeton University.
• They were cited for their work in developing a new way for building molecules known as “asymmetric organocatalysis.” The winners were announced Wednesday by Goran Hansson, secretary-general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
• The Nobel panel said List and MacMillan in 2000 independently developed a new way of catalysis.
• “It's already benefiting humankind greatly,” Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede, a member of the Nobel panel, said. 

• The National Health Authority implementing the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana today revised the rates of 400 health benefit packages offered under the cashless hospitalisation plan, including the black fungus treatment.In the revised version, rates of some packages have been increased by 20 per cent to 400 per cent. Around 400 procedure rates have been revised and one additional medical management package on black fungus added, said the Centre.
• Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said, “The revised version will strengthen the empanelled hospitals to provide better healthcare services to beneficiaries under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana. The revised packages for oncology will enhance cancer care for the beneficiaries.”
• The revised plan includes radiation oncology, medical management procedures such as dengue, acute febrile illness, surgical package treatment for black fungus and right/left heart catheterisation.The Centre on Tuesday expanded the scope of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana to cover anganwari workers and helpers with Rs 50 lakh insurance cover each in case they succumb to Covid in the line of duty. So far, the insurance was available only to health workers on Covid duty.
• The Black Fungus, scientifically known as Mucormycosis. Amphotericin B, a rare drug that is being produced in a limited quantity in the country, is used in the treatment of black fungus or mucormycosis.

• Japanese-born American Syukuro Manabe, German Klaus Hasselmann and Italian Giorgio Parisi won the 2021 Nobel Prize for Physics on Tuesday for work that helps understand complex physical systems such as earth’s changing climate.
• In a decision hailed by the UN weather agency as a sign of a consensus forming around manmade global warming, one half of the 10-million Swedish crown ($1.15-million) prize goes in equal parts to Manabe (90) and Hasselmann (89) for modelling earth’s climate and reliably predicting global warming.
• The other half goes to Parisi for discovering in the early 1980s “hidden rules” behind seemingly random movements and swirls in gases or liquids, which can also be applied to aspects of neuroscience, machine learning and starling flight formations.
• “Manabe and Hasselmann laid the foundation of our knowledge of the earth’s climate and how humanity influences it. Parisi is rewarded for his revolutionary contributions to the theory of disordered materials and random processes,” the Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement.
• “Hasselmann, who is at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, said he did not want to wake up from what he described as a beautiful dream. I am retired and a bit lazy lately,” he added. Hasselmann developed models that became instrumental in proving carbon dioxide emissions cause rising temperatures in the atmosphere.

• In a step to further fine tune the synergy between the two navies, India and Japan will have the fifth edition of India –Japan Maritime Bilateral Exercise, JIMEX for three days starting Wednesday in the Arabian Sea.
• These bilateral series of exercises commenced in January 2012 with special focus on maritime security cooperation. The last edition of JIMEX was conducted in September 2020.
• Indigenously built Guided Missile Stealth Destroyer Kochi and Guided Missile Frigate Teg, under the command of Rear Admiral Ajay Kochhar, Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet, will represent the Indian Navy.
• The Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force will be represented by JMSDF ships Kaga, an Izumo Class Helicopter Carrier and Murasame, a Guided Missile Destroyer, led by Rear Admiral IkeuchiIzuru, Commander Escort Flotila - 3  (CCF-3).
• In addition to ships, P-8I Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft, Dornier Maritime Patrol Aircraft, integral helicopters and MiG 29K fighter aircraft will also participate in the exercise, Navy officials said here on Wednesday.
• JIMEX-21 aims to develop common understanding of operational procedures and enhance inter-operability through conduct of a multitude of advanced exercises, across the entire spectrum of maritime operations.