SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY CURRENT AFFAIRS (JANUARY-2018)

ENERGY

Solar capacity reaches 20 GW on govt push
India has achieved 20 GW (giga watt) cumulative solar capacity, achieving the milestone four years ahead of the target for 2022 originally set in the National Solar
Mission. The utility-scale cumulative installations now stand at approximately 18.4 GW, with rooftop solar accounting for another 1.6 GW.
▪ For the first time, solar was the top source of new power capacity additions in India
during calendar year 2017.
▪ The top state for solar installations was Telangana, followed by Karnataka,
Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Challenges ahead:

The country has reached the milestone at a time when protectionist measures threaten
to slow down activity in the industry. The pace of overall solar installations is expected
to be less impressive in 2018 as several protectionist government policies appear
poised to increase costs and uncertainty.
Also, experts say Center’s revised solar installation target of 100 GW by 2022 has
recently.
Dr. Ravi Agrahari’s Classes (Scientist in IIT Delhi, Author of Mc Graw Hill)

The 20 GW of solar installations is a laudable achievement for India. However, it took
eight long years to reach 20 GWs and hopefully the pace will pick up soon.
About the National Solar Mission:
National Solar Mission, launched in 2010, aims to establish India as a global leader in solar energy by creating the policy conditions for its diffusion across the
country as quickly as possible. The mission is one of the several initiatives that are
part of the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). Initial target was to achieve 20GW by 2022 which was later increased to 100 GW in the 2015 Union
budget of India.

The objective of the National Solar Mission is to establish India as a global leader in solar energy, by creating the policy conditions for its diffusion across the country as
quickly as possible.

UNIT-III
SPACE TECHNOLOGY Kilopower

NASA has announced new tests are underway for the Kilopower project, a program
designed to create small nuclear power sources to fuel further space exploration.
A prototype, which was created by NASA and the Department of Energy, has
completed non-nuclear tests and is now running with a real reactor core at a facility in
Nevada.

The Kilopower project is a near-term technology effort to develop preliminary concepts
and technologies that could be used for an affordable fission nuclear power
system to enable long-duration stays on planetary surfaces.
Benefits: The technology could power habitats and life-support systems, enable
astronauts to mine resources, recharge rovers and run processing equipment to
transform resources such as ice on the planet into oxygen, water and fuel. It
could also potentially augment electrically powered spacecraft propulsion systems
on missions to the outer planets.

ISRO Launches Its 100th Satellite- PSLV C40

• ISRO’s PSLV C40 has successfully placed 31 satellites including main payload
Cartosat-2 series and 28 foreign satellites in two different orbits.

Significance of the launch

• The launch marks the roll out of the 100th satellite by ISRO
• It is the second time that ISRO will be achieving the two orbits feat. This was
done through the “multiple burn technology” under which the rocket’s engine is
switched off and then switched on to control its height.

Cartosat-2 series

It is a earth observation satellite whose high resolution scene specific spot images will be
useful for cartographic applications, urban and rural applications, coastal land use and
regulation, road network monitoring, water distribution, creation of land use maps and
change detection to bring out geographical Land Information Systems and Geographical
Information System applications.

Facts for Prelims:

▪ The PSLV-C40 placed 31 satellites, originating from seven countries. This is the 42nd
flight of the PSLV. The 30 other satellites onboard include two other satellites from
India and 28 satellites from six countries — Canada, Finland, France, Korea, the
United Kingdom and the United States.

▪ The mission is a unique one, since the satellites were launched in two orbits. Thirty of
the satellites were launched in an orbit 550 km about, and one 359-km above the
Earth. This was done through what scientists call the “multiple burn technology” under which
the rocket’s engine is switched off and then switched on to control its height.

NASA MISSIONS FOR 2018

• Parker Solar Probe
• It will study how energy and heat move through the solar corona and to explore
what accelerates the solar wind as well as solar energetic particles.
• It will travel directly into the sun’s atmosphere about 4 million miles from its
surface and thus help study Corona.
• Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat (SPARCS)
• SPARCS is a space telescope to study the habitability and high-energy
environment around M-dwarf stars.
• Dwarf stars are generally cooler and they may be surrounded by many habitable
zones.
• The telescope will study the Ultra-Violet light emitted by dwarf stars.
• GOLD and ICON mission
• They refer to Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) and
Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) respectively.
• ICON will be in low-Earth orbit at 560 km above Earth and GOLD will be at 35398
km above earth surface in a geostationary orbit.
• They will study the Ionosphere region or the boundary area between Earth and
the space where electrically-charged electrons and ions by the Sun’s radiation
are present.
• The missions will help in understanding how upper atmosphere changes in response to hurricanes and geomagnetic storms.
Other Projects.
• Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) to study exoplanets in orbit around the
brightest stars in the sky. TESS will monitor more than 200,000 stars for temporary drops in
brightness caused by planetary transits.
• InSight Mars lander for Mars (Red Planet) which will study the interior of Mars and listen
for Marsquakes.
• OSIRIS-Rex: launched earlier in 2016 is scheduled to arrive at the near-Earth asteroid
Bennu in August 2018.
• Next generation of ICESat-2 and GRACE satellites to observe Earth’s ice sheets, sea
level, and underground water reserves.

 

A geomagnetic storm is a major disturbance of Earth’s magnetosphere that occurs due to
exchange of energy from the solar wind into the space environment surrounding Earth. They
create beautiful auroras or the Polar Lights, but they also can disrupt navigation systems
such as the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and create harmful geomagnetic
induced currents (GICs) in the power grid and pipelines.

Dwarf Stars

A dwarf star form at the end of star’s evolutionary phase. It has a mass of up to about 20
sols (Our Sun), and luminosity of up to about 20,000 sols.
Chandrasekhar limit is the maximum mass of a stable white dwarf star and a mass
greater than the limit will turn the star into a neutron star or black hole at the end of its
life.

BLUE MOON

On January 31, 2018, a rare Blue Moon event was experienced on large parts of the
globe. It was a rare moment as blue moon, a supermoon and a total lunar eclipse fell on
same day after more than 150 years.
• Blue Moon: When two full moons appear in the same calendar month, the second is
termed a “blue moon”. First full moon occurred on Jan 1, 2018.
• Super Moon: occurs when the full moon is at the closest point of its orbit to the Earth,
which is also called the perigee. The moon appears 30% brighter and 14% bigger than the
apogee full moon.

Astronauts Identify Unknown Microbes In Space For First Time

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have for the first time identified
microbes in space without having to samples back to Earth for tests.
The ability to identify microbes in space could aid in the ability to diagnose and treat astronaut
ailments in real time, as well as assisting in the identification of DNA-based life on other
planets. It could also benefit other experiments aboard the orbiting laboratory. Identifying
microbes involves isolating the DNA of samples, and then amplifying – or making many
copies – of that DNA that can then be sequenced, or identified.

About the International space station (ISS):

The International Space Station (ISS) is a space station, or a habitable artificial satellite, in low
Earth orbit. The ISS is now the largest artificial body in orbit. The ISS consists of pressurised
modules, external trusses, solar arrays and other components. ISS components have been
launched by Russian Proton and Soyuz rockets as well as American Space Shuttles.
The ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which crew
members conduct experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology and other fields. The station is suited for the testing of spacecraft systems and equipment required for missions to the Moon and Mars.

Orbit: The ISS maintains an orbit with an altitude of between 330 and 435 km by means of
reboost manoeuvres using the engines of the Zvezda module or visiting spacecraft. It completes
15.54 orbits per day.

Joint project: The ISS programme is a joint project among five participating space agencies:
NASA, Roscosmos, JAXA, ESA, and CSA. The ownership and use of the space station is
established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements. The station is divided into two
sections, the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS) and the United States Orbital Segment (USOS),
which is shared by many nations.
ISS is the ninth space station to be inhabited by crews.
China to become world’s first country to launch a lunar probe on far side of moon
China announced its plans to launch a lunar probe in 2018 to achieve the world’s first soft
landing on the far side of the moon to showcase its ambitious space programme. The mission is
called Chang’e 4 project.

About the mission:

Chang’e 4 is the fourth mission in the country’s lunar mission series which is being named after
the Chinese moon goddess.

Significance of the mission:

According to experts, landing on the far side of the moon is undoubtedly one of the most
challenging missions ever launched by any of the world’s superpowers. The far side of the
moon known as ‘South Pole-Aitken Basin’ still remains a mystery among space scientists
and by sending a probe there, China will outdo the historical achievements of the US and
USSR.

History of China’s lunar exploration programmes:

China began their lunar exploration program in 2007 by launching a simple lunar orbiter named
‘Chang’e 1’. The second mission in the program named ‘Chang’e 2’ was launched in 2010, and
it was later followed by the third mission ‘Chang’e 3’. ‘Chang’e 3’ made headlines all around the
world as it marked the first soft moon landing since 1976.

What happens to the human body in space?

Space is a dangerous and unforgiving place, and spending time away from gravity takes its
toll on the human body, as many astronauts have found out after returning to Earth.
Recently, Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai announced that he had stretched 9cm
(3.5in) in just three weeks on board the International Space Station (ISS). However, he later
admitted he had miscalculated the figure and it was actually just 2cm (0.9in), but significant
height changes are actually normal for astronauts spending time in space.

Why do they stretch?

The effect happens as the astronauts’ spines stretch out, because of the reduced gravity
on board the floating lab. Because the vertebrae aren’t being pushed together as much as they
are on Earth, they are able to float apart and lead to the strange stretching phenomenon.
They shrink back down to their usual size once back on Earth and affected by its gravity.
Health issues for astronauts to overcome:

▪ The rapid change of gravity in space can cause a loss of bone density of up to 1% a
month. This could lead to osteoporosis-related fractures and long-term health problems.
▪ Lack of gravity can also cause body fluids to shift upwards, which may cause swelling,
high-blood pressure and vision and organ problems. Nutrition and exercise become
very important, and special measures like medications and body cuffs aim to reduce
the risk of long-term medical problems associated with muscle and bone wastage.

▪ Living in isolation and confinement can cause behavioural and psychological issues.
Without a natural body clock, depression and sleep disorders can develop. The space
station uses LED technology to imitate light on Earth to improve body rhythms.

▪ A closed environment also means microbes in the body can transfer more easily. The
environment can weaken the immune system, so urine, saliva and blood samples are
carefully monitored to make sure dormant viruses have not been reactivated.
▪ Radiation exposure is far higher in space than it is on Earth. Without the shielding of
Earth, you could be more at risk of cancer and damage to the nervous system. Space
radiation can also cause sickness and fatigue. The ISS sits just within the protective field
on Earth to reduce risks, but missions further afield will need to overcome this.

SPARCS

Scientists are planning to launch a small telescope into the Earth’s orbit that will monitor
the flares and sunspots of small stars to assess how habitable the environment is for
planets orbiting them. The spacecraft is known as the “Star-Planet Activity Research
CubeSat”, or SPARCS.

About SPARCS

SPARCS is a new NASA-funded space telescope and will be launched in 2021. The
mission, including spacecraft design, integration and resulting science, is led by Arizona State
University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE).

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope the world’s premier infrared space observatory of
the next decade — has successfully completed critical testing in a massive thermal vacuum
chamber, enabling it to function properly in the extremely cold and airless environment in
space in 2019.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the largest space telescope ever built. It is an
international collaboration between of about 17 countries including NASA, European
Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). When it is launched in 2019,
it will be the world’s biggest and most powerful telescope.

When it is launched into space it will be able to peer back in time 3.5 billion years, teaching us
more than ever before about the start of the universe. The telescope will be used to look
back to the first galaxies born in the early universe more than 13.5 billion years ago, and
observe the sources of stars, exoplanets, and even the moons and planets of our solar
system.

2002 AJ129

It is an asteroid larger than the tallest building on Earth, Burj Khalifa. As per reports, the
asteroid will pass Earth on February 4, missing our planet by 2.6 million miles. It has been
classified as a “near-Earth object” and “potentially hazardous” by US space agency
NASA.

What are asteroids?

Asteroids are celestial objects that are smaller than planets, which are irregularly shaped
and lack fixed orbits. In our solar system, most asteroids originate from the asteroid belt, a
zone between Mars and Jupiter, where these objects are scattered about.
Global-Scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD)
NASA’s Global-Scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) instrument was recently
launched atop an Ariane 5 rocket.

About Global-Scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD):
GOLD is essentially an imaging spectrograph. Spectrographs are scientific instruments
that have been designed to break light down into its constituent wavelengths and to
measure their intensity. By examining the data from such an instrument, scientists can
Dr. Ravi Agrahari’s Classes
(Scientist in IIT Delhi, Author of Mc Graw Hill)

determine a wide variety of characteristics, including a target’s composition and temperature.
GOLD will be tasked with collecting far ultraviolet light data on Earth’s atmosphere.
Mission: To shed light on how the uppermost layers of Earth’s atmosphere can be affected
by powerful space and Earth-based weather events.
Focus: GOLD will focus its attention on a relatively poorly-understood region of the upper
atmosphere, where the charged particles of the ionosphere mingle with the diffuse neutral
gasses that make up the thermosphere.

UNIT-IV
COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

India unveils Pratyush, its fastest supercomputer yet.
India has unveiled Pratyush, an array of computers that can deliver a peak power of 6.8
petaflops. One petaflop is a million billion floating point operations per second and is a
reflection of the computing capacity of a system. The machines will be installed at two
government institutes: 4.0 petaflops HPC facility at IITM, Pune; and 2.8 petaflops facility at
the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast.

Facts for Prelims:

With this, India will now occupy the fourth position, next only to United Kingdom, Japan and
USA in terms of dedicated capacity for HPC resources for weather and climate proposes. The
UK leads with a capacity of 20.4 Petaflop, followed by Japan with 20 Petaflop and USA with
10.7 Petaflop.

It will also move an Indian supercomputer from the 300s to the 30s in the Top500 list, a
respected international tracker of the world’s fastest supercomputers.
Applications of Pratyush:
The Pratyush HPC will improve weather forecasts and extended range forecasts. It will also
predict cyclones and tsunami accurately, with more lead time. It will also help those
dependent on agriculture, hydrology and power sectors.

Budapest Convention on cyber security

Making a strong pitch to sign the Budapest Convention on cyber crime, the
Ministry of Home Affairs recently flagged the need for international cooperation
to check cyber crime, radicalisation and boost data security.
Background:
India was reconsidering its position on becoming a member of the Budapest
Convention because of the surge in cyber crime, especially after a push for digital
India. The move, however, is being opposed by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) on the
grounds that sharing data with foreign law enforcement agencies infringes on
national sovereignty and may jeopardise the rights of individuals.
What is Budapest convention?

The Convention on Cybercrime, also known as the Budapest Convention on
Cybercrime or the Budapest Convention, is the first international treaty seeking to
Dr. Ravi Agrahari’s Classes
(Scientist in IIT Delhi, Author of Mc Graw Hill)

address Internet and computer crime by harmonizing national laws, improving
investigative techniques, and increasing cooperation among nations.
It was drawn up by the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France, with the active
participation of the Council of Europe’s observer states Canada, Japan, South Africa
and the United States. The Convention has 56 members, including the US and the UK.

The Budapest Convention provides for the criminalisation of conduct, ranging from
illegal access, data and systems interference to computer-related fraud and child
pornography, procedural law tools to make investigation of cybercrime and
securing of e-evidence in relation to any crime more effective, and international
police and judicial cooperation on cybercrime and e-evidence.

iCreate

Prime Minister Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu recently dedicated to the
nation the iCreate facility located on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.
iCreate is an independent centre created with the objective of facilitating
entrepreneurship through a blend of creativity, innovation, engineering, product design
and leveraging emerging technologies to deal with major issues such as food security,
water, connectivity, cybersecurity, IT and electronics, energy, bio-medical equipment and
devices etc.

Aim: iCreate aims to develop an ecosystem in India to generate quality entrepreneurs.
Cyber Surakshit Bharat
Recognizing the need to strengthen the cybersecurity ecosystem in India, the Ministry of
Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has announced the Cyber Surakshit
Bharat initiative in association with National e-Governance Division (NeGD) and industry
partners.

It will include an awareness program on the importance of cybersecurity; a series of
workshops on best practices and enablement of the officials with cybersecurity health
tool kits to manage and mitigate cyber threats.

NASA Fund Researches the Potential of Blockchain Technology in Space

NASA recently awarded a grant of $330,000 USD to the University of Akron to research the
potential of blockchain technology to improve space communications. NASA wants ways
to reduce the time it takes for their exploration vehicles to receive signals and react to potential
threats in space. Also, a decentralized blockchain would ensure there is no degradation or
loss of the critical data collected by vehicles in space.

A major hurdle of space exploration today is the distance between the machines in space
and their Earth-based controllers. The distance creates a time lag between machine and
operator. Semi-autonomous machines eliminate some of the barriers created by this time lag,
by allowing the machines to make some decisions for themselves.

India commissions high performance computer system Mihir

India recently commissioned its High Performance Computer (HPC) system – named ‘Mihir’
(meaning Sun) – at the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting at Noida,
Uttar Pradesh.
The new system will be India’s largest HPC facility in terms of peak capacity and
performance and will propel India’s ranking from the 368th position to the 30th in the list
Dr. Ravi Agrahari’s Classes
(Scientist in IIT Delhi, Author of Mc Graw Hill)
of top 500 HPC facilities in the world.

The country will now also be ranked 4th – after
Japan, UK and USA – for dedicated HPC resources for weather/climate community.
The new HPC facility is expected to improve the following services:
▪ Weather forecasts at block level over India which can predict extreme weather events.
▪ High resolution seasonal/extended range forecasts of active/break spells of Monsoon.
▪ Very high resolution coupled models for prediction of cyclones with more accuracy and
lead time.
▪ Ocean state forecasts including marine water quality forecasts at very high resolution.
▪ Tsunami forecasts with greater lead time.
▪ Air quality forecasts for various cities.
▪ Climate projections at very high resolution.

UNIT-V
DEFENCE TECHNOLOGY ‘Vajra Prahar’

Vajra Prahar’ is a Indo-US Special Forces joint training exercise conducted
alternately in India and the US.
Aim and objectives of the exercise: The aim of the exercise is to promote
military relations between the two countries by enhancing interoperability
and mutual exchange of tactics between Special Forces. The objectives of the
joint training is to share the best practices between the two armies and to
develop joint strategies by sharing expertise of conducting operations in a
counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism environment, while capitalising
on the rich repository of experiences of each other armies.

India test-fires nuclear-capable ICBM Agni-V

Agni-5, India’s nuclear capable missile, was recently successfully test fired.
Agni- 5 is the intercontinental surface-to-surface nuclear capable ballistic missile. It is the
latest in India’s “Agni” family of medium to intercontinental range missiles.
Agni-5 has a range of over 5,000 km and can carry about a 1,000-kg warhead. It can target
almost all of Asia including Pakistan and China and Europe.
The 17-metre long Agni-5 Missile weighs about 50 tonnes and is a very agile and modern
weapon system.

The surface-to-surface missile is a fire-and-forget system that cannot be easily detected as it
follows a ballistic trajectory. India describes the Agni – 5 missile system as a ‘weapon of
peace’.
India has already joined an elite club of nations that possess the ICBM launch capability when
the maiden test-firing of Agni-V was successfully conducted in April, 2012.
Only the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – China, France,
Russia, the United States and Britain, along with Israel, have so far possessed such longrange
missiles

 

Scorpene-class submarine Karanj

The third Scorpene-class submarine – INS Karanj has been launched.
Karanj is the third of the six Scorpene-class submarines being built by Mazagon Dock
Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) under the Project 75 programme of Indian navy. It is designed to
operate in all theatres, including the tropics. It is provided with all means and
communications to ensure interoperability with other components of a naval task.
It has superior stealth features such as advanced acoustic silencing techniques, low radiated
noise levels and hydrodynamically optimized shape. These stealth features give it an
invulnerability, unmatched by most submarine.

Background:
MDL has the contract for the construction and transfer of technology for six Scorpene
submarines. The submarines are being built in collaboration with French shipbuilding
major Naval Group (formerly DCNS).
The first one, INS Kalvari, a diesel-electric attack submarine was commissioned by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi on December 14 last year. The second one, INS Khandari, was
launched on January 12 this year is currently undergoing sea trials.

UNIT-VII
IPR ‘IPrism’

It is one of its kind Intellectual Property (IP) Competition for college and university students. The Cell
for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM), Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion
(DIPP), in collaboration with ASSOCHAM and ERICSSON India, has launched this competition.
About the competition:

The competition aims to foster a culture of innovation and creativity in the younger generation. It will
provide young creators a unique opportunity to see their creations recognized on a national
platform. This competition invites students to submit films on piracy & counterfeiting under two categories
of 30 and 60 seconds. Another category in the competition is for a mobile gaming app on IP.
Background:

Counterfeiting and Piracy cause significant loss to the industry and pose serious safety threats to
the consumers. Generating awareness can help in tackling such crimes since limited knowledge
about their adverse social and economic impact leads to circulation and consumption of pirated
content and fake goods.
About CIPAM:

Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM) has been created as a professional body under
the aegis of DIPP to take forward the implementation of the National IPR Policy that was approved
by the Government in May 2016, with the slogan – “Creative India; Innovative India”. CIPAM is
working towards creating public awareness about IPRs in the country, promoting the filing of IPRs through
facilitation, providing inventors with a platform to commercialize their IP assets and coordinating the
implementation of the National IPR Policy in collaboration with Government Ministries/Departments and
other stakeholders.

UNIT-VIII BIOTECHNOLOGY
Scientists clone monkeys

Shanghai scientists have created two genetically identical long-tailed macaques. The
monkeys are named Hua Hua and Zhong Zhong, a version of the Chinese adjective Zhonghua
which means the “Chinese nation” or “people.” This could be an important tool in medical
research for understanding disease in a species genetically more comparable to humans.
This is for the first time that scientists have created cloned primates using the same
complicated cloning technique that made Dolly the sheep in 1996. The technique is
called somatic cell transfer, or SCNT.

UNIT-IX
HEALTH AND DISEASES
Dr. Ravi Agrahari’s Classes
(Scientist in IIT Delhi, Author of Mc Graw Hill)

Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Surakhsa Yojna (PMSSY)

The Union Cabinet has approved setting up of an AIIMS in Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh
with an outlay of Rs. 1,350 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Surakhsa Yojna.
The Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) was announced in 2003 with
objectives of correcting regional imbalances in the availability of affordable/ reliable
tertiary healthcare services and also to augment facilities for quality medical education in
the country.

▪ The scheme has two components: Setting up of new AIIMS and upgradation of
government medical colleges.
▪ Under this scheme, AIIMS have been established in Bhubaneshwar, Bhopal, Raipur,
Jodhpur, Rishikesh and Patna while work of AIIMS Rae Bareli is in progress. Also, three
AIIMS in Nagpur (Maharashtra), Kalyani (West Bengal) and Mangalagiri in Guntur (Andhra
Pradesh) have been sanctioned in 2015 and two AIIMS have been sanctioned at Bathinda
and Gorakhpur in 2016.
About PMSMA:
The Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan has been launched by the Ministry of Health
& Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India.
▪ The program aims to provide assured, comprehensive and quality antenatal care, free
of cost, universally to all pregnant women on the 9
th of every month. PMSMA
guarantees a minimum package of antenatal care services to women in their 2
nd/3rd
trimesters of pregnancy at designated government health facilities.
▪ The programme follows a systematic approach for engagement with private sector
which includes motivating private practitioners to volunteer for the campaign;
developing strategies for generating awareness and appealing to the private sector to
participate in the Abhiyan at government health facilities.
Typbar TCV

It is a Typhoid conjugate vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech Ltd (BBL).
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has pre-qualified its typhoid conjugate vaccine. The new
vaccine was found to have given a longer immunity from typhoid than older vaccines and
it required fewer doses for childhood immunisation.
Typbar TCV is reportedly the world’s first typhoid vaccine clinically proven for use on
recipients who can be as young as six months. A single dose offers 87% protective
efficacy against typhoid.

About Typhoid:

Typhoid fever is caused by food and water contaminated by Salmonella Typhi (S. Typhi)
bacteria. The symptoms of the disease include fever, headache, nausea, loss of appetite,
constipation and sometimes diarrhoea. According to the World Health Organisation,
typhoid affects about 21 million people per year and kills around 222,000.
Kerala’s fight against Antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
With antimicrobial resistance (AMR) emerging as a major concern in the health as well as
allied sectors such as veterinary, dairy, fisheries and poultry, Kerala is all set to launch its
strategic action plan for tackling AMR. The draft AMR action plan of the State is in the process
of being finalised and implemented.

Need for an action plan:
Dr. Ravi Agrahari’s Classes (Scientist in IIT Delhi, Author of Mc Graw Hill)

The draft focuses on 5 strategies:
▪ Improving awareness and understanding of the public on AMR.
▪ Strengthening knowledge through evidence, AMR surveillance.
▪ Implementation of better infection prevention, control strategies.
▪ Optimising use of antimicrobial agents in all sectors including health, agriculture,
dairy, poultry and fisheries.
▪ Promoting collaborative research studies on drug resistance in health, allied sectors.

What is AMR?
An antibiotic is a drug used to treat bacterial infections in both humans and animals. However,
bacteria can change and find ways to survive the effects of an antibiotic. This has
resulted in antibiotics losing their effectiveness. The more we use antibiotics and the way
that we use them can increase the chance that bacteria will become resistant to them. This is
known as antimicrobial resistance.

What are the dangers of AMR?

AMR causes a reduction in the effectiveness of medicines, making infections and
diseases difficult or impossible to treat. AMR is associated with increased mortality,
prolonged illnesses in people and animals, production losses in agriculture, livestock and
aquaculture. This threatens global health, livelihoods and food security. AMR also increases the
cost of treatments and care.

Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP)
Recent data put out by the Union Health Ministry’s Integrated Disease Surveillance
Programme (IDSP) assisted by world bank has indicated that food poisoning is one of the
commonest outbreaks reported in 2017. This is apart from acute diarrhoeal disease
(ADD).

The IDSP has interpreted that the incidence of ADD and food poisoning is high in places
where food is cooked in bulk, such as canteens, hostels and wedding venues.
Food poisoning, also called food-borne illness, is caused by eating contaminated food.
Infectious organisms including bacteria, viruses and parasites or their toxins are the most
common causes.

Aim: The scheme aims to strengthen disease surveillance for infectious diseases to
detect and respond to outbreaks quickly. The Project was undertaken to meet the World
Health Organization Guidelines for South East Asian countries on disease surveillance to track
the outbreak of diseases and its potential trans boundary threats.
Significance: A large amount of data on disease reports are collected in order to be able
to identify the outbreak of a disease, identify its causes and take corresponding
preventive and responsive measures. An early warning system has been put into place in
order to take timely preventive steps.

Tourette Syndrome

For patients with Tourette syndrome, deep brain stimulation (DBS) is associated with
symptomatic improvement, according to a study. The procedure, called deep brain stimulation
(DBS), improved tic severity by nearly half in 171 patients with uncontrolled Tourette symptoms
at 31 hospitals in 10 countries.
With DBS, brain surgeons run thin electric leads to specific regions of the basal ganglia, a
cluster of nerves in the brain related to motor control and behaviour. Doctors then apply
Dr. Ravi Agrahari’s Classes
(Scientist in IIT Delhi, Author of Mc Graw Hill)

electricity to the brain circuits they’ve most closely linked to Tourette, to try to control the
patient’s tics. However, the procedure still needs more work. More than a third of patients
experienced adverse events, most often slurred speech or a pins-and-needles sensation.

What is Tourette syndrome?

Tourette’s syndrome is a neuropsychiatric disorder that causes people to make sudden
repetitive movements or sounds which aren’t controlled (known as tics). For example, an
individual with Tourette’s syndrome may blink rapidly, clear their throat, shrug, turn heads
and make controllable hand movements or blurt out words they don’t intend to. One, in
hundred children suffers from Tourette’s, which is the same as the number of children with
autism.

Causes: Though the exact cause of the Tourette’s syndrome is unknown, it is believed to
be caused both by genetic and environmental factors. Studies suggest that it is inherited
most of the time, though the mode of inheritance and the carrier gene is not yet identified.
This syndrome has been linked to a dysfunction in an area in the brain, which could be
basal ganglia, thalamus and frontal cortex, which controls the body movements.
Symptoms: Tourette’s syndrome causes sudden repetitive movements called the tics. These
can be so mild as to go unnoticed and can be severe enough to seek medical assistance as
well. These tics can be of two types, motor tics and vocal tics. Motor tics concentrate on the
sudden, involuntary muscle movement in the body. These include: Head jerking, Rapid
blinking, Mouth, or face twitching, Shrugging and Arms jerking. Vocal tics concentrate
on the involuntary vocal sounds made by an individual. For example: Throat clearing,
Coughing, Repeating what someone else says, Swearing, Shouting and Sniffing.
Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment scheme

(AMRIT)
In a bid to make low-cost medicines more accessible, the health ministry is working to
increase the number of AMRIT pharmacy stores by four times by this year end from the
existing 111 outlets.

About the Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment (AMRIT) scheme:
The flagship programme of the Union Health ministry – AMRIT (Affordable Medicines and
Reliable Implants for Treatment) aims to provide affordable life-saving cancer, cardiac
drugs and medical disposables. The AMRIT pharmacies offer an average discount of 63%
on medicines.

▪ The AMRIT programme was launched in November 2015 and is being implemented
through mini-ratna PSU HLL Lifecare Ltd (HLL) which has been setting up pharmacies at
major hospitals across the country to dispense the medicines.
▪ The primary goal of AMRIT is to make available and accessible, at very affordable
rates, all drugs, implants, surgical disposables that are not dispensed free of cost
by the hospitals.

UNIT-X
MISCELLANEOUS
Bio-toilet project

The Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report on bio-toilets has found 1,99,689
defects in 25,000 toilets installed in Railways. Also, according to the data released by national
auditor to Parliament, the Indian Railways needs to buy 3,350 truckloads of cow dung at Rs
42 crore in 2018 to “recharge”— add bacteria to activate degradation — leaky,
malfunctioning ‘bio-toilets’ that it has fitted on 44.8% of trains and hopes to expand to all
trains by 2018.
Dr. Ravi Agrahari’s Classes
(Scientist in IIT Delhi, Author of Mc Graw Hill)

What are Bio- toilets?

The bio-toilets are fitted underneath the lavatories and the human excreta discharged
into them; these toilets incorporate microbes with an anaerobic digestion process to
digest human waste. A colony of anaerobic bacteria acts upon the collected waste and
converts the waste into water and biogases (mainly methane and carbon dioxide). While
the gases escape into the atmosphere, the wastewater is discharged after disinfection onto the
track, thus putting an end to the crisis of railway tracks strewn with excreta.
Each bio-toilet requires 60 litres — or three large bucketfuls — of inoculum, a mix of cow
dung and water. This inoculum begins the process of breaking down 3,980 tons of
human excreta. Anaerobic bacteria are abundantly available in cow dung.

Sharing is caring!