India to get 25 mn dollar from G20 Pandemic Fund (GS Paper 2, Health)
Why in news?
- India will receive USD 25 million from the G20 Pandemic Fund for strengthening animal health system of the country.
- The fund that was established under Indonesia's G20 Presidency is targeted at low-to middle-income countries to finance efforts like surveillance, research, and better access to vaccines, among others measures.
Interventions:
The major interventions to be taken under the proposal include:
- strengthening and integrating disease surveillance and early warning system;
- upgrading and expanding the laboratory network;
- improving the inter-operable data systems and
- building capacity for data analytics for risk analysis and risk communication.
- The other interventions include strengthening health security for transboundary animal diseases and India's role in regional cooperation through cross-border collaboration.
Key Highlights:
- The Pandemic Fund's Governing Board has approved "19 grants" under its first round of funding allocations aimed to boost resilience to future pandemics in 37 countries across six regions.
- It will bring additional, dedicated resources for pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response.
- It will incentivise increased investments, enhance coordination among partners, and serve as a platform for advocacy.
- The impact of the project would be to reduce the risk that a pathogen will emerge from animals (domesticated and wildlife) to be transmitted into the human population endangering the health, nutritional security, and livelihoods of vulnerable populations.
Implementation:
- The project will be implemented in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as the lead implementing entity with the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Significance:
- The devastating human, economic, and social cost of COVID-19 has highlighted the urgent need for coordinated action to build stronger one-health systems and mobilize additional resources for pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response.
- In the past few decades, five out of the six WHO declared public health emergencies of international concern were of animal origin. Consequently, it has become evident that any pandemic preparedness and response (PPR) needs a 'One Health' approach with a focus on animal health security.
Panel calls for uniformity in tenures, selection process of heads of various akademis
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
Why in news?
- A parliamentary committee has sought uniformity in the tenures and selection processes for heads and governing bodies of autonomous institutions run by the Culture Ministry.
- It has recommended that one MP should be included in the governing bodies to provide “ground reports”.
Details:
- The department-related Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, in its report, “Functioning of national akademis and other cultural institutions”, evaluated bodies under the Culture Ministry such as the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, the Lalit Kala Akademi, the Sahitya Akademi and the National School of Drama.
Current procedure:
- As of now only the chairman of the Sahitya Akademi is elected.
- The process for appointment of the heads of the various other institutes and their governing bodies as well as their tenures vary.
- For example, the term of office for the governing body of the Lalit Kala Akademi is three years, while that of the Kalakshetra Foundation is 10 years.
Gaps:
- There were no fixed guidelines with regard to the number of members in the governing council or the number of meetings to be held.
- Also, there are no people’s representatives in the governing council of the Akademis.
Recommendations:
- It recommended that the government formulate a policy emphasising uniformity among all the Akademis in terms of the tenure of the chairman or president, representation and election of the general council and the minimum number of meetings to be held each year.
- It said that if required, the legislation governing the akademis or institutions may be amended to ensure uniformity.
- The committee suggested that one MP be included on the governing Board of each of the Institutions on the lines of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and other such institutions to assist in the working of the akademis and to provide them ground reports.
Luna 25 crashes into the moon
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Why in news?
- Recently, the Russia’s Luna 25 spacecraft crashed into the moon after it spun into an uncontrolled orbit.
- The pilotless spacecraft was aiming to land in the South Pole area of the moon, an area where scientists believe there could be important reserves of frozen water and precious elements.
Details:
- Luna-25, that took off on 11 August was aiming to be the first mission to reach the moon’s south polar region, ahead of ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3.
- Preliminary findings have revealed that “the apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the Moon.”
- Russia had opted for a more ambitious landing, rather than the route chosen by the US, China and even India.
The implications for Russia:
- Russia’s Luna-25 mission, its first since 1976, was to have made a soft landing on the lunar south pole, the first in history.
- Roughly the size of a small car, it was expected to operate for a year on the south pole, where scientists at NASA and other space agencies in recent years have detected traces of frozen water in the craters.
- Apart from hunting water ice, Luna-25’s main goal was to examine the regolith and rocks around it, looking at the wispy lunar atmosphere and testing out technology for future landings on the moon, reported Space.com.
- The failure of the mission is a setback for Russia that during the Cold War became the first nation, as the Soviet Union, to put a satellite, a man and then a woman in orbit.
Future space plans:
- The loss of Luna-25 may dent Russia’s future space plans; Roscosmos has the Luna-26 mission, and even the Luna-27 which will see a drilling rig being sent to the moon.
- Also, it has the Luna-28, a sample-collection mission that aims to return material from the moon’s polar regions to Earth.
- However, these will likely be delayed due to Luna-25’s failure, as Roscosmos investigates to find the root cause of the probe’s crash into the moon.
- It also pile pressure on Russia’s $2 trillion economy, and particularly its hi-tech sector, as it grapples with Western sanctions aimed at punishing Moscow for the war in Ukraine.
Other moon landings:
- With the crash of Luna-25, all eyes turn to ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 which is on course to become the first spacecraft to land near the lunar South Pole.
- China is also planning to send a crewed mission to the Moon by 2030 and build a base there. It has invested billions of dollars in its military-run space programme in a push to catch up with the United States and Russia.
- The US also has the Artemis mission lined up for late 2025 in which they plan to put two astronauts on the surface near the lunar South Pole. However, time needed to build and test the SpaceX lunar lander threatens to push the flight into the 2026-27 timeframe.
