PM Modi to inaugurate Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention in Indore (GS Paper 2, Government Policies and interventions)
Why in news?
- The Prime Minister inaugurated the 17th edition of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore city.
Theme:
- The theme of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) Convention 2023 is: “Diaspora: Reliable Partners for India’s progress in Amrit Kaal”.
Details:
- PM also inaugurated the first-ever digital PBD exhibition on the theme “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav – Contribution of Diaspora in Indian Freedom Struggle” to highlight the contribution of the diaspora freedom fighters in India’s Independence, an official said.
- A commemorative postal stamp ‘Surakshit Jaayen, Prashikshit Jaayen’ will be released to underline the importance of safe, legal, orderly and skilled migration.
Chief Guests:
- President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali will be the chief guest and the Republic of Suriname President Chandrikapersad Santokhi will be the special guest of honour.
Participants:
- More than 3,500 diaspora members from 70 countries have registered for the event, which is being organised in physical mode for the first time since 2019.
- The 16th edition of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) convention was held in virtual mode in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
About PBD:
- The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is celebrated on January 9 to mark the arrival of Mahatma Gandhi in Mumbai from South Africa on that day in 1915.
- Since 2003, PBD conventions have been held annually. However, its format was revised since 2015 to celebrate the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas once every two years.
India’s kala-azar cases declined 98.7% since 2007: Health ministry
(GS Paper 2, Health)
Why in news?
- According to Union Health Minister, Kala-azar cases in India fell to 834 in 2022 from 44,533 in 2007, a 98.7 per cent decline.
Details:
- As many as 632 endemic blocks (99.8 per cent) spread across Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal have received elimination status (less than one case per 10,000). He was chairing a high-level review meeting on the status of the disease in these four endemic states.
- Only one block (Littipara) of Pakur district, Jharkhand is in the endemic category (1.23 cases / 10,000 population).
Kala-azar:
Global burden:
- Visceral leishmaniasis or kala-azar is the most serious form of the disease and as of November 2022, about 89 per cent of the global cases were reported from eight countries: Brazil, Eritrea, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan, WHO noted. India contributes 11.5 per cent of total cases reported globally.
- The disease mainly affects poor people in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and is associated with malnutrition and poor housing, population displacement, weak immune system and lack of resources.
India’s status:
- India is committed to eliminating Kala-azar or Black Fever from the country by 2023.
- To this goal, the central government has taken steps such as building of pucca houses through PM-AWAS yojana, rural electrification, testing, treatment and periodic high-level review, incentivising through award distribution, among others.
- The Centre is supporting the states in active case detection, surveillance, treatment as well as supply of diagnostic kits, medicines, sprays.
- Currently, more than 90 per cent of the Kala-azar cases are contributed by Bihar and Jharkhand, according to PTI. Uttar Pradesh (2019) and West Bengal (2017) states have achieved their elimination targets at the block level.
Perseverance drops 50% backup samples on Mars for future missions to bring home
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
Why in news?
- The Perseverance rover, which recently completed its one Martian year of operations on the Red Planet, has successfully dropped five of the 10 sampling tubes with rock cores in them.
- The backup tubes will be picked up by future missions to bring them to Earth in case they are unable to encounter the rover.
Why rock samples matter?
- The rock samples are of different natures and the latest one formed from magma, and scientists believe that it was then altered by water several times.
- The rocket could help scientists understand the early history of this area, when life may have been present in the presently barren world.
- Researchers had recently discovered that the bedrock their six-wheeled explorer has been driving on since landing in February likely formed from red-hot magma.
- Even before Perseverance touched down on Mars, the mission’s science team had wondered about the origin of the rocks in the area.
About Perseverance rover:
- It was launched in 2020 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V.
- It carried a unique instrument, MOXIE or Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment: which for the first time manufactured molecular oxygen on Mars using carbon dioxide from the carbon-dioxide-rich atmosphere (ISRU means In Situ Resource Utilization: or the use of local resources to meet human needs or requirements of the spacecraft).
- It carried Ingenuity, the first ever helicopter to fly on Mars.
- It is the planned first step to bring back rock samples from Mars for analysis in sophisticated laboratories on Earth: with the goal of looking for biosignatures: or signatures of present or past life.
What’s next?
- During its one year of Martian operations, the rover has revealed that rocks in the Jazero crater have interacted with water multiple times over the eons and that some contain organic molecules.
- The rover is currently making a sample depot on the surface for future sample return campaign missions to pick and bring to Earth for deeper and better analysis.
