Prelim Bits 11-01-2024 | UPSC Daily Current Affairs

World Employment and Social Outlook Report 2023

• Released by- International Labour Organisation
• Publication- Annually
• Theme- The value of essential work.
• About- It details the impact of economic slowdown on the global labour market.
• 2023 report- It calls for a revaluation of the work of key workers to reflect their social contribution and greater investment in key sectors.
• Key workers- Food system workers, health workers, retail workers, security workers, manual workers, cleaning and sanitation workers, transport workers, and technicians and clerical workers.

Reference

The Hindu | World Employment & Social Outlook Report

Western Disturbance

• It is an extratropical storm system that forms in the middle and upper latitudes.
• It is a non-monsoonal precipitation pattern that causes rainfall and snowfall in northern India originating from the Mediterranean region.
• The weather system begins in the Mediterranean as a non-monsoonal precipitation and proceeds eastward, having an impact on different regions of Pakistan, India, and surrounding nations.
• Causes- It develops when the Himalayas and western parts of central Asia contact with the jet stream, a fast air current in the upper atmosphere. This interaction causes a low-pressure area to arise, which in turn causes the disturbance to develop.
• Outcome- In northern India, it causes rainfall in plain and snowfall in mountain regions.
• Declining trend- The Western disturbances is showing a declining trend in intensity in the past few years, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh have experienced 47% and 40% less rain than normal during October to December in 2023.
• Climate change-A long-term shift in weather patterns, mainly caused by human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels.
• Impact of climate change- A declining trend in the intensity and frequency of western disturbances, leading to reduced rainfall and snowfall in the post-monsoon season, affecting agriculture and water availability in the mountains.
• Decline in apple production- It is due to prolonged drought and lack of snow.

El Nino

India’s monsoon rainfall for the year 2023 hit a five-year low, marking the lowest since 2018 due to El Nino

• A climate phenomenon that describes the unusual warming of the Pacific Ocean, affecting the trade winds and the monsoon rainfall in India.
• Kashmir- The El Nino’s impact is evident through prolonged dry spells, milder winters, and diminished snowfall.

• It causes prolonged dry spells, milder winters, and diminished snowfall in some regions.

Reference

Down to Earth | Western Disturbance

TM Module-2 in ICD-11

Recently ICD-11 was launched with the inclusion of Traditional Medicine Module 2.

• ICD-11 – International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision, the global standard for diagnostic health information.
• Launched by – World Health Organisation (WHO).
• Prepared by – WHO in collaboration with Ministry of AYUSH.
• Aim - To modernize Ayush medicine by integrating it with global standards in India as well as across the world.
• Inclusion of – Data and terminology relating to diseases based on Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani Medicine.
• Significance – It forms a link between traditional medicines with global standards and will expand India’s healthcare delivery system, research, Ayush insurance coverage, research & development, policy making system.
• These codes can also be used to formulate future strategies to control various diseases in the society.
• Future prospects – Ministry of Ayush will prepare public health strategy in future, based on ICD-11, Module 2 and will implement it nationally and internationally.

Importance of ICD-11

• Legally mandated health data standard (WHO Constitution and Nomenclature Regulations).
• Integration of terminology and classification.
• End-to-end digital solution (API, tools, online and offline).
• It is accessible to everybody with up-to-date scientific knowledge.
• Comparable statistics and semantic interoperability for 150 years.
• ICD-11 enables, for the 1^st time, the counting of traditional medicine services and encounters.

References

1. PIB| Inclusion of TM Module 2 in ICD-11
2. WHO| International Classification of Disease (ICD)

Pong dam

Recently the draft policy was prepared to declare Pong Dam Wildlife Sanctuary and the surrounding area an eco-sensitive zone.

• It is the highest earth-fill dam in India and is one of India’s largest man made reservoir.
• Built in – 1975, named after Maharana Pratap and so called as Maharana Pratap Sagar.
• Location – Over Beas River in Himachal Pradesh.
• Pong Dam Wildlife Sanctuary – In 1983, the entire reservoir was declared a Wildlife Sanctuary by the state government.
• It is covered with tropical and subtropical forests.
• It is the most important fish reservoir in the foothills of the Himalayas.
• Pong Dam Lake Bird Sanctuary – In 1994, the Government of India declared it a ‘wetland of national importance’ and in 2002, it was declared as a Ramsar Site.
• Every year more than 100,000 birds migrate here from Central Asia, Mongolia, Siberia and China and it is the largest congregation of the ‘Bar headed geese’.
• Vulture Cafe – A place where cattle carcasses are made available at one spot, for vultures to ‘feast’ (scavenge) upon them.

Impact of Declaring Pond Dam an ESZ

The National Environment Policy (2006) defined the Eco-Sensitive Zones “as areas/zones with identified environmental resources having incomparable values which require special attention for their conservation” because of its landscape, wildlife, biodiversity, historical and natural values.

• Impact – It will impose more restrictions on human activities within a radius of 1-1.5 kilometres of the dam area.

• It will affect people living within a radius of 116 kilometres in the dam area who does farming around the dam when the water level goes down.
• Over 25,000 families were displaced by the dam and over 7,000 rehabilitation cases are pending.

References

1. Down To Earth| Draft policy of ESZ in Pong Dam
2. Kangra District| Pong Dam

Critically Important Antimicrobials (CIA)

The findings of a new survey by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) underscored the need for properly monitoring critically important antimicrobials to mitigate AMR.

• CIAs – They represent a class of antimicrobials.
• Categorised by – World Health Organisation (WHO).
• 3 groups – Based on their importance to human medicine and the urgency to preserve their effectiveness in treating infectious diseases.
• HPCIAs – Highest priority critically important antimicrobials constitute a subcategory within CIAs, signifying antimicrobials of the highest priority in preserving their effectiveness.
• Limitation – It is limited to antibacterial drugs of which most are also used in veterinary medicine and  on how much and what kind of antibiotics are used in food animals and crops.
• Key findings – 3^rd generation cephalosporins tops in overall antibiotic prescriptions with Ceftriaxone as top in this class.
• Aminoglycosides is 2^nd highest in overall antibiotic prescription where amikacin is the most commonly prescribed antibiotic.

3^rd generation cephalosporins are categorised as the highest priority critically important antimicrobials (HPCIA) by WHO.

• Other CIAs were belonging to the classes of carbapenems, penicillins, fluoroquinolones, glycopeptides and macrolides.
• Recommendations – Antimicrobial consumption tracking efforts, like seen for human consumption, should be considered for use of antibiotics in India’s food animal production sector.
• Significance of listing – It assists in managing antimicrobial resistance, ensuring that all, especially CIA are used prudently both in human and veterinary medicine.

Recent data from the Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Surveillance Network of the ICMR as well as National Antimicrobial Surveillance Network (NARS-Net) of NCDC also showed a trend of increasing resistance towards CIAs, including 3^rd generation cephalosporins and aminoglycosides.

References

1. Down To Earth| NCDC Survey on CIA
2. WHO| Critically Important Antimicrobials