UPSC Daily Current Affairs | Prelim Bits 02-10-2020
iasparliament
October 05, 2020
Decade of Healthy Ageing
Union Ministry for Health & Family Welfare has launched Decade of Healthy Ageing (2020-2030).
It is aimed at mainstreaming issues related to elderly and to deliberate upon ways to ensure better and effective delivery of services, making full use of convergence mechanisms.
The broad aims of the initiatives will include evolving convergence within various national health programs and also promoting inter-sectoral coordination with other line Departments/Ministries.
Community based organizations, NGOs and multinational agencies will also be involved for developing an implementation framework for multi-sectoral engagement on healthy aging.
International Day of Older Persons
International Day of Older Persons is observed on 1st October every year.
It is designated in 1990 by the United Nations General Assembly.
The 2019 theme is aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 10 (SDG 10) and focuses on pathways of coping with existing and preventing future old age inequalities.
SDG 10 has the target to reduce inequality within and among countries and ensure equal opportunities for all.
Longitudinal Aging Study of India (LASI)
Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has launched the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI) in 2016.
It will assess the needs of its elderly people and frame policies accordingly.
The survey will take into account study on 60,000 elderly people over 25 years plan and will be the largest survey of its kind.
LASI project will be jointly funded by the Union Health Ministry, United Nation’s Population Fund-India and United States National Institute on Ageing.
The survey would be undertaken by the Mumbai based International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), in collaboration with Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and University of Southern California (USC).
It will provide Union Health Ministry sufficient data on older population in the country that in turn would be used to develop a scientifically validated data needed for their health, economic and social analysis of the older population.
It will investigate various health structures, and impact of social determinants on health of the elderly.
It will provide scientific data for framing evidence-based policy for elderly citizens and help in expanding the scope of health and social security policy and programmes for older population.
RAISE 2020
Union government has announced the mega event, RAISE 2020- ‘Responsible AI for Social Empowerment 2020,’ in April 2020.
It is organized by Government of India along with Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and NITI Aayog.
RAISE 2020 is India’s first Artificial Intelligence summit to be organized by the Government in partnership with Industry & Academia.
The summit would be a global meeting of minds to exchange ideas and charter a course to use AI for social empowerment, inclusion, and transformation in key areas like Healthcare, Agriculture, Education and Smart Mobility amongst other sectors.
The RAISE 2020 Summit will feature some of the most exciting global startups working in Artificial Intelligence related fields.
It will be a chance for startups to showcase ideas that present great potential in accelerating social transformation, inclusion, and empowerment.
BRAHMOS Supersonic Cruise Missile
BRAHMOS is a joint venture between the Defence Research and Development Organization of India (DRDO) and the NPOM of Russia.
Brahmos is named on the rivers Brahmaputra and Moskva.
It is a two-stage (solid propellant engine in the first stage and liquid ramjet in second) air to surface missile with a flight range of around 300 km.
India's entry into the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) has extended the range of the BRAHMOS missile to reach 450 km-600km, a shade above its current MTCR capped range of 300 km.
Brahmos is the heaviest weapon to be deployed on Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft, with a weight of 2.5 tonnes.
Brahmos is a multiplatform i.e it can be launched from land, air, and sea and multi capability missile with pinpoint accuracy that works in both day and night irrespective of the weather conditions.
It operates on the "Fire and Forgets" principle i.e it does not require further guidance after launch.
Brahmos is one of the fastest cruise missile currently operationally deployed with speed of Mach 2.8, which is 3 times more than the speed of sound.
