• According to the World Health Organization, Egypt became the first country to achieve “gold tier” status on the path to elimination of hepatitis C as per the global health body criteria.
• The “gold tier” status to reach the stated goal of eliminating hepatitis C includes meeting specific criteria such as-
  • ensuring 100% blood and injection safety, maintaining a minimum of 150 needles/syringes per year for people who inject drugs (PWID),
  • diagnosis of over 80% of people living with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV),
  • treating of over 70% of individuals diagnosed with HCV, and
  • the establishing of a sentinel surveillance programme for hepatitis sequelae, including liver cancer.
• Egypt had undertaken the “100 Million Healthy Lives” initiative. Through this initiative, Egypt “significantly reduced the prevalence of hepatitis C from 10% in 2016 to 5% in 2018 and an estimated less than 1% in 2019”.

ABOUT HEPATITIS C

• Hepatitis C is a viral infection that affects the liver.
• It can cause both acute (short term) and chronic (long term) illness.
• It is caused by a group of viruses known as the “hepatotropic” (liver directed) viruses, including A, B, C, D and E.
• Transmission- The most common route of virus spread is through unsafe injection practices such as sharing needles, syringes, or any other equipment to inject drugs.
  • Unscreened blood and blood products and inadequate sterilisation of medical equipment in health-care settings are other two important routes of virus transmission.
• There is no vaccine for hepatitis C, but it can be treated with antiviral medications.
• Effective vaccine is although, available for Hepatitis A and B.
• Also, Hepatitis A and E are self-limiting diseases (i.e. go away on their own).

• Indian Ocean Rim Association’s (IORA) Council of Ministers (COM) was held in Colombo recently.
• It was attended by foreign ministers and senior officials of the 23-nation grouping of countries.
• Banner theme- ‘Strengthening Regional Architecture: Reinforcing Indian Ocean Identity’
• Sri Lanka took charge as Chair this year from Bangladesh, and India is Vice-Chair, meaning that the troika of IORA is within the South Asian region.
• ‘Colombo Communique and ‘IORA Vision 2030 and Beyond’ was

 ABOUT IORA

• While the IORA was formed in 1997 (then called the Indian Ocean Region-Association for Regional Cooperation) in Mauritius, its genesis came from a speech Nelson Mandela gave in Delhi in 1995.
• The Indian Ocean Rim Association includes 23 countries from Africa, West Asia, South Asia, South East Asia, Australia and littoral states situated in and around the Indian Ocean.
• The grouping, whose apex body is the Council of Foreign Ministers that meet once a year, moves by rotation through members every two years.
• IORA’s membership includes 23 countries: Australia, Bangladesh, the Comoros, France, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, the Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, the UAE and Yemen.
• It also has 11 dialogue partners.
• IORA’s seven priority areas are maritime safety and security; trade and investment facilitation; fisheries management; disaster risk management; academic, science and technology; tourism and cultural exchanges; and gender empowerment.
• Importance- A third of the world’s population (2.6 billion people) live in the region, and 80% of global oil trade, 50% of the world’s containerised cargo and 33% of its bulk cargo passes through it.
  • The region produces a combined total of $1 trillion in goods and services and intra-IORA trade is billed at around $800 billion.

• The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) has approved the country’s self-declaration of freedom from Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), commonly known as bird flu, in specific poultry compartments (approved farms) in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh.
• The approval to this self-declaration is expected to open up new opportunities for Indian poultry in the global market, contributing to the country’s economic growth.
• Status- India is currently the third-largest producer of eggs (130 billion) and the fifth-largest producer of poultry meat (4.5 million tonnes) in the world.

ABOUT HPAI

• Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), commonly known as bird flu, was first detected in India in Maharashtra in February 2006.
  • Since then, the country has experienced annual outbreaks of HPAI in different regions, leading to substantial losses.
• Person-to-person spread of bird flu is not common.
• Those who work in close contact with infected live or dead poultry or contaminated environments are at risk.
• 4 strains have mainly caused concern i.e., H5N1, H7N9, H5N6 and H5N8.
• H1N1 flu, sometimes called swine flu, is a type of influenza A virus.

 COUNTER MEASURES BY INDIA

• India’s approach to controlling HPAI follows a “detect and cull” policy as outlined in the National Action Plan for Prevention, Control, and Containment of Avian Influenza (revised – 2021).
• India has also taken a proactive approach to mitigate the risks associated with HPAI by adopting the concept of poultry compartmentalization.
  • Compartmentalization is a crucial tool that enhances animal health, reduces the risk of disease outbreaks within and outside the compartment, and facilitates the trade of poultry and poultry-related products.

ABOUT WOAH

• It is an intergovernmental organization with focus on transparently disseminating information on animal diseases, improving animal health globally and thus builds a safer, healthier and more sustainable world.
• Founded in 1924 as the Office International des Epizooties (OIE), in May 2003 it adopted the common name World Organisation for Animal Health.
• Headquarters– Paris, France.

• The Bhootnath bridge in Kullu has been finally restored for light vehicles after about four-and-a-half years.
• It is built across Beas river.
• The 95-metre double lane bridge, constructed at a cost of Rs 10 crore, had developed cracks and inclined from the centre in November 2018 within 5 years of its inauguration.

• International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is celebrated every year on 17^th
• The day is dedicated to create awareness and promote global measures for the prevention of poverty.
• On 22 December 1992, the General Assembly declared 17 October as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
• The theme of International Day for the Eradication of Poverty 2023 is “Decent Work and Social Protection: Putting Dignity in Practice for All.”

• The PM congratulated Grandmaster Raunak Sadhwani who had won the FIDE World Junior Rapid Chess Championship in Sardinia, Italy.
• Raunak scored 8.5 over 11 rounds to win the Championship ahead of Arseniy Nesterov of Russia, who scored 8.
• Raunak became a grandmaster at the age of 13.
• He is the ninth youngest player in history and the fourth youngest Indian to be awarded the title.

About FIDE (Federation International des Echecs) or International Chess Federation

• FIDE is constituted as a non-governmental institution.
• Founded – 1924
• HQ- Lausanne, Switzerland
• Motto is “Gens una sumus,” which is Latin for “We are one family.”
• It is the governing body of the sport of chess and regulates all international chess competitions.
• It was recognized by the International Olympic Committee as a Global Sporting Organization in 1999.

It has 199 countries as affiliate members (including India), in the form of National Chess Federations.

• Israel used David’s Sling air-defense system to intercept Hamas rockets.
• David’s Sling is a highly sophisticated and state-of-the-art anti-missile defense system developed jointly by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Raytheon.
• David’s Sling system includes a missile firing unit, a fire control radar, a battle management station, and the interceptor.
• It is a long range air and missile defense system.
• It can protect any country that uses it against large-calibre rockets, short-range ballistic missiles, and other developing threats.
• It has been designed for “plug and play” insertion into fielded air and missile defense systems – open architecture.
  • Next-generation multi-sensor seeker.

Cost effective.

• The PM Gati Shakti initiative, aimed at transforming the infrastructure growth in the country, has reached its two-year milestone.

ABOUT PM GATI SHAKTI

• The government launched the PM Gati Shakti program in 2021, with the goal of achieving self-reliance and a $5 trillion economy by 2025.
• To realise this vision, there was a pressing need to establish a comprehensive and efficient multimodal transportation and last-mile connectivity infrastructure across the country.
• PM Gati Shakti aims to achieve these objectives through integrated planning and coordinated project execution involving all relevant ministries and state governments.
• The primary aim of this initiative is to enhance multimodal connectivity, improve logistics efficiency, and address crucial infrastructure deficiencies to ensure seamless movement of people, goods, and services across the nation.
• The program also seeks to integrate the infrastructure schemes of various ministries and state governments, including Bharatmala, Sagarmala, land ports, UDAN, and more.

MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS

• The government has evaluated more than 300 central and state projects worth ₹11.58 lakh crore in two years.
• The projects evaluated under PM Gati Shakti include over 200 state projects worth over ₹5,000 crore for improving logistic infrastructure and 156 critical infrastructure gap projects for first and last-mile connectivity.
• Among the central infrastructure projects, 45 railway projects worth ₹6.06 lakh crore and 47 road projects worth ₹4.19 lakh crore were evaluated, besides eight projects worth ₹79,000 crore of the housing and urban affairs ministry and one project of over ₹ 20,000 crore of the new and renewable energy ministry.
• As per the analysis, the initiative has significantly improved the ease of doing business by bringing down the pre-alignment finalisation time for infrastructure projects from three-four months earlier to one month now.
• Besides, the NOC approvals for all projects are now digitised and integrated via the Gati Shakti portal unlike earlier.

• Global Survey Report on Persons with Disabilities and Disasters 2023 was recently released by UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.
• The survey captured over 6,000 responses from 132 countries to evaluate progress on government policies that should be offering protection.
• An initial survey focused on disability was conducted in 2013.

MAJOR FINDINGS

• Persons with disabilities face a “shocking lack of support” with no progress in the last decade, despite a huge increase in climate disasters worldwide.
• Specifically, 84% of respondents in 2023 reported not having a personal preparedness plan in case of a disaster, such as knowing evacuation routes, available shelters and stocking up on emergency supplies.
• Even with sufficient advance warning, 17% PwDs face a lot of difficulties in evacuating.
• 86% PwDs reported no participation in community level DRR decision-making and planning.

• The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has introduced two pioneering initiatives that indicate the country’s pro-active approach to climate change, sustainability and promotion eco-conscious practices.
• These are the Green Credit Program (GCP) and the Ecomark Scheme

ABOUT GREEN CREDIT PROGRAM (GCP)

• It is an innovative market-based mechanism designed to incentivize voluntary environmental actions across diverse sectors, by various stakeholders like individuals, communities, private sector industries, and companies.
• The GCP’s governance framework is supported by an inter-ministerial Steering Committee and The Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) serves as the GCP Administrator, responsible for program implementation, management, monitoring, and operation.
• In its initial phase, the GCP focuses on two key activities: water conservation and afforestation.
• A user-friendly digital platform will streamline the processes for registration of projects, its verification, and issuance of Green Credits.
• The Green Credit Registry and trading platform, being developed by ICFRE along with experts, would facilitate the registration and thereafter, the buying and selling of Green Credits.

ABOUT ECOMARK SCHEME

• The Ecomark Scheme notified recently replaces the previous Notification(1991).
• It provides accreditation and labelling for household and consumer products that meet specific environmental criteria while maintaining quality standards as per Indian norms.
• Products accredited under the Ecomark Scheme will adhere to specific environmental criteria, ensuring minimal environmental impact.
• It will build consumer awareness of environmental issues and encourage eco-conscious choices.
• It will also motivate manufacturers to shift towards environmentally friendly production.
• The Central Pollution Control Board administers the Ecomark Scheme in partnership with Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), which is the national body for standards and certification.