Why in news

• Chairman of Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) stated that plan will include developing waterways and jetties to improve navigable capacity of Indian rivers.
• India has an extensive network of inland waterways in form of rivers, canals, backwaters and creeks that may supplement over-burdened railways and congested roadways.
  • To promote Inland Water Transport (IWT), 111 waterways have been declared as National Waterways (NWs) under National Waterways Act, 2016.
  • Of these, 13 NWs are operational.
• Benefits of IWT: eco-friendly and cheaper (less fuel consumption per tonne-km), better connectivity to hinterland, require relatively less maintenance etc.
• Challenges faced in IWT:
  • Decreased water flow due to industrial, agricultural and other uses,
  • inadequate water channel depth,
  • Excessive Siltation,
  • Low technology adaption etc.
• Other initiatives taken
  • PANI (Portal for Asset & Navigation Information) provides detailed information on various waterways.
  • CAR-D (Cargo Data) Portal, a web based portal for all cargo and cruise movement data of NWs.
  • Ro-Ro/Ro-Pax Service Commenced in Various NWs.

Why in news?

• Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has urged the Union Government to enhance the disaster fund for Himachal Pradesh as the state is prone to various types of natural disasters due to difficult topographical and climatic conditions.
• The Chief Minister raised this demand during the inauguration function of setting up of two Doppler weather radars in the state addressed virtually from New Delhi by Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Earth Sciences.
• These Doppler radars have been put up at Jot in Chamba district and at Murari Devi in Mandi district.
• These radars would be able to forecast heavy rain, thunderstorm and hailstorm within 100 kilometer radius in all directions.
• These would especially be useful for short-range forecasting.

Why in news?

• Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri launched a ‘yajna’ online booking facility for devotees at Mata Chintpurni shrine recently.

Two options

• There will be two types of yajnas (Suksham or Saptshati) to choose from
• ‘Suksham Havan’ will be of 40 minutes to one hour
• Devotees will have to pay online booking charges of Rs 500 and Rs 1,200 for the material to be used in rituals
• ‘Saptshati Havan’ will be of two to two and a half hours
• Devotees will have to deposit booking charges of Rs 1,100 and Rs 5,800 for material required for rituals

Why in news?

• The Gangasagar Mela is organised during Makar Sankranti every year.
• On the occasion of Makar Sankranti, thousands of pilgrims, seers & tourists take a holy dip in the confluence of Ganga and Bay of Bengal, to mark this event.
• They also offer prayers at the Kapil Muni Temple.
• On the day of Makar Sankranti (January 14), when the sun makes a transition to Capricorn from Sagittarius, it is said that the bath becomes a holy source of salvation.
• Gangasagar is the second largest congregation of pilgrims, devotees and enthusiasts across the country after the Kumbh Mela at Haridwar.

Why in news?

• The ‘Saharsh’ was launched in 40 schools of the state on a pilot basis in August last year.
• This year, it will be extended to all government and aided schools in Tripura from the second week of January.

Key Points

• On the inauguration of the 49^th state-level science, mathematics, and environment exhibition, Education Minister informed that the state government has been working to make Tripura self-reliant and prosperous.
• The ‘Saharsh’ initiative is aimed at empowering children to learn with happiness.
• The state government has trained 204 schools for the ‘Saharsh’ curriculum while 200 more will be trained in the future.
• 30 assistant headmasters from different districts of Tripura were also selected to work as Saharsh implementation ambassadors.
• Under the Saharsh program, Children won’t be pressurized to study, rather they will be encouraged to social and emotional learning.

Why in news?

• A survey conducted as part of the Asian Waterbird Census (AWC) 2023 shows the populations of some migratory waterbirds, especially duck species visiting the Alappuzha region of Kerala, are falling.

Highlights of the Survey

• Major Missing Species: Duck species like Northern Shoveler, Common teal and Eurasian wigeon, sighted in the revious surveys, were totally missing this time around.
• Climate change has affected the number of birds visiting the region. However, the precise impact of climate change on bird migration requires more detailed studies.

About Asian Waterbird Census

• It is a citizen-science programme supporting conservation and management of wetlands and waterbirds worldwide.
• AWC is part of the global International Waterbird Census (IWC)coordinated by Wetlands International. AWC runs in parallel with other regional programmes of the IWC in Africa, Europe, West Asia, the Neotropics and the Caribbean.
• AWC in India:
  • It was initiated in the Indian subcontinent in 1987and since then has grown rapidly to cover major regions of Asia, from Afghanistan eastwards to Japan, Southeast Asia and Australasia.
  • In India, AWC is jointly coordinated by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and Wetlands International.

Significance

• It gives an idea of the birds at the wetland and the health of the wetland; the more the waterbirds, the more suitable the wetland is.
• It helps in better implementation of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS)and the Convention on Biological Diversity‘s (CBD).

Why in news?

• Makar Sankranti is an important festival that marks the day the sun transits into Makara Rashi or Capricorn zodiac. As per the solar calendar, it falls on 14 January every year.
• The festival also marks the end of winter and the beginning of a new harvest season. It has both seasonal and religious significance. It is considered one of the most auspicious days of the Hindu calendar.
• Makar Sankranti is celebrated in different ways across India under different names, each region having its unique customs and traditions.
• In Tamil Nadu, it is celebrated as Thai Pongal, where the festival is celebrated for four days, with the first day being Bhogi Pongal, the second day being Surya Pongal, the third day being Mattu Pongal and the fourth day being Kaanum Pongal.
• In Andhra Pradesh, Bengal, Kerala, Bihar, Goa, Karnataka, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, and Uttar Pradesh, it is celebrated as Makar Sankranti.
• In Gujarat and Rajasthan, it is celebrated as Uttarayana, and people take a dip in holy rivers and perform rituals to mark the beginning of the sun’s northward journey.
• In Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, it is celebrated as Lohri, where people light bonfires and perform folk dances around them.
• In Assam, it is celebrated as Magh Bihu or Bhogali Bihu, where people light bonfires and feast on traditional food.

Why in news?

• Every year on January 15, India celebrates its Army Day and this year marks the 75th anniversary of the Indian army day.
• It is the day on which Field Marshal Kodandera M. Cariappa (then a Lieutenant General) took over as the first Commander­in­Chief of the Indian Army from the last British Commander­in­Chief of India, General Fransis Bucher in the year 1949.
• Parades, medal presenting and other ceremonies are organized to celebrate the Army Day.
• With “Service before self” as its motto, the Indian Army is the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces.

More on the news

• Originally, the Indian army was formed under the British rule on April 1, 1895 and was called as British Indian Army.
• After India got its independence in the year 1947, it was only on January 15, 1949, when the country got its first Indian chief. Lt Gen K M Carriappa took over as commander­inchief of the Indian Army in 1949 from General Francis Butcher.
• The transfer of power from the British to India signifies an important moment in the Indian history and is celebrated as Army Day.
• This day also also honors the soldiers who have sacrificed their lives for the country.

Why in news?

• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) discovered its first exoplanet, a planet that orbits another star, formally classified as LHS 475 b, which is reportedly almost the exact size of Earth, clocking in at 99% of Earth’s diameter.
• The planet is rocky and almost precisely the same size as Earth, but orbits around its star in only two days.
• LHS 475 b, located in the constellation Octans, is only 41 light-years away.
• Researchers used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) to observe exoplanet LHS 475 b on 31st August 2022. The team’s results were presented at a press conference of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) on 11th January 2023.

Key Points: 

• The team chose to examine this target with Webb after carefully reviewing targets of interest from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which highlighted the planet’s existence.
• With just two transit observations, Webb’s Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) was able to capture the planet clearly.
• Only Webb is able to characterise the atmospheres of Earth-sized exoplanets among all other active telescopes.
• By examining the transmission spectrum of the planet, scientists made an effort to assess what is included in its atmosphere.
• The precise light curve of Webb almost immediately showed the planet’s two-day orbital period.
• LHS 475 b is closer to its star than any other planet in the solar system. Its red dwarf star is less than half the temperature of the Sun, therefore researchers project it still could support an atmosphere.

Why in news?

• The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has recently released the Rural Health Statistics Report 2021-22, providing a comprehensive overview of the state of rural healthcare infrastructure and human resources in India.
• The report serves as a vision document in identifying the gaps in the existing healthcare infrastructure and human resources in rural, urban and tribal areas of the country and is an important source of information for citizens.

Highlights

1. Health Centers-The RHS estimates as of 31 March, 2022, has revealed that each sub center (SC) catered to an average of 5691 people, each Primary Health Centers (PHC) to 36049 people and each Community Health Centers (CHC) to 164027 people.
   • As per norms, each SC is supposed to cater to a population of 3,000-5,000, each PHC to a population of 20,000-30,000 and each CHC to a population of 80,000-1,20,000.
2. Urban Health Statistics- There is a vacancy of 8% of doctors, 16.8% of pharmacists, 16.8% of lab technicians and 19.1% of staff nurses at the U-PHCs (Urban PHCs). The population covered by a U-PHC may vary from 50,000 to 75,000. Urban Community Health Centre (U-CHCs) is set up as a referral facility for every 4-5 U-PHCs. The U-CHC caters to a population of 2,50,000 to 5 lakhs.
3. Rise in Number of Allopathy Doctors-There has been an over 50% rise in the number of allopathy doctors in primary health centers since the launch of the National Rural Health Mission in 2005, from 20,308 in 2005 to 30,640 in 2022.
4. Shortage of Specialist Doctors- The RHS report also highlights the acute shortage of specialist doctors in the country, with a shortfall of nearly 80% of the required specialists at Community Health Centers (CHCs). The report points out that there is a shortfall of specialist doctors, including surgeons (83.2%), obstetricians and gynecologists (74.2%), physicians (79.1%), and pediatricians (81.6%).Apart from specialist doctors, there is also a shortage of female health workers and auxiliary nursing midwives, with up to 14.4% of these posts lying vacant in PHCs and SCs.

About Rural Health Statistics Report

• The Rural Health Statistics Report is an annual publication of MoHFW since the year 1992.
• This report provides data on health infrastructure including manpower up to 31st March of every year.
• The publication is based on the data uploaded by States/UTs on Health Management Information System (HMIS) Portal and is published only after getting verified by respective States/UTs. The HMIS portal provides periodic reports on the status of the health services performances and Human Resources and Infrastructure services facilities available.