• Rajasthan has become the first state to pass in Assembly the Right to Health Bill.
• Under the Constitution, public health and sanitation, including hospitals and dispensaries, come under State List.
• Right to Health creates a legal obligation on states to ensure access to timely, acceptable, and affordable health care of appropriate quality.
• This includes safe and potable water, sanitation, food, housing, health-related information and education, and gender equality.
• Supreme Court in Bandhua Mukti Morcha v Union of India & Ors held that right to life (Article 21) included RTH within its fold.

Key Features of the Bill

• Extending a total of 20 rights, Bill gives every resident of the state right to avail free Out Patient Department (OPD) services and In Patient Department (IPD) services at all public health facilities.
• The Bill sets certain obligations on the state government to ensure the right to health and maintain public health.

Health Authorities will be set up at the state and district level. These bodies will formulate, implement, monitor, and develop mechanisms for quality healthcare and management of public health emergencies

• The Standing Committee on Chemical & Fertilizers in its report on Nano Fertilizers listed the benefits of Nano urea and wants the govt’s fertilizer PSUs to adopt the nanotechnology-based plants for its multiple benefits to the farmers.
• Earlier, IFFCO developed Nano urea and Nano DAP, nanotechnology-based fertilisers.
• IFFCO has also developed nano fertilizer macronutrient grades – Nano Nitrogen and secondary /micronutrient grades – Nano Zinc, Nano Copper, Nano Boron, Nano Sulphur, etc.
• Advantages of Nano fertilisers
  • Lower input cost for the farmers.
  • Nano Urea has 85-90% efficiency compared to about 25% of conventional urea.
  • An average of 8 % higher crop yield was achieved in trials.
  • Improved agriculture sustainability through higher nutrient uptake, lower water consumption and reduction in environmental losses.
• Recommendations
  • Nano-fertilisers should be manufactured by both public and private sector companies.
  • Bring production of nano-fertilizers under production linked incentive (PLI) scheme.
  • Establish long term agreements and set-up joint venture plants in countries rich in fertilizers’ raw materials.

• International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cleared a $3 Billion bailout for Sri Lanka.
• An IMF bailout usually comprises a financing package, a structural reforms package (to be implemented by borrowing country) and specific debt conditions.
• India, Japan (as a member of the Paris Club) and China — Sri Lanka’s top three bilateral creditors — played a crucial role in unlocking IMF assistance by providing financing assurances.
• Bailout is provided under IMF’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF), extended when a country faces serious medium-term balance of payments (BoP) problems because of structural weaknesses that require time.

Lending instruments of IMF

• Stand-By Arrangements (SBAs)- Address short-term or potential BoP problems for the emerging and advanced market economies in crises.
• Standby Credit Facility (SCF)- Similar to SBAs. Address the BoP problems for low-income countries
• Extended Fund Facility (EFF)-Medium-term support to countries facing protracted BOP problems
• Extended Credit Facility (ECF)- Similar to EFF. Medium-term support to low-income countries facing protracted BOP problems.
• Flexible Credit Line (FCL): for crisis prevention and crisis-mitigation lending for countries with very strong policy frameworks.
• Precautionary and Liquidity Line: for countries with sound economic fundamentals but with some remaining vulnerabilities that preclude them from using FCL.

About IMF

• Specialised UN Agency conceived in 1944 at United Nations Bretton Woods Conference.
• It monitors economic and financial policies of its member countries, provides policy advice to nations for promotion of international financial stability and monetary cooperation.
• Unlike development banks, IMF does not lend for specific projects. It also provides precautionary financing to help prevent crises.
• Members – 190 countries; India is a founding member.

• Asia’s largest ILMT was recently inaugurated at Devasthal in Uttarakhand.
• Other telescope facility at Devasthal
  • Devasthal Optical Telescope and Devasthal Fast Optical Telescope.
• It is owned by Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES).
• ILMT is the first liquid mirror telescope designed exclusively for astronomical observations and is the first optical survey telescope in India.
• The Devasthal observatory is equipped with the largest aperture telescope available in India that will use Big Data and Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) algorithms to classify objects in the sky.
• LMTs are devices that consist a mirror-made with a reflective liquid, essentially mercury.
  • However, other liquids like, low-melting alloys of gallium, are also used.
• LMTs are stationary telescopes that image a strip of sky which is at the zenith.
• It can capture all possible celestial objects — from stars, galaxies, supernovae explosions, asteroids to space debris.

• The Centre is planning to irradiate onions with Gamma rays before sending them into cold storage on a pilot basis.
  • Perishable nature of onions, combined with lower processing penetration and sub-optimal storage infrastructure causes post-harvest losses (almost 25%).
• Kharif and late kharif onion or red onion is highly perishable and cannot be stored for over a month.
  • Therefore, the rabi variety, which accounts for 65% of the onion harvest and has a longer shelf life of about 5-7 months, would be considered for irradiation.
• Maharashtra is the leading onion producing state, followed by Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat. These states account for about 80% of India’s total production.

About Irradiation

• Irradiation prevents sprouting and thus helps in bringing down post-harvest losses.
• Food irradiation involves controlled application of energy from ionizing radiations such as gamma rays, electrons and X-rays for food preservation.
• Irradiation works by disrupting the biological processes that lead to decay.
• Gamma ray, X-ray or electrons do not induce any radioactivity in food.
• Radiation sources approved for use on foods
  • Gamma rays emitted from radioactive forms of cobalt (Cobalt 60) or Caesium (Caesium 137) used routinely to sterilize medical, dental products.
• X-rays produced by reflecting a high-energy stream of electrons off a target substance into food.
  • Electron beam (or e-beam) is like X-rays and is a stream of high-energy electrons propelled from an electron accelerator into food.

Benefits

• Can be used to sterilize foods, which can then be stored for years without refrigeration.
• Delay of sprouting and ripening to increase longevity.
• Destroy or inactivate organisms that cause spoilage and decomposition.
• Eliminate organisms that cause foodborne illness, such as E. coli.

• The CM launched the ‘Hategi Fulnu, Lautegi Charagah’ campaign on the occasion of World Forestry Day here today.
• The campaign aims at sensitising people about the need to prevent forest fires and restore ecosystem in lantana-infested areas.
• Forest fires posed a widespread threat to forest wealth, including fauna and flora, as they disturb biodiversity, ecology and the environment of the region.
• Indirect effects of forest fires include loss of timber and soil fertility, soil erosion, drying up of water resources and the loss of biodiversity.
• The Chief Minister flagged off forest fire awareness vehicles to sensitise the community and stakeholders about the effects of forest fires.

• Burundi, a landlocked east-African country, has declared its first polio outbreak in 30 years.
• The outbreak was confirmed after a four-year-old child in the Isale district of western Burundi, along with two other children he was in contact with, were diagnosed with vaccine-linked polio.
• Additionally, poliovirus type 2 was detected in five samples from environmental surveillance of wastewater from the region.
  • Poliovirus type 2 is a weakened strain of the virus contained in the oral polio vaccine.

• Recently Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot announced the creation of 19 new districts and 3 new divisions in the state during his course of the discussion on the Finance and Appropriation Bill in the Legislative Assembly.
• Rajasthan will now have 19 new districts and 3 new divisions, taking the number of districts to 50 and divisions to 10.
• The new districts are- Anupgarh, Balotra, Beawar, Deeg, Didwana-Kuchaman, Dudu, Gangapur City, Jaipur North, Jaipur South, Jodhpur East, Jodhpur West, Kekri, Kotputli-Behror, Khairthal, Neem Ka Thana, Phalodi, Salumbar, Sanchor and Shahpura districts.
• The CM also declared adding three new administrative divisions: Sikar, Banswara and Pali.
• For the new districts and divisions, CM proposed a budget of Rs 2,000 crore for the first phase of implementation of infrastructure and human resource development.

• March 21 is observed as World Down Syndrome Day worldwide, aiming to increase public awareness and show support for individuals living with this genetic condition.
• The United Nations chose this date to highlight the link between Down syndrome and the triplication (trisomy) of the 21st chromosome, which makes it unique.
• This year’s World Down Syndrome Day theme is ‘With Us, Not for Us’, emphasizing that people with disabilities should be treated equally and have access to the same opportunities as others.

• The Centre has advised the Manipur state government to take steps for the protection of Keibul Lamjao Park and Loktak Lake.
• Keibul Lamjao Park is considered as the only floating national park in the world.
• The National park is situated in the south western part of the Loktak lake.
  • It has a unique ecosystem called ‘Phumdi’.
  • Loktak Lake is the largest natural freshwater lake in the north-eastern India.
• It is the last natural habitat of the brow-antlered deer (Sangai) the dancing deer of Manipur.
  • In the 1950s, it was believed that the brow-antlered deer (Rucervus eldii eldii) had become extinct in the country. However, it was subsequently re-discovered in Manipur.
• Hog Deer, Otter, a host of water fowls and migratory birds are found here.
  • The Code on Social Security, 2020.