• The Union Ministry of Education released data from the All-India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE), 2020-2021, which showed a 5% increase in student enrolments across the country compared to 2019-20.
• The survey also revealed that in 2020-21, the year when theCovid-19 pandemic began, there was a 7% rise in enrolments in distance education programmes.
  

About AISHE

• To portray the status of higher education in the country, the Ministry of Education has endeavored to conduct an annual web-based AISHE since 2010-11.
• Data is being collected on several parameters such as teachers, student enrolment, programmers, examination results, education finance, infrastructure.
• Indicators of educational development such as Institution Density, Gross Enrolment Ratio, Pupil-teacher ratio, Gender Parity Index, Per Student Expenditure will also be calculated from the data collected through AISHE.

• • These are useful in making informed policy decisions and research for development of the education sector.

Highlights of the AISHE Data

• Student Enrolment:
  • Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for all enrolments (as per 2011 Census) increased by over 2 points to 27.3.
    • The highest enrolment was seen at the undergraduate level,which accounted for 9% of all enrolments.
  • The female enrolment in higher education programmes had increased to 49% of total enrolments in 2020-21 compared to 45% in 2019-20.
    • But, the overall figures for Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) enrolments (at all levels of higher education) showed that women lagged behind men, who accounted for over 56% of enrolments in these fields.
  • Gender Parity Index (GPI),the ratio of female GER to male GER, has increased from 1 in 2017-18 to 1.05 in 2020-21.
  • The number of students in the Persons with Disabilities category dropped in 2020-21 to 79,035 from 92,831 in 2019-20.
  • The proportion of Muslim students enrolling for higher education dropped to 4.6% in 2020-21 from 5% in 2019-20.
  • Uttar Pradesh; Maharashtra; Tamil Nadu; Madhya Pradesh; Karnataka and Rajasthan are the top 6 States in terms of number of students enrolled.
• Universities and College:During 2020-21, the number of universities has increased by 70, and the number of colleges has increased by 1,453.
  • Uttar Pradesh; Maharashtra; Karnataka; Rajasthan; Tamil Nadu; Madhya Pradesh; Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat are the top 8 States in terms of number of colleges.
• Faculty:The female per 100 male faculties has improved to 75 in 2020-21 from 74 in 2019-20 and 63 in 2014-15.

• The Mugla Vikas Samiti of Chamba town has urged the district administration to focus on the conservation of all five chowgans of the town.
• Samiti president in a representation submitted to the Deputy Commissioner, had said that keeping in view their importance, the government had declared five Chowgans as ‘heritage sites’.
• So, the seriousness of the cause should be demonstrated and planting of ‘drub’, a local grass, be ensured so that their pristine glory is restored.
• These five Chowgans are lungs and heart of the town. Chamba is known for the beauty of Chowgans.
• Minjar fair every year is held here every year.
• Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner maintained that the Chowgan number one had been closed for all activities during the winter till the middle of April to ensure its conservation. Efforts were being made to take out weeds so that ‘drub’ was not overpowered by these weeds.

• The northern states and UTs recorded low sex ratio at birth (SRB) during 2021-22.
• As per a Health Management Information System (HMIS) report released by the government recently, only Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh in the region have recorded a higher SRB than the national average. Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi have registered lower SRB than the national average.
• Even Himachal, J&K and Ladakh are not much above the national average of 934. While Ladakh recorded the highest SRB of 943 in the region, Himachal and J&K followed at the second and third place with 941 and 940, respectively.
• Meanwhile, Punjab (928), Delhi (924), Haryana (920) and Chandigarh (892) are among the 11 states and UTs having lower SRB than the national average. Chandigarh, in fact, is placed just above the last-placed Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
• Chandigarh, in fact, witnessed a huge drop in SRB during 2021-22 as compared to the previous year. In 2020-21, the SRB in Chandigarh was 941, which dropped by 49 points to 892 in 2021-22. The other northern state and UT in the region to register a drop in SRB are Ladakh and Haryana. While Ladakh’s SRB dropped from 973 to 943, it dipped to 920 from 927 in case of Haryana.
• The situation calls for stricter implementation of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act.
  • The Act prohibits prenatal sex determination to promote gender equality.

• It grows widely in Manipur and other north-eastern regions.
• Flowers of heimang tree are used as food and medicine.
• They can be used for common Gastrointestinal ailments purposes and urinary ulcers.
• Other parts of the heimang tree such as its leaves (including abnormal growths or galls on them), roots, stem, and bark are also found to have preventive and therapeutic effects.
• Local communities in state use heimang leaves to prepare herbal shampoo called chinghi by boiling them with rice water.
• Despite its extraordinary versatility, heimang has not yet found widespread commercial use.

• Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has established three Grievance Appellate Committees (GAC) under rule 3A of IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
• Composition of GACs
  • Each GACs consists of a chairperson as Ex-officio, and two whole-time members (one is retired member) for a term of three years from the date of assumption of office or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
• First GAC– Headed by Chief Executive officers of Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under Ministry of Home Affairs.
• Second GAC– Chaired by Joint Secretary in charge of policy and administration division in Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
• Third GAC– Chaired by a senior scientist at MeitY.
• Role of GACs
  • Oversee and revoke content moderation-related decisions taken by social media and other internet-based platforms.
  • If a user is unsatisfied with content moderation decision taken by a social company’s grievance officer, they can appeal to GACs within one month. GAC will have to resolve the appeal within a month of receipt of appeal.
  • Committees can seek assistance of people with expertise and experience while dealing with users’ appeals.
  • They will adopt an online dispute resolution mechanism.

• Red Headed vulture was spotted in India after a gap of 2 decades in Delhi’s Bhatti mines.
• Red-headed vulture is also known as Asian King Vulture or Pondicherry Vulture.
• It was extensively found in the Indian Subcontinent but their population was drastically reduced by diclofenac poisoning.
• IUCN Status: Critically Endangered Species.
• Scientific name: Sarcogyps calvus.

Noble’s Helen Butterfly

• Noble’s Helen, a swallowtail butterfly disappearing from its previously known ranges has been sighted in India for the first time.
• Species was recorded at Namdapha National Park of Arunachal Pradesh.
  • Park is named after Namdapha river that flows in a North-South direction of Park.
• Butterflies are considered vital indicators representing state of biodiversity and key ecosystem functions.
• Distribution: Myanmar, Yunnan and Hubai regions of China, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand.

• According to a 2020 report published by the Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Society of India, there are around 5 million people in India living with dementia.
  • Worldwide, 47.5 million people have dementia.
  • The number of people living with dementia worldwide is expected to double every 20 years, going up to 135.5 million by 2050.
• Dementia:
  • Dementia is a clinical syndrome caused by a range of diseases or injuries to the brain.
  • The most common cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease.
  • It is implicated in up to 70% of dementia diagnoses.
• Early Symptoms:
  • Absent-mindedness, difficulty recalling names and words,
  • difficulty retaining new information, disorientation in unfamiliar surroundings, and reduced social engagement; Impairment in recognising visually presented objects (visual agnosia) despite a normal visual field, acuity and colour vision, word-finding difficulties (anomic aphasia).
• AdvancedSymptoms:
  • Marked memory loss and loss of other cognitive skills,
  • reduced vocabulary and less complex speech patterns.
  • monosyllabic speech,
  • psychotic symptoms,
  • behavioral disturbance,
  • loss of bladder and bowel control, and reduced mobility.
• Prevention:
  • The WHO has identified preventing Alzheimer’s disease to be a key element in the strategy to fight the world’s dementia epidemic.
  • Economic analyses have found that delaying the onset of the disease by even one year could reduce its prevalence by 11%, while a delay of five years could halve it.
  • Prevention programmes usually focus on lifestyle risk factors– such as sedentary behaviour, unhealthy diet, smoking, and excessive alcohol use – together with mental wellbeing and risk of cardiovascular diseases.

• Kelp Forests are declining because of climate change, showed a new study.
• Due to this, the unique adaptive or evolutionary genetic diversity that the rear-edge populations (populations in warm, low-latitudes) may contain is also under threat due to rapid warming.

According to Study

• Ecklonia radiata,a dominant kelp species in the southern hemisphere, is vulnerable to climate change, especially in regions near the equator.
• Rising temperatures are causing declines in the species along the eastern Australian coastline and it is expected to decline further in the future globally.
• In situ protection may not be possible but its unique genetic diversity can be preserved through ex situ preservation in culture banks for use in future restoration, hybridization, or adaptation strategies.

About

• Kelp forests— underwater ecosystems formed in shallow water by the dense growth of several different species known as kelps
  • Kelps are large brown algae that live in cool,relatively shallow waters close to the shore.
  • They attach to the seafloor and eventually grow to the water’s surface and rely on sunlight to generate food and energy,kelp forests are always coastal and require shallow, relatively clear water.

Importance:

• Kelp forests provide underwater habitats to hundreds of species of invertebrates, fishes, and other algae and have great ecological and economic value.
  • It serves as a pertinent food source for a variety of marine creatures.Kelps are responsible for producing up to 60% of the carbon found in coastal invertebrates.
  • As a diverse invertebrate and fish ecosystem,they serve as a habitat for birds to forage.
  • It releases carbon into the coastal ecology, increasing its productivity.New biomass, detritus, and other materials are produced through primary production by kelp.
• Loss of kelp forests will also lead to a decline of the unique biodiversity that they support, the researchers wrote in the paper.

• UNGA President, during his visit to India, underscored the shortcomings of UNSC and asserted for need of reforms in it. His remarks came in the backdrop of Russia, a permanent member of UNSC, attacking Ukraine.
• UNSC, established by UN Charter in 1945, is one of the six principal organs of UN with a primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security.
  • The United Nations (UN) has six main organs. Five of them — the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council and the Secretariat— are based at  UN Headquarters in New York. The sixth, the International Court of Justice, is located at The Hague in the Netherlands.
• UNSC is composed of 15 members.
  • Five permanent members: China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and ten non-permanent members elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly.
  • Under UN Charter, all Member States are obligated to comply with Council decisions.
  • Security Council has power to make binding decisions on member states.
• Issues with UNSC
  • UNSC does not represent contemporary world.
  • Inadequate regional representation. Developing countries are underrepresented, and there are no permanent members from either Africa or Latin America.
  • Lack of transparency and efficiency in decision-making process.
  • Misuse of veto power by permanent members. Russia has vetoed UNSC resolutions on Ukraine.
• India’s key demand on reforms include
  • Permanent membership to G4 members (India, Germany, Brazil, Japan and India).
  • Abolition of veto.
  • Equitable geographical representation.
• The Intergovernmental Negotiations framework or IGN is a group of nation-states working within the United Nations to further reform of the UNSC. The IGN is composed of several different international organizations, namely:
• African Union(55 member states)
• G4 nations(Brazil, Germany, India and Japan)
• Uniting for Consensus Group (UfC), also known as the “Coffee Club”(it aims to counter the bids for permanent seats proposed by G4 nations, includes Pakistan, Turkey, Canada, Spain and Italy)
• L69 Groupof Developing Countries ( it includes developing countries from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific)
• Arab League(six members: Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria) and
• Caribbean Community( a group of 15 member countries called CARICOM)

• World Leprosy Day (WLD) is celebrated on the last Sunday of January.
• This international day is an opportunity to celebrate people who have experienced leprosy, raise awareness of the disease, and call for an end to leprosy-related stigma and discrimination.
• In India, it is observed on 30th January every year, coinciding with the death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.   
  • He was deeply committed to the cause of leprosy-affected persons.
• The theme of World Leprosy Day 2023 is “Act Now. End Leprosy.” This year’s theme calls attention to three key messages:
  • Elimination is possible: We have the power and tools to stop transmission and defeat this disease.
  • Act now: We need the resources and commitment to end leprosy. Prioritize leprosy elimination.
  • Reach the unreached: Leprosy is preventable and treatable. Suffering from leprosy is needless.

About Leprosy 

• It is also known as Hansen’s disease and is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. 
• The disease affects the skin, the peripheral nerves, mucosal surfaces of the upper respiratory tract and the eyes.
• It is known to occur at all ages ranging from early childhood to old age. Leprosy is at least 4,000 years old, making it one of the oldest diseases known to humanity.
• It is transmitted via droplets, from the nose and mouth, during close and frequent contact with untreated cases.
  • The disease is not spread through casual contact with a person who has leprosy like shaking hands or hugging, sharing meals or sitting next to each other.
• Impacts: Left untreated, the disease may cause progressive and permanent disabilities.
• It is reported from all six WHO Regions; the majority of annual new case detections are from South-East Asia.
  • It is a neglected tropical disease (NTD) which still occurs in more than 120 countries, with more than 200 000 new cases reported every year.
• Treatment: It is a curable disease. 
  • The currently recommended treatment regimen consists of three drugs: dapsone, rifampicin and clofazimine.
  • The combination is referred to as multi-drug therapy (MDT).