Seismologists in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were still reporting earthquakes around the Mount Nyiragongo volcano a week after it erupted.

About Mount Nyiragongo

1. It is an active volcano in the Virunga Mountains of east-central Africa.
2. The Virunga Mountains are associated with the Albertine Rift.
3. It lies in the volcano region of Virunga National Park, Congo (Kinshasa), near the border with Rwanda, 12 miles (19 km) north of Goma.
4. Mount Nyiragongo is part of the Virunga volcanic chain and owes its existence to the activity of the African Great Rift.
5. The rift is constantly extending and opening.

The recent Cyclone Tauktae that developed in Arabian Sea has resulted in massive damages to the western coast followed by Cyclone Yass on the eastern coast of India.

• The cyclone was categorised as a ‘very severe cyclonic storm’.
• The Gujarat coast was the worst hit as the cyclone made landfall in eastern Diu with high intensity wind speed ranging from 160-170 km/hr.
• Cyclone Tauktae is the second cyclone after Cyclone Kandla (1998) which affected Gujarat coast so badly. 
• Cyclone Tauktae had a great impact on the climate of Delhi and other northern states.
• The cyclonic storm brought massive rain and heavy wind across the western coast of India. 
• Tauktae also resulted in flash floods and heavy rains in Kerala and Lakshadweep region.
• The aftermath of Tauktae has raised questions regarding cyclone management in India and also, the rising global warming. 

• The pandemic and resulting lockdowns might have pushed a large number of children into child labour.
• The true extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on child labour is yet to be measured but all indications show that it would be significant as children are unable to attend school and parents are unable to find work.

However, not all the factors that contribute to child labour were created by the pandemic; most of them were pre-existing and have been exposed or amplified by it.

What is child labour?

International labour Organization defines Child Labour as- Work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. It refers to work that:

• is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children; and/or
• Interferes with their schooling by: depriving them of the opportunity to attend school; obliging them to leave school prematurely; or requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work.

Recent Context

Close to 90 per cent of India is witnessing a high Covid positivity rate as 640 districts out of the 734 are above the national threshold level of 5 per cent positivity rate, with cases rising sharply in the rural areas.

Underlining the need to break the chain of transmission, officials have cautioned states about the spread of the virus to tier 3 cities and villages.

Reasons of spread to rural areas

The surge of cases in rural areas is not unexpected because of following reasons-

• dense networks that exist between cities and villages,
• continuous inter-state movement,
• the return of migrants for Holi and the harvesting season and also in response to curbs in bigger cities,
• the impact of Kumbh, and in the case of UP, untimely panchayat elections,
• The pace of vaccination, the most effective way to fight the disease, is much slower than needed in rural areas.

The spread of the pandemic has been far and wide as newer states like Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland are seeing a high positivity rate and there is a need to take corrective measures to break this chain of transmission.

CONTEXT:

The Union government has asked the States to declare mucormycosis, the fungal infection being reported in COVID-19 patients, an epidemic. In a letter to the States, Health and Family Welfare Ministry said declaring the black fungus infection seen in COVID-19 patients an epidemic would lead to health facilities screening for it and reporting all such cases to the government.

What is Mucormycosis?

• Mucormycosis is an aggressive and invasive fungal infection caused by a group of moulds called micromycetes.
• It can affect various organs but is currently manifesting as invasive rhino-orbito-cerebral disease, crawling through the sinus and working its way to the brain, affecting the ear, nose, throat, and mouth.
• While it is not contagious, it can cause a lot of damage internally and can be fatal if not detected early.
• It is an old disease; perhaps new and concerning is the sudden increase in the invasive form of the sinus variant, which involves the orbit, and at times the brain, leading to blindness, stroke or death.

• Context:
  • The announcement by President Joe Biden that the US will withdraw all its troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, has sent tremors through the region’s fault-lines.

  Why United States is pulling out

  • The withdrawal is inconsonance with President Trump’s America First rhetoric. According to Trump, United States has been wasting its “blood and treasure” on distant conflicts, instead of rebuilding itself. In the 17th year since its inception in 2001, the Afghanistan conflict is the US’s longest running war & has had huge economic as well as human costs. Despite prolonged investment of financial and human resources, the political solution is nowhere in sight and this has resulted in growing scepticism within the United States administration over the futility of military involvement.

  Consequences of withdrawal:

  • Impact on the peace process: A strong U.S. military presence in Afghanistan is needed to bolster diplomatic peace efforts. U.S. officials are currently engaged in talks with the Taliban. However, the withdrawal at this time will reduce the incentive for the Taliban to strike a deal.
  • Fall of the democratic government & Resurgence of Taliban: There are a large number of fence sitters in the factitious polity of Afghanistan that don’t cross over to Taliban’s side because the National Unity Government is seen to have the backing of United States force. Hence, symbolic presence was seen to be necessary, as observed in the US’s Af-Pak policy in 2017. With the U.S. presence gone, the Taliban – with support from Pakistan & limited assistance from Russia and Iran – might seize all the remaining cities in the country that it currently does not control.
  • Breeding ground for terrorism: A precipitous U.S. exit would allow Afghanistan to emerge as epicentre of global terror, as during the 1990s & would only embolden other transnational terror organizations like Islamic State Khorasan (the Islamic State’s local province), Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (al-Qaeda’s local affiliate) and Haqqani Network to operate freely inside Afghanistan.
  • Poor capacity of Afghan forces: With the withdrawal of forces, the missions now underway, including training Afghan forces, advising them in the field, and waging an air campaign, against the Taliban and other militant groups, will face challenges. It will reduce the willingness of chronically under strength Afghan forces to fight.
  • Regional instability: The withdrawal might further cement regional instability between nuclear powers India and Pakistan. An Islamist regime in Afghanistan would make Pakistan a central player in the country.
  • Refugee crisis: The civil unrest might lead to a mass exodus of Afghans trying to flee the country could trigger another refugee crisis

The ongoing second wave of Covid-19 has left People fending for themselves— something that they never knew how to do, and something that was never their business. The shortage of critical health infrastructure has been exposed openly.

The most appropriate action plan right now would be to prepare a roadmap for the third wave.

Probable issues that will arise in case of third wave: 

• Fast ascending infections in rural areas dominated by poor medical infrastructure.
• The shortage of vaccines and the expected year-long timeframe to vaccinate all eligible individuals.
• Vaccine hesitancy, constraints on sourcing of ingredients needed to make vaccines.
• Deadlier variants of the virus.
• The ominous possibility of the virus impacting children.
• The inadequate healthcare infrastructure for dealing with such a situation, and so on.

Solutions

1. Strengthening, and refurbishing the local public health centres (PHCs), and creating many more temporary Covid/intensive care units.

• Ability to cater to local population within a radius of 15 km in urban areas and 25 km in rural areas.
• To equip them with all emergency medical care except for rare occurrences
• Enhancing the capacity of these via public-private partnership model.

SYLLABUS: GENERAL STUDIES PAPER 3.

CONTEXT:

The Department of Telecommunications on Tuesday allowed private telcos Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio Infocomm and VI (formerly Vodafone Idea) and well as state-run telco Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) to start trials for 5G technology as well as its applications in various sectors.

What is 5G Technology?

5g is the next generation wireless cellular technology that will provide faster and more reliable communication with ultra-low latency. A government panel report points out that with 5G, the peak network data speeds are expected to be in the range of 2-20 Gigabit per second (Gbps).

How it works?

5G technology is not a single technology but an amalgamation of various technologies which make the aforesaid performance possible. Following are the major technologies used in 5G:

1. mm Wave (millimetre Wave)
2. Massive multi-user MIMO (Multiple input multiple output)
3. Small Cell stations
4. Mobile Edge Computing (MEC)

SYLLABUS: General studies Paper 1

CONTEXT:

Recently, the Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has announced on Eid that the former princely state of Malerkotla would be the 23rd district of the state.

ABOUT MALERKOTLA:

• It is the only Muslim-dominated town of Punjab.
• Malerkotla owes its foundations in the 15th century to Sufi saint Sheikh Sadrauddin Sadar-i-Jahan.
• The initial beginnings were humble with the settlement being called Maler which was bestowed by the Behlol Lodhi to the Sheikh whose lineage too was Afghan.
• Kotla meaning, Fortress, was added later in 17th century with a collection of villages which formed a jagir which was awarded to Bayzid Khan a descendant of Haider Sheikh, by Mughal Emperor Shah Jehan.
• Bayzid Khan supported Aurangzeb against his brother Dara Shikoh and thus gained favour with the emperor and added permanency to the rule of his family.
• After the decline of the Mughal Empire, Malerkotlas rulers exercised greater independence and at the time of the invasion of India by Ahmad Shah Abdali from Afghanistan, they aligned with him.

SYLLABUS: General studies paper 2

CONTEXT:

• Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh warns Dhaka of significant damage to its relationship with Beijing if it joins the Quad, or the quadrilateral framework.

WHAT IS QUAD?

• Quad is an informal strategic dialogue between India, the USA, Japan and Australia. It is the collaboration of like-minded democracies across the Indian and the Pacific Ocean. It aims to ensure and support a “free, open and prosperous” Indo-Pacific region. The idea was first mooted by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe in 2007. However, the idea couldn’t move ahead after Australia pulled out of it, apparently due to Chinese pressure.
• The grouping regained momentum after 2017. The Quadrilateral coalition was refurbished as ‘QUAD 2.0’ in 2017 on the lines of the ASEAN Summit. Since then the Quad summit meetings are taking place on a biannual basis.