What's the NEWS

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was witnessing the descent of the Chandrayan 2 along with the ISRO Scientists at Bengaluru said "India is proud of our scientists! They've given their best and have always made India proud. These are moments to be courageous, and courageous we will be!"
• The lander Vikram of Chandrayaan-2 lost communication with the ISRO few minutes before its scheduled landing on the moon. ISRO experienced this setback soon after Vikram successfully started its final descent.
• The lander had begun its descent normally and, for the first 13 minutes, decelerated as per the plan. But after that, the deceleration does not seem to have gone ahead as per the requirement.
• The most possible consequence of this scenario is that the lander went on to crash-land on the moon's surface with a speed greater than was required for a safe landing.
• Chandrayaan-2 successfully entered the Moon's orbit on August 20 and it was expected to touchdown the surface of the moon early on September 7. The entire journey of Chandrayaan-2 took 48 days.

• Chandrayaan-2 was an ISRO mission comprising an orbiter and a soft lander Vikram and a rover Pragyan.
• According to the ISRO, the primary objective of Chandrayaan-2 was to demonstrate the ability to soft-land on the lunar surface and operate a robotic rover on the surface.
• Other scientific objectives of the Chandrayaan-2 mission were - studies of mineralogy, lunar topography, the lunar exosphere, elemental abundance, and signatures of hydroxyl and water ice.
• The lander and rover were supposed to have a lifespan of only 14 days, and their science output would have been limited.
• The two instruments on the Pragyaan Rover were supposed to collect information to assess the elemental composition of the moon's surface and determine the relative abundance of different elements near the landing site.
• The lander had three instruments which were meant to study the lunar atmosphere, its temperature gradient and thermal conductivity. One of the instruments was also supposed to measure seismic activity on the moon's surface near the site of landing.
• It was an opportunity for India to become the fourth country in the world to make a soft landing on the moon. It would have been a huge technological achievement for ISRO and India that could pave the way for future Indian space missions.

• The lunar South Pole always remains in the dark and it is quite interesting for scientific discoveries. Scientists believe that the shadow part of the Moon may be larger than its North Pole.
• According to the scientific discoveries, the possibility of the presence of water was also very high at the South Pole. Chandrayaan-2 was expected to attempt a soft landing in a high plain between two craters, Manzinus C and Simpelius N, at a latitude of about 70° south.

Relevance IN - Prelims (about the Marathon by IAF)
What's the NEWS

• To commemorate 20th year of Kargil Victory and to live up to the true tradition and motto of Indian Air Force - "Touch the Sky with Glory", a unique expedition Kargil to Kohima, Ultra-Marathon- "Glory Run" is undertaken by IAF from Kargil War Memorial, Drass (J&K) to Kohima War Cemetery, Kohima (Nagaland).

• Kohima and Kargil are the two forward most outposts of India in the East and in the North where two most fierce battle of modern India were fought in 1944 and 1999 respectively.
• K2K - Glory Run will commence on 21 Sep 19 and culminate on 06 Nov 19.
• A team of 25 Air Warriors will cover the distance of more than 4500 Km in 45 days by running an average of 100 Km per day.
• The aim of the expedition is to promote awareness for ‘Pedestrian Safety' and recently launched ‘Fit India Movement' along with paying tribute to brave hearts who made the supreme sacrifice.
• This will be followed by second phase of training at Leh.
• The team will undertake this adventure activities involving camping and living outdoors, managing and surviving in snow, rain and extreme climate through varied terrain of Ladakh, HP, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West-Bengal, Assam and Nagaland.
• IAF has been promoting adventure activities for its personnel and has achieved various feats at national and international level. Through adventure activities, IAF attempts to showcase and instill the qualities of camaraderie, team spirit and courage which are very foundation of a fighting force.

What's the NEWS

• Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Hon'ble Union Minister of Food Processing Industries inaugurated the first Mega Food Park in Telangana

Know! the benefits

• The Mega Food Park will leverage an additional investment of about Rs. 250 crore in 22 food processing units in the park and generate a turnover of about Rs. 14000 crore.
• The Park will also provide direct and indirect employment to 50,000 youth and benefit about 1 lakh farmers. Mega Food parks shall facilitate doubling of farmer's income by 2022 which is a primary agenda of Govt in the field of agriculture.
• Mega Food Parks shall further complement the Govt's scheme by reducing post harvest losses and hedging the farmer's risk. Mega Food Park shall provide gainful employment to women and hence help support their livelihood.
• The Mega Food Park Scheme is being implemented in order to give a major impetus to the food processing sector by adding value and reducing food wastage at each stage of the supply chain with particular focus on perishables.
• Mega Food Parks create modern infrastructure facilities for food processing along the value chain from farm to market with strong forward and backward linkages through a cluster based approach.
  
  

• Common facilities and enabling infrastructure is created at Central Processing Centre and facilities for primary processing and storage is created near the farm in the form of Primary Processing Centers (PPCs) and Collection Centers (CCs). Under the Scheme, Government of India provides financial assistance upto Rs. 50.00 Crore per Mega Food Park project.

Infrastructure Development
Constitution of task force for drawing up National Infrastructure Pipeline of Rs. 100 Lakh Crore from FY 2019-20 to FY 2024-25
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the task force ) + Mains ( GS III economic development + infrastructure development)
What's the NEWS

• To achieve the GDP of $5 trillion by 2024-25, India needs to spend about $1.4 trillion (Rs. 100 lakh crore) over these years on infrastructure.
• In the past decade (FY 2008-17), India invested about $1.1 trillion on infrastructure. The challenge is to step-up annual infrastructure investment so that lack of infrastructure does not become a binding constraint on the growth of the Indian economy.
• Rs.100 lakh crore would be invested on infrastructure over the next five years. Infrastructure projects will include social and economic infrastructure projects.
• To implement an infrastructure program of this scale, it is important that projects are adequately prepared and launched. In pursuance of this, an annual infrastructure pipeline would be developed.
• To achieve this task, a Task Force under the chairmanship of Secretary (DEA) has been constituted by Union Finance Minister to draw up a National Infrastructure Pipeline for each of the years from FY 2019-20 to FY 2024-25 as below:

The Terms of Reference of the Task Force are as follows:

a. To identify technically feasible and financially/ economically viable infrastructure projects that can be initiated in FY 2019-20.
b. To list the projects that can be included in the pipeline for each of the remaining 5 years between FY 2021-25.
c. To estimate annual infrastructure investment/capital costs.
d. To guide the Ministries in identifying appropriate sources of financing.
e. To suggest measures to monitor the projects so that cost and time overrun is minimized.

• The National Infrastructure Pipeline would include greenfield and brownfield projects costing above Rs 100 crore each.
• The Task Force will submit its Report on the pipeline for FY 2019-20 by 31st October, 2019 and on the indicative pipeline for FY 2021-25 by 31st December 2019.

Government Schemes
PM to launch National Animal Disease Control Programme for Foot and Mouth Disease and Brucellosis and National Artificial Insemination Programme
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about this programme and its objective)
What's the NEWS

• The Prime Minister will be launching National Animal Disease Control Programme for Foot and Mouth Disease and Brucellosis on 11 September 2019 in Mathura. He will also launch National Artificial Insemination Programme during the event.

Know! more about it

• Pashu Vigyan Evam Arogya Mela and launch Babugarh Sex Semen facility and simultaneous countrywide workshops in Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) in all the 687 districts of the country on the topic of vaccination and diseases management, Artifical insemination and productivity, etc.
• National Animal Disease Control Programme for Foot and Mouth Disease and Brucellosis is a 100% centrally funded programme, with a total outlay of Rs.12,652 crore from 2019 to 2024. It aims to control Foot and Mouth Disease and Brucellosis by 2025 with vaccination and eventual eradication by 2030.

Health Sector
The Exhibition ‘Superbugs: The End of Antibiotics?
Relevance IN - Prelims (about superbugs and about antibiotics) + Mains (GS II issues relating to development and management of social sector/services relating to health
What's the NEWS

• The exhibition was recently 'organised by National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) of Culture Ministry in New Delhi

Know! about the exhibition

• The Exhibition explores how society is responding to the enormous challenge of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and antibacterial resistance (ABR) in particular featuring scientific research from across the globe and personal stories of those waging war on Superbugs.
• Antibiotic has reduced our immunity, which has become a serious problem and it is our duty to create awareness among the future generation about the limited use of antibiotics.
• The exhibition has been organised by National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) in collaboration with Science Museum, Group, London, Wellcome (UK) and supported by ICMR.
• Bacteria, tiny organisms capable of causing disease are becoming resistant to our most powerful weapon against them, antibiotics and turning into Superbugs. Today antibiotic-resistant 'Superbugs' kill up to 7,00,000 people a year. By 2050 that could rise to 10 million.
• The exhibition has three major sections: Microscopic, Human and Global. Microscopic Section explores the hidden world of bacteria. Be it their size or characteristics, evolution of superbugs or history of antibiotics; the exhibits of this section will take you on a journey in which you can zoom into the world of microbes, explore the touch screen multimedia to understand how bacteria evolve into superbugs or flip a digital e-book to know the history of antibiotics.
• On the other hand, Human Section showcases several stories, specifically from India, of how people are reaching out to combat the challenge of antibacterial resistance.
• When antibiotics stop working, lives are put at risk. People catch infections that can't be treated. Hospitals find it difficult to keep the spread of bacteria under control.

Know! about Antibiotics

• Antibiotics are medicines used to prevent and treat bacterial infections. Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria change in response to the use of these medicines.
• Bacteria, not humans or animals, become antibiotic-resistant. These bacteria may infect humans and animals, and the infections they cause are harder to treat than those caused by non-resistant bacteria.
• Antibiotic resistance leads to higher medical costs, prolonged hospital stays, and increased mortality.

Know! about AMR

• Antimicrobial resistance (AMR or AR) is the ability of a microbe to resist the effects of medication that once could successfully treat the microbe.
• The term antibiotic resistance (AR or ABR) is a subset of AMR, as it applies only to bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics.
• Resistant microbes are more difficult to treat, requiring alternative medications or higher doses of antimicrobials. These approaches may be more expensive, more toxic or both.
• Microbes resistant to multiple antimicrobials are called multidrug resistant (MDR). Those considered extensively drug resistant (XDR) or totally drug-resistant (TDR) are sometimes called "superbugs"

Bilateral - Relations
6^th India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue begins in New Delhi
Relevance IN - Prelims (about SED) + Mains (GS II bilateral relations)
What's the NEWS

• The 6th India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) begins in New Delhi.

Know! more about SED

• The three-day dialogue will comprise of round table meetings of joint working groups on infrastructure, energy, high-tech, resource conservation, pharmaceuticals and policy coordination.
• The Indian side will be led by Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar and the Chinese side by Chairman of National Development and Reforms Commission (NDRC).
• The SED was set up between the erstwhile Planning Commission and National Development and Reform Commission of China during the visit of Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to India in December 2010. It has served as an effective mechanism for enhancing bilateral practical cooperation.
• The dialogue will comprise of round table meetings of Joint Working Groups (JWG) followed by technical site visits and closed door G2G meetings.
• SED will focus on collaboration between two countries on areas of Infrastructure, Energy, Resource Conservation, High-Tech, Pharmaceuticals and Policy coordination.

Know! more about SED

• India-China SED was established in December 2010 between erstwhile Planning Commission and National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China during the visit of then Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to India.
• Since then, the SED has served as an effective mechanism for enhancing bilateral practical cooperation.
  
  

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