November 2024

Download PDF
Daily Current Capsules - 18th June 2020

Prelims Factoids
Khelo India State Centres of Excellence (KISCE)

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about KISCE + Khelo India Scheme + about Khelo India Youth games)
What's the NEWS
  • The Sports Ministry is all set to establish Khelo India State Centres of Excellence (KISCE) under the ministry's flagship, Khelo India Scheme.
Know! all about KISCE
  • One KISCE will be identified in each state and union territory, with an effort to create a robust sporting ecosystem in the entire country.
  • In the first leg, the Ministry has identified state-owned sports facilities in eight states of India, including, Karnataka, Odisha, Kerala, Telengana and the north east states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland which will be upgraded into Khelo India State Centre of Excellence (KISCE).
  • The Khelo India State Centre of Excellence are being established to strengthen India's pursuit for excellence in Olympics.
  • The objective is to scale up the best sporting facilities available in each state in India into academies of world-class standard, where athletes from all over the country will want to train in their specific discipline.
Khelo India Scheme.
  • It is a scheme launched in the year 2018 by the Ministry of youth affairs and sports for the development of sports in India.
  • The Khelo India programme has been introduced to revive the sports culture in India at the grass-root level by building a strong framework for all sports played in our country
  • The Khelo India programme was launched by the ministry last year by merging three schemes - Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan, Urban Sports Infrastructure Scheme and National Sports Talent Search Programme.

Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG)formerly Khelo India School Games (KISG)
  • Khelo India School Games, which are a part of the Khelo India programme, held annually in January or February, are the national level multidisciplinary grassroot games in India held for two categories, namely under-17 years school students and under-21 college students.
  • Every year best 1000 kids will be given an annual scholarship of ₹5 lakh for 8 years to prepare them for the international sporting events.
Khelo India Youth games
  • 2018 - Delhi
  • 2019- Pune, Maharashtra
  • 2020 - Guwahati, Assam
Training of Trainers (TOT) Programme
  • The Training of Trainers (TOT) Programme held in December 2018- January 2019 in the first phase.
  • Total of 160 trainers trained in 4 batches of 40 each in December-January period.
  • This TOT Programme will be carried out semi-annually or quarterly to include all the interested teachers, principals, vice-principals and physical education trainers.
Khelo India University
  • On 22 February 2020, Prime inaugurated the first edition of the Khelo India University Games in Cuttack to give athletes the exposure of multi-disciplinary events at the university level.
Prelims Factoids
Coronavirus Drug Dexamethasone
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about dexamethasone)
What's the NEWS
  • In a major breakthrough in Covid-19 treatment, scientists in UK have claimed that the generic steroid drug dexamethasone reduced deaths by up to one third in severely ill hospitalised patients.
  • The results are a part of UK-based RECOVERY trial, one of the world's largest randomised trial of drugs to treat COVID-19 patients.
  • This is the same study that earlier this month showed the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine was not working against the coronavirus.
Know! about Dexamethasone
  • It is a generic steroid widely used in other diseases to reduce inflammation.
  • The drug helps stop some of the damage that can happen when the body's immune system goes into overdrive as it tries to fight off coronavirus.
  • The steroid medicine has been available as a generic for decades. It is used to treat a range of diseases including rheumatism, asthma, allergies and even to help cancer patients better handle the nausea triggered by chemotherapy.
  • Steroid drugs reduce inflammation, which sometimes develops in Covid-19 patients as the immune system overreacts to fight the infection.
RECOVERY trial
  • The RECOVERY trial began in March. It is a dynamic trial assessing five candidate drugs and convalescent plasma therapy for treating COVID-19 in patients in U.K. hospitals.
Space Awareness
NASA's Gateway lunar orbiting outpost
Relevance IN - Prelims (about NASA's Gateway Lunar Orbit outpost + about Artemis program) + Mains ( GS III awareness in the field of space)
What's the NEWS
  • NASA recently finalised the contract for the initial crew module of the agency's Gateway lunar orbiting outpost.

Know! about NASA's Gateway Lunar Orbit outpost
  • The Gateway is a small spaceship that will orbit the Moon, meant for astronaut missions to the Moon and later, for expeditions to Mars.
  • It will act as a temporary office and living quarters for astronauts, distanced at about 250,000 miles from Earth.
  • The spaceship will have living quarters, laboratories for science and research and docking ports for visiting spacecraft.
  • The Gateway will act as an airport, where spacecraft bound for the lunar surface of Mars can refuel or replace parts and resupply things like food and oxygen, allowing astronauts to take multiple trips to the Lunar surface and exploration of new locations across the Moon.
Know! the features of gateway
  • One of the most unique features of the Gateway is that it can be moved to other orbits around the Moon to conduct more research.
  • The Gateway is being built by both international and commercial partners and will support exploration on and near the Moon and later to Mars as well.
Habitation and logistics (HALO)
  • NASA has issued this contract to design the habitation and logistics (HALO) support for the Gateway, which is a part of NASA's Artemis program
  • The HALO refers to the pressurised living quarters where astronauts will spend their time while visiting the Gateway.
  • These quarters will be about the size of a small apartment and will provide augmented life support in tandem with NASA's Orion spacecraft.
Know! all about the Artemis program of NASA
  • NASA is committed to landing American astronauts, including the first woman and the next man, on the Moon by 2024. Through the agency's Artemis lunar exploration program
  • NASA's powerful new rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), will send astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft to lunar orbit.
  • Astronauts will dock Orion at the Gateway and transfer to a human landing system for expeditions to the surface of the Moon.
  • They will return to the orbital outpost to board Orion again before returning safely to Earth.
  • Ahead of the human return, NASA will send a suite of science instruments and technology demonstrations to the lunar surface through commercial Moon deliveries beginning in 2021.
  • NASA will fly two missions around the Moon to test its deep space exploration systems.
  • NASA is working toward launching Artemis I, an un crewed flight to test the SLS and Orion spacecraft together, followed by the Artemis II mission, the first SLS and Orion test flight with crew.
  • NASA will land astronauts on the Moon by 2024 on the Artemis III mission and about once a year thereafter.
Environment
Desertification and Drought Day

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about The World Day to Combat Desertification And Drought + about UNCCD) + Mains ( GS III Environment conservation)'
What's the NEWS
  • The World Day to Combat Desertification And Drought was declared in the United Nations General Assembly resolution on January 30, 1995, after the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.
  • This year the theme for World Day to Combat Desertification And Drought is "Food. Feed. Fibre".
World Day to Combat Desertification And Drought 2020
  • The day is held to educate one and all aware about desertification, land degradation and drought issues, and how to tackle it.
  • The day is a unique moment to remind everyone that land degradation neutrality is achievable through problem-solving, strong community involvement and co-operation at all levels.
  • 2020 Desertification and Drought Day will focus on links between consumption and land
  • This year's global observance event, hosted by Korea Forest Service, will take place online
  • Desertification and Drought Day, running under the slogan "Food. Feed. Fibre." seeks to educate individuals on how to reduce their personal impact.
  • Food, feed and fibre must also compete with expanding cities and the fuel industry.
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)
  • Established in 1994, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management.
  • The Convention addresses specifically the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, known as the drylands, where some of the most vulnerable ecosystems and peoples can be found.
  • The new UNCCD 2018-2030 Strategic Framework is the most comprehensive global commitment to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) in order to restore the productivity of vast expanses of degraded land
Desertification
  • Desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas.
  • It is caused primarily by human activities and climatic variations.
  • Desertification does not refer to the expansion of existing deserts.
  • It occurs because dryland ecosystems, which cover over one third of the world's land area, are extremely vulnerable to overexploitation and inappropriate land use.
  • Poverty, political instability, deforestation, overgrazing and bad irrigation practices can all undermine the productivity of the land.
Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN)
  • A state whereby the amount and quality of land resources, necessary to support ecosystem functions and services and enhance food security, remains stable or increases within specified temporal and spatial scales and ecosystems.
  • It is a unique approach that counterbalances the expected loss of productive land with the recovery of degraded areas.
  • It strategically places the measures to conserve, sustainably manage and restore land in the context of land use planning.
Know! some facts about land degradation
  • Globally, 23 per cent of the land is no longer productive. 75 per cent has been transformed from its natural state, mostly for agriculture.
  • This transformation in land use is happening at a faster rate than at any other time in human history, and has accelerated over the last 50 years.

KEEP Learning KEEP Evolving
TEAM CL IAS