Defence
Induction of in LCU L-56 in the Navy

What's the NEWS
• Garden Reach Ship Builders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE) became the "first Indian shipyard to build and deliver 100 warships

• The 100th warship, a Landing Craft Utility (LCU), is the sixth of an order of eight such vessels from the Navy, the company said in a release.

• Yard 2097 (LCU L 56), the sixth of the class of LCU MK IV ships, have been built and delivered by M/s GRSE Ltd

Know! about LCU I -56
• This is the 100th ship delivered by the DPSU in Kolkata. The construction of the ship was overseen by Warship Overseeing Team, Kolkata.

• Indian Navy's amphibious operations capability including transport of troops, tanks and equipment will get enhanced with the addition of this Landing Craft Utility which will be based at Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Science & Technology
IIT-Delhi develops AI-based system to detect malaria, other diseases

What's the NEWS
• Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi has developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) based electronic hardware system to detect malaria, tuberculosis, intestinal parasite, and cervical cancer in milliseconds.

• IIT Delhi declares that their system can be used for healthcare access in resource-constrained areas with limited access to human specialists.

Know! about AI-based system to detect malaria like diseases

• The team used nanotechnology to develop a diagnostic support system which can read raw data from blood samples, patterns of a patient etc and can extract information.

• The system can detect patterns and give accurate answers within milliseconds hence automating the entire system.

• They used nanotechnology to curtail the size of the device. There is no need to connect data to the cloud or public storage instead of local and secure services are required in healthcare

Know! about the Benefits
• Several AI softwares exist for healthcare and diagnostic related applications, need of the hour are to efficiently map these models on portable dedicated low-power, low-cost hardware to enable edge AI systems accessible to all in low resource environment.

• Microscopy is particularly well adapted to low-resource, high disease burden areas.

• In contrast to alternatives such as rapid diagnostic tests, however, microscopy-based diagnosis does depend on the availability of skilled technicians, of which there is a critical shortage.

• As a result, diagnoses are often made on the basis of clinical signs and symptoms alone, which is error-prone and leads to higher mortality, drug resistance, and the economic burden of buying unnecessary drugs.

Know! about Artificial intelligence (AI)

• Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ability of a computer program or a machine to think and learn. It is also a field of study which tries to make computers "smart".

• They work on their own without being encoded with commands. Artificial intelligence involves many different fields like computer science, mathematics, linguistics, psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy.

Economic Development
RBI Allows Non-Residents To Participate In Rupee Interest Rate Derivatives Market

What's the NEWS
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed non-residents to participate in the rupee interest rate derivatives market. This decision was taken with a view to deepening the rupee interest rate swap (IRS) market.

• With this decision, non-residents of India can undertake rupee interest rate derivative transactions on recognised stock exchanges, electronic trading platforms and over the counter markets (OTCs).
Know! about RBI's decision

• A non-resident will be allowed to undertake transactions in the rupee interest rate derivatives markets to hedge an exposure to rupee interest rate risk and other specified purposes.

• Foreign portfolio investors, collectively, can transact in interest rate futures up to a limit of net long position of Rs 5,000 crore.
• RBI, in its first bi-monthly policy for 2018-19 in April, announced to provide access to non-residents into the interest rate swap market with a view to increase participation in the domestic market.

Know! why this step taken by RBI
• As observed by RBI when rupee interest rate swap market was most liquid among the interest rate derivatives market, it lacked depth to enable large banks to manage risks. Also, Indian market has witnessed increasing participation from non-resident players like FPIs in debt.

Know! what is Interest-Rate Derivative
• An interest-rate derivative is a financial instrument with a value that increases and decreases based on movements in interest rates.

• Interest-rate derivatives are often used as hedges by institutional investors, banks, companies and individuals to protect themselves against changes in market interest rates, but they can also be used to increase or refine the holder's risk profile.

Know! What is interest rate swap
• An Interest Rate Swap (IRS) is a financial contract between two parties exchanging or swapping a stream of interest payments for a `notional principal' amount on multiple occasions during a specified period.

• Such contracts generally involve exchange of a `fixed to floating' or `floating to floating' rates of interest. Accordingly, on each payment date - that occurs during the swap period - cash payments based on fixed/ floating and floating rates, are made by the parties to one another.

Internal Security
Multi Disciplinary Terror Monitoring Group constituted for J&K

What's the NEWS
• The Government constituted a Multi Disciplinary Terror Monitoring Group (MDTMG) to ensure concerted action against terror financing and other terror related activities in the State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).
• The group will meet on a weekly basis and submit its action report regularly.

Members of the group
• The Additional Director General of Police (CID) of J&K Police will head the MDTMG.
• The MDTMG will have representatives from the Jammu and Kashmir Police, Intelligence Bureau (IB), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI),National Investigation Agency (NIA), and Income Tax Department.

• The Group has been tasked to take action against hardcore supporters among government employees including teachers who are providing support to terror activities.
• It will identify all key persons including leaders of the organisations who are involved in supporting terrorism in any form.
• It will take coordinated action in all registered cases that relate to terror, terror financing and terror-related activities and bring them to logical conclusion.
• It will investigate networks of various channels being used to fund terror and terror-related activities and will undertake action to stop flow of such funds.

Bilateral Relations
India and United States renew Triangular Development Cooperation in Asia and Africa

What's the NEWS
• India and the United States on March 29, 2019 signed the first amendment to the Statement of Guiding Principles (SGP) on triangular cooperation for global development.

Know! the Highlights

• The SGP agreement, which was signed in November 2014, underscores the contribution of India-US partnership to global stability and prosperity.

• The agreement provides a framework for promoting cooperation between the two countries to meet the developmental aspirations of partner countries, particularly in Asia and Africa.

• The first amendment to the SGP agreement extends the validity of the pact up to 2021.

• It expands the scope of capacity building activities undertaken jointly by India and the United States under this framework and also provides a consultative mechanism for joint biannual monitoring and review of activities undertaken under the SGP.

Know! the impact of this agreement
• Under the agreement, India and US will continue to offer capacity building assistance to partner countries in multiple sectors, focusing primarily on agriculture, regional connectivity, trade and investments, nutrition, health, clean and renewable energy, women empowerment, disaster preparedness, water, sanitation, education and institution building.
• The agreement will help fulfil the joint commitment of both nations to work together and leverage their combined capacities to provide demand-driven development partnership.

State Specific
Tripura second in country in child marriage

What's the NEWS
• According to a new international study on childhood poverty, the north eastern state of Tripura occupies the second position in India in terms of child marriages among girls between the age of 15 and 19 years.

• The study titled ‘Young lives', quoting data from the National Family Health Survey (2015-16), reveals that over 80 percent of total child marriages in the state take place in rural areas of three districts.

• The study is a collaborative research project coordinated by a team based at the University of Oxford.

Know! about the Highlights

• According to the study, Tripura occupies the second position with respect to highest prevalence of child marriage among girls aged between 15 and 19 years at 21.6 per cent, which is significantly higher than the national average of 11.9 per cent.

• The study found four districts of Tripura in the list of top 100 districts of the country, which have the highest prevalence of child marriages.

• The report revealed that Tripura's Dhalai district had 24.7 per cent prevalence of child marriages, which was the highest in the state. The other districts with a high prevalence of child marriage include South Tripura, North Tripura and West Tripura.

• Upon analysis of the number of children born to teenage mothers, the report found that 52 per cent of the married teenage girls have given birth to at least one child, 5.5 per cent had 2 children and one per cent had more than 2 children by the tender age of 19.

Child Marriage in India

• Child marriage is a violation of child rights, and has a negative impact on physical growth, health, mental and emotional development and education opportunities.

• It also affects society as a whole since child marriage reinforces a cycle of poverty and perpetuates gender discrimination, illiteracy and malnutrition as well as high infant and maternal mortality rates.

• Although child marriage has significantly decreased from 47 per cent (2006) to 27 per cent (2016), the rate of decline is slow.

• Limited education opportunities, low quality of education, inadequate infrastructure, lack of transport and therefore concerns about girls' safety while travelling to school significantly contribute to keeping girls out of school, which is often a major factor that leads up to child marriage.

• In general, rates of child marriage are highest in the central and western parts of India and lower in the eastern and southern parts of the country.

• Other states that have an incidence of child marriage higher than national average include Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Tripura . However, even in states with overall lower prevalence of child marriage, there are often pockets of high prevalence.

Prelims Practise Questions

Consider the following statements
1. Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi has developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) based electronic hardware system to detect malaria, tuberculosis, intestinal parasite, and cervical cancer in milliseconds.

2. The Government constituted a Multi Disciplinary Terror Monitoring Group (MDTMG) to ensure concerted action against terror financing and other terror related activities in the State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).

3. An interest-rate derivative is a financial instrument with a value that increases and decreases based on movements in interest rates.

4. In India child marriage are lowest in the central and western parts of India and higher in the eastern and southern parts of the country.

Find the correct statements from the option given below
a. 1, 2 and 3
b. 2 and 3
c. 1 and 3
d. All

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