Addapedia Odisha | Daily Current Affairs | 03 September 2024 | Download PDF

• Japanese anime director Hayao Miyazaki has been honored with the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award, often referred to as Asia’s Nobel Prize.

Key points:

• The Ramon Magsaysay Award is Asia’s premier prize and highest honor, established in 1957 to perpetuate former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay’s example of integrity in governance, courageous service to the people, and pragmatic idealism within a democratic society. It is often called the “Nobel Prize of Asia”.
• The award is selected by the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation’s Board of Trustees each year.

Award Categories:

Until 2008, the Ramon Magsaysay Award was given in six categories:

• Government Service (1958–2008)
• Public Service (1958–2008)
• Community Leadership (1958–2008)
• Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts (1958–2008)
• Peace and International Understanding (1958–2008)
• Emergent Leadership (since 2001)

• The Indian Navy’s P8I aircraft has arrived in France to take part in the Indo-French bilateral naval exercise, ‘Exercise Varuna’.

Key points:

• The 2024 edition of ‘Exercise Varuna’ is scheduled to take place from September 2 to 4 in the Mediterranean Sea. 
• The exercise aims to enhance the tactical capabilities and interoperability between the Indian and French navies.
• Advanced tactical exercises are a key feature of this engagement, highlighting the growing synergy between the two nations’ naval forces.
• Alongside the P8I aircraft, the Indian Navy’s INS Tabar, which had arrived earlier in Toulon, will also participate in the exercise. 

• Wildlife researcher Chris Ketola recently shared a video on Instagram, showcasing a tarantula infected by the so-called “zombie fungus.”

About:

• The scientific name for this fungus is Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, often referred to as Cordyceps or zombie fungus.
• The Cordyceps fungus takes control of the host’s mind and motor functions, effectively turning it into a “zombie.”
• It then consumes the host’s body from the inside out while simultaneously filling it with spores to ensure the fungus can reproduce.

Tarantulas: 

• These are large, hairy spiders belonging to the family Theraphosidae. 
• There are around 900-1,000 known species of tarantulas found throughout the warmer parts of the world, mainly in the American tropics.

• The Union government plans to create foot-and-mouth disease (FMD)-free zones in eight Indian states: Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra, and Gujarat. 
• This initiative aims to boost India’s animal product exports and increase the country’s presence in the global market.

About:

• Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious viral disease that primarily affects cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep, and goats. 
• The disease is characterized by fever and the development of vesicles (blisters) in the mouth and on the muzzle, teats, and feet of infected animals.

Causative Agent:

• FMD is caused by infection with an Aphthovirus, a member of the family Picornaviridae.

Transmission and Spread:

• The FMD virus is transmitted through direct contact with infected animals or their secretions and excretions, including semen and milk. 
• Indirect transmission can occur via mechanical vectors such as people, vehicles, or contaminated objects. 
• The virus can also spread through the air, with the potential to travel over 250 km across water or up to 10 km over land.

Steps Taken to Address Foot & Mouth Disease (FMD) in India:

National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP)

• Launched in 2019, the NADCP aims to control FMD by 2025 through vaccination and achieve eradication by 2030. 

• The Union Cabinet has approved seven significant schemes aimed at enhancing the agriculture sector, with a total budget allocation of ₹14,235.30 crore.

1. Digital Agriculture Mission (DAM):

• Overview: The Digital Agriculture Mission is the most prominent among the approved schemes, with an outlay of ₹2.817 crore.

Components:

• Agri Stack: A registry including farmers, village land maps, and crop information.
• Krishi Decision Support System: A geospatial setup to unify remote sensing data on crops, soil, weather, and water resources.
• Soil Profile Mapping: Detailed mapping of soil profiles on a 1:10,000 scale covering approximately 142 million hectares of agricultural land.
• Objective: To create a unified database linking various agricultural data from different Union Territories, States, Ministries, and Departments, promoting the use of technology in farming.

2. Crop Science for Food and Nutritional Security

• Budget: ₹3,979 crore.
• Purpose: This initiative is aimed at preparing farmers for climate resilience and ensuring food security by 2047. It focuses on research and development in crop science to enhance nutritional security.

3. Strengthening Agricultural Education and Research

• Budget: ₹2,291 crore.
• Goal: To advance agricultural education, management, and social sciences. This scheme aims to prepare students and researchers to tackle contemporary agricultural challenges.

4. Sustainable Livestock Health and Production

• Budget: ₹1,702 crore.
• Focus: This scheme is designed to increase income from livestock and dairy production, emphasizing sustainable health and management practices for livestock.

5. Sustainable Development of Horticulture:

• Budget: ₹1,129.30 crore.
• Objectives: Promoting the cultivation of a variety of horticulture crops, including tropical, sub-tropical, temperate, root, tuber, bulbous, arid crops, and floriculture, vegetables, and mushrooms.

6. Krishi Vigyan Kendras

• Funding: ₹1,202 crore.
• Aim: To support the network of Krishi Vigyan Kendras, which serve as agricultural extension centers providing training and support to farmers.

7. Natural Resource Management:

• Budget: ₹1,115 crore.
• Purpose: To manage natural resources effectively, ensuring sustainable agricultural practices that conserve and enhance the natural ecosystem.

• Odisha’s Deputy CM, Pravati Parida, launched the online portal for the state government’s flagship program, Subhadra Yojana. 
• This flagship programme will be launched on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday on September 17.
• The distribution of the first installment will also commence from the same day.

Subhadra Yojana:

• Subhadra Yojana is a social welfare scheme launched by the government of Odisha.
• Aim is to provide financial assistance to economically weaker women in the state. 
• The scheme offers cash vouchers worth up to ₹50,000 over five years to eligible beneficiaries, with ₹10,000 to be given every year.   

Key features:

• Eligibility: Women aged between 21 and 60 years, who are married residents of Odisha and meet certain income criteria, are eligible for the scheme.   
• Benefits: Eligible women receive cash vouchers in two equal installments of ₹5,000 each, on Raksha Bandhan and International Women’s Day.   
• Purpose: The financial assistance is intended to help women meet various expenses, such as purchasing rations, education, and healthcare.

• • Odisha is poised to implement the Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (PM-USHA) program in 2025-26.
• This initiative, aimed at transforming the state’s educational infrastructure and promoting quality education, is a collaborative effort between the Odisha Higher Education Department and the Union Ministry of Education.

About:

• PM-USHA is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme aimed at improving higher education in India. 
• It was launched in 2013 as Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) and was renamed in 2018. 
• The scheme focuses on enhancing access, equity, and excellence in higher education by providing strategic funding to state universities and affiliated colleges.   

Key objectives of PM-USHA include:

• • Increasing access to higher education, especially for marginalized groups.   
  • Improving the quality of teaching-learning processes.   
  • Enhancing employability of graduates  
  • Promoting research and innovation.   
• Strengthening institutional governance

• • The Odisha government has directed to establish breastfeeding cabins in both offices and public places across the state.
• This initiative aims to create a conducive environment for working mothers to express breast milk without feeling stigmatized or uncomfortable.

• This initiative follows the state’s observation of World Breastfeeding Week from August 1 to August 7.

Key Points:

• Odisha has already shown commendable progress in this area. 
• The National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5) reports that 68.5% of infants in the state are breastfed within the first hour of birth, significantly higher than the national average of 41.8%.
• Additionally, 72.9% of infants in Odisha are exclusively breastfed for the first six months, compared to the national average of 63.7%.

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