Addapedia Odisha | Daily Current Affairs | 14 December 2024 | Download PDF

• Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw has announced that 8.6 lakh candidates have enrolled in the IndiaAI Future Skills platform, a program aimed at democratizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) education and skilling.

Key Points:

• • It aims to build a comprehensive ecosystem that fosters AI innovation by democratizing computing access, enhancing data quality, developing indigenous AI capabilities, attracting top AI talent, enabling industry collaboration, providing startup risk capital, ensuring socially impactful AI projects, and promoting ethical AI.
  • This mission drives responsible and inclusive growth of India’s AI ecosystem through following seven pillars.
• IndiaAI Future Skills Platform:

• • It is one of the seven foundational pillars of the IndiaAI Mission.
  • It aims to enhance India’s AI workforce readiness by mitigating barriers to entry in AI programs and advancing the AI talent pipeline.
  • The pillar will increase AI courses in undergraduate, postgraduate, and Ph.D. programs.
  • It further aims to foster inclusive access to AI education by establishing Data and AI Labs in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities across India to impart foundational level courses. 
  • It is developed in collaboration with industry partners, to provide cutting-edge training programs tailored to meet evolving industry demands.

• Indian scientists have developed a novel gene therapy for haemophilia A, offering a one-time treatment to replace frequent clotting factor injections.  

Key Points:

• • It is a technique that involves altering the genetic material of cells to treat or prevent disease. 
  • It aims to introduce a normal, functional gene to compensate for the defective, disease-causing gene.
  • It employs various approaches: replacing a mutated gene with a healthy copy, inactivating a mutated gene, and introducing a new gene.
  • Gene therapy has primarily focused on treating monogenic disorders caused by a mutation in a single gene, such as SCID, haemophilia, and muscular dystrophy.
• About Haemophilia:

• Haemophilia is a medical condition, mostly inherited, in which the ability of blood to clot is severely reduced, so that even a minor injury can cause severe bleeding.
• Haemophilia is caused by a mutation or change, in one of the genes, that provides instructions for making the clotting factor proteins needed to form a blood clot.
• This change or mutation can prevent the clotting protein from working properly or to be missing altogether. These genes are located on the X chromosome.

• Google has developed a state-of-the-art quantum computing chip called Willow.

Key Points:

• • A quantum chip is a special type of computer chip designed to use the principles of quantum mechanics, the science of very tiny particles like atoms.
  • While regular chips use ‘bits’ (0 or 1) to process information, quantum chips use ‘qubits’, which can be 0 or 1 or both at the same time.
  • This unique ability allows quantum chips to handle complex calculations much faster than traditional computers.
• About Willow:

• • • Willow operates using superconducting transmon qubits—tiny electrical circuits exhibiting quantum behaviour at extremely low temperatures.
• Achievements:

• • • It has solved a complex computation under 5 minutes that would have taken a supercomputer around 10 septillion (10^25) years to complete.
    • Willow can reduce errors exponentially as we scale up using more qubits. This cracks a key challenge in quantum error correction that the field has pursued for almost 30 years.

• The Odisha government is planning to secure a ₹734.86-crore external loan from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to implement Phase II of the Odisha Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) Empowerment and Livelihood Improvement Programme (OPELIP-II). 
• Tribal experts have raised concerns about the international loan, questioning its necessity given the Central government’s PM-JANMAN Mission with substantial financial backing.

Key Points:

• About IFAD:
  • • The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is an international financial institution and a specialized agency of the United Nations focused on poverty eradication in rural areas of developing countries. 
    • It provides grants and low-interest loans for projects aimed at improving livelihoods. 
    • IFAD works with marginalized and vulnerable groups, including smallholder farmers, foresters, pastoralists, fishermen, and small-scale entrepreneurs. 
    • The institution supports these groups by offering disaster preparedness, access to weather information, technology transfer, and social learning opportunities.
• About PM-JANMAN Scheme:

• • • PM JANMAN is a government scheme that aims to bring tribal communities into the mainstream.
    • The scheme (comprising Central Sector and Centrally Sponsored Schemes) will be implemented by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, in collaboration with the State governments and the PVTG communities.
    • The scheme will concentrate on 11 critical interventions overseen by 9 line Ministries, ensuring the implementation of existing schemes in villages inhabited by PVTGs.
    • The scheme is expected to enhance the quality of life and well-being of the PVTGs, by addressing their multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and exclusion, and by recognizing and valuing their unique and valuable contribution to national and global development.
• Who are PVTGs, or Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups?

• • • PVTGs, or Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups, are a category of tribal communities in India that are considered more vulnerable than other tribal groups. 
    • The Indian government created the PVTG list to improve the living standards of these endangered groups.
    • The 13 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in Odisha are:
• Birhor, Bondo, Chuktia Bhunjia, Didayi, Dongria Kondh, Hill Kharia, Juang, Kutia Kandha, Lanjia Soura, Lodha, Mankirdia, Paudi Bhuyan, and Soura. 

• Recently, India’s veteran ecologist, Madhav Gadgil has been named as one of the six ‘Champions of the Earth’ by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for 2024.
• Gadgil’s research has helped to protect marginalised people, promote the community-driven conservation of ecosystems, from forests to wetlands, and influence policymaking at the highest level.

Key Points:

• UNEP is an agency of the United Nations.
• It coordinates the UN’s environmental activities.
• It assists developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices.
• It was founded as a result of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment 1972.
• It has overall responsibility for environmental problems among United Nations agencies.
• Addressing climate change or combating desertification, are overseen by other UN organizations, like the UNFCCC and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.
• UNEP has registered several successes, such as the 1987 Montreal Protocol, and the 2012 Minamata Convention, a treaty to limit toxic mercury.
• UN Environment is also one of several Implementing Agencies for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol.

• BJP candidate Sujeet Kumar has been elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Odisha. 
• He previously served as a member of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), joined the BJP and is now set to strengthen the party’s representation in the Rajya Sabha. 

About:

• The Rajya Sabha, or Council of States, is the upper house of India’s bicameral Parliament. 
• It consists of a maximum of 250 members, with 238 elected by the legislatures of states and union territories and 12 nominated by the President for their expertise in various fields.

• The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has partnered with UN-Habitat to conduct an online citizen survey aimed at enhancing urban living conditions. 
• Aim of the survey is to enhance living in Bhubaneswar through the ‘Quality of Life’ initiative.
• The survey invites residents to share their experiences across 16 questions, focusing on areas such as housing, health, basic services, environment, and governance. 
• This initiative is part of BMC’s commitment to improving city life and fostering community engagement in urban planning and development efforts. Citizens can participate by accessing the survey online.

About:

• UN-Habitat, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, is the United Nations agency for human settlements.   

Key Focus Areas:

• Sustainable Urban Development.   
• Adequate Shelter for All
• Urban Planning and Design
• Disaster Risk Reduction
• Land and Governance

• The Haematology Department at SCB Medical College, Cuttack, is set to become a one-stop center for managing sickle cell anemia. 
• This initiative aims to provide comprehensive care and treatment for patients suffering from this genetic disorder.

About:

• Sickle cell anemia is a serious inherited blood disorder that primarily affects people of African descent.   
• It’s caused by a genetic mutation that alters the shape of red blood cells. 
• Instead of being disc-shaped, they become rigid and crescent-shaped, like sickles.
• Sickle cells break down more easily than healthy red blood cells, leading to anemia (low red blood cell count).

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