Addapedia Odisha | Daily Current Affairs | 19 September 2023 | Download PDF

The Union government is considering a phased withdrawal of the Rapid Action Force (RAF), a specialized anti-riot Central armed police force, from violence-hit Manipur.

Key points

• At present, 10 companies of the RAF are deployed in Manipur.
• An internal report sent by the RAF highlights the crisis.
• The report flags the injudicious use and inappropriate deployment of the RAF in high-risk areas, with the absence of senior police officers and magistrates at the scene of the incidents. 

• The Rapid Action Force (RAF) is a specialised wing of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to deal with riot and crowd control situations.
• RAF was raised on 11 December 1991 with headquarters in New Delhi.
• It became fully operational on 7 October 1992, to deal with riots, riot like situations, crowd control, rescue and relief operations, and related unrest.
• Its motto is “Serving Humanity with Sensitive Policing”
• RAF battalions are based in various parts of the country in order to cut down response time and rush the teams in shortest possible time to counter an incident.
• RAF is headed by an officer of the rank of Inspector-General of Police (IGP).
• The RAF has a distinctive uniform with a blue-coloured camouflage pattern which symbolises peace.

GoI’s Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD), to carry out field investigations in Kozhikode district, Kerala.

Key points

• Nipah is a zoonotic disease affecting both humans and animals.
• The DAHD has directed the team to submit daily reports and advise the Animal Husbandry Department on measures for disease prevention. 
• The Central team will be joined by a team from the State Institute for Animal Diseases (SIAD), Palode.
• the State Animal Husbandry department had stepped up surveillance in the livestock sector in view of the cases. 
• The department had also issued a set of guidelines for farmers and the public.
• In pigs, for instance, the disease affects the respiratory system and the nervous system.
• Steps were taken to identify pig farms near the epicentre of the outbreak and put them under surveillance for symptoms.

Concept: Trade Deficit

• India’s goods exports and also services exports are shrinking, while its imports have increased.
• When a country imports more goods than what it exports, it would have a “deficit” on its trade account. In other words, more money is going out of the country than coming in via the trade of physical goods. Hence, India’s current account deficit is likely to widen. 

What is Trade Deficit? 

• Simply put, trade deficit or negative balance of trade (BOT) is the gap between exports and imports. 
• When money spent on imports exceeds that spent on exports in a country, trade deficit occurs.

India’s non-communicable diseases (NCD) burden will be nearly $4 trillion by 2030. 

Key points/data

• Infant mortality has improved by four times, maternal mortality has improved by seven times and the average life expectancy of an Indian is up nearly 30% from 55 years to over 70 now.
• Today, India has world-class health-care infrastructure along with incredible clinical talent that delivers the best in class clinical outcomes at incredible scale and at a fraction of the global price.
• India’s expertise in highly specialised areas such as organ transplants, cardiology, oncology and more has made the country a fast-growing destination for medical value travel (MVT), not just for the price but also for the speed of access and the sheer quality of care.
• AI expenditure in India is expected to reach $11.78 billion by 2025. It is expected to add $1 trillion to India’s economy by 2035.

A government report was released on the completion of one year of the programme. It says that the project is on the right path to becoming a successful large carnivore conservation, translocation, and population-establishment endeavour.Four of the six criteria established for assessing the short-term success of India’s cheetah reintroduction programme have already been met

Key points

• The Cheetah Action Plan, published last year, lists six short-term success criteria: survival of 50% of the introduced cheetahs for the first year; establishment of home ranges in the Kuno National Park; successful cheetah reproduction in the wild; survival of wild-born cheetah cubs past one year; successful first-generation breeding; and cheetah-based revenues contributing to community livelihoods.
• The report noted that the project achieved 50% survival; establishment of home ranges; birth of cubs; and direct revenue contributions to local communities through the engagement of cheetah trackers and indirect appreciation of land value in surrounding areas.

The cheetahs in Kuno are likely to be released into the wild after the onset of winter, and they will have their collars fitted back on them

Key points

Kuno Palpur National Park: 

• Kuno National Park lies in Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh in Central India near the Vindhyan Hills.
• With an area of 748 sq. km, the park is located within the larger Kuno Wildlife Division.
• Initially established as a wildlife sanctuary, it was only in 2018 that the government changed its status into a national park.
• Named after the Kuno River (One of the main tributaries of the Chambal River) that cuts across it, Kuno is primarily a grassland region.
• Flora and Fauna: The protected area of the forest is home to the jungle cat, Indian leopard, sloth bear, Indian wolf, striped hyena, golden jackal, Bengal fox and dhole, along with more than 120 bird species
• Kuno National Park was selected under ‘Action Plan for Introduction of Cheetah in India’. 

• D. Gukesh 
• Praggnanandhaa 
• Arjun Erigaisi 
• Nihal sarin 

Orange cultivation in Ajaygarh and Serang panchayats under hill-locked and forested block in Gajapati district is on the wane with farmers turning away from the cultivation and taking to shifting and cashew cultivation.

Key points

• Orange cultivation is on the decline despite conducive atmosphere for the produces.
• According to the observers, the orange cultivation would provide farmers with good earnings than the cashew cultivation.

About shifting cultivation:

• Shifting cultivation or shifting farming is a method of agriculture in which primitive people of the tropical forest shift their plots of agricultural land from one part to another by clearing the forest through fire. 
• It is sometimes called migratory primitive agriculture.

• In order to further strengthen road safety, the Odisha government has sought participation of citizens through a sentinel application.

Key points

• The citizens can report about violation of the road safety norm of riding without helmet through the Next Gen mParivahan app ‘Citizen Sentinel’ option. 
• The app is developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC).
• As per the data, 34% of the deaths in road accidents involved two-wheelers in the state in 2022. 
• Total 1,695 people lost their lives and 2,615 were injured for riding without helmet.

The Odisha government announced that it will provide special financial assistance to Betel leaf and Kia flower farmers.

Key points

• Farmers with at least 2000 square meters of area will be considered eligible for the assistance. 
• The Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment will make special regulations for it.
• The farmers who have betel leaf farms will be given financial assistance of Rs 2500 per unit for its management. 
• A farmer will get assistance for a maximum of two units. 
• Wide awareness will be created regarding interest-free loans of up to Rs 1 lakh through Kishan Credit Card for betel leaf farming

In order to ensure sustainable, affordable and safe transportation of passengers and commodities across the state, Odisha Cabinet has approved Location Accessible Multi-modal Initiative (LAccMI) scheme.

Key words

• Under the LAccMl Scheme, the bus network planning has been undertaken in a hierarchical manner. 
• While ‘Block Connectivity’ will facilitate connectivity between panchayats and their respective block headquarters (HQs), ‘District Connectivity’ will link block HQs with district HQs and ‘Jagannath Express’ will connect district HQs with Bhubaneswar or Puri and ‘LAccMl Express’ will facilitate connectivity between district HQs and major cities.
• The project cost is estimated to be approximately Rs 3,178 crore in the first three years of the bus operation from 2023-24 to 2025-26. 
• The scheme would be implemented in a phased manner. 
• About 1000 buses would be deployed under the scheme for 10 years.