Daily Current Affairs For UPSC IAS Prelims, 04 March 2023 Current Affairs For Civil Services

Daily Current Affairs For UPSC IAS Prelims, 04 March 2023 Current Affairs For Civil Services

We bring to you ”Daily Current Affairs For UPSC IAS Prelims” based on the principle of updating UPSC CSE aspirants with Most Important Daily Current Affairs For Civil Services. These Daily Current Affairs are prepared by our team in Bit Form/Abridged Form to save the precious time of UPSC Aspirants without compromising the quality. In Today’s Daily Current Affairs For UPSC IAS Prelims, 04 March 2023, we are covering topics: World Hearing Day 2023, 7th International Dharma Dhamma conference, QUAD, What are Lewis super acids?

World Hearing Day 2023

World Hearing Day 2023 In News?

• Every year on March 3, World Hearing Day is observed to encourage ear and hearing care worldwide and to increase awareness of ways to avoid deafness and hearing loss.
• WHO chooses the theme each year and creates evidence-based advocacy materials, including presentations, booklets, flyers, posters, banners, and posters.
• Hearing loss is the fourth leading cause for “Years Lived with Disability” (YLD).

Theme For World Hearing Day 2023

The topic for this year is “Ear and hearing care for all!”

About National Programme for Prevention and Control of Deafness (NPPCD)

• National Programme for Prevention and Control of Deafness (NPPCD) was initiated on pilot basis in the year 2006-07(January 2007).
• Government of India has started the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Deafness (NPPCD) with focus on early identification, diagnosis and treatment of ear problems responsible for hearing loss and deafness.

7th International Dharma Dhamma conference

In News?

On March 04, 2023, President Droupadi Murmu inaugurated of the 7th International Dharma Dhamma Conference.

About India Foundation

India Foundation is a New Delhi-based independent think tank that focuses on issues, challenges and opportunities of Indian polit

About 7th International Dharma Dhamma conference 

Theme: ‘Eastern Humanism for the New Era’.

Organiser: 7th International Dharma Dhamma conference is being organised by India Foundation in collaboration with Sanchi University of Buddhist-Indic Studies

Aim: It aims to bring together religious, political and thought leaders from Dharma-Dhamma traditions to ponder over building a philosophical framework for the emerging new world order.

QUAD

QUAD In News?

• On March 03, 2023, the the Quad Foreign Ministers’ meeting hosted by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in Delhi.
• The meeting was attended by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japan Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi.
• Quad members, in a joint statement, called for “just and lasting peace in Ukraine”, and respect for a rules-based order in the South and East China Seas.
  This was the first such statement by the grouping that is seen to criticise both Russia and China.

History of the Formation of the Quad

• Following the Indian Ocean tsunami, India, Japan, Australia, and the US created an informal alliance to collaborate on disaster relief efforts.
• In 2007, then PM of Japan, Shinzo Abe, formalised the alliance, as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or the Quad.
• The Quad was supposed to establish an Asian Arc of Democracy but was hampered by a lack of cohesion amongst its members and accusations that the group was nothing more than an anti-China bloc.
• The early iteration of the Quad, largely based around maritime security, eventually dissipated.
• In 2017, faced again with the rising threat of China, the four countries revived the Quad, broadening its objectives and creating a mechanism that aimed to slowly establish a rules-based international order.
• However, despite its lofty ambitions, the Quad is not structured like a typical multilateral organisation and lacks a secretariat and any permanent decision-making body.
• Instead of creating policy along the lines of the European Union or United Nations, the Quad has focused on expanding existing agreements between member countries and highlighting their shared values.
• Additionally, unlike NATO, the Quad does not include provisions for collective defence, instead choosing to conduct joint military exercises as a show of unity and diplomatic cohesion.
• In 2020, the trilateral India-US-Japan Malabar naval exercises expanded to include Australia, marking the first official grouping of the Quad since its resurgence in 2017 and the first joint military exercises among the four countries in over a decade.

What Integrates QUAD Member Nations?

Common Interests

• Quad’s shared vision of a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific is being pursued to ensure peace, stability, and economic prosperity in the region.
• As leading democracies, we pursue our shared vision of upholding a rules-based international order free from coercion, one based on respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, the rule of law, transparency, freedom of navigation in the international seas, and peaceful resolution of disputes.
• There is ample scope to work together on global issues such as terrorism, cyber security, maritime security, and disinformation that India continues to pursue an “agile” and multidimensional strategy towards the Indo-Pacific.

Quad’s positive and ambitious agenda

• It focuses on working closely with Indo-Pacific partners to address the region’s most important challenges. Working together as the Quad, we are more effective in delivering practical support to the region.
• Quad partners champion a free, open and inclusive rules-based order, rooted in international law that protects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of regional countries.
• It opposes coercive economic policies and practices that run counter to this system and will work collectively to foster global economic resilience against such actions.

QUAD Summit amid Russia-Ukraine War

What are Lewis super acids?

In News?

Researchers at the Paderborn University, Germany have reported being able to make a unique class of catalysts – used in chemistry to accelerate reactions – called “Lewis super-acids” These can be used to break strong chemical bonds and speed up reactions.

About Lewis super-acids

• Named for the chemist, G N Lewis, Lewis super-acids derive from Lewis acids.
• A Lewis acid is any substance, such as a Hydrogen ion (H+) that can accept a pair of nonbonding electrons.
• In other words, a Lewis acid is an electron-pair acceptor. A Lewis base is any substance, such as the OH- ion, that can donate a pair of nonbonding electrons. A Lewis base is therefore an electron-pair donor.
• Because Lewis acids add electron pairs, they are often used to speed up chemical reactions. Lewis superacids are stronger than antimony pentafluoride — the strongest Lewis acid — and can break even the toughest bonds. Breaking strong, chemical bonds requires highly reactive substances.
• Because they are so reactive, they are hard to manufacture.

How Making Lewis Super Acids Can Be A Game Changer?

Being able to make these super acids, enables non-biodegradable fluorinated hydrocarbons, similar to Teflon, and possibly even climate-damaging greenhouse gases, such as sulphur hexafluoride, to be converted back into sustainable chemicals.

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