Important Facts for Prelims (24th July, 2018) | 24 Jul 2018

Krintafel

• Krintafel (tafenoquine) is a one dose medication produced by GlaxoSmithKline and has been approved by US regulators as a simple, one-dose treatment to prevent relapses of Plasmodium vivax malaria.
• The one-dose treatment will treat the recurring form of malaria, caused by the parasite plasmodium vivax, to which around 8.5 million people fall prey to every year.
• The medication is considered as a significant advancement in malaria treatment in the last 60 years.
• A single 300mg dose of drug blocks the dormant form of P.vivax, that affects the liver, transferred by infected mosquitoes to human beings.

VAHAN & SARATHI

• Recently, an inter-ministerial task force has recommended to integrate e-way bill database with VAHAN and SARATHI.
• The e-Way bill, currently gives only details of the value of goods being transported.
• Vahan allows access to all details related to vehicles such as registration number, chassis/engine number, body/fuel type, colour, manufacturer and model and provides various online services to citizens.
• Vahan has been mandated by the Central Motor Vehicle Act 1988 as well as State Motor Vehicle Rules.
• Driving Licence and related data are automated through a separate application called ‘Sarathi’.
• National Informatics Centre (NIC) has been entrusted with the task to standardize & deploy the software VAHAN for Vehicle
• Registration and SARATHI for Driving Licenses along with compilation of data with respect to Vehicle Registration and Driving Licenses of all the states in State Register and National Register.

Tribal Atlas of Odisha

• Odisha has unveiled the ‘Tribal Atlas of Odisha’, a compilation of demographic and cultural information of the tribal population in the state.
• The state government has claimed that the compilation is the first-of-its-kind in the country.
• This book will help to provide comprehensive data on tribal population.
• The atlas displays the salient features of the tribal population of Odisha with a series of maps, charts and diagrams.
• The atlas has been prepared by the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) Research and Training Institute in collaboration with the Academy of Tribal Language and Culture.
• As per Census 2011, Odisha has the second highest tribal population in the country after Madhya Pradesh.
• It will help in policy decisions and development of tribes of Odisha.

Bharat Stage-VI

Recently, the central government has said that the sale of the vehicles, which follow non-compliant BS-IV, will be stopped by Apr 2020, but registration of these vehicles can continue till May-end.

• Bharat Stage Norms
  • Based on the European regulations (Euro norms), introduced in the year 2000, the Bharat stage norms are emission control standards put in place by the government to keep a check on air pollution.
  • These standards set specifications/limits for the release of air pollutants from equipment using internal combustion engines, including vehicles.
  • The higher the stage, the more stringent the norms.
• What is BS VI’s Key Improvement in Fuel Quality Over BS IV?
  • BS VI norms seek to cut down sulphur content to 10 parts per million (ppm) from 50 ppm
  • Sulphur in the fuel contributes to fine particulate matter emissions.
  • BS VI norms seek to reduce the level of certain harmful hydrocarbons in the emissions that are produced due to incomplete combustion of fuel.

Horn of Africa

Recently, Qatar and its ally, Turkey, are building ports in Sudan, and Saudi Arabia is in talks to set up a naval base in Djibouti.

• The Peninsula Of Northeast Africa is called the Horn of Africa or sometimes called the Somalia peninsula. It lies opposite of the southern Arabian Peninsula.
• It is the easternmost extension of the African continent separating the Gulf of Aden from the Indian Ocean.
• It mainly includes Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Somalia and sometimes even including parts of Sudan and Kenya.
• The Horn of Africa has been at the centre of global attention for several decades because of protracted armed conflict, severe food crises and large-scale displacement.
• The Horn ports are near the Bab al-Mandab strait, a vital choke-point at the mouth of the Red Sea.

Important Facts for Prelims (23rd July, 2018) | 23 Jul 2018

Public Affairs Index

• Public Affairs Index is an index on the quality of governance, released by Bengaluru-based think tank Public Affairs Centre, that is based on 10 themes, 30 focus subjects and 100 indicators.
• The themes include essential infrastructure; support to human development; social protection; Women and Children; Crime, law & order; Delivery of Justice, Environment, Transparency and accountability, Fiscal Management and Economic Freedom.
• Kerala has topped the PAI for 2018 as the best-governed state for the third consecutive year since 2016 among large states.
• Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka and Gujarat followed Kerala among the top five states delivering good governance.
• Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar ranked the lowest on the Index, indicating higher social and economic inequalities in the States.
• Among smaller states (with a population less than two crores), Himachal Pradesh topped the list, followed by Goa, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura which figured among the top five states with good governance.
• Nagaland, Manipur and Meghalaya were ranked at the bottom of the index among small states.
• A separate index on the children of India, giving a measure of how child-friendly each of the states is.

Salicornia

• Salicornia is a plant that grows in salt marshes in the mangrove wetlands. It is considered a substitute for salt with low sodium content.
• State governments have intensified the efforts to tap commercial benefits from this plant through cultivation.
• Salicornia is being imported from Israel and Scandinavian countries in the wake of growing demand for it in Indian cities.
• The patients suffering from hypertension, diabetes and gastric related ailments prefer the Salicornia salad and salt.

What is the GDP deflator?

• It is the ratio of the value of goods and services an economy produces in a particular year at current prices to that of prices that prevailed during the base year.
• This ratio helps show the extent to which the increase in gross domestic product has happened on account of higher prices rather than increase in output.
• It is a more comprehensive measure of inflation because the deflator covers the entire range of goods and services produced in the economy — as against the limited commodity baskets for the wholesale or consumer price indices.
• GDP price deflator measures the difference between real GDP and nominal GDP.
• GDP price deflator = (nominal GDP ÷ real GDP) x 100
• The GDP deflator reflects up-to-date expenditure patterns since changes in consumption patterns or introduction of goods and services are automatically reflected in the GDP deflator.
• GDP deflator is available only on a quarterly basis along with GDP estimates, whereas CPI and WPI data are released every month.