DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS

05^th January 2022

No.	Topic Name	Prelims/Mains
1.	ABOUT THE HEALTHY STATES, PROGRESSIVE INDIA INDEX	Prelims & Mains
2.	DETAILS OF THE MULTI AGENCY CENTRE AGAINST TERRORISM	Prelims & Mains
3.	ABOUT THE WESTERN DISTURBANCES	Prelims & Mains
4.	ABOUT THE GALWAN VALLEY	Prelims Specific
5.	DETAILS OF THE INDIGENOUS KIT TO DETECT OMICRON BY ICMR	Prelims Specific

1 – ABOUT THE HEALTHY STATES, PROGRESSIVE INDIA INDEX:

GS II

Topic – Health Related Issues/Federalism

• Context:
• The fourth edition of Niti Aayog’s state health index for 2019-20 has been issued.
• The NITI Aayog, the World Bank, and the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry commissioned the “Health Index” as part of a report.
• In the most recent index, the following states performed well:
• Kerala has won for the fourth year in a row.
• Uttar Pradesh is at the bottom of the list.
• Tamil Nadu is ranked second, while Telangana is ranked third.
• Mizoram came out on top among smaller states in terms of health, while Nagaland came in worst.
• Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu were placed first and second, respectively, among union territories, and Andaman and Nicobar was ranked last.
• Parameters used to evaluate states:
• The Health Index score is calculated using data from a vast number of variables organized into three categories: health outcomes, governance and information, and key inputs and processes.
• Parameters like neonatal mortality rate, under-5 mortality rate, and birth sex ratio are examples of health outcomes.
• Institutional deliveries and average occupancy of top officials in important positions intended for health are examples of governance.
• Significance:
• The Health Index was created as a mechanism to use cooperative and competitive federalism to accelerate the pace at which health results are achieved.
• It would also be used to “nudge” States and Union Territories (UTs) and Central Ministries to place a considerably larger emphasis on output and outcome-based annual performance measurement than is currently the case.
• The Index’s annual publication and dynamic availability on the public domain are expected to keep all stakeholders informed about the achievement of Goal 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Source – The Hindu – 05/01/22 – Page Number 4

2 – DETAILS OF THE MULTI AGENCY CENTRE AGAINST TERRORISM:

GS III

Topic – Internal Security related issues 

• Context:
• The Centre wants the States to exchange more intelligence through the Multi Agency Centre (MAC), a single counter-terrorism grid run by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) that was established after the Kargil war in 2001.
• Union Home Minister Amit Shah ordered the Directors General of Police to submit enough information and actionable suggestions through the MAC at a high-level meeting on Monday.
• About the Multi Agency Centre Against Terrorism:
• The platform is used by 28 organizations, including the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), the military forces, and state police, and it allows different security agencies to share real-time information feeds.
• For more than a decade, there have been plans to connect the system to the district level.
• According to a senior government official, the mechanism exists to communicate information among several agencies, but it is not being used efficiently.
• “States are frequently hesitant to share data on the platform.
• There are various gaps in releasing essential information at the proper time which need to be fulfilled in order to effectively fight terrorism in India.
• Source – The Hindu – 05/01/22 – Page Number 1

3 – ABOUT THE WESTERN DISTURBANCES:

GS I

Topic – Geography

• What is Western Disturbance:
• It is an extra tropical storm that originates in the Mediterranean region and brings heavy winter rains to the Indian subcontinent’s northwestern regions.
• The westerlies drive a non-monsoonal precipitation pattern.
• Extratropical storms are a global phenomena that carry moisture in the high atmosphere, as opposed to their tropical counterparts, which carry moisture in the lower atmosphere.
• When a storm system hits the Himalayas, moisture is sometimes released as rain on the Indian subcontinent.
• How Western Disturbances are caused:
• Western Disturbance is caused by extratropical cyclones that form in the Mediterranean Sea.
• A high-pressure area forms over Ukraine and the surrounding region, allowing frigid air from the Polar Regions to enter an area of somewhat warmer air with significant moisture.
• This encourages the formation of an eastward-moving extratropical depression by creating favourable circumstances for cyclogenesis in the upper atmosphere.
• They make their way across the Middle East, passing via Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan on their way to the Indian subcontinent.
• Impact:
• Plays a key role in bringing moderate to heavy rain to low-lying portions of the Indian Subcontinent, as well as heavy snow to mountainous areas.
• Cloudy skies, warmer night-time temperatures, and unexpected rain are frequently linked with this disturbance.
• This precipitation is critical in agriculture, particularly for Rabi crops.
• Wheat is one of the most significant crops that contributes to India’s food security.
• Crop damage, landslides, floods, and avalanches can all be caused by excessive precipitation caused by this disturbance.
• It brings cold waves and dense fog to the Indo-Gangetic plains on occasion.
• Until another western disturbance disrupts the situation, these circumstances will remain stable.
• A transient advancement of monsoon current develops across the region when western disturbances sweep across northwest India before to the onset of monsoon.
• Source – The Hindu – 05/01/22 – Page Number 

4 – ABOUT THE GALWAN VALLEY:

Prelims Specific Topic

• Context:
• It’s been a year since the armed forces of China and India clashed in Galwan.
• Background:
• India and China share a 3,440-kilometer-long (2,100-mile-long) border with overlapping territory claims.
• At three sites along the Line of Actual Control in 2020, Indian and Chinese soldiers were embroiled in a tense standoff – the Galwan River Valley, the Hot Springs area, and the Pangong Lake.
• Even while India and China held military-level negotiations and engaged in controlled engagement, a major clash involving army personnel from both sides occurred in the Galwan Valley in Eastern Ladakh.
• The strategic significance of the Galwan River Valley (GRV) is as follows:
• The Galwan River is the highest ridgeline, allowing the Chinese to control the Shyok route, which runs along to the river.
• It is located near Aksai Chin, a disputed area claimed by India but controlled by China, on the western side of the LAC.
• Why have tensions in this area suddenly risen:
• India is attempting to build a feeder road between Darbuk-Shyok Village with Daulat Beg Odi (DS-DBO road).
• This road follows the Shyok River and is the most important communication link between LAC and the rest of the world.
• As a result, the Chinese were desperate to retain this territory, fearing that the Indian side may use the river valley to threaten their position on the Aksai Chin plateau.
• Source – The Hindu – 05/01/22 – Page Number 10

5 – DETAILS OF THE INDIGENOUS KIT TO DETECT OMICRON BY ICMR:

Prelims Specific Topic

• The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has authorized a test kit to detect the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus’s Omicron form.
• OmiSure is the name of the kit, which is made by Tata Medical and Diagnostics.
• Omisure, an RT-PCR kit, had already been referred to the ICMR for approval following more testing.
• With its S-Gene Target Failure (SGTF) method, the kit will be utilized to validate the Omicron in patients.
• The tests were carried out using this kit according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The manufacturer is responsible for batch-to-batch uniformity.”
• Thermo Fisher, a scientific instrumentation business based in the United States, created the Omicron detection kit currently in use in India. It, too, detects the variant using the SGTF technique.

• Source – The Hindu – 05/01/22 – Page Number 10