Essential key terms from last week’s news are categorized as per the relevance of the UPSC-CSE syllabus. Quad - Quad leaders met at Tokyo on May 25th. - Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) is the informal strategic dialogue between India, USA, Japan and Australia. - The four nations share a common objective to ensure and support a “free, open and prosperous” Indo-Pacific region. - The idea of Quad was first mooted by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2007. The Quad was supposed to establish an Asian Arc of Democracy. But the idea couldn’t move ahead with Australia pulling out of it. Chinese pressure was believed to be the cause of Australia’s move. -In November 2017, India, the US, Australia, and Japan came together to give a shape to the “Quad” Coalition. The coalition’s objective was to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence (especially China). Primarily it wanted to work for the free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region. The Quad coalition aimed at developing a new strategy to keep the Indo-Pacific free from any influence, especially from China. -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. IPEF -India’s Prime Minister participated in an event in Tokyo to launch the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). -This economic initiative came a day before the second in-person summit of the Quad leaders (India, the US, Australia and Japan) in Tokyo. -It is a US-led initiative that aims to strengthen economic partnership among participating countries to enhance resilience, sustainability, inclusiveness, economic growth, fairness, and competitiveness in the Indo-Pacific region. Importantly, the target is to counter China in the region. – It is a declaration of a collective desire to make the Indo-Pacific region an engine of global economic growth. – The Indo-Pacific covers half the population of the world and more than 60% of the global GDP – IPEF won’t negotiate tariffs or market access, and the framework will focus on integrating partner countries in four areas which include: – It intends to build high-standard, inclusive, free, and fair-trade commitments and develop new and creative approaches in trade and technology policy . – IPEF is committed to improving transparency, diversity, security, and sustainability in supply chains to make them more resilient and well-integrated.- In line with the Paris Agreement goals and efforts to support the livelihood of people and workers, it plans to accelerate the development and deployment of clean energy technologies. – This also involves deepening cooperation on technologies, on mobilizing finance, including concessional finance, and on seeking ways to improve competitiveness. – It is committed to promoting fair competition by enacting and enforcing effective and robust tax, anti-money laundering, and anti-bribery. Index Fund - An index fund is a portfolio of stocks or bonds designed to mimic the composition and performance of a financial market index. - Index funds have lower expenses and fees than actively managed funds. - Index funds follow a passive investment strategy. - Index funds seek to match the risk and return of the market based on the theory that in the long term, the market will outperform any single investment. (Source: investopedia.com) ETFs -An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a basket of securities that trades on an exchange just like a stock does. -ETF share prices fluctuate all day as the ETF is bought and sold; this is different from mutual funds, which only trade once a day after the market closes. -ETFs can contain all types of investments, including stocks, commodities, or bonds. -ETFs offer low expense ratios and fewer broker commissions than buying the stocks individually. (Source: investopedia.com) ASHA - The World Health Organisation has awarded the country’s 10.4 lakh ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers as “Global Health Leaders” for their contribution in bringing the public to government healthcare programs. – ASHA workers are social volunteers who have been trained to provide information and help individuals in obtaining benefits from the government’s different healthcare programs. They provide a link between marginalized populations and resources like primary health centers, sub-centers, and district hospitals. The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) originally created the function of these community–based health volunteers in 2005. – ASHA workers have become an important part of the government’s pandemic responses, with most states relying on the ASHA network to screen persons in containment zones, test them, and transfer them to quarantine centres or assist with home isolation. BMPT - According to Western intelligence inputs, Russia has deployed the Terminator tank support system – the BMPT, also known as the BMPT ‘Terminator’, and its new version the BMPT-72 – in an area that remains its immediate tactical priority in the Ukraine war. - The Terminator or the Boyevaya Mashina Podderzhki Tankov (BMPT), is a tank support fighting vehicle developed by Russia. - Western military analysts believe that Russia developed the Terminator after identifying the need to provide dedicated protection to main battle tanks it used during the Afghan and the Chechen wars. - The tank support vehicles are designed to protect the Russian tanks against enemy infantry. They are basically a replacement for mechanised infantry troops on the urban battlefield. - The high-level of attrition suffered by the Russian tanks in the ongoing war in Ukraine due to the use of anti-tank weapons provided by the West appears to have pushed Russian military commanders to induct the Terminator. The move is aimed at providing close protection to the Russian armour from Ukrainian tank-hunting infantry. Hospital ship - Navy issues RFI (Request for Information) to get 250-bed hospital ship in the high seas. The hospital ship — the first such for Indian Navy — will have aerial evacuation and boat ambulance facilities and should have the capacity to carry 600 personnel on board, including the crew, doctors and patients. - It will have one helicopter for evacuation and bringing people to the hospital ship. - The ship will also need to have at least two major operation theatres (OTs), and two minor OTs “with a pre-Operative Room and a Post-Operative Room attached to each”. Each OT would have attached facilities, including air handling units. Monkeypox - The monkeypox virus is an orthopoxvirus, which is a genus of viruses that also includes the variola virus, which causes smallpox, and vaccinia virus, which was used in the smallpox vaccine. Monkeypox causes symptoms similar to smallpox, although they are less severe. - While vaccination eradicated smallpox worldwide in 1980, monkeypox continues to occur in a swathe of countries in Central and West Africa, and has on occasion showed up elsewhere. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), two distinct clades are identified: the West African clade and the Congo Basin clade, also known as the Central African clade. - Monkeypox is a zoonosis, that is, a disease that is transmitted from infected animals to humans. According to the WHO, cases occur close to tropical rainforests inhabited by animals that carry the virus. Monkeypox virus infection has been detected in squirrels, Gambian poached rats, dormice, and some species of monkeys. - Human-to-human transmission is, however, limited — the longest documented chain of transmission is six generations, meaning the last person to be infected in this chain was six links away from the original sick person, the WHO says. “It is important to emphasise that monkeypox does not spread easily between people and the overall risk to the general public is very low,” Dr Colin Brown, Director of Clinical and Emerging Infections at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said on Saturday. - Transmission, when it occurs, can be through contact with bodily fluids, lesions on the skin or on internal mucosal surfaces, such as in the mouth or throat, respiratory droplets and contaminated objects, the WHO says. - According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), monkeypox begins with a fever, headache, muscle aches, back ache, and exhaustion. It also causes the lymph nodes to swell (lymphadenopathy), which smallpox does not. The WHO underlines that it is important to not confuse monkeypox with chickenpox, measles, bacterial skin infections, scabies, syphilis and medication-associated allergies. - The incubation period (time from infection to symptoms) for monkeypox is usually 7-14 days but can range from 5-to 21 days. Usually, within a day to 3 days of the onset of fever, the patient develops a rash that begins on the face and spreads to other parts of the body. The skin eruption stage can last between 2 and 4 weeks, during which the lesions harden and become painful, fill up first with clear fluid and then pus, and then develop scabs or crusts. - According to the WHO, the proportion of patients who die has varied between 0 and 11% in documented cases and has been higher among young children. - There is no safe, proven treatment for monkeypox yet. The WHO recommends supportive treatment depending on the symptoms. Awareness is important for the prevention and control of the infection. - The CDC’s monkeypox overview says the infection was first discovered in 1958 following two outbreaks of a pox-like disease in colonies of monkeys kept for research — which led to the name ‘monkeypox’. - The first human case was recorded in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) during a period of intensified effort to eliminate smallpox. Pangong Tso - The Ministry of External Affairs has confirmed that China is building a second bridge on the Pangong Tso lake. - Pangong Tso is a long narrow, deep, landlocked lake situated at a height of more than 14,000 ft in the Ladakh, Himalayas. - Pangong Tso literally translates into a “conclave lake”. - The 135 km-long lake sprawls over 604 sq km in the shape of a boomerang and is 6 km wide at its broadest point. - The western end of Pangong Tso lies 54 km to the southeast of Leh. - The brackish water lake freezes over in winter, and becomes ideal for ice skating and polo. NAS - National Achievement Survey (NAS) is a nationwide survey to assess the learning outcomes and health of the education system. It is the largest, nationwide, sample-based education survey conducted across India. - It is undertaken by the Ministry of Education. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) conducts NAS . The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) designed an assessment framework and tools for NAS-2021. - It collects information on relevant background variables such as school environment, teaching processes, and student home and background factors. It covers the whole spectrum of schools including Government schools (both State and Central government), Government-aided schools, and Private schools across India. UAPA- Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill - Originally enacted in 1967, the UAPA was amended to be modelled as an anti-terror law in 2004 and 2008. - In August 2019, Parliament cleared the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019 to designate individuals as terrorists on certain grounds provided in the Act. - In order to deal with the terrorism related crimes, it deviates from ordinary legal procedures and creates an exceptional regime where constitutional safeguards of the accused are curtailed. - According to the Act, the union government may proclaim or designate an organisation as a terrorist organisation if it: (i) commits or participates in acts of terrorism, (ii) prepares for terrorism, (iii) promotes terrorism, or (iv) is otherwise involved in terrorism. The Bill also empowers the government to designate individuals as terrorists on the same grounds. - UAPA has the death penalty and life imprisonment as the highest punishments. The Act assigns absolute power to the central government, by way of which if the Centre deems an activity as unlawful then it may, by way of an Official Gazette, declare it so. - Under UAPA, both Indian and foreign nationals can be charged. The offenders will be charged in the same manner whether the act is performed in a foreign land, outside India. - As per the Act, an investigating officer is required to obtain the prior approval of the Director-General of Police to seize properties that may be connected with terrorism. The Bill adds that if the investigation is conducted by an officer of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the approval of the Director-General of NIA would be required for seizure of such property. - Under the provisions of the Act, investigation of cases can be conducted by officers of the rank of Deputy Superintendent or Assistant Commissioner of Police or above. The Bill additionally empowers the officers of the NIA, of the rank of Inspector or above, to investigate cases. - The Act defines terrorist acts to include acts committed within the scope of any of the treaties listed in a schedule to the Act. The Schedule lists nine treaties, comprising of the Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings (1997), and the Convention against Taking of Hostages (1979). The Bill adds another treaty to this list namely, the International Convention for Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (2005). Texas - Texas is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles, and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by both area and population. - Recently, a man shot dead at least 19 children and two adults, including a teacher, at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. Despite a high rate of gun violence such as recent Texas shooting in the school, the country’s politicians and voters continue resisting changes to their gun laws. The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution assures citizens of the right to bear arms. The US President took direct aim at gun manufacturers and their representatives in Washington urging politicians to stand up for the power they wield. International Booker Prize - Geetanjali Shree's novel 'Tomb of Sand' is the first Hindi novel to win the International Booker Prize. – It was formally known as The Man Booker International Prize. – It was established in 2005. – The International Booker Prize is honored for finest fiction translated in English and published in the UK or Ireland. – The Man Group continued to sponsor both prizes until 2019, when Crankstart became the funder, and the prize names reverted to the familiar ‘Booker’ name alone.
