Current Affair 1:

ANTIMIGROBIAL RESISTANGE (AMR)

 

RISE OF ANTIMIGROBIAL RESISTANGE (AMR) COULD ANNUAL DEATHS BY 2050: UN REPORT

Findings are part of report by UN Environment Programme (UNEP) on environmental dimensions of AMR, which already is taking a serious toll on health of humans, animals, and plants, as well as the economy.

 

What is AMR?

 

 AMR occurs when microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, parasites or fungi become resistant to antimicrobial treatments to which they were previously susceptible.

 

 Key Findings of the report

 

Microorganisms (particularly bacteria) can acquire resistance following contact with

resistant microorganisms that may have originated or introduced in environment.

When antimicrobials are released into environment new AMR can develop by: Spontaneous mutation, acquisition and transmission by mobile genetic elements. Horizontal gene transfer events between environmental and plant, animal or human associated bacteria.

 AMR challenges are closely linked to triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution and waste.

 

 3 key sectors of AMR development and spread in environment:

 

Pharmaceuticals and other chemical manufacturing, agriculture and food production, Healthcare. Transmission and spread of AMR are not confined to point-sources. Transient and diffuse sources, which include water agricultural runoff, airborne transmission, wildlife migration etc can also be important.

Current Affair 2:

REPO RATE

 

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) hiked the Repo rate (or the rate at which the RBI lends funds to banks), by 25 basis points to 6.50 per cent in a bid to rein in retail inflation. RBI has projected GDP growth for the next fiscal (FY2024) at 6.4%

 

What is repo rate?

 

Repo rate is the rate at which the central bank of a country (Reserve Bank of India in caseof India) lends money to commercial banks in the event of any shortfall of funds.  Here, the central bank purchases the security.

 

IMPACT

Lending rates of banks are expected to go up, leading to a rise in EMIs on vehicles, homes, and personal loans.Over 43% of the total loans are linked to the Repo rate and are expected to rise now .Its lowers the  Inflation.

 

What is Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) ?

 

It is a statutory and institutionalized framework under the Reserve Bank of India 1934, for maintaining price stability, while keeping in mind the objective of growth.The Governor of RBI is ex-officio Chairman of the committee.The MPC determines the policy interest rate (repo rate) required to achieve the inflation target (4%).An RBI-appointed committee led by the then deputy governor Urjit Patel in 2014 recommended the establishment of the Monetary Policy Committee.

 

Current Affair 3:

CLIMATE INEQUALITY REPORT 2023

 

Report, by World Inequality Lab, aims to shed light on various dimensions of climate inequality and suggest pathways to tackle climate inequalities.

 

What is CLIMATE INEQUALITY REPORT ?

 

The objective of the report was to decode the magnitude of climate inequality based on a detailed systematic analysis focusing on low- and middle-income countries. The report's authors have coupled this analysis with empirical data and studies to advocate advanced pathways to develop taxing and social policies that combat climate inequalities at their centre.

 

 

Key Highlights of the report

 Top 10% of global carbon emitters generate almost half of all greenhouse gas emissions.

 Difference between carbon emissions of the rich and poor within a country is now greater than differences in emissions between countries.

Climate Change aggravates low agricultural productivity in poorer countries, as well as water scarcity and security.

Carbon budgets required to eradicate poverty remain relatively limited compared with global top emitters’ footprints.

 

 ABOUT World Inequality Lab

 

The World Inequality Lab aims to promote research on global inequality dynamics. Its core mission is to maintain and expand the World Inequality Database. It also produces inequality reports and working papers addressing substantive and methodological issues.

 

 

 

Current Affair 4:

VIYANAGARA EMPIRE

 

Salman Rushdie released a new novel “Victory City” — a fictionalized story of the Vijayanagara Kingdom.

About Vijaynagara Kingdom: 1336 AD — 1646 AD

 

Founded by Harihara I of the Sangama dynasty, Vijayanagara expanded from a strategic position on the banks of the Tungabhadra river with Hampi as its capital. The kingdom reached its peak underKrishna Deva Raya (reign 1509-1529), a period in which it enjoyed military superiority to its rival kingdoms such as the Bahmani Sultanate, the Golconda Sultanate, and the Gajapatis of Odisha.

 

Krishnadevaraya:

 

He was the ruler of the Tuluva dynasty of Vijayanagar empire (1509-29 AD). His rule was characterised by expansion and consolidation.He is credited with building some fine temples and adding impressive gopurams to many important south Indian temples.He also founded a suburban township near Vijayanagar called Nagalapuram after his mother.He composed a work on statecraft in Telugu Known as the Amuktamalyada.

 

Economy:

 

Largely dependent on agriculture, trade thrived in its many ports on either coast.

Traveller Abd al-Razzaq Samarqandi chronicled how “the ports of Mangalore, Honavar, Bhatkal, Barkur, Cochin, Cannanore, Machilipatnam, and Dharmadam saw traders from Africa, Arabia, Aden, the Red sea, China and Bengal and also served as shipbuilding centres”.

The empire’s principal exports were pepper, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, myrobalan, tamarind, timber, anafistula, precious and semi-precious stones, pearls, musk, ambergris, rhubarb, aloe, cotton cloth, and porcelain.Coins were minted by the state as well as by merchant guilds using gold, silver, copper, and brass, and their value depended on material weight.

 

KEY POINT

 

The first-ever epigraphical reference (an inscription) to the date of death of Vijayanagar king sronnatevaraya has been discovered at Honnenahalli in Tumakuru district, Karnataka.

Normally, the death of kings was not recorded in the inscriptions and this was one of those rare records.

 

 

Current Affair 5:

CAR-T Cell Therapy

 

 

 

 

 

As cancer is a disease that constantly evolves to evade treatment, we need to keep developing more sophisticated therapies with as few side effects as possible. A new development on this front, holding the attention of many researchers worldwide, is the CAR Tcell therapy.

 

What is CAR-T Cell Therapy?

 

Unlike chemotherapy or immunotherapy, which require massproduced injectable or oral medication, Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell (CAR Tcell) therapies use a patient’s own cells. They are modified in the laboratory to activate Tcells (a component of immune cells, to attack tumours) so that they express specific proteins on their surface, known as chimeric antigen receptors (CAR).

These modified cells are then infused back into the patient’s bloodstream after conditioning them to multiply more effectively.The cells are even more specific than targeted agents and directly activate the patient’s immune system against cancer, making the treatment more clinically effective. This is why they’re called ‘living drugs’.

Uses: CAR Tcell therapy has been approved for leukaemias (cancers arising from the cells that produce

 

 

 

 

 

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