Current Affair 1:

Share of male and female in Primary, secondary and Tertiary sector

 

In the primary sector which consists of agriculture and allied activities, employment has dropped over the years, even though it has historically employed a significant portion of the Indian population.

All sectors:

Primary Sector:

More females have always had their primary source of income from this sector as compared to males throughout the given period, irrespective of area.

In rural areas, from 757 out of 100 males employed in this sector in 1998, the number has dropped to 510 as per the latest survey in 2021-22. In the case of females, the number declined from 885 to 759 during the same period.

Likewise, in urban areas, the number of males dropped from 92 in 1998 to 54 in 2021-22 and the number of females dropped from 221 to 111.

Secondary sector (see the same image above)

Between 1998 and 2021-22, the per 1000 male employees in the sector increased from 102 to 254 whereas female employees increased from 66 to 134. A decline in the employees in the sector, mainly females, is evident in 2000-2001, 2006, 2007 and in 2019-20. Between 2011-12 and 2017-18 for which data is not available for each year, a decline in female employees is seen in rural and urban regions.

Tertiary sector: (see the same image above)

Share of urban women in tertiary sector is more than that of their male counterparts

The tertiary sector includes service-based industries like trade, hotel & restaurant, transport, storage, communication, and other services.

In rural areas, the per 1000 distribution of usually employed in the Tertiary Sector has increased significantly between 1998 and 2021-22- from 141 to 237 in the case of males and from 49 to 108 in the case of females. However, the number of employees in the sector from rural areas was the highest in 2018-19 before falling in the subsequent year.

However, in urban areas, the number of males employed in the sector has revolved around 600 while the number of females usually employed in the sector grew from 499 to 601 in the 25 years. In fact, the ratio of females in the sector crossed that of their male counterparts in 2017-18.

 

Current Affair 2:

Nobel Prize in Medicine 2023

 

The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their research that enabled the development of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19. The prize was announced by The Royal Swedish Academy of Science on October 2, 2023.

They were awarded the prize for their “discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19”.

The first vaccines to use the mRNA technology were those made by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna against COVID-19.

What are mRNA vaccines?

mRNA stands for messenger RNA, is a form of nucleic acid which carries genetic information.

Like other vaccines, the mRNA vaccine also attempts to activate the immune system to produce antibodies that help counter an infection from a live virus.

However, while most vaccines use weakened or dead bacteria or viruses to evoke a response from the immune system, mRNA vaccines only introduce a piece of the genetic material that corresponds to a viral protein. This is usually a protein found on the membrane of the virus and is called spike protein. Therefore, the mRNA vaccine does not expose individuals to the virus itself.

Current Affair 3:

WHO recommends R21/Matrix-M vaccine for malaria prevention

 

News:

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended a new vaccine, R21/Matrix-M, for the prevention of malaria in children. The recommendation follows advice from the WHO: Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) and the Malaria Policy Advisory Group (MPAG).

The updated WHO malaria vaccine recommendation showed:

The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization was established by the Director-General of the World Health Organization in 1999 to provide guidance on the work of WHO. SAGE is the principal advisory group to WHO for vaccines and immunization.   It is charged with advising WHO on overall global policies and strategies, ranging from vaccines and technology, research and development, to delivery of immunization and its linkages with other health interventions. SAGE is concerned not just with childhood vaccines and immunization, but all vaccine-preventable diseases.

Current Affair 4:

AUKUS Programme

 

AUKUS is a defence and security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, announced in September 2021.

AUKUS is a new trilateral partnership aims to deepen diplomatic, security and defence cooperation between the three states.

AUKUS will focus specifically on deepening integration in defence-related science, technology, industrial bases and supply chains, with particular emphasis on cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and new undersea capabilities.

Under the pact, the US and the UK will assist Australia in acquiring nuclear-powered submarines.

The pact will focus on military capability, distinguishing it from the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance that also includes New Zealand and Canada.

 

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