19 July 2024

• Energy: ADB approved a 240.5 million dollar loan to expand rooftop solar in India. PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana offers 300 free electricity units monthly to 1 crore households.
• History: PM Modi inaugurated the new Nalanda University campus at Rajgir, Bihar. The ancient Buddhist university was founded around 427 AD.
• Health: WHO/UNICEF WUENIC 2023 found 2.7 million unvaccinated children globally. India accounts for 1.6 million missed DPT and measles doses.
• International: Chandipura virus outbreak in Gujarat. The virus spreads through sandflies and affects children under 15.

GS area: Economy, Environment, Energy

The Asian Development Bank approved a 240.5 million dollar loan to support India's rooftop solar expansion programme.

• India's installed rooftop solar: 11.87 GW as of March 2024. About 2.99 GW was added in FY2023-24.
• State leaders: Gujarat and Maharashtra lead in rooftop solar installations.
• National potential: An estimated 796 GW of rooftop solar potential exists across 250 million households.
• PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana (2024): Launched to provide 300 units of free electricity per month to 1 crore households through rooftop solar.
  • Subsidy: 60 per cent for systems up to 2 kW capacity; 40 per cent for systems between 2 kW and 3 kW.
  • Target: Reduce electricity bills to zero for participating households.
• Historical underperformance: A previous rooftop solar programme targeted 40 GW but achieved only 11 GW. Free electricity policies from state governments (net metering restrictions and flat-tariff schemes) discouraged investment in rooftop systems.
• DISCOM concern: Distribution companies worry that widespread rooftop solar reduces revenue from profitable consumers while fixed grid costs remain. Requires regulatory redesign.

Static linkage: Renewable energy (Economy/Environment), energy security.

GS area: History, Culture

PM Modi inaugurated the new campus of Nalanda University at Rajgir in Bihar. The university is a revival of the ancient Nalanda institution, often described as the world's first residential university.

• Ancient Nalanda: Founded around 427 AD during the Gupta period. It was a Buddhist centre of learning attracting scholars from China, Korea, Japan, Tibet, Indonesia, and Central Asia. Chinese scholar Xuanzang (Hiuen Tsang) studied and taught here in the 7th century AD.
• Destruction: The university was destroyed around 1200 AD, attributed to Bakhtiyar Khilji's raid. The library (the Dharmaganja) reportedly burned for months.
• Modern revival: Nalanda University Act 2010 established the modern institution. It was set up as an international university with participation from East Asian Summit member countries.
• Rajgir significance: Rajgir (ancient Rajagriha) was the capital of the Magadha kingdom and a site connected with both the Buddha and Mahavira.

Static linkage: Ancient Indian history (History), Buddhist heritage.

GS area: Health, Governance

The WHO/UNICEF Estimates of National Immunization Coverage (WUENIC) 2023 report found 2.7 million children globally did not receive a single vaccine dose. India accounts for 1.6 million missed DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus) and measles vaccine doses.

• Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP): India's national programme covers 12 vaccines including BCG, DPT, polio, measles-rubella, Hepatitis B, and Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine.
• Mission Indradhanush: Launched in 2014 to reach children missed by routine immunisation. The intensified phase (2017) and Har Ghar Dastak (2021) campaigns boosted coverage.
• U-WIN Portal: Launched in 2024 to digitise childhood immunisation records up to age 6. Parent reminders sent automatically. Digital certificates generated. Linked to eWIN for vaccine inventory management.
• Gaps: Remote areas, migrant communities, and urban slums have the highest rates of zero-dose children. Religious hesitancy is a minor but documented factor.

Static linkage: Public health (Governance), immunisation policy.

GS area: Health, Science and Technology

A Chandipura virus outbreak in Gujarat caused deaths among children under 15.

• Pathogen: Chandipura virus is a negative-sense RNA virus in the Rhabdoviridae family. It was first isolated in 1965 from a patient in Chandipura village, Nagpur district, Maharashtra.
• Transmission: Spread through bites of Phlebotomus sandflies. The virus can also potentially be transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes.
• Clinical picture: Rapid onset of fever, seizures, and coma. Progresses to acute encephalitis. Case fatality rate is high, especially in children.
• Treatment: No specific antiviral or vaccine. Supportive care only.
• Epidemiology: Outbreaks have occurred in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh. Gujarat and Rajasthan are endemic regions.
• Sandfly control: Reducing Phlebotomus sandfly populations through indoor residual spraying and protective clothing is the primary prevention strategy.

Static linkage: Infectious diseases (Health/S&T), vector-borne disease control.

GS area: Economy, Environment

India installed 219 MWh of Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) capacity by mid-2024. Chhattisgarh leads with 54 per cent of installed capacity.

• Target: 4,000 MWh by 2030-31.
• Function: BESS stores electricity during low-demand periods (or when renewable generation exceeds demand) and releases it during peak demand.
• Viability Gap Funding (VGF): Central government provides VGF to make BESS projects economically viable, similar to its approach for solar and wind projects.
• Ancillary services: BESS can provide grid stabilisation services (frequency regulation) more rapidly than conventional power plants.
• Pumped storage hydro: India's traditional storage solution. More established but geographically constrained.

Static linkage: Energy storage (Economy/Environment), grid management.

• Lunar cave discovery: NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter confirmed a cave in the Mare Tranquillitatis region of the Moon. The cave could shelter future lunar habitats from radiation and temperature extremes (the Moon's surface swings from 127 degrees Celsius in sunlight to minus 173 degrees in shadow).
• Jerdon's Courser: A critically endangered nocturnal bird endemic to Andhra Pradesh, not sighted for over a decade before a recent possible sighting. Rediscovered in 1986 after being considered extinct. The Eastern Ghats Nallamala forest is its known habitat.
• Mashco Piro tribes (Peru): An uncontacted Amazon tribe near the Madre de Dios river has been seen more frequently near logging areas. The government restricts contact to prevent disease transmission to communities with no immunity to common pathogens.