17 August 2024

• Health: WHO officially declared monkeypox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. A new strain (clade Ib) in Central Africa is driving the escalation.
• Space: ISRO successfully launched EOS-08 aboard SSLV-D3, the third and final developmental flight of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle, from Sriharikota.
• Biodiversity: new research linked declining vulture populations to an estimated 500,000 premature human deaths in India between 2000 and 2005. Vultures are Schedule I protected species under the Wildlife Protection Act.
• Agriculture: India's National Pest Surveillance System, an AI-based platform connecting farmers to agricultural scientists for pest identification, was launched.

GS area: Health, International Relations

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared monkeypox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 14 August 2024. The PHEIC was formally in place by 17 August:

• Trigger: a new viral clade (clade Ib) emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo and began spreading to neighbouring countries including Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and Kenya through general community contact.
• Difference from 2022 outbreak: the 2022 global outbreak (clade IIb) spread primarily through sexual contact among men who have sex with men and was contained through targeted public health measures. Clade Ib appears to spread through household contact, making it harder to contain.
• Scale: 99,176 cases and 208 deaths across 116 countries since 2022.
• India's exposure: at least 27 laboratory-confirmed cases and one death. The Health Ministry activated surveillance and PCR testing protocols.
• PHEIC mechanism: under the International Health Regulations 2005, a PHEIC is the highest level of international health alert. It triggers obligations for member states to enhance surveillance, share data and implement travel health measures.
• Monkeypox basics: caused by the monkeypox virus (Orthopoxvirus genus). Zoonotic origin (primates and rodents). Symptoms: fever, lymph node swelling, rash progressing to pustules. Smallpox vaccines provide cross-protection.

Static linkage: WHO, international health regulations, zoonotic diseases.

GS area: Science and Technology

ISRO launched the Earth Observation Satellite EOS-08 aboard the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle's third development flight:

• SSLV: the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle is a three-stage solid-propellant rocket designed to place payloads of 10 to 500 kg into low Earth orbit. It was designed for rapid assembly and low cost, targeting commercial small satellite launches. SSLV-D3 was its third and final developmental flight.
• EOS-08 orbit: placed in a 475 km circular orbit. Inclined Sun-synchronous orbit.
• Payloads: three instruments. The Electro Optical Infrared Payload (EOIR) for mid-wave and long-wave infrared imaging (used for night-time imaging, fire detection). A Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS-R) payload for soil moisture and flood assessment. An SiC UV dosimeter for monitoring UV radiation in space.
• Satish Dhawan Space Centre: ISRO's primary launch site at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
• Significance: SSLV completes its development and transitions to operational status. India can now offer launch services for small satellites at competitive cost.

Static linkage: ISRO missions, remote sensing, launch vehicles.

GS area: Biodiversity, Environment, Science and Technology

A study published in 2024 estimated that the collapse of Indian vulture populations caused approximately 500,000 premature human deaths between 2000 and 2005:

• Mechanism: vultures are obligate scavengers that consume carrion rapidly. Their stomach acids kill pathogens including anthrax, cholera and botulism. When vulture populations collapsed (primarily due to diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory drug used in cattle that proved toxic to vultures), carcasses remained longer in the environment, increasing disease vectors including feral dog populations.
• Economic impact: estimated USD 70 billion in annual economic losses from disease burden and sanitation costs.
• Mortality estimate: a 4 per cent rise in human mortality in areas where vulture populations declined most severely.
• India's vulture species: 9 species, including 3 migratory. The resident species affected by diclofenac include the White-rumped Vulture, Indian Vulture and Slender-billed Vulture. All three are Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
• Diclofenac ban: the veterinary use of diclofenac was banned in India in 2006. Human-use diclofenac in multi-dose vials (which could be used on cattle) was banned in 2015.
• Vulture restaurants: feeding stations providing uncontaminated carcasses to vultures, established in Koderma (Jharkhand) and Raigad (Maharashtra).
• Wildlife Protection Act: vultures are listed on Schedule I, giving them the highest level of legal protection.

Static linkage: biodiversity, keystone species, conservation biology.

GS area: Environment, Geography

Three new wetlands were designated as Ramsar sites, bringing India's total to 85:

• New sites: Nanjarayan Bird Sanctuary (Tamil Nadu), Kazhuveli Bird Sanctuary (Tamil Nadu), and Tawa Reservoir (Madhya Pradesh).
• India's Ramsar count: 85 sites covering about 10 per cent of total wetland area across 18 states.
• Tamil Nadu leads: 18 Ramsar sites, the most of any state. Uttar Pradesh has 10 sites.
• Ramsar Convention: adopted in Ramsar, Iran in 1971. India signed in 1982. The Convention protects "wetlands of international importance," particularly as waterfowl habitat.
• Montreux Record: a subset of Ramsar sites where ecological character has changed, is changing or is likely to change. Wular Lake in Jammu and Kashmir and Keoladeo Ghana National Park in Rajasthan are on the Montreux Record.

Static linkage: wetland conservation, biodiversity, international environmental agreements.

• National Pest Surveillance System (NPSS): an AI-based platform launched by the central government connecting 14 crore farmers with agricultural scientists. Farmers upload photos of crop damage; scientists diagnose and prescribe. Aims to reduce pesticide overuse, which is both an environmental and economic problem.
• Women and Men in India 2023 report (MoSPI): India's projected population by 2036 is 152.2 crore. Sex ratio improved to 952 per 1,000 men. Maternal Mortality Ratio reduced to 97 per lakh live births. Female labour force participation rose from 23.3 per cent (2017) to 37 per cent (2023). Women's electoral participation reached 67.2 per cent in the 2019 general election.
• Solar cycle prediction: the Indian Institute of Astrophysics developed a predictive method using 100 years of data from the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory. Correlation between supergranular cell width and sunspot activity enables better space weather forecasting. Space weather affects satellite communications, GPS and power grids.