DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS by KASHMIR STUDENT
Topic Covered :
1. Locust menace: FAO asks India to be on high alert for next four weeks
2. Chinese city sounds alert for bubonic plague
3. Over 46 million ‘missing females’ in India alone due to sex selection
LOCUST MENACE: FAO ASKS INDIA TO BE ON HIGH ALERT FOR NEXT FOUR WEEKS
Why in news?
India should remain on high alert against locust attack for the next four weeks, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned amid the country facing the worst locust attack in 26 years.
Highlights:
1. Stepping up its efforts, the government is using latest technology and equipment like drones and Bell helicopters to control the menace.
2. Rajasthan is the most affected state in the country. The other affected states are Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Bihar.
3. FAO said spring-bred locust swarms, which migrated to Indo-Pakistan border and travelled east to northern states, are expected to return back to Rajasthan with the start of the monsoon in coming days.
4. These swarms will return to Rajasthan to join other swarms still arriving from Iran and Pakistan, which is expected to be supplemented by swarms from the Horn of Africa in about mid-July, it added.
5. India and Pakistan as well as Sudan, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Somalia should remain on “high alert during the next four weeks,” it noted.
6. According to the Union Agriculture Ministry, swarms of immature pink locusts and adult yellow locusts are active in Jaisalmer, Barmer, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Nagaur, Dausa, and Bharatpur of Rajasthan, and Jhansi and Mahoba districts of Uttar Pradesh.
Source : Indian Express
CHINESE CITY SOUNDS ALERT FOR BUBONIC PLAGUE
Why in news?
A city in northern China on Sunday sounded an alert after a suspected case of bubonic plague was reported, according to official media.
Highlights:
1. Bayannur, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, announced a level III warning of plague prevention and control, state-run People’s Daily Online reported.
2. The local health authority announced that the warning period will continue until the end of 2020.
3. At present, there is a risk of a human plague epidemic spreading in this city. The public should improve its self-protection awareness and ability, and report abnormal health conditions promptly, the local health authority said.
4. Bubonic plague is a bacterial disease that is spread by fleas living on wild rodents such as marmots.
5. It can kill an adult in less than 24 hours if not treated in time, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Source : Indian Express
OVER 46 MILLION ‘MISSING FEMALES' IN INDIA ALONE DUE TO SEX SELECTION
Why in news?
Among the 142 million women “missing" globally, over 46 million are in India, a UN health agency said.
Highlights:
1. According to the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency (UNFPA), the “missing females" are women cumulatively missing from the population due to postnatal and prenatal sex selection.
2. The State of World Population 2020 report of UNFPA said India has the highest rate of excess female deaths (13.5 per 1,000 female births), suggesting that an estimated one in nine deaths of females below five may be attributed to postnatal sex selection.
3. China and India together account for about 90 to 95% of the estimated 1.2 million to 1.5 million missing female births annually worldwide due to gender-biased (prenatal) sex selection
4. Preference for a male child manifested in sex selection has led to dramatic, longterm shifts in the proportions of women and men in the populations of some countries. This demographic imbalance will have an inevitable impact on marriage systems.
5. The report pointed out that successful education-related interventions include the provision of cash transfers conditional on school attendance; or support to cover the costs of school fees, books, uniforms and supplies, taking note of successful cashtransfer initiatives such as Apni Beti Apna Dhan in India.
Source : Livemint
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