Current Affairs 2nd April 2018

Current Affairs 2nd April 2018 - Important Points

• China's out-of- control space station to soon crash into Earth was planned to hit on - 31st March 2018
• India's antibiotic usage touching alarming levels among-  Low and Middle-Income Countries
• First city in India to roll-out BS-VI fuel - Delhi
• 114th Permanent Indus Commission meeting held in Delhi between India and - Pakistan
• World Autism Awareness Day 2018 observed across the world on - 2nd April 2018

Current Affairs 2nd April 2018 - Details

China's out-of- control space station to soon crash into Earth was planned to hit on - 31st March 2018

China's uncontrolled space station, Tiangong-1, was planned to enter again Earth’s atmosphere between March 31 st -April 1st. The space lab, with a length of 10 meters and mass of above 8 tonnes, that routinely entered again Earth's atmosphere. Since China has vanished all communication with the spaceship, its lineage will be uncontrolled.
Damage it is expected to cause-

• As per to the specialists, most parts of the spaceship will lighten-up on re-entering into the earth’s atmosphere and therefore, there is a very less danger of any part hitting an inhabited area.
• As per to United Kingdom Space Agency's main engineer Richard Crowther, "the widely held parts of Tiangong-1 can be predictable to burn-up during re-entry due to heating, with the highest chances being that any living remains will fall into the ocean.”
   
  More about Tiangong-1
• The space station was released by China in September 2011 to assess docking systems and other knowledge required for an even larger, multi-component space station to be constructed in the 2020s.
• The space station was stayed-in by China's unmanned Shenzhou-8 spacecraft in November 2011 and 2 crewed missions, in 2012 and 2013, individually.
• The station was believed to have been de-orbited in an intentional manner. The planning was to utilise its thrusters to initiate the vehicle towards a remote region above the Southern Ocean.
• However, all facility associations with the space laboratory were shortly lost in March 2016, leading the China Manned Space Engineering Office to announce its mission over.

India's antibiotic usage touching alarming levels among-  Low and Middle-Income Countries

A fresh study proposes that India has revealed the increase in antibiotic ingesting among Low and Middle-Income Countries between 2000-2015. 

The doctors and specialists advise that extended consumption of antibiotics can cause patients becoming anti-antibiotic resistant at a level that even initial diseases would become problematic to treat thus, transforming them into lethal diseases.
As per to medical specialists, if such matters continue to grow, no antibiotics will be left even for the simplest infections by 2030.
Key Highlights

• The new observation discovered that India witnessed the highest increase about 103% in antibiotic usage followed by China and Pakistan between 2000-2015.
• Antibiotic usage was defined in DDD-Daily Defined Doses where, it said in 2015, the leading High Income Countries utilisers of antibiotics were the US, France, and Italy, while the leading LMIC  utilisers were India, China, and Pakistan.
• Between 2000-2015, antibiotic usage augmented from 103% DDDs in India, from 79% in China and from 0.8 to 1.3 billion DDDs in Pakistan.
• In 2012, India toppled the USA in antibiotic usage rate for oxazolidinones to become the highest user of the antibiotic drug class.

First city in India to roll-out BS-VI fuel - Delhi

Delhi became the first city in India to supply ultra-clean BS-VI rating fuel for both petrol and diesel with a focus to fight against the increasing levels of air pollution in Delhi and NCR area. State-owned oil
companies have started providing the Bharat Stage-VI fuel which is equal to fuel meeting Euro-VI
emission guidelines at all their 391 petrol stations in NCT.
Key Points

• Other cities in NCR including Noida, Gurugram, Ghaziabad and Faridabad and other 13 main cities,
  consisting Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru and Pune will roll-out clean BS-VI rating fuel from January 1 st , 2019.
• However, Bharat Stage-VI fuel will be rolled-out in rest of the nation by April 2020. By swapping to Bharat Stage-VI, India will join league of United States, Japan and EU which follow Euro Stage-VI emission guidelines.
  Did you know?
• The Union Government in October 2016 had finalised to surpass one stage and migrate to Bharat Stage-VI directly from Bharat Stage-IV from April 2020 to combat the rising pollution.
• The limit line for it in Delhi was took forward to 2018 due to greater pollution levels.
• It was part of concentrated efforts of Government to decrease vehicle-exhaust and upgrade fuel efficiency with an objective to decrease carbon footpaths and maintain environment healthy.
  Benefits of BS-IV fuel 
• The foremost difference in standards between the present Bharat Stage-IV and new Bharat Stage-VI auto fuel guidelines is existence of sulphur.
• Bharat Stage-IV fuels comprise 50 ppm sulphur, while Bharat Stage-V and Bharat Stage-VI rating fuel will have 10 ppm sulphur. Thus, freshly announced Bharat Stage-VI fuel is believed to reduce sulphur emission by 80 per cent.
• It will also decrease the emission of nitrogen oxides from diesel vehicles by marginally 70 per cent and 25 per cent from petrol engine cars.
• It will also reduce cancer causing particulate matter releases from diesel engine cars by remarkable 80 percent.

114th Permanent Indus Commission meeting held in Delhi between India and - Pakistan

The 114th conference of the Permanent Indus Commission between India and Pakistan was organised in New Delhi. Delegates from both nations deliberated Indus Water Treaty argument and resolving outstanding problems. India’s Indus water commissioner P.K.Saxena and Ministry of External Affairs delegates were in Indian delegation for annual conference. Pakistan’s 6 members delegation will be headed by Syed Muhammad Mehar Ali Shah.

Permanent Indus Commission

• The Indus Waters Treaty was inked in 1960.  It covers the water circulation and 6 rivers sharing rights of Indus river system including Sutlej, Indus, Beas, Ravi, Jhelum and Chenab.
• The agreement clarifies that 3 western rivers water from Indus, Chenab and Jhelum is preserved for Pakistan, while waters from eastern rivers including Ravi, Beas and Sutlej is reserved for India.
• The Permanent Indus Commission is recognized mechanism under Indus Water Treaty
• . Its command is to create and maintain supportive preparations for implementation of water distribution pact and encourage collaboration in development of Indus water systems between India and Pakistan.
• The conference of Permanent Indus Commission is organised alternately in India and Pakistan minimum once per year as instructed by treaty.
• The Permanent Indus Commission had previous meeting in Islamabad in March 2017.

World Autism Awareness Day 2018 observed across the world on - 2nd April 2018

The World Autism Awareness Day was celebrated around the world on April 2 nd , 2018 with an objective to inspire the Member States of the United Nations to take actions to spread awareness about autism throughout the world. Autism is a lifetime developmental incapability that demonstrates itself during the 1st 3-years of life. 

It originates from a neurological illness that affects the brain functions, generally affecting children and adults in many nations, regardless gender, race or socio-economic status. It is categorized by impairments in social interaction, difficulties with verbal and non-verbal communication and repetitive behaviour and actions.

Important Highlights

• The subject of World Autism Awareness Day 2018 was 'Empowering Women and Girls with Autism.
• Present year, the day was observed at the UNs Headquarters, New York with the main aim on importance of empowering women and girls suffering from autism and involving them in the policy and decision-making to address the difficulties associated with autism.
• The day was announced by the UNs General Assembly through the resolution 62/139. 
• The World Autism Awareness Day was approved in the United Nations Council on November 1st , 2007 and was accepted on December 18th 2007.
• This determination was sanctioned and adopted without a vote in the United Nations General Assembly.
• World Autism Day is also one of the only 4 official health-specific United Nation Days.