Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 16 February 2022

::NATIONAL::

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment will launch the Central Sector Scheme “SMILE- Support for Marginalised Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise” in New Delhi.

About the scheme:

The umbrella scheme is designed to provide welfare measures to the Transgender community and people engaged in the act of begging.
The Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry has allocated 365 crore rupees for the scheme for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26.
It includes two sub-schemes-Central Sector Scheme for Comprehensive Rehabilitation for Welfare of Transgender Persons and Central Sector Scheme for Comprehensive Rehabilitation of persons engaged in the act of Begging.
The scheme strengthens and expands the reach of the rights that provide the targeted group with necessary legal protection and a promise to a secured life.
It also focus on the aspect of social security by emphasizing on providing medical care, education, occupational opportunities and shelter.
Under the Comprehensive Rehabilitation for Welfare of Transgender person scheme, there is a provision to provide scholarships to the transgender students.

About:

The shallotis a botanical variety of the onion.
Until 2010, the shallot was classified as a separate species, Allium ascalonicum, a name that is a synonym of Allium cepa, the species name of the onion.
A cepa is the correct name for the shallot species.

Key highlights:

Exports rose from USD 2 Million in April-December 2013 to USD 11.6 Million in April-December 2021.
Major export destinations during April-December 2021 were Sri Lanka (35.9%), Malaysia (29.4%), Thailand (12%), UAE (7.5%) & Singapore (5.8%).
India’s export of Pineapple also rose by almost 100% to USD 3.26 Million during April-December 2021 compared to USD 1.63 Million during April-December 2013.
Major export destinations for Pineapple during April-December 2021 were U A E (32.2%), Nepal (22.7%), Qatar (16.6%), Maldives (13.2%) & U S A (7.1%).
The government has been taking up a number of proactive steps to boost exports. An export monitoring desk has been set up to help remove impediments, constraints and bottlenecks faced by the export sector, especially during the pandemic.

One of the three persons diagnosed with Lassa fever in the UK has died on February 11. The cases have been linked to travel to west African countries.
The Lassa virus is named after a town in Nigeria where the first cases were discovered.
The death rate associated with this disease is low, at around one per cent. But the death rate is higher for certain individuals, such as pregnant women in their third trimester.

What is Lassa fever, how does it spread and what are its symptoms?

The Lassa fever-causing virus is found in West Africa and was first discovered in 1969 in Lassa, Nigeria.The fever is spread by rats and is primarily found in countries in West Africa.
A person can become infected if they come in contact with household items of food that is contaminated with the urine or feces of an infected rat.
It can also be spread, though rarely, if a person comes in contact with a sick person’s infected bodily fluids or through mucous membranes such as the eyes, nose or the mouth. Person-to-person transmission is more common in healthcare settings.
It cannot transmit the infection through casual contact such as through hugging, shaking hands or sitting near someone who is infected.
Symptoms typically appear 1-3 weeks after exposure. Mild symptoms include slight fever, fatigue, weakness and headache and more serious symptoms include bleeding, difficulty breathing, vomiting, facial swelling, pain in the chest, back, and abdomen and shock.

Meta’s oversight board, in a blog, suggested Facebook and Instagram to make strict doxxing rules. It urged Meta to consider doxxing as “severe,” that should prompt temporary account suspension.

What is doxxing?

Doxxingis publishing and analysing others’ personal information on the internet with a malicious intent that can reveal the person’s real identity making them victims of harassments and cyber-attacks.
The firm highlighted how doxxing is used to shame or punish people who would rather stay anonymous, because of their controversial beliefs or other types of non-mainstream activity.
It reckons that most of us are careless with the information we share on the Internet, that cybercriminals can use to find out our real identity and harass us.
Doxxing can result in emotional distress, loss of employment and even physical harm or death.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) made the change on the e-Rupi voucher cap is increasing to ₹1 lakhfrom ₹10,000, which will add to digital payments offline and make for more direct transfers without a bank account.

About:

e-Rupiis a digital voucher, which a beneficiary gets on his phone in form of an SMS or QR code, tofacilitate cashless payment for various services like donations, corporate gift vouchers, etc.
It allows users to redeem voucher without a card, digital payments app or internet bankingaccess.
It does not require beneficiaries to have a bank account and works on basic phones.
It has been launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
e-Rupi won’t need beneficiaries to get a bank account.
It works on basic phones, and those who don’t have a smartphone or are in places without an internet connection will still be able to use them.

Recently Researchers from IIT Madras have developed a special class of origami metamaterialsthat can be used to absorb shock.

About:

Metamaterials are artificially structured materials used to control and manipulate light, sound,and many other physical phenomenon.
They are designed such that their properties are derived from their physical structure, ratherthan intrinsic properties of the material from which the metamaterial is fabricated.
Researchers combined the Japanese art of paper folding (origami) and the existing materialof choice and fold it to obtain desired properties.