Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 09 February 2022

::NATIONAL::

Union health minister virtually launched the Intensified Mission Indradhanush 4.0 that aims to protect children and pregnant women from life-threatening diseases.
The government is implementing the largest inoculation drive globally where annually over 3 crore pregnant women and 2.6 crore children are covered through the Universal Immunisation Programme.

About:

The prime minister launched Mission Indradhanush in December 2014.
The mission Indradhanush 4.0 will have three rounds and will be conducted in 416 districts across 33 states and UTs.
With the aim to increase the full immunisation coverage, to cover the partially and unvaccinated pregnant women and children in pockets of low immunization coverage, high-risk and hard-to-reach areas and protect them from vaccine-preventable diseases.
The mission will ensure that the routine immunization services will reach the unvaccinated and partially vaccinated children and pregnant women of the country.
Mission Indradhansuh was also identified as one of the flagship schemes under Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (16,850 villages across 541 districts) and Extended Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (48,929 villages across 112 aspirational districts).
Till date, ten phases of Mission Indradhanush have been completed covering 701 districts across the country.
The Full Immunization Coverage among children aged 12-23 months of age has increased from 62% percent (NFHS-4) to 76.4% (NFHS-5).

The Haryana Cabinet approved the draft of The Haryana Prevention of Unlawful Conversion of Religious Bill, 2022.

About:

It seeks to prohibit religious conversion effected through misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage or for marriage, by making it an offence.
According to the draft Bill, the burden of proof “lies on the accused”. The draft Bill will now be tabled before the Assembly.
The Bill, on the lines of recent anti-conversion laws passed in other States, proposes to make conversion by marriage an offence.
It also prescribes higher punishment for conversion of minors, women, and members of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.
The burden of proof as to whether a conversion was not affected through misrepresentation, use of force, under threat, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage or for marriage for the purpose of carrying out conversion lies on the accused.
The draft Bill provides for declaring marriages null and void, which were solemnized by concealment of religion.

International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), to develop a comprehensive and consistent regulatory framework for Investment Funds based on global best practices with a special focus on ease of doing business.
It had constituted an Expert Committee on Investment Funds to recommend to IFSCA on the road map for the funds industry in the IFSCs.

About:

IFSCA. established under IFSCA Act, 2019 is unified authority for development and regulation of financial products, financial services and financial institutions in IFSC in India.

Key features of the proposed regulations are:

Single registration for multiple activities.
Venture Capital Schemes or non-retail schemes filed can open for subscription by investorsimmediately upon filing with IFSCA.
Investors expect fund managers to make Environment Social Governance (ESG) integral to theirinvestment strategies.
Facilitate retail participation in private markets.

The EU unveiled a plan to quadruple the supply of semiconductors in Europe by 2030, hoping to limit the bloc’s dependence on Asia for a key component used in electric cars and smartphones.

About:

The production of chips has become a strategic priority in Europe as well as the United States, after the shock of the pandemic choked off supply, bringing factories to a standstill and emptying stores of products.
The manufacturing of semiconductors overwhelmingly takes place in Taiwan, China and South Korea and the European Union wants factories and companies inside the bloc to take on a bigger role.

It was launched by Railway Protection Force (RPF), as a nationwide operation to curb humantrafficking.

About:

Special teams will be deployed on all long-distance trains/routes with focus on rescuing victims, particularly women and children, from the clutches of traffickers.
RPF rescued more than 2,000 women and children between 2017-21.
RPF is entrusted with protecting railway passengers, passenger area and railway property ofthe Indian Railways.
This is only central armed police force which has power to arrest, investigate and prosecutecriminals.
It is under authority of Ministry of Railways.

Scientists in the United Kingdom said they have achieved a new milestone in producing nuclear fusion energy, or imitating the way energy is produced in the Sun. out:

About:

Energy by nuclear fusion is one of mankind’s long standing quests as it promises to be low carbon, safer than how nuclear energy is now produced and, with an efficiency that can technically exceed a 100%.
A kg of fusion fuel contains about 10 million times as much energy as a kg of coal, oil or gas.
The energy was produced in a machine called a tokamak, a doughnut-shaped apparatus, and the JET site is the largest operational one of its kind in the world.
Deuterium and tritium, which are isotopes of hydrogen, are heated to temperatures 10 times hotter than the centre of the sun to create plasma.
This is held in place using superconductor electromagnets as it spins around, fuses and releases tremendous energy as heat.
The record and scientific data from these crucial experiments are a major boost for ITER, the larger and more advanced version of the JET.

ITER is a fusion research mega-project supported by seven members – China, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the USA – based in the south of France, to further demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion energy.