Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 25 November 2022

::NATIONAL::

Third Global High-Level Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance

• Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, will participate in the ‘Third Global High-Level Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance’ to be held in Muscat, Oman on 24th and 25th of this month.

About:

• The conference under the theme ‘The AMR Pandemic: From Policy to One Health Action’ will enhance international cooperation to tackle AMR and build on the success of the two previous high-level ministerial conferences held in the Netherlands in 2014 and 2019. 
• The conference is also expected to pave the way for nations to come out with bold and specific political commitments in the 2024 UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting on AMR.

Antimicrobial Resistance:

• Antimicrobials – including antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals and antiparasitic – are medicines used to prevent and treat infections in humans, animals and plants.
• Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death.
• As a result of drug resistance, antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines become ineffective and infections become increasingly difficult or impossible to treat.

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Mohenjo-daro

• Archaeological ruins atMohenjo-daro, a UNESCO worldheritage site, were discovered in1922 by Rakhaldas Banerji.

About:

• Mohenjo-daro, which means ‘moundof the dead’, was one of the maincentres of ancient Indus ValleyCivilisation.
• It is situated on the bank of riverIndus in Sindh province (Pakistan).
• It represents the metropolis ofIndus civilization, whichflourished between 2,500-1,500BC in the Indus valley.

Key features:

• It is divided into two sections,one smaller but higher (calledcitadel) and other much larger butlower (called lower town).
• Known to be a model plannedcity of ancient civilisation, houseshere had bathrooms, toilets anddrainage system.
• Roads and streets were laid out along an approximate “grid” pattern,intersecting at right angles.
• On Citadel, evidence of structures that were probably used for special publicpurposes (warehouse, Great Bath etc) is found.
• Other major findings are Dancing girl statue, Pashupati seal, Statue of beardedman, large granary etc.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Gulf Cooperation Council 

• India and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have agreed to resume negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA).
• In 2006 and 2008, both sides had negotiated a trade pact, but that had come to a standstill due to some reasons.

About:

• GCC is a union of six countries - Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain - in the Gulf region. The council is India’s largest trading bloc.
• The GCC was formed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in May 1981.
• India’s exports to GCC member countries grew 58.26% to about $44 billion in 2021-22 as against $27.8 billion in 2020-21, according to data from the commerce ministry. 
• Bilateral trade in goods increased to $154.73 billion in 2021-22 from $87.4 billion in 2020-21. 
• Services trade between the two regions was valued at around $14 billion in 2021-22, with exports aggregated at $5.5 billion and imports at $8.3 billion. GCC countries contribute almost 35% of India’s oil and 70% of its gas imports.

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World Wildlife Crime Report

• United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) releases paper on Illegal Wildlife Trade and Climate Change.

About:

• Large‐bodied species storing carbon - removal ofhardwood species like timber from the wild stops long‐termsequestration, affects soil carbon, and limits forestregeneration.
• Ecosystem engineers- Many animal species targeted by IWTare also ecosystem engineers, species that modify theirenvironment in a significant manner.
• Species with unique functional traits- such species lead tomore rapid collapse of ecosystem service supply. 
• Co‐location of biodiversity and ecosystem servicesHabitats heavily affected by IWT can geographically overlapwith sites that offer important ecosystem services, including
• carbon stocks.
• Governance overlaps - IWT is a reflection of weak environmental governanceassociated with weak monitoring and enforcement, organized crime etc.
• United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is a global leader inaddressing problem of illicit drug use and transnational crime.
• It is mandated to assist Member States in their struggle against illicit drugs,crime and terrorism.
• Paper highlights cascading impacts of Illegal wildlife trade (IWT), on ecosystem functions and processes that affect the climate.

::Economy::

New Assets for Monetisation

• The Centre has asked its ministries and departments to identify new assets that could be monetised quickly to meet the shortfall.

Key highlgihts:

• The government has been able to garner only Rs 33,443 crore in revenue from sale of assets in the first 7 months, when the target under the National Monetisation Pipeline for the fiscal year ending March was Rs 1.6 trillion.
• It said at best the government is likely to get Rs 1.24 trillion from assets sale, way short of the budget estimate.
• National Monetisation Pipeline envisages monetisation of core assets held by Central government, with an estimated value of 6 lakhcrore over the period FY 2022-2025.

About Asset Monetisation:

• In a monetisation transaction, government basically transfers the revenue rights to private parties for a specified transactionperiod in return for upfront money, a revenue share etc.
• Here, Ownership remains with the government.
• It serves two critical objectives:

1.    Unlocks value from public investment in Infrastructure
2.    Taps private sector efficiencies in operations and management of infrastructure.

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::SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY::

National Workshop on Cryptology

• The Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT)organized a three-day National Workshop on Cryptology - NWC2022.

About:

• The workshop was centered on the theme “Advancements in Cryptology for enhancing security & privacy in communication networks”.  
• The workshop made the participants delve into multiple dimensions of advanced Cryptology amid enriching talks by eminent experts and field veterans from the Government, academia and industry. 
• NWC 2022 aimed to bring all the relevant stakeholders on a common platform to deliberate upon various contemporary themes in the field of Cryptology spanning Cyber Security, Quantum Computing, Post-Quantum Cryptography, Blockchain technology etc.
• Cryptography, or cryptology is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adversarial behavior.

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