NEWS HEADLINES
1. Tomato Flu
2. Pandurang Khankhoje
3. SCO
4. Big Bang Privatization of Banks can be harmful : RBI Report
1. TOMATO FLU
Theme: Issues related to Health
GS-2 - Health
Content
A new infection dubbed tomato flu, or tomato fever, has been detected in India mostly among children younger than five, according to a report in the Lancet Respiratory Journal.
TOMATO FLU
- The flu that gets its name because of the red blister it causes.
- It affects children below five years of age.
- The symptoms of this flu, also called Tomato fever, include rashes, skin irritation and dehydration.
- According to several reports, the flu can also cause tiredness, joint pain, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, coughing, sneezing, runny nose, high fever, and body ache.
- In some cases, it may also change the color of the legs and the hands.
- The symptoms will resolve overtime on their own if supportive care is given.
HOW TO TREAT ?
- Like other cases of flu, tomato fever is also contagious.
- If someone is infected with this flu, they need to be kept in isolation as this could spread rapidly from one person to another
- It is essential to prevent children from scratching the blisters caused by the flu.
- Proper rest and hygiene is also advised.
- Utensils, clothes and other items used by the infected persons must be sanitized to prevent the flu from spreading.
- Fluid intake.
2. PANDURANG KHANKHOJE
Theme : Important Personalities in History
GS-1 (History)
Context
Speaker Om Birla will unveil statues of Swami Vivekananda and Maharashtra-born freedom fighter and agriculturalist Pandurang Khankhoje (1883-1967).
WHO WAS PANDURANG KHANKHOJE ?
- Born in Wardha, Maharashtra, in the late 19th century.
- An ardent admirer of the French Revolution and of the American War of Independence.
- Hindu reformer Swami Dayanand and his Arya Samaj movement, which called for a spirit of reform and social change, became the hero to a young student group led by Khankhoje.
- Khankhoje decided to go abroad for further training in revolutionary methods and militaristic strategy.
- After spending time with nationalists from Japan and China, Khankhoje eventually moved to the US, where he enrolled in college as a student of agriculture.
- A year later, he joined the Mount Tamalpais Military Academy in California to fulfill his original purpose of leaving India.
HIS ASSOCIATION WITH INDIAN NATIONAL MOVEMENT
Khankhoje was one of the founding members of the Ghadar Party, established by Indians living abroad in 1914, mostly belonging to Punjab. Its aim was to lead a revolutionary fight against the British in India.
HIS ASSOCIATION WITH MEXICO.
- At the military academy, Khankhoje met many people from Mexico.
- The Mexican Revolution of 1910 had led to the overthrow of the dictatorial regime, and this inspired Khankhoje.
- He reached out to Bhikaji Cama in Paris, and met with Vladimir Lenin in Russia among other leaders, seeking support for the Indian cause.
- However, as he was facing possible deportation from Europe and could not go to India, he sought shelter in Mexico.
- Soon, in part due to his prior friendship with Mexican revolutionaries, he was appointed a professor at the National School of Agriculture in Chapingo, near Mexico City.
- He researched corn, wheat, pulses and rubber, developing frost and drought-resistant varieties, and was part of efforts to bring in the Green Revolution in Mexico.
- Khankhoje was revered as an agricultural scientist in Mexico.
3. SHANGAI COOPERATION ORGANISATION
Theme: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
GS-2
Context
Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh to attend Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Defense Ministers’ Meeting in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
About SCO:
- Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is a permanent intergovernmental international organization.
- Created in 2001, it is a Eurasian political, economic and military organization aiming to maintain peace, security and stability in the region.
- The SCO Charter was signed in 2002, and entered into force in 2003.
- Secretariat- Beijing
- Official languages– Russian and Chinese.
- Current Members: China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Challenges to SCO:
- Combating terrorism, extremism and separatism, drug and weapons trafficking, illegal immigration, etc.
- Trust deficit between its member states
- Despite being geographically close, the rich diversity in members’ history, backgrounds, language, national interests and form of government, wealth and culture makes the SCO decision-making challenging.
Structure and Working of SCO:
- Heads of State Council (HSC): Supreme decision-making body. The HSC meets once a year and adopts guidelines and decisions on all important matters of the SCO.
- Heads of Government Council (HGC): meets once a year to discuss the organization’s multilateral cooperation strategy and priority areas, to resolve current important economic and other cooperation issues.
- Two permanent bodies —
1. Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) based in Tashkent - to combat terrorism, separatism and extremism.
2. SCO Secretariat based in Beijing - to provide informational, analytical & organizational support.
4. BIG BANG PRIVATIZATION OF BANKS CAN BE HARMFUL - RBI REPORT
Theme :Privatization of banks, Monetary policy, the role of RBI etc
GS-3
Context
- Big-bang privatization of public sector banks can do more harm than good, the latest RBI bulletin has warned, asking the government to take a nuanced approach to the issue.
- While private sector banks (PSBs) are more efficient in profit maximization, their public sector counterparts have done better in promoting financial inclusion.
Key Highlights:
- Privatization not at the cost of social objective: The gradual approach to privatization adopted by the government could ensure that a void was not created in fulfilling the social objective of financial inclusion and monetary transmission.
- Promoting green transition: PSBs (Public Sector Banks) have played a key role in catalyzing financial investments in low-carbon industries, thereby promoting green transition.
- Financial inclusion goals: Evidence suggested that public sector banks were not entirely guided by the profit maximization goal alone and have integrated the desirable financial inclusion goals into their objective function unlike private sector banks, the report said
- Consolidation of the sector has created robust and competitive banks: Recent mega-mergers of PSBs have resulted in the consolidation of the sector, creating stronger and more robust and competitive banks.
- National Asset Reconstruction Company Limited (NARCL): The authors also pointed out that the establishment of the National Asset Reconstruction Company Limited (NARCL) would help in cleaning up the legacy burden of bad loans from their balance sheets.
- National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NABFiD): The recently constituted National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NABFiD) would provide an alternative channel of infrastructure funding, thus reducing the asset-liability mismatch concerns of PSBs.