Prelim Bits 15-06-2017

Intensified Diarrhoea Control Fortnight

• The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has launched the IDCF in order to intensify efforts to reduce child deaths due to diarrhoea.
• The Ministry has made it a national priority to bring health outcomes among children to a level equitable with the rest of the world.
• Through this initiative, the Ministry will mobilize health personnel, State Governments and other stakeholders to prioritize investment in control of diarrhea.
• It aims to create mass awareness about the most effective and low-cost diarrhoea treatment— a combination of Oral Rehydration Salt (ORS) solution and Zinc tablets.
• ASHA worker would undertake distribution of ORS packets to households with under-five children in her village.
• Besides this, introduction of Rotavirus vaccine under UIP will also help in reducing diarrhoea mortality due to rotavirus disease.

Emiliania huxleyi

• A sudden change in the colour (blue waters to a milky turquoise) of the Bosphorus Strait that divides the continents of Europe and Asia in Turkey’s largest city Istanbul has surprised residents.
• NASA said the milky colouration is “likely due to the growth of a particular phytoplankton called a coccolithophore”. Emiliania huxleyi is a species of coccolithophore.
• This organism is plated with white calcium carbonate and, when present in large numbers, tend to turn the water a milky sheen.
• One of the most successful life-forms on the planet, Emiliania huxleyi is a single-celled organism visible only under a microscope.
• Its astonishing adaptability enables it to thrive in waters from the equator to the sub-Arctic.

Rescue wards in Thar desert

• With an average of nearly 1,000 injuries a year, the wildlife in Thar desert has witnessed 60% mortality because of lack of transport to the main rescue centre at the Jodhpur zoo.
• This has led to the depletion of wildlife, mainly chinkaras (Indian gazelles).
• The Forest Department’s move to set up 17 rescue wards has come as a much-needed support to the Bishnoi community of western Rajasthan, which has been in the forefront of wildlife conservation.
• Bishnois risk their lives to save gazelles from poachers and transport injured animals to Jodhpur.

Eklavya Model Residential Schools

• Eklavya Model Residential School Scheme was started in 1998 and first school was started in the year 2000 in Maharashtra.
• A total of 259 schools have been sanctioned during the last 17 years, out of which, 72 EMRS were sanctioned during last three years.
• EMRSs have been functioning as institutions of excellence for tribal students. Results of these schools have been generally better than other Government schools in the tribal areas.
• As per existing EMRS Guidelines of 2010, at least one EMRS is to be set up in each Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) / Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP) having 50% ST population in the area.
• More than 52 thousand tribal students are taking education in 161 EMR Schools of 26 States.