Recently Tamil Nadu minister was arrested by Enforcement Directorate on the direction of the Supreme Court in a money-laundering case.

• The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is a premier financial investigation agency of the Government of India.
• It is a multi-disciplinary organization mandated with investigation of offence of money laundering and violations of foreign exchange laws.
• The statutory functions of the ED include enforcement of following Acts:

1. The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA),
2. The Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA),
3. The Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 (FEOA),
4. The Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 (FERA),
5. Sponsoring agency under Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974 (COFEPOSA).

• Economic Offences (Inapplicability of Limitation) Act, 1974 does come under the statutory functions of the Enforcement Directorate.

Union government is expected to design a survey that can gauge the Human Development Index (HDI) specifically for about 28 lakh people of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) living in over 22,000 villages across the country.

Pradhan Mantri Primitive Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PM-PVTG) Development Mission

• It is a 2023-24 Budget scheme to connect all 22,544 PVTG villages to basic government services like communications, electricity, public education, healthcare, water supply, and connectivity.
• It is part of this programme the union government is expected to conduct a survey to create an HDI for PVTGs.
• A fund of Rs 15,000 crore for the next three years has been allocated for this mission.
• Mission will be launched as part of ‘Reaching The Last Mile- Leaving No Citizen Behind’ as there are 75 PVTG groups spread across 18 states and the UT of Andaman & Nicobar Island in India.

National Education Society for Tribal Students (NESTS)

• NESTS is a centrally monitored and administered society.
• It aims to provide quality upper primary, secondary and senior secondary level education to ST and PVTG students in tribal dominated areas along with extra-curricular activities for their all-round development.
• It also resolved the shortage of the teachers in the Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRSs) for tribal students.

Adi Adarsh Gram Yojana

• It aims at transforming villages with significant tribal population into model village (Adarsh Gram).
• It will be implemented during 2021-22 to 2025-26,
• It is envisaged to cover 36,428 villages having at least 50% tribal population and 500 STs across States / UTs with notified STs.

Recently Tamil Nadu announced that it has withdrawn the general consent given to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), under Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946.

• CBI is the premier investigating police agency under the administrative control of the Ministry of Personnel, Pension & Public Grievances.
• CBI investigates crime of corruption, economic offences and serious and organized crime other than terrorism.
• It is also the nodal police agency in India, which coordinates investigation on behalf of Interpol Member countries.
• As per section 2 of the DSPE Act, CBI can suo-moto take up investigation of offences notified in section 3 only in the Union Territories.
• The Supreme Court and High Courts can order CBI to investigate a crime anywhere in the country without the consent of the State.
• Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, allows the CBI to investigate cases without its State government’s permission in the State.
• A general consent to CBI granted by State governments enables the central agency to carry out investigations without such hindrances.
• So far 10 States including Tamil Nadu had withdrawn their general consent given to CBI.
•  The 10 states includes Mizoram, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Kerala, Jharkhand, Punjab, Meghalaya and Tamil Nadu.

The recent Lancet study represents the results of the first Phase III trial conducted for a vaccine against the Chikungunya disease.

• According to the study, 28 days after a single vaccination with “VLA1553”, the vaccine resulted in virus-neutralizing antibody levels lasting up to 180 days in 98.9% of study participants.
• After vaccination, a protective immune response can be detected in almost all vaccinated individuals after four weeks.
• The vaccine contains a modified, live version of the chikungunya virus that can replicate in the body without causing severe illness.
• Live vaccines closely mimic natural infections, triggering a robust immune response that provides long-lasting and broad protection.

Chikungunya

• Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne viral disease caused by the chikungunya virus (CHIKV), an RNA virus in the alphavirus genus of the family Togaviridae.
• It was first identified in the United Republic of Tanzania, Africa in 1952 and subsequently in other countries Africa and Asia.
• Urban outbreaks were first recorded in Thailand in 1967 and in India in the 1970s.
• Chikungunya virus is transmitted by mosquitoes, most commonly Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti and Aedes (Stegomyia) albopictus, which can also transmit dengue and Zika viruses.
• Disease onset is typically 4–8 days (range 2–12 days) after the bite of an infected mosquito.
• The symptoms include abrupt onset of fever, frequently accompanied by severe joint pain.
• Other common signs and symptoms include joint swelling, muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue and rash.
• There is no specific antiviral drug treatment for CHIKV infections.

Recent Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) had been asked to investigate the issue and submit a report about the breach of CoWIN vaccination data.

• CoWIN is a cloud-based IT solution for planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of Covid-19 vaccination in India.
• It is a digitalised platform launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) along with Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

• Co-WIN platform has been repurposed from the e-VIN platform.
• Co-WIN system will track not only the beneficiaries but also the vaccines, at national, state and district level.
• All beneficiaries who have completed 12 years of age and above can register for vaccination.
• It helps agencies keep a track of Covid-19 vaccination programme and allow Indian citizens to apply for a Covid-19 vaccine.
• CoWIN serves the functions of registration, appointment scheduling, identity verification, vaccination, and certification of each vaccinated member.
• It has also been integrated in the Aarogya Setu and UMANG Apps.
• All beneficiaries who have completed 12 years of age and above can register for vaccination.
• There is no authorised mobile app for registering for vaccination in India except Aarogya Setu and Umang Apps.