Grandmaster Title

Recently R. Vaishali became India’s third female chess Grandmaster after Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli.

• Grandmaster is the highest title or ranking that a chess player can achieve that is awarded by the International Chess Federation, FIDE.
• The other titles awarded by the International Chess Federation, FIDE includes
  1. International Master (IM)
  2. FIDE Master (FM)
  3. Candidate Master (CM)
  4. Woman Grandmaster (WGM)
  5. Woman International Master (WIM)
  6. Woman FIDE Master (WFM)
  7. Woman Candidate Master (WCM)
• The title is valid for lifetime unless a player is stripped of the title for a proven offence such as cheating.
• Grandmaster norms are defined by a set of complex and rigorous rules regarding tournaments, games, and players that are set out in the FIDE Title Regulations.
• Qualifications for Grandmaster – Currently, FIDE awards chess’s highest honour to a player who is able to achieve a FIDE Classical or Standard rating of 2,500, plus 3 Grandmaster norms.
• In chess, a grandmaster norm (GM norm) is a high-level performance in a tournament.
• Viswanathan Anand is the first Indian chess grandmaster.
• Koneru Humpy is the first Indian women Grandmaster.
• R. Vaishali is third Indian woman Grandmaster, next to Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli.

Mount Marapi

Recently Mount Marapi volcano erupted in West Sumatra killing 11 and 12 are missing.

• Marapi is one of the most active volcanoes on Sumatra Island in Indonesia.
• Marapi is known for sudden eruptions that are difficult to predict because the source is shallow.
• The eruptions are not caused by a deep movement of magma, which sets off tremors that register on seismic monitors.
• New eruptions spewed more hot ash as high as 800 meters (2,620 feet) into the air, reducing visibility and temporarily halting search and recovery operations.
• Marapi has been active since a January 2023 eruption that caused no casualties.
• Indonesia is situated on the Pacific’s "Ring of Fire" and has 127 active volcanoes.

Emirates Declaration

At the recently conducted COP 28, 134 have signed Emirates Declaration for Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems and Climate Action.

• Emirates Declaration aims to integrate foods into the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by respective countries by 2025.
• It is a declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems and Climate Action.
• It has been signed only by only 134 countries.
• The countries also included those with highest food systems-related greenhouse gas emissions like Brazil, China and the European Union.
• The declaration is a valuable step towards recognising the essential linkages between food, agriculture and climate change.
• The Declaration includes references to reducing food loss and wastage that is caused by the climate crises.
• According to the estimation released in October, Asia experienced the largest share of the total economic losses.
• Need for the declaration – Agriculture has not been a primary focus in discussions surrounding loss and damage and climate finance.
• 33% of non-economic losses related to the agricultural sector.
• An estimated USD 3.8 trillion worth of crops and livestock production has been lost due to natural disasters over the last 30 years.
• 1/3rd of all food that is produced never gets to people’s tables and food loss and waste is responsible for 8 to 10% of global emissions.
• The agri-food sector employed over 866 million people globally in 2020 and represented a turnover of USD 3.6 trillion.

WHO Global TB Report, 2022

Recently the WHO Global TB Report, 2022 was released which indicates that globally, the estimated number of deaths from TB increased between 2019 and 2021.

• Tuberculosis (TB) is a communicable disease that is a major cause of ill health and one of the leading causes of death worldwide.
• TB is caused by the bacillus Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is spread when people who are sick with TB expel bacteria into the air (e.g. by coughing).
• The World Health Organization (WHO) has published a global TB report every year since 1997.
• The WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2022 provides a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the TB epidemic and of progress in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the disease, at global, regional and country levels.
• It is annual report that is done in the context of global TB commitments, strategies and targets.
• The 2022 edition of the report is as usual, based primarily on data gathered by WHO from national ministries of health in annual rounds of data collection.
• Key findings – In 2022, 202 countries and territories with more than 99% of the world’s population and TB cases reported data.
• The reported global number of people newly diagnosed with TB was 7.5 million in 2022.
• The net reduction from 2015 to 2022 was 8.7%, far from the WHO End TB Strategy milestone of a 50% reduction by 2025.
• India, Indonesia and the Philippines, which collectively accounted for nearly 60% of the reduction in the number of people newly diagnosed with TB in 2020 and 2021.
• TB remains the world’s second leading cause of death from a single infectious agent, and global TB targets have either been missed or remain off track.
• Until the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, TB was the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent, ranking above HIV/AIDS.
• The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a damaging impact on access to TB diagnosis and treatment and the burden of TB disease.
• Progress made in the years up to 2019 has slowed, stalled or reversed, and global TB targets are off track.
• Globally, the estimated number of deaths from TB increased between 2019 and 2021, reversing years of decline between 2005 and 2019.
• Globally, the success rate for people treated for TB in 2020 was 86%, the same level as 2019 suggesting that the quality of care was maintained in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• In the WHO African Region, the impact of COVID-related disruptions on the reported number of people newly diagnosed with TB was limited.

State of Climate Services Report, 2023

• State of Climate Services report is an annual report released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
• State of Climate Services Report, 2023 focuses on health.
• The report underscores the impact of climate change on human health and well-being, incorporates contributions from:
  1. European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)
  2. Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
  3. Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S)
• The report highlights the fact that the world is warming at an unprecedented rate, posing severe threats to human health.
• The climate, exacerbated by climate change, poses systematic and serious threats to human health.
• In 2022, southern Europe experienced a record number of days with “very strong heat stress” during summer.
• Climate change is undermining health determinants and increasing the strain on health systems, endangering decades of progress in promoting human health, especially in vulnerable communities.