UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 6 January 2025
Kartavya Desk Staff
UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 6 January 2025 covers important current affairs of the day, their backward linkages, their relevance for Prelims exam and MCQs on main articles
InstaLinks : Insta Links help you think beyond the current affairs issue and help you think multidimensionally to develop depth in your understanding of these issues. These linkages provided in this ‘hint’ format help you frame possible questions in your mind that might arise(or an examiner might imagine) from each current event. InstaLinks also connect every issue to their static or theoretical background.
Table of Contents
GS Paper 2 : (UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 6 January (2025)
• Preventive Healthcare
Preventive Healthcare
Content for Mains Enrichment (CME):
• PanchPran
PanchPran
• Vriksh Pathshala Library
Vriksh Pathshala Library
Facts for Prelims (FFP):
• Draft Digital Personal Data Protection Rules
Draft Digital Personal Data Protection Rules
• POEM-4 Mission Achievement
POEM-4 Mission Achievement
• Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
• Pig-Butchering Scam
Pig-Butchering Scam
• Homo juluensis
Homo juluensis
• Jammu Railway Division
Jammu Railway Division
• Cancel Coal Case
Cancel Coal Case
Mapping:
• Southern Nicobar
Southern Nicobar
UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 6 January 2025
#### GS Paper 2 :
Preventive Healthcare
Syllabus: Health
Source: TH
Context: India’s rising life expectancy and growing Non communicable disease (NCD) burden demand focus on preventive healthcare for early detection and cost reduction.
What is Preventive Healthcare?
Preventive healthcare focuses on identifying and mitigating potential health risks before they develop into severe conditions.
Types of Preventive Healthcare:
• Primary Prevention: Prevents diseases through immunization, lifestyle changes, and health education.
• Secondary Prevention: Focuses on early detection via screenings and diagnostic tests.
• Tertiary Prevention: Aims to manage and reduce complications of existing conditions.
Need for Preventive Healthcare in India:
• Rising Disease Burden: NCDs account for 65% of deaths, often affecting individuals earlier than global averages.
• Economic Impact: WHO estimates the economic burden of NCDs in India will exceed ₹280 lakh crore by 2030.
• Healthcare Access: Early detection can reduce the financial burden on individuals and the healthcare system.
• Productivity Loss: Chronic diseases lead to significant loss of productivity in the workforce.
Government Schemes for Preventive Healthcare:
• Ayushman Bharat: Includes Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) for early screenings of NCDs.
• National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS): Focuses on awareness, screenings, and management of NCDs.
• National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP): Aims to reduce tobacco use and associated diseases.
• Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY): Provides financial assistance for secondary and tertiary care.
• Mission Indradhanush: Ensures immunization coverage for preventable diseases.
• Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK): Targets health conditions in children through early intervention services.
Challenges in Preventive Healthcare:
• High Costs: Preventive screenings and diagnostics are expensive for lower-income groups.
• Limited Awareness: Low awareness about the benefits of preventive healthcare, especially in rural areas.
• Insufficient Coverage: Current schemes do not fully cover preventive diagnostics or screenings.
• Infrastructure Gaps: Inadequate healthcare facilities in remote and underserved regions.
• Behavioral Barriers: Resistance to regular health checkups due to cultural and lifestyle factors.
Way Ahead:
• Expand Public Screenings: Scale up screenings at Ayushman Bharat HWCs using AI-enabled imaging and cost-efficient tools.
• Incentivize Private Sector Participation: Encourage private providers to offer subsidized preventive health packages, especially for high-risk age groups.
• Enhance Tax Incentives: Increase tax deduction limits for preventive health checkups under Section 80D to ₹15,000.
• Targeted Funding: Utilize healthcare cess or GST proceeds from harmful products like tobacco and sugar to finance preventive initiatives.
• Raise Awareness: Conduct national campaigns on the importance of preventive healthcare and early screenings.
Conclusion:
Investing in preventive healthcare can significantly reduce the disease burden, lower healthcare costs, and boost productivity. By prioritizing early intervention and fostering public-private collaboration, India can pave the way for a healthier and economically stronger future.
Insta Links:
• Public-health-policy
• “Besides being a moral imperative of a Welfare State, primary health structure is a necessary precondition for sustainable development.” Analyse. (UPSC-2021)
#### UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 6 January 2025 Content for Mains Enrichment (CME)
PanchPran
Context: Vice-President addressed the NCC Republic Day Camp 2025, highlighting PanchPran as the foundation of India’s national transformation.
What is PanchPran?
PanchPran refers to five core principles that guide India’s progress, ensuring a balanced and holistic approach to national development.
• Social Harmony: Promotes unity by transforming India’s diversity into national strength.
• Family Enlightenment: Strengthens patriotic and moral values at the grassroots level within families.
• Environmental Consciousness: Advocates sustainable development by conserving and protecting nature.
• Swadeshi: Encourages self-reliance and prioritization of indigenous products as part of Atmanirbhar Bharat.
• Civic Duties: Instils responsibility among citizens to actively contribute to the nation’s progress.
Relevance in UPSC Exam Syllabus:
• Ethics (GS Paper IV): Highlights civic responsibility, social harmony, and environmental ethics.
• Governance (GS Paper II): Reflects citizen-centric governance and the role of nationalism.
• Essay Writing: Provides a framework for themes on national unity, development, and self-reliance.
• Indian Polity (GS Paper II): Aligns with constitutional principles like fraternity and fundamental duties.
Vriksh Pathshala Library
Context: In Bihar’s Gaya district, Patwa Toli’s 24×7 Vriksh Pathshala library inspires IIT-JEE aspirants. Once famed as the “Manchester of Bihar” for its weaving industry, it now earns recognition as a “factory of IITians,” producing over 300 IITians since the 1990s.
About 24×7 Vriksh Pathshala Library:
• Purpose: Provides a quiet, resource-rich environment for students preparing for competitive exams, especially IIT-JEE.
• Facilities: Offers free study materials, online/offline coaching, food, and lodging for students from economically weaker sections.
• Community Effort: Run by locals and alumni, funded through donations from former students, banks, and organizations.
• Achievements: Over 100 IITians and 1,000 engineers have emerged from Patwa Toli, with many students from other districts joining the library.
Relevance in UPSC Exam Syllabus:
• Ethics (GS Paper IV): Highlights community-driven initiatives, moral leadership, and equitable access to education.
• Governance (GS Paper II): Reflects public participation in creating educational opportunities for underprivileged communities.
• Society (GS Paper I): Illustrates societal transformation through education and gender empowerment.
• Essay Writing: Provides an example of grassroots innovation and its impact on social mobility.
#### UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 6 January 2025 Facts for Prelims (FFP)
Draft Digital Personal Data Protection Rules
Source: PIB
Context: The draft Digital Personal Data Protection Rules operationalize the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act), aiming to establish a robust framework to safeguard personal data in India.
About Draft Digital Personal Data Protection Rules:
• What it is: A framework to enforce the DPDP Act, 2023, ensuring comprehensive digital data protection for Indian citizens.
• Aim: To empower citizens, protect personal data, address data misuse, and promote trust in digital platforms.
• Ministry involved: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
• Features of the Draft Rules:
• Citizen-Centric Framework: Informed consent, rights to data erasure, and user-friendly grievance mechanisms.
• Balance of Regulation and Innovation: Encourages growth while maintaining citizen welfare with reduced compliance for startups and MSME
• Digital-First Approach: Digital grievance redressal and adjudication for transparency and efficiency.
• Accountability: Annual audits and data protection impact assessments for Significant Data Fiduciaries.
• Inclusive and Pragmatic: Feedback invited from stakeholders via the MyGov platform, reflecting global best practices.
• Awareness Campaigns: Plans for citizen education on their digital rights and responsibilities.
Insta links:
• Digital-personal-data-protection-act-2023
POEM-4 Mission Achievement
- •Source: TOI*
Context: ISRO’s PSLV-C60 POEM-4 mission achieved a milestone by germinating cowpea seeds in space and operating India’s first space robotic arm, advancing space technology and extraterrestrial agricultural research.
About Cowpea Seeds Experiment:
• What it is: Cowpea seeds (*Vigna unguiculata*), commonly known as lobia in Hindi, are nutrient-rich legumes often used in agricultural research due to their robustness and adaptability.
• Mission Overview:
• Part of ISRO’s PSLV-C60 POEM-4 mission.
• Conducted under the Compact Research Module for Orbital Plant Studies (CROPS) developed by the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC).
• Significance of the Experiment:
• Space Agriculture: Establishes foundational knowledge for growing crops in microgravity, vital for long-term space missions and extraterrestrial settlements.
• Sustainability in Space: Paves the way for self-sufficient habitats in space, reducing dependency on Earth-based resources.
• Scientific Advancement: Demonstrates India’s growing expertise in space research and enhances global collaboration opportunities.
• Future Missions: Essential for extended space exploration and potential human settlements on celestial bodies like the Moon or Mars.
Insta links:
• ISRO-third-launch-pad
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
Source: NIE
Context: The 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) Convention, the largest gathering of the Indian diaspora, will be held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, from January 8 to 10, 2025.
About Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD):
• What it is:
• PBD is celebrated to recognize the contributions of Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to India’s growth and development.
• Observed annually on January 9, marking Mahatma Gandhi’s return from South Africa in
• Started in: First celebrated in 2003 and revised to a biennial event in 2015.
• Ministry: Organized by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
• Aim: To strengthen engagement with the Indian diaspora and celebrate their achievements globally.
• 2025 Host City: Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
• Theme 2025: “Diaspora’s Contribution to a Viksit Bharat”, emphasizing the diaspora’s role in building a developed India.
Insta links:
• Overseas-voters-in-India
Pig-Butchering Scam
Source: DH
Context: The Union Home Ministry has flagged the rising threat of pig-butchering scams in India, a sophisticated form of cybercrime where fraudsters deceive victims into investing in fake online trading platforms.
About Pig-Butchering Scam:
• What it is:
• A cybercrime involving organized scammers using fake online trading platforms to defraud investors.
• The term “pig-butchering” originates from the analogy of “fattening up” victims before stealing their money.
• How it works:
• Initial Contact: Scammers approach victims via social media, dating apps, or deceptive advertisements on Google and Facebook.
• Building Trust: Fraudsters establish a “friendship” and lure victims into investing in fabricated online trading apps, often leveraging the ambiguity of cryptocurrency.
• The Scam: Victims are shown fake profits to encourage larger investments, but when they try to withdraw funds, their money is stolen.
• Features of the Scam:
• Use of fake online trading platforms.
• Fraudulent blockchain transactions, making recovery nearly impossible.
• High reliance on victims’ desire for quick returns.
• Often linked to large-scale money laundering and cyber slavery.
Insta links:
• Digital-arrest
Homo juluensis
Context: A team of researchers from the University of Hawaiʻi has identified a potential new human species, Homo juluensis, based on fossils from eastern Asia.
• This discovery, spanning the Middle to Late Pleistocene (300,000–50,000 years ago), sheds light on the complex evolution of ancient human relatives in Asia and their interactions.
About Homo juluensis:
• What it is:
• A newly proposed human species coexisting with Denisovans during the Pleistocene epoch.
• Habitation:
• Lived across eastern Asia, including regions like China, Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia.
• Likely thrived in small groups, hunting wild horses and using stone tools for survival.
• Features:
• Similarities in jaw and teeth fossils link Homo juluensis with Denisovans.
• Known for crafting tools and possibly processing animal hides for sustenance.
• Relations to Humans:
• Shares ancestry with *Homo sapiens*, *Homo neanderthalensis, and Denisovans.*
Insta links:
• Denisovans
Jammu Railway Division
Source: ET
Context: Prime Minister will inaugurate the newly established Jammu Railway Division, fulfilling a long-standing demand for better rail management in India’s northernmost region.
About Railway Division:
• What it is: A railway division is an administrative unit under Indian Railways, managing operations, maintenance, and infrastructure within its jurisdiction.
• Organizational Hierarchy: Indian Railways has 19 zones (including Metro Railway, Kolkata) and 70 divisions. Each zone is led by a General Manager (GM), while each division is headed by a Divisional Railway Manager (DRM).
• Indian Railways has 19 zones (including Metro Railway, Kolkata) and 70 divisions.
• Each zone is led by a General Manager (GM), while each division is headed by a Divisional Railway Manager (DRM).
• Jammu Railway Division: Zone: Jammu Division falls under the Northern Railway Zone, previously managed by the Firozpur Division. Significance:
• Zone: Jammu Division falls under the Northern Railway Zone, previously managed by the Firozpur Division.
• Significance:
• Enhanced Connectivity: Will oversee iconic projects like the *Anji Khad Bridge (India’s first cable-stayed rail bridge) and the Chenab Rail Bridge* (world’s highest railway arch). USBRL Project: Manages the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Link, critical for connecting Kashmir to the rest of India. Strategic Importance: Boosts regional development, accessibility, and tourism in Jammu and Kashmir. Modern Infrastructure: Equipped with hi-tech facilities leveraging IT for efficient rail operations.
• Enhanced Connectivity: Will oversee iconic projects like the *Anji Khad Bridge (India’s first cable-stayed rail bridge) and the Chenab Rail Bridge* (world’s highest railway arch). USBRL Project: Manages the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Link, critical for connecting Kashmir to the rest of India. Strategic Importance: Boosts regional development, accessibility, and tourism in Jammu and Kashmir. Modern Infrastructure: Equipped with hi-tech facilities leveraging IT for efficient rail operations.
• Enhanced Connectivity: Will oversee iconic projects like the *Anji Khad Bridge (India’s first cable-stayed rail bridge) and the Chenab Rail Bridge* (world’s highest railway arch).
• USBRL Project: Manages the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Link, critical for connecting Kashmir to the rest of India.
• Strategic Importance: Boosts regional development, accessibility, and tourism in Jammu and Kashmir.
• Modern Infrastructure: Equipped with hi-tech facilities leveraging IT for efficient rail operations.
Insta links:
• Reforms-in-India-railway
Cancel Coal Case
Source: TH
Context: South Africa’s High Court blocked a 1,500 MW coal power plan, affirming constitutional rights and sustainable energy in the Cancel Coal case led by civil society groups.
About Cancel Coal Protest:
• What it is: A youth-led movement against South Africa’s plan to expand coal-fired power generation, focusing on environmental and health concerns.
• Nation: South Africa, heavily reliant on coal for energy, contributing to 71% of its total energy supply in 2022.
• Why protest:
• Opposes the government’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP 2019), arguing it violates constitutional rights to a healthy environment and disregards the harmful impact of coal on health, especially children’s.
• Opposes the government’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP 2019), arguing it violates constitutional rights to a healthy environment and disregards the harmful impact of coal on health, especially children’s.
• Significance:
• Reinforces the constitutional mandate to prioritize environmental sustainability and long-term impacts on future generations. Sets a global precedent in climate litigation, emphasizing the need to transition from coal to renewable energy to combat climate change. Demonstrates the vital role of civil society in influencing climate policy and judicial decisions.
• Reinforces the constitutional mandate to prioritize environmental sustainability and long-term impacts on future generations.
• Sets a global precedent in climate litigation, emphasizing the need to transition from coal to renewable energy to combat climate change.
• Demonstrates the vital role of civil society in influencing climate policy and judicial decisions.
NOTE: No need to delve deeply into this topic. Such topics often appear under miscellaneous sections; just understand the basics of what the Cancel Coal case is about and the nation involved.
Insta links:
#### UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 6 January 2025 Mapping:
Southern Nicobar
Source: TH
Context: The proposed establishment of three wildlife sanctuaries in southern Nicobar has sparked concerns over the deprivation of indigenous tribes from their ancestral lands.
About Islands and Tribes in News:
• Islands in News:
• Meroë Island: Revered by the Nicobarese as Piruii, it holds spiritual significance and is believed to be a legendary abode. Menchal Island: Known as Pingaeyak, spiritually protected and managed sustainably by the community elders. Little Nicobar Island: A biodiversity-rich region, vital to the southern Nicobarese and home to globally endangered species like Leatherback turtles.
• Meroë Island: Revered by the Nicobarese as Piruii, it holds spiritual significance and is believed to be a legendary abode.
• Menchal Island: Known as Pingaeyak, spiritually protected and managed sustainably by the community elders.
• Little Nicobar Island: A biodiversity-rich region, vital to the southern Nicobarese and home to globally endangered species like Leatherback turtles.
• Tribes in News
• Shompen Tribe: A Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), dependent on hunting and foraging, facing displacement due to the proposed sanctuaries and mega-projects. Southern Nicobarese Tribe: Indigenous custodians of the islands, reliant on sustainable use of resources guided by spiritual beliefs and traditional knowledge.
• Shompen Tribe: A Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), dependent on hunting and foraging, facing displacement due to the proposed sanctuaries and mega-projects.
• Southern Nicobarese Tribe: Indigenous custodians of the islands, reliant on sustainable use of resources guided by spiritual beliefs and traditional knowledge.
• Proposed Wildlife Sanctuaries:
• Coral Sanctuary: Meroë Island. Megapode Sanctuary: Menchal Island. Leatherback Turtle Sanctuary: Little Nicobar Island.
• Coral Sanctuary: Meroë Island.
• Megapode Sanctuary: Menchal Island.
• Leatherback Turtle Sanctuary: Little Nicobar Island.
Insta links:
• Andaman-Nicobar-an-island
Daily Current Affairs + PIB Summary 6 Jan 2025
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