19-11-21 Daily-Haryana-HPSC Current Affairs

Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology, inaugurated the world’s first and most advanced MRI facility at the National Brain Research Centre (NBRC) in Manesar, Haryana.

Highlights

Dr. Singh stated that with this facility, India will be able to explore new horizons in human neuroscience with a unique and powerful 3T MRI platform.
He stated that Siemens’ Prisma MRI scanner is being used by a number of worldwide efforts, including the United States’ brain initiative and the European Human Brain Project.
This is being utilised to create human cohort data for patients with common brain and mental health illnesses such as Parkinson’s, Alziemer’s , anxiety, and depression.
The Minister emphasised the importance of the Centre’s single-subject world-class research, which encourages translational research with the goal of discovering rational medicines and cures for brain illnesses.

The Hingoli income division has given the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) project 225 hectares of land in Maharashtra.

Highlights:

The land was given to the country in order to organise primary facilities.

In the United States, just two such labs exist: Hanford in Washington and Livingston in Louisiana. Gravitational waves are studied at these labs.

This initiative will provide scientists and engineers more options for learning more about gravitational waves.

In 2016, the LIGO-India mega scientific plan for analysing gravity waves received “in principle” permission from the Indian government.

LIGO is a huge observatory designed to detect and experiment with cosmic gravitational waves. Its primary goal is to exploit gravitational-wave data in astronomy research.

The LIGO India project was suggested with the goal of relocating one of the most sophisticated LIGO detectors from Hanford to India.

The Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Department of Atomic Energy are piloting this initiative (DAE).

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has provided updated data on foreign exchange reserves. The country’s foreign exchange reserves fell by $ 763 million to $ 640.112 billion in the week ending November 12, according to new figures.

Highlights:

In the week ending November 5, foreign exchange reserves fell by USD 1.145 billion to USD 640.874 billion. Reserves, on the other hand, hit a new high of USD 642.453 billion in the week ending September 3, 2021.

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) weekly data shows that the reduction in forex reserves this reporting week was due to a drop in foreign currency assets (FCA), a major component of overall reserves. FCA fell $2.094 billion to $575.487 billion in the reporting week, according to the data.

Foreign currency assets comprise the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units held in foreign exchange reserves, such as the euro, pound, and yen, expressed in dollar terms. In the reporting week, gold reserves increased by $ 1.461 billion to $ 40.239 billion.

On November 19, 2021, World Toilet Day will be recognised as an official United Nations international day all over the world.

Highlights:

The World Health Organization (WHO) has released the fourth edition of its Global Report on Tobacco Use Trends 2000-2025.

Highlights:

According to the research, the South-East Asia region had the fastest reduction in cigarette consumption. In 2020, the average prevalence of smoking among males will be 25%, down from 50% in 2000.

Tobacco smoking among women in the South-East Region has declined from 8.9% in 2000 to 1.6 percent in 2020.

In order to fulfil the Global NCD action goal plan by 2025, India and Nepal are anticipated to achieve a 30 percent relative decrease in tobacco usage.

According to the WHO research, if present tobacco control efforts continue, smoking rates in this region might drop to as low as 11% by 2025.