Ferocious Dogs, TB elimination drive plateaus, Tele MANAS cell

Ferocious Dog Ban

• In March, the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying issued a circular prohibiting the import, breeding, and selling of 24 “ferocious” dog breeds.
• The ban was imposed on Pitbull Terrier, Tosa Inu, American Staffordshire Terrier, Fila Brasileiro, Dogo Argentino, American Bulldog, Boerboel, Kangal, Central Asian Shepherd, Caucasian Shepherd, South Asian Shepherd, Tornjak, Sarplaninac, Japanese Tosa, Akita, Mastiffs (Boer bulls), Rottweiler, Terriers, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Wolf dogs, Canario, Akbash, Moscow Guard, Cane Corso and every dog of the type commonly known as Bandog.

• The Madras High Court restrained the Union Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying from taking a final decision on the ongoing process of collecting objections and comments from people on classifying certain breeds of dogs as “ferocious and dangerous to human life” and consequently banning their import and breeding.
• The Ministry could continue to collect the objections and comments but should not take any final decision.
• People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India has supported the initiative to ban “ferocious” dog breeds.
• Given the hot Indian weather, keeping cold country dogs such as huskies and Saint Bernards is cruel to them anyway.
• Dogs such as rottweilers and Dobermans, which require a lot of exercise, are sometimes kept in flats, which is harmful to them. And if you are cruel to an animal, their stress comes out in the form of conflict with humans.

Dig Deeper: Find out about native breeds recognised by the National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR) like the Mudhol hound.

• A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the Ministries of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and Defence to facilitate collaboration between them in operating a special cell of Tele MANAS.
• The National Telemental Health Helpline of the MoHFW will be provided as a pilot project for two years at the Armed Forces Medical College in Pune.
• Tele MANAS is the digital extension of the District Mental Health Programme (DMHP), offering comprehensive, integrated, and inclusive 24/7 tele-mental health services.

Unique stressors of the Indian Military

• The operational environment, cultural challenges, and specific stressors related to regional conflicts necessitate a specialized approach to mental health care in the Armed Forces.
• The mental health and well-being of Armed Forces personnel and their families will be addressed and the Armed Forces beneficiaries will have direct access to specialized care, ensuring that their unique mental health needs are addressed promptly and effectively.

• The initiative provides a toll-free number, 14416, in each State and Union Territory for easy access to mental health support.

Dig Deeper: What is the eSanjeevani initiative and role in Universal Health Coverage?

National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP)

• India has set a target of 2025 for eliminating TB.
• The national strategic plan (2017-2025)- target of no more than 44 new TB cases per lakh population by 2025.
• The 2023 report pegs this number at 199 cases per lakh.
• It aims to reduce mortality to 3 deaths per lakh population by 2025.

• India’s goal to achieve a rapid decline in the burden of tuberculosis (TB) morbidity and mortality, while working towards the elimination of TB in the country by 2025, has plateaued.
• The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is looking at reworking the protocol, TB medication and its duration, to reboot the TB-free initiative for eliminating deaths, disease, and poverty resulting from the infection.
• According to the Health Ministry, India has been engaged in TB control activities for more than 50 years, yet the disease continues to be the country’s most severe health crisis.
• Challenges in TB elimination:
• Additionally, the country also has more than a million ‘missing’ TB cases annually, which are not notified.
• Most remain either undiagnosed or inadequately diagnosed and treated in the private sector.
• New technologies help in early detection, advanced and effective interventions, treatment and care of TB.

Global TB Report 2023 by World Health Organisation

• India continues to have the highest incidence of bacterial infection of TB.
• India accounts for 27 per cent of the total TB cases in the world, according to the Global TB Report 2023 by the World Health Organisation.
• Two positive trends for India.
• There was an increase in reporting of TB cases, crossing even the pre-pandemic high with 24.2 lakh cases in 2022.
• The coverage of treatment for the infection increased to 80%.
• A sudden drop in mortality due to TB was noted in the 2023 report. This was owing to the WHO report accepting India’s Sample Registration System dataset as the basis for the calculations instead of the Global Burden of Disease report.

Dig Deeper: Read about the Ni-Kshay Portal and TB Aarogya Saathi App.

• Galaxies spin much faster than expected based on Newton’s laws applied to visible matter. To keep them from flying apart, scientists proposed the existence of dark matter, an invisible substance providing extra gravity.
• The Standard Model of particle physics doesn’t include dark matter particles, leading to the Milgromian dynamics (MOND) theory. MOND suggests gravity changes its behaviour in low-acceleration environments, like at the edges of galaxies.
• MOND successfully predicts galaxy rotation curves without needing dark matter by tweaking gravity at low accelerations, not at specific distances.
• Cassini Mission Insights: The Cassini spacecraft (2004-2017) helped test MOND by precisely measuring Saturn’s orbit. Contrary to MOND’s predictions, Cassini found no deviations from Newtonian gravity, suggesting Newton’s laws still apply to Saturn.
• Adjustments to galaxy mass calculations or the influence of surrounding galaxies don’t reconcile MOND with Cassini’s data. The likelihood of MOND matching these results is extremely low.
• Binary Stars Test: MOND predicted that wide binary stars should orbit each other faster than Newton’s laws allow. However, recent detailed studies have ruled out this prediction, further challenging MOND.
• Outer Solar System Objects: MOND also fails to explain distant comets’ energy distribution and orbital inclinations, which align better with Newtonian gravity.
• Galaxy Clusters: MOND struggles to explain the motions within galaxy clusters, where Newtonian gravity and dark matter provide a better fit.
• Although the dark matter model isn’t flawless, MOND cannot replace it. Dark matter remains the most accepted explanation, though its exact nature remains unknown.
• Gravity might behave differently on large scales, but MOND, as it stands, isn’t a viable alternative.
• The dark matter theory continues to dominate our understanding of the universe.

Dark Matter

• Dark matter, unlike normal matter, does not interact with electromagnetic force, meaning it neither absorbs, reflects, nor emits light, making it extremely difficult to detect.
• Its existence is inferred from its gravitational effects on visible matter.
• Dark matter outweighs visible matter roughly six to one, constituting about 27% of the universe, while known matter makes up only 5%.
• One theory suggests dark matter could consist of “supersymmetric particles,” partners to those in the Standard Model.
• Dark matter candidates often appear in theories beyond the Standard Model, like supersymmetry and extra dimensions.
• Some theories even propose a “Hidden Valley,” a parallel world of dark matter.

Dig Deeper: Read about Dark energy and compare it with Dark matter.

• Researchers and artists collaborated internationally to make air pollution visible, emphasizing health risks, through a project called “Air of the Anthropocene.”
• The initiative combines digital light painting and low-cost air pollution sensors to produce photographic evidence of pollution levels in cities across India, Ethiopia, and the UK.
• The project used low-cost sensors to measure PM mass concentrations, with real-time signals controlling a moving LED array to visually represent pollution levels.
• The light painting method provides a visual understanding of air pollution accessible to non-scientists, highlighting the significant impact of managing pollution on daily life.
• Findings published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment, show how project photographs spurred discussions on air pollution.
• In India, illustrations covered playgrounds in urban Delhi and rural Palampur, showing PM2.5 values in Palampur were at least 12.5 times lower than in Delhi.
• Air pollution is the leading global environmental risk factor, causing diseases like heart disease, stroke, and cancer.
• The project has been exhibited in galleries in Los Angeles, Belfast, and Birmingham, using art to communicate and create dialogues about air pollution issues.

Dig Deeper: What are the key government initiatives to control Air Pollution in India?