GS Analyst
Daily Current Affairs

According to Western intelligence inputs, Russia has deployed the Terminator tank support system – the BMPT, also known as the BMPT ‘Terminator’, and its new version the BMPT-72 in Ukraine.

About the Terminator:

• The Terminator or the Boyevaya Mashina Podderzhki Tankov (BMPT), is a tank support fighting vehicle developed by Russia.
• Western military analysts believe that Russia developed the Terminator after identifying the need to provide dedicated protection to main battle tanks it used during the Afghan and the Chechen wars.
• The tank support vehicles are designed to protect the Russian tanks against enemy infantry.
• They are basically a replacement for mechanised infantry troops in the urban battlefield.
• The high-level of attrition suffered by the Russian tanks in the ongoing war in Ukraine due to the use of anti-tank weapons provided by the West appears to have pushed Russian military commanders to induct the Terminator.
• The move is aimed at providing close protection to the Russian armour from Ukrainian tank-hunting infantry.

Location of deployment:

• According to the latest intelligence bulletin released by the British Ministry of Defence on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Russia’s only operational company of BMP-T Terminator tank support vehicles has likely been deployed to the Severodonetsk axis of the Donbas offensive.
• According to the British appreciation of intelligence inputs and several independent sightings of the Terminators, their presence suggests that the Central Grouping of Forces (CGF) is involved in this attack – which is the only Russian army formation fielding this vehicle.

What kind of weapons does the Terminator have?

• The list of potent weaponry that Terminator is equipped with includes Ataka-T GWS launchers, autocannons, grenade launchers, PKTM machine gun.
• These weapons are capable of firing in multiple directions in quick succession, thus suppressing firepower to prevent any attempt to take out the tank columns being protected.
• The BMPT destroys targets such as infantry personnel carrying anti-tank weapons, as well as lightly and heavily armoured targets, like tanks.
• The BMPT can be put to alternate uses too and can provide protection to infantry or to convoys.
  

Where are its other features?

• The BMPT was first brought into public domain during the Russian Arms Expo held at Nizhny Tagil in 2013.
• Guerrilla warfare tactics used by the Chechen fighters in Grozny during the First Chechen War in 1995 led to the development of this weapon system as many Russian tanks were lost in the urban fighting.
• The Terminators, initial version BMP-T and the new version BMPT-72, are based on the chassis of the T-72 tank and are produced by the Russian company Uralvagonzavod.
• The Terminator’s latest upgrade is equipped with fragmenting ammunition which is essential to target the enemy infantry which lies in wait to destroy the tanks.
• Information in public domain also reveals that increased gun elevation provides for engaging top floors of buildings in urban environments and also low flying aircraft/drones.
• The manufacturer claims that a single Terminator can replace two conventional BMPs and an infantry platoon.

A cave exploration team has discovered an ancient forest at the bottom of a giant karst sinkhole in Leye County in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

• The sinkhole measures 306 metres in length, is 150 metres in width and 192 metres in depth, with its volume exceeding 5 million cubic meters.
• Given these dimensions, the sinkhole can be categorised as a large sinkhole.
• In Mandarin, giant sinkholes are called Tiankeng or “heavenly pit”.

About Sinkhole:

• Sinkholes are depressions formed in the ground when layers of the Earth’s surface start collapsing into caverns.
• They can occur suddenly and without warning, because the land under the surface of the Earth can stay intact for a period of time until the spaces get too big.
• Sinkholes can be formed due to natural processes or human activity.
• Typically, sinkholes form in areas of “karst” terrains, where the rock below the surface of the Earth can be easily dissolved by groundwater.
• Essentially, this means that when rainwater seeps into the ground, the rock below the surface of the Earth starts dissolving, leading to the creation of spaces.
• This process is a slow and gradual one and can sometimes take hundreds or thousands of years.
• As per NASA, karst geology covers about 13 per cent of eastern and south-eastern Asia.
• Karst terrain is created from the dissolution of soluble rocks, mostly limestone and dolomite and is characterised by distinctive landforms such as caves, sinkholes and springs.
  

Karst Landscape:

• Karst is an area of land made up of limestone.
• Limestone, also known as chalk or calcium carbonate, is a soft rock that dissolves in water.
• As rainwater seeps into the rock, it slowly erodes.
• Karst landscapes can be worn away from the top or dissolved from a weak point inside the rock.
• Karst landscapes feature caves, underground streams and sinkholes on the surface.
• Where erosion has worn away the land above ground, steep rocky cliffs are visible.
• Shilinis a karst formation in southern China. In Chinese, shilin means stone forest.
• Shilin got its name because the tall rocks that formed due to erosion look like stone trees.
• Shilin is part of a larger karst landscape called the South China Karst, which spreads across the Chinese provinces of Guangxi, Guizhou, and Yunnan.
  

Researchers from the National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge (INSA), Lisbon, Portugal have shared the draft genome sequence of the monkeypox virus that is rapidly spreading in many European countries.

Draft Genome Sequencing:

• The released draft genome sequence covers about 92% of the reference sequence.
• Researchers from Belgium were able to reconstruct 98.9% of the genome.
• The phylogenetic analysis of the draft genome indicates that the 2022 virus belongs to the West African clade and is most closely related to viruses associated with the exportation of monkeypox virus from Nigeria to several countries in 2018 and 2019, namely the United Kingdom, Israel and Singapore.

Monkey Pox:

• Monkeypox virus is an orthopoxvirus that causes a disease with symptoms similar, but less severe, to smallpox.
• While smallpox was eradicated in 1980, monkeypox continues to occur in countries of Central and West Africa. 
• Two distinct clade are identified: the West African clade and the Congo Basin clade, also known as the Central African clade.
• Monkeypox is a zoonosis- a disease that is transmitted from animals to humans.
• Cases are often found close to tropical rainforests where there are animals that carry the virus.
• Evidence of monkeypox virus infection has been found in animals including squirrels, Gambian poached rats, dormice, different species of monkeys and others. 
• Detection of viral DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is the preferred laboratory test for monkeypox.
• The best diagnostic specimens are directly from the rash – skin, fluid or crusts, or biopsy where feasible.
• Antigen and antibody detection methods may not be useful as they do not distinguish between orthopoxviruses. 
• Symptoms: Monkeypox presents with fever, an extensive characteristic rash and usually swollen lymph nodes.
• It is important to distinguish monkeypox from other illnesses such as chickenpox, measles, bacterial skin infections, scabies, syphilis and medication-associated allergies. 
• According to the WHO, the proportion of patients who die has varied between 0 and 11% in documented cases, and has been higher among young children.
  

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR-IIIM) will organise a festival to promote lavender in Bhaderwah (Doda district) of Jammu and Kashmir.

CSIR- Aroma Mission:

• The CSIR-AROMA Mission aims to develop and disseminate the aroma-related science and technology to reach the end users / clients of CSIR: Farmers, industry and society.
• The mission aims to bring additional area under captive cultivation of aromatic cash crops, particularly targeting rain-fed and degraded land across the country besides aiming to provide technical and infra-structural support for distillation and value additions to farmers and growers all over the country. 
• The Mission also aims to enable effective buy-back mechanisms to assure remunerative prices to the farmers and growers besides aiming to achieving value-addition to essential oils and aroma ingredients for their integration into global trade and economy.
• It provided free quality planting material and end-to-end technology package on cultivation, processing, value addition and marketing of the Lavender crop to the farmers.
  

About Lavender:

• A Mediterranean native, Lavender (Lavandula spica) is an aromatic and herbal shrub.
• Highly perfumed and beautiful flowers of the plant come in a variety of colors, for example, violet, blue, pink, mauve, and white can prove an excellent addition to your garden decor.
• The plant is perennial and requires a dry and sunny climate to grow.
• It is usually cultivated in regions with less rainfall.
• The soil for growing these plants needs to be well-draining and rich in calcium carbonate content. 

Lavender producing States

• At present, large-scale lavender cultivation is limited to Jammu & Kashmir but governments in Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are also encouraging their farmers to take up lavender.
• Small scale farming of the plant is already underway in these states.

Aroma Mission

• In 2016, the Centre launched Aroma Mission to boost cultivation of plants like lavender, rosemary and lemon grass and medicinal plants like ashwagandha and satavar which have aromatic medicinal properties. 
• The state of Jammu and Kashmir was chosen for the implementation of the program, due to its peculiar climate, which is complimented by the presence of a growing market for the products of these plants, like aromatic oils.
• The mission was launched with the objective to move from imported aromatic oils to homegrown varieties.
• In February, 2021, Government announced Aroma Mission phase 2 after the success of the first phase.
• The mission is to increase lavender cultivation to 1,500 hectares within three years from now.

The World Health Organisation has recognised the country’s 10.4 lakh ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers as ‘Global Health Leaders’ for their efforts in connecting the community to the government’s health programmes.

ASHA workers:

• ASHA workers are volunteers from within the community who are trained to provide information and aid people in accessing benefits of various healthcare schemes of the government.
• They act as a bridge connecting marginalised communities with facilities such as primary health centres, sub-centres and district hospitals.
• The role of these community health volunteers under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was first established in 2005.
• ASHAs are primarily married, widowed, or divorced women between the ages of 25 and 45 years from within the community.
• They must have good communication and leadership skills; should be literate with formal education up to Class 8, as per the programme guidelines.
• There are around 10.4 lakh ASHA workers across the country, with the largest workforces in states with high populations – Uttar Pradesh (1.63 lakh), Bihar (89,437), and Madhya Pradesh (77,531).
• Goa is the only state with no such workers, as per the latest National Health Mission data available from 2019.

Duties of ASHA Workers:

• They go door-to-door in their designated areas creating awareness about basic nutrition, hygiene practices, and the health services available.
• They focus primarily on ensuring that women undergo ante-natal check-up, maintain nutrition during pregnancy, deliver at a healthcare facility, and provide post-birth training on breast-feeding and complementary nutrition of children.
• They also counsel women about contraceptives and sexually transmitted infections.
• ASHA workers are also tasked with ensuring and motivating children to get immunised.
• Other than mother and child care, ASHA workers also provide medicines daily to TB patients under directly observed treatment of the national programme.
• They are also tasked with screening for infections like malaria during the season.
• They also provide basic medicines and therapies to people under their jurisdiction such as oral rehydration solution, chloroquine for malaria, iron folic acid tablets to prevent anaemia, and contraceptive pills.

Debate over status

• There is a strong argument to grant permanence to some of these positions with a reasonable compensation as sustaining motivation.
• The incremental development of a local resident woman is an important factor in human resource engagement in community-linked sectors.
• This should apply to other field functionaries such as ANMs, GNMs, Public Health Nurses as well.
• It is equally important to ensure that compensation for performance is timely and adequate.