May 18th Current Affairs

1. SAMVEDNA(Sensitizing Action on Mental Health Vulnerability through Emotional Development and Necessary Acceptance)

IN NEWS:

Children impacted by Covid-19 Pandemic being provided Tele Counselling through SAMVEDNA

KEY POINTS:

• With an objective of providing psychological first-aid and emotional support to children affected during COVID-19 Pandemic, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR)is providing Tele-Counselling to children through SAMVEDNA.
• SAMVEDNAtele counselling service is for psychological support to children to address their stress, anxiety, fear and other issues during the Pandemic.
• This service is available on a toll-free No: 1800-121-2830 from Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. 
• This service is exclusively for children who are willing to talk and arein need of counseling. When a child/ caretaker/Parent dials SAMVEDNA1800-121-2830,they get to speak to a professional counselor in a safe environment.
• Tele counselling is provided to the children under three categories:
• Children who are in Quarantine/isolation/COVID Care centers.
• Children who have COVID positive parents or family members and near ones.
• Children who have lost their parents due to Covid-19 Pandemic.
• This Toll-free Tele-Counselling cater to the children from all over India in various regional languages like Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Oriya, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali etc.
• This service was launched in September,2020 and continuing to support children in the difficult times of COVID-19 pandemic.
• NCPCR is a statutory body and works under the aegis of Ministry of Women and Child Development, Govt. of India.

SOURCE:PIB

2. ELDERLINE

IN NEWS:

Toll Free Helpline for elderly persons ELDERLINE (14567) becomes operational in several states.

KEY POINTS:

• Likely to become functional in all states by end of May, 2021.
• In order to address the problems of elders in the context of the ongoingCOVID pandemic, the Ministry of Social Justice has started state wise call centres in major states under the ELDERLINE project.
• The facility is already made operational in 5 major States of UP, MP, Rajasthan, TN and Karnataka.
• In Telangana, this facility has been working for more than a year.
• These call centres can be reached by toll free number 14567. All elders may be advised to use this facility.
• The ELDERLINE is a facility operationalised with the assistance of Tata Trusts and NSE foundation.

SOURCE:PIB

3. Cov-Tech Ventilation System

IN NEWS:

DST supported ventilation system to bring relief to health workers sweating in PPE suits for long hours.

KEY POINTS:

• Health workers may soon be relieved of sweating out long hours in heavy suffocating PPE kits to meet their busy duty schedules.
• A compact, economical ventilation system for PPE kits developed by a Pune based startup can prevent excessive sweating while wearing such kits.
• Nihaal Singh Adarsh, an engineering Student from Mumbai along with his startup called Watt Technovations, developed the technology called ‘Cov-Tech Ventilation System’, at RIIDL (Research Innovation Incubation Design Laboratory) supported by the National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, in Somaiya Vidyavihar University.
• The ventilation system when attached with the conventional PPE kits with one simple modification, keeps the health workers’ well ventilated preventing not only bodily discomforts but also possible fungal diseases in the body.
• The ‘Cov-Tech Ventilation System’ can be fastened over the waist just like a simple belt over which the traditional PPE is worn and can provide comfort to the doctors and medical practitioners working in the hospitals to treat Covid infected patients.
• The product developed at a state-of-the-art prototyping facility at Dassault Systemes in Pune was finalised as per the medical experts’ advice.

SOURCE:PIB

4. ICMR issues advisory on Plasma Therapy

In news

According to an advisory from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the use of convalescent plasma has been dropped from the recommended treatment guidelines for COVID-19

Key takeaways

PLACID trial conducted last year had found no significant benefit from the use of plasma; it still continued to find a place in the recommended guidelines.

According to some experts, the use of such plasma may have caused new mutations to the virus.

Important information

Plasma

• Blood plasma is a yellowish liquid component of blood that holds the blood cells of whole blood in suspension.
• It is the liquid part of the blood that carries cells and proteins throughout the body.
• It makes up about 55% of the body’s total blood volume.
• This plasma contains viral antibodies that have treatment potential for severe cases of the disease.

Plasma therapy

• Plasma therapy is a medical procedure that uses the blood of a recovered patient to create antibodies on those infected individuals.
• It is medically known as convalescent plasma therapy.
• This treatment uses antibodies found in the blood taken from a recovered Covid-19 patient.
• It is then used to treat those with severe SARS-CoV-2 infection to aid recovery.

SOURCE:TH

5. Proposal for Gold Exchange

IN NEWS:

• The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has proposed a framework for setting up a spot gold exchange.
• The spot exchange is where financial instruments, such as commodities, currencies, and securities, are traded for immediate delivery.
• SEBI is a statutory body established in April, 1992 in accordance with the provisions of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992.

KEY POINTS:

• The Gold exchange proposal was announced by the Finance Minister.
• SEBI is entrusted with the task of regulating the proposed exchange which includes vaulting, assaying the gold quality and delivery standards
• The existing stock exchanges may deal in ‘electronic gold receipt’ (EGR) through a separate segment.
• SEBI has also suggested a new exchange exclusively for EGR that would have advantages such as better liquidity and single-price reference.
• It has also been suggested that an entire transaction be divided into three tranches.
• The vault manager should have a net worth of ₹50 crore and will be required to furnish security deposits.

SOURCE:TH