9 PM Daily Current Affairs Brief – December 14th, 2022

Current Affairs Compilations for UPSC IAS Prelims 2022

Mains Oriented Articles

GS Paper 2

• A resource crunch need not hurt our soft power
• Flare-up at Tawang marks shortcomings of India’s China diplomacy
• The attack on the last bastion — the judiciary

GS Paper 3

• What AIIMS Server “Hijack” tells Us About Cyber Security
• A conservation Bill that endangers forest rights
• The rise of rural manufacturing
• Our experiment with an e-rupee will yield demand-side learnings
• Skewing the mustard field: The Yellow Revolution’s revival needed

Prelims Oriented Articles (Factly)

• US scientists take quantum leap on the road to create nuclear fusion energy for generating power
• The new India-China Tawang crisis: Where, why, and what now
• Sri Aurobindo inspired generations, left his mark wherever he went: PM Modi
• What is base editing, the groundbreaking tech that cleared a teenager’s cancer?
• What is the Geminids meteor shower, and where can you watch it
• Expedite approval to continue scheme for madrasas, minority institutes: Parliamentary panel tells government
• Only one-fourth of sanctioned solar power projects took off, says Minister
• House panel flags ‘casual approach’ of government over setting up disability centres
• Atal Vayo Abhyuday Yojana
• International travel yet to shake off pandemic blues but students go abroad in record numbers
• Explained | Will new drug slow the progress of Alzheimer’s?

Mains Oriented Articles

GS Paper 2

A resource crunch need not hurt our soft power

News: The parliamentary committee on external affairs has tabled the report titled “India’s Soft Power and Cultural Diplomacy: Prospects & Limitations”. The report contains recommendations on ways to utilize India’s soft powers along with conventional diplomacy.

What are the key findings of the report?

There has not been an adequate attempt from the government despite having a vast number of soft resources (fine and performing arts, literature, cuisine, traditional medicine, etc.) towards fulfilling policy goals.

The reports highlighted various reasons behind this such as lack of inter-ministerial coordination and resources.

What can be the way ahead?

India’s G20 presidency is a great opportunity to showcase its soft power to the world. India also faces a shortage of funds to utilize its soft resources. Therefore, the following options can be adopted as an alternative –

First, India is the world’s largest democracy. Therefore, its soft power should not be limited to sharing only election best-practices. It should also extend to sharing of other better practices such as the framework of democratic institutions which counter-balance executive overreach.

Second, private sectors should be involved to fill the gaps left by official agencies. This includes the involvement of India Inc to partner with the government in sharing India’s inexhaustible talent pool with the rest of the world.

Flare-up at Tawang marks shortcomings of India’s China diplomacy

News– The article explains the issues of frequent border clashes between India and China.

What has been the Chinese behaviour towards India in recent years?

In 2013, at Depsang in Ladakh, Chinese troops came across the LAC. They pitched tents and refused to move for several weeks until New Delhi threatened to cancel the planned visit of Premier Li Keqiang to India.

In September 2014, the Chinese intruded at Chumar in Ladakh. It happened in the middle of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first state visit to India.

In 2017, China provoked India with infrastructure development in Bhutan’s Doklam territory. Finally, in 2020, the Chinese PLA took advantage of pandemic and a lack of Indian military alertness to transgress across multiple locations on the LAC in eastern Ladakh.

The 2005 Agreement on the Political Parameters and Guiding Principles between the two countries was a landmark treaty on the boundary dispute. It seemed to set benchmarks for the eventual resolution of the boundary dispute.

But in 2006, the Chinese Foreign Minister declared that the status of Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh was far from settled. It explicitly contradicts the principles outlined in the 2005 treaty.

What is the Chinese strategy behind these transgressions and subsequent resolution?

Negotiations by China were a strategy for buying time.

China has used the buying time to increase the economic gap between itself and India. In the intervening years, it built up more infrastructure in its border provinces.

It also tried to integrate these regions much more closely with neighbouring economies such as Pakistan and Nepal through grand projects such as the Belt and Road Initiative and pressuring Thimphu to open formal diplomatic ties with Beijing.

The subsequent resolution achieved over several rounds of military-to-military talks after each confrontation between the two sides appears to institutionalise a system of “buffer zones”. It actually undermines the advantages of India’s infrastructure build-up more than they do China’s build-up.

It could be concluded that the Chinese are also setting the pace to a large extent on the resolution of ongoing tensions at the LAC.

What may be the consequences of the current Indian approach?

The kind of approach that allows the general public to ignore the looming China challenge before the country. It allows the Indian military to escape accountability for Galwan, and India from being seen as a credible challenger to China by other countries.

The attack on the last bastion — the judiciary

News– The article explains the issue of judicial appointments. It also explains the lack of  executive accountability in India these days.

Recently, the Vice-President Law Minister, Kiren Rijiju commented on the working of higher judiciary.

What is the position of executive today?

Today, there exists a lack of executive accountability. Since 2014, the Government has undertaken a well-crafted and deliberate takedown of various institutions and mechanisms that could hold the executive accountable.

There are attempts to undermine the independence of the judiciary.

Parallels can be drawn with ‘elected autocracies’, where elected governments use the institutions to kill democracy and destroy civil liberties. Institutions like National Human Rights Commission, ECI and Information Commission have been made dormant.

Investigation agencies are misused against activists, journalists, students, political opponents, or anyone who protests against the government. Academia, the press, and civil society have also been systematically suppressed. Universities are under attack. Media operates mostly as a propaganda machine.

What has been the practice of judicial appointment in our country?

In the early years of modern India, decisions on judicial appointments were usually made on the advice of the CJI. Even if concurrence was not contemplated, an independent judiciary was non-negotiable.

Both the Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi governments attempted to manipulate the process. The collegium was created as a historical response to these challenges. It succeeded in preventing the executive from hijacking judicial appointments.

The NJAC law could have fixed this problem. But it had many flaws that were structured to undermine judicial independence. The SC went for striking down the law.

What are the challenges faced by the higher judiciary?

The government is not willing to cooperate, let alone consult, with the Supreme Court. Names proposed by the collegium are left pending for years.

The judiciary faces the problem of pendency of cases and vacancies of judges. Pendency is caused majorly by poor judicial infrastructure.

Since the Supreme Court’s decision in 2015 on the NJAC Act, the judiciary has remained passive. However, with the last three CJIs, the Court is being more assertive and speaking in a non-aligned and confident voice.

What is the way forward for improving the system of judicial appointment?

The appointments system must be fixed. There is a need for a clear, rule-based system. Even the existing collegium system can be improved.

It can be done through well-defined criteria for appointments, transparency and accountability in selection, better methods of assessing candidates for elevation, and improved ways of ensuring diversity and representation.

In the long term, the government should strive for well-structured and balanced legislation on a judicial commission that brings in transparency without compromising judicial independence.

GS Paper 3

What AIIMS Server “Hijack” tells Us About Cyber Security

News: There was a ransomware attack on the servers of AIIMS recently. This attack has raised concerns over the safety of citizen’s personal data stored online in Aadhaar database.

What is a ransomware attack?

Read here: Are ransomware attacks increasing in India?

What are the concerns?

Ransomware attacks have been increasing these days. The efforts of moving India into Digital India raise concerns after looking at the current cyber-attack on the AIIMs and that also without a comprehensive cyber security plan.

Further, the Aadhaar database which contains the information of citizens online is also vulnerable to cyber-attacks.

GoI and the state governments proceeded to adopt Aadhaar-based technology despite the Supreme Court ruling against making Aadhaar registration mandatory.

Today, Aadhaar is used at various places and it has been made mandatory for availing various services. This increases the risk of getting exposed to any such cyber-attacks in the future even though the government argues that it is safe.

What is the way ahead?

There is a need for establishing a Cyber Security Board with the government and private sector as participants.

This board should have the authority to recommend and strategize the plan for keeping the government’s data safe online and prevent any future cyber-attacks.

A conservation Bill that endangers forest rights

News– The article explains the criminalisation laws used for conservation of the ecosystem by government agencies. It also explains the impact of criminalisation on forest rights.

What is the WPA and amendment proposed in this act?

The Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), 1972 has safeguarded numerous species of wild animals and plants by prohibiting all forms of hunting.

It has created inviolate areas where wildlife conservation may be carried out. The amendment further invests in this conception of protected areas and species by bringing in newer species to be protected.

What has been the impact of criminal laws to assist wildlife conservation through WPA?

It has led to creation of Protected Areas where conservation can be undertaken without the interference of local forest-dwelling communities. State and Forest Department control over forests would not have been possible without criminal law.

Pitting wildlife species against communities as human-animal conflict has eluded the true cost of criminalization under the WPA.

The recent move to increase penalties by four times for general violations should raise questions about the nature of policing that the WPA engenders.

A study by the Criminal Justice and Police Accountability Project in MP found that persons from oppressed caste communities such as Scheduled Tribes and other forest-dwelling communities form the majority of accused persons in wildlife-related crimes.

The Forest Department was found to use the threat of criminalisation to force cooperation. It used this for devising a system of using community members as informants and drawing on their loyalty by employing them on a daily wage basis. Over 95% of the cases filed by the Forest Department are still pending.

Criminal cases filed by the department are rarely compounded since they are meant to create a ‘deterrent effect’ by instilling fear in communities. Fear is a crucial way in which the department mediates governance in protected areas.

How are forest rights impacted by WPA? Forest rights as part of the Forest Rights Act were put in place to correct the injustice meted out by forest governance laws in recognising forest-dependent livelihoods.

The FRA has been made subservient to the WPA, thereby impeding its implementation.

Field work was carried out in Kanha National Park. It was noticed that individual forest rights in buffer zones of the Kanha National Park of Madhya Pradesh were recognised. The same cannot be said of collective rights. Fishing, which forms an important part of subsistence for tribal communities, has come to be regularly criminalised as part of the WPA.

Unchecked discretionary policing allowed by the WPA and other forest legislations have stunted the emancipatory potential of the FRA.

The rise of rural manufacturing

News– The article explains the issue of manufacturing shift to rural areas.

Is manufacturing shifting to rural areas?

The movement of manufacturing away from urban locations was brought out by the Work Bank in a report a decade ago. It found that manufacturing plants in the formal sector are moving away from urban areas and into rural locations, while the informal sector is moving from rural to urban locations”.

Recent data from the Annual Survey of Industries for 2019-20, shows that the rural segment is a significant contributor to the manufacturing sector’s output. 42% of factories and  62% of fixed capital exists in the rural side. In terms of employment, it accounted for 44%.

Why is manufacturing shifting to rural areas?

Rural areas have generally been more attractive to manufacturing firms because wages, property, and land costs are all lower than in most metropolitan areas.

There exist floor space supply constraints in urban areas. However, the driving force behind such a shift is the continuing displacement of labour by machinery as a result of the capital investments in new production technologies. In cities, factories just cannot be expanded as opposed to rural areas.

There exist production cost differentials. Many firms experience substantially higher operating costs in cities than in rural areas. It has inevitable consequences for the firm’s profitability and competitiveness.

Another reason is the possibility of capital restructuring. Big firms deliberately shift production from cities to take advantage of the availability of less skilled, less unionised and less costly rural labour.

What are the challenges faced by rural manufacturing?

The cost of capital seems to be higher for firms operating on the rural side. This is evident from the shares in rent and interest paid. The rural segment accounted for only 35% of the total rent paid, while it had 60% of the total interest payments.

There exists an issue of “skills shortage” in rural areas as manufacturing now needs higher skilled workers to compete in the highly technological global ‘new economy’. Manufacturers who depend only on low-wage workers simply cannot sustain their competitive edge for longer periods as this cost advantage vanishes over time.

Our experiment with an e-rupee will yield demand-side learnings

News: Central banks across the world have begun experimenting with various forms of digital money. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has also launched two variants of a digital rupee on an experimental basis. One for wholesale transactions between banks and another for retail transactions within the private sector.

About India’s digital rupee

How India’s digital rupee is unique?

India decided to launch two different variants such as the wholesale variant and the retail variant.

Wholesale variant: It operates through the accounts that commercial banks have with the Indian central bank.

Retail variant: It is based on a two-tier system—individuals and firms can hold it only through the banking system.

Some unique features include a) India’s digital rupee is based on the idea of tokens, b) RBI will issue the digital rupee but banks will distribute it to the private sector like fiat currency.

Why does India have two different variants?

Does not try to alter the current monetary system: At present only banks have accounts with RBI while the rest of the economy operates through the commercial banking system. India followed the same approach with the digital rupee also.

Digital rupee does not pay any interest to its holder: Digital rupee is a substitute for cash rather than a substitute for bank deposits.

The challenges with interest-paying CBDC held directly with the RBI are 1) It will create challenges for bank deposits. Thus, it will create financial stability risks, 2) It will complicate the conduct of monetary policy as individuals move money between their accounts with commercial banks and the central bank, leading to fluctuations in the monetary base.

What is the demand for the Indian rupee at present?

A recent research paper by economists at the International Monetary Fund shows that a) The use of cash as a mode of payment has actually grown in India between 2005 and 2020, b) The use of instant payment options such as NEFT and IMPS has increased, c) The use of cheques and demand drafts has dropped sharply.

Overall, the government wants to reduce the use of cash in the economy.

Will the digital rupee reduce the demand for cash in the economy?

CBDC is focused on money as a medium of exchange rather than a store of value. Hence, it has to compete with the UPI ecosystem which is already ubiquitous in most parts of the country to reduce the demand for cash in the economy.

Skewing the mustard field: The Yellow Revolution’s revival needed

News: Recently, the Ministry of Environment has allowed the commercial cultivation of genetically modified (GM) mustard.

About GM Mustard

The DMH-11, developed by Delhi University’s biotechnology centre, reportedly gives about a 28% higher yield than the popular mustard variety Varuna.

What are the other gene-altered food crops allowed for field-testing by GEAC?

What are the major benefits of GM Mustard?

Reduce oil imports: India is the fifth-largest producer and also the seventh-largest importer of edible oils in the world. GM Mustard will help in reducing these imports. Globally also, the rapeseed-mustard yields have gone up with the introduction of GM hybrids.

Spun technology-driven green revolution: The perceived positive government approach to GM crops can increase the introduction of genetically superior variants of food and commercial crops and might usher the technology-driven green revolution.

What are the concerns associated with the approval of GM Mustard?

Low yield: ICAR-All India Crop Research Project’s 2006-07 field trial data for GM mustard has shown that GM mustard had a much lower yield that year across locations.

Health implications not studied properly: The Supreme Court’s Technical Expert Committee highlighted the negative health implications and risks of Bt cotton and Bt brinjal on cows and rats, respectively.

Despite such impacts, multi-generational trials and many such tests were not done at all for GM mustard.

No need for Genetic Modification: Mustard does not exhibit high hybrid intensity for seed yields like maize, pearl millet, sorghum, sunflower and castor. Further, there is a natural, efficient, proven and safer way exist to prepare male sterile lines using cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS). This questions the need for Genetic modification for creating DMH-11.

Increase herbicide usage: Seed production of DMH 11 rests on the usage of a highly problematic herbicide glufosinate. This herbicide has not been approved for use in mustard crops. Further, the DMH-11 was never tested as a herbicide-tolerant crop.

Against organic and natural farming: Ministry of Agriculture is promoting organic and natural farming to reduce agrochemical usage. The Ministry has also recently issued directions to curb the usage of glyphosate.

On the contrary, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC)  is incentivising glufosinate, which is even more problematic than glyphosate.

How to increase India’s mustard yields?

The yield potential of Indian mustard has been realised up to 4 tonne/ha at experimental fields. But many farmers are harvesting 3 tonne/ha to 3.5 tonne/ha in states like Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. This can be bridged by

Harness genetic gains in oilseed mustard: This can be realised by promoting high-quality seeds with good oil content from high-yielding released varieties/ non-GM hybrids and ensuring functional seed systems and input services.

For example, farmers in Rajasthan are growing Giriraj mustard. It was produced through natural hybridisation, which is giving 3-3.5 tonne/ha yield and also has high oil content (up to 42%).

Promote effective agronomic practices: a) India should horizontally expand of the area of mustard cultivation by using rice fallow, inter-cropping or diversifying crops, b) Utilise technological options like the right placement of seedlings through efficient fertiliser-cum-seed drill, proper plant geometry, conservation agriculture, mustard transplanting, etc.

Revive the Yellow Revolution: The “Yellow Revolution” to protect India from subsidised edible oil was unfortunately discontinued in the 1990s. It is time for India to revive that.

Prelims Oriented Articles (Factly)

US scientists take quantum leap on the road to create nuclear fusion energy for generating power

Source: The post is based on the following articles

“Understanding the fusion energy breakthrough announced by US scientists” published in the Indian Express on 14^th November 2022.

“US scientists take quantum leap on the road to create nuclear fusion energy for generating power” published in the Economic Times on 13^th November 2022.

What is the News?

Scientists in the United States have for the first time achieved a net gain in energy from a nuclear fusion reaction. 

What is nuclear fusion?

In fusion, nuclei of two lighter elements are made to fuse together to form the nucleus of a heavier atom. Fusion is a more powerful way of harnessing the immense energy trapped in the nucleus of an atom.

For example, the fusion of two nuclei of a heavier isotope of hydrogen, called tritium, produces at least four times as much energy as the fission of a uranium atom which is the normal process of generating electricity in a nuclear reactor.

Nuclear fusion is considered as holy grail of energy production. It is called such because the fusion of pairs of light atoms produces immense energy with very small amounts of radioactive waste, unlike nuclear fission.

Nuclear fusion is considered the most dependable source of energy in future.

What are the challenges associated with nuclear fusion reactions?

a) Fusion reactions happen only at very high temperatures, 10 times the temperature that exists at the core of the Sun. Thus creating such an extreme environment in a laboratory requires huge amounts of energy, b) So far, the energy released in such experimental fusion reactions has been lower than what is consumed to create the enabling high temperatures. Only some of these reactions have produced ‘near break-even’ energies.

About the recent experiment on nuclear fusion

Scientists forced a minuscule amount of hydrogen into a peppercorn-sized capsule. They used a powerful beam laser that could generate 100 million degree celsius of heat.

The laser beam was hotter than the Sun’s centre and helped to compress the hydrogen fuel to more than 100 billion times that of Earth’s atmosphere.

Under the pressure of these forces, the capsule started imploding on itself and leading to the fusion of hydrogen atoms and the release of energy.

Significance: Scientists have been able to generate higher energy in a fusion experiment than the energy applied for causing the fusion reaction. Scientist community hailed the event as the holy grail of fusion can be achieved.

About International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER)

It is an international collaborative project located in southern France.

Aim: Creating energy by replicating the fusion processes of the Sun.

It uses very strong magnetic fields instead of high-energy laser beams. At present, the ITER reactor is in the machine assembly phase. Over 10 million parts are manufactured and tested in the seven member countries.

India joined the ITER project in 2005. As a member country, India is building several components of the ITER reactor and also carrying out a number of experiments and R&D activities.

Significance: ITER, when operational, would become the biggest machine anywhere in the world, more complex than the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, or the LIGO project to detect gravitational waves.

The new India-China Tawang crisis: Where, why, and what now

Source: The post is based on the article “The new India-China Tawang crisis: Where, why, and what now” published in Indian Express on 14th December 2022

What is the News?

Tensions are running high between India and China once again after the recent clashes between the troops of both armies at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Yangtse area of Tawang sector in Arunachal Pradesh.

What has happened between India and China?

The Defence Minister told Lok Sabha that the Chinese troops carried out an incursion across the LAC in Yangtse area of Tawang sector in Arunachal Pradesh and attempted to unilaterally change the status quo.

Indian troops resisted this attempt by China “with firmness” and there was a scuffle in this faceoff. 

Some soldiers on both sides sustained some injuries in the clash but no Indian soldier had been killed or had been seriously wounded.

Subsequently, the local commander of the Army held a flag meeting with his Chinese counterpart where the Chinese side was asked to maintain peace on the border. The matter has been raised with the Chinese side at the diplomatic level as well.

Why is Tawang important for China?

Tawang is strategically and culturally significant to China.

Cultural importance: Tawang houses the Tawang monastery, which is the second largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the world only after the Potala Palace.

– Moreover, the Tawang monastery is where the present Dalai Lama stayed for weeks after escaping China in 1959. 

– Hence, from China’s perspective, it becomes an important site in the history of Tibetan resistance to Chinese rule. If Tibet were to rise up against China, Tawang would emerge as an important centre of resistance.

Strategic Importance: Tawang holds tactical importance for China. The town provides a strategic entry into India’s northeastern region.

– To the north of Tawang lies the important Bum La Pass, which is a border pass between India’s Tawang district and the Chinese-occupied Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). Incidentally, it was this pass that the Chinese troops used to invade India in 1962.

Sri Aurobindo inspired generations, left his mark wherever he went: PM Modi

Source: The post is based on the article “Sri Aurobindo inspired generations, left his mark wherever he went: PM Modi” published in The Hindu on 14th December 2022

What is the News?

The Prime Minister has virtually released a commemorative coin and postage stamp to mark the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Sri Aurobindo.

Who was Sri Aurobindo? 

Sri Aurobindo was born on August 15, 1872. He was an Indian philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist.

Aurobindo’s pragmatic strategies to get rid of British rule marked him as “the Prophet of Indian Nationalism”.

Education: His education began in a Christian convent school in Darjeeling.

He entered the University of Cambridge, where he became proficient in two classical and several modern European languages.

In 1892, he held various administrative posts in Baroda and Calcutta.

Freedom Movement: The partition of Bengal in 1905 provoked Aurobindo to leave his job in Baroda and plunge into the nationalist movement. 

He started the patriotic journal Bande Mataram to propagate radical methods and revolutionary tactics instead of supplication. 

He was arrested thrice by the British — twice for sedition and once for conspiring to “wage war”. 

In 1908, he was arrested on the charge of the Alipore bomb conspiracy case but was acquitted in 1909 after a long trial.

Integral Yoga: Though acquitted, Aurobindo faced a constant threat of jail or exile to the Andamans, forcing him to seek refuge in Pondicherry, a French enclave.

At Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo developed a spiritual practice called Integral Yoga. The central theme of his vision was the evolution of human life into a divine life in the divine body.

Aurobindo’s Ideas on Second World War: Several Indians saw the Second World War as an opportune moment to get rid of colonial occupation; Aurobindo asked his compatriots to support the Allies and ensure Hitler’s defeat.

– In 1943, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize for literature and then again in 1950 for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Literary works: He was also a journalist and his first philosophical magazine called Arya was published in 1914. Among his many writings are The Life Divine, The Synthesis of Yoga and Savitri.

What is base editing, the groundbreaking tech that cleared a teenager’s cancer?

Source: The post is based on the article “What is base editing, the groundbreaking tech that cleared a teenager’s cancer?” published in Indian Express on 14th December 2022

What is the News?

In the UK, a teenage girl’s incurable blood cancer has been cleared from her body through the first use of a revolutionary type of method called Base Editing.

About the T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia(T-ALL)

The girl was diagnosed with a kind of blood cancer known as T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia(T-ALL). 

T-ALL affects the stem cells in the bone marrow that produce a particular kind of white blood cells (WBC) called T lymphocytes (T cells). These cells provide a person immunity by killing cells carrying infections, activating other immune cells, and regulating the immune response.

Note: While found in both children and adults, T-ALL’s incidence decreases with age.

How is T-ALL typically treated?

Typical treatment for T-ALL is similar to that of any leukaemia– chemotherapy and stem cell/bone marrow transplant. 

Doctors will first administer multiple rounds of chemotherapy. This either kills the cancerous cells or stops them from further dividing. The exact schedule is guided by an individual’s age and general health. If this fails, and the individual is suitable, doctors will conduct a bone marrow transplant. 

Overall treatment for T-ALL is pretty effective– children have a survival rate of over 85% after five years of receiving this treatment. Unfortunately, the teenage girl lay in the unlucky 15% of children where the treatment just did not work.

The doctors then used a technology called base editing, which was invented only six years ago.

What is Base Editing Technique?

Bases are the language of life. The four types of base – adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G) and thymine (T) – are the building blocks of the human genetic code. Just as letters in the alphabet spell out words that carry meaning, the billions of bases in human DNA spell out the instruction manual for every human body. 

Base editing allows scientists to zoom into a precise part of the genetic code and then alter the molecular structure of just one base, converting it into another and changing the genetic instructions. 

The doctors in the UK used this tool to engineer a new type of T-cell that was capable of hunting down and killing teenage girl’s cancerous T-cells.

What is the Geminids meteor shower, and where can you watch it

Source: The post is based on the article “What is the Geminids meteor shower, and where can you watch it” published in Indian Express on 14th December 2022

What is the News?

In 2022, the Geminids will peak around December 13-14, when, with a clear sky and away from bright city lights, one can watch scores of meteors streak across the sky.

What is a Meteor Shower?

Meteors are bits of rocks and ice ejected from comets as they move in their orbits about the sun. 

A meteor shower occurs when the Earth passes through the trail of debris left by a comet or asteroid.

Approximately 30 meteor showers occur each year that are visible to observers on Earth. Some of these showers have been around longer than 100 years. 

What is a Geminids Meteor Shower?

Geminids are one of the best and most reliable annual meteor showers. If their peak coincides with the new moon, and if the weather is clear, the Geminids can produce approximately 100-150 meteors per hour for viewing. 

Origin of name: Geminids Meteor Shower comes from the constellation Gemini, from whose location in the sky the meteor shower appears to originate

Significance: The Geminids are unique because, unlike most meteor showers, they originate not from a comet, but from an asteroid, the 3200 Phaethon. 

– Note: The 3200 Phaethon was discovered on October 11, 1983. It is named after the Greek mythology character Phaethon, son of the Sun God Helios. It takes 1.4 years to complete one round of the Sun.

Expedite approval to continue scheme for madrasas, minority institutes: Parliamentary panel tells government

Source: The post is based on the article “Expedite approval to continue scheme for madrasas, minority institutes: Parliamentary panel tells government” published in The Hindu on 14th December 2022

What is the News?

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment has pulled up the Union government for the delay in approving the continuation of the Scheme for Providing Education to Madrasas/Minorities(SPEMM).

What is the Scheme for Providing Education to Madrasas/Minorities(SPEMM)?

Nodal Ministry: Department of School Education and Literacy under the Ministry of Education

Sub-Schemes: It comprises of two sub schemes namely:

Scheme for Providing Quality Education in Madrasas(SPQEM)

It seeks to bring about qualitative improvement in Madrasas to enable Muslim children attain standards of the National education system in formal education subjects.

The salient features of scheme are:

– To provide financial assistance to traditional institutions like Madrasas and Maktabs to encourage them to introduce Science, Mathematics, Social Studies, Hindi and English in their curriculum.

– To strengthen State Madrasa Boards opting for assistance by enabling them to monitor the Madrasa modernization programme.

– To provide quality components in Madrasas such as remedial teaching, assessment and enhancement of learning outcomes etc.

– To provide in-service training of teachers appointed under the scheme.

Infrastructure Development of Minority Institutes(IDMI)

It has been operationalised to augment Infrastructure in Private Aided/Unaided Minority Schools/Institutions in order to enhance the quality of education for minority children.

The salient features of scheme are:

– To facilitate education of minorities by augmenting and strengthening school infrastructure in Minority Institutions.

– To encourage educational facilities for girls, children with special needs and those who are most deprived educationally amongst the minorities.

Only one-fourth of sanctioned solar power projects took off, says Minister

Source: The post is based on the article “Only one-fourth of sanctioned solar power projects took off, says Minister” published in The Hindu on 14th December 2022

What is the News?

The Minister for New and Renewable Energy has informed that only one-fourth of the solar projects sanctioned under the Scheme for Development of Solar Parks and Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects have been completed so far.

Note: India had committed to installing 175,000 MW of renewable energy by 2022 of which 100,000 MW was to be solar power. As of October 2022, 61,000 MW of solar power had been installed so far.

What is the Scheme for Development of Solar Parks and Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects?

Launched in: 2014

Nodal Ministry: Ministry for New and Renewable Energy

Aim: To help solar project developers set up projects in a plug-and-play model.

Key Features of the scheme: The scheme envisages supporting the States/UTs in setting up solar parks at various locations in the country with a view to create the required infrastructure for setting up of solar power projects.

– The capacity of the solar parks shall be 500 MW and above. However, smaller parks are also considered where contiguous land may be difficult to acquire in view of difficult terrain and where there is an acute shortage of non-agricultural land.

– The solar parks are developed in collaboration with the State Governments and their agencies, CPSUs, and private entrepreneurs.

Financial assistance: The scheme provides central financial assistance(CFA) of up to ₹20 lakh per MW or 30% of the project cost including grid-connectivity cost, whichever is lower.

What is the progress of the scheme?

Under the scheme, the government has sanctioned the development of solar projects with a capacity of nearly 39,000 MW. But only one-fourth of these solar projects have actually been commissioned so far.

The key challenges in the implementation of the scheme include: 1) hurdles in the acquisition of land with clear title, 2) a “mismatch” in the time taken to set up a project and the infrastructure to route the power produced to the grid, 3) environmental issues and 4) halt in economic activity due to COVID-19.  

House panel flags ‘casual approach’ of government over setting up disability centres

Source: The post is based on the article “House panel flags ‘casual approach’ of government over setting up disability centres” published in The Hindu on 14th December 2022

What is the News?

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment has released a report on the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities.

What are the key findings of the report?

Firstly, only 55-60 District Disability Rehabilitation Centres(DDRC) have been made functional so far out of the targeted 269 in designated districts. This shows the government’s “somewhat casual” approach to completing its task. 

Secondly, the government was yet to set up dedicated sports training facilities for persons with disabilities(Divyangjan). This is despite the government’s promise of setting up five such facilities in 2014-15.

Thirdly, the government should publicize and make serious efforts to cover as many students as possible under the pre-matriculation, post-matriculation and top-class scholarship schemes for persons with disabilities. In 2021-22, only 16,000 students were paid against 25,000 slots for pre-matric scholarships.

What are District Disability Rehabilitation Centres(DDRC)?

District Disability Rehabilitation Centre(DDRC) is an initiative by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

Aim: To facilitate comprehensive services to Persons with Disabilities in rural areas.  

Services provided: These centers have a group of rehabilitation professionals for providing services like identification of Persons with Disabilities, Awareness Generation, Early Detection, and repairing of Assistive Devices among others.

Setup by: DDRC is a joint venture of Central and State Governments wherein Central Government will establish, initiate, implement the centre for three years involving funding for manpower contingencies as well as required equipment and coordination.  

The State Government will provide provisions for rent-free, well-connected building, monitoring.

Managed by: These centres are run jointly by District Management Team headed by DM/Collector and a reputed NGO (Usually the Indian Red Cross Society). 

Atal Vayo Abhyuday Yojana

Source: The post is based on the article “Atal Vayo Abhyuday Yojana” published in PIB on 13th December 2022

What is the News?

The Minister of State Social Justice and Empowerment has informed Lok Sabha about Atal Vayo Abhyuday Yojana.

What is Atal Vayo Abhyuday Yojana?

Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment

Type: Central Sector Scheme

Aim: To improve the quality of life of the Senior Citizens by providing basic amenities like shelter, food, medical care and entertainment opportunities and by encouraging productive and active ageing through providing support.

Sub Schemes/Components: 1) Integrated Programme for Senior Citizens (IPSrC), 2) State Action Plan for Senior Citizens(SAPSrC), 3) Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana(RVY), 4) Senior Able Citizens for Re-employment in Dignity(SACRED), 5) Action Groups Aimed at Social Reconstruction (AGRASR), 6) Senior-care Aging Growth Engine (SAGE)-Silver economy for Senior Citizens, 7) Elderline – National Helpline for Senior Citizen, 8) Channelizing the CSR fund for elderly care and 9) Training and capacity building for senior citizens.

International travel yet to shake off pandemic blues but students go abroad in record numbers

Source: The post is based on the article “International travel yet to shake off pandemic blues but students go abroad in record numbers” published in The Hindu on 14th December 2022

What is the News?

The Bureau of Immigration(BOI) has released statistics on Indians going abroad in 2022.

Note: The Bureau of Immigration was established in 1971 under the Ministry of Home Affairs. It is responsible for administering immigration-related functions such as immigration facilitation services at airports and foreigner registration. 

How does the Bureau of Immigration(BOI) capture the data on Indians going abroad?

The data on Indians departure and arrival is maintained by BoI by capturing the purpose of travel manually.

The record is based on either the verbal disclosure of passengers or the type of visa of the destination country produced at the time of immigration clearance.

What are the key findings from BOI’s data?

International Travel: International travel whether for employment or tourism or business is yet to fully bounce back to the pre-pandemic level.

– But the number of students going abroad for education has exceeded pre-Covid levels. As many as 6.5 lakh students have gone abroad on student visas up to November 2022. This is an all-time high compared with the student movement figures in the past five years.

Indian Citizens renouncing citizenship: The number of Indians renouncing citizenship has increased significantly in the last few years. The number of Indians who renounced their citizenship was 1.3 lakh in 2017. In 2022, it has increased to 1.83 lakh.

Explained | Will new drug slow the progress of Alzheimer’s?

Source: The post is based on the article “Explained | Will new drug slow the progress of Alzheimer’s?” published in The Hindu on 12th December 2022

What is the News?

Recently, detailed results from a clinical trial involving Lecanemab drug for Alzheimer’s disease were published.  

The findings indicate the drug was effective in slowing cognitive decline for some patients with Alzheimer’s disease potentially representing the first significant treatment advance in decades.  

What is Lecanemab?

Lecanemab is a drug that is currently in clinical trials for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.

Developed by: Pharma companies Biogen and Eisai.

Type: Lecanemab belongs to a class of drugs called monoclonal antibodies. These antibody-mediated drugs target beta-amyloid, the protein deposition that is seen in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and disrupts cell function.

What is Alzheimer disease?

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