Daily Prelims Notes 1 November 2020

November 1, 2020
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

Table Of Contents

Subject : Science & tech

Context : Himachal Pradesh Government has identified around 1400 acres in Una district and sent a proposal to the centre seeking grant to set up a bulk drug park.

Concept :

A bulk drug, also called an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), is the key ingredient of a drug or medicine, which lends it the desired therapeutic effect or produces the intended pharmacological activity. For example, paracetamol is a bulk drug, which acts against pain.
Bulk drugs are mixed with binding agents or solvents to prepare the finished pharmaceutical product, ie a paracetamol tablet, capsule or syrup, which is consumed by the patient.

Promotion of Bulk Drug Parks Scheme

Number of Parks: The government aims to develop 3 mega Bulk Drug parks in India in partnership with States.
Funding: Government of India will give Grants-in-Aid to States with a maximum limit of Rs. 1000 Crore per Bulk Drug Park.
A sum of Rs. 3,000 crore has been approved for this scheme for next 5 years.
Facilities: Parks will have common facilities such as solvent recovery plant, distillation plant, power & steam units, common effluent treatment plant etc.
Need of the Scheme: Despite being 3rd largest in the world by volume the Indian pharmaceutical industry is significantly dependent on import of basic raw materials, viz., Bulk Drugs that are used to produce medicines. In some specific bulk drugs the import dependence is 80 to 100%.
Objectives: The scheme is expected to reduce manufacturing cost of bulk drugs in the country and dependency on other countries for bulk drugs.
The scheme will also help in providing continuous supply of drugs and ensure delivery of affordable healthcare to the citizens.
Implementation: The scheme will be implemented by State Implementing Agencies (SIA) to be set up by the respective State Governments.

2. ASTEROID PSYCHE 16

Subject : Science & tech

Context : A recent study has found that asteroid 16 Psyche, which orbits between Mars and Jupiter, could be made entirely of metal and is worth an estimated $10,000 quadrillion — more than the entire economy of Earth.

Concept :

It is an iron rich asteroid
Psyche asteroid has diameter in excess of 125 miles and is almost entirely composed of iron and nickel
Scientists believe Psyche to be a protoplanet i.e. its entire body consisting of what one day could be the core of a new planet.
NASA has approved a mission to study it.

3. DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME

Subject : Science & tech

Context : Clocks in the US will “fall back” an hour on Sunday, signalling the end of Daylight Saving Time (DST) this year. In Europe, the same happened on October 25.

Concept :

Daylight Saving Time (DST)

DST is the practice of setting the clocks forward one hour from standard time during the summer months, and back again in the fall, in order to make better use of natural daylight.
It is in use during the period from spring to autumn (or fall), when Europe and the United States get an extra hour of daylight in the evening.

Why use DST?

No daylight is of course, actually ‘saved’ — rather, the idea is to make better use of daylight.
So when it is autumn (or fall) in the Northern Hemisphere, and days are typically beginning to become shorter and nights longer, clocks are moved back an hour.
The rationale behind setting clocks ahead of standard time during springtime was to ensure that clocks showed a later sunrise and a later sunset — in effect, a longer evening daytime.
Individuals were expected to wake up an hour earlier than usual, and complete their daily work routines an hour earlier.
The governments decide to in effect transfer an hour of daylight from evening to morning, when it is assumed to be of greater use to most people.

Who uses DST?

Countries around the equator (in Africa, South America, and southeast Asia) do not usually follow DST; there isn’t much variation in the daylight they receive round the year in any case.
India does not have a DST, even though there are large parts of the country where winter days are shorter.
Most Gulf countries do not use DST — during the holy month of Ramzan, this could mean delaying the breaking of the fast for longer.
Morocco has DST, but suspends it during Ramzan. However, Iran has DST, and stays with it even during Ramzan.
Countries in East Asia and Africa mostly do not have a system of DST.

4. STREET VENDORS ACT

Subject : Legislation

Context : There are an estimated 50-60 lakh street vendors in India, with the largest concentrations in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Ahmedabad.

Most of them are migrants who typically work for 10–12 hours every day on average.

Concept :

Street Vendors have been defined to include ‘any person engaged in vending of articles, goods, food etc or offering services to the general public in a street lane, sidewalk, footpath, pavement, public park, or any other public or private area. It includes hawkers, peddlers, and squatters.
Any person above 14 years of age, who is a street vendor has to register him/herself with the Town Vending Committee (TVC).
The TVC shall have a 40% representation from street vendors and another 10% from civil society. The remaining would be represented by local authorities, residential associations etc,.
Every street vendor has to obtain a certificate of vending from TVC, for which he/she will be issued with an identity card.
The local authorities shall frame a street vending plan, which shall be revised every 5 years. The plan should contain free vending zones, restricted vending zones, and no-vending zones.
The local authorities can relocate the street vendors in case of causing a public nuisance. The relocated street vendor shall be provided a new site for vending.
The local authority is also empowered to confiscate the goods of the vendors in the manner specified in the street vending scheme.
The duties of the local authority to include monitoring and supervising the street vendor scheme, monitoring the effectiveness of the TVC and deciding appeals.
There is also a provision to provide credit insurance and welfare schemes to the street vendors by the appropriate government.
There is a provision for independent Grievance Redressal Mechanism composing a retired judicial officer.

5. D614G MUTATION

Subject: Science & tech

Context: While novel coronavirus is undergoing many mutations, one particular mutation called D614G, according to a study, has become the dominant variant

Concept:

All viruses mutate to adapt to the barriers that humans put up. RNA viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 mutate slowly as they require a host (human cell) in order to replicate.
Until now, 12,000 mutations have been documented in over 3.2 crore cases globally. One mutation has been found the most widespread.
It was first noticed in China and Germany, but gained attention when it cropped up in several cases across Europe, and eventually in the US, Canada, Australia and India.
In this mutation, glycine (G) replaces aspartic acid (D) in the 614th position in the amino acid. Hence the mutation came to be referred as ‘D614G’.

What Are Mutations ?

The DNA sequence is specific to each organism. It can sometimes undergo changes in its base-pairs sequence. It is termed as a mutation. A mutation may lead to changes in proteins translated by the DNA. Usually, the cells can recognize any damage caused by mutation and repair it before it becomes permanent.

What makes this mutation unlike others?

To understand this, we must understand how SARS-CoV-2 enters a human cell. The amino acids where mutation occurs are located in the spike protein of the virus. The spike proteins binds with the ACE2 receptor on the human cell and gains entry.
Scientist in CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, explained, “It is the peptides in the spike protein that lock with the ACE2 receptor. In D614G mutation, two of the three peptides open up, making chances of entry into human cell higher.
Because its nature allows a better chance of entering a host cell than other mutated strains, D614G has a higher rate of transmission.
GISAID, a global virus database that has documented all circulating strains of SARS-CoV2, shows that the mutated strain gained prominence from March onwards in Europe.

6. GALAXY

Subject: Science & tech

Context: Spiral galaxy bars may prevent new stars.

Concept:

A galaxy is a sprawling space system which is composed of stars, dust, interstellar gas, stellar remnants, and dark matter and all held together by gravity.
The universe has many galaxies, and each carries millions of stars which are bounded by a unique force known as gravitational force. The solar system where our earth exists is in the Milky Way Galaxy.
Galaxies differ from each other in shape, size, colour and composition. There are three types of galaxies that we find in the universe.

Types of Galaxies:

Elliptical Galaxies

These type of galaxies are like flattened balls of old stars and contain very little gas. It also includes the most massive galaxies containing a trillion stars.

Spiral Galaxies

Spiral galaxies have a flattened the shape. They have a bulge in the centre composed of old stars surrounded by a disk of young stars and are arranged in spiral arms.

Irregular Galaxies

As its name suggests, Irregular Galaxies have no particular shape. There are billions of galaxies in the universe, the centre of the galaxy releases a huge amount of heat, radiation, radio waves and x-rays.

7. COVAX VACCINE

Subject: Science & tech

Context: India’s potential participation in COVAX advance market commitment is under way.

Concept:

COVAX is one of three pillars of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, which was launched in April 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Commission and France in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The ACT Accelerator is a framework for collaboration to accelerate the development, production, and equitable access to Covid-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines. It is built on three main pillars: Vaccines (COVAX), Therapeutics, and Diagnostics.
COVAX is an effort to ensure that people in all corners of the world will get access to Covid-19 vaccines once they are available, regardless of their wealth.
The initial aim is to have 2 billion doses available by the end of 2021, which should be enough to protect high risk and vulnerable people, as well as frontline healthcare workers.
It is co-led by Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), working in partnership with developed and developing country vaccine manufacturers.
The COVAX facility continually monitors the Covid-19 vaccine landscape to identify the most suitable vaccine candidates, based on scientific merit and scalability, and works with manufacturers to incentivise them to expand their production capacity in advance of vaccines receiving regulatory approval.
Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC), a mechanism within the COVAX facility, is to ensure that the 92 middle- and lower-income countries that cannot fully afford to pay for Covid-19 vaccines themselves get equal access to Covid-19 vaccines as higher-income self-financing countries and at the same time.
India is a Gavi beneficiary and will, therefore, receive a certain proportion of the vaccines from the COVAX facility.

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

Created in 2000, Gavi is an international organisation – a global Vaccine Alliance, bringing together public and private sectors with the shared goal of creating equal access to new and underused vaccines for children living in the world’s poorest countries.
Its core partners include the WHO, UNICEF, the World Bank and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
In June 2019, the Gavi Board approved a new five-year strategy (‘Gavi 5.0’) with a vision to ‘leave no-one behind with immunisation’ and a mission to save lives and protect people’s health by increasing equitable and sustainable use of vaccines.

Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations

CEPI is a global partnership launched in 2017 to develop vaccines to stop future epidemics.
CEPI was founded in Davos (Switzerland) by the governments of Norway and India, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Welcome Trust, and the World Economic Forum.

8. ROSHINI SCHEME

Subject: Govt Schemes

Context: Jammu and Kashmir administration decided to annul all actions taken under the Roshni land scheme and announced that it will cancel mutations and retrieve all land sanctioned under the scheme within six months.

This was so because it failed to realize the desired objectives and there were also reports of misuse of some its provisions.

Concept :

The Roshni Act envisaged the transfer of ownership rights of state land to its occupants, subject to the payment of a cost, as determined by the government.
It set 1990 as the cutoff for encroachment on state land.
The government’s target was to earn Rs 25,000 crore by transferring 20 lakh kanals (one-eighth of an acre) of state land to existing occupants against payment at market rates.
The government said the revenue generated would be spent on commissioning hydroelectric power projects, hence the name “Roshni”.

9. LINE OF ACTUAL CONTROL

Subject: Security

Context: Any attempt to unilaterally change status quo unacceptable, says Foreign Affairs Minister.

Concept:

The Line of Actual Control (LAC) is the demarcation that separates Indian-controlled territory from Chinese-controlled territory.
India considers the LAC to be 3,488 km long, while the Chinese consider it to be only around 2,000 km.
It is divided into three sectors: the eastern sector which spans Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim (1346 km), the middle sector in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh (545 km), and the western sector in Ladakh (1597 km).
The alignment of the LAC in the eastern sector is along the 1914 McMahon Line.
The McMohan line marked out previously unclaimed/undefined borders between Britain and Tibet.
The middle sector is the least disputed sector, while the western sector witnesses the highest transgressions between the two sides.

Disagreements:

India’s claim line is different from that of the LAC. It is the line seen in the official boundary marked on the maps as released by the Survey of India, including Aksai Chin (occupied by China).
In China’s case, LAC corresponds mostly to its claim line, but in the eastern sector, it claims the entire Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet.

10. SEAPLANE SERVICE

Subject: Current Events

Context: SpiceJet gets 3,000 bookings for seaplane service.

Concept:

India’s first seaplane project:

India’s first seaplane service in Gujarat is set to begin from 31 October, the anniversary of SardarVallabhbhai Patel.
It will connect Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad to the Statue of Unity in Kevadia.
The service will be operated by Spicejet Airlines.

Significance of seaplane projects and the potential:

Given the large and small waterbodies that dot the country, India provides an ideal opportunity for seaplane operations.
Unlike a conventional aircraft, a seaplane can land both on a waterbody and on land, thereby opening up more opportunities for business and tourism.
Such projects provide faster and hassle free travel option for the long, treacherous and hilly regions of the country.

Regulation

Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) will manage the Project of Seaplane in Inland Waterways and Sagarmala Development Company Limited (SDCL) will manage the Projects of seaplane in Coastal Areas.
IWAI and SDCL will coordinate with the Ministry of Shipping, flight operators, Ministry of Tourism as well as DGCA.