Daily Prelims Notes 10 January 2021

January 10, 2021
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

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Daily Prelims Notes 10 January 2021

By

Santosh Sir

All 6 Prelims qualified

4 CSE Mains qualified

If I can do it, you can too

Table Of Contents

1. Priority list for Covid-19 Vaccination

Subject: National and International events

Context: With India approving two vaccine for Covid-19 the next challenge is roll out for which now government has come out with the order of priority for vaccination.

Concept:

Priority will be in following order:

3 crore healthcare workers and frontline workers
Those above 50 years of age and
That under-50 with co-morbidities
- However, it also said rollout in these three priority groups will be guided by vaccine availability and won’t be “necessarily sequential”.
- Operational guidelines given to the states, the prioritization of groups will depend on the “disease incidence and prevailing pandemic”
- Rolling out of vaccine for states with high incidence of cases (Ex- Maharashtra and Kerala)
- Every eligible person for Covid vaccination needs to be registered on Co-WIN app and a mechanism has been created to mark out different priority groups (use will be made of voter list).
- The DM, helped by the District Immunization Officer, will link sessions sites, vaccinators, supervisors and beneficiaries and decide the date and time for the vaccination session.
- Multi-level governance mechanism: Block Task Force will check all proposed sites and the District Task Force will check a sample of the sites to ensure that required space, infrastructure, including security

2. UAPA

Subject: National Legislations

Context: PDP youth wing leader Waheed Ur Rehman Para was Saturday granted bail by Special Judge Sunit Gupta, holding that “offences, particularly falling under Unlawful Activities Act (UAPA), are not prima facie made out against the applicant/accused”.

Concept:

Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act:

Passed in 1967, the law aims at effective prevention of unlawful activities associations in India.
The Act assigns absolute power to the central government, by way of which if the Centre deems an activity as unlawful then it may, by way of an Official Gazette, declare it so.
It has death penalty and life imprisonment as highest punishments.
Under UAPA, both Indian and foreign nationals can be charged. It will be applicable to the offenders in the same manner, even if crime is committed on a foreign land, outside India.
Under the UAPA, the investigating agency can file a charge sheet in maximum 180 days after the arrests and the duration can be extended further after intimating the court.

Amendments and changes:

The 2004 amendment, added “terrorist act” to the list of offences to ban organisations for terrorist activities, under which 34 outfits were banned. Till 2004, “unlawful” activities referred to actions related to secession and cession of territory.
In August, Parliament cleared the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019 to designate individuals as terrorists on certain grounds provided in the Act.
The Act empowers the Director General of National Investigation Agency (NIA) to grant approval of seizure or attachment of property when the case is investigated by the said agency.
The Act empowers the officers of the NIA, of the rank of Inspector or above, to investigate cases of terrorism in addition to those conducted by the DSP or ACP or above rank officer in the state.

3. Quality Council of India (QCI)

Subject: Institutions

Context: EDMC got open-defecation free tag by QCI.

Concept:

Third-party inspection’ conducted by the Quality Council of India (QCI) on behalf of Union government’s Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
Exercise was part of the nationwide Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)
A QCI team surveyed 17 spots in the trans-Yamuna area — an amalgam of slums, residential colonies, markets and school premises — and found no evidence of human excreta lying in the open
Roko Toko’ and ‘SeetiBajao’ campaigns has been used in region.
The certificate is renewed every six months based on mandatory re-evaluation by QCI. A total of 3,246 Urban Local Bodies in India has been declared ODF by the MoHUA. The central government aims to make India 100% open defecation-free by October 2, 2019

About QCI:

QCI was set up in 1997 as an autonomous body attached to the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
The Chairman of QCI: Appointed by the Prime Minister on recommendation of the industry to the government.
Mandate: Establish and operate the National Accreditation Structure (NAS) for conformity assessment bodies and providing accreditation in the field of health, education and quality promotion.
National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB) and National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) are two accreditation boards of the QCI.
These two bodies work closely to support the Government and regulators to ensure that the data provided by accredited conformity assessment bodies is robust, reliable, trustworthy in terms of decision making, compliance testing and standards setting.
Indian industry is represented in QCI by three premier industry associations namely ASSOCHAM, CII and FICCI.

4. Pravasi Bhartiya Divas

Subject: Important national events

Context: PM addressed inaugural address to the 16th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention.

Concept:

PM emphasized on country’s diversity and the importance of the Indian diaspora abroad.
Suriname President Chandrikapersad ‘Chan’ Santokhi, was the chief guest at the function.
Indian diaspora has important role in strengthening the identity of Brand India as part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat.

About Pravasi Bhartiya Divas

PravasiBharatiya Divas (PBD) is celebrated on 9th January every year to mark the contribution of Overseas Indian community in the development of India.
January 9 is special since it was on this day in 1915 that Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest Pravasi, returned to India from South Africa, led India’s freedom struggle and changed the lives of Indians forever.
Since 2003 it is celebrated each year and since 2015 once in two years.
It acts as a platform to the overseas Indian community to engage with the government and people of the land of their ancestors for mutually beneficial activities.
It also provides platform for sharing their experience in various fields.
It is sponsored by sponsored by the Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the Confederation of Indian Industries and the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region.

5. Immunogenicity

Subject: Science and technology

Context: The term has been news for vaccines for Covid-19 being approved and these being tested for immunogenicity as well.

Concept:

Immunogenicity is the ability of a foreign substance, such as an antigen, to provoke an immune response in the body of a human or other animal.
It results from biomaterial being detected by the body’s immune system as a foreign object.
A biochemical cascade then occurs, whereby T-helper cells (these are arguably the most important cells in adaptive immunity, as they are required for almost all adaptive immune responses) migrate towards the biomaterial. This immune response can result in rejection of the biomaterial, and non-union between the biomaterial and the wound site.
It is of two types:

1. Wanted immunogenicity: It is used in case of vaccines, where the injection of an antigen (the vaccine) provokes an immune response against the pathogen (virus, bacteria), protecting the organism from future exposure.
2. Unwanted immunogenicity: It is an immune response by an organism against a therapeutic antigen (ex. recombinant protein, or monoclonal antibody). This reaction leads to production of anti-drug-antibodies (ADAs) inactivating the therapeutic effects of the treatment and, in rare cases, inducing adverse effects.

6. AVIAN INFLUENZA

Subject: Science and Tech

Context:

Avian influenza, popularly known as bird flu, has been reported from Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh in recent weeks.

Concept:

Avian influenza, known informally as avian flu or bird flu, is a variety of influenza caused by viruses adapted to birds.

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI):

The two virus types identified so far in the outbreaks — H5N1 and H5N8come under the category of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), which is of major concern to those keeping birds, because it leads to disease and death of fowl and causes economic havoc. H5N1 is a known threat to humans as well

Out of the three types of influenza viruses (A, B, and C), influenza A virus is a zoonotic infection with a natural reservoir almost entirely in birds. Avian influenza, for most purposes, refers to the influenza A virus.

Though influenza A is adapted to birds, it can also stably adapt and sustain person-to-person transmission.

MODE OF TRANSMISSION:

Avian influenza is most often spread by contact between infected and healthy birds, though can also be spread indirectly through contaminated equipment.

The virus is found in secretions from the nostrils, mouth, and eyes of infected birds as well as their droppings.

HPAI infection is spread to people often through direct contact with infected poultry, such as during slaughter or plucking.

IS THIS INFLUENZA AIRBORNE?

Though the virus can spread through airborne secretions, the disease itself is not an airborne disease.

HUMAN TO HUMAN TRANSMISSION:

In its present form, human-to-human infection is not known — human infections have been reported only among people who have handled infected birds or carcasses.

7. METEORITE

Subject: Science and Tech

Context:

Researchers have decoded the nature of a meteorite that fell near Jaipur in 2017.

Concept:

A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or moon.

When the original object enters the atmosphere, various factors such as friction, pressure, and chemical interactions with the atmospheric gases cause it to heat up and radiate energy.

It then becomes a meteor and forms a fireball, also known as a shooting star or falling star.

There are three main types of meteorites:

Iron meteorites: which are almost completely made of metal.
Stony-iron meteorites: which have nearly equal amounts of metal and silicate crystals.
Stony meteorites: which mostly have silicate minerals.

Why study of a meteorite is important?

Studying meteorites are helpful because they contain a record of our solar system’s history going back some 4.6 billion years.

By studying meteorites, we can learn details about how our solar system evolved into the Sun and planets of today and how meteorite impacts could affect our future.

Findings from the study of meteorite that fell in Jaipur:

This is a type of stony meteorite, considered the most primitive meteorite and a remnant of the first solid bodies to accrete in the solar system. The composition of carbonaceous chondrites are also similar to the Sun, according to researchers

8. Quantum entanglement

Subject: Science and Tech

Context:

Recognising the importance of quantum technology, the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India had initiated a programme called QuEST at a modest 200- crore-rupee budget to explore the possibilities and engage with the researchers.

Concept:

Quantum entanglement is a physical phenomenon that occurs when a pair or group of particles is generated, interact, or share spatial proximity in a way such that the quantum state of each particle of the pair or group cannot be described independently of the state of the others, including when the particles are separated by a large distance. Entanglement is a primary feature of quantum mechanics lacking in classical mechanics.

Potential Uses of Entanglement:

Entanglement has many applications in quantum information theory. With the aid of entanglement, otherwise impossible tasks may be achieved.

Among the best-known applications of entanglement are super dense coding and quantum teleportation.
Most researchers believe that entanglement is necessary to realize quantum computing.
Entanglement is used in some protocols of quantum cryptography.
This is because the “shared noise” of entanglement makes for an excellent one-time pad.
Moreover, since measurement of either member of an entangled pair destroys the entanglement they share, entanglement-based quantum cryptography allows the sender and receiver to more easily detect the presence of an interceptor.
In interferometry, entanglement is necessary for surpassing the standard quantum limit and achieving the Heisenberg limit.