Daily Prelims Notes 14 September 2022

Daily Prelims Notes

14 September 2022

Table Of Contents

1. Constitutional Monarchy
2. Registered Unrecognized Political Parties declared inactive
3. Dependency population
4. National Dairy Development Board (NDDB)
5. Inflation
6. National List of Essential Medicines: 34 drugs enlisted in an update after 7 years
7. Cheetah Reintroduction in India
8. Arattupuzha Velayudha Panicker
9. Dengue Vaccine
10. The ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work
11. Deoband
12. Won’t interfere in Bengal govt.’s grant for Durga Puja, says Calcutta HC
13. SCO
14. Parliamentary Committee
15. Investments bogged down by rising capital cost, easing competitive pressure
16. World Health Organization new framework on life science
17. Major and minor ports
18. India and China confirm withdrawal of troops from PP-15 in Ladakh

1. Constitutional Monarchy

Subject: Polity

Context: King Charles III’s address to the British Parliament on Monday, and almost all his public statements and actions since the death of Queen Elizabeth are about upholding Britain’s system of constitutional monarchy.

Concept:

• Britain does not have a single constitutional document like the one ratified by the United States in 1788. It still has laws and carefully documented traditions that together form a constitution, one that binds the king.
• These rules have accumulated in centuries of legislation and a surrounding mass of convention.

Constitutional Monarchy:

• Constitutional monarchy is a system of government in which a monarch shares power with a constitutionally organized government.
• The monarch may be the de facto head of state or a purely ceremonial leader, who only performs the formalities but does not have real power as the Prime Minister.
• The constitution allocates the rest of the government’s power to the legislature and judiciary.
• Countries with Constitutional monarchies include England, Belgium, Cambodia, Jordan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Thailand.

British Constitutional Monarchy

• The British Monarchy is a constitutional monarchy, because being the Sovereign is Head of State, the ability to make and pass legislation resides with an elected Parliament.
• The British monarch reigns but does not rule that means in spite of being head of the state he/she does not have Real Power.
• The monarch has to remain strictly neutral with respect to political matters.

Roles and Powers:

Appointment of Prime Minister and government:

• The Monarch appoints the Prime Minister who enjoys the majority support of MPs.
• Once the leader of a party wins general elections, the Head of State invites them to Buckingham Palace to form the government.
• The discretionary power to appoint or dismiss a Prime Minister no longer lies with the monarch.

Opening the Parliament:

• The Monarch opens the Parliamentary year with the State Opening Ceremony, during which he/she delivers an address about the executive’s planned policies and priorities in the House of Lords.

Assenting legislation:

• The sovereign gives his/her Royal Assent to the bills passed in the House of Lords nd Commons but that is now essentially a rubber-stamping exercise as the last time a bill denied the Royal Assent was in 1707 by Queen Anne.

Commonwealth Realms:

• The Monarch is also the head of the Commonwealth of Nations, an association which is a product of the erstwhile British empire.
• It consists of 56 independent nations. Gabon and Tago are the recent joinees in commonwealth.

2. Registered Unrecognized Political Parties declared inactive

Subject : Polity

Context: As part of its action for ensuring due compliance by Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPPs), the Election Commission of India (ECI) led by Chief Election Commissioner, Rajiv Kumar, has delisted 86 non-existent RUPPs and declared another 253 as ‘Inactive RUPPs’.

Concept:

What are Registered Unrecognized Political Parties? 

A newly registered parties or those which have not secured enough percentage of votes in the assembly or general elections to become a state party, or those which have never contested elections since being registered are considered unrecognised parties. Such parties don’t enjoy all the benefits extended to the recognised parties.

Registration of political parties

• A party seeking registration has to submit an application to the Commission within a period of 30 days following the date of its formation as per guidelines by the Commission under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
• According to the 13 (ii) (e) guidelines for registration of political parties issued by the Commission for condition of registration declares that party must contest an election conducted by the Election Commission within five years of its registration and thereafter should continue to contest. (If the Party does not contest elections continuously for six years, the Party shall be taken off the list of registered parties).

Compliances for RUPPs:

• Section 29 C of RP Act 1951 requires a RUPP to furnish a contribution report as prescribed in Form 24 A under Rule 85 B of Conduct of Election Rules 1961. Such contributions are exempted from the provisions of Income Tax as an incentive to the parties for strengthening the electoral democracy.
• Every Political Party registered, under  section 29 A (6), must contest an election conducted by the Election Commission within 5 years of its registration.
• As per statutory requirements under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, every political party has to communicate any change in its name, head office, office-bearers, address, PAN etc. to the Commission without delay.

Symbols for RUPPs 

•  Only parties that are recognised by the ECI can reserve symbols for their own exclusive use.
• Unrecognised parties can pick from any unreserved or free symbols. The para 10 B (A) 5 of the symbol order gives the privilege of a common symbol which is given based upon an undertaking by the RUPP that the said RUPP will put up at least 5 percent of total candidates with regard to said legislative assembly election of a State.
• Taking common symbol and then not contesting elections is also a matter of grave concern are ruled out by delisted and not entitled  to avail any benefit of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968..

De register Vs Inactive

Deregistration:

• The ECI is not empowered to de-register parties on the grounds of violating the Constitution or breaching the undertaking given to it at the time of registration.
• A party can only be de-registered if its registration was obtained by fraud; if it is declared illegal by the Central Government; or if a party amends its internal Constitution and notifies the ECI that it can no longer abide by the Indian Constitution.

Grounds of declaring inactive: 

• These RUPPs that have failed to comply with the statutory requirements for more than 16 compliance steps and are continuing to default

RUPPs found to be non-existent either after a physical verification carried out by the respective chief electoral officers of concerned states/UTs or based on report of undelivered letters/notices from the postal authority sent to the registered address of the concerned RUPP.

3. Dependency population

Subject: Geography

Given its demographic profile, India is uniquely placed to provide services to ageing societies of the developed world.

Concept:

Dependency ratio

• It is the ratio of persons in the ages defined as dependent (under 15 years and over 64 years) to persons in the ages defined as economically productive (15-64 years) in a population.
  • This demographic indicator gives insight into the number of people of non-working age, compared with the number of those of working age.
• Dependency Ratio is also sometimes called Total Dependency Ratio.
  •  It is made up of two different ratios viz. Youth Dependency Ratio and Age Dependency Ratio.
  • The youth dependency ratio includes those only under 15, and the elderly dependency ratio focuses on those over 64.
• A high dependency ratio means those of working age, and the overall economy, face a greater burden in supporting the aging population.
• A dropping Total Fertility Rate reduces the dependency ratio, as there are fewer children below working age dependent on the working population.
• A lower dependency ratio should ideally result in higher economic growth, as there is a large section of people working, saving and investing.
• Improving living standards and medical advances over the past 40-50 years have prolonged life spans, thereby skewing the dependency ratio at the other end of the age spectrum.

Trends in dependency ratio:

• According to the UN, by 2050, 1 in 6 people in the world will be over 65, up from 1 in 11 in 2019.

• Dependency ratios in high-income countries– are steadily increasing – on an average at 55 per cent of the total population.

• To counter the challenge of rising dependency ratio- developed nations are focussing on artificial intelligence (AI), Industry 4.0, etc., which could reduce the required human interventions
• Higher dependency ratio in high income country-India’s opportunity
  • Economic dividend– by providing working professionals and services export to  developed countries.
    • Japan -an agreement under the Specified Skilled Workers (SSW) programme to onboard trained nurses from India.
    •  Kerala – provide free European language training to tribal nursing professionals to help them migrate.
    • India is the world’s largest recipient of remittances with  receipts stood at $87 billion in 2021.

4. National Dairy Development Board (NDDB)

Subject :Schemes

NDDB Dairy Services, a subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), has successfully conducted field trials of sex-sorted semen usage.

Concept:

The sex-sorting semen technology

• The reproductive system of cattle is similar to humans. Cows carry XX chromosomes while bull semen carries both X and Y. If the egg is fertilized with an ‘X’ chromosome, a female calf is born and if with ‘Y’, a male is born.
• There are two techniques to produce sexed semen:
  • Sorting process– In this,  ‘X’ and ‘Y’ chromosomes are separated. ‘X’ is retained and ‘Y’ discarded.
  • In vitro killing– In this, ‘Y’ chromosomes are altogether killed.
• Sex-sorting semen technology in details:
  • Sexed semen is specially processed semen of bulls from which ‘Y’ chromosomes in sperm cells are either removed through a ‘sorting’ process or killed.
  • Semen which has only ‘X’ chromosomes can ensure that a female calf is born.
  • Cows are impregnated using sexed semen through the artificial insemination process with consumption of one straw per cow.
• Success rate-Sexed semen assures 90 per cent female births not 100 percent.
  •  In 10 percent cases, a male calf might be born despite using sexed semen because even after sorting/killing, some Y chromosomes may pass.

National Dairy Development Board (NDDB)

• It was founded in 1965 to replace exploitation with empowerment, tradition with modernity, stagnation with growth, transforming dairying into an instrument for the development of India’s rural people.
• The National Dairy Development Board, initially registered as a society under the Societies Act 1860, was merged with the erstwhile Indian Dairy Corporation, a company formed and registered under the Companies Act 1956, by the NDDB Act 1987, with effect from 12 October, 1987.
• The NDDB is an institute of national importance established by an act of the Indian Parliament and thus is a statutory body. 
• National Dairy Development Board located at– Anand, Gujarat (HQ)
• It is under the Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries
• It was founded by Dr Verghese Kurien, often called ‘India’s milkman’.
• It was set up to replicate the success of Amul to the whole of India.
  • NDDB was created to boost, finance and support producer-owned and controlled organisations in the dairy industry.
  • Its activities and programmes are aimed at augmenting farmer-owned institutions and it also supports national policies that are inclined towards the growth of such organisations.
  • Its major success is Operation Flood-which ran from 1970 to 1996 (26 years) and transformed India into the largest producer of milk in the world. This is also called the White Revolution.
  • The Board has integrated more than 1 lakh dairy cooperatives in the ‘Anand Pattern’.
    • Under this, the village-level society is linked to the state dairy federation in a three-tier structure.
  • The NDDB also  implementing the National Dairy Plan (NDP)
• NDDB’s subsidiaries include Mother Dairy, Indian Immunologicals Ltd., Hyderabad (IIL), Indian Dairy Machinery Company Ltd, Anand (IDMC) and NDDB Dairy Services.

National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC)

• It is involved in planning, promoting, coordinating and financing of cooperative development programmes at the national level.
• It provides financial and technical support to cooperative institutions of farmers and other weaker sections associated with agriculture and allied rural economic activities.
• NCDC’s strategy is to strengthen and develop these institutions to enable them to serve their members and to maintain a sustained growth in their income.

Brief history of the public authority

• All-India Rural Credit Survey Committee constituted by Government of India, which submitted its report in 1954, recommended that the Government of India should set up a statutory Corporation with a mandate to spearhead development of rural economic activities, other than rural credit, in the cooperative sector.
• Thus, the National Cooperative Development and Warehousing Board (NCDWB) came into being in 1956. In 1963, the Warehousing activity was separated and on 14th March, 1963 National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) was established as a nodal organization for meeting the post-harvest requirements of farmers through cooperative societies.
• The NCDC Act underwent several amendments subsequently in the years1973, 1974 and 1975, broad basing its jurisdiction, constitution of management and its activities and sources of fund mobilization.
• The NCDC Act was further amended in 2002, enabling widening of its activities to cover additional services, rural industries and non farm sector activities under its umbrella of funding. The amendment also enabled NCDC to lend directly to cooperative societies, provided security to the satisfaction of the Corporation is furnished by the borrowing cooperatives.

Duties

The functions of the Corporation shall be to plan, promote and finance programmes, through cooperative societies, for :-

the production, processing, marketing, storage, export and import of agricultural produce, foodstuffs, poultry feed and notified commodities;

the collection, processing, marketing, storage and export of minor forest produce; and

development of notified services.

List of services being provided by the public authority with a brief write up on them

The services provided are as under: –

• advance loans or grant subsidies to State Governments for financing cooperative societies for implementing programmes of cooperative development;
• provide funds to State Governments for financing cooperative societies for the purchase of agricultural produce, foodstuffs, livestock, poultry feed, industrial goods, notified commodities and notified services on behalf of the Central Government;
• plan and promote programmes through cooperative societies for the supply of seeds, manures, fertilizers, agricultural implements and other articles for the development of agricultural produce.
• provide loans and grants directly to the national level cooperative societies and other cooperative societies having objects extended beyond one State;
• provide loans to cooperative societies on the guarantee of State Governments or in the case of cooperative societies in the Union Territories
• participate in the share capital of the national level cooperative societies and other cooperative societies having objects extending beyond one State.

5. Inflation

Subject :Economy

Since January 2022, rural retail inflation has never been lower than urban numbers in the country.

Details:

• In 2021, rural inflation was higher than urban inflation just once in 2021, (May 2021) and for eight months in 2020.
• West Bengal showed the highest inflation rate at 8.94 per cent.
  • Rural inflation at 10.29 per cent, the highest in the country, compared to 7.42 per cent in urban areas.

Causes for high CPI inflation in rural areas:

• Food products have a weight of approximately 54 per cent in rural versus almost 36 per cent in urban.
  • Inflation for food is almost the same for both – rural 7.5 and urban 7.6 per cent, given the weights, there is an upward thrust to rural inflation.
  • Cereals, milk, fruits and spices showed higher inflation rates in rural markets, compared to urban ones.
    • Cereals -10.08% vs 8.65%
    • Fruits– 8.67% vs 5.98%
    • Milk and milk products -6.67% vs 6.05%
    • Spices-15.19% vs 14.41%
• Accessing fuel and light has also become costly for rural and urban populations.
  • The inflation rate for fuel was 5.58 per cent in rural areas and 6.84 per cent in urban areas.
• Pulses, sugar and confectionery, non-alcoholic beverages, food and beverages and clothing showed a similar increase in inflation rates.

Concept:

• The Price Statistics Division (PSD) of the National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) started compiling Consumer Price Index (CPI) separately for rural, urban, and combined sectors on monthly basis with Base Year (2010=100) for all India and States/UTs with effect from January 2011.
• Components: 

6. National List of Essential Medicines: 34 drugs enlisted in an update after 7 years

Subject: Government schemes

Introduction-

• The latest National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) released on September 13, 2022, by the Union health ministry added 34 new medicines and dropped 26 old ones from the previous list.
• A total of 384 medicines feature on NLEM 2022 under 27 therapeutic categories.
• This revised list has come out after a gap of seven years.

Aims and objectives-

• Its primary aim is to promote the rational use of medicines considering three important aspects — cost, safety and efficacy.
• “The concept is based on the premise that a limited list of carefully selected medicines will improve quality of healthcare, provide cost-effective healthcare and better management of medicines.”

Types of drugs included are-

• Typically, once NLEM is released, the department of pharmaceuticals under the ministry of chemicals and fertilisers adds them to the Drug Price Control Order, after which NPPA fixes the price.
• However, this year a standing committee was put in place to ensure some essential medicines are “adequately available at lower prices”.

• The list includes anti-infective medicines to treat diabetes such as insulin — HIV, tuberculosis, cancer, contraceptives, hormonal medicines and anaesthetics.

Factors for inclusion of a drug in the list-

• Several factors influence the decision to include a drug in the NLEM.
• Exactly how essential the medicine is is key.
• But that is not all. As per the 2015 regulations, “every medicine may be necessary or even critical for specific disease conditions for which it is indicated. But in the context of NLEM, a medicine may be essential considering the population at large and should fit into the definition mentioned earlier.”
• A changing disease burden also impacted the decision-making process. Other factors include efficacy, safety and cost-effectiveness.
• A drug is removed from NLEM if another medicine performs better in terms of these above-mentioned factors.

Need for the NLEM-

• Drugs listed under NLEM — also known as scheduled drugs — will be cheaper because the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) caps medicine prices and changes only based on wholesale price index-based inflation.
• They account for 17-18 per cent of the estimated Rs 1.6-trillion domestic pharmaceutical market. Companies selling non-scheduled drugs can hike prices by up to 10 per cent every year.

Importance of NLEM-

• NLEM plays an important role in ensuring the accessibility of affordable quality medicines at all levels of healthcare.
• This will give a boost to cost-effective, quality medicines and contribute towards a reduction inOut of Pocket Expenditure on healthcare for the citizens.
• This is critical because the recently released National Health Accounts Estimates 2018-19 point to a high burden on households to pay for healthcare, which is a key reason pushing Indians into poverty.
• In Uttar Pradesh for example, out-of-pocket health expenditure accounts for 71.3 per cent of the state’s total health expenditure. For India, the figure was 48.2 per cent.

7. Cheetah Reintroduction in India

Subject :Environment

Context : Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park to host eight cheetahs arriving from Namibia. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release three cheetahs — two male siblings and a female — into the enclosure Saturday to launch the re-introduction of the species in India.

Concept :

Reintroduction Action Plan

• ‘Reintroduction’ of a species means releasing it in an area where it is capable of surviving.
• Under the plan, 50 Cheetahs will be introduced in the different National Parks in the country in a span of 5 years.
• Initially, translocating around 8-12 cheetahs from South Africa, Namibia and Botswana will be done.
• This is the first time in the world that a large carnivore will be relocated from one continent to another.
• The Ministry is coordinating with the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) as well as the Wildlife Institute of India(WII), which has been spearheading the project on behalf of the Indian government.

How Cheetahs got extinct in India?

• The Cheetah is believed to have disappeared from the Indian landscape when the Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo of Koriya is believed to have hunted and shot the last three recorded Asiatic cheetahs in India in 1947.
• In 1952, the Indian Government declared the Cheetah extinct in the country.
• The only large carnivore till date to have gone extinct in the country, due to a combination of hunting and loss of habitat.

Cheetah vs Leopards

About Cheetah:

• The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran.
• It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at 80 to 128 km/h.
• There are four recorded subspecies of Cheetahs.
• The cheetah is threatened by several factors such as habitat loss, conflict with humans, poaching and high susceptibility to diseases.

8. Arattupuzha Velayudha Panicker

Subject: History

Context : The recently-released Malayalam film PathonpathamNoottandu (‘Nineteenth Century’). It is based on the life of ArattupuzhaVelayudhaPanicker, a social reformer from the Ezhava community in Kerala who lived in the 19th century.

Concept :

• ArattupuzhaVelayudhaPanicker was also known as KallaserilVelayuthanPanikker or Chekavar of Arattupuzha.
• He was an Ezhava warrior who fought against oppression by the upper castes.
• He was born on 7 January 1825.

Role in Social Reforms In Kerala

• The anthropologists Filippo and Caroline Osella consider VelayudhaPanicker to be a forerunner of Sri Narayana Guru.
• Velayudhan studied Ayurveda, Astrology, Sanskrit and Kalripayattu
• As a compliment the Travancore King gave him a title of Panickan, later it was modified as Panicker.
• He learned Kathakali, considered to be a Namboothiri Brahmin art
• He started a Kathakali troupe called Kalisseri Kathakali Yogam with the help of Ambalapuzha Madhava Kurup.
• Panicker organized Achipudava Strike. It was for Achipudava for lower caste women that cover the portion below the knee and he was succeeded.
• He was also associated with MookkuthyChantha incidence in Pandalam. By this a permission granted to lower class women to wear gold ornaments
• Panicker had commanded all Channar women in his area to cover their upper body and he bought and distributed upper cloths to all Avarna women in Kayamkulam market.
• He had gone to Guruvayur temple, dressed like a Brahman and spent ten days of learning puja and installion of temple deities.
• In 1852, he founded a temple in Mangalathu village. The founder of EdackaduNjaneshwaram Temple was ArattupuzhaVelayudhaPanicker. All castes and tribes were allowed to worship there.Panicker built another temple in Cheruvaranam in 1853.
• Panicker also founded a school and a library in Arattupuzha.
• He was killed in 1874 during a boat journey by a group of upper class people who attacked him from behind during the darkness of night.
• Community Hall in memory of ArattupuzhaVelayudhaPanicker is situated in Mangalam (Alappuzha).
• ArattupuzhaVelayudhaPanicker Research Foundation and Cultural Centre is also situated at Mangalam.

9. Dengue Vaccine

Subject : Science & Technology

Context :The Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL), a leading vaccine manufacturer in the country, has got permission for Phase-1 trial of dengue vaccine.

Concept :

• IIL is developing the dengue vaccine in collaboration with the US-based National Institute of Health (NIH). Virus is supplied by the National Institute of Health.
• There are two other dengue vaccine candidates — being developed by Panacea Biotec Limited and Sanofi India Private Limited. Both have got permission for clinical trials. Panacea Biotec Limited has completed Phase-1 and Phase-2 trials.
• Sanofi India Private Limited’s vaccine has already been approved in the US; it has started conducting trials in India (Dengvaxia Vaccine).

Dengvaxia Vaccine:

• The dengue vaccine CYD-TDV or Dengvaxia was approved by the US Food & Drug Administration in 2019, the first dengue vaccine to get the regulatory nod in the US.
• Dengvaxia is basically a live, attenuated dengue virus which has to be administered in people of ages 9 to 16 who have laboratory-confirmed previous dengue infection and who live in endemic areas.

About Dengue :

• Dengue is a vector-borne disease transmitted by the bite of an infected female Aedes Aegypti mosquito.
• This mosquito also transmits chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika infection.
• Aedesaegypti is a daytime feeder. The peak biting periods are early in the morning and in the evening before dusk.
• There are 4 serotypes of the virus that causes dengue. These are known as DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, DEN-4.
• The symptoms of the disease will begin anywhere between three to fourteen days after the initial infection.
• The symptoms include: High fever, Headache, Vomiting, Muscle and joint pains, Skin Rash.
• Diagnosis of dengue infection is done with a blood test.
• Dengue cannot be spread directly from person to person. However, a person infected and suffering from dengue fever can infect other mosquitoes.
• Most cases occur in tropical areas of the world, including the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, Southern China, Taiwan, the Pacific Islands, the Caribbean, Mexico, Africa, Central and South America.
• According to the National Center for Vector Borne Diseases Control (NCVBDC), 1,93,245 cases of dengue and 346 deaths were reported across the country last year.
• WHO estimates 39 crore dengue virus infections per year, of which 9.6 crore show symptoms.

10. The ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work

Subject : International relations

Concept:

The ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, adopted in 1998 and amended in 2022, is an expression of commitment by governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations to uphold basic human values – values that are vital to our social and economic lives. This commitment is supported by a Follow-up procedure.

It affirms the obligations and commitments that are inherent in membership of the ILO, namely:

• freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;
• the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour;
• the effective abolition of child labour;
• the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation; and
• a safe and healthy working environment.

Follow up Procedure for the declaration:

The aim of the follow-up is to encourage the efforts made by the Members of the Organization to promote the fundamental principles and rights enshrined in the Constitution of the ILO and the Declaration of Philadelphia and reaffirmed in the 1998 Declaration.

This follow-up has two aspects based on existing procedures:

• The Annual follow-up concerning non-ratified fundamental Conventions
• The Global Report on fundamental principles and rights at work that will serve to inform the recurrent discussion at the Conference on the needs of the Members, the ILO action undertaken, and the results achieved in the promotion of the fundamental principles and rights at work.
• There is a third way to give effect to the Declaration, the Technical Cooperation Projects which are designed to address identifiable needs in relation to the Declaration and to strengthen local capacities thereby translating principles into practice.

ILO

https://optimizeias.com/citu-complains-to-ilo-on-anganwadi-layoffs/

11. Deoband

Subject : History

Context: government has started a controversial survey of unrecognised madrasas in Uttar Pradesh, it has come to light that not just thousands of small, irregular madrasas but even some of the biggest ones with international fame are not recognised by the State MadrasaEducation Board. Among them are the historic DarulUloom, Deoband; NadwatulUlamma, Lucknow; and MazahirUloom, Saharanpur.

https://optimizeias.com/fourteen-years-after-split-and-jamiat-factions-likely-to-merge/

12. Won’t interfere in Bengal govt.’s grant for Durga Puja, says Calcutta HC

Subject : Art and Culture

https://optimizeias.com/durga-puja-in-kolkata-was-inscribed-on-the-representative-list-of-intangible-cultural-heritage-of-humanity/

13. SCO

Subject : International relation

Context:  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend a summit of regional security bloc Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) next week

Concept :

• The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation, the creation of which was announced on 15 June 2001 in Shanghai (China) by the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People’s Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, and the Republic of Uzbekistan.
• It was preceded by the Shanghai Five mechanism.
• The SCO’s main goals are as follows: strengthening mutual trust and neighbourliness among the member states; promoting their effective cooperation in politics, trade, the economy, research, technology and culture, as well as in education, energy, transport, tourism, environmental protection, and other areas; making joint efforts to maintain and ensure peace, security and stability in the region; and moving towards the establishment of a democratic, fair and rational new international political and economic order.
• The Heads of State Council (HSC) is the supreme decision-making body in the SCO. It meets once a year and adopts decisions and guidelines on all important matters of the organisation.
• The SCO Heads of Government Council (HGC) meets once a year to discuss the organisation’s multilateral cooperation strategy and priority areas, .
• The SCO’s official languages are Russian and Chinese.
• The organisation has two permanent bodies — the SCO Secretariat based in Beijing and the Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) based in Tashkent.
• SCO comprises eight member states, namely India,  Kazakhstan, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Russian, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

14. Parliamentary Committee

Subject: Polity

Context: The Parliamentary Committee on Health and Family Welfare has recommended that the Union health ministry, along with states , audit deaths of Covid-19 patients due to oxygen shortage during the second wave, and ensure proper compensation to the victim families.

Concept:

Parliamentary Committees are of two kinds:

Standing Committees

• They are permanent and regular committees which are constituted from time to time in pursuance of the provisions of an Act of Parliament or Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha.
• The work of these Committees is of continuous nature.
• The Financial Committees, DRSCs and some other Committees come under the category of Standing Committees.

Ad hoc Committees

• They are appointed for a specific purpose and they cease to exist when they finish the task assigned to them and submit a report.
• The principal Ad hoc Committees are the Select and Joint Committees on Bills. Railway Convention Committee, Joint Committee on Food Management in Parliament House Complex etc also come under the category of ad hoc Committees.
• The Constitution of India makes a mention of these committees at different places, but without making any specific provisions regarding their composition, tenure, functions, etc. All these matters are dealt by the rules of two Houses.

Accordingly, a parliamentary committee means a committee that:

• Is appointed or elected by the House or nominated by the Speaker / Chairman
• Works under the direction of the Speaker / Chairman
• Presents its report to the House or to the Speaker / Chairman
• Has a secretariat provided by the Lok Sabha / Rajya Sabha
• The introduction of 17 department-related standing committees (DRSCs) on March 31, 1993 was a significant innovation that increased parliamentary scrutiny and gave MPs a larger role in examining legislation and important decisions of the day.
• There are 24 DRSCs — 16 from Lok Sabha and 8 from Rajya Sabha. Each committee has 21 MPs from Lok Sabha and 10 from Rajya Sabha.
• The role: Given the volume of legislative business and the time constraints it is not possible for MPs to discuss and scrutinise all bills in the House.
• Parliamentary committees, either formed for a specific bill (select committee) or permanent (standing committees that are reconstituted annually) allow for a scrutiny with the possibility of tapping subject experts from outside and other stakeholders in an environment where MPs are not bound by party positions or whips.

15. Investments bogged down by rising capital cost, easing competitive pressure

Subject :Economy

Context: Private equity and venture capital investments slipped to 19-month low in August. PE/VC investment in India plunged 83 per cent year-on-year to $2.2 billion ($11 billion) across 83 deals last month, according to the IVCA-EY monthly round-up. It is down 43 per cent compared to $4.1 billion investment made in July.

Concept-

• VCs and PE investors infused more than ₹5.5 lakh crore last year facilitating one of the largest start-up and growth ecosystems.
• The committee will help address issues around coordination among multiple agencies and departments such as the RBI, SEBI, Finance Ministry, DPIIT and Commerce Ministry.

Venture Capital & Private Equity-

• Private equity is capital invested in a company or other entity that is not publicly listed or traded.
• Venture capital is funding given to startups or other young businesses that show potential for long-term growth.

16. World Health Organization new framework on life science

Subject : International relations

Context: For the first time World Health Organization has come out with a global guidance framework for the responsible use of life sciences.

Aim:

• The new framework addresses decades-long challenges of preventing the accidental and deliberate misuse of biology and other life sciences, as well as how to manage governance to accelerate and spread innovation, while mitigating negative impacts.
• Life sciences are increasingly intersecting with other fields, such as chemistry, artificial intelligence and nanotechnology, which changes the landscape of risks, and could be missed.
• It also outlines the need for anticipatory and responsive governance mechanisms, including foresight approaches, which are participatory and multi-disciplinary ways of exploring trends, emerging changes, systemic impacts and alternative futures.
• To help manage risks, it covers issues such as preventing misinformation and disinformation, as well as managing large health data sets.
• The framework is intended as the go-to starting point for the development and strengthening of bio risk management, which relies on three core pillars: biosafety, laboratory biosecurity and the oversight of dual-use research

The CRISPR technology

The CRISPR is an acronym for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, developed in the year 2012

CRISPR has made gene editing very easy and simple, and at the same time extremely efficient.

The technology works in a simple way — it locates the specific area in the genetic sequence which has been diagnosed to be the cause of the problem, cuts it out, and replaces it with a new and correct sequence that no longer causes the problem.

The technology replicates a natural defence mechanism in some bacteria that use a similar method to protect itself from virus attacks.

Working of CRISPR

• An RNA molecule is programmed to locate the particular problematic sequence on the DNA strand.
• A special protein called Cas9, often described in popular literature as ‘genetic scissor’, is used to break and remove the problematic sequence.
• A DNA strand, when broken, has a natural tendency to repair itself. But the auto-repair mechanism can lead to the re-growth of a problematic sequence.
• Scientists intervene during this auto-repair process by supplying the desired sequence of genetic codes, which replaces the original sequence.
• It is like cutting a portion of a long zipper somewhere in between and replacing that portion with a fresh segment.

Because the entire process is programmable, it has a remarkable efficiency and has already brought almost miraculous results.

Uses of CRISPR

• There are a whole lot of diseases and disorders, including some forms of cancer, that are caused by an undesired genetic mutation. These include common blood disorders like sickle cell anaemia, eye diseases including colour blindness, several types of cancer, diabetes, HIV, and liver and heart diseases. Many of these are hereditary as well. This technology opens up the possibility of finding a permanent cure to many of these diseases
• Genes of plants can be edited to make them withstand pests, or improve their tolerance to drought or temperature.
• This is also true for the deformities arising out of abnormalities in gene sequences, like stunted or slow growth, speech disorders, or inability to stand or walk.

Ethical concerns

In November 2018, a Chinese researcher in Shenzen created an international sensation with his claim that he had altered the genes of a human embryo that eventually resulted in the birth of twin baby girls.

This was the first documented case of a ‘designer babies’ being produced using the new gene-editing tools like CRISPR.

What made matters worse was that the gene-editing was probably done without any regulatory permission or oversight.

Daily Mapping

17. Major and minor ports

Subject: Economy

• India has 12 major ports and 212non-major ports. Most of the non major ports are small fishing harbours and only a few of them cater to international shipping.
• Major ports figure in the Union List and come under the jurisdiction of the Central government.
• Non-major ports are in the Concurrent List and come underthe respective State governments, but the Centre has overriding legislative and executive powers
• About 95 percent by volume and 70 percent by value of India’s total international trade are carried on through maritime transportation.
• All ports in India are situated in the 9 coastal states of India namely Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu.
• Mumbai is the largest natural port in India.
• While the Major Ports are under the administrative control of Ministry of Shipping, the non-major ports are under the jurisdiction of respective State Maritime Boards/ State Government.

To know about The Major Port Authorities Act 2020, please refer August 2021 DPN.

To know about Indian Ports Bill 2021, please refer October 2021 DPN.

To know about Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP), please refer October 2021 DPN.

18. India and China confirm withdrawal of troops from PP-15 in Ladakh

Subject : Geography

Context:

India and China have carried out verification to confirm withdrawal of troops from Patrolling Point (PP) 15in the Gogra-Hot Springs area of eastern Ladakh, marking the completion of the disengagement there.

Details:

• Since the beginning of the stand-off there has been heavy Chinese presence in the Depsang plains, at a crucial area called the Bulge and PLA troops have also been blocking Indian Army patrols from reaching the PPs 10, 11, 11A, 12 and 13, located on the Limit of Patrolling which lies much before the LAC.
• While the disengagement process was completed, sources explained that the road ahead is long. They said the main objective now would be to ensure that the situation in Depsang Plains, where the Chinese have blocked Indians from accessing five patrolling points, is brought back to normal.
• Depsang Plains saw massive deployment changes and build-up by the Chinese since May 2020.
• The same holds true for Demchok, where the Chinese have set up about three to five tents across ChardingNilong Nallah, a territory claimed by India.

Pangong Tso lake:

• Pangong Lake is located in the Union Territory of Ladakh.
• It is situated at a height of almost 4,350m and is the world’s highest saltwater lake.
• Extending to almost 160km, one-third of the Pangong Lake lies in India and the other two-thirds in China.

Galwan Valley:

• The valley refers to the land that sits between steep mountains that buffet the Galwan River.
• The river has its source in Aksai Chin, and it flows from the east to Ladakh, where it meets the Shyokriver on India’s side of the LAC.
• The valley is strategically located between Ladakh in the west and Aksai Chin in the east.

Hot Springs and Gogra Post:

• Hot Springs is just north of the Chang Chenmo river and Gogra Post is east of the point where the river takes a hairpin bend coming southeast from Galwan Valley and turning southwest.
• The area is north of the Karakoram Range of mountains, which lies north of the Pangong Tso lake, and south east of Galwan Valley.

Chang Chenmo River:

• Chang Chenmo River or Changchenmo River is a tributary of the ShyokRiver, part of the Indus River system.
• It is at the southern edge of the disputed Aksai Chin region and north of the Pangong Lake basin.
• The source of Chang Chenmo is near the Lanak Pass.

Depsang Plains

It is close to the strategic Indian base at Daulat Beg Oldie (historic trade route between Ladakh and Central Asia, It also has one of the world’s highest airstrips), near the Karakoram Pass.