Daily Prelims Notes 18 October 2020

October 18, 2020
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

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Table Of Contents

1. Antibody: Binding and Neutralizing

Subject: Science and tech

Concept:

Neutralizing antibody

A neutralizing antibody (NAb) is an antibody that defends a cell from a pathogen or infectious particle by neutralizing any effect it has biologically. Neutralisation renders the particle no longer infectious or pathogenic.
Neutralizing antibodies are part of the humoral response of the adaptive immune system against viruses, intracellular bacteria and microbial toxin.
By binding specifically to surface structures (antigen) on an infectious particle, neutralizing antibodies prevent the particle from interacting with its host cells it might infect and destroy.
Immunity due to neutralizing antibodies is also known as sterilizing immunity, as the immune system eliminated the infectious particle before any infection took place.

Binding Antibodies:

Binding antibodies are produced at high levels throughout the life of an infected individual but are characterized by their inability to prevent viral infection. These antibodies identify highly immunogenic and variable regions of the HIV-1 virion.
Even though they do not prevent viral entry, binding antibodies are useful as diagnostic indicators of whether an individual is infected or not.
Because of their inability to bind to functional spikes of the pathogens, they are excluded from neutralizing activity. Hence, binding antibodies are also known as non neutralizing antibodies (n-NAb).

2. Global warming and food security

Subject: Environment

Concept :

Food Security

Food security means having a reliable and safe access to nutritious and affordability. According to Food and Agriculture Organisation food security has three dimensions.

Food availability.

Food accessibility.

Food absorption.

Global warming affects all the dimensions of food security like food production, food access and food absorption.

Affect on food availability

The availability of food depends on the productivity of food crops. Globlal Waming affects the rainfall pattern, increases the severity of drought which in turn affect the productivity of crops.

Impact on rainfall

Global warming place additional stress on food production as it affects inter and intraseasonal variation of rainfall.
According to estimates of World Bank for an average of 4-degree increase in temperature, there can be a 10% increase in annual monsoon intensity and 15% variation in precipitation. This decline in precipitation patterns is not uniform as this can cause drought in northwestern parts of India and southern India will experience more rainfall.

Affect on groundwater

Global warming will affect the replenishment of groundwater severely. As Indian agriculture depends heavily on groundwater it will impact productivity. Changes in climate have led to drying up of wetland and degradation of other ecosystems.

Affect on food availability

Global warming affects the variation in the length of crop growing season and increases the incidences of extreme events which can cause the slowdown in output and can drastically affect incomes of small and marginal farmers thus impeding their access to food.

Affect on food absorption

Global warming can lead to the reduction in nutritional quality of foods (reduced micronutrients like zinc and Iron) due to elevated Carbon dioxide levels. In India where pulses are the major source of proteins (In the west it is meat) which can lead to Hidden hunger which increases the risk of acquiring other infectious diseases.
It can also lead to the rise in vector-borne diseases like malaria, dengue, and chikungunya. High incidence of undernutrition due to climate change reduces the resilience of the body to adapt and leads to reduced immunity thus affecting the demographic dividend of India to demographic disaster.

3. Tectonic plates in Himalayas

Subject: Geography

Context : A recent survey has found that a tectonic fault line that runs through Ladakh , all along the indus river , is not inactive as was previously thought.

Concept :

Movement of The Indian Tectonic Plate

The Indian plate includes Peninsular India and the Australian continental portions.
The subduction zone along the Himalayas forms the northern plate boundary in the form of continent-continent convergence.
In the east, it extends through Rakinyoma Mountains (Arakan Yoma) of Myanmar towards the island arc along the Java Trench.
The eastern margin is a spreading site lying to the east of Australia in the form of an oceanic ridge in SW Pacific.
The Western margin follows Kirthar Mountain of Pakistan. It further extends along the Makrana coast (Pakistan and Iranian coasts) and joins the spreading site from the Red Sea rift (Red Sea rift is formed due to the divergence of Somali plate and Arabian plate) south-eastward along the Chagos Archipelago (Formed due to hotspot volcanism).
The boundary between India and the Antarctic plate is also marked by an oceanic ridge (divergent boundary) running in roughly W-E direction and merging into the spreading site, a little south of New Zealand.

4. Tree Transplantation

Subject: Environment

Context: 3800 trees transplanted to make way for Dwarka expressway.

Concept:

Agencies concerned will have to transplant 80 per cent of the trees affected by their projects to a new location.
More importantly, 10 saplings will be planted in addition to the whole tree being dug up with the root intact and scientifically transplanted at another location instead of being felled.
A dedicated panel of government agencies with track record and experience of tree transplantation is being formed under the policy.
Payments for transplantation will be made after one year to ensure this, and if less than 80 per cent of the transplanted trees survive, payment will be deducted.
The government will also form local committees, which will include citizens, for checking, monitoring and certification of the tree transplantation exercise.
A dedicated Tree Transplantation Cell will also be formed by the government , which will include government officials, citizens to monitor the transplanted trees and to certify that the task has been done with due diligence.

5. Stubble Burning

Subject: Environment

Context: The average air quality index (AQI) of the capital on Saturday was 287 in the ‘poor’ range, as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). Stubble burning still remains a significant cause.

Concept:

Stubble (parali) burning is the act of setting fire to crop residue to remove them from the field to sow the next crop.
In order to plant next winter crop (Rabi crop), farmers in Haryana and Punjab have to move in a very short interval and if they are late, due to short winters these days, they might face considerable losses. Therefore, burning is the cheapest and fastest way to get rid of the stubble.
If parali is left in the field, pests like termites may attack the upcoming crop.
The precarious economic condition of farmers doesn’t allow them to use expensive mechanised methods to remove stubble.

Central Pollution Control Board

CPCB is a statutory organisation which was constituted in September, 1974 under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.
It was entrusted with the powers and functions under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.
It serves as a field formation and also provides technical services to the Ministry of Environment and Forests of the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

6. Bio fortified crops

Subject: Environment

Context: PM issued a commemorative coin of Rs.75 and dedicated 17 biofortified varieties of 8 crops to the nation.

Concept:

What is biofortification?

Biofortification is the process of increasing nutritional value of food crops by increasing the density of vitamins and minerals in a crop through either conventional plant breeding; agronomic practices or biotechnology. Examples of these vitamins and minerals that can be increased through biofortification include provitamin A Carotenoids, zinc and iron.

How are crops fortified?

Conventional crop breeding techniques are used to identify varieties with particularly high concentration of desired nutrients.
These are cross-bred with varieties with other desirable traits from the target areas (such a virus resistance, drought tolerance, high yielding, taste) to develop biofortified varieties that have high levels of micronutrients (for example, vitamin A, iron or zinc), in addition to other traits desired by farmers and consumers.
Agronomic biofortification entails application of minerals such as zinc or iron as foliar or soil applications, drawing on plant management, soil factors, and plant characteristics to get enhanced content of key micronutrients into the edible portion of the plant.

Why biofortification?

Biofortification is one solution among many interventions that are needed to solve the complex problem of micronutrient malnutrition. It is considered one of the most cost-effective interventions for countries to employ in combating micronutrient malnutrition.
Biofortification reaches rural consumers who have limited access to industrially fortified foods, supplementation interventions, and diverse diets.
Biofortification combines increased micronutrient content with preferred agronomic, quality, and market traits and therefore biofortified varieties will typically match or outperform the usual varieties that farmers grow and consume.

How does Biofortification differ from food fortification?

Biofortification has the increased nutritional micronutrient content imbedded in the crop being grown. Food fortification increases the nutritional value of foods by adding trace amounts of micronutrients to foods during processing.

7. Foreign Reserves

Subject: Economy

Context : India’s foreign exchange reserves jumped by $5.86 billion in the week ended October 9 to hit a fresh high of $551.5 billion according to RBI.

Concept :

Forex Reserves:

Foreign exchange reserves are assets denominated in a foreign currency that are held on reserve by a central bank. These may include foreign currencies, bonds, treasury bills and other government securities.

Objectives Behind Holding Forex Reserves:

Supporting and maintaining confidence in the policies for monetary and exchange rate management
Provides the capacity to intervene in support of the national or union currency.
Limits external vulnerability by maintaining foreign currency liquidity to absorb shocks during times of crisis or when access to borrowing is curtailed.

Forex reserves are external assets accumulated by India and controlled by the RBI in the form of:

Gold
SDRs (special drawing rights of the International Monetary Fund – IMF)
Foreign currency assets (capital inflows to the capital markets, Foreign Direct Investment and external commercial borrowings)
Reserve Position with IMF

Forex Reserves Storage:

The RBI Act, 1934 provides the legal framework for deployment of reserves in different foreign currency assets and gold within the broad parameters of currencies, instruments, and issuers.

8. SPUTNIK V

Subject: Science and tech

Context : Pharma Major Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories have received approval for trials in India.

Concept :

The vaccine has been called Sputnik V, named after the first artificial Earth satellite, Sputnik-I launched by the Soviet Union.
It is the first Covid-19 vaccine to be approved.
The vaccine is based on the DNA of a SARS-CoV-2 type adenovirus, a common cold virus.
The vaccine uses the weakened virus to deliver small parts of a pathogen and stimulate an immune response.
The vaccine is administered in two doses and consists of two types of a human adenovirus, each carrying an S-antigen of the new coronavirus, which enter human cells and produce an immune response.

Adenovirus Vector Vaccine:

In this vaccine, adenovirus is used as a tool to deliver genes or vaccine antigens to the target host tissue.
Adenovirus: Adenoviruses (ADVs) are DNA viruses ranging from 70-90 nanometre in size, which induces many illnesses in humans like cold, respiratory infection etc.
Adenoviruses are preferred for vaccines because their DNA is double stranded which makes them genetically more stable and the chances of them changing after injection are lower.
Rabies vaccine is an adenovirus vaccine.
However, there are drawbacks of adenovirus vector vaccines like pre-existing immunity in humans, inflammatory responses etc.
Just as human bodies develop immune responses to most real viral infections, they also develop immunity to adenoviral vectors. Since adenoviral vectors are based on natural viruses that some humans might already have been exposed to, these vaccines might not work for everyone.

Use in India:

Russia has claimed that around 20 countries have shown interest in the Sputnik V vaccine, including India..
The approval for a vaccine is given by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).
The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), under Directorate General of Health Services ,Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, is the National Regulatory Authority (NRA) of India.
Under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, CDSCO is responsible for approval of Drugs, Conduct of Clinical Trials, laying down the standards for Drugs, control over the quality of imported Drugs in the country and coordination of the activities of State Drug Control Organizations by providing expert advice.

9. V-Shaped Recovery

Subject: Economy

Context: Apparel exports on path to a V-shaped recovery.

Concept:

Economic recovery can take many forms, which is depicted using alphabetic notations. For example, a Z-shaped recovery, V-shaped recovery, U-shaped recovery, elongated U-shaped recovery, W-shaped recovery and L-shaped recovery.
The alphabets generally denote the graph of growth rate, which resembles the shape of the letter.
The fundamental difference between the different kinds of recovery is the time taken for economic activity to normalize.
The time taken is often a factor of multiple things such as the depth of the economic crisis. e.g deeper the recession, longer is the time to get back to normal.
The other aspect of economic recovery includes the effect of pandemic on jobs and household incomes, and the kind of policy response taken by the government that determines how quickly economic growth will recover.

Z-shaped recovery: It is the most-optimistic scenario in which the economy quickly rises after an economic crash.

It makes up more than for lost ground before settling back to the normal trend-line, thus forming a Z-shaped chart.
In this economic disruption lasts for a small period wherein more than people’s incomes, it is their ability to spend is restricted.

V-shaped recovery: It is the next-best scenario after Z-shaped recovery in which the economy quickly recoups lost ground and gets back to the normal growth trend-line.

In this, incomes and jobs are not permanently lost, and the economic growth recovers sharply and returns to the path it was following before the disruption.

U-shaped recovery: It is a scenario in which the economy, after falling, struggles around a low growth rate for some time, before rising gradually to usual levels.

In this case several jobs are lost and people fall upon their savings.
If this process is more-long drawn than it throws up the “elongated U” shape.

W-shaped recovery: A W-shaped recovery is a dangerous creature. In this, growth falls and rises, but falls again before recovering, thus forming a W-like chart.

The double-dip depicted by a W-shaped recovery can be due to the second wave of the pandemic.

L-shaped recovery: In this, the economy fails to regain the level of GDP even after years go by.

The shape shows that there is a permanent loss to the economy’s ability to produce.