Daily Prelims Notes 3 September 2022

September 3, 2022
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

Daily Prelims Notes

3 September 2022

Table Of Contents

1. New Naval Ensign: The naval prowess of Chhatrapati Shivaji that has always inspired the Indian Navy

Subject : History

Section : Medieval India

Context: Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the new Naval Ensign (flag) at Kochi on Friday (September 2), which bears the seal of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, who laid the foundations of a modern navy.

Shivaji and the seas

Concept:

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj put great emphasis on sea-faring prowess, and laid the foundations of a modern naval force in the 17th century. The Indian Navy has always acknowledged this fact, and has named a training establishment in Lonavla as INS Shivaji and a shore based logistics and administrative hub of Western Naval Command, Mumbai, as INS Angre after KanhojiAngre, the acclaimed Maratha naval commander.
The use of the octagonal design of the seal of Shivaji on the new Naval Ensign is a formal stamp on the umbilical ties of the Indian Navy with the navy of the Maratha empire.

Extent of naval prowess

Shivaji’s strategic thought ensured that a strong naval presence was established along the Konkan coast to protect the sea trade of the Maratha empire. As per an Indian Navy document, “The navy under Shivaji was so strong that the Marathas could hold their against the British, Portuguese and Dutch. Shivaji realised the importance of having a secure coastline and protecting the western Konkan coastline from the attacks of Siddis’ fleet”.
Shivaji built ships in towns such as Kalyan, Bhivandi, and Goa, both for trade and to establish a fighting navy. “He also built a number of sea forts and bases for repair, storage and shelter. Shivaji fought many lengthy battles with Siddis of Janjira on coastline. The fleet grew to reportedly 160 to 700 merchant, support and fighting vessels. He started trading with foreigners on his own after possession of eight or nine ports in the Deccan,” the Navy document states.
His fleet was equipped with ghurabs (gunboats) and gallivats (row boats).
The Maratha Navy was primarily a coastal “green water” navy, compared to an ocean-going or “blue water” navy.
Their ships were dependent on land/sea breezes. The Maratha did not build ships large enough to engage the British out at sea far from the coastal waters

KanhojiAngre

KanohjiAngre was the commander of Maratha navy, and is credited with laying a strong naval foundation which ensured that the Marathas were a sea-faring power to reckon with.
Kanhoji is credited with holding his own against the English, Portuguese and Dutch naval He ensured that the merchants plying their trade for the Maratha empire were protected on the seas. He set up a base in Colaba with more bases at Suvarndurg and Vijaydurg near Ratnagiri.

2. How India adopted its military flags and badges based on Lord Mountbatten’s suggestions

Subject :History

Section :Modern India

Context:

The new Naval Ensign (flag), which was unveiled by PM Narendra Modi on Friday(September 2) in Kochi, has brought into focus the flags and ranks adopted by the Indian military after Independence. Documents accessed from National Archives of India show that Lord Louis Mountbatten, former Viceroy and Governor General of India, played a major role in suggesting new flags and rank badges when India was about to become a Republic on January 26, 1950.

When did India switch from British-era flags and ranks?

The new, Indian pattern of flags of Army, Navy and Air Force, and also the Regimental Flags of the Army and badges of ranks of all three services were adopted on January 26, 1950.
The ‘Kings Commission’ granted to Indian military officers was also changed to ‘Indian Commission’ on the same date; and at a subsequent date the King’s Colours of the various Regiments were laid to rest in Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun.

When did Lord Mountbatten come into the picture?

The national archives have files, dated 1949, that include a detailed note from Lord Mountbatten regarding names, flags and ranks of the armed forces, and then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s letter to the then Defence Minister Baldev Singh regarding Mountbatten’s suggestions.
The note, the archives reveal, was given to Nehru by Lord Mountbatten when the two met in London. The note was forwarded from the PM’s office to the office of then Governor General C Rajagopalachari on May 24, 1949, stating that it is on the issue of ‘Names and Insignia of Indian Armed Forces’ after India becomes a Republic. The letter also stated that the note should be placed before the Governor General.

What did Lord Mountbatten say in the note?

Consequent to becoming a Republic the word ‘Royal’ shall be dropped from India’s Army, Navy and Air Force.
Lord Mountbatten strongly recommended that no other word like ‘State’ of ‘Republican’ should replace the word ‘Royal’ because it “would have the effect of separating the forces of India psychologically from the other services in the Commonwealth”.
He further suggested in the letter that the Crown should be replaced from the insignias and replaced by the “three lions of Ashoka”.
The new Ensign, the note suggested, should continue to have the red cross but the Indian national flag should replace the Union Jack.
Similarly, for the IAF he proposed that the light blue Flag which has Union Jack and red, white and blue roundel should be replaced with one having the national flag with green, white and saffron roundel. Again, he suggested this to maintain commonality with the Commonwealth flags.

What changes did Mountbatten suggest for uniforms?

In his note, Lord Mountbatten strongly urged that existing uniforms should be changed as little as possible.
He added that the Crown worn on badges of ranks of Majors and above should be replaced by the “three lions of Ashoka” and that the Star of the Order of the Bath should be replaced by Star of India or another form of star.
He also suggested that the crossed sword and baton on the badges of ranks of Generals should be retained.
The former Viceroy advocated retaining the stripes of rank in Navy and Air Force saying these were internationally almost the same.
Lord Mountbatten further went on to suggest changes in the cap badges and buttons of uniforms down to the minutest detail and followed up on the note by sending actual designs of flags, ranks, cap badges and buttons.

How did the Indian government react to Mountbatten’s suggestions?

Nehru wrote to the then defence minister in September 1949 saying that he agreed with the suggestions made by the former Governor General that there should be as little change as possible.
The then prime minister particularly mentioned the changes suggested by Mountbatten for the Navy.
In the end, Mountbatten’s suggestions were virtually all accepted and implemented with effect from January 26, 1950.

3. New Naval Ensign : Nishaan

Subject : History

The Saint George’s cross has been removed from the new Indian Navy flag. The elements of the new Indian Navy flag consist of the national flag (tricolor) in the upper left canton, symbolizing the national spirit of India’s maritime force.
In the lower right-hand corner on the fly side, the Indian Navy’s new insignia consists of the Indian national emblem with the national motto ‘Satyamev Jayate’ engraved in Devanagari script, anchor and Navy’s motto: Shan no Varunaha (Be auspicious unto us oh Varuna) inside a blue octagon.
The octagon depicts eight directions, symbolizing good fortune, eternity, renewal and draws positive energy from all directions.
The golden border of the octagon represents the Rajmudra of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the legendary 16th-century Maratha warrior. He built a credible naval fleet that earned grudging admiration from European navies operating in the region at the time.

4. Kochi to Bokaro and Kolkata to Pune: INS Vikrant an all-India effort

Subject : Security

The country’s first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC), built by the Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL), and was commissioned into the Indian Navy as INS Vikrant on Friday.
The design and construction of the IAC was formally sanctioned by the government in January 2003 and the keel was laid in February 2009.

The DRDO and the Steel Authority of India Ltd together designed warship-grade steel. It is now being used for all the warships built in India
The steel supplied by SAIL for this indigenous project comprises special DMR grade plates. These DMR grade plates have been developed by SAIL in collaboration with the Indian Navy and the DRDO’s Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory.
One of the main aspects of the Aircraft Carrier Vikrant is its level of indigenisation, and one of the most significant areas where ‘atmanirbharta’ is seen is the structure of the vessel — the speciality DMR grade steel for Vikrant was supplied by the country’s steelmaking giant Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL)
The steel supplied by SAIL for this indigenous project comprises special DMR grade plates. These DMR grade plates have been developed by SAIL in collaboration with the Indian Navy and the DRDO’s Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory.
The DMR plates of Grade 249 A were used for the hull and vessel interiors, and Grade 249 B for the flight deck of this warship. SAIL supplied the entire quantity of speciality steel, except for the bulb bars from its integrated steel plants at Bhilai, Bokaro and Rourkela
The 5 m long and 61.6 m wide INS Vikrant displaces approximately 43,000 tonnes, has a maximum speed of 28 knots with endurance of 7,500 nautical miles. The ship has around 2,200 compartments, designed for a crew of around 1,600 including women officers and sailors.
The successful commissioning of INS Vikrant puts India in the elite group of nations which are capable of designing and constructing aircraft carriers – the others being the US, Russia, UK, France and China.

5. Blue Water Navy

Subject : Defence

A blue-water navy is a maritime force capable of operating globally, essentially across the deep waters of open oceans.

The term “blue-water navy” is a maritime geographical term in contrast with “brown-water navy” (river and near to shore) and “green-water navy” (near to shore).

The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency of the United States has defined the blue-water navy as “a maritime force capable of sustained operation across the deep waters of open oceans. A blue-water navy allows a country to project power far from the home country and usually includes one or more aircraft carriers. Smaller blue-water navies are able to dispatch fewer vessels abroad for shorter periods of time

6. India overtakes Britain

Subject: Economy

Section: National Income

Context:Britain has dropped behind India to become the world’s sixth largest economy.

Details:

US>China>Japan>Germany>UK are world top six largest countries in nominal terms
The calculation is based in US dollars, and India extended its lead in the first quarter, according to GDP figures from the International Monetary Fund.
The size of the Indian economy in nominal terms in the last quarter of 2021-22 was $854.7 billion and that of the UK was $816 billion.
- UK GDP grew just 1% in nominal terms in the second quarter and shrank 0.1% in real terms.
- Sterling has also under performed the dollar relative to the rupee, with the pound falling 8% against the Indian currency this year.

Concept:

The economy of India is a middle income developing market economy.
It is the world’s fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP and the third-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP).
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on a per capita income basis, India ranked 142nd by GDP (nominal) and 128th by GDP (PPP).

Nominal GDP vs. PPP GDP

To compare GDPs around the world, currencies must be converted so that they’re consistent across all countries.
- There are two main systems of common currency conversion:
  - Nominal and
  - PPP- Purchasing Power Parity
Nominal GDP
- It is useful for large-scope GDP comparison, either for a country or region or on an international scale.
- The nominal GDP of an area is determined using up-to-date market prices and shifts according to inflation.
- By incorporating an area’s inflation rate in the GDP calculation, nominal GDP can indicate when prices rise in an economy.
- The rate of price increases in an economy is also factored into nominal GDP.
- The main downfall of nominal GDP is that
  - It doesn’t account for the living standards in a country – it focuses only on economic growth and performance.
  - It can differ significantly from year to year depending on variations in the exchange rate.

PPP GDP
- It is used to measure both the economic growth and living standards in a country, making it a useful tool in global comparisons.
- The PPP approach uses exchange rates to convert one country’s currency into the other. Then, using a consistent amount of money, the quantity of goods and services that may be purchased in the countries is compared.
  - For example, PPP may compare the cost of a car in France to the cost of a car in Japan (after using the exchange rate to convert yen to Euros, or vice versa) to analyze the difference in GDP and cost of living between these nations.
- PPP GDP stays relatively stable from year to year and isn’t significantly impacted by shifts in the exchange rate.
- PPP GDP can be faulted for the fact that
  - It doesn’t incorporate discrepancies in quality between goods and services in different countries.
  - In general, it’s less exact than nominal GDP and often hinges on estimates rather than calculations. As such, the nominal GDP is typically used to measure and compare the size of national economies.

7. Tur

Subject : Agriculture

Section: Crops

Context:

Known to be rich in proteins, the red gram’s seed coat offers six times more calcium than milk.

Details:

Tur, also called arhar, redgram or pigeonpea is a staple source of protein and rich in calcium too.
A sample of 100-gram tur seed coat has 652 mg of calcium against 120 mg found in 100 ml of milk.
- The human body requires 800-1,000 mg of calcium per day
Presently, the seed coat is discarded in seed processing of the pulse it has huge potential as a key input in baby food and mineral supplements according to the research led by scientists at the ICRISAT’s Gene Bank

Concept:

India is the largest producer, consumer and importer of pulses in the world.
India accounted for 62% of world’s total pulses production in 2019-20.
In the last five-six years, India has increased pulses production from 140 lakh tonnes to more than 240 lakh tonnes.
Though pulses are grown in both Kharif and Rabi seasons, Rabi pulses contribute more than 60 per cent of the total production.
Gram is the most dominant pulse having a share of around 40 per cent in the total production followed by Tur/Arhar at 15 to 20 per cent and Urad/Black Matpe and Moong at around 8-10 per cent each.
Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka are the top five pulses producing States.
Productivity of pulses is 764 kg/ha.
With the advent of the Green Revolution, which promoted rice and wheat using external inputs and modern varieties of seeds, pulses were pushed to the marginal lands. This resulted in decline in productivity and land degradation. Thus, pulses are still cultivated on the marginal and sub marginal land, predominantly under irrigated conditions

Tur:

Tur is largely grown in the semi-arid tropics of South Asia, Central America, and Africa.
India is its biggest producer and consumer globally, accounting for 82 per cent of the cultivation and 77 percent of production.
India grows tur in about 17 lakh hectares annually and produces about 37.50 lakh tonnes. This is followed by Myanmar (6.76 lakh tonnes) and Malawi (4.30 lakh tonnes).

Others:

8. The UK announced continuation of safeguard duties of 25% on five steel categories till 2024, in addition to the initial list of 10

Subject :Economy

Section: External sector

Context:

The UK announced continuation of safeguard duties of 25% on five steel categories till 2024, in addition to the initial list of 10.

Details:

India estimates that the safeguard measures (on steel) have resulted in the decline of exports to the tune of 219 thousand metric tonnes on which the duty collection would be $247.7 million.
India has warned the UK that it may suspend trade concessions or other obligations equivalent to the adverse effects of the safeguard measures imposed on certain Indian steel products imposed by the country if no agreement is reached on compensation between the two within 30 days of consultations at the WTO.
Safeguard measures have been extended violating the provisions of GATT 1994 and the Agreement on Safeguards, and requested compensation, under Article 8.1 of the Agreement on Safeguards,

Concept:

Safeguard measures include tariff increases to check increased imports of particular products that have caused ‘serious injury’ to domestic producers.
Safeguard Duty is a tariff barrier imposed by the government on commodities to ensure that imports in excessive quantities do not harm the domestic industry.
It is mainly a temporary measure undertaken by the government in defence of the domestic industry which is harmed or has potential threat getting hard due to sudden cheap surge in imports.

Agreement on Safeguards:

The Agreement on Safeguards (“SG Agreement”) sets forth the rules for application of safeguard measures in the Article XIX of GATT 1994.
Safeguard measures are defined as “emergency” actions with respect to increased imports of particular products, where such imports have caused or threaten to cause serious injury to the importing Member’s domestic industry.
Such measures, which in broad terms take the form of suspension of concessions or obligations, can consist of quantitative import restrictions or of duty increases to higher than bound rates.
It is one of three types of contingent trade protection measures, along with anti-dumping and countervailing measures, available to WTO Members.

Criteria:

such measures must be temporary;
they may be imposed only when imports are found to cause or threaten serious injury to a competing domestic industry;
they be applied on a non-selective (i.e., most-favoured-nation, or “MFN”, basis);
they be progressively liberalized while in effect;
the Member imposing them must pay compensation to the Members whose trade is affected.

Thus, safeguard measures, unlike anti-dumping and countervailing measures, do not require a finding of an “unfair” practice, (generally) must be applied on an MFN basis.

Components:

It has four main components:

general provisions (Articles 1 and 2)
rules governing Members’ application of new safeguard measures (i.e., those applied after entry into force of WTO Agreement (Articles 3-9))
rules pertaining to pre-existing measures that were applied before the WTO entry into force (Articles 10 and 11)
multilateral obligations and institutions regarding application of safeguard measures (Articles 12-14)

A safeguard measures may be applied when:

There are increased imports – the increased quantity of imports may be either an absolute increase or an increase relative to domestic production.
There is serious injury or a threat of serious injury
- ‘Serious injury’ is defined as a significant overall impairment in the position of a domestic industry. In determining whether serious injury is present, investigating authorities must evaluate all relevant factors having a bearing on the condition of the industry, including the absolute and relative rate and amount of increase in imports, the market share taken by the increased imports, as well as changes in level of sales, production, productivity, capacity, utilization, profit and losses, and employment of the domestic industry.
- ‘Threat of serious injury’ means a clear and imminent danger of serious injury.
There must be objective evidence of the existence of a causal link between increased imports of the products concerned and serious injury.
Injury caused to the domestic industry at the same time by factors other than increased imports must not be attributed to increased imports to the domestic industry.

The Special Safeguard Mechanism of the WTO is a special protection mechanism for developing countries that allows developing countries to raise tariffs on agricultural imports that are injurious to domestic farmers. The details for the same are still being negotiated.

It is a permission to increase tariffs for developing countries when imports surge or price declines for agricultural products.
SSM is different from the Special Agricultural Safeguard (SSG) that is provided for in the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA).

9. Spectre of Day Zero: How South Africa is revising its water strategy

Subject : Environment

Section: Climate change

South Africa’s water and sanitation department is revising its decade-old National Water Resource Strategy (NWRS). Parts of the country face a water crisis, with Nelson Mandela Bay staring at a Day Zero situation.
Version 2.6 of the National Water Resource Strategy-3 was published in an official government gazette July 29, 2022. It will be open to comments from public for 90 days. The new strategy proposed strengthened integrated water quality management.

Zero Day

In late 2017, there were first mentions of plans for “Day Zero”, a shorthand reference for the day when the water level of the major dams supplying the City could fall below 13.5 percent.
“Day Zero” would mark the start of Level 7 water restrictions, when municipal water supplies would be largely switched off and it was envisioned that residents could have to queue for their daily ration of water.

10. Urgency brews to foreground loss and damage at COP27

Subject : Environment

Section: Climate change

The progress in establishing a Loss and Damage Finance Facility (LDFF) has been slow over the years, but experts say that the UNFCCC COP27 this year might be different, as the Glasgow Dialogue has initiated important conversations on loss and damage.
Vulnerable communities in the least developed countries, small island nations and developing countries, increasingly face climate impacts that are too severe to adapt to. They are now demanding a separate financial facility to meet the loss and damage caused by climate change.
An important fund established within the framework of the UNFCCC, is the Green Climate Fund (GCF). It was created to support the efforts of developing countries, meet the challenges of climate change.
India specifically, has the National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change (NAFCC), to meet the cost of adaptation to climate change. The projects sanctioned under the NAFCC, address many ‘mitigation’ and ‘adaptation’ challenges. However, these also don’t address the need for funds in case of events that go beyond the scope of adaptation.

Loss and Damage

The term loss and damage is used within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process to refer to the harms caused by anthropogenic (human-generated) climate change.
The appropriate response to loss and damage has been disputed since the UNFCCC’s adoption. Establishing liability and compensation for loss and damage has been a long-standing goal for vulnerable and developing countries in the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and the Least Developed Countries Group in negotiations.

Warshaw International Mechanism at COP19 (November 2013) in Warsaw, Poland.

The present UNFCCC loss and damage mechanism, the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage, focuses on research and dialogue rather than liability or compensation. Its functions are
Strengthening dialogue, coordination, coherence and synergies among relevant stakeholders
Enhancing knowledge and understanding of comprehensive risk management approaches to address loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, including slow onset impacts

Santiago Network

The vision of the Santiago Network is to catalyze the technical assistance of relevant organizations, bodies, networks and experts, for the implementation of relevant approaches for averting, minimize and addressing L&D at the local, national and regional level, in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change
Parties established the Santiago network as part of the WIM at COP 25 in Madrid, Spain

Green Climate Fund (GCF)

The GCF was set up in 2010 under the UNFCCC’s financial mechanism to channel funding from developed countries to developing countries to allow them to mitigate climate change and also adapt to disruptions arising from a changing climate.
The Green Climate Fund will support projects, programmes, policies and other activities in developing country Parties using thematic funding windows.
It is intended to be the centrepiece of efforts to raise Climate Finance of $100 billion a year by 2020.
The Fund is governed and supervised by a Board that will have full responsibility for funding decisions and that receives the guidance of the Conference of Parties (COP).

National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change (NAFCC)

Under NAFCC 100% central grant is provided to the State Governments for implementing climate change adaptation projects.
The Scheme has been designed to fulfill the objectives of National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) and operationalize the State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCCs).
The objective of the fund is to assist states/UTs that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change in meeting the cost of adaptation.
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is the National Implementing Entity (NIE) responsible for implementation of adaptation projects under the NAFCC.
Under this scheme, Union Government encourages States to come up with innovative and scalable projects to develop resilience against climate change and mainstream it in the planning processes.

11. CCRAS ‘SPARK’ Program to Support Innovative Research in Ayurveda

Subject: Government schemes

Context: The Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), has taken a unique initiative to support the research efforts of bright young minds of the Country by developing the Studentship Program for Ayurveda Research Ken (SPARK) for Ayurveda (BAMS) students studying in recognised Ayurveda colleges.

Concept:

SPARK Program is developed by the CCRAS will support the innovative ideas of young students and promote the culture of evidence based scientific research in the field of Traditional Medicine
SPARK program is primarily developed to help students develop an acumen for research and to further support and incentivise their research ideas.
SPARK’aims to support the research ideas of young undergraduate students enrolled in Ayurveda Colleges across India. The application process for SPARK will be completely online
The selected fellows will be offered a financial support of Rs.50,000 under the fellowship. Initially there will be total 100 seats per session and further details may be accessed at the program portal.

12. Puli Thevar

Subject : History

Section : Personality

Context: The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has paid tributes to brave Puli Thevar on his birth anniversary.

Concept:

Puli Thevar was a Tamil Palaiyakkarar who ruled Nerkattumseval, situated in the Sankarankoil taluk, Tenkasi, formerly Tirunelveli Tamil Nadutold the East India Company that “not even a grain can be paid as tax”.
Mahfuzkhan (brother of the Nawab of Arcot) was sent with a contingent of the Company army under Colonel Heron to Tirunelveli to deal with pulithervar. Colonel Heron abandoned the plan and retired to Madurai. Heron was recalled and dismissed from service.
Puli Thevar also formed a confederacy of the Palayakkars to fight the British. The English succeeded Puli Thevar in getting the support of the rajas of Ramanathapuram and Pudukottai.
Puli Thevar tried to get the support of Hyder Ali of Mysore and the French. Hyder Ali could not help Puli Thevar as he was already locked in a serious conflict with the Marathas.
The Nawab sent an additional contingent of sepoys to Mahfuzkhan and the reinforced army proceeded to Tirunelveli.
Aided by the Raja of Travancore, from 1756 to 1763, the palyakkarars of Tirunelveli led by Puli Thevar were in a constant state of rebellion against the Nawab’s authority.
Yusuf Khan was sent by the company , he began to batter the Nerkattumseval fort and this attack continued for about two months. On 1761 Puli Thevar’s three major forts (Nerkattumseval, Vasudevanallur and Panayur) came under the control of Yusuf Khan.The unity of palyakkarars began to break up as Frenchs support was not forthcoming.
Puli thevar went into exile.
Puli Thevar returned from exile and recaptured Nerkattumseval in 1764. However, he was defeated by Captain Campbell in 1767. Puli Thevar escaped and died in exile.

13. Exercise “Synergy”

Subject : Science and technology

Section: Awareness in computers

Context: Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) under Ministry of Electronics & IT, Government of India, in collaboration with Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA), successfully designed & conducted the Cyber Security Exercise “Synergy” for 13 Countries as part of the International Counter Ransomware Initiative- Resilience Working Group.

Concept:

Exercise “Synergy” was hosted by CERT-In on its exercise simulation platform. Each State participated as a National Crisis Management Team having composition from different government agencies including National CERTs/CSIRTs, Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA), Communication & IT/ICT Ministry and Security agencies.
The theme of the exercise was “Building Network Resiliency to counter Ransomware Attacks”. The exercise scenario was derived from real life cyber incidents, in which a domestic level (limited impact) ransomware incident escalates to a global cyber security crisis.
The specific objective of the exercise was to Assess, Share and Improve strategies and practices among Member-States to build network resiliency against ransomware & cyber extortion attacks.

Hydration dynamics of proteins

Concept:

Hydration dynamics of proteins plays a pivotal role in the aggregation of several proteins which is a preliminary step towards various neuro-degenerative diseases. Thus aggregation process could be spotted early by detecting altering water network dynamics and modulated using inactive substances that serve as the vehicle or medium for a drug or other active substance.
A phenomenon called ‘liquid liquid phase separation’ (LLPS) underlines the formation of cells organelles like P bodies, nucleolus which are membrane-less compartments in the cytoplasm of cells. LLPS, a self-aggregated system, is an intermediate step during the formation of the stable protein aggregates.
When multivalent proteins interact they undergo rapid transformation from small complexes to large polymeric assemblies with increase in protein concentration. This dense phase often resembles liquid droplets exhibiting higher protein density and weaker molecular motion than the surrounding medium.
This process, initiated through liquid liquid phase transfer, plays crucial role in inducing human diseases, especially age-related neuro-degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and cataract.
Therefore, understanding the process of phase separation at a molecular level has become an emergent area of research in molecular biology fraternity.
The researchers have spotted the crucial role of water in Liquid liquid phase separation which holds the key to neuro-degenerative diseases.

14. Amended standards for e-Vehicle

Subject :Government Schemes

Context: In the backdrop of number of cases of fire incidents observed in electric two wheelers in different parts of the country, Ministry of Road Transport and Highway had constituted an Expert Committee

Concept:

Based on the recommendations of the expert committee report, the Ministry, on 29th August 2022,
AIS 156- Specific requirements for motor vehicles of L category [motor vehicles with less than four wheels and is a quadricycle] with electric power train, and
AIS 038 Rev. 2 – Specific requirements for Electric Power Train of motor vehicles of M category [motor vehicle with at least four wheels used for carrying passengers] and N category [motor vehicle with at least four wheels used for carrying goods which may also carry persons in addition to the goods].
These amendments include additional safety requirements related to battery cells, BMS, on-board charger, design of battery pack, thermal propagation due to internal cell short circuit leading to fire etc.