Daily Prelims Notes 31 December 2020

December 31, 2020
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

Daily Prelims Notes 31 December 2020

Table Of Contents

Subject: Defence

Context: The Union Cabinet approved export of the Akash surface-to-air missile to “friendly countries” and constituted a committee, headed by the Defence Minister, for faster approval of export of defence platforms.

Concept:

Akash is an important missile of the country with over 96 per cent indigenisation.
This is surface to air anti-aircraft missile with a strike range of 25 km and capability to carry warhead of 60 kilogram.
It can reach an altitude of 18 km and can be fired from both tracked and wheeled platforms.
The missile is guided by a phased array fire control radar called ‘Rajendra’ which is termed as Battery Level Radar (BLR) with a tracking range of about 60 km.
The Akash missile having a multi target, multi directional, all weather air-defence system consisting of surveillance and tracking radars, could take off at a speed of around 2.5 Mach and reach a high altitude of 18 kms and as low as 30 meters.

Expert Committee for faster approval

The export version of Akash, an official statement said, will be different from the system currently deployed with the Indian armed forces.
Besides Akash, there is interest in other major platforms like the coastal surveillance system, radars and air platforms.
To provide faster approvals for export of such platforms, a Committee comprising RakshaMantri, External Affairs Minister and National Security Advisor has been created.
This committee, the statement said, would authorise subsequent export of major indigenous platforms to various countries.
The committee would also explore available options including the Government-to-Government route.

2. UK APPROVES OXFORD VACCINE

Subject: Science & tech

Context: The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved for use in the UK, with the first doses due to be given on Monday. There will be 530,000 doses available from next week, and vaccination centres will now start inviting patients to come and get the jab.

Concept :

Priority groups for immunisation have already been identified, starting with care home residents, the over-80s, and health and care workers.
It comes as millions more in England are placed in tier four restrictions.
The UK has ordered 100 million doses of the new vaccine – enough to vaccinate 50 million people.

About the vaccine

ChAdOx1 COVID-9 was jointly developed by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford.
The vaccine belongs to a category called non-replicating viral vector vaccines.
This vaccine is made from a genetically engineered virus that causes the common cold in chimpanzees.
The adenovirus, genetically modified so that it cannot replicate in humans, will enter the cell and release the code to make only the spike protein.
The body’s immune system is expected to recognise the spike protein as a potentially harmful foreign substance, and starts building antibodies against it.
Once immunity is built, the antibodies will attack the real virus if it tries to infect the body.

Spike Protein

When someone is infected with the Covid-19 virus (SARS-CoV-2), the reason it spreads in the body easily is because of the spikes on its surface. These spikes, known as the ‘spike protein’, allow the virus to penetrate cells and, thereafter, multiply.

3. CURRENT ACCOUNT SURPLUS

Subject : Economics

Context : The current account surplus moderated to $15.5 billion (2.4 per cent of GDP) in the quarter ended September of 2020-21 from $19.2 billion (3.8 per cent of GDP) in the first quarter this fiscal.

Concept :

The narrowing of the current account surplus in Q2 of FY21 was on account of a rise in the merchandise trade deficit to $14.8 billion from $10.8 billion in the preceding quarter, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said.
It said the net services receipts increased both sequentially and on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, primarily on the back of higher net earnings from computer services.
Private transfer receipts, mainly representing remittances by Indians employed overseas, declined on a y-o-y basis but improved sequentially by 12 per cent to $20.4 billion in Q2FY21.

Current Account Surplus

A current account surplus is a positive current account balance, indicating that a nation is a net lender to the rest of the world.
The current account measures a country’s imports and exports of goods and services over a defined period of time, in addition to earnings from cross-border investments, and transfer payments.
Exports, earnings on investments abroad, and incoming transfer payments (aid and remittances) are recorded as credits; imports, foreign investors’ earnings on investments in the country, and outgoing transfer payments are recorded as debits.
When credits exceed debits, the country enjoys a current account surplus, meaning that the rest of the world is in effect borrowing from it.

Balance of Payments

The balance of payments include both the current account and capital account.
The current account includes a nation’s net trade in goods and services, its net earnings on cross-border investments, and its net transfer payments.
The capital account consists of a nation’s transactions in financial instruments and central bank reserves.
The sum of all transactions recorded in the balance of payments should be zero; however, exchange rate fluctuations and differences in accounting practices may hinder this in practice.

4. ENFORCEMENT DIRECTORATE

Subject : National Organisations

Context : Enforcement Directorate (ED) issued orders for the attachment of several properties belonging to former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and leader of the National Conference in connection with its investigation into alleged money laundering in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) case.

Concept :

Provisional attachment

According to Section 5 of PMLA, the Director of ED or any other officer (Deputy Director and above) authorised by him can issue orders for attachment of a property that is suspected to have been acquired with the proceeds of crime in a case of scheduled offence.
The order is valid for 180 days. If it is not confirmed by an ED-appointed Adjudicating Authority by then, the property is automatically released.
Properties in foreign locations can be attached after a Letter Rogatory is sent through a competent court to the concerned country. The relevant authority in that country then attaches the property.
Because the attachment is provisional, the accused can continue to enjoy the property.
The ED will have the power to claim possession only after the Adjudicating Authority confirms the attachment. There is hardly any PMLA attachment that the Adjudicating Authority has refused to confirm so far.
The accused has the right to challenge the Adjudicating Authority’s confirmation order at the PMLA’s Appellate Tribunal within 45 days. If the Appellate Tribunal too confirms the order, the accused can file a plea in the High Court, and so on.

About Enforcement Directorate:

It is a Multi Disciplinary Organization mandated with the task of enforcing the provisions of two special fiscal laws – Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA) and Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).

5. KEVADIA TOURISM CIRCUIT

Subject : Governance

Context : The Gujarat government on Wednesday decided to “withdraw” revenue record entry from the lands of 121 villages falling under the eco-sensitive zone in Narmada district, which is home to the Statue of Unity and the Kevadia tourism circuit.

Concept :

Kevadia is a village in the tribal Narmada district. It is home to the SardarSarovar Dam reservoir on the Narmada river.
Kevadia circuit covers 35 tourist spots including the Valley of Flowers, Vishwa Van, Cactus Garden, Butterfly Garden.

Major attractions of the Circuit

Sardar Patel Zoological Park and Jungle Safari
Children’s Nutrition Park
The Mirror Maze
Carnival look
Riverfront cycling tour
The Gardens
The cruises
Dynamic lighting on Sardar Sarovar Dam

6. GENOMIC SEQUENCING

Subject : Science & tech

Context : Of the 14 Covid-19 samples processed by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to check genome sequencing, eight have tested positive for the new variant found in the UK, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Concept :

Genome: It is an organism’s complete set of DNA, including all of its genes.
Each genome contains all of the information needed to build and maintain that organism. In humans, a copy of the entire genome—more than 3 billion DNA base pairs—is contained in all cells that have a nucleus.

Genome sequencing:

It is figuring out the order of DNA nucleotides, or bases, in a genome—the order of As, Cs, Gs, and Ts that make up an organism’s DNA. The human genome is made up of over 3 billion of these genetic letters.
Sequencing the genome doesn’t immediately lay open the genetic information of an entire species. Even with a rough draft of the human genome sequence in hand, much work remains to be done. Scientists still have to translate those strings of letters into an understanding of how the genome works.

Methodology

Genomes will be sequenced based on a blood sample.
Every person whose genomes are sequenced will be given a report. The participants would be told if they carry gene variants that make them less responsive to certain classes of medicines.
For instance, having a certain gene makes some people less responsive to clopidogrel, a key drug that prevents strokes and heart attack.
The sequencing to be done at the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB).

Applications

Determining genetic traits and gene-disease link: Ever since the human genome was first sequenced in 2003, it opened a fresh perspective on the link between disease and the unique genetic make-up of each individual.
Nearly 10,000 diseases — including cystic fibrosis, thalassemia — are known to be the result of a single gene malfunctioning.
While genes may render some insensitive to certain drugs, genome sequencing has shown that cancer too can be understood from the viewpoint of genetics, rather than being seen as a disease of certain organs.
Mapping population diversity: Participants of genome-sample collections represent diversity of the country’s population.
It will help us to compare causes of diseases across other countries. For instance, in developed countries diarrhoeal infections are rarer than in India. It will help understanding of role of genes in this and can track health changes over long periods.

7. DPIIT SINGLE WINDOW SYSTEM

Subject : Economy

Context : As many as fourteen States have given their consent to be part of the single window clearance system and the investment clearance cell that the Centre hopes to launch in April 2021 to provide all requisite clearances to investors at one point.

Concept :

The Department of Policy for Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is driving the exercise of building the single window system of clearances for investors and trying to get all stakeholders together.
DPIIT hopes to launch the technology-driven single window clearance system for investors which would save investors the trouble of filling in multiple applications across different portals.
The centralised Investment Clearance Cell, is being set up as part of the single window mechanism.

Significance

The cell will be a one-stop digital national portal that integrates the existing clearance systems of various ministries/departments of the government and will have a single, unified application form.
It would provide end-to-end facilitation support, including pre-investment advisory, information related to land banks and facilitating clearances at Central and state level.
It will allow digital access to regulators, policymakers and facilitators at one point irrespective of their geographical location and also provide time-bound approvals and a real-time status update to investors.
It will enable the potential investor to interact with all the ministries whose approvals are required, in the central government as well as in the states.

8. ASHA INDIA

Subject: Economy

Context: On 1st January 2021, Prime Minister Modi will announce winners under Affordable Sustainable Housing Accelerators – India (ASHA-India) and give out annual awards for excellence in implementation of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U) Mission.

Concept:

Affordable Sustainable Housing Accelerators – India (ASHA-India) aims to promote domestic research and entrepreneurship by providing incubation and acceleration support to potential future technologies.
Under ASHA-India initiative, five ASHA-India Centers have been set up for providing incubation and acceleration support.
The technologies, processes and materials identified through this initiative will provide a major fillip to young creative minds, start-ups, innovators and entrepreneurs.

PMAY-U Mission:

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U) Mission has been designed to achieve the vision of “Housing For All by 2022”.
In order to recognize the outstanding contribution by States, UTs, Urban Local Bodies and beneficiaries, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has introduced annual awards for excellence in implementation of PMAY-Urban.