Daily Prelims Notes 10 April 2022

April 10, 2022
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

Daily Prelims Notes

10 April 2022

Table Of Contents

Subject: SCIENCE & TECH

Section: Biotechnology

Context- Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation declared that it had detected the country’s ﬁrst XE recombinant variant of SARSCoV2.

Concept-

What is the XE Variant of Coronavirus?

XE is a sub-variant of Omicron.
The new variation is a Covid 19 Variant XE cross between two Omicron variants: BA.1 and BA.2.
The Omicron variant, which is responsible for over 90% of the infections detected in 2022, has two prominent sub-variants, called BA.1 and BA.2.
The XE variant is what is called a ‘recombinant’. This means it contains the mutations found in BA.1 as well as BA.2 varieties of Omicron.
Recombinant variants are not uncommon.
For example, variants that contain the characteristic mutations of Delta and Omicron have also been identified.
This was first discovered in the United Kingdom in January 2022, and so far more than 600 samples of XE have been found in different countries.

Is there a Threat from XE?

As of now, there is no evidence to show that the XE variant is significantly different from the other varieties of Omicron.
However, this variant is noticed to be about 10% more transmissible than the dominant BA.2 variant.
In India, it was the BA.2 that was the most dominant during the third wave.
Nevertheless, a fresh wave of infections in India can never be ruled out, considering that the virus has not been eliminated, and is also undergoing mutations.

How are New Variants Formed?

When a virus multiplies it doesn’t always manage to produce an exact copy of itself.
This means that, over time, the virus may start to differ slightly in terms of its genetic sequence.
Any changes to the viral genetic sequence during this process is known as a Mutation.
Viruses with new mutations are sometimes called Variants.
- Variants can differ by one or multiple mutations.
When a new variant has different functional properties to the original virus and becomes established in a population, it is sometimes referred to as a New Strain of the virus.
All strains are variants, but not all variants are strains.

2. Fortification Of Rice

Subject: Science & Tech

Section: Msc

Context- The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved supply of fortified rice in all States and Union Territories (UTs) by 2024 in a phased manner.

Concept-

Fortified Rice will be supplied throughout the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) under the:
- National Food Security Act (NFSA)
- Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)
- Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman-PM POSHAN [erstwhile Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDM)] and
- Other Welfare Schemes (OWS)

Implementation: The following three phases are envisaged for full implementation of the initiative:
- Phase-I: Covering ICDS and PM POSHAN in India all over by March, 2022 which is under implementation.
- Phase-II: Phase I above plus TPDS and OWS in all Aspirational and High Burden Districts on stunting (total 291 districts) by March 2023.
- Phase-III: Phase II above plus covering the remaining districts of the country by March 2024.

What is Fortification?

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has explicitly defined fortification.
It involves deliberate increasing of the content of essential micronutrients in a food so as to improve the nutritional quality of food and to provide public health benefit with minimal risk to health.
It provides nutrition without any change in the characteristics of food or the course of our meals.
India has very high levels of malnutrition among women and children.
According to the Food Ministry, every second woman in the country is anaemic and every third child is stunted.
Fortification of food is considered to be one of the most suitable methods to combat malnutrition.

Types of food fortification

Food fortification can also be categorized according to the stage of addition:
Commercial and industrial fortification (wheat flour, cornmeal, cooking oils)
Biofortification (breeding crops to increase their nutritional value, which can include both conventional selective breeding, and genetic engineering)
Home fortification (example: vitamin D drops)

How is fortification done for rice?

Various technologies are available to add micronutrients to regular rice, such as coating, dusting, and ‘extrusion’.
Extrusion involves the production of fortified rice kernels (FRKs) from a mixture using an ‘extruder’ machine.
It is considered to be the best technology for India.
The fortified rice kernels are blended with regular rice to produce fortified rice.

How does the extrusion technology to produce FRK work?

Dry rice flour is mixed with a premix of micronutrients, and water is added to this mixture.
The mixture is passed through a twin-screw extruder with heating zones, which produces kernels similar in shape and size to rice.
These kernels are dried, cooled, and packaged for use. FRK has a shelf life of at least 12 months.
As per guidelines issued by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, the shape and size of the fortified rice kernel should “resemble the normal milled rice as closely as possible”.
According to the guidelines, the length and breadth of the grain should be 5 mm and 2.2 mm respectively.

What are the standards for fortification?

Under the Ministry’s guidelines, 10 g of FRK must be blended with 1 kg of regular rice.
According to FSSAI norms, 1 kg of fortified rice will contain the following:
- iron (28 mg-42.5 mg),
- folic acid (75-125 microgram), and
- vitamin B-12 (0.75-1.25 microgram).
Rice may also be fortified with zinc (10 mg-15 mg), vitamin A (500-750 microgram RE), vitamin B-1 (1 mg-1.5 mg), vitamin B-2 (1.25 mg-1.75 mg), vitamin B-3 (12.5 mg-20 mg) and vitamin B-6 (1.5 mg-2.5 mg) per kg.

Does fortified rice have to be cooked differently?

The cooking of fortified rice does not require any special procedure.
The rice needs to be cleaned and washed in the normal way before cooking.
After cooking, fortified rice retains the same physical properties and micronutrient levels as it had before cooking.

What is India’s capacity for fortification?

At the time of the PM’s announcement last year, nearly 2,700 rice mills had installed blending units for the production of fortified rice.
India’s blending capacity now stands at 13.67 lakh tonnes in 14 key states, according to figures provided by the Ministry.
FRK production had increased rapidly from 7,250 tonnes to 60,000 tonnes within 2 years.

How can a beneficiary distinguish between fortified rice and regular rice?

Fortified rice will be packed in jute bags with the logo (‘+F’) and the line “Fortified with Iron, Folic Acid, and Vitamin B12”.

Public Distribution System (PDS):

The PDS is an Indian food Security System established under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution.
PDS evolved as a system of management of scarcity through the distribution of food grains at affordable prices.
PDS is operated under the joint responsibility of the Central and State Governments.
The Central Government, through the Food Corporation of India (FCI), has assumed the responsibility for procurement, storage, transportation, and bulk allocation of food grains to the State Governments.
The operational responsibilities including allocation within the State, identification of eligible families, issue of Ration Cards and supervision of the functioning of FPSs etc., rest with the State Governments.
Under the PDS, presently the commodities namely wheat, rice, sugar, and kerosene are being allocated to the States/UTs for distribution.
Some states/UTs also distribute additional items of mass consumption through PDS outlets such as pulses, edible oils, iodized salt, spices, etc.

Mid-Day Meal Scheme:

The Midday Meal Scheme is a school meal program in India designed to better the nutritional standing of school-age children nationwide.
It is a wholesome freshly-cooked lunch served to children in government and government-aided schools in India.
It supplies free lunches on working days for children in primary and upper primary classes in government, government-aided, local body, and alternate innovative education centers, Madarsa and Maqtabs.
The program has undergone many changes since its launch in 1995.
The Midday Meal Scheme is covered by the National Food Security Act, 2013.
The scheme aims to:
- avoid classroom hunger
- increase school enrolment
- increase school attendance
- improve socialization among castes
- address malnutrition
- empower women through employment

3. ‘Micro-swimmers’ may soon help with drug delivery

Subject: Science & Tech

Section: Msc

Context- it is possible to use light as a fuel to move microbots in real body conditions with intelligent drug delivery that is selectively sensitive to cancer cells.

Concept-

Microbots:

Made from the two dimensional compound poly (heptazine imide) carbon nitride (aka PHI carbon nitride), these microbots are nothing like the miniaturized humans.
They range from 1- 10 micrometre (a micro metre is one millionth of a metre) in size, and can self propel when energised by shining light.

How they swim

The PHI carbon nitride microparticles are photocatalytic.
Like in a solar cell, the incident light is converted in to electrons and holes.
These charges drive reactions in the surrounding liquid. This reaction, combined with the particle’s electric ﬁeld, makes the microbots (micro swimmers) swim.
As long as there is light, electrons and holes are produced on the surface of the swimmers, which in turn react to form ions and an electric ﬁeld around the swimmer. These ions move around the particle and cause ﬂuid to ﬂow around the particle. So this ﬂuid ﬂow causes the microswimmers to move.
Just like the fragrance of incense wafts from a region of high concentration to low, the ions move from the bright surface of the micro swimmer to the rear end.
The particles are nearly spherical, and the incident light illuminates one half of the sphere, leaving the other dark. As photocatalysis is light driven, it occurs only on the brightened hemisphere. As the ions move from the bright side to the dark side, microswimmers march towards the direction of the light source.

Drug delivery

The researchers found that Doxo rubicin, a drug used to treat cancer, was readily absorbed.
By changing the pH of the solution or by triggering it with light, the researchers showed the drug release could be activated.

4. W Boson Particles

Subject : Science & Tech

Section: Basic Science

Context- W boson mass measurement surprises physicists. The Higgs boson mass allowed physicists to infer that the mass of the W boson would be 80,357±6 MeV.2.

Concept-

In particle physics, the W and Z bosons are vector bosons that are together known as the weak bosons or more generally as the intermediate vector bosons.
These elementary particles mediate the weak interaction; the respective symbols are W+, W−, and Z0.
The W± bosons have either a positive or negative electric charge of 1 elementary charge and are each other’s antiparticles. The Z0 boson is electrically neutral and is its own antiparticle.
All three of these particles are very short-lived, with a half-life of about 3×10−25 s.
Their experimental discovery was pivotal in establishing what is now called the Standard Model of particle physics.
These bosons are among the heavyweights of the elementary particles. With masses of 80.4 GeV/c2 and 91.2 GeV/c2, respectively, the W and Z bosons are almost 80 times as massive as the proton – heavier, even, than entire iron atoms.
The W± bosons are best known for their role in nuclear decay. Consider, for example, the beta decay of cobalt-60.

What is Higgs Boson?

In 2012, the Nobel-winning discovery of the Higgs boson(also known as ‘God particle’) validated the Standard Model of physics, which also predicts that about 60% of the time a Higgs boson will decay to a pair of bottom quarks.
In 1960s Peter Higgs was the first person to suggest that this particle might exist.
The Standard Model of particle physics is the theory which describes three of the four known fundamental forces (the electromagnetic, weak, and strong interactions, and not including the gravitational force) in the universe, as well as classifies all known elementary particles.
Scientists do not yet know how to combine gravity with the Standard Model.
The Higgs particle is a boson.
Bosons are thought to be particles which are responsible for all physical forces.
Other known bosons are the photon, the W and Z bosons, and the gluon.

Boson:

In particle physics, a boson is a subatomic particle whose spin quantum number has an integer value.
Bosons form one of the two fundamental classes of subatomic particle, the other being fermions, which have odd half-integer spin
Every observed subatomic particle is either a boson or a fermion.

5. Can’t De-Register Political Parties For Offering Freebies: ECI Tells SC

Subject: Polity

Section: Elections

Context: Election Commission of India has told the Supreme Court that offering any freebies either before or after the election is a policy decision of the party and that the Commission cannot regulate state policies and decisions which may be taken by the winning party when they form the government.

Background

Petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to seize the election symbol or deregister a political party that promises or distributes “irrational freebies” from public funds before elections.
The petition argued that the recent trend of political parties to influence voters by offering freebies with an eye on elections is not only the greatest threat to the survival of democratic values but also injures the spirit of the Constitution.
The affidavit has been filed by ECI to the PIL says “Election Commission of India cannot regulate state policies and decisions which may be taken by the winning party when they form the government. Such an action, without enabling provisions in the law, would be an overreach of powers”
SC with regards to the role of ECI had observed that
- Considering that there is no enactment that directly governs the contents of the election manifesto, we hereby direct the Election Commission to frame guidelines for the same in consultation with all the recognized political parties as when it had acted while framing guidelines for general conduct of the candidates, meetings; processions, polling day, party in power etc.
- In the similar way, a separate head for guidelines for election manifesto released by a political party can also be included in the Model Code of Conduct for the Guidance of Political Parties & Candidates.

Registering a Political Party

The registration of all political parties is governed by the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
According to the Election Commission (EC), any party seeking registration has to submit an application to the Commission within a period of 30 days.
This is done as per guidelines prescribed by the EC in exercise of the powers conferred by Article 324 of the Constitution and Section 29A of the RP Act, 1951.
Process of registration
- The applicant is asked to publish a proposed party name in two national daily newspapers and two local daily newspapers, and provide two days for submitting objections, if any.

Why registering with the EC is important?

Registering as a political party with the EC has its advantage in terms of intending to avail itself of the provisions of the RP Act, 1951.
The candidates set up by a political party registered with the EC will get preference in the matter of allotment of free symbols vis-à-vis purely independent candidates.
Registered political parties, over course of time, can get recognition as a ‘state party’ or a ‘national party’.
Recognised ‘state’ and ‘national’ parties:
- need only one proposer for filing the nomination and
- are also entitled for two sets of electoral rolls free of cost and
- broadcast/telecast facilities over state-owned Akashvani / Doordarshan during the general elections.
But no travel expenses for star campaigners.
There is no procedure available for the de-registration of dormant political parties.

Political Parties need to satisfy conditions to recognized:

For recognition as a National Party

6% vote share in the last Assembly polls in each of any four states, as well as four seats in the last Lok Sabha polls; or
2% of all Lok Sabha seats in the last such election, with MPs elected from at least three states; or
recognition as a state party in at least four states.

For recognition as a State Party

two seats plus a 6% vote share in the last Assembly election in that state; or
one seat plus a 6% vote share in the last Lok Sabha election from that state; or
3% of the total Assembly seats or 3 seats, whichever is more; or
one of every 25 Lok Sabha seats (or an equivalent fraction) from a state; or
an 8% state-wide vote share in either the last Lok Sabha or the last Assembly polls.

ECI said that registration of political parties can only be cancelled on 3 grounds which are:

where a political party has obtained registration by practising fraud or forgery;
where a registered political party amends its nomenclature of association, rules and regulations abrogating therein conforming to the provisions of Section 29A(5) of the Act or intimating the Election Commission that it has ceased to have faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India or to the principles of socialism, secularism and democracy or it would not uphold the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India so as to comply the provisions of Section 29A(5) of the Act; and
any like ground where no enquiry is called for on the part of the Commission

6. Pandit Bhimsen Joshi

Subject: History

Section: Art and Culture

Context: Pandit Bhimsen Joshi would have turned 100 this year.

About Pandit Bhimsen Joshi

Pandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi (1922 –2011) was an Indian vocalist from Karnataka, in the Hindustani classical tradition.
A brilliant exponent in the field of Hindustani classical music
Famous for perfecting the Khayal, a form of Hindustani classical
Bhimsen Joshi belongs to the Kirana gharana tradition of Hindustani Classical Music.
He was also known for his presentation of devotional music – his‘bhajans’, which were usually sung in Kannada, Hindi and Marathi languages
He has also recorded Kannada Dasa Krithis in Dasavani, the likes which are usually sung by Carnatic musicians.
Bhimsen Joshi was instrumental in organising the Sawai Gandharva Music Festival annually, as homage to his guru, Pandit Sawai Gandharva.

Hindustani Classical Music

Hindustani music is one of the two principal types of South Asian classical music.
It is found mainly in the northern three-fourths of the subcontinent, where Indo-Aryan languages are spoken.
The roots of Hindustani Music is traced to the emergence of Dhrupad & Dhamar. It further developed into Vocal & Instrumental Streams.
Further emergence of Khayal from Dhrupad as a result of influence of the Mughal Kingdom, Classical Music underwent a change in character, moving from Temples to the Courts.
- Miyan Tansen have been one of the greatest influence on the Hindustani Style.

Gharanas:

A Gharana is a system of social organisation linking musicians or dancers by lineage or apprenticeship, and by adherence to a particular musical style.
Function in guru-shishya parampara, i.e. disciples learning under a particular guru, transmitting his musical knowledge and style.
Kirana Gharana founded by Ustad Abdul Karim Khan. Famous artists such as Abdul Wahid Khan, Suresh Babu Mane, Hira Bai Badodekar and Roshanara Begum belong to this Gharana.