Daily Prelims Notes 14 February 2021,

February 14, 2021
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

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Daily Prelims Notes

14 February 2021

By

Santosh Sir

All 6 Prelims qualified

4 CSE Mains qualified

If I can do it, you can too

Table Of Contents

1. Speaker of Lok Sabha

Context: In a session marked by four straight days of disruption, heightened aggression, bitter fights and deepening divides, the Lok Sabha, according to Speaker Om Birla, has seen “record productivity” over the past three days.

Concept:

Amidst the frequent disruptions, running to well and decline in parliamentary productivity the role of speaker of Lok Sabha as the chairperson becomes significant.
The speaker of Lok Sabha is the chair person or presiding officer.
The members of Lok Sabha elect speaker and deputy speaker from among its members after elections or when vacancy exists.
To maintain independence of the office of speaker his salary on the consolidated Fund of India and the same is not subject to vote of Parliament.
He is sixth in the Order of Precedence of Government of India.
The speaker decides the agenda of discussions and has a casting vote (vote not in first place, but, only if tie exist).
The Committees of the House function under the overall direction of the Speaker. He nominates the chairpersons of the committee.
Committees like the Business Advisory Committee, the General Purposes Committee and the Rules Committee work directly under her Chairmanship
The speaker has the power to adjourn or suspend the house/meetings if the quorum is not met. The Speaker ensures the discipline and decorum of the house. If the speaker finds the behaviour and a member of Parliament is not good, he/she can punish the unruly members by suspending.
The Speaker of Lok Sabha does not leave the office just after dissolution of the assembly. He continues to be in the office till the newly formed assembly takes its first meeting and elects the new Speaker.
The final power to decide whether a particular bill is a Money Bill or not is vested in the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
The Speaker of Lok Sabha presides over the joint sitting of both the Houses.

Removal from office:

If no more a member of house; resigns by writing to deputy speaker; he is of unsound mind declared so by the court of law; if he is declared undischarged insolvent; if he is no longer the citizen of India;
He is removed from the post of Speaker by passing a resolution by majority of the members of Lok Sabha. This is to note that during resolution for removal of Speaker, the Speaker is not in position to cast his vote even if there is tie.

2. Power to make changes in the SC list

Context: The Union government on Saturday introduced a Bill in the Lok Sabha to group seven Scheduled Caste groups in the Tamil Nadu under a common nomenclature as “DevendrakulaVellalars”.

Concept:

The bill to classify the community is based on accepting the recommendation of the Hansraj Varma Committee.
Article 341(1) of the Indian Constitution gives the president the power to notify which castes in the country, and in specific states come under the category of Scheduled Castes.
Under article 341 (2) of the Constitution the power to make changes to the SC and ST list lies with the Parliament and not state legislatures. Any change in the lists of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes requires a constitutional amendment.
Only proposals agreed by both the Registrar General of India and the National Commission for Scheduled Castes are introduced as a Bill in Parliament.
The criteria for inclusion in SC list are extreme social, educational and economic backwardness arising out of traditional practice of untouchability.
Scheduled Castes are those castes named in the Scheduled Castes order of the Government of India, promulgated in August 1950.

3. Tribunals

Subject: Polity

Context: The government proposes to wind up five tribunals, including Airport Appellate Tribunal, Authority for Advance Rulings and Intellectual Property Appellate Board, Appellate Tribunal under the Cinematograph Act and Plant Varieties Protection Appellate Tribunal through Tribunals Reforms (Rationalisation and Conditions of Service) Bill, 2021

Concept:

Tribunalisation has become a major issue with plethora of new tribunals across the sector. Critics also sees this as a way of by-passing High Courts as under the Constitution appeal to tribunals order lies directly before the court.
The Constitution does not define tribunals.
In Durga Shankar Mehta v/s Raghuraj Singh case the SC defined tribunal in the following words: “The Tribunal as used in Article 136 does not mean the same thing as ‘Court’ but includes, within its ambit, all adjudicating bodies, provided they are constituted by the state and are vested with judicial functions as distinguished from administrative or executive functions.
42^nd Amendment provided for tribunals under article 323-A and 323-B.
Art 323-A enabled Parliament to create Administrative tribunals.
Other tribunals could be created by both Parliament and the states under the Art 323-B for matters falling under their jurisdiction.
Under Art 323-B hierarchy of tribunals could be created. However, under Art 323-A only one administrative tribunal (CAT in 1985) and one each for each states or too or more states can be created, thus no hierarchy.

4. Habeus Corpus

Context: A report by the Forum on Human Rights in Jammu and Kashmir has concluded that the priority to counter-insurgency has vitiated protections like habeas corpus, prevention of illegal detention

Concept:

The SC (under Art 32) and the HC (under art 226) can issue writs(a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court) of Habeas Corpus, mandamus, prohibition, certiorari and Quo-Warranto.

Further, the Parliament can authorize other courts to issue such writs (borrowed from Britain’s Prerogative Writs).

About Habeus Corpus:

It means “You may have the body”.
Its purpose is to release a person who has been detained unlawfully whether in prison or in private custody.
It is considered bulwark of individual liberty against arbitrary action.

It is not issued when:

Detention is lawful
Proceeding is for contempt of legislature or a court.
Detention is by a competent court
It is outside the jurisdiction of the concerned court.

5. Unit-linked Investment Plans (ULIPs)

Subject: Economy

Context: Private insurers ended with huge losses due to plunge in ULIPs during 2019-20.

Concept:

It is a multi-faceted insurance product issued by insurance companies that combine insurance coverage and investment exposure in a single offering.
regular premium payments, part of which are utilized to provide insurance coverage, while the remaining portions are pooled with assets from other policyholders, then invested in equity and debt instruments, much like mutual funds
It is used in products like life insurance, retirement income, and education expenses.

Difference with mutual fund

The returns from ULIP are on the lower side. The reason being, ULIPs promise a fixed sum whether or not the investment plan makes money. Whereas mutual funds investment return is based on risk.
ULIPs are largely an insurance product. ULIPs have a lock-in period ranging between three to five years, depending on the nature and structure of the investment scheme. Mutual funds generally have a lock-in period of one year.

6. National Health Authority

Context: To ensure better accessibility of medical facilities for its beneficiaries ESIC has joined hands with the NHA under PM-JAY to avail of its medical infrastructure.

Concept:

National Health Agency was restructured as the “National Health Authority” for better implementation of Pradhan Mantri – Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY).
It is an attached office to Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
It replaced multi-tier decision making structure of National health Agency and has been replaced with the Governing Board chaired by the Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India which will enable the decision making at a faster pace, required for smooth implementation of the scheme.
It will have due representations from the Government, domain experts, etc. Besides, the States shall also be represented in the Governing Board on rotational basis.
It will have full accountability, authority and mandate to implement PM-JAY through an efficient, effective and transparent decision-making process

7. Non-lapsable Defence and Internal Security Modernisation Fund

Subject: Security

Context: The 15^th Finance Commission (FC) recommended Non-lapsable Defence and Internal Security Modernisation Fundin its report to ensure continuity in fund support.

Concept:

The 15th FC has recommended ₹1.5 lakh crore be shifted from the Consolidated Fund of India over five years.
The commission has suggested this to come from Gross revenue receipts and not Gross tax revenue, thus not impacting divisible pool of tax or cess, surcharge or defence tax.
It is to fix mismatch between the procurement cycle and the financial allocations for defence on an annual basis.
To provide stability on availability of resources for meeting capital expenditure for Defence and thus strengthening security.
Apart from the Consolidate Fund it will be boosted by monetisation of idle assets of the defence ministry (It holds huge parcel of land and other assets)

Other focus areas of 15^th FC:

Focus of 15th FC has been on equity, need and efficiency as well as continuity and stability:

Continuity of the 41% share (factoring in J&K’s change in status)
New criteria of demographic management by assigning a 12.5% weightage, and if States still suffered, mitigation by a revenue deficit grant which covers many of the States like Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Telangana
Percentages assigned to different weights at more or less what they were, with very marginal change by increasing the forest cover criteria
Reprioritization of the expenditure pattern: Ex- Specific treatment of the resources to urban local bodies towards improving health infrastructure of primary health centers and district hospitals keeping threat of pandemic in mind
Flexibility in fiscal deficit target: Fiscal deficit target for states saw one percentage point more — 4% instead of the 3% of GSDP, and an additional 0.5% for undertaking power sector reforms
If any of the States have to undertake fresh borrowing on account of liabilities arising out of the GST compensation cess, that would be over and above the flexibility
New fiscal consolidation plan, a new debt trajectory, formation of a new inter-governmental body to look into Central govt fiscal target with aim to achieve targets in medium term

8. Novel regions – novel Open Reading Frames or as nORFs

Subject: Science and technology

Context: A group of scientists have given possible explanation and peak into why even after decade of Human Genome Project only 1.5% of the entire human genome codes for proteins.

Concept:

In the last seven years, the team extensively studied the human genome and has now catalogued 1,94,000 novel regions.
It can give idea about the conundrum that why only 1.5% of the entire human genome codes for proteins even decade after Human Genome Project.
These new findings in genome study can’t be defined by our current ‘definition’ of a gene and thus called Novel region
Scientists claim that nORFs do have physiological consequences and a majority of mutations that are often annotated as benign have to be re-interpreted. Thus, there is need to redesign our existing drugs that target only the known proteins in the parasite
New genomic and proteomic technologies, algorithms have helped find the new findings.
These regions are also broadly involved in diseases. The nORFs were seen as dysregulated (they could either be mutated, upregulated, or downregulated, or they could be uniquely present) in 22 cancer types
These regions were uniquely present in the cancer tissues and not present in the control tissue. They found that some nORF disruptions strongly correlated with the survival of patients
nORFs proteins can form structures, can undergo biochemical regulation like known proteins and be targeted by drugs in case they are disrupted in diseases
nORFs were also found in Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite which causes the deadliest form of malaria.

9. Nanophotonic

Subject: Science and Technology

Context: University of Hyderabad have shown how crystals can be sliced and even bent using atomic force microscopy

Concept:

Nanophotonic is the study of the behavior of light on the nanometer scale, and of the interaction of nanometer-scale objects with light.
Its aim is to go beyond electronics and build up circuits driven entirely by photons (light)

Application of nanophotonics:

Unprecedented level of miniaturisation could be achieved
It can pave the way to all-opticaltechnology such as pliable, wearable devices operated by light entirely.
It will help develop building an “organic photonic integrated circuit” or OPIC
Crystals are normally rigid, stiff structures.
However, the scientists at Hyderabad have shown crystals can be sliced and even bent using atomic force microscopy.
Light, when left to itself moves along straight paths. Thus technology seeks to create hurdles or material which can force light to bend.
This is like using fibre optics, but at the nanoscale level using organic crystals.
The researchers have named this technique “mechanophotonics” as this method can be used to generate the basic elements needed to build up a photonic integrated circuit

About Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)

Atomic force Microscopy is influential surface analysis technique used for micro/nanostructured coatings. It is used for high-resolution nanoscale images and study local sites in air (conventional AFM) or liquid (electrochemical AFM) surroundings.

10. Genome mapping of Malaria vector

Subject: Science and technology

Context: Tata Institute for Genetics and Society (TIGS), and Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology scientists have developme genome map of Malaria vector.

Concept:

A new reference genome for the Asian malaria vector mosquito “Anopheles stephensi“.
It found more than 3,000 genes that previously evaded scrutiny and which offer fresh gene-drive targets, play key roles in blood feeding and the metabolism of ingested blood meal, reproduction and immunity against microbial parasites
It helped find 29 formerly undetected genes that play crucial roles in resistance to chemical insecticides.
The findings also offer clues suggesting that the molecular basis of insecticide resistance may differ between sexes.
It will have role in development of genetic control strategies of disease transmission
It will help malaria biologists in India and the rest of the world, particularly in view of the national goal of malaria elimination in India by 2030

About CRISPR technology

CRISPR technology is a gene-editing tool which allows researchers to easily alter DNA sequences and modify gene function