Daily Prelims Notes 16 August 2020

August 16, 2020
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

Table Of Contents

Subject: Government Schemes

Context:

National Digital Health Mission was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15, 2020 while addressing the nation from the Red Fort to mark the occasion of India’s 74th Independence Day.

Concept:

Under National Digital Health Mission, every Indian will get a Health ID card that will store all medical details of the person including prescriptions, treatment, diagnostic reports and discharge summaries.
The citizens will be able to give their doctors and health providers one-time access to this data during visits to the hospital for consultation. However, access to the confidential medical data will have to be given separately for each visit due to fears over data confidentiality.
The National Digital Health Mission will allow patients to access health services remotely through tele-consultation and e-pharmacies, as well as offer other health-related benefits
It comes under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan ArogyaYojana (AB PM-JAY) and implemented by National Health Authority.
The National Health Policy 2017 had envisaged creation of a digital health technology eco-system aiming at developing an integrated health information system that serves the needs of all stakeholders and improves efficiency, transparency and citizens’ experience with linkage across public and private healthcare.
In the context of this, central government’s think-tank NitiAayog, in June 2018, floated a consultation of a digital backbone for India’s health system — National Health Stack.

2. Black hole

Subject: Science and tech

Context:

In August 1970, in a paper in Nature, relativist C. V. Vishveshwara first published a calculation and plot of the signal that would be given out by a single perturbed back hole.

Concept:

Black hole refers to a point in space where matter is so compressed as to create a gravity field from which even light cannot escape.
Black-holes were theorized by Albert Einstein in 1915.

Related Terms :

Event Horizon

There is a region of space beyond the black hole called the event horizon. This is a “point of no return”, beyond which it is impossible to escape the gravitational effects of the black hole.

3. Jan Aushadi Kendras

Subject: Schemes

Context:

More than 5 crore Sanitary Napkins distributed from Jan AushadhiKendras to underprivileged women at the minimum price of Rs.1 each

Concept :

It is a campaign launched by the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilisers to provide quality medicines at affordable prices to the masses through special kendra’s known as Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan Aushadhi Kendra.
Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India (BPPI) is the implementing agency of PMBJP.
BPPI (Bureau of Pharma Public Sector Undertakings of India) has been established under the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Govt. of India, with the support of all the CPSUs

What is a generic medicine?

There is no definition of generic or branded medicines under the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Rules, 1945 made thereunder. However, generic medicines are generally those which contain same amount of same active ingredient(s) in same dosage form and are intended to be administered by the same route of administration as that of branded medicine.

4. Optical fibre connectivity

Subject: Schemes

Context:

Each village to be connected with optical fibre cable (OFC) connectivity in next 1000 days. It is also announced that in the next 1000 days, Lakshadweep will be connected with submarine optical fibre cable

Concept :

Optical fibre is the technology associated with data transmission using light pulses travelling along with a long fibre which is usually made of plastic or glass.
Optical fibres are also unaffected by electromagnetic interference.
The fibre optical cable uses the application of total internal reflection of light.
The fibres are designed such that they facilitate the propagation of light along with the optical fibre depending on the requirement of power and distance of transmission.
Single-mode fibre is used for long-distance transmission, while multimode fibre is used for shorter distances.
The outer cladding of these fibres needs better protection than metal wires.

Submarine Optical Fibre Cable :

It is a cable laid on the sea bed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean and sea.
The optical fibre elements are typically individually coated with plastic layers and contained in a protective tube suitable for the environment where the cable will be deployed.

5. Wildlife Corridors

Subject: Environment

Context:

A genetic study of tigers across India showed tigers are becoming more isolated, which in turn reduces tigers’ chances of finding a mate who is not closely genetically related, thus lowering the genetic variation and increasing the risk of extinction.

Concept:

A wildlife corridor is a way of connecting fragmented habitats. The corridor allows movement between isolated patches of habitat without other disturbances, such as traffic or development.
Wildlife corridors are also known as habitat corridors or green corridors.
These green corridors are also designed to keep animals out of danger of highways, busy roads, and other areas where their traditional migratory patterns intersect with potential dangerous manmade places.

6. Public Good

Subject: Economy

Concept:

A public good has two key characteristics: it is nonexcludable and nonrivalrous.
- Non-excludable means that it is costly or impossible for one user to exclude others from using a good.
- Non-rivalrous means that when one person uses a good, it does not prevent others from using it.
Examples of public goods are education, infrastructure, flood control systems, knowledge, fresh air, national security, official statistics, etc.

7. Poorna Swaraj Day

Subject: History

Context:

For almost two decades before India actually became independent, the country’s freedom fighters had been celebrating January 26 as “Poorna Swaraj Day”

Concept:

The Indian National Congress held its annual session in December 1929.
It voted for “purnaswaraj” or complete independence as against a dominion statusfor India and passed a resolution fixing the last Sunday of January 1930, it was coincidentally January 26 as Independence Day.
It resolved to hold countrywide demonstrations in support of the goal.
An official draft by Mahatma Gandhi said: “The British government in India has not only deprived the Indian people of their freedom but has based itself on the exploitation of the masses and has ruined India economically, politically, culturally and spiritually….Therefore, India must sever the British connection and attain ‘purnaswaraj’ or ‘complete independence’. ”
Jawaharlal Nehru was chosen the president of the Congress. On the midnight of December 31, 1929, he raised the first “swaraj” flag that was later adopted as the national flag.
However, since 15 August became the official Independence Day in 1947, the new Indian Constitution took effect on 26 January 1950, to mark the 1930 declaration. That’s why 26 January is a special day in India’s history in more ways than one.

8. T cell immunity

Subject: Science and tech

Context:

SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell immunity prevents recurrent severe COVID-19 disease

Concept:

T cells (also called T lymphocytes) are one of the major components of the adaptive immune system.
Their roles include directly killing infected host cells, activating other immune cells, producing cytokines and regulating the immune response.
There are two major types of T cells: the helper T cell and the cytotoxic T cell.
As the names suggest, helper T cells ‘help’ other cells of the immune system, whilst cytotoxic T cells kill virally infected cells and tumours.

9. Mitakshara School vs Dayabhaga school of law

Subject: History

Context:

SC has ruled that a Hindu woman’s right to be a joint heir to the ancestral property is by birth and does not depend on whether her father was alive or not when the law was enacted in 2005.

Concept:

The Dayabhaga and The Mitakshara are the two schools of law that govern the law of succession of the Hindu Undivided Family under Indian Law.
The Dayabhaga School of law is observed in Bengal and Assam, in all other parts of India the Mitakshara School of law is observed. The Mitakshara School of law is subdivided into the Benares, the Mithila, the Maharashtra and the Dravida schools.
The two main interpreters who wrote on Mitakshara and Dayabagha Schools were Vijnaneshwar and Jeenutavahan respectively.
In the Mitakshara School, the allocation of inherited property was based on the law of possession by birth and a man could leave his self-acquired property to which he willed. The joint family property went to the group known as coparceners, i.e. those who belonged to next three generations and also the joint family property by partition could be, at any time, converted into separate property. Therefore in Mitakshara School, Sons had an exclusive right by birth in joint family property.
The property is inherited in the Dayabhaga School after the death of the person who was in possession of it. The doctrine of son’s birth right and the devolution of property by survivorship had limited space in Dayabagha School.
It is establish that in the Mitakshara Schoolneitherthe fathernor any other coparcener could normally disaffect the joint family property. Under the Dayabhaga School there is no such constraint and each coparcener has complete right of separation of his exclusive share in the joint family property. To put it simply, Mitakshara was based on the ‘principle of ownership by birth, and Dayabagha on principle of ownership by death’.
In the Dayabhaga Scheme the division of property was very simple. If a man died intestate, his supposed the property was divided uniformly between his sons. If he has share in the common property with the brothers then the property (a share equal to his own) of the brothers would be put apart and his share would be 4 separated between the sons.
The law of succession in the Dayabhaga School was based on the principle of religious value or divine profit. The law of inheritance in the Mitakshara School was based on the rule of blood-relationship.
The Mitakshara School did not give complete result to the principle, and restricted it by two supplementary rules:

(1) females are excluded from inheritance

(2) importance of agnates over cognates .

This means that in case of a death of a Hindu man leaving behind a son and a daughter, the latter would be excluded totally and the former would get the entire property. In case he leaves behind a son’s son and a daughter’s son, the former should succeed to the entire property and the latter would be excluded.

The Mitakshara school of Hindu law codified as the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 governed succession and inheritance of property but only recognised males as legal heirs. The law applied to everyone who is not a Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Jew by religion. Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains and followers of Arya Samaj, BrahmoSamaj are also considered Hindus for the purposes of this law.

Source: https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/189726/6/chapter%202.pdf

10. NCC

Subject: Schemes

Context:

In Independence Day speech, Prime Minister spoke about the expansion of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) in coastal and border districts of India.

Concept:

The NCC, which was formed in 1948, has its roots to British era uniformed youth entities like University Corps or University Officer Training Corps.
Currently the NCC has strength of around 14 lakh cadets from Army, Navy and Air Force wings.
It enrolls cadets at high school and college level and also awards certificates on completion of various phases.
Headed by a Director General of three-star military rank, the NCC falls under the purview of Ministry of Defence and is led by serving officers from the Armed forces at various hierarchical positions.
The NCC currently has 17 regional directorates which govern the NCC in units in various states or groups of states and union territories.
The NCC cadets receive basic military training at various levels and also have academic curriculum basics related to Armed forces and their functioning. Various training camps, adventure activities and military training camps are an important aspect of NCC training.
NCC cadets have played an important role over the years in relief efforts during various emergency situations.