Daily Prelims Notes 17 June 2020
- June 17, 2020
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN
Table Of Contents
- Dexamethasone
- Indian Gas Exchange
- Anti –Dumping duty
- Rapid Antigen vs RTPC Test
- Horizontal Reservation
- Force Majeure
- United Nation Security Council
- Annular Solar eclipse
- Deflation
Subject: Science and tech
Context:
Dexamethasone became the first drug proved to improve survival from Covid-19
Concept:
- Researchers from UK found dexamethasone given either orally or through an IV, after 28 days reduced deaths by 35% in patients who needed treatment with breathing machines and by 20% in those only needing supplemental oxygen.
- It did not appear to help less ill patients.
- Dexamethasone is a generic steroidwidely used in other diseases to reduce inflammation.
- It is used to treat a range of diseases including rheumatism, asthma, allergies and even to help cancer patients better handle the nausea triggered by chemotherapy.
- Steroid drugs reduce inflammation, which sometimes develops in Covid-19 patients as the immune system overreacts to fight the infection. This overreaction can prove fatal, so doctors have been testing steroids and other anti-inflammatory drugs in such patients.
Subject: Economy
Context:
Indian Gas Exchange (IGX), India’s first gas exchange was launched
Concept:
- The IGX is a digital trading platform that will allow buyers and sellers of natural gas to trade in both spot market and in the forward market for imported natural gas.
- It will facilitate transparent price discovery in natural gas, and facilitate the growth of the share of natural gas in India’s energy basket.
- The price of domestically produced natural gas is decided by the government. It will not be sold on the gas exchange.
- The exchange also allows much shorter contracts for delivery on the next day, and up to a month while ordinarily contracts for natural gas supply are as long as six months to a year.
Background:
- Domestically produced natural gas currently accounts for less than half the country’s natural gas consumption while imported LNG accounts for the other half.
- LNG imports are set to become a larger proportion of domestic gas consumption as India moves to increase the proportion of natural gas in the energy basket from 6.2% in 2018 to 15% by 2030.
Natural gas:
- Natural gas is a mixture of gases which are rich in hydrocarbons. Natural gas reserves are deep inside the earth near other solid & liquid hydrocarbons beds like coal and crude oil.
- Natural gas is mainly used as fuel for generating electricity and heat.
- Natural gas in compressed form is used as fuel for vehicles which is known as CNG. This is used for making fertilizers also, mainly ammonia.
- Russia, USA and Canada are major producers & consumers.
- For transporting, two variants are used – LNG for cross countries exchange and CNG for domestic purpose.
Subject: Economy
Context:
Finance Ministry has extended of existing anti-dumping duty on Nylon Tyre Cord Fabric (NTCF) imports from China by six months
Concept:
- An anti-dumping duty is a protectionist tariff that a domestic government imposes on foreign imports that it believes are priced below fair market value.
- Dumping is a process where a company exports a product at a price lower than the price it normally charges in its own home market.
- The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trading practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers vis-a-vis foreign producers and exporters.
- The duty is imposed only after a thorough investigation by a quasi-judicial body, such as Directorate General of Trade Remedies, in India.
- The imposition of anti-dumping duty is permissible under the World Trade Organization (WTO) regime.
Subject: Science and tech
Context:
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) approved new kind of test for diagnosis of Covid-19 called rapid antigen detection test
Concept:
- The test is done on swabbed nasal samples that detect antigens that are found on or within the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
- It is a point-of-care test, performed outside the conventional laboratory setting, and is used to quickly obtain a diagnostic result.
RT-PCR vs Rapid antigen test:
- RT-PCR is currently the gold standard frontline test for the diagnosis of Covid-19.
- Like RT-PCR, the rapid antigen detection test too seeks to detect the virus rather than the antibodies produced by the body.
- While the mechanism is different, the most significant difference between the two is time. RT-PCR test takes a minimum of 2-5 hours including the time taken for sample transportation. In a reliable rapid antigen detection test, the maximum duration for interpreting a positive or negative test is 30 minutes.
Concern:
- US FDA pointed out that antigen tests are very specific for the virus, but are not as sensitive as molecular PCR tests.
- This means that positive results from antigen tests are highly accurate, but there is a higher chance of false negatives, so negative results do not rule out infection.
- As of now, the kit will be used in containment zones or hotspots and healthcare settings.
Subject: Polity
Context:
The cabinet of Tamil Nadu state has approved 10 per cent horizontal reservation in medical admissions to government school students who clear the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). An Ordinance is likely to be promulgated within a few days to give effect to this from the current academic year.
Concept:
- The reservations in favour of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes under Article 16(4) may be called vertical reservations. The total percentage of Reservation for the above three categories should not exceed 50% at any point of time
- The reservation in favour of Ex-servicemen, Person with Disability, Sportsmen, Minorities etc may be called Horizontal reservation.
- Horizontal reservations cut across the vertical reservations is called interlocking reservations.
- The percentage of reservation allotted to Horizontal reservation categories should be adjusted against percentage of SC/ST/ OBC and General categories in vertical reservation.
Subject: Economy
Concept:
- The term ‘force majeure’ has been defined in Black’s Law Dictionary, as ‘an event or effect that can be neither anticipated nor controlled.
- From a contractual perspective, a force majeure clause provides temporary reprieve to a party from performing its obligations under a contract upon occurrence of a force majeure event.
- While force majeure has neither been defined nor specifically dealt with, in Indian statutes, some reference can be found in Section 32 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 (the “Contract Act”) envisages that if a contract is contingent on the happening of an event which event becomes impossible, then the contract becomes void.
- Force majeure clauses can usually be found in various contracts such as power purchase agreements, supply contracts, manufacturing contracts, distribution agreements, project finance agreements, agreements between real estate developers and home buyers, etc.
7. United Nation Security Council
Subject: IR
Context:
India is expected to have a comfortable victory in the Security Council elections that will make India non-permanent member for the 2021-22 term
Concept:
- The UN Security Council is the premier global body for maintaining international peace and security, but it faces steady calls for reform to better meet twenty-first–century challenges.
- The Security Council, the United Nations’ principal crisis-management body, is empowered to impose binding obligations on the 193 UN member states to maintain peace.
- The council’s five permanent and ten elected members meet regularly to assess threats to international security, addressing issues that include civil wars, natural disasters, arms control, and terrorism.
- Each year, the General Assembly elects five non-permanent members out of a total of 10, for a two-year term.
- These 10 seats are distributed among the regions thus: five for African and Asian countries; one for Eastern European countries; two for Latin American and Caribbean countries; two for Western European and other countries.
- A country needs to secure the votes of two-thirds of the members present and voting at the General Assembly session (a minimum of 129 votes if all 193 member states participate) to get elected as UNSC non-permanent member.
Subject: Science and tech
Context:
An annular solar eclipse will occur on 21 June, 2020
Concept:
- A solar eclipse occurs on a new moon day when the Moon comes in between the Earth and the Sun and when all the three objects are aligned.
- An annular solar eclipse will occur when the angular diameter of the Moon falls short of that of the Sun so that it cannot cover up the latter completely.
- As a result a ring of the Sun’s disk remains visible around the Moon.
- Eclipsed Sun should not be viewed with the naked eye, even for a very short time. It will cause permanent damage of the eyes leading to blindness even when the moon covers most portion of the Sun.
- Safe technique to observe the solar eclipse is either by using proper filter like aluminized Mylar, black polymer, welding glass or by making projection of Sun’s image on a white board by telescope.
9. Deflation
Context:
The wholesale price index inflation has contracted 3.21 percent in May, slipping into negative territory for the first time in over four years and showing signs of deflation.
Concept:
What is Deflation?
Deflation occurs when asset and consumer prices fall over time. t is the opposite of the often-encountered inflation.
A reduction in money supply or credit availability is the reason for deflation in most cases. Reduced investment spending by government or individuals may also lead to this situation.
Impact:
Deflation leads to a problem of increased unemployment due to slack in demand.
What can RBI do?
They may infuse a higher money supply into the economy to counter- balance the deflationary impact.
Is deflation similar to disinflation?
Deflation is different from disinflation as the latter implies decrease in the level of inflation whereas on the other hand deflation implies negative inflation.