Daily Prelims Notes 18 August 2022

Daily Prelims Notes

18 August 2022

Table Of Contents

1. Annual Survey of Industries (ASI)
2. Merchant Discount Rate
3. Developed country
4. Credit Deposit Ratio
5. The Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL)
6. SafaiMitra Surakshit Shehar
7. Did asteroids bring water to Earth? Findings of the Hayabusa-2 probe, explained
8. What is causing Arctic warming? Should India be worried?
9. Wheat production down but many crops set for record
10. When COVID-19 or flu viruses kill they often have an accomplice — bacterial infections
11. UN meet begins over treaty to govern use of high seas

1. Annual Survey of Industries (ASI)

Subject: Economy

Section: National Income

Context: The final results of the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).

Details:

• The number of factories in the country increased by 1.7 per cent year-on-year to 2.46 lakh in FY20, employing a total of 1.3 crore workers,
• The number of factories stood at 2.42 lakh in 2018-19 and 2.37 lakh in the post-demonetisation year of 2017-18.
• Sectoral break up:
  • Employment in the corporate sector, including public and private government and non-government companies, rose 5.5 per cent to 97.02 lakh in FY20, 
  • Employment in individual proprietorship declined 3.1 per cent to 11.36 lakh.
  • Employment in the partnership sector fell by 11.7 per cent to 18.58 lakh in 2019-20
  • Employment in the limited liability partnership grew 42 per cent to 1.22 lakh.
• In FY20, urban areas had 1.43 lakh factories employing 72.79 lakh workers, while rural areas had 1.03 lakh factories, employing 57.78 lakh workers.
• Tamil Nadu showed the highest number of employment of workers in factories at 22.09 lakh in 2019-20, followed by Gujarat with 15.89 lakh workers and Maharashtra with 14.54 lakh workers.

About the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI):

• The Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) was released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
• It is  the principal source of industrial statistics in India, and is the most comprehensive data on organised manufacturing.
• The ASI data relates to factories employing 10 or more workers using power and those employing 20 or more workers without using power.
• Workers figures include all persons employed directly or through any agency whether for wages or not and engaged in any manufacturing process or in cleaning any part of the machinery or premises used for manufacturing process or in any other kind of work connected with the manufacturing process.
  • Labour engaged in the repair & maintenance, or production of fixed assets for factory’s own use, or employed for generating electricity, or producing coal, gas etc. are also included in the count of workers.
• It provides information about the composition and structure of the organised manufacturing sector comprising activities related to manufacturing processes, repair services, gas and water supply and cold storage.
• The ASI is conducted annually under the Collection of Statistics Act, since 1959, to obtain comprehensive and detailed statistics of the industrial sector with the objective of estimating the contribution of registered manufacturing industries as a whole to the national income.

Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) Vs Index of Industrial Production (IIP)

IIP is a short term indicator of industrial growth till the results from Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) and National Accounts Statistics (Eg: GDP) are available.

2. Merchant Discount Rate

Subject: Economy

Section: Monetary policy

Context: In a discussion paper released on Wednesday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asked stakeholders if merchant discount rate (MDR)should be brought back for Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions.

Concept:

Merchant Discount Rate:

• MDR is the cost paid by a merchant to a bank for accepting payment from their customers via digital means– credit cards, debit cards, net banking and digital wallets.
• It is the rate levied on debit and credit card transactions to a merchant for the payment processing services. 
• The merchant discount rate is expressed in percentage of the transaction amount.
• The amount that the merchant pays for every transaction gets distributed among three stakeholders–the bank (60%)  that enables the transaction, the vendor that installs the point of sale (PoS) machine and the card network provider such as Visa, MasterCard, RuPay.
• From 1st January, 2020, businesses with an annual turnover of more than ₹50 crore offer low cost digital payment options to customers and Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) is not levied on either customers or merchants.
  • Low cost digital payment modes will include options such as BHIM UPI, UPI QR Code, Aadhaar Pay, Debit Cards, NEFT, RTGS, among others.
• Present MDR:
  • Currently, UPI payments do not attract merchant discount rates (MDRs),
  • For debit cards, MDR is capped at 0.9 per cent for transactions, except for RuPay debit card, which attracts zero MDR.
  • In the case of credit cards, there is no cap on MDR.
  • For wallets and prepaid payment instruments, the MDR is not regulated and may range from 1.5 to 2.5 per cent, and in some cases, even higher.

3. Developed country

Subject: Economy

Section: National Income

Context: The ‘developed country’ goal is the first of the five vows that Prime Minister Narendra Modi exhorted Indians to take during his address to the nation on Independence Day.

The “Panch Pran” — five vows?

• Every Indian should focus on developing the country;
• 100 per cent freedom from slavery;
• Taking pride in Indian heritage;
• Ensuring importance is given to unity and integrity and
• Every citizen should be responsible.

What is a developed country?

• Different Institutions follow different criteria
• The UN’s World Economic Situation and Prospects classifies countries into three broad categories: 
  • Developed economies– There are 31 developed countries according to the UN in all.
  • Economies in transition–17 economies are in transition
  • Developing economies-remaining countries
• It is done to reflect basic economic country conditions and it is independent of regional classifications. 
  • So, not all European countries are “developed”, and not all Asian ones are “developing”.
• Criteria–United Nations uses the World Bank’s categorisation based on Gross National Income (GNI) per capita (in current US dollars)

Why is the United Nations classification contested?

• It lacks accuracy and analytical value:
  • China’s per capita income is closer to Norway’s than Somalia’s and it is designated  as a developing country while Ukraine’s, per capita GNI is $4,120 (a third of China’s) — is designated as “economies in transition”.

India’s position:

• India is currently far behind both the so-called developed countries, as well as some developing countries even though:
  • India is one of the biggest economies of the world in terms of GDP (gross domestic product).
  • India has made a secular improvement on Human Development Index HDI metrics.
    • For instance, the life expectancy at birth (one of the sub-metrics of HDI) in India has gone from around 40 years in 1947 to around 70 years now.
    • Human Development Index (HDI), a composite index where the final value is reached by looking at three factors:
• the health and longevity of citizens,
• the quality of education they receive, and
• their standard of life.
• India is the world’s third-largest economy in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms.
• However:
  • In terms of per capita income, India is behind even Bangladesh.
    • China’s per capita income is 5.5 times that of India, and the UK’s is almost 33 times.
  • Ten percent of Indians, at most, have consumption levels above the threshold of $10 (PPP) per day expenditures for the global middle class.
  • India’s current HDI score (0.64) is much lower than what any of the developed countries had even in 1980

How much can India achieve by 2047?

• If  India were to grow as fast as China did between 2007 and 2022, then, it will take India another 15 years to be where China is now. 
• The World Bank’s 2018 report mentions what India could achieve by 2047.
  • At least half its citizens could join the ranks of the global middle class i.e. households have access to better education and health care, clean water, improved sanitation, reliable electricity, a safe environment, affordable housing, and enough income to spend on leisure.
  • It requires fulfilling prerequisites– increasing income well above the extreme poverty line and  improved public service delivery.

4. Credit Deposit Ratio

Subject: Economy

Section: Monetary policy

Context: Banks need to rework their strategies rising from the ‘business as usual approach’ given the rising cost of borrowing due to hike in the repo rate.

Impact of Rising cost of borrowings:

• Emerging resource imbalance:
  • Declining credit deposit ratio–Deposit growth isat 9.8 percent while credit growth is at 14.4 percent as of July 1 taking the credit deposit (CD) ratio to 73 per cent.
  • Theoretically, when the CRR is at 4 percent and the SLR is at 18 per cent, the CD ratio can be 78 per cent.

Need:

Increase deposit base by:

• Depositor friendly ecosystem
• Digital penetration-
  • Financial inclusion (FI) index of the RBI is 53.9 in March 2021,  still leaving a huge scope for penetration and mobilisation of deposits from hinterland, where people usually do not invest in other financial markets.
• Protection against cyber breach
• Speedy resolution of customer grievances –Implementation of internal ombudsman scheme.
• Building a binding relationship with customers to continuously raise deposit resources.
  • The data of December 31, 2020, indicates that 90 million customer accounts are dormant and have not been operated for over 10 years.
  • There are millions of good customers maintaining nominal balances, perhaps due to lack of efforts on the part of banks to reconnect with them.
• Deposit product reengineering
  • HDFC Bank started  short term deposit products with differential interest rates.
• Better targeting of potential customers lost during pandemic-Rural customers, housewives, senior citizens, with risk averse and former employees
• Doorstep banking services
• Better data collection and analysis-Banks should monitor, incremental rise in new deposit accounts, per account balances, its trends, reasons for low balances
• Skills Development of existing employees to bridge the  Covid has created a void between banks and customers.

Concept:

Credit Deposit Ratio

• It is the ratio of how much a bank lends out of the deposits it has mobilised. 
• It indicates how much of a bank’s core funds are being used for lending, the main banking activity.
• To calculate the loan-to-deposit ratio, divide a bank’s total amount of loans by the total amount of deposits for the same period.
• The regulator (RBI)  does not stipulate a minimum or maximum level for the ratio. But, a very low ratio indicates banks are not making full use of their resources. And if the ratio is above a certain level, it indicates a pressure on resources.
• Typically, the ideal loan-to-deposit ratio is 80% to 90%. 
• A loan-to-deposit ratio of 100 percent means a bank loaned one dollar to customers for every dollar received in deposits it received.
• A credit-deposit ratio of over 70 percent indicates pressure on resources as they have to set aside funds to maintain a cash reserve ratio of 4.5 per cent and a statutory liquidity ratio of 23 per cent. Under such a scenario Banks can lend out of their capital, but it is not considered prudent to do so.

WHY IS IT CONSIDERED A KEY PARAMETER?

• The ratio gives the first indication of the health of a bank.
  •  A very high ratio is considered alarming because, in addition to indicating pressure on resources, it may also hint at capital adequacy issues, forcing banks to raise more capital.
  • Moreover, the balance sheet would also be unhealthy with asset-liability mismatches.
• The loan-to-deposit ratio is used to assess a bank’s liquidity by comparing a bank’s total loans to its total deposits for the same period.
•  LDR helps to show how well a bank is attracting and retaining customers. 
• The LDR can help investors determine if a bank is managed properly. If the bank isn’t increasing its deposits or its deposits are shrinking, the bank will have less money to lend.

5. The Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL)

Subject: Science and Technology

Section: Scheme

Context: The Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has approved the “Widening access of the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) database to users, besides patent offices”.

Concept:

• The Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) is a prior art database of Indian traditional knowledge established in 2001, jointly by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Department of Indian Systems of Medicine and Homeopathy (, now Ministry of AYUSH).
• The TKDL is a first of its kind globally that currently contains information from existing literature related to ISM such as Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, Sowa Rigpa and Yoga.
•  The information is documented in a digitized format in five international languages which are English, German, French, Japanese and Spanish.
• TKDL provides information in languages and format understandable by patent examiners at Patent Offices worldwide, so as to prevent the erroneous grant of patents.
• Until now, access to the complete TKDL database is restricted to 14 Patent Offices worldwide for the purposes of search and examination.  This defensive protection through TKDL has been effective in safeguarding Indian traditional knowledge from misappropriation, and is considered a global benchmark.

 Access to TKDL

• The opening up of the TKDL is also envisaged to inculcate thought and knowledge leadership through Bharatiya Gnana Parampara, under the New Education Policy 2020.
• The TKDL can cater to a vast user base that would include businesses/companies {herbal healthcare (AYUSH, pharmaceuticals, phytopharmaceuticals, and nutraceuticals), personal care, and other FMCG}, research institutions.
•   The access to the TKDL database would be through a paid subscription model with a phase-wise opening to national and international users. The TKDL database store data from the perspectives of the “3P – Preservation.  Protection and Promotion”.
• While catering to its primary mandate of preventing grant of wrong patents on Indian traditional knowledge, the TKDL database will also push creative minds to innovate for better, safer and more effective solutions for a healthier and technology endowed population.

6. SafaiMitra Surakshit Shehar

Subject: Scheme

Section: Vulnerable

Context: 500 cities across India have declared themselves as ‘SafaiMitra Surakshit Shehar’.

Concept: 

• In a major achievement towards putting an end to manual cleaning of sewers and septic tanks, 500 cities across India have declared themselves as ‘Safai Mitra Surakshit Shehar’ by achieving targets for safety of all sanitation workers engaged in these tasks.
• These cities have adopted mechanised cleaning of sewers and in case any sanitation worker needs to enter a manhole, they are provided with adequate safety gear.
• By doing so, they have established that the cities are able to achieve adequacy in terms of institutional capacity, manpower and equipment norms as stipulated by MoHUA and are providing safe working conditions for SafaiMitras.
• The ‘SafaiMitra Surakshit Shehar’ declaration done by 500 cities aligns with Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban’s longstanding goal of promoting sustainable sanitation practices and acting as a catalyst for the transformation of every ‘manhole’ into a ‘machine hole’.
• The scheme was launched with the target of ensuring ‘zero fatalities in sanitation work’.
• On World Toilet Day in 2019, the urban affairs ministry had launched the ‘Safai Mitra Suraksha Challenge’ through which it had identified 100 lighthouse cities that were well equipped in terms of sanitation infrastructure and facilities.

The states have set up Responsible Sanitation Authorities (RSAs) and Emergency Response Sanitation Units (ESRUs) at the district level and are now prioritising training and capacity building of Safai Mitras.

7. Did asteroids bring water to Earth? Findings of the Hayabusa-2 probe, explained

Subject: Science and Technology

Section: Space Science

Context:

• How did the Earth, believed to have been covered in bubbling oceans of magma billions of years ago, transform into the ‘blue planet’ and become covered in water? In an article published in the journal Nature Astronomy on Monday (August 15), scientists from Japan suggest that water and organic materials might have been brought to our planet from the outer edges of the solar system.
• The scientists made the hypothesis after analysing samples from the asteroid Ryugu, collected by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Hayabusa-2 probe, which had brought 5.4 grams of rocks and dust from the asteroid to Earth in December 2020.

What was the Hayabusa-2 mission?

• The Hayabusa-2 mission was launched in December 2014 when the spacecraft was sent on a six-year voyage to study the asteroid Ryugu. According to a report by Deutsche Welle from 2020, the spacecraft, which was approximately the size of a refrigerator, traveled more than 5 billion kilometers during its journey.
• The spacecraft arrived at the asteroid in mid-2018 after which it deployed two rovers and a small lander onto the surface. In 2019, the spacecraft fired an impactor into the asteroid’s surface to create an artificial crater with a diametre of a little more than 10 metres, which allowed it to collect the samples.
• In December 2020, Hayabusa-2 delivered a small capsule that contained the rock and dust samples when it was 220,000 km from the Earth’s atmosphere, which safely landed in the South Australian outback.
• Hayabasu2’s predecessor, the Hayabusa mission, brought back samples from the asteroid Itokawa in 2010.

What is an asteroid?

• Asteroids are rocky objects that orbit the Sun, much smaller than planets. They are also called minor planets. According to NASA, there are 994,383 known asteroids, the remnants from the formation of the solar system over 4.6 billion years ago.
• Asteroids are divided into three classes. First are those found in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, which is estimated to contain somewhere between 1.1-1.9 million asteroids.
• The second group is that of trojans, which are asteroids that share an orbit with a larger planet. NASA reports the presence of Jupiter, Neptune and Mars trojans. In 2011, they reported an Earth trojan as well.
• The third classification is Near-Earth Asteroids (NEA), which have orbits that pass close to the Earth. Those that cross the Earth’s orbit are called Earth-crossers. More than 10,000 such asteroids are known, out of which over 1,400 are classified as potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs).
• Ryugu is also classified as a PHA and was discovered in 1999 and was given the name by the Minor Planet Center in 2015. It is 300 million kilometres from Earth and it took Hayabusa-2 over 42 months to reach it.

Why do scientists study asteroids?

• Since asteroids are one of the oldest celestial bodies in the Solar System, scientists study them to look for information about the formation and history of planets and the sun.
• Another reason for tracking them is to look for asteroids that could possibly crash into Earth, leading to potentially hazardous consequences.
• NASA’s OSIRIS-REX mission had collected samples from the asteroid Bennu in October 2020, which will be brought to Earth in 2023. Scientists are interested in studying asteroids such as Bennu, because it hasn’t undergone drastic changes since its formation over billions of years ago and therefore it contains chemicals and rocks dating back to the birth of the solar system. It is also relatively close to the Earth.

8. What is causing Arctic warming? Should India be worried?

Subject: Geography

Section: Climate change

Context:

• On August 11, Finnish Meteorological Institute researchers published their study in the Communications Earth & Environment journal, concluding that the Arctic is heating four times faster than the rest of the planet.

What is Arctic amplification? What causes it?

• Global warming, the long-term heating of the earth’s surface, expedited due to anthropogenic forces or human activities since pre-industrial times and has increased the planet’s average temperature by 1.1 degrees Celsius. While changes are witnessed across the planet, any change in the surface air temperature and the net radiation balance tend to produce larger changes at the north and south poles. This phenomenon is known as polar amplification; these changes are more pronounced at the northern latitudes and are known as the Arctic amplification.
• Among the many global warming-driven causes for this amplification, the ice-albedo feedback, lapse rate feedback, water vapour feedback and ocean heat transport are the primary causes. Sea ice and snow have high albedo (measure of reflectivity of the surface), implying that they are capable of reflecting most of the solar radiation as opposed to water and land.
• In the Arctic’s case, global warming is resulting in diminishing sea ice. As the sea ice melts, the Arctic Ocean will be more capable of absorbing solar radiation, thereby driving the amplification.
• The lapse rate or the rate at which the temperature drops with elevation decreases with warming. Studies show that the ice-albedo feedback and the lapse rate feedback are responsible for 40% and 15% of polar amplification respectively.

What do the previous studies say?

• Studies have shown that the Arctic was warming twice the global rate prior to the beginning of the 21st century. With revised figures, the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change released a ‘Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate’ in 2019, which said that the “Arctic surface air temperature has  likely increased by more than double the global average over the last two decades.”
• In May 2021, the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) warned that the Arctic has warmed three times quicker than the planet, and the chance of the sea ice completely disappearing in summers is 10 times greater, if the planet is warmer by two degree Celsius above the pre-industrial levels.

What are the consequences of Arctic warming?

• The causes and consequences of Arctic amplification are cyclical — what might be a cause can be a consequence
• The Greenland ice sheet is melting at an alarming rate, and the rate of accumulation of sea ice has been remarkably low since 2000, marked by young and thinner ice replacing the old and thicker ice sheets.
• Greenlandic ice sheet holds the second largest amount of ice, after Antarctica, and therefore it is crucial for maintaining the sea level. In 2019, this was the single biggest cause for the rise in the sea level, about 1.5 metres. If the sheet melts completely, the sea level would rise by seven metres, capable of subsuming island countries and major coastal cities.
• The warming of the Arctic Ocean and the seas in the region, the acidification of water, changes in the salinity levels, is impacting the biodiversity, including the marine species and the dependent species. The warming is also increasing the incidence of rainfall which is affecting the availability and accessibility of lichens to the reindeer. The Arctic amplification is causing widespread starvation and death among the Arctic fauna.
• The permafrost in the Arctic is thawing and in turn releasing carbon and methane which are among the major greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. Experts fear that the thaw and the melt will also release the long-dormant bacteria and viruses that were trapped in the permafrost and can potentially give rise to diseases. The best-known example of this is the permafrost thaw leading to an anthrax outbreak in Siberia in 2016, where nearly 2,00,000 reindeer succumbed.

What is the impact on India?

• A study titled ‘A possible relation between Arctic sea ice and late season Indian Summer Monsoon Rainfall extremes’ published in 2021 by a group of Indian and Norwegian scientists found that the reduced sea ice in the Barents-Kara sea region can lead to extreme rainfall events in the latter half of the monsoons — in September and October.
• The changes in the atmospheric circulation due to diminishing sea ice combined with the warm temperatures in the Arabian Sea contribute to enhanced moisture and drive extreme rainfall
• In 2014, India deployed IndARC, India’s first moored-underwater observatory in the Kongsfjorden fjord, Svalbard, to monitor the impact of the changes in the Arctic Ocean on the tropical processes such as the monsoons.
• According to the WorldMeteorological Organization’s report, ‘State of Global Climate in 2021’, sea level along the Indian coast is rising faster than the global average rate. One of the primary reasons for this rise is the melting of sea ice in the polar regions, especially the Arctic.

Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP)

• The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme is one of six Working Groups of the Arctic Council.

AMAP is mandated:

• To monitor and assess the status of the Arctic region with respect to pollution and climate change issues.
• To document levels and trends, pathways and processes, and effects on ecosystems and humans, and propose actions to reduce associated threats for consideration by governments.
• To produce sound science-based, policy-relevant assessments and public outreach products to inform policy and decision-making processes.

• AMAP’s work is directed by the Ministers of the Arctic Council and their Senior Arctic Officials, who have requested AMAP to also support international processes that work to reduce the global threats from contaminants and climate change. These include the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNEP’s Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and Minamata Convention on mercury, and the United Nation’s Economic Commission for Europe (UN ECE) Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution.

Arctic Council

• The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental body set up in 1996 by the Ottawa declaration to promote cooperation, coordination and interaction among the Arctic States together with the indigenous communities and other Arctic inhabitants.
• Arctic Council Secretariat: The standing Arctic Council Secretariat formally became operational in 2013 in Tromsø, Norway.
• Members of the Arctic Council: Ottawa Declaration declares Canada, the Kingdom of Denmark(Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden and the United States of America as a member of the Arctic Council.
• The Arctic Council does not prohibit the commercial exploitation of resources in the Arctic. It only seeks to ensure that it is done in a sustainable manner without harming the interests of local populations and in conformity with the local environment.
• India launched its first scientific expedition to the Arctic Ocean in 2007 and opened a research base named “Himadri” at the International Arctic Research Base at Ny-Alesund, Svalbard, Norway in July 2008 for carrying out studies in disciplines like Glaciology, Atmospheric sciences & Biological sciences.
• In March 2022, the Ministry of Earth Science has unveiled India’s Arctic Policy, titled ‘India and the Arctic: building a partnership for sustainable development’.
• India holds one of the 13 positions as the Observer in the Arctic Council.

9. Wheat production down but many crops set for record

Subject: Geography

Section: Economic geography

Context:

• The production of wheat is estimated to come down to 106.84 million tonnes in 2021-22 from 109.59 million tonnes in 2020-21, according to the Fourth Advance Estimates of Production of Foodgrains for 2021-22 released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on Wednesday.
• The dip in stock is due to lower procurement — 18.794 million tonnes during the current rabi marketing season — and higher outflow on account of allocation of wheat under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) during the last two years.

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana

• PMGKAY is a part of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) to help the poor fight the battle against Covid-19.
• Its nodal Ministry is the Ministry of Finance.
• It was initially announced for a three-month period (April, May and June 2020), covering 80 crore ration cardholders. Later it was extended till November 2020.
• The scheme aimed at providing each person who is covered under the NFSA (National Food Security Act 2013) with an addition a l5 kg grains (wheat or rice) for free, in addition to the 5 kg of subsidized food grain already provided through the Public Distribution System (PDS).

10. When COVID-19 or flu viruses kill they often have an accomplice — bacterial infections

Subject: Science and Technology

Section: Biotechnology

Context:

• The 1918 influenza pandemic resulted in the loss of over 3 per cent of the world’s population — at least 50 million people But it wasn’t the flu virus that caused the majority of these deaths.
• An analysis of lung samples collected during that flu pandemic indicated that most of the deaths were likely due to bacterial pneumonia, which ran rampant in the absence of antibiotics. Even in more recent history, like the 1957 H2N2 and 2009 H1N1 flu pandemics, nearly 18 per cent of patients with viral pneumonia had additional bacterial infections that increased their risk of death. And the COVID-19 pandemic is no different.

Viruses and bacteria team up

• Multiple pathogens can cause multiple infections in different ways. Scientists distinguish each type based on the timing of when each infection occurs. Coinfection refers to two or more different pathogens causing infections at the same time. Secondary or superinfections, on the other hand, refer to sequential infections that occur after an initial infection. They’re often caused by pathogens resistant to antibiotics used to treat the primary infection.
• Within our respiratory tract, the epithelial cells lining your airways and lungs serve as the first line of defense against inhaled pathogens and debris. However, viruses can kill these cells and disrupt this protective barrier, allowing inhaled bacteria to invade. They can also change the surface of epithelial cells to make them easier for bacteria to attach to.
• Viruses can also alter the surface of epithelial and immune cells by reducing the number of receptors that help these cells recognize and mount a response against pathogens. This reduction means fewer immune cells report to the viral infection site, giving bacteria an opening to launch another infection.

Influenza, COVID-19 and bacterial infections

• Interestingly, the two bacteria species most commonly involved in coinfections with the influenzavirus are Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus, which normally exist in the respiratory tract without causing disease. However, the influenza virus can damage the cell barrier of the lungs and disrupt immune function enough to make patients susceptible to infection by these otherwise benign bacteria.
• Secondary bacterial infections are also exacerbating the COVID-19 pandemic. A 2021 review estimated that 16 per cent to 28 per cent of adults hospitalized for COVID-19 also had a bacterial infection. These patients stayed in the hospital for twice as long, were four times more likely to need mechanical ventilation and had three times greater odds of dying compared to patients with only COVID-19.
• Researchers identified Z-DNA binding protein (ZBP1), a molecule already known to play a regulatory role in how the immune system responds to influenza. Specifically, ZBP1 detects influenza viruses within the lungs and signals infected epithelial and immune cells to self-destruct. This induced cell death eliminates the virus and promotes recruitment of additional immune cells to the infection site.

11. UN meet begins over treaty to govern use of high seas

Subject :Environment

Section: Biodiversity

• United Nations member states have gathered in New York to create a new, legally-binding global treaty to govern the use of the high seas. This could be the last round of negotiations for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity.
• The treaty will help conserve biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) that lie outside countries’ 322-kilometre exclusive economic zones.
• This is the fifth round of negotiations on the international instrument under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

BBNJ Treaty

• It is also known as “Treaty of the High Seas”.
• It is an international agreement on conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction.
• It is currently under negotiation at the United Nations. The new treaty is being developed within the framework of United Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which is an important international agreement governing human activities at sea.
• Launched at the One Ocean Summit in February 2022, the High Ambition Coalition on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction brings together many delegations engaged in the BBNJ negotiations on a common and ambitious outcome at the highest political level.
• BBNJ Treaty provides an opportunity to fill gaps and address weaknesses in ocean governance. It also provides opportunity to take meaningful action for addressing and managing transboundary pollution on high seas. This declaration by High Ambition Coalition (HAC) is a welcomed step for protecting biodiversity on high seas, with increasing pressure on ocean.
• Five Regional Seas Conventions currently include Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ) under their geographical coverages: OSPAR Convention, Noumea Conventrion, CCAMLR Convention, Barcelona Convention, and Lima Convention.
• Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR Convention)
• Convention on the Protection of the Natural Resources and Environment in the South Pacific Region (Noumea Convention)
• Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR Convention) 
• Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea Against Pollution (Barcelona Convention)
• Convenio para la Protección del Medio Marino y la Zona Costera del Pacífico Sudeste (Lima Convention)

Parties and member countries of the following two Regional Seas programmes also started studying the issues related to biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction:

• Nairobi Convention for the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Western Indian Ocean
• Abidjan Convention for Cooperation in the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Atlantic Coast of the West, Central and Southern Africa Region

UNCLOS

• UNCLOS was adopted in 1982 and laid the foundation of ocean governance, with the first single set of rules for oceans and seas. On April 29 2022, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) completed 40 years.
• There are two more instruments under the Convention:
  • The 1994 agreement on the implementation of Part XI of UNCLOS and
  • the 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement.
• The treaty on BBNJ will be the third legal instrument under the convention.
• It is also known as Law of the Sea. It divides marine areas into five main zones namely-Internal Waters, Territorial Sea, Contiguous Zone, Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and the High Seas.
• It not only zones coastal states’ offshore areas but also provides specific guidance for states’ rights and responsibilities in the five concentric zones.