Daily Prelims Notes 18 August 2024

Daily Prelims Notes

18 August 2024

Table Of Contents

1. Plant pandemics: They could be hastened due to deadly and global pathogenic spread
2. Microplastics found in Indian salt & sugar brands. But they’re everywhere, even in the air we breathe
3. More than 18700 mpox cases detected in Africa since January: health agency
4. Indian Institute of Astrophysics astronomers find new method to predict amplitude of upcoming solar cycle
5. Lok Sabha Speaker constitutes six new parliamentary committees for 2024-25
6. Russia says Ukraine used Western rockets to destroy bridge in Kursk region
7. The bitter dispute in the Namdhari sect, which has left 8 people injured in a violent clash
8. Governor competent authority under PC Act to grant sanction to prosecute CM
9. Subclinical TB is the reason for slow drop in TB incidence, says Soumya Swaminathan

1. Plant pandemics: They could be hastened due to deadly and global pathogenic spread

Sub: Sci

Sec: Health

Source: DTE

2. Microplastics found in Indian salt & sugar brands. But they’re everywhere, even in the air we breathe

Sub: Sci

Sec: Health

Context:

• Toxics Link, an environmental NGO, conducted a study on microplastics (MPs) in several sugar and salt brands in India.
• The study detailed the types, shapes, sizes, and colours of MPs in samples and recommended improving manufacturing processes, enhancing regulations, promoting R&D, and raising public awareness.
• Findings revealed microplastics are ubiquitous and affect every living being, air, and water, highlighting the pervasive nature of MPs due to lack of comprehensive data.

What Are Microplastics?

• Microplastics range in size from 5 mm to 1 µm, generated by the breakdown of larger plastic pieces or manufactured at that scale.
• Primary microplastics are released in the form they are produced, while secondary ones result from the degradation of larger plastics.
• Nanoplastics, even smaller (1,000 nm to 1 nm), pose greater risks due to their size and lack of understanding.
• Together, micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) are by-products of fossil fuels, prevalent since the late 1800s.

Where Are MNPs Found?

• MNPs are found globally—in oceans, mountains, polar ice, soil, plants, animals, and the human body.
• Nanoplastics can breach the blood-brain barrier and have been detected in the brain, placenta, blood, and other human tissues.
• The largest sources of MNPs include synthetic clothing, vehicle tires, packaging, cosmetics, and industrial processes.
• They exist in various forms like fibers, glitter, pellets, beads, films, and random fragments, with 35% of oceanic MNPs originating from clothing.

MNPs Harmful to Humans?

• Risk assessment of microplastics is challenging due to the lack of controls, making it hard to compare and evaluate health risks.
• MNPs smaller than 20 µm can penetrate organs, and those smaller than 10 µm can enter the brain and placenta.
• Studies associate MNPs with cardiovascular issues, heart attacks, strokes, and potentially carcinogenic effects, though their full impact on health remains largely unknown.

Microplastics in Salt and Sugar:

• The study examined 10 salt brands and 5 sugar brands in India, finding MPs in all samples, with concentrations ranging from 6.71 to 89.15 pieces per kilogram.
• MPs ranged in size from 0.1 to 5 mm and were primarily white, transparent, blue, red, black, and violet.
• Nanoplastic particles were not analyzed, though they are suspected to cause long-term health issues and possibly affect future generations.

Purpose of MNP Studies:

• MNPs are nearly impossible to remove from daily life due to their ubiquitous presence, even in filtered water and food.
• Recycled plastics continue to release smaller plastic particles, and all plastic produced will persist for millions of years unless actively contained.
• Current studies are essential for understanding, quantifying, and developing methods to filter MNPs, highlighting the urgency of addressing plastic pollution.

Filtering Microplastics from Food or Water:

• Microplastics can only be filtered by membrane filters at a molecular level, but complete elimination requires an entirely plastic-free supply chain.
• True cessation of new plastic contamination depends on ending fossil fuel use and discontinuing recycled plastic usage.

Source: TP

3. More than 18700 mpox cases detected in Africa since January: health agency

Sub: Sci

Sec: Health

Mpox Outbreak in Africa:

• As of 2024, Africa reported 18,737 suspected or confirmed mpox cases, including 1,200 cases in a single week.
• The outbreak includes three virus strains, with the new Clade 1b being more deadly and transmissible, leading WHO to declare an international health emergency on August 14, 2024.

About Mpox:

• Mpox belongs to the family Poxviridae, genus Orthopoxvirus, which is like the smallpox virus; therefore, smallpox vaccines can give protection against Mpox also due to cross-reactivity.
• Mpox has two clades (clade I: Central African clade; clade II: West African clade).
• Mpox can spread from animals to humans or human-to-human through sexual or close physical contact.
• The new Clade 1b strain causes widespread skin eruptions, unlike previous variants that caused localized lesions.

2 mpox vaccines are used in recent years: MVA BN and LC16.

MVA BN:

• Modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) is an attenuated (weakened) strain of the vaccinia virus.
• It is being used as a vaccine (called MVA-BN, brand names: Imvanex in the EU, Imvamune in Canada, and Jynneos in the US) against smallpox and mpox, having fewer side effects than smallpox vaccines derived from other poxviruses.

LC16:

• LC-16 (KM Biologics, Japan) is an attenuated partially replicating Lister strain of vaccinia10.
• It is administered as a single dose, as ACAM2000 using a bifurcated needle–scarification method.
• It is a third-generation smallpox vaccine.

Source: TH

4. Indian Institute of Astrophysics astronomers find new method to predict amplitude of upcoming solar cycle

Sub:  Science

Sec: Space

Context:

• Astronomers from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) have found a new method to predict the amplitude of the upcoming solar cycle.
• The astronomers have discovered a new correlation using 100 years of solar data from the IIA’s Kodaikanal Solar Observatory.

Space weather:

• The main components of space weather are the solar wind, coronal mass ejections, and solar flares.
• They can compress the magnetosphere of the Earth and trigger geomagnetic storms, which can affect communication and power transmission, damage spacecraft electronics, and threaten the lives of astronauts.

Solar cycle:

• The solar cycle is the cycle that the Sun’s magnetic field goes through approximately every 11 years.
• Solar maximum: Period of highest rate of solar activity during the cycle; large number of sunspots appear during this period.
• Solar minimum: Period of lowest rate of solar activity during the cycle; sunspots and solar flare activity diminishes.

Number of sun spots

• In a recently-published work, IIA researchers discovered that the width of the supergranular cells on the solar surface during the minimum year of the solar cycle is related to the number of sunspots seen during the subsequent solar cycle maximum.
• This simple method can be used in space weather forecasting.

Sun Spots

• Sunspots are areas that appear dark on the surface of the Sun.
• They appear dark because they are cooler than other parts of the Sun’s surface.
• It’s cool because they form at areas where magnetic fields are particularly strong. These magnetic fields are so strong that they keep some of the heat within the Sun from reaching the surface.
• Most Sunspots appear in groups that have their own magnetic field, whose polarity reverses during every solar cycle, which takes around 11 years. In every such cycle, the number of Sunspots increases and decreases.

• The magnetic field lines near sunspots often tangle, cross, and reorganize. This can cause a sudden explosion of energy called a solar flare.
• Solar flares release a lot of radiation into space. If a solar flare is very intense, the radiation it releases can interfere with our radio communications here on Earth.
• Solar flares are sometimes accompanied by a coronal mass ejection (CME for short).
• CMEs are huge bubbles of radiation and particles from the Sun. They explode into space at very high speed when the Sun’s magnetic field lines suddenly reorganize.
• When charged particles from a CME reach area near Earth, they can trigger intense lights in the sky, called auroras.
• When particularly strong, a CME can also interfere in power utility grids, which at their worst can cause electricity shortages and power outages. Solar flares and CMEs are the most powerful explosions in our solar system.

5. Lok Sabha Speaker constitutes six new parliamentary committees for 2024-25

Sub: Polity

Sec:  Parliament

Context:

• Lok Sabha Speaker constituted six new Parliamentary Committees, including the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which keeps a close eye on government expenditure, to be headed by senior Congress leader K.C. Venugopal.

The new committees are:

• Public Accounts Committee
• Estimates Committee
• Public Undertakings Committee
• Committee on Welfare of Other Backward Classes
• Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes

About the committees:

PAC

The PAC, one of the three key financial committees tasked with keeping a watch on the government’s accounts, is usually headed by a senior Lok Sabha member of the principal Opposition party.

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury headed the PAC for five years. Before him, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has also headed the PAC.

• Public Accounts Committee was introduced in 1921 after its first mention in the Government of India Act, 1919 also called Montford Reforms. It is existing in the Indian Constitution since then.
• PAC is one of the parliamentary committees that examine the annual audit reports of CAG which the President lays before the Parliament of India. Those three reports submitted by CAG are:
  • Audit report on appropriation accounts
  • Audit report on finance accounts
  • Audit report on public undertakings
• The Public Accounts Committee examines public expenditure.
• That public expenditure is not only examined from a legal and formal point of view to discover technical irregularities but also from the point of view of the economy, prudence, wisdom, and propriety.
• The sole purpose to do this is to bring out cases of waste, loss, corruption, extravagance, inefficiency, and nugatory expenses.
• Election of Members -By Parliament every year with proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote (A minister cannot be elected)
• Members – 22. Out of 22 members, 15 are elected from Lok Sabha (Lower House) and 7 members are elected from Rajya Sabha (Upper House.)
• Term of office – one year
• Chairman – Speaker appoints him/her from amongst the members, invariably from the Opposition Party since 1967.
• Its limitation – It can keep a tab on the expenses only after they are incurred. It has no power to limit expenses

Constitution The Committee on Estimates

It is constituted for the first time in 1950, is a Parliamentary Committee consisting of 30 members, elected every year by the Lok Sabha from amongst its Members. The Chairperson of the Committee is appointed by the Speaker from amongst its members. A Minister cannot be elected as a member of the Committee and if a member after selection to the Committee is appointed a Minister, the member ceases to be a Member of the Committee from the date of such appointment. Term of Office The term of office of the Committee is one year. Functions

 The functions of the Estimates Committee are:

• to report what economies, improvements in organisation, efficiency or administrative reform, consistent with the policy underlying the estimates may be affected;
• to suggest alternative policies in order to bring about efficiency and economy in administration;
• to examine whether the money is well laid out within the limits of the policy implied in the estimates; and
• to suggest the form in which the estimates shall be presented to Parliament. The Committee does not exercise its functions in relation to such Public Undertakings as are allotted to the Committee on Public Undertakings by the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of Lok Sabha or by the Speaker.

Constitution The Committee on Public Undertakings

• It is a Parliamentary Committee consisting of 22 Members, fifteen of whom are elected by the Lok Sabha every year from amongst its Members according to the principle of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote and seven Members to be nominated by Rajya Sabha for being associated with the Committee.
• The Chairman is appointed by the Speaker from amongst the Members of the Committee. A Minister is not eligible to become a Member of the Committee.
• If a Member after his election to the Committee is appointed a Minister, he ceases to be a Member of the Committee from the date of such appointment. The term of the Committee does not exceed one year.

The functions of the Committee on Public Undertakings are :-

(a) to examine the reports and accounts of Public Undertakings specified in the Fourth Schedule to the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha ;

(b) to examine the reports, if any, of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on the Public Undertakings ;

(c) to examine, in the context of the autonomy and efficiency of the Public Undertakings whether the affairs of the Public Undertakings are being managed in accordance with sound business principles and prudent commercial practices ;

(d) to exercise such other functions vested in the Public Accounts Committee and the Estimates Committee in relation to the Public Undertakings as are not covered by clauses (a), (b) and (c) above and as may be allotted to the Committee by the Speaker from time to time.

6. Russia says Ukraine used Western rockets to destroy bridge in Kursk region

Sub: IR

Sec:  Places in news

Context:

• Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Ukraine had used Western rockets, likely US made HIMARS, to destroy a bridge over the Seym river in the Kursk region, killing volunteers trying to evacuate civilians.

Western support to Ukraine:

• Russia has accused the West of supporting and encouraging Ukraine’s first ground offensive on Russian territory.
• The U.S., which has said it cannot allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to win the war he launched in February 2022, sees Ukraine’s incursion in Russia a protective move that justifies the use of U.S. weaponry.

About Kursk Region:

• It is located in the western part of Russia, bordering Ukraine to the southwest.
• The region holds historical significance as Battle of Kursk in 1943 was fought in the region during World War II.

About Seym river:

• Seym is a west-flowing river passing through Russia and Ukraine.
• It is the largest tributary of river Desna.

High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS)

• HIMARS is a cutting-edge multiple launch rocket system designed and manufactured in the United States.

7. The bitter dispute in the Namdhari sect, which has left 8 people injured in a violent clash

Subject: History

Sec: Modern India

Context: 

Hundreds of followers of two rival groups of the Namdhari religious sect clashed violently in Rania in Haryana’s Sirsa district at the end of last week, leaving at least eight people injured.

Who are the Namdharis?

• The sect was founded by Satguru Ram Singh on Baisakhi in 1857.
• He challenged the status quo, advocated social reform, and resisted the Raj in various ways. The British inflicted terrible punishments on the Namdharis and deported Ram Singh to Rangoon, from where he never returned.
• The Namdharis believe Ram Singh is still alive, and will return one day. Until then, they mourn his absence by wearing white.
• Namdhari Sikhs consider the Guru Granth Sahib as the Supreme Gurbani, but they also believe in a living human Guru.
• The Namdharis consider the cow to be sacred, they are teetotallers, and avoid even tea and coffee.

Background of the factional feud:

• After Ram Singh went missing, his gaddi (succession) went to his brother Satguru Hari Singh, and thereafter, in 1906, to HariSingh’s eldest son, Satguru Partap Singh. Partap Singh was succeeded by his son Jagjit Singh. The feud began after Jagjit Singh’s demise in 2016.
• Jagjit Singh had a daughter and two nephews — Uday Singh and Dalip Singh, the sons of Jagjit Singh’s brother Maharaja Bir Singh. Both Uday Singh and Dalip Singh had ambitions of succeeding Jagjit Singh. Uday Singh, who was backed by Chand Kaur, the wife of Jagjit Singh, won the war of succession, and was declared Satguru.
• On April 4, 2016, motorcycle-borne assailants gunned down Chand Kaur at the sect’s Bhaini Sahib headquarters. Both brothers had blamed the other for the murder at the time.

Dispute with the Rania land:

• This dispute is about 11 acres of agricultural land at Jeewan Nagar village near Rania, over which factions have laid claims.

The Dalip Singh faction has told Haryana Police that in 2019, a quasi-judicial court of then financial commissioner Anil Kumar (IAS), had passed a verdict on the dispute.

8. Governor competent authority under PC Act to grant sanction to prosecute CM

Subject: Polity

Sec: Constitution

Context:

Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot on Saturday, 17 August has permitted to prosecute Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the MUDA land allotment case.

More on News:

• The governor is the competent authority to grant sanction to investigate and prosecute a chief minister or a minister in a graft case under a 1988 law on prevention of corruption.
• The Karnataka governor’s secretariat acceded to the request of sanction for prosecution against Siddaramaiah under section 17 of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act, 1988 and section 218 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 for the commission of alleged offences.
• The governor is the competent authority to grant sanction for the prosecution of a chief minister under the statute and in view of the legal position that the sanction must be given by an authority competent to remove the accused from office.
• Section 17A of the PC Act, which was inserted by way of an amendment in 2018, intends to protect public servants from investigation into alleged offences that relate to their official decisions and provides procedural details for grant of sanction to prosecute a public servant.
• The provision says a police officer must obtain a prior approval before conducting an inquiry or investigation into such offences.
• The competent authority has to take a decision whether to grant or refuse sanction to prosecute within 120 days of receiving a request from a probe agency.
• The top court, in its judgments, has held that the requirement of obtaining prior sanction is intended to ensure that public servants are not harassed. It has also said the need for prior sanction is not absolute and that genuine allegations should be allowed to be examined by the court.
• The Karnataka governor has also invoked section 218 of the BNSS, which recently replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
• The BNSS provision provides the procedure for prosecuting public servants and judges and says no court can take cognisance of an offence alleged against a public servant while acting in the discharge of his official duty unless the government has given prior sanction.
• The government must decide on a request for sanction within 120 days and if it fails to do so, the sanction will be considered to have been granted, the provision says.
• It also says the government can determine who will prosecute a public servant, how the prosecution will be conducted and the trial will take place in which court.
• The Governor also termed as “irrational” the decision taken by the Council of Ministers advising him to withdraw his showcause notice to the Chief Minister and to reject the application seeking prosecution sanction.

The MUDA scam

• The MUDA had allotted plots to Parvathi under a 50:50 ratio scheme in lieu of 3.16 acres of her land, where MUDA developed a residential layout.
• Under the controversial scheme, MUDA allotted 50 percent of developed land to the land losers in lieu of undeveloped land acquired from them for forming residential layouts.
• BJP leaders have claimed that the MUDA “scam” is of the magnitude of ₹4,000 crore to ₹5,000 crore.

9. Subclinical TB is the reason for slow drop in TB incidence, says Soumya Swaminathan

Subject: Sci

Sec: Health

Context:

TB infection can no longer be considered a binary — latent TB and active TB. People can also have TB disease and yet not display any of the characteristic symptoms associated with TB, such as cough. This is called subclinical TB. The national TB prevalence survey (2019-2021) found 42.6 % of the TB cases detected were subclinical and would have been missed if a chest X-ray was not included.

More on News:

• TB prevalence surveys done in high-burden countries in Asia and Africa have found a substantial proportion of subclinical TB, with the median being about 50%. Depending on how you define it and what symptom complex is used to define subclinical TB, the percentage varies from 30% to 80%. The high 80% is if you define subclinical TB as not having a persistent cough for more than two weeks.

Is there any high-burden country actively screening for subclinical TB cases as part of the TB programme?

• In Vietnam, there have been some very large-scale studies done across districts where they have screened the entire population, in what is called symptom agnostic screening.
• That means you do not worry whether people have symptoms or not, you go ahead and take an X-ray and collect a specimen for molecular testing.
• And there they found that by doing this annually for three years in that community, they were able to reduce TB prevalence by 50% compared with the control area.
• So it means that by going into the community and screening everybody and treating all the TB cases you find can bring down the burden of TB significantly in the community. There have been such demonstration studies, but I am not aware of any country that is doing it as part of the national TB programme.

What is Tuberculosis:

• Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious airborne bacterial disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. .
• TB commonly affects the lungs (pulmonary TB) but can also affect other parts (extrapulmonary TB)
• Tuberculosis spreads from person to person through the air, when people who are infected with TB infection cough, sneeze or otherwise transmit respiratory fluids through the air.

What is Multidrug-Resistant TB (MDR-TB):

• In MDR-TB, the bacteria that cause TB develop resistance to antimicrobial drugs used to cure the disease.
• MDR-TB does not respond to at least isoniazid and rifampicin, the 2 most powerful anti-TB drugs.

Treatment options for MDR-TB are limited and expensive.

• CBNAAT (Cartridges Based Nucleic Acid Amplification Test) is used for early diagnosis of MDR-TB.