Daily Prelims Notes 21 April 2021

April 21, 2021
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

Daily Prelims Notes

21 April 2021

Table Of Contents

Subject: Science & tech

Context: A small proportion of Covid-19 patients need oxygen support, when shortness of breath progresses to a more acute condition.

Concept:

Oxygen therapy, also known as supplemental oxygen, is the use of oxygen as a medical treatment.
This can include for low blood oxygen, carbon monoxide toxicity, cluster headaches, and to maintain enough oxygen while inhaled anesthetics are given.
Long-term oxygen is often useful in people with chronically low oxygen such as from severe COPD or cystic fibrosis.
Oxygen can be given in a number of ways including nasal cannula, face mask, and inside a hyperbaric chamber.
Oxygen is required for normal cell metabolism. Excessively high concentrations can cause oxygen toxicity such as lung damage or result in respiratory failure in those who are predisposed.
The use of oxygen in medicine became common around 1917.
It is on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines.

2. WORLD PRESS FREEDOM INDEX

Subject: International Reports

Context: Recently, the Reporters without Borders (RSF) has released the 2021 edition of World Press Freedom Index.

Concept:

It ranks 180 countries, topped by Norway followed by Finland and Denmark, while Eritrea is at the bottom.
China is ranked 177, and is only above North Korea at 179 and Turkmenistan at 178.
In the South Asian neighbourhood, Nepal is at 106, Sri Lanka at 127, Myanmar (before the coup) at 140, Pakistan at 145 and Bangladesh at 152.
The report said that Asia Pacific’s authoritarian regimes have used the Covid-19 pandemic to perfect their methods of totalitarian control of information.
India has not slipped further on the World Press Freedom Index 2021.
India is ranked 142 after it had consistently slid down from 133 in 2016.

About World Press Freedom Index

It is an annual report published every year since 2002 by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
It is a qualitative analysis combined with quantitative data on abuses and acts of violence against journalists during the period evaluated.
The countries have been given scores ranging from 0 to 100, with 0 being the best possible score and 100 the worst, ever since the 2013 index.
The Index ranks 180 countries and regions according to the level of freedom available to journalists.
It does not rank public policies even if governments obviously have a major impact on their country’s ranking.

3. Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology CCMB

Subject: National Organizations

Context: Scientists at Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, at the forefront of sequencing the SARS-CoV-2 genome, will culture the double mutant strain B.1.617 and other variants of concern and check if antibodies of vaccinated or recovered persons can neutralise the virus.

Concept :

About Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology:

The Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB) is a premier research organization which conducts high quality basic research and trainings in frontier areas of modern biology, and promote centralized national facilities for new and modern techniques in the interdisciplinary areas of biology.
It was set up initially as a semi-autonomous Centre on April 1, 1977 with the Biochemistry Division of the then Regional Research Laboratory (presently, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, IICT) Hyderabad.
It is located in Hyderabad and operates under the aegis of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
It is designated as “Center of Excellence” by the Global Molecular and Cell Biology Network, UNESCO.

DOUBLE MUTANT VARIANT B.1.617

The variant is common in India and has a couple of defining mutations, E484Q and L425R, that enable it to become more infectious and evade antibodies.
Though these mutations have individually been found in several other coronavirus variants, the presence of both mutations together were first found in some coronavirus genomes from India.
Certain variants of the coronavirus, for instance, B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 — have been termed the “United Kingdom” and “South Africa” variant, respectively, because they have mutations associated with large spikes in these countries or reduce the efficacy of vaccines and are termed “variants of concern (VOC)”.
So far, only three global VOCs have been identified: the U.K. variant, the South African and the Brazilian (P.1) lineage.

4. P-NOTES

Subject: Economics

Context: Investments through participatory notes (P-notes) in the Indian capital market declined to Rs 89,100 crore at March-end, after hitting 33 months high level in the preceding month.

Concept:

Participatory Notes or P-Notes (PNs) are financial instruments issued by a registered foreign institutional investor (FII) to an overseas investor who wishes to invest in Indian stock markets without registering themselves with the market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
P-Notes are Offshore Derivative Investments (ODIs) with equity shares or debt securities as underlying assets.
They provide liquidity to the investors as they can transfer the ownership by endorsement and delivery.
While the FIIs have to report all such investments each quarter to SEBI, they need not disclose the identity of the actual investors.

5. TALCHER FERTILIZERS LTD. (TFL)

Subject: Economy

Context: Union Cabinet has given its approval for the proposal of the Department of Fertilizers for the formulation of exclusive subsidy policy for Urea produced through coal gasification route by Talcher Fertilizers Limited (TFL).

Concept:

Considering the strategic energy security and urea self-sufficiency of the country, looking into the country’s vast coal reserves, it has been decided go ahead with Talcher Fertilizer Limited plant based on coal gasification technology.
The project shall improve availability of fertilizer to farmers thereby boosting development of eastern region and will save transport subsidy for supply of urea in eastern part of the country.
It would assist in reducing Urea imports to the tune of 12.7 LMT per annum leading to savings in foreign exchange.

Background

Talcher Fertilizers Ltd. (TFL) is a Joint Venture Company of four PSUs namely Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers (RCF), GAIL (India) Ltd. (GAIL), Coal India Ltd. (CIL) and Fertilizer Corporation of India Ltd. (FCIL) which was incorporated on 13th November, 2015.
TFL is reviving the erstwhile Talcher plant of Fertilizer Corporation of India Ltd. (FCIL) by setting up a now greenfield Urea Plant with the installed capacity of 12.7 Lakh Metric Ton per annum (LMTPA). The estimated project cost of the TFL Urea project is 13277.21 Crore (+/-10%).

6. EPFO

Subject: National Organisations

Context: Net new enrolments with retirement fund body EPFO grew by nearly 20 per cent to 12.37 lakh in February compared to the same month in 2020, according to the payroll data.

Concept:

It is a statutory organization that manages provident fund and pension accounts for the workforce engaged in the organized sector in India.
It implements the Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952.
The Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 provides for the institution of provident funds for employees in factories and other establishments.
It is administered by the Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India.
It is one of the World’s largest Social Security Organisations in terms of clientele and the volume of financial transactions undertaken.

7. MEMORANDUM OF PROCEDURE FOR APPOINTMENT OF JUDGES

Subject: Polity

Context: Supreme Court timeline for judges’ appointments a shift from Memorandum of Procedure.

Concept:

In setting a fixed timeline for the government for the process of appointment of judges, the Supreme Court, in its ruling on Tuesday, has essentially altered the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) through a judicial order, and said the government must act on the names recommended for appointment within four months.
The MoP does not prescribe a timeline for the Centre to forward the recommendations.

Methodology proposed by Supreme Court for appointment of Ad-hoc Judges in HCs

The court ruled that the Chief Justice of a High Court may initiate the process of recommending a name if:

The number of judges’ vacancies is more than 20 per cent of the sanctioned strength; or

Cases in a particular category are pending for over five years; or

More than 10 per cent of pending cases are over five years old; or

Percentage of the rate of disposal is lower than the institution of the cases either in a particular subject matter or generally in the court.

The apex court said that the Chief Justice should prepare a panel of judges after personal interaction with the concerned judge to take their consent.
The court said the appointments can follow the procedure laid down in the Memorandum of Procedure for appointment of judges.
The number of ad-hoc judges in the court should be in the range of two to five for the time being depending on the strength of the High Court and the problem faced by it.
The court ruled that in case there is a need to constitute a Division Bench to hear a matter, it would comprise of only ad-hoc judges and not a mix of ad-hoc and sitting judges.
It also barred ad-hoc appointees from performing any other legal work i.e. advisory, arbitration or appearing in court for clients.
Their emoluments and allowances should be on a par with a permanent judge of that court minus the pension and they will be entitled to allowance/ perks/ perquisites as are available to permanent/ additional judge(s).

About Ad-Hoc Judges & Acting Judges in High Court

The President can appoint duly qualified persons as additional judges of a high court for a temporary period not exceeding two years when:
There is a temporary increase in the business of the high court; or
There are arrears of work in the high court.
The President can also appoint a duly qualified person as an acting judge of a high court when a judge of that high court (other than the chief justice) is:
Unable to perform the duties of his office due to absence or any other reason; or
Appointed to act temporarily as chief justice of that high court
An acting judge holds office until the permanent judge resumes his office.
The Constitution provides that both the additional or acting judge cannot hold office after attaining the age of 62 years.

Constitutional Provisions for Ad-Hoc Judges in High Court

The SC had asked all 25 high courts to respond to a public interest litigation filed by Lucknow-based non-profit organisation, Lok Prahari, asking for the appointment of retired judges as ad-hoc judges under Article 128 of the Constitution.
Article 128 talks about “attendance of a retired judge” as the judge of the Supreme Court.
It states that the Chief Justice of India at any time, with the previous consent of the President, may request any person who has held the office of a judge of the Supreme Court or the high court to sit and act as a judge of the Supreme Court.
Under Article 224A, the retired high court judges can be appointed as ad-hoc judges to HCs.