Daily Prelims Notes 22 June 2024

Daily Prelims Notes

22 June 2024

1. What is Claude 3.5 Sonnet and how is it better than GPT-4o and Gemini-1.5 Pro?

Sub: Science and tech

Sec: Awareness in IT and Computer

Context:

• Anthropic, OpenAI’s biggest rival, has launched its latest AI model called Claude 3.5 Sonnet — the company’s first release in the upcoming Claude 3.5 AI model series.

More on news:

• Anthropic has claimed that its latest offering outperforms its peers such as OpenAI’s GPT-4o, Google’s Gemini-1.5 Pro, Meta’s Llama-400b, and even the company’s proprietary models — Claude 3 Haiku and Claude 3 Opus.
• Claude 3.5 Sonnet operates at twice the speed of Claude 3 Opus.
• This performance boost, combined with cost-effective pricing, makes Claude 3.5 Sonnet ideal for complex tasks such as context-sensitive customer support and orchestrating multi-step workflows.

What is Claude 3.5 Sonnet?

• Claude 3.5 Sonnet is a large language model (LLM), and is part of the family of LLMs which is being developed by Anthropic. 
• These models are known as generative pre-trained transformers, which means they have been pre-trained to predict the next word in large amounts of text. 
• Claude 3.5 Sonnet is the predecessor to the Claude 3 Sonnet introduced in March of this year.

How does Claude 3.5 Sonnet perform?

• According to Anthropic, Claude 3.5 Sonnet sets some new industry benchmarks in capabilities such as coding proficiency (HumanEval), graduate-level reasoning (GPQA), and undergraduate-level knowledge (MMLU).
• The company claims that the new model has also shown significant improvement in grasping nuance, humor, and complex instructions. 
• Claude 3.5 Sonnet is exceptional at writing high-quality content with a natural and relatable tone, according to Anthropic.
• Based on the benchmark scores shared by Anthropic on its official website, Claude 3.5 Sonnet seems outstanding. 
• It has outdone GPT-4o, Gemini 1.5 Pro, and Meta’s Llama 3 400B in seven out of eight overall benchmarks.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet’s vision capabilities:

• Anthropic claims that Claude 3.5 Sonnet is its strongest vision model.
• A vision model in AI is a model capable of interpreting and analyzing visual data such as images and videos.
• According to the company, the improvements in Claude 3.5 Sonnet are most noticeable for tasks that require visual reasoning such as decoding charts and graphs.
• This ability to transcribe is what makes Claude 3.5 Sonnet beneficial for retail, logistics, and financial services, where AI may rely more on insights from an image, graphic, or illustration than from text.

2. Act that punishes organized cheating in government exams comes into effect

Sub: Polity

Sec: Legislation in news

Context:

• The Union Government has notified that the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 will come into operation with effect from June 21.

More on news:

• The University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test 2024 (UGC-NET) examination that was canceled on June 19 on grounds of being compromised and is being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation will however not be covered by the newly enacted law.

About Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024:

• The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024 that has provision for up to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to ₹1 crore for malpractices and organized cheating in government recruitment exams was notified by the Union government to come into effect from June 21.

List of offenses:

• The Act mentions punishments for

• leakage of question paper or answer key,
• directly or indirectly assisting the candidate in any manner unauthorisedly in the public examination,
• tampering with the computer network or a computer resource or a computer system

as offenses done by a person, group of persons or institutions.

• Besides these, creation of fake website to cheat or for monetary gain, conduct of fake examination, issuance of fake admit cards or offer letters to cheat or for monetary gain and manipulation in seating arrangements, allocation of dates and shifts for the candidates to facilitate adopting unfair means in examinations are also among the offenses punishable under the law.
• Unfair means, as per the Act includes: 
  • unauthorized access or leakage of question paper or answer key, 
  • assisting a candidate during a public examination, 
  • tampering with computer network or resources, 
  • tampering with documents for shortlisting or finalizing of merit list or rank, and 
  • conducting fake examinations, issuing fake admit cards or offering letters to cheat, for monetary gain.
• Any person or persons resorting to unfair means and offenses under this Act shall be punished with imprisonment for a term not less than three years but which may extend to five years and with fine up to ₹10 lakh.

Service provider:

• A service provider, engaged by the public examination authority for conduct of examinations, shall also be liable to be punished with imposition of a fine up to ₹1 crore and proportionate cost of examination shall also be recovered from it.
• Such service providers shall also be barred from being assigned with any responsibility for the conduct of any public examination for a period of four years.
• The Act defines service provider as any agency, organization, body, association of persons, business entity, company, partnership or single proprietorship firm, including its associates, sub-contractors and provider of support of any computer resource or any material, by whatever name it may be called, which is engaged by the public examination authority for conduct of public examination.

3. Bail in money laundering cases, and the ‘twin test’ under PMLA

Sub: Polity

Sec: Legislation in news

Context:

• A day after a trial court granted bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who is in jail on charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the Delhi High Court stayed the order.

More on news:

• A Bench headed by Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain on Friday heard an urgent plea by the Enforcement Directorate seeking a stay on the bail, and reserved its order until next week.
• The ED challenged the trial court’s order on the ground that the court had failed to apply the ‘twin test’ for grantING bail under PMLA.

What is the twin test, and why is bail under PMLA so contentious?

Section 45 and twin test:

• Section 45 of the PMLA, which deals with bail, first states that no court can grant bail for offenses under this law, and then proceeds to mention a few exceptions.
• The negative language in the provision itself shows that bail is not the rule but the exception under PMLA.
• The provision makes it mandatory to hear the public prosecutor in all bail applications, and when the prosecutor opposes bail, the court is required to apply a twin test.
• These two conditions are: 
• (i) that there are reasonable grounds for believing that [the accused] is not guilty of such offense and
• (ii) that he is not likely to commit any offense while on bail.
• There are similar provisions in several other laws that deal with serious offenses — for example, Section 36AC of The Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, Section 37 of The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, and Section 43D(5) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967.
• The provision in the UAPA, for example, states that no person accused of an offense punishable under Chapters IV (Punishment for Terrorist Activities) and VI (Terrorist Organisations) of this Act shall be released on bail or on his own bond unless the Public Prosecutor has been given an opportunity of being heard, or if the court is of the opinion that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accusation is prima facie true.

Legal challenges to twin test:

• The first blow to the constitutional validity of the twin test came in a 2017 ruling, Nikesh Tarachand Shah v Union of India.
• A two-judge Bench comprising Justices Rohinton Nariman and Sanjay Kishan Kaul struck down the bail provision as unconstitutional on the ground that the onerous conditions were not a reasonable classification.
• ‘Reasonable classification’ is a feature of the right to equality, which is a fundamental right.
• By a subsequent amendment, Parliament put these provisions back in the law through the Finance Act, 2018.
• This re-insertion was challenged before various High Courts and eventually before the Supreme Court, culminating in a batch of petitions that were heard in 2022 as Vijay Madanlal Choudhary v Union of India.

Current position in law

• One key aspect of the challenge to the amendment on bail conditions still remains open even after the Vijay Madanlal Choudhary ruling: the passing of these amendments through the Money Bill route.
• A separate larger Bench challenge is pending before the SC on whether certain laws, such as the Aadhaar Act, service conditions of Tribunal members, etc. can be passed as a Money Bill.
• A Bench is yet to be constituted on that issue.
• Although the Supreme Court has agreed to review its Vijay Madanlal Choudhary ruling itself, it is still valid law since no stay is operating on the judgment.
• As per the ruling, the twin test has to be rigorously applied by all courts — special courts trying money laundering offenses as well as constitutional courts. It would also apply in the same way for both regular bail and anticipatory bail.
• An accused can still get the benefit available under Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), under which he is entitled to bail after serving half of the maximum sentence as an undertrial.
• This means that in most money laundering cases, if the Enforcement Directorate is not able to finish the trial within three and a half years, the accused is entitled to bail, irrespective of the twin test.

4. Patent filings credit Bharat Biotech as ‘inventor’ of Covaxin, omit ICMR

Sub: Science and tech

Sec: IPR

Context:

• In Rajya Sabha, Health Ministry had claimed that intellectual property over Covaxin is “jointly owned” by ICMR and Bharat Biotech

Key Highlights:

• India’s first indigenously developed coronavirus vaccine, Covaxin, was a joint collaboration between the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) with intellectual property (IP) rights jointly shared between the two organizations.
• Filings by the BBIL at patent offices in India, the United States and Europe suggest that only its scientists and personnel are credited as ‘inventors’ of the vaccine with no mention of ICMR scientists.
• The Minister’s statement said the ICMR would provide a “well characterized” virus strain for vaccine development, the BBIL would develop the final vaccine formulation and be given a “non-exclusive” license granted to commercialize the product within two years.
• The ICMR would also receive as royalty 5% of net sales to be remitted half-yearly.
• It was explicitly mentioned that the “..intellectual property over the product would be jointly owned by the ICMR and the BBIL.” The ICMR would also receive as royalty 5% of net sales to be remitted half-yearly.

Indian patent act 1970:

• The Patents Act, 1970 is the legislation that till date governs patents in India. It first came into force in 1972.
• The Patents Act has been repeatedly amended: 1999, 2002, 2005, 2006.
• These amendments were required to make the Patents Act TRIPS-compliant.
• The major amendment was in 2005, when product patents were extended to all fields of technology like food, drugs, chemicals and microorganisms.
• The Indian Patent Act, 1970 strikes a balance between the rights of the applicant and his obligation to the society granting the rights.

5. Armenia becomes the latest nation to recognise Palestine

Sub: IR

Sec: Places in news

Context:

• Armenia announced it was recognising the State of Palestine.

Details:

• Armenia is the latest country to do so during the war in Gaza, saying it was against “violence towards civilian populations.”
• In late May, Spain, Ireland, and Norway officially recognised the State of Palestine, stating they saw the move as a step towards peace in the region.

Recognition of Palestine:

• As of June 2024, the State of Palestine is recognised as a sovereign state by 145 of the 193 member states of the United Nations.
• It has been a non-member observer state of the United Nations General Assembly since November 2012.

Armenia:

• Armenia is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia.
• It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to the south.
• Yerevan is the capital, largest city and financial centre.

Source: TH

6. Pariej: Mugger crocodile and several turtles, both Schedule I animals, burnt to death in Kheda lake

Sub: Environment

Sec: Species in news

Incident at Pariej Lake in Gujarat:

• Recently, a fire broke out at Pariej Lake in Kheda district, Gujarat, where desilting and dredging work was underway.
• Due to the fire, a 5-foot-long mugger crocodile and several turtles, all protected under Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, died.

Details:

• Kheda lies in the Charotar region of Gujarat, located between the Sabarmati and Mahi rivers.
• Pariej, at 8 sq. km, was the largest waterbody in Kheda.
• The lake is a significant wetland attracting numerous birds and is also home to mugger crocodiles and turtles.
• The fire was exacerbated by the dry conditions caused by the draining of the reservoir since February.
• Rescuers discovered mugger crocodile burrows during their rescue efforts, managing to save five crocodiles but losing one juvenile to smoke or heat.
• The incident raised concerns about the lack of precautions taken during the project, with experts criticizing the state’s Irrigation Department for not consulting wildlife authorities before initiating work in the sensitive habitat.

Mugger or Marsh Crocodile (Crocodylus palustris)

IUCN Red List Status: Vulnerable

• Muggers have a broader distribution, ranging from parts of Iran to the Indian subcontinent.
• Muggers are found in various freshwater habitats, including rivers, lakes, and marshes. They are distributed across different states in India, such as Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and others.
• Muggers are smaller compared to saltwater crocs, with adult lengths typically ranging from 3 to 4 meters (9.8 to 13.1 feet).
• Muggers are well-adapted to freshwater environments and are known to be more tolerant of different water conditions than saltwater crocs.
• Medium-sized crocodiles (max. length of 4-5m) with the broadest snout of any living Crocodylus species, Mugger Crocodiles are hole-nesting species, with egg-laying taking place during the dry season.

Source: DTE

7. Cambridge study findings on Regulatory T cells hold promise for inflammatory disease treatment, organ transplants

Sub: Science and tech

Sec: health

Context:

• Scientists at Cambridge University have discovered a new property of Regulatory T cells, a type of white blood cell. It is a discovery that could have a significant impact on the treatment of a wide range of diseases, especially inflammatory ones.

Details:

• Researchers have revealed their ability to move collectively throughout the body to repair damaged tissues. This finding challenges the previous understanding that these cells are localized to specific regions.
• The discovery is expected to revolutionize treatments for a wide range of diseases, particularly inflammatory conditions, as nearly all diseases and injuries activate the immune system.

Significance of the discovery:

• The implications are significant for treating inflammatory diseases more effectively than current anti-inflammatory drugs, which affect the entire body rather than targeting specific areas needing repair.
• Researchers described this phenomenon as a ‘Unified Repair Army’, capable of various repair functions, enhancing treatments from muscle repair to insulin response improvement and hair follicle regrowth.
• Moreover, based on this research, scientists have developed a drug that increases and activates specific cells to suppress the immune system locally, aiding in organ transplants and autoimmune diseases management. 
• This breakthrough promises to design drugs that can prevent organ rejection without compromising the overall immune system, potentially leading to healthier lives for transplant patients. The researchers are seeking funding to establish a company for clinical trials shortly.

About T Cells:

•  Cells also called T lymphocyte, type of leukocyte (white blood cell) that is an essential part of the immune system.
• T cells are one of two primary types of lymphocytes—B cells being the second type—that determine the specificity of the immune response to antigens (foreign substances) in the body.
• T cells originate in the bone marrow and mature in the thymus.
• In the thymus, T cells multiply and differentiate into helper, regulatory, or cytotoxic T cells or become memory T cells.
• They are then sent to peripheral tissues or circulate in the blood or lymphatic system.
• Once stimulated by the appropriate antigen, helper T cells secrete chemical messengers called cytokines, which stimulate the differentiation of B cells into plasma cells (antibody-producing cells).

T cell’s role in controlling immunity:

• Regulatory T cells act to control immune reactions, hence their name.
• Cytotoxic T cells, which are activated by various cytokines, bind to and kill infected cells and cancer cells.
• Because the body contains millions of T and B cells, many of which carry unique receptors, it can respond to virtually any antigen.

Source: DTE

8. How long is carbon is stored in plants? Not as long as we think, says study challenging efficacy of tree planting in climate fight

Sub: Environment

Sec: Climate Change

Context:

• A recent study has cast doubts on the efficacy of nature-based carbon removal projects, particularly large-scale tree-planting initiatives aimed at combating climate change.

Key findings:

• The research suggests that current climate models, which predict how long carbon remains stored in trees, may be flawed.
• It indicates that these models often overestimate the duration carbon stays trapped in plants while underestimating the impact of climate change on forests.
• While plants absorb significant amounts of carbon dioxide annually, the longevity of this carbon storage is shorter than previously assumed.
• This revelation challenges the feasibility of relying heavily on forests to mitigate carbon emissions without a concurrent reduction in fossil fuel use.
• The study employed radiocarbon (Carbon-14) dating techniques to analyze carbon uptake and turnover in plants globally.
• It found that current estimates of global plant productivity, crucial for carbon sequestration, may be underestimated.
• This suggests that carbon cycles through plants and the atmosphere more rapidly than previously thought, necessitating a reevaluation of climate models to better account for these dynamics.
• While plants play a vital role in absorbing carbon dioxide, the study calls for caution in relying on them as a panacea for climate change without addressing broader emissions reductions.

Source: DTE

9. Antibiotics under development insufficient to tackle antimicrobial resistance

Sub: Science and tech

Sec: health

WHO 2023 Report on Antibacterial Agents:

• The World Health Organization (WHO) has released its latest report on antibacterial agents in preclinical and clinical development as of December 2023.
• The report analyzes traditional and non-traditional antibacterial agents under development globally, addressing the current research and development (R&D) landscape to meet urgent medical needs.

Key Definitions:

• Traditional Agents: Directly target bacterial components to inhibit growth or kill pathogens.
• Non-Traditional Agents: Lack intrinsic antibacterial activity and work through alternative mechanisms.

Priority Pathogens:

• Updated List: The analysis aligns with the updated 2024 WHO bacterial priority pathogen list (BPP).
• Focus Areas: Includes drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Clostridioides difficile, and Helicobacter pylori.

Challenges and Insights:

• The report highlights the worsening of AMR and the slow pace of new antibacterial development.
• Despite some new product authorizations, there is a lack of innovative products and challenges in patient access across all income levels.
• Large pharmaceutical firms have mostly abandoned antibacterial discovery, leaving smaller entities to drive development.
• Global Antibiotic Pipeline: Described as weak and fragile, underscoring the need for robust development efforts.

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR):

• AMR is the resistance acquired by any microorganism (bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasite, etc.) against antimicrobial drugs (such as antibiotics, antifungals, antivirals, antimalarials, and anthelmintics) that are used to treat infections.
• As a result, standard treatments become ineffective, infections persist and may spread to others.
• Microorganisms that develop antimicrobial resistance are sometimes referred to as “superbugs”.
• Antimicrobial resistance is now regarded as a major threat to public health across the globe.

Source: DTE