Daily Prelims Notes 23 May 2021
- May 23, 2021
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN
Daily Prelims Notes
23 May 2021
Table Of Contents
- TRIPS AGREEMENT
- CYCLONE YAAS
- BLACK FUNGUS
- E WAY BILL
- SEWAGE TESTING FOR COVID
- FERN
- WHITE FLIES
- YUAN LONGPING
- DATA BREACH IN AIRINDIA
- BAWG
Subject: International Agreements
Context: India, others push for TRIPS waiver scope beyond Covid vaccine at WTO
Concept:
- India is among 62 World Trade Organization (WTO) members that are pushing this draft, which limits the waiver period to three years, with a provision to review the duration.
- However, the proposal continues to push for a waiver on a wider segment of products as opposed to just Covid-19 vaccines — products that the US and the European Union have agreed to consider for an intellectual property rights waiver during the ongoing pandemic.
TRIPS
- TRIPS is an international agreement administered by the World Trade Organization (WTO), which sets down minimum standards for many forms of intellectual property (IP) regulations as applied to the nationals of other WTO Members.
- It was negotiated at the end of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1994.
- TRIPS requires WTO members to provide copyright rights, covering content producers including performers, producers of sound recordings and broadcasting organizations; geographical indications, including appellations of origin; industrial designs; integrated circuit layout-designs; patents; new plant varieties; trademarks; trade dress; and undisclosed or confidential information.
- The agreement also specifies enforcement procedures, remedies, and dispute resolution procedures.
Subject : Geography
Context : Cyclone Yaas is likely to intensify into a “very severe cyclonic storm” and cross the Odisha and West Bengal coasts on May 26, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. A low pressure area formed over the east-central Bay of Bengal and the adjoining north Andaman Sea.
Concept :
- Yaas, the cyclonic storm that is expected to hit the coasts of Odisha and West Bengal next week, has been named by Oman. Yaas refers to a tree that has a good fragrance and in English, the word is similar to Jasmine.
- Cyclone Tauktae, which was named by Myanmar, means “gecko” — a highly vocal lizard — in Burmese dialect.
- The criteria below have been formulated by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), which classifies the low pressure systems in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea on the basis of capacity to damage, which is adopted by the WMO.
How are the cyclones named?
- In 2000, a group of nations called WMO/ESCAP (World Meteorological Organisation/United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific), which comprised Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand, decided to start naming cyclones in the Indian Ocean region.
- After each country sent in suggestions, the WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones (PTC) finalised the list. The list of 169 cyclone names released by IMD in April 2020 were provided by these countries — 13 suggestions from each of the 13 countries.
- The WMO/ESCAP expanded to include five more countries in 2018 — Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
Subject : Science & tech
Context : Black fungus medicine crisis boosts cheap alternative
Concept :
- Mucormycosis — a rare form of fungal infection which could affect vision, and threatens life, if people do not get treated immediately after spotting its symptoms.
- Mucormycosis has to be suspected in COVID-19 patients, diabetics and immuno-suppressed individuals when they have sinusitis – nasal blockade or congestion, nasal discharge (blackish/bloody), local pain on the cheek bone.
Symptoms:
- One-sided facial pain, numbness or swelling. Blackish discolouration over bridge of nose or palate. Toothache, loosening of teeth, jaw involvement.
- Blurred or double vision with pain; fever, skin lesion; thrombosis & necrosis (eschar). Chest pain, pleural effusion, haemoptysis, worsening of respiratory symptoms
Treatment:
- Treatment includes aggressive surgery or radical debridement and exenteration of effected or blind eye, long term follow-up along with anti-fungal medications. Apart from surgery, prolonged anti-fungal treatment plays a major role in curing the patient.
WHITE FUNGUS
- White Fungus or Candidiasis is a fungal infection caused by a yeast (a type of fungus) called Candida.
- Candida normally lives on the skin and inside the body, in places such as the mouth, throat, gut, and vagina, without causing any problems.
- Candida can cause infections if it grows out of control or if it enters deep into the body (for example, the bloodstream or internal organs like the kidney, heart, or brain).
- The most common species that causes infection is Candida albicans.
Cause:
- This infection can be caused due to low immunity, or if people come in contact with things that contain these moulds like water, etc.
- Children and women are more at risk of contracting the fungal infection.
- Like the black fungus, white fungus is also more likely to afflict people with compromised immune systems, pre-existing medical conditions, AIDS, a recent kidney transplant or diabetes.
Symptoms:
- People experience symptoms similar to Covid if it reaches the lungs such as chest infection, despite testing negative for the virus.
- White fungus affects the lungs as well as other parts of the body including the nails, skin, stomach, kidney, brain, private parts and mouth.
Diagnosis and Treatment:
- CT scans or X-Rays can reveal the condition.
- Patients with the white fungus are currently being treated with known anti-fungal medication.
Subject : Economy
Context : GST authorities will now be able to track real-time data of commercial vehicle (CV) movement on highways by integration of the e-way bill (EWB) system with FASTag and RFID.
Concept :
- The E-way bill, short form for electronic way bill, is a document to be generated online under the GST system, when goods of the value of more than ₹50,000 are shipped inter-State or intra-State.
- The E-way bill must be raised before the goods are shipped and should include details of the goods, their consignor, recipient and transporter.
- The transporter has to carry the invoice and the copy of E-way bill as support documents for the movement of goods.
- Though check-posts have been abolished under GST, a consignment can be intercepted at any point for the verification of its E-way bill, for all inter-State and intra-State movement of goods. If a consignment is found without an E-way bill, a penalty of ₹10,000 or tax sought to be evaded, whichever is greater, can be levied.
- An e-way bill is valid for 1 day for distance less than 100 Kms and additional 1 day for every additional 100 Kms or part thereof
Subject : Science & tech
Context : The UK government is expanding its testing of wastewater to detect the presence of coronavirus and its emerging variants.
Concept :
- According to the country’s Department of Health and Social Care, the testing has now been ramped up to cover about two-thirds of the population
- Over a year ago, researchers in Australia developed an early warning surveillance system to track the community transmission of COVID-19 by tracing the presence of the virus’s genes in raw sewage.
- This was possible because some infected individuals may shed the virus in their stool or urine.
- This method is especially useful in identifying the scale of spread of the disease in a community.
- By detecting and quantifying the amount of virus found in the samples gives an indication of how widespread the virus is in an area, information that can be used by decision-makers to put restrictions on movement for certain people or start testing in an area more aggressively.
- Even in areas where widespread testing may not be feasible, adopting this method can point out the efficacy of containment measures.
Subject : Economy
Concept :
- A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers.
- They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissues that conduct water and nutrients and in having life cycles in which the sporophyte is the dominant phase.
- Ferns have complex leaves called megaphylls, that are more complex than the microphylls of clubmosses. Most ferns are leptosporangiate ferns. They produce coiled fiddleheads that uncoil and expand into fronds.
- The group includes about 10,560 known extant species. Ferns are defined here in the broad sense, being all of the Polypodiopsida, comprising both the leptosporangiate (Polypodiidae) and eusporangiate ferns, the latter group including horsetails or scouring rushes, whisk ferns, marattioid ferns, and ophioglossoid ferns.
Significance
- Ferns are not of major economic importance, but some are used for food, medicine, as biofertilizer, as ornamental plants and for remediating contaminated soil.
- They have been the subject of research for their ability to remove some chemical pollutants from the atmosphere.
- Some fern species, such as bracken (Pteridiumaquilinum) and water fern (Azollafiliculoides) are significant weeds worldwide. Some fern genera, such as Azolla, can fix nitrogen and make a significant input to the nitrogen nutrition of rice paddies. They also play certain roles in folklore.
Subject : Science & tech
Context :Researchers have found that the host range of all of the invasive whiteflies was increasing due to their polyphagous nature (ability to feed on various kinds of food) and prolific breeding.
Concept :
- Whiteflies are Hemipterans that typically feed on the undersides of plant leaves. They comprise the family Aleyrodidae, the only family in the superfamily Aleyrodoidea.
- In warm or tropical climates and especially in greenhouses, whiteflies present major problems in crop protection.
- Whiteflies are one of the top ten devastating pests in the world that damage more han 2000 plant species and also function as vectors for some 200-plant viruses.
- Cotton is one of the worst hit crops by these. Bt cotton is not resistant against white flies.
- Other invasive whiteflies were also found to expand their host range on valuable plants species, especially coconut, banana, mango, sapota, guava, cashew, oil palm, and ornamental plants such as bottle palm, false bird of paradise, butterfly palm and important medicinal plants.
- The whiteflies are difficult to control by using synthetic insecticides, and hence currently naturally occurring insect predators, parasitoids and entomopathogenic fungi (fungi that can kill insets) are being used.
Subject : Important Personalities
Context : Yuan Longping, a Chinese agricultural scientist whose breakthroughs in hybrid rice brought food security to China and transformed agriculture worldwide, died aged 91.
Concept :
- Yuan is celebrated in China as the “father of hybrid rice” for his contributions to agriculture.
- In 1970s, he developed “the first hybrid rice combination called Nan-you No. 2 which, due to heterosis — a phenomenon in which the progeny of two distinctly different parents grow faster, yield more, and resist stress better than either parent.
- Farmers around the world have benefitted from his techniques as hybrid rice spread throughout Asia, Africa and the Americas.
- In 2004, he was honoured with the World Food Prize “for his breakthrough achievement in developing the genetic materials and technologies essential for breeding high-yielding hybrid rice varieties”.
- The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation honoured him with a prize in 2001.
World Food Prize
- The World Food Prize is the foremost international honor recognizing the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world.
- It is an annual award that recognizes contributions in any field involved in the world food supply including plant, animal and soil science; food science and technology; nutrition, rural development, etc.
- It is open for any individual without regard to race, religion, nationality or political beliefs.
- In addition to the cash award of $2,50,000, the laureate receives a sculpture designed by the noted artist and designer, Saul Bass.
Presentation of the Award:
- The Prize is presented each October on or around UN World Food Day (16th October).
- It is presented by the World Food Prize Foundation which has over 80 companies, individuals, etc. as donors.
- The World Food Prize Foundation is located in Des Moines, USA.
Subject : Current Events
Context : Recently, the national carrier Air India has notified its passengers of a data breach that occurred at the SITA passenger service system in February 2021.
Concept :
- Air India had said that SITA had flagged a cyber-attack and said it led to the leak of personal data of some of the airline’s passengers.
- The airline said that the cyber-attack that compromised the data of millions of passengers from across the world involved personal data registered between 2011 and 2021.
- It said the breached data included the passenger’s name, date of birth, contact information, passport information, ticket information, frequent flyer data and credit card information.
Relation between Air India and SITA
- SITA is a Switzerland-based technology company specializing in air transport communications and information technology.
- Air India had entered into a deal with SITA in 2017 to upgrade its IT infrastructure to enable it to join Star Alliance.
- At Air India, SITA also implemented an online booking engine, departure control system, check-in and automated boarding control, baggage reconciliation system and the frequent flyer programme.
Subject : International Organisations
Context : 7th BRICS Astronomy Working Group Meeting recommends networking of existing telescopes.
Concept :
About BRICS Astronomy Working Group:
- It provides a platform for BRICS member countries to collaborate in the field of astronomy, recommending that the focal points in each country should present the scientific results of the work being carried out in each country.
- This will help seek funding support to realize the flagship project whenever funding opportunities are announced by BRICS funding agencies.
- At the meeting, the members indicated future directions of research in this area such as building network of intelligent telescope and data network, study of transient astronomical phenomena in universe, big data, artificial intelligence, machine learning application to process the voluminous data generated now a days due to enhance multi-wavelength telescope observatory.
BRICS:
- BRICS is an acronym for the grouping of the world’s leading emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
- In 2001, the British Economist Jim O’Neill coined the term BRIC to describe the four emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China.
- The grouping was formalised during the first meeting of BRIC Foreign Ministers’ in 2006.
- South Africa was invited to join BRIC in December 2010, after which the group adopted the acronym BRICS.
- India has assumed the BRICS Presidency from January 2021.
- BRICS does not exist in the form of organization, but it is an annual summit between the supreme leaders of five nations.
- The Chairmanship of the forum is rotated annually among the members, in accordance with the acronym B-R-I-C-S.
Cooperation Mechanism:
- Cooperation among members is achieved through:
- Track I: Formal diplomatic engagement between the national governments.
- Track II: Engagement through government-affiliated institutions, e.g. state-owned enterprises and business councils.
- Track III: Civil society and People-to-People engagement.