Daily Prelims Notes 26 April 2024

April 26, 2024
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

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Daily Prelims Notes

26 April 2024

Table Of Contents

1. Ocean floor holds vital clues on weather patterns, says study by INCOIS scientists

Subject: Geography

Sec: Oceanography

Context:

Scientists from the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) have conducted a study emphasizing the impact of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Maldives on the currents of the Indian Ocean.

Details:

The research uncovered deep-swirling patterns in the ocean’s depths that move contrary to the surface currents, and these patterns can change direction and speed dramatically.
The study was led by scientists Raheema Rahman and Hasibur Rahaman, focusing on the Indian Ocean’s bathymetry. It demonstrated improvements in understanding the salinity, temperature, and currents of the upper ocean, particularly near coastal areas.
Accurate forecasts of oceanographic parameters such as currents, temperature, and salinity are vital for predicting weather and climate and are also significant for the maritime industry.
The findings underline the importance of bathymetric data in improving our comprehension of ocean dynamics, which in turn enhances the accuracy of ocean state, weather, and climate forecasts for countries around the Indian rim and the broader subcontinent.
The study, titled‘ Impact of bathymetry on Indian Ocean circulation in a nested regional ocean model,’ was published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Ocean currents:

Ocean currents are the continuous, predictable, directional movement of seawater, similar to river flows but in oceans.
These massive movements of ocean water are influenced by various forces.
Ocean water movements occur in two directions: horizontally, known as currents, and vertically, referred to as upwellings or downwellings.
Ocean currents have a significant impact on humanity and the biosphere by influencing the climate.

Classification of Ocean Currents

Based on Depth:
Surface Currents: Comprise about 10% of all ocean water, existing in the upper 400 meters of the ocean.
Deep Water Currents: Make up the remaining 90% of ocean water, circulating around ocean basins due to variations in density and gravity.
- Density differences arise from variations in temperature and salinity.
- These currents typically originate in high latitudes, where colder temperatures increase water density, causing the water to sink into deep ocean basins.
Based on Temperature:
Cold Currents:
- Transport cold water from high latitudes to low latitudes.
- Commonly found on the west coasts of continents in the low and middle latitudes, moving clockwise in the northern hemisphere and counterclockwise in the southern hemisphere.
- On the east coasts of continents in high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere.
Warm Currents:
- Move warm water from low to high latitudes.
- Generally observed on the east coasts of continents in the low and middle latitudes in both hemispheres.
- In the Northern Hemisphere, they are also found on the west coasts of continents in high latitudes.

Causes of ocean currents:

Planetary Winds
Variation in seawater temperatures
Variation in water salinity
Rotation of Earth
Configuration of the coastline

2. Rising incidence of IBD cases across the globe is a cause for concern, say experts

Subject: Science and tech

Sec: Health

Context:

The global increase in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) cases is raising concerns among healthcare professionals.

Details:

IBD, which includes Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease, involves inflammation and differs from the non-inflammatory Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
Diagnosing IBD is complex due to its symptoms’ similarity to other conditions.
Both Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease are immune-mediated, involving a dysregulated immune response influenced by genetic markers, environmental factors, and gut bacteria.
Current trends show a rising prevalence of IBD in regions like North America and Western Europe, with predictions that the prevalence in America will increase from 0.5% to 0.6%.

Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease:

Ulcerative colitis is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in which abnormal reactions of the immune system cause inflammation and ulcers on the inner lining of your large intestine.
Crohn’s disease is a chronic (long-lasting) disease that causes inflammation in one’s digestive tract. It can affect any part of one’s digestive tract, which runs from mouth to anus. But it usually affects the small intestine and the beginning of the large intestine.

Early onset:

There is a rising trend in early onset cases of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) among those under 18, particularly noticeable in India.
The challenge of diagnosing Crohn’s disease in India is due to its similarity in presentation to intestinal tuberculosis, which is common in the region.
Lifestyle changes, including a Westernized diet high in fats and sugars, along with processed and packaged foods, have exacerbated the incidence of IBD by damaging the gut epithelium and promoting inflammation.
The incidence of IBD in India has nearly doubled from 1990 to 2019, with an accompanying rise in the death rate.
A specific study in Tamil Nadu revealed a higher prevalence of Crohn’s Disease compared to Ulcerative Colitis, with 50% of IBD cases being Crohn’s Disease and 40% Ulcerative Colitis. Emphasis was placed on the importance of early diagnosis for more effective treatment.

Diagnosis of IBD:

Challenges include- the lack of a single diagnostic test and the necessity to differentiate these from other mimicking diseases and infections.
Diagnosis typically involves a combination of physical exams, laboratory tests, and endoscopy.
Treatment for IBD includes- faecal microbiota transplantation, biological therapies that use monoclonal antibodies, targeting specific inflammatory pathways, thereby reducing the need for hospitalizations and surgeries and the development of orally administered small molecules.
The high cost of diagnosis is a challenge.
Environmental factors such as smoking, antibiotics and highly processed foods can exacerbate inflammation.
Recommendations include adhering to a healthy diet, like the Mediterranean diet, which avoids highly processed foods.

Source: TH

3. We are bound by the verdict in Keshavananda Bharati case: SC

Subject: Polity

Sec: Constitution

Current Legal Context:

The ongoing case involves 16 petitioners, including the Property Owners Association (POA) of Mumbai, challenging the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Act’s Chapter VIII-A.
The case’s outcome may redefine property rights vis-à-vis state control under DPSPs, following the Court’s interpretation of the basic structure doctrine and Article 31C’s applicability.

Recent Supreme Court Observations (9-Judge Bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud):

Reaffirmed the Court’s subservience to the historic 13-judge bench ruling in the Kesavananda Bharati case.
Discussed the ongoing legal debate about whether private properties can be considered “material resources of the community” under Article 39(b) of the Constitution, allowing the state to expropriate them for the “common good.”

Kesavananda Bharati Case (1973):

The Supreme Court affirmed the “basic structure” doctrine, which limits Parliament’s power to amend the Constitution.
Upheld the constitutionality of Article 31C, which protects amendments related to the Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP) that do not alter the Constitution’s basic structure from judicial review.

What Constitutes the Basic Structure of the Constitution?

The Supreme Court is yet to define or clarify as to what constitutes the ‘basic structure’ of the Constitution.
At present, from the various judgements, the following have emerged as some of the ‘basic features’ of the Constitution or elements of the ‘basic structure’ of the constitution-
- Supremacy of the Constitution
- Sovereign, democratic and republican nature of the Indian polity
- Separation of powers between the legislature, the executive and the judiciary
- Judicial review
- Parliamentary system
- Rule of law
- Principle of equality
- Free and fair elections
- Independence of Judiciary
- Limited power of Parliament to amend the Constitution

Minerva Mills Case (1980):

Overturned two provisions of the 42nd Amendment which:
- Prohibited courts from questioning any constitutional amendment.
- Prioritized DPSPs over individuals’ fundamental rights, both deemed unconstitutional.
Led to questions about whether the original, un-amended version of Article 31C, which was upheld in the Kesavananda case, remains valid while the expanded version post-42nd Amendment is not.

Article 31C of the Indian Constitution:

Article 31C was inserted by the 25th Amendment Act of 1971. It contained provisions related to the saving of laws giving effect to certain directive principles. It contains the following provisions:
- No law that seeks to implement all or any of the directive principles specified in Part IV shall be void on the ground of contravention of the fundamental rights conferred by Article 14 (equality before law and equal protection of laws) or Article 19 (protection of six rights in respect of speech, assembly, movement, etc.)

4. Only 1500 litres of water used to produce 1 kg of rice: ICAR chief

Subject: Geography

Sec: Eco Geo

Context:

Himanshu Pathak, Director-General of ICAR, highlighted that the average water consumption to produce one kilogram of rice in India is about 1,500 litres, significantly lower than the previously cited 4,000-5,000 litres.
This average includes water used in both rain-fed (45%) and irrigated (55%) areas, with higher usage noted in the northern irrigated regions.

Annual Rice Research Conference:

During the two-day All India Coordinated Research Project on Rice (AICRPR) conference in Delhi, agricultural scientists discussed the importance of not rushing into crop diversification despite the high water usage in rice cultivation.
They emphasized India’s heavy reliance on rice and the challenges in replacing it with imports if needed.
The conference served as a platform for rice breeders across India to review the outcomes of recently released rice varieties and to strategize future research directions aimed at creating a resilient and sustainable rice production system.
Herbicide Tolerance: Pusa Basmati 1979 and Pusa Basmati 1985 varieties of rice can withstand herbicide application without harm.

About Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) method:

DSR, also called the ‘broadcasting seed technique’, is a water-saving method of sowing paddy.
Seeds are directly drilled into the fields in this method.
This saves groundwater, as opposed to the traditional water-intensive method, under which rice seedlings are transplanted from a nursery to waterlogged fields.
With the DSR technique, farmers must sow paddy only after pre-sowing (rauni) irrigation and not in dry fields. Further, the field should be laser levelled.
Advantages:
- No significant reduction of yield under optimal conditions;
- Savings on irrigation water by 12-35% under efficient water management practices;
- Reduces labour and drudgery by eliminating seedling uprooting and transplanting;
- Reduces cultivation time, energy, and cost;
- No plant stress from transplanting;
- Faster maturation of crops;
- Lower GHG emissions;
- Mechanized DSR provides employment opportunities;
- Increases total income by reducing the cost of cultivation;
Current Constraints:
- Higher seed rates;
- Seeds exposed to birds and pests;
- Weed management;
- Higher risk of lodging;
- Risk of poor or non-uniform crop establishment;

5. Targeting $1 Trillion in Goods Exports by 2030: Initiatives and Challenges

Subject: Economy

Sec: External sector

Objective: The Ministry of Trade has set a target to achieve $1 trillion in merchandise exports by 2030.
Initiative: An exercise has been initiated to identify the necessary infrastructure requirements, potential sectors, and clusters that will contribute to achieving this target.
Sustainability Concerns: Sustainability has emerged as a major concern, especially after the European Parliament’s approval of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). This law requires larger companies operating in the EU to ensure their supply chains do not involve forced labor or environmental damage.
Impact of CSDDD: Prior to CSDDD, the European Union implemented the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which penalizes products with high carbon footprints entering the EU. This could raise the costs of Indian exports by 20 to 35 percent, particularly affecting iron, steel, and aluminum exports to the EU.
Infrastructure Enhancement: The Ministry is focusing on enhancing infrastructure capabilities, including ports, airports, and railways, to support increased trade volumes. A study by the Asian Development Bank is underway to identify critical clusters and infrastructure gaps.
Integration into Global Supply Chains (GVCs): There is an emphasis on integrating India into global supply chains, as approximately 70 percent of global trade occurs through these chains.
Infrastructure Challenges: Significant infrastructure development is required to support the projected increase in goods movement. This includes additional capacity in ports, railways, and airports to handle the expected rise in exports and imports.

Overall, while the target of $1 trillion in merchandise exports by 2030 presents significant challenges, officials are optimistic about overcoming them through strategic infrastructure development and integration into global supply chains.

About Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)

What is it? CBAM is a proposed European Union (EU) tariff on carbon-intensive products.
Purpose: The purpose of CBAM is to put a fair price on the carbon emitted during the production of carbon-intensive goods entering the EU. It aims to encourage cleaner industrial production in non-EU countries.
Adoption and Transition Period: CBAM was adopted on May 17, 2023, and its transitional period started on October 1, 2023.
Operation: CBAM is designed to counter the risk of carbon leakage by imposing a charge on the embedded carbon content of certain imports equal to the carbon price of domestic production.
How does it Work?
- EU importers must purchase carbon certificates corresponding to the EU’s carbon price if the goods had been produced locally.
- Certificate prices are calculated based on auction prices in the EU carbon credit market.
- The required certificates depend on the quantity of imported goods and their embedded emissions.
- Companies from countries with equivalent domestic carbon pricing regimes can export to the EU without buying CBAM certificates.
Affected Sectors: Initially, CBAM targets goods imported from non-EU countries, particularly those in carbon-intensive sectors such as cement, electricity, fertilisers, aluminium, iron, steel, and hydrogen.

About Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence (CSDC):

Introduction: The European Commission has proposed a Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence to promote sustainable and responsible corporate behavior across global value chains.
Key Features:
- It mandates certain large EU and non-EU companies to establish mandatory due diligence practices to identify, prevent, mitigate, and ultimately terminate adverse impacts of their corporate activities on human rights and the environment.
- The proposal aligns with the European Green Deal’s objectives towards a sustainable future.
Impacts of EU’s Sustainability:
- Covered EU companies are taking proactive measures to protect themselves, including implementing robust mechanisms to mitigate risks.
- Actions include establishing clear contractual clauses, complaint procedures, increased third-party assessments, and capacity building.

6. New test to diagnose special learning disabilities in adults to be rolled out by year-end

Subject: Economy

Sec: External sector

Context:

The Union government is expected to roll out a new test to diagnose specific learning disabilities (SLDs) in adults in India by the end of the year.

More on news:

The test is being designed by the National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities (NIEPID) in Telangana’s Secunderabad.
This comes even as the Supreme Court is in the middle of hearing a writ petition by a former Jawaharlal Nehru University student, challenging the absence of such diagnostic methods for testing SLDs in adults, which prevented them from getting disability certificates.
When SLDs were introduced in the list of disabilities in 2016, it invariably left out people who were adults at the time because the nature of the disorder requires diagnosis at an early age.

About the certificate:

Getting a certificate is imperative in order to claim benefits under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016, which provides for reservation in government or higher education institutions receiving government aid (5%), and in government jobs (4%).

Certification requirements:

The certification requirements for SLDs included a clinical assessment, an IQ assessment and an SLD assessment.
The SLD assessment can be done using the NIMHANS battery test or the Grade Level of Assessment Devices (GLAD).
This certification begins at the age of 8, followed by repeat certifications — once in Class 10, and then in Class 12.
The certificate issued after the final assessment at the age of 18 or above will be valid for lifetime.
The new guidelines said that the same tools will be used for adults till new ones for older children and adults can be completed.

Need for such a step:

Officials explained that this was only to cover those who were already adults when SLDs were added to the list of disabilities in the RPwd Act in 2016, thus leaving them without an option to be certified and avail benefits.
Once these adults are covered in the new test, diagnosis and certification can be limited to children due to the nature of the disorder.

7. In search of skin lightening creams, kidneys take a hit

Subject: Environment

Sec: Pollution

Context:

Researchers from Kerala have reported a series of cases from Malappuram district where the regular use of fairness creams has been linked to nephrotic syndrome.

More on news:

Heavy metal screening of the blood and urine samples of these patients revealed high levels of mercury.
Keratin-based hair-straightening products containing glycolic acid derivatives led to severe kidney injury in women.
Heavy metal screening of the blood and urine samples of these patients revealed high levels of mercury, the toxic effects of which are well-known.

High proteinuria:

They all had non-specific symptoms — fatigue, mild edema and frothy urine — but high levels of proteinuria, in the range of 6.5-22.2 g/day.
Membranous nephropathy (MN) is an autoimmune disease resulting in nephrotic syndrome, a condition when too much protein is released into the urine (proteinuria), ultimately resulting in renal failure.
In approximately 70% to 80% of cases of MN, the target antigen has been phospholipase A-2 (PLA2R).
Neural epidermal growth factor-like protein 1 (NELL-1), has been linked to a rare form of MN.

Fairness cream:

The mercury levels in blood/urine samples dropped within three months of the patients stopping the use of their fairness creams.
Also, all patients responded well to RAAS (renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system) blockade (the gold standard therapy for chronic kidney disease) and did not need immunosuppression.

Impact of mercury:

Mercury is a highly toxic heavy metal which is used in fairness/anti-ageing creams as in its inorganic form (mercury salts) it can inhibit the formation of melanin, resulting in a lighter skin tone.
The higher the levels of mercury in face creams, the better the whitening effect.
The other adverse effects listed by WHO include skin discolouration and scarring, reduction in the skin’s resistance to bacterial and fungal infections, anxiety, depression, psychosis and peripheral neuropathy.

About Minamata Convention:

The Minamata Convention on Mercury, to which India is a signatory, is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds and is in force since 2017 According to a new Zero Mercury Working Group (ZMWG) report released in October 2023.

8. Microsoft unveils Phi-3-mini, its smallest AI model yet: How it compares to bigger models

Subject: Science and tech

Sec: Awareness in IT & Computer

Context:

A few days after Meta unveiled its Llama 3 Large Language Model (LLM), Microsoft on Tuesday unveiled the latest version of its ‘lightweight’ AI model – the Phi-3-Mini.

More on news:

Microsoft has described the Phi-3 as a family of open AI models that are the most capable and cost-effective small language models (SLMs) available.

What is Phi-3-mini?

Phi-3-Mini is believed to be first among the three small models that Microsoft is planning to release.
It has reportedly outperformed models of the same size and the next size up across a variety of benchmarks, in areas like language, reasoning, coding, and maths.
Language models are the backbone of AI applications like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc.
These models are trained on existing data to solve common language problems such as text classification, answering questions, text generation, document summarisation, etc.
The ‘Large’ in LLMs has two meanings — the enormous size of training data; and the parameter count. In the field of Machine Learning, where machines are equipped to learn things themselves without being instructed, parameters are the memories and knowledge that a machine has learned during its model training.

What’s new in Microsoft’s Phi-3-mini?

The latest model from Microsoft expands the selection of high-quality language models available to customers, offering more practical choices as they build generative AI applications.
Phi-3-mini, a 3.8B language model, is available on AI development platforms such as Microsoft Azure AI Studio, Hugging Face, and Ollama.
Phi-3-mini is the first model in its class to support a context window of up to 128K tokens, with little impact on quality.
The model is instruction-tuned, which means that it is trained to follow the different types of instructions given by users.
This also means that the model is ‘ready to use out-of-the-box’.
Microsoft says that in the coming weeks, new models will be added to the Phi-3 family to offer customers more flexibility.
Phi-3-small (7B) and Phi-3-Medium will be available in the Azure AI model catalog and other model libraries shortly.

How is Phi-3-mini different from LLMs?

Phi-3-mini is an SLM.
SLMs are more streamlined versions of large language models.
When compared to LLMs, smaller AI models are also cost-effective to develop and operate, and they perform better on smaller devices like laptops and smartphones.
According to Microsoft, SLMs are great for resource-constrained environments including on-device and offline inference scenarios.
The company claims such models are good for scenarios where fast response times are critical, say for chabots or virtual assistants.
Moreover, they are ideal for cost-constrained use cases, particularly with simpler tasks.

How good are the Phi-3 models?

Phi-2 was introduced in December 2023 and reportedly equaled models like Meta’s Llama 2.
Microsoft claims that the Phi-3-mini is better than its predecessors and can respond like a model that is 10 times bigger than it.
Based on the performance results shared by Microsoft, Phi-3 models significantly outperformed several models of the same size or even larger ones, including Gemma 7B and Mistral 7B, in key areas.