Daily Prelims Notes 27 January 2023

January 27, 2023
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

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Daily Prelims Notes

27 January 2022

Table Of Contents

1. Are genetically-engineered trees really ‘the future’

Subject : Science and Technology

Section: Biotechnology

Context: As the US mulls over releasing genetically engineered trees in the wild, experts warn of its possible environmental impact

More on the News:

More than a century after the American chestnut tree became functionally extinct, the United States is weighing whether to allow a genetically engineered (GE) version to spread in the wild.
The population of the American chestnut, a deciduous tree native to North America, dwindled in the first half of the 20th century when a fungal blight, Cryphonectriaparasitica, killed over four billion trees. The blight is believed to have travelled to the US from the Chinese varieties of the tree.
Ever since, millions of American chestnut stumps have continued to sprout every year, but only a handful of them survive long enough to produce nuts. Most of them get re-infected with the blight and die, restarting the cycle again.
A group of researchers at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry began experimenting with a GE blight-resistant American chestnut in the 1980s.
They finally added an enzyme from wheat that breaks down the toxin produced by the blight to develop the Darling 58 line of blight-tolerant trees.
The researchers now, citing conservation of the species, hope to win the approval of the US government for the unregulated release of these GE varieties into the wild.

Genetic Engineering:

Genetic engineering, often known as genetic alteration or modification, or manipulation, is a technique that modifies an organism’s DNA using technology developed in labs.
It entails altering a single base pair (A-T or C-G), erasing a section of DNA, or incorporating new DNA.
It may also mean extracting DNA from another organism’s genome and combining it with the DNA of that individual.

To Know about Concerns related to GM crops https://optimizeias.com/gm-mustard-is-irreversible/

GM Rubber:

The world’s first genetically modified (GM) rubber plant has been planted at the Rubber Board’s Sarutari research farm on the outskirts of Guwahati in Assam.
The GM rubber plant has been developed by Kerala-based Rubber Research Institute of India (RRII), which comes under the Rubber Board supervised by the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
The GM rubber sapling, said to be world’s first, has been modified by inserting additional copies of the gene MnSOD (manganese-containing superoxide dismutase).
This gene enables the newly developed rubber plant to tide over extreme climatic stress such as hot and cold temperatures, along with drought-like conditions
The new crop is expected to cut short the maturity period of rubber, indicating chances for an early yield.
his will provide a further boost to the production of the crop in the northeastern region of the country, since natural rubber is a native of warm humid Amazon forests and is not naturally suited for colder conditions in the Northeast.

2. Large mammals shaped the evolution of humans

Subject :Science and Technology

Section: Biotechnology

Context: It was the abundance specifically of medium and large grazers in fertile savannas, concentrated near water in the dry season, that enabled the evolutionary transformation of a relatively puny ape into a feared hunter in Africa.

More on the News:

That humans originated in Africa is widely accepted. But it’s not generally recognised how unique features of Africa’s ecology were responsible for the crucial evolutionary transitions from forest-inhabiting fruit-eater to savanna-dwelling hunter.
Ape-men
- Starting during the late Miocene, around 10 million years ago, a plume of molten magma, hot liquid material from deep inside the Earth, pushed eastern parts of Africa upward. This led to rifting of the Earth’s crust, volcanic eruptions and soils enriched in mineral nutrients from the lava and ash.
- Grassy savannas spread and animals adapted increasingly to graze this vegetation
- Apes from that time were forced to spend less time up in trees and more time walking upright on two legs.
- Progressive reductions in rainfall, restricting plant growth and worsening dry season aridity, forced the early ape-men, (Australopithecines), to change their diet. They went from eating mainly fruits from forest trees to consuming underground bulbs and tubers found between the widely spaced trees.
- This led to the emergence through evolution of the genus Paranthropus (colloquially “nutcracker man”), characterisedby huge jaws and teeth.
Homo habilis
- Around 2.8 million years ago, another lineage split off from the australopithecines, used stones chipped to serve as tools. These were used to scrape flesh from carcasses of animals killed by carnivores, and crack open long bones for their marrow content.
- These first humans thus became scavengers on animal left-overs. They most probably exploited a time window around midday when the killers — mainly sabre-tooth cats — were resting, before hyenas arrived nocturnally to devour the leftovers.
- To facilitate such midday movements, Homo habilis lost its body hair; this made it possible for them to be active under conditions when fur-covered animals would soon over-heat.
Homo erectus
- Several hundred thousand years of progressive advancements in upright walking and brain capacity led to the next major adaptive shift, stone cores became shaped on both sides to aid the processing of animal carcasses.
- This led to the emergence of Homo erectus around 1.8 million years ago. These early humans had become efficient hunters. Consequently, meat and bones became reliable food resources year-round.
- Men hunted; women gathered plant parts. This required a home base and more elaborate forms of communication about planned excursions, laying the foundations for language.
Homo sapiens
- After 800,000 years ago, fluctuations in heat and aridity became more extreme in Africa. Finely crafted stone tools defined the transition into the Middle Stone Age, coupled with the emergence of modern Homo sapiens in Africa around 300 thousand years ago.
- But despite its hunting prowess Homo sapiens had declined to precarious numbers in Africa by around 130,000 years ago, following an especially severe ice age.
- Genetic evidence indicates that the entire human population across the continent shrank to fewer than 40,000 individuals, spread thinly from Morocco in the north to the Cape in the far south.
- One remnant survived by inhabiting caves along the southern Cape coast, exploiting marine resources. This reliable food source fostered further advances in tool technology, and even the earliest art.
- The use of bows and arrows as weapons, along with spears, probably contributed crucially to the expansion of humans beyond Africaaround 60,000 years ago. They spread onward through Asia and into Europe, displacing the Neanderthals.
Thus, if Africa had remained largely low-lying and leached of nutrients like most of South America and Australia, this would not have been possible.

3. Urban Forage

Subject : Environment

Section: Ecosystem

Context: Urban foraging is gaining prominence as a means to interact with urban green spaces, in addition to being crucial in ensuring nutritional security for underserved communities.

Urban Foraging:

Urban foraging is the practice of identifying and collecting the wild foods (tree nuts, plant roots, mushrooms, and even flowers) growing freely around your city.
Urban foraging, which is the harvesting of plants, fruits, fungi, herbs and other produce, from formal and informal urban greenspaces such as parks, lakes, unused lands, roadsides and other public areas.
As the interaction between people and nature in cities has increasingly come into focus, foraging becomes one of the ways to understand these transactions.
Significance
- These are free food sources, foraging is an affordable way to add greens to their diets.
- Foraged foods also provide nutritional benefits for the communities.
- Climate-resilient foods, having the ability to grow with minimal inputs, uncultivated foods provide a viable answer for challenging conditions like drought, heat and floods.
- Foraging can bring larger changes to urban commons, such as ensuring cleanliness, less use of pesticides in parks and keeping a check on the overall water quality.

4. States fall short of targets to improve forest cover, quality

Subject : Environment

Section: Ecosystem

Context: India is lagging behind in the targets to increase the number and quality of tree- and forest-cover plantations set in the Green India Mission, according to data accessed via the Right To Information Act.

More on the News:

National Mission for a Green India (GIM) is one of the eight Missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change. It aims at protecting, restoring and enhancing India’s forest cover and responding to climate change.
The target under the Mission is 10 million hectares (Mha) on forest and non-forest lands for increasing the forest/tree cover and to improve the quality of existing forest.
However, in response to queries by Kerala-based RTI campaigner, Govindan Nampoothiry, the Environment Ministry this month responded with figures from 17 States noting tree/forest cover had increased by 26,287 hectares and forest quality improved in only 1,02,096 hectares as of December 31, 2022.

National Mission for a Green India:

The National Mission for a Green India or the commonly called Green India Mission (GIM), is one of the eight Missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).
It was launched in February, 2014 with the objective to safeguard the biological resources of our nation and associated livelihoods against the peril of adverse climate change and to recognise the vital impact of forestry on ecological sustainability, biodiversity conservation and food-, water- and livelihood-security.
It aims at protecting, restoring and enhancing India’s diminishing forest cover and responding to climate change through adaptation and mitigation measures. It envisages a holistic view of greening that extends beyond tree planting.
At the national level implementation is done by the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
The State Forest Development Agency to guide the mission at the state level.
At the district level, the implementation to be done by the Forest Development Agency.

For Findings of FSI report https://optimizeias.com/state-of-forest-report-2021/

5. India and Egypt reiterate support for Non-Aligned Movement

Subject : International Relations

Section: Msc

The Non-Aligned Movement was formed during the Cold War as an organization of States that did not seek to formally align themselves with either the United States or the Soviet Union, but sought to remain independent or neutral.
It was established in 1961 in Belgrade, former Yugoslavia under the leadership of the then Indian Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser and the President of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito.
The basic concept for the group originated in 1955 during discussions that took place at the Asia-Africa Bandung Conference held in Indonesia.
The first NAM Summit Conference took place in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in September 1961.
It has 120 members as on April 2018 comprising 53 countries from Africa, 39 from Asia, 26 from Latin America and the Caribbean and 2 from Europe (Belarus, Azerbaijan). There are 17 countries and 10 international organizations that are Observers at NAM.
The Non-Aligned Movement was founded and held its first conference (the Belgrade Conference) in 1961 under the leadership of Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Jawaharlal Nehru of India, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, and Sukarno of Indonesia.
The purpose of the organization was enumerated in Havana Declaration of 1979 to ensure “the national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of non-aligned countries” in their struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism, and all forms of foreign subjugation.
During the cold war era the NAM played a vital role in stabilizing the world order and preserving peace and security. Non alignment of NAM doesn’t mean the neutrality of state on global issues, it was always a peaceful intervention in world politics.

NAM Functioning

NAM does not have a permanent secretariat or a formal hierarchy.
Its administration is rotational and non-hierarchy.
NAM takes decisions by consensus, which need not be universal, but only requires substantial agreement.
It has a Coordinating Bureau which is based at the UN in New York City.
NAM meets every three years at the NAM Summit Conference of Heads of State.
At the Summit, a chair is chosen, which is a post held for three years.
In NAM, every member country has equal weight.
The current chairperson of NAM is Ilham Aliyev, the President of Azerbaijan. He holds the post till 2022.

The 10 Principles of Bandung:

Respect for fundamental human rights and of the objectives and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
Respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries.
Recognition of equality among all races and of the equality among all nations, both large and small.
Non-interference of non-intervention into the internal affairs of another country.
Respect the right of every nation to defend itself, either individually or collectively, in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations.
Non-use of collective defence pacts to benefit the specific interests of any of the great powers.
Refraining from acts or threats of aggression and use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any nation.
Settlement of all international disputes by peaceful means.
Promotion of mutual interest and cooperation.
Respect for justice and international obligations.

6. Etikoppaka toys

Subject: History

Section: Art and Culture

Concept:

The Union government choosing to confer Padma Shri on him in the art category is an honour to the Etikoppaka wooden toy craft, and it will go a long way in promoting the art, says C.V. Raju.

About Etikoppaka toys:

These are traditional toys made by artisans of Etikoppaka village located on the banks of Varaha River in Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh.
These toys are made out of wood and are coloured with natural dyes derived from seeds, lacquer, bark, roots and leaves.
The artisans mainly use the wood from trees known as ‘ankudu‘ (Wrightia Tinctoria) that is soft in nature.
These toys have no sharp edges. They are rounded on all sides.
Etikoppaka toys received Geographical Indication (GI) tag in 2017.

Lacquer toys

While making the Etikoppaka toys, lac, a colourless resinous secretion of numerous insects, is used.
The already prepared vegetable dyes are further mixed to the lac, during the process of
After this process, the end product obtained is rich and colored lacquer.
The lac dye is used for decorating the Etikoppaka toys, which are exported all over the world.
Thus, the toys are also called lacquer toys because of the application of lacquer coating.

7. India to move to T+1 Settlement System

Subject : Economy

Section : Money Market

Concept :

After China, India will become the second country in the world to start the ‘trade-plus-one’ (T+1) settlement cycle in top listed securities from January 27.

Background :

Until 2001, stock markets had a weekly settlement system.
The markets then moved to a rolling settlement system of T+3, and then to T+2 in 2003.

T+1 Settlement Plan

The T+1 settlement cycle means that trade-related settlements must be done within a day, or 24 hours, of the completion of a transaction.
For example, under T+1, if a customer bought shares on Wednesday, they would be credited to the customer’s demat account on Thursday.
This is different from T+2, where they will be settled on Friday.
As many as 256 large cap and top mid-cap stocks, including Nifty and Sensex stocks, will come under the T+1 settlement from January 27.
The United States, United Kingdom and Eurozone markets are yet to move to the T+1 system.

Benefits of T+1 Settlement:

Reduced Settlement Time: A shortened cycle not only reduces settlement time but also reduces and frees up the capital required to collateralise that risk.
Reduction in Unsettled Trade: It also reduces the number of outstanding unsettled trades at any instant, and thus decreases the unsettled exposure to Clearing Corporation by 50%.
The narrower the settlement cycle, the narrower the time window for a counterparty insolvency/bankruptcy to impact the settlement of a trade.
Reduction in Blocked Capital: Further, the capital blocked in the system to cover the risk of trades will get proportionately reduced with the number of outstanding unsettled trades at any point of time.
Reduction in Systemic Risks: A shortened settlement cycle will help in reducing systemic risk.

Will T+1 Format make Markets Safer?

According to a paper published by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), a T+1 settlement cycle not only reduces the timeframe but also reduces and frees up capital required to collateralize that risk.
A shortened settlement cycle also reduces the number of outstanding unsettled trades at any point of time, and thus decreases the unsettled exposure to Clearing Corporation by 50 per cent.
The narrower the settlement cycle, the narrower is the time window for a counterparty insolvency/ bankruptcy to impact the settlement of a trade.
Further, the capital blocked in the system to cover the risk of trades will get proportionately reduced with the number of outstanding unsettled trades at any point of time.

Concerns of Foreign Investors:

Foreign investors have concerns about operational issues they would face while operating from different geographies – time zones, information flow process, and foreign exchange problems.
They will also find it difficult to hedge their net India exposure in dollar terms at the end of the day under the T+1 system.

8. Myanmar opium farming booming after coup, says UN’s drug office

Subject : International Relations

Section: International Institutions

Concept :

Opium poppy production in Myanmar ramped up dramatically following the 2021 military coup, the United Nations’ drugs office said on Thursday (Jan 26), as political and economic turmoil drove farmers to cultivate the crop.
The area of land used for opium poppy cultivation expanded by a third to just over 40,000ha in 2021-22 – the first full growing season since the coup – according to a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report.

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

It was established in 1997 and was named as a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in 2002.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is established to implement the Organization’s drug programme and crime programme in an integrated manner, addressing the interrelated issues of drug control, crime prevention and international terrorism in the context of sustainable development and human security.
It acts as the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention by combining the United Nations International Drug Control Program (UNDCP) and the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division of the United Nations Office at Vienna.

World Drug Report

The UNODC releases the World Drug Report annually.
The report gives valuable information relating to drug abuse worldwide, the trends in the production and use of illicit drugs of various types, etc.
Other Important Publications: Surveys to Monitor Illicit Crops, Regional Crime Studies, and Policy Reviews.

9. Short Selling

Subject : Economy

Section: Money market

Concept :

Short seller Hindenburg Research on January 25 disclosed short positions in Adani Group, alleging stock manipulation and accounting fraud in its latest investigative report.

What is Short Selling?

Short-selling allows investors to book profit from stocks or other securities when they go down in value.
In order to do a short sale, an investor has to borrow the stock or security through their brokerage company from someone who owns it.
The investor then sells the stock, retaining the cash
The short-seller hopes that the price will fall over time, providing an opportunity to buy back the stock at a lower price than the original sale price.
Any money left over after buying back the stock is profit to the short-seller.

How short-selling works?

Most investors own stocks, funds, and other investments that they want to see rise in value.
Over time, the stock market has generally gone up, albeit with temporary periods of downward movement along the way.
For long-term investors, owning stocks has been a much better than short-selling the entire stock market.
Sometimes, though, you’ll find an investment that you’re convinced will drop in the short term (as in case of COVID 19 outbreak).
In those cases, short-selling can be the easiest way to profit from the misfortunes that a company is experiencing.
Even though short-selling is more complicated than simply going out and buying a stock, it can allow making money when others are seeing their investment portfolios shrink.

Risks of short-selling

Short-selling can be profitable when one makes the right call, but it carries greater risks than what ordinary stock investors experience.
When we buy a stock, the most we can lose is what you pay for it.
If the stock goes to zero, we suffer a complete loss, but will never lose more than that.
By contrast, if the stock soars, there’s no limit to the profits one can enjoy. With a short sale, however, that dynamic is reversed.

10. Hindenburg Disaster

Subject :History

Section: World History

Concept :

Recently, the Hindenburg Research has grabbed the limelight over its report on the Adani Group’s alleged corporate fraud.
The company has been named after the famous Zeppelin disaster after which took place in 1937.

Hindenburg/ Zeppelin disaster

The Hindenburg disaster was an airship accident that occurred on May 6, 1937, in Manchester Township, New Jersey, United States.
The German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at Naval Air Station Lakehurst.
The accident caused 35 fatalities (13 passengers and 22 crewmen) from the 97 people on board (36 passengers and 61 crewmen), and an additional fatality on the ground.
A variety of theories have been put forward for both the cause of ignition and the initial fuel for the ensuing fire.
The publicity shattered public confidence in the giant, passenger-carrying rigid airship and marked the abrupt end of the airship era.

11. Padma Bhushan

Subject : History

Section: Personality

Concept :

Dr Kapil Kapoor, former pro vice-chancellor of JNU and former professor of JNU’s Centre for Linguistics and English and Centre for Sanskrit Studies, won the Padma Bhushan on Wednesday for his work in the field of literature and education.

Contributions

Kapil Kapoor, (born 17 November 1940) former Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) served as professor at the Centre for Linguistics and English, and at the Centre for Sanskrit Studies there before retiring in 2005.
He is Editor-in-Chief of the 11-Volume Encyclopedia of Hinduism published by Rupa & Co. in 2012 and Unesco (UAI) and Sahitya Akademi sponsored Encyclopaediaof Indian Poetics (being published by Sahitya Akademi now, 2020).
He was a member of numerous bodies, among them the Indian Council of Philosophical Research, the Central University of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarnath, and the Sanchi University of Buddhist and Indic Studies, Madhya Pradesh.
He chaired the important MHRD Language Expert Committee for Comprehensive Language Policy for India, whose report is under consideration.
He steered the pioneering CBSE elective course for classes XI and XII, “Knowledge Traditions and Practices of India” (KTPI).

Current Positions

Chairman of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla.
Chairman, Editorial Committee, Indian Historical Records Committee, National Archives
Chairman, India Policy Foundation, New Delhi
Member, Executive Council, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML).

12. Currency swap

Subject: Economy

Section: External Sector

A currency swap between two countries is an agreement or contract to exchange currencies (of the two countries or any hard currency) with predetermined terms and conditions.
Often the popular form of currency swap is between two central banks.
The main purpose of currency swaps is to avoid turbulence and other risks in the foreign exchange market and exchange rate.
Central banks and governments engage in currency swaps with foreign counterparts to ensure adequate foreign currency during the time of foreign currency scarcity.