Daily Prelims Notes 30 January 2022
- January 30, 2022
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN
Daily Prelims Notes
30 January 2022
Table Of Contents
- Hypoglycaemia
- Grama One
- Privileges Committee
- Externment Orders
- Parasitic Plant in Nicobar
- Ultra-Long Period Magnetar
- Asafoetida
- Faster Spread of Omicron
- Russia-Ukraine conflict
- Awards and Consent
- Electronic signature
- Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C)
- Forced Migration
Subject – Science and Tech
Context – Doctors see post-COVID hypoglycaemia among patients
Concept –
- Hypoglycemia, also called low blood sugar, is a fall in blood sugar to levels below normal, typically below 70 mg/dL (3.9 mmol/L).
- Hypoglycemia may result in headache, tiredness, clumsiness, trouble talking, confusion, fast heart rate, sweating, shakiness, nervousness, hunger, loss of consciousness, seizures, or death.
- Symptoms typically come on quickly.
- The most common cause of hypoglycemia is medications used to treat diabetes such as insulin, sulfonylureas, and biguanides.
- Risk is greater in diabetics who have eaten less than usual, recently exercised, or consumed alcohol.
- Hypoglycemia is treated by eating a sugary food or drink, for example glucose tabs or gel, apple juice, soda, or candy. The person must be conscious and able to swallow.The goal is to consume 10-20 grams of a carbohydrate to raise blood glucose levels to a minimum of 70 mg/dL (3.9 mmol/L).
Subject – Governance
Context – Chief Minister BasavarajBommai has instructed officials to take all measures to extend his ambitious programme ‘Grama One’ all over the State before February-end.
Concept –
- Grama One is aninitiative by Government of Karnataka which is envisaged to provide various Government, banking and other key services at village level in order to facilitate the life of citizens.
- GramaOne is envisaged to be single point assistance centre for all citizen centric activities at village level which include G2C services, Banking services, RTI queries etc.
- It was announced by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Karnataka in the budget for FY20-21.
- Grama One centres will be operational from 8AM-8PM on all seven days of the week.
- The envisioned benefits of Grama One centres are:
- Citizens do not need to visit the district, taluk and hobli offices to get government services
- Citizen can save on time and money by availing the services through Grama One centres
- No menace due to middlemen.
Subject – Polity
Context – House panel to take up plea to disqualify 2 MPs
Concept –
- This Committee consists of 15 members (10 members in case of Rajya Sabha) nominated by the Speaker (Chairman in case of Rajya Sabha).
- Its function is to examine every question involving breach of privilege of the House or of the members of any Committee thereof referred to it by the House or by the Speaker.
- It also states the procedure to be followed by the House in giving effect to the recommendations made by it.
- The Speaker/ Chairman may refer to the Committee any petition regarding disqualification of a member on ground of defection for making a preliminary inquiry and submitting a report to him.
- Where a question of privilege is referred to the Committee by the Speaker under rule 227, the report of the Committee is presented to the Speaker who may pass final orders thereon or direct that it be laid on the Table of the House.
To know about Privilege Motion, please refer October 2021 DPN.
Subject – Polity
Context – Use externment orders with caution: SC
Concept –
- A system of preventing people from entering into a particular place for a certain period, due to their ability to affect that place’s conditions by criminal activity, as exhibited by their prior conduct, this system of restraining the criminal activities is known as externment.
- Though each state has tailored the law in different ways, the general principle remains the same.
- Although Article 19(1)(d) of the Indian Constitution gives citizens of India the right to move freely in the nation’s territory, Clause 5 of Article 19 of the Indian Constitution itself allows the State to impose certain reasonable restrictions in the interest of the general public as well.
Recent SC orders w.r.t Externment
- The Supreme Court has held that a person cannot be barred by authorities from entering a place on mere suspicion. The court said authorities can pass an order of externment against a person only under extraordinary circumstances.
- The discretion should be used “very sparingly” as it deprived a person of his or her right of free movement in the country. An externed person may not even be able to stay with his family or home.
- Reminding the authorities on the conditions before ordering externment, the court said there should be “objective material on record on the basis of which the competent authority must record its subjective satisfaction that the movements or acts of any person are causing or calculated to cause alarm, danger or harm to persons or property”.
Subject – Environment
Context – Parasitic plant found in Nicobar eco hotspot
Concept –
- A new genus of a parasitic flowering plant has recently been discovered from the Nicobar group of islands.
- The genus Septemeranthus grows on the plant species Horsfieldiaglabra (Blume) Warb.
- The parasitic flowering plants have a modified root structure spread on the stem of the tree and are anchored inside the bark of the host tree.
- The plant was found on the periphery of the tropical forest in one of the biodiversity hotspots referred to as the Nicobar group of islands separated from the Andaman group of Islands by a wide gap of 160 km with heavy tidal flows.
- Septemeranthus partially depends on its host but also has leaves capable of photosynthesis.
- What makes the new genus unique is that it is endemic only to the Nicobar group of islands.
- In addition to Septemeranthus, four other genera on non-parasitic plants, Nicobariodendron (Hippocrateaceae), Pseudodiplospora (Rubiaceae), Pubistylis (Rubiaceae), Sphyranthera , (Euphorbiaceae) have also been discovered earlier from Nicobar group of islands, highlighting the ecological significance of the region.
- Recently a new species in the hemiparasitic family Loranthaceae, Dendrophthoelaljii have also been discovered from the Nicobar group of islands.
Subject – Science and Tech
Context – Scientists spot a blinking star’s ‘totally unexpected’ behaviour
Concept –
- Scientists have detected an incredibly dense star and suspect it might be a type of exotic astrophysical object whose existence has been only hypothesised until now.
- The object, spotted using the Murchison Widefield Array telescope in outback Western Australia, unleashed huge bursts of energy roughly three times per hour when viewed from Earth during two months in 2018.
- It may be the first known example of what is called an ultra-long period magnetar.
- This is a variety of neutron star – the compact collapsed core of a massive star that exploded as a supernova – that is highly magnetised and rotates relatively slowly, as opposed to fast-spinning neutron star objects called pulsars that appear from Earth to be blinking on and off within milliseconds or seconds.
- It is located relatively close to Earth in cosmic terms, roughly 4,200 light years away, where a light year is the distance light travels in a year, 9.5 trillion km.
- Neutron stars including pulsars are among the universe’s densest objects. They are roughly 12 km in diameter – akin to the size of a city – but with more mass than our Sun. A neutron star with an extreme magnetic field, a magnetar, could potentially power the radio pulsations.
To know more about Magnetars, please refer December 2021 DPN.
Subject – Agriculture
Context – With many uses listed by researchers, perhaps it is time to go for Asafoetida
Concept –
- Asafoetida has been known since the Mahabharata times, and has been imported from Afghanistan.
- The Bhagavata Purana says that one should not eat hing before worshipping deity.
- Indian historical records suggest that we have been importing asafoetida since the 12th century BCE.
- Wikipedia suggests that Jewish early literature mentions it as Mishnaha.
- It is a thick gum, or a resin, which comes from the perennial taproots of the Ferula family.
Applications of asafoetida
- Asafoetida has a wide range of applications in the field of medicine. It has been suggested to fight viruses such as influenza.
- Ayurveda specifies three types of Dosha, or deficiencies in the body, namely Pitta, Vata and Kapha each of which has specific functions.
- Asafoetida is believed to be one of the best spices to balance the VataDosha.
- Asafoetida is also good to stop hiccups.
- The herb might play as an anticancer agent, and also against some women’s ailments.
- The chemical constituents in the herb that play roles as antioxidants, anticarcinogenic, antibacterial and antiviral and even anti-HIV.
Asafoetidain India
- The cold desert climatic conditions in the Lahaul–Spiti area in Himachal Pradesh are remarkably similar to those in the Iran and Afghanistan, and wondered whether asafoetida cannot be grown in India too.
- This led the IHBT to import its seeds from Afghanistan and began growing the plant in the research centre under the guidance of the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources.
- The experiment was a success. Two types of asafoetida resins became available – the milky white type and the red type.
Constituents of Asafoetida
- The raw herb has about 70% carbohydrates, 5% proteins, 1% fat, 7% minerals, and has compounds of calcium, phosphorus, sulphur and various aliphatic and aromatic alcohols.
- It is the sulphide content in the fat that leads to the fecal odour.
To know more about asafoetida, please refer December 2021 DPN.
Subject – Science and Tech
Context – Faster spread of Omicron is not due to higher viral load
Concept –
- Omicron variant became the dominant variant infecting both vaccinated and the unvaccinated persons in many countries just one month after the World Health Organization designated it a variant of concern on November 26, 2021.
- Two months since, Omicron has become the dominant variant in every country that is witnessing a new wave.
- In short, Omicron has replaced the Delta variant, which was considered highly transmissive in almost every country across the world.
- One of the defining features of a new variant is the higher transmissibility than the existing variant. If the Delta variant was found to be highly transmissible when compared with the Alpha variant, the Omicron variant has been found to be extremely transmissive when compared with the Delta variant.
- Earlier studies suggested, Delta variant require a relatively longer period of exposure before a person gets infected, the Omicron variant has been found to spread within a few minutes of exposure.
What do the recent studies show?
- Viral load is nearly the same with both variants — Delta and Omicron.
- With the Omicron variant possessing many mutations that allows it to escape the immune system better even in previously infected or fully vaccinated people, the extremely high rate at which the Omicron variant is spreading might be due to inherent immune escape capabilities rather than the high viral load as it was previously thought.
Subject – IR
Context – Russia has mobilised some 1,00,000 troops on its border with Ukraine. Russia says the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s eastward expansion (which the alliance calls “enlargement”) threatens its interests and has sought written security guarantees from the West.
Concept –
What are Russia’s demands?
- Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded a ban on further expansion of NATO to include Ukraine, Georgia or other countries in Russia’s neighbourhood.
- Since the German unification in 1990, NATO has added new members five times. If the alliance had 12 founding members in 1949, it now has 30 members, including the three Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — all sharing borders with Russia — and Hungary, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria, all members of the former Soviet-led Warsaw Pact.
- Putin has also asked NATO to roll back its military deployments to the 1990s level and ban the deployment of intermediate range missiles in areas that would allow NATO to reach Russia.
- Further, Moscow has asked NATO to curb its military cooperation with Ukraine and other former Soviet republics.
- In other words, Mr. Putin wants not just a halt to NATO’s future expansion but also its roll-back from Russia’s rim land.
What is the U.S. response?
- The U.S. has given a written response to the Kremlin, which hasn’t been released. But public remarks made by President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other top officials suggest that the U.S. has taken a mixed approach of diplomacy and economic deterrence.
- The U.S. has ruled out changing NATO’s “open door policy” — which means, at least in theory, NATO could induct more members.
- The U.S. also says it would continue to offer training and weapons to Ukraine.
- But Washington is open to discussing missile deployment in Eastern Europe and a mutual reduction in military exercises.
- Also, it is highly unlikely that Ukraine and Georgia, both fighting separatist conflicts, would be taken into NATO in the foreseeable future.
- The U.S. has ruled out sending troops to Ukraine or taking other direct military measures against Russia in the event of an invasion. But Washington has threatened to impose severe economic sanctions on Russia if it makes any military move.
What are Putin’s options?
- Russia says it won’t attack Ukraine. But the situation on the ground remains tense.
- Russia has already annexed Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that was part of Ukraine, through a referendum.
- Russia is also backing separatists in the self-declared Luhansk and Donetsk republics (Donbas) in eastern Ukraine.
- Besides, Moscow has mobilised troops on Ukraine’s eastern border with Russia and northern border with Belarus, southern border with Crimea and south-western border with Transnistria (Moldova).
What is India’s position?
- India broke its silence on Friday, calling for “a peaceful resolution of the situation through sustained diplomatic efforts for long-term peace and stability in the region and beyond”. This was the standard position India had taken during the Crimean crisis as well.
- But the decisions it took after the annexation of Crimea offer insights into the thinking of policy-makers in New Delhi on Ukraine.
- Immediately after the annexation, India abstained from a vote in the UN General Assembly on a resolution that sought to condemn Russia. In March 2014, Mr. Putin praised India’s “restraint and objectivity”.
- In December that year, Sergey Aksyonov, the head of the Crimean Republic, visited India as part of Mr. Putin’s delegation, which had triggered an unusual criticism of India by the then Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko.
- In November 2020, India voted against a Ukraine-sponsored resolution in the UN General Assembly that sought to condemn alleged human rights violations in Crimea.
- So while India’s position is largely rooted in neutrality, New Delhi has adapted itself to the post-2014 status quo on Ukraine.
Subject – Governance
Context – The Padma awards were announced on January 25, and former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee refused the award.
Concept –
- The awards are always announced a day before the Republic Day celebrations.
- The awards are given away by the President at ceremonial functions held at Rashtrapati Bhavan usually in the months of March-April every year.
What are the Padma awards?
- After Bharat Ratna, Padma awards are the second highest civilian awards in the country and are given in three categories.
- It recognises achievements in public service in the field of art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sport and civil services, among others.
- The awards, initially known as Padma Vibhushan and then categorised as PahelaVarg, DusraVarg and TisraVarg, were first constituted in 1954. They were later renamed as Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri in 1955.
- The Padma Vibhushan is given for exceptional and distinguished service, while the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Shri are for distinguished service of a high order and distinguished service respectively.
Who decides the awards?
- The awards are conferred on the recommendations made by the Padma Awards Committee constituted by the Prime Minister every year. It is headed by the Cabinet Secretary and includes the Union Home Secretary, the Secretary to the President and four to six eminent persons as members. However, the names of the eminent members of the committee are not revealed.
- Even the names nominated and shortlisted by the committee are revealed after the awards have been announced. Even self-nomination can be made to the committee.
- The recommendations of the committee are submitted to the Prime Minister and the final list is signed by the President before it is notified in the Gazette of India.
Can a recipient decline the award?
- The rules are silent on this. The convention is that the Home Secretary calls up each awardee and informs them of the civilian honour on January 25. The individual has the option of declining the award then, following which the name is removed from the list before it is sent to the President for approval.
- There is no such rule to refuse the award once it has been announced.
What does the award entail?
- At the ceremonial function held at the President’s House in Delhi, the recipients are presented a ‘Sanad’ (certificate) signed by the President and a medallion.
- A small replica of the medallion is also given to them which can be worn during any ceremonial or State function.
- The award does not amount to a title and cannot be used as a suffix or prefix to the awardees’ name.
To know more about Padma Awards, please refer November 2021 DPN.
Subject – Economy
Context – ‘Pandemic accelerated e-signature adoption’
Concept –
- An electronic signature, or e-signature, is data that is logically associated with other data and which is used by the signatory to sign the associated data.
- This type of signature has the same legal standing as a handwritten signature as long as it adheres to the requirements of the specific regulation under which it was created (e.g., eIDAS in the European Union, NIST-DSS in the USA or ZertES in Switzerland).
- Electronic signatures are a legal concept distinct from digital signatures, a cryptographic mechanism often used to implement electronic signatures.
- While an electronic signature can be as simple as a name entered in an electronic document, digital signatures are increasingly used in e-commerce and in regulatory filings to implement electronic signatures in a cryptographically protected way.
- Standardization agencies like NIST or ETSI provide standards for their implementation (e.g., NIST-DSS, XAdES or PAdES).
- The concept itself is not new, with common law jurisdictions having recognized telegraph signatures as far back as the mid-19th century and faxed signatures since the 1980s.
12. Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C)
Subject – Science and Tech
Context – The Rate Of Covid-19 Related Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome In Children Is Skyrocketing
Concept –
- Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is a condition where different body parts can become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs.
- We do not yet know what causes MIS-C. However, we know that many children with MIS-C had the virus that causes COVID-19, or had been around someone with COVID-19.
- MIS-C can be serious, even deadly, but most children who were diagnosed with this condition have gotten better with medical care.
- Rarely, some adults develop signs and symptoms similar to MIS-C. This new and serious syndrome, called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in adults (MIS-A), occurs in adults who were previously infected with the COVID-19 virus and many didn’t even know it.
- MIS-A seems to occur weeks after COVID-19 infection, though some people have a current infection.
Subject – Economy
Context – Forced to Flee: Over 80 Million People Displaced Worldwide
Concept –
- Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region.
- The UNHCR defines ‘forced displacement’ as follows: displaced “as a result of persecution, conflict, generalized violence or human rights violations”.
- A forcibly displaced person may also be referred to as a “forced migrant”, a “displaced person” (DP), or, if displaced within the home country, an “internally displaced person” (IDP).
- While some displaced persons may be considered as refugees, the latter term specifically refers to such displaced persons who are receiving legally-defined protection and are recognized as such by their country of residence and/or international organizations.
- Approximately over 60 million people may be considered forcibly displaced since the onset of the 21st century, with the majority coming from the Global South.