Daily Prelims Notes 4 September 2020

September 4, 2020
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

Table Of Contents

Subject: Science and tech

Context:

Union Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers has launched new nutraceuticals under Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP) for sale through Janaushadhi Kendras across country.

Concept:

Nutraceuticals is a broad umbrella term that is used to describe any product derived from food sources with extra health benefits in addition to the basic nutritional value found in foods.
They can be considered non-specific biological therapies used to promote general well-being, control symptoms and prevent malignant processes.
The term “nutraceutical” combines two words – “nutrient” (a nourishing food component) and “pharmaceutical” (a medical drug).
They can be classified on the basis of their natural sources, pharmacological conditions, as well as chemical constitution of the products. Most often they are grouped in the following categories: dietary supplements, functional food, medicinal food, pharmaceuticals.

2. LIGO and VIRGO

Subject: Science and tech

Context:

Billions of years ago, a collision between two black holes sent gravitational waves rippling through the universe. In 2019, signals from these waves were detected at the gravitational wave observatory LIGO and the detector Virgo.

Concept:

LIGO

The LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) is a group of scientists focused on the direct detection of gravitational waves, using them to explore the fundamental physics of gravity, and developing the emerging field of gravitational wave science as a tool of astronomical discovery.
The LSC works toward this goal through research on, and development of techniques for, gravitational wave detection; and the development, commissioning and exploitation of gravitational wave detectors.
The project operates three gravitational-wave (GW) detectors. Two are at Hanford, Washington, north-western US, and one is at Livingston in Louisiana, south-eastern US.
The proposed LIGO India project aims to move one advanced LIGO detector from Hanford to India.

VIRGO

Virgo is a giant laser interferometer designed to detect gravitational waves.
Virgo has been designed and built by a collaboration of the French Centre National de la RechercheScientifique (CNRS) and the Italian IstitutoNazionale di FisicaNucleare (INFN)
It is now operated and improved in Cascina, a small town near Pisa on the site of the European Gravitational Observatory (EGO), by an international collaboration of scientists from France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Hungary.

Working:

It consists of two 3-kilometre-long arms, which house the various machinery required to form a laser interferometer.
A beam-splitter divides a laser beam into two equal components, which are subsequently sent into the two interferometer arms.
In each arm, a two-mirror Fabry-Perot resonant cavity extends the optical length. This is because of multiple reflections that occur within each cavity and which consequently amplify the tiny distance variation caused by a gravitational wave.
The two beams of laser light that return from the two arms are recombined out of phase so that, in principle, no light reaches the so-called ‘dark fringe’ of the detector. Any variation caused by an alteration in the distance between the mirrors produces a very small shift in phase between the beams and, thus, a variation of the intensity of the light, which is proportional to the wave’s amplitude.

Black hole

Black holes are imploded stars that keep its mass and gravity. The black holes are infinitely small with no real shape, and can suck in everything that is a certain distance away.
It exhibits strong gravitational effects, due to which, particles and electromagnetic radiation cannot escape from it.
It acts like an ideal black body reflecting no light. It continues to grow, by absorbing mass from its surroundings.

Black hole merger

Gravitational waves, postulated by Albert Einstein 100 years ago but discovered only in 2015 do not produce any sound on their own.
These are just ripples created in the fabric of space-time by moving celestial objects just like a moving boat produces ripples in water.
But when converted into audio signals, these can produce signature sounds that can reveal the origin of the gravitational waves.
The gravitational wave detected on September 14, 2015, is now known to have been produced by the merger of two black holes about 1.3 billion years ago.
Scientists already knew the kind of sound that gravitational waves emanating from such events were likely to produce.
As two such dense and massive objects, black holes or neutron stars, are about to merge, they start rotating around each other at almost the speed of light. The merger takes place within a fraction of a second.
The gravitational waves released in this last bit, when converted into audio signals, produce sound that is within audible range of human beings.

3. Novichok

Subject: Science and tech

Context:

Two years after coming in the spotlight after the alleged poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skirpal and his daughter YuliaSkirpal in Britain, the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok is back in the news.

Concept:

During the Cold War, when the Soviet Union and the United States were at loggerheads, the two were also aggressively developing weapons of mass destruction.
In Soviet Union, the nerve agents were being developed under extreme secrecy, as part of a programme codenamed ‘FOLIANT’.
One of the main reasons for the secrecy was to develop such agents whose components resembled ordinary industrial chemicals, so that they would not be detected using the standard 1970s and 1980s NATO chemical detection equipment.
The chemicals used to make the agent are far less hazardous than the agent themselves, and therefore, it could also circumvent the Chemical Weapons Convention, an arms control treaty that came into effect from April 1997 and has 192 countries as signatories.
The first chemical weapon developed by the Foliant scientists was given the code name ‘Novichok’, which in Russian means ‘newcomer’.
The nerve gas is 10 times more effective in killing people than the US equivalent, known as VX.

4. Reserve forest

Subject: Environment

Context:

Maharashtra Chief Minister announced that the state government would designate a 600-acre parcel of land in the heart of urban Mumbai as a reserved forest.

Concept:

The land falls under the eco-sensitive zone of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, and is home to around 10,000 individuals who live in 27 tribal hamlets.
Under Section 4 of The Indian Forest Act, 1927, the state government can “constitute any land a reserved forest” by issuing a notification in the Official Gazette, “declaring that it has been decided to constitute such land a reserved forest”, and “specifying, as nearly as possible, the situation and limits of such land”.
Under the law, the government must also appoint a Forest Settlement Officer (FSO) “to inquire into and determine the existence, nature and extent of any rights alleged to exist in favour of any person in or over any land comprised within such limits or in or over any forest-produce, and to deal with the same”.
The FSO will seek suggestions and objections from residents and others within 45 days of initiating the process. After taking into account the suggestions and objections, the process of turning the land into a reserved forest will be completed. Thereafter, the area will be protected from any construction.

5. UNSC 1267

Subject: IR

Context:

The United Nations Security Council’s 1267 sanctions sub-committee rejected the last two names of Indian nationals that Pakistan had proposed to be brought under the sanctions regime against terrorists and terror groups.

Concept:

Article 41 of the United Nations Charter gives the Security Council the authority to use a variety of measures to enforce its decisions. The Council regularly creates subsidiary organs to support or implement these measures. Among the most common are those measures that are known as “sanctions”, which are generally supported by a Committee, as well as Panels/Groups of Experts or other mechanisms to monitor implementation of the sanctions.
By resolution 1267 (1999) of 15 October 1999, the Security Council established a Committee to oversee the implementation of targeted sanctions measures against designated individuals, entities and aircraft that were owned, controlled, leased or operated by the Taliban.
The measures were subsequently modified, particularly by resolutions 1333 (2000) and 1390 (2002), to include an assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo affecting designated individuals and entities associated with Usama bin Laden, and the Taliban wherever they are located.
By resolution 2253 (2015) of 17 December 2015, the Security Council decided to expand the listing criteria to include individuals and entities supporting the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

6. Data Empowerment Architecture

Subject: Schemes

Context:

Niti Aayog sought suggestions and comments on the ‘Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture (DEPA)’ draft which aims to promote greater user control on data sharing.

Concept:

The Data Empowerment & Protection Architecture will empower individuals with control over how their personal data is used and shared while ensuring that privacy considerations are addressed.
DEPA empowers people to seamlessly and securely access their data and share it with third-party institutions. Opening up an Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) based data sharing framework would bring significant innovation by new fintech entities.

7. Revised PSL guideline

Subject: Economy

Context:

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has comprehensively reviewed the Priority Sector Lending (PSL) guidelines to enable better credit penetration to credit deficient areas and increase the lending to small and marginal farmers and weaker sections.

Changes:

The revised PSL norms are aimed at aligning the same with “emerging national priorities and bring sharper focus on inclusive development.
The RBI said bank finance to start-ups up to Rs 50 crore; loans to farmers for installation of solar power plants for solarisation of grid-connected agriculture pumps and loans for setting up Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG) plants have been included as fresh categories eligible for finance under priority sector.
To address regional disparities in the flow of priority sector credit, higher weightage have been assigned to incremental priority sector credit in ‘identified districts’ where priority sector credit flow is comparatively low.
The targets prescribed for “small and marginal farmers” and “weaker sections” are being increased in a phased manner.
Higher credit limit has been specified for Farmers Producers Organisations (FPOs)/Farmers Producers Companies (FPCs) undertaking farming with assured marketing of their produce at a pre-determined price. Loan limits for renewable energy have been increased (doubled).
For improvement of health infrastructure, credit limit for health infrastructure (including those under ‘Ayushman Bharat’) has been doubled.

Concept:

Priority sector lending refers to those sectors or areas of the economy which may not get timely and adequate credit.
The RBI requires Indian banks to allocate certain portion of their overall lending for sectors mentioned under PSL. These areas of focus for PSL include Agriculture, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Export Credit, Education, Housing, Social Infrastructure, Renewable Energy.
Reserve Bank of India has, from time to time, issued a number of guidelines to banks on Priority Sector Lending. These were last reviewed in April 2015 and for urban and cooperative banks in May 2018.
PSL guidelines are applicable to all domestic scheduled commercial banks (excluding Regional Rural Banks and Small Finance Banks) and foreign banks with 20 branches and above.

8. OMO Auction and yield

Subject: Economy

Context:

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) gave a clear indication in the Open Market Operation (OMO) – Purchase and Sale – auction that it does not want Government Security (G-Sec) yields to go up.

Concept:

Open market operation is the sale and purchase of government securities and treasury bills by RBI without printing new currency.
Open market operation is a tool that the RBI uses to smoothen liquidity conditions through the year and regulate money supply in the economy.
RBI carries out the OMO through commercial banks and does not directly deal with the public.

Yield Curve:

A yield curve is a graph of interest rate on all government bonds ranging from the short-term debt (one month) to long-term debt (could be high as 30 years).
Typically, the short term bond has lower interest rate compared with the long-term bond reflecting the higher perceived risk of the latter. Hence a graph of the interest rate of the short-term bond and longer-term will be an increasing line chart. This in technical parlance is called an upward sloping curve.

9. Anti-dumping duty

Subject: Economy

Context:

India has imposed anti-dumping duty on commonly-used anti-bacterial drug Ciprofloxacin imported from China.

Concept:

An anti-dumping duty is a protectionist tariff that a domestic government imposes on foreign imports that it believes are priced below fair market value.
Dumping is a process where a company exports a product at a price lower than the price it normally charges in its own home market.
The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trading practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers vis-a-vis foreign producers and exporters.
The duty is imposed only after a thorough investigation by a quasi-judicial body, such as Directorate General of Trade Remedies, in India.
The imposition of anti-dumping duty is permissible under the World Trade Organization (WTO) regime.

10. Diabetes

Subject: Science and tech

Context:

Higher consumption of white rice regularly is associated with an increased risk of diabetes, observes a paper published after studying 1,32,373 individuals from 21 countries

Concept:

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease of high blood sugar (glucose) levels that result from problems with insulin secretion, its action, or both. Normally, blood glucose levels are tightly controlled by a hormone produced by the pancreas known as insulin. When blood glucose levels rise (for example, after eating food), insulin is released from the pancreas to normalize the glucose level.

Type 1 diabetes:

An absolute lack of insulin, usually due to destruction of the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas, is the main problem in type 1 diabetes.
It is to be due to an autoimmune process, in which the body’s immune system mistakenly targets its own tissues (islet cells in the pancreas. This tendency for the immune system to destroy the beta cells of the pancreas is likely to be, at least in part, genetically inherited, although the exact reasons that this process happens are not fully understood.

Type 2 diabetes:

People who have type 2 diabetes can still produce insulin, but do so relatively inadequately for their body’s needs.
Genetics plays a role in the development of type 2 diabetes, and having a family history and close relatives with the condition increases your risk; however, there are other risk factors, with obesity being the most significant.