Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ex Cambrian Patrol
Mains level: Not Much
A team from Gorkha Rifles which represented the Indian Army at the prestigious Cambrian Patrol Exercise at Brecon, Wales, UK, has been awarded a Gold medal.
Ex Cambrian Patrol
- Organized by the UK Army, this exercise is considered the ultimate test of human endurance, team spirit and is sometimes referred as the Olympics of Military Patrolling.
- The aim of The Cambrian Patrol is to provide a challenging patrols exercise in order to enhance operational capability.
- The event has evolved into a cost-effective, ready-made exercise that Commanding Officers can use to test the basic training standards of their soldiers, in preparation for future operations.
- It is mission-focused and scenario-based with role players used to enhance the training benefit.
How it is conducted?
- During the exercise, teams are assessed for their performance under harsh terrain and inclement cold weather conditions.
- They undergo various challenges in addition to the complex real-world situations painted to them so as to assess their reactions in combat settings.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Zeolite
Mains level: NA
To meet the demand of oxygen supply in the country during the peak of pandemic, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) had chartered the Air India to import ‘Zeolite’ from different countries.
What are Zeolites?
- Zeolites are highly porous, 3-dimensional meshes of silica and alumina.
- In nature, they occur where volcanic outflows have met water.
- Synthetic zeolites have proven to be a big and low-cost boon.
Uses in Oxygen Concentrator
- One biomedical device that has entered our lexicon during the pandemic is the oxygen concentrator.
- This device has brought down the scale of oxygen purification from industrial-size plants to the volumes needed for a single person.
- At the heart of this technology are synthetic frameworks of silica and alumina with nanometer-sized pores that are rigid and inflexible.
- Beads of one such material, zeolite 13X, about a millimeter in diameter, are packed into two cylindrical columns in an oxygen concentrator.
How does it work?
- Zeolite performs the chemistry of separating oxygen from nitrogen in air.
- Being highly porous, zeolite beads have a surface area of about 500 square meters per gram.
- At high pressures in the column, nitrogen is in a tight embrace, chemically speaking, with the zeolite.
- Interaction between the negatively charged zeolite and the asymmetric nucleus (quadrupole moment) of nitrogen causes it to be preferentially adsorbed on the surface of the zeolite.
- Oxygen remains free, and is thus enriched.
- Once nitrogen is captured, what flows out from the column is 90%-plus oxygen.
- After this, lowering the pressure in the column releases the nitrogen, which is flushed out, and the cycle is repeated with fresh air.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Yudh Abhyas 2021
Mains level: India-US defense ties
The 17th edition of the India-U.S. bilateral exercise, Yudh Abhyas 2021, got underway in mountainous terrain and cold climate conditions of Alaska, US.
Yudh Abhyas 2021
- Exercise Yudh Abhyas is the largest running joint military training and defence cooperation endeavour between India and USA.
- The exercise aims at enhancing understanding, cooperation and interoperability between the two armies.
Why it is significant?
- Interestingly, this is the only India-U.S. service exercise continuing in bilateral format.
- The India-U.S. Malabar naval exercise became trilateral with the addition of Japan in 2015 and further brought in all the Quad partners together with the inclusion of Australia in 2020.
- Similarly, Japan joined the India-U.S. bilateral air exercise, Cope India, as an Observer in 2018 and the plan is to make it trilateral in phases.
- Other than the Malabar, Japan had sent observers for the first time during Cope India 2018 as an Observer in 2018. s
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Small Finance Bank
Mains level: Not Much
The Reserve Bank of India has issued a small finance bank (SFB) license to a consortium of fintech companies BharatPe and Centrum Financial Services Ltd.
What is a SFB?
- Small finance banks (SFBs) are a type of niche banks in India.
- They can be promoted either by individuals, corporate, trusts or societies.
- They are governed by the provisions of Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and other relevant statutes.
- They are established as public limited companies in the private sector under the Companies Act, 2013.
- Banks with a SFB license can provide basic banking service of acceptance of deposits and lending.
Objectives of setting-up an SFB
- To provide financial inclusion to sections of the economy not being served by other banks, such as small business units, small and marginal farmers, micro and small industries and unorganized sector entities
Key features of SFBs
- Existing non-banking financial companies (NBFC), microfinance institutions (MFI) and local area banks (LAB) can apply to become small finance banks.
- The banks will not be restricted to any region.
- 75% of its net credits should be in priority sector lending and 50% of the loans in its portfolio must in ₹25 lakh.
- The firms must have a capital of at least ₹200 crore.
- The promoters should have 10 years’ experience in banking and finance.
- Foreign shareholding will be allowed in these banks as per the rules for FDI in private banks in India.
Back2Basics: Small Payments Bank Vs. Payment Bank
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980
Mains level: Issues with forest land diversion
The Ministry for Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has published proposed amendments to the Forest Conservation Act, 1980.
The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980
The FCA is the principal legislation that regulates deforestation in the country.
- It prohibits the felling of forests for any “non-forestry” use without prior clearance by the central government.
- The clearance process includes seeking consent from local forest rights-holders and from wildlife authorities.
- The Centre is empowered to reject such requests or allow it with legally binding conditions.
- In a landmark decision in 1996, the Supreme Court had expanded the coverage of FCA to all areas that satisfied the dictionary definition of a forest; earlier, only lands specifically notified as forests were protected by the enforcement of the FCA.
The FCA is brief legislation with only five sections of which-
- Section 1 defines the extent of coverage of the law,
- Section 2 restrictions of activities in forest areas and the rest deals with the creation of advisory committees, powers of rule-making and penalties.
Why is the Act being amended now?
- The current definition of forests has locked land across the country; even private owners cannot utilise their own property for non-forestry purposes.
- The pressure for forest land diversion has been coming from — Ministries such as Rail and Roads.
- Under the Act, any diversion of any forest land for any purpose, including assignment of leases, needs prior approval of the Centre.
What defines ‘Forest’ under this act?
- Previously, the Act had applied largely to reserve forests and national parks.
- In 1996, ruling in T N Godavarman Thirumulpad v Union of India Case, the Supreme Court had expanded the definition and scope of forest land.
- It would thus include all areas recorded as forest in any government record, irrespective of ownership, recognition and classification.
- The court also expanded the definition of forests to encompass the “dictionary meaning of forests”.
- This would mean that a forested patch would automatically become a “deemed forest” even if it is not notified as protected, and irrespective of ownership.
- The Act would also be applicable over plantations in non-forest land.
What are the proposed amendments?
(A) Exemptions for Road and Railways
- The MoEFCC has proposed that all land acquired by the Railways and Roads Ministries prior to 1980 be exempted from the Act.
- Once the lands had been acquired for expansion, but subsequently, forests have grown in these areas, and the government is no longer able to use the land for expansion.
- The Ministries will no longer need clearance for their projects, nor pay compensatory levies to build there.
(B) Relaxation
- It distinguishes individuals whose lands fall within a state-specific Private Forests Act or comes within the dictionary meaning of forest as specified in the 1996 Supreme Court order.
- The government proposes to allow the “construction of structures for bona fide purposes’’ including residential units up to 250 sq m as a one-time relaxation.
(C) Defense and other projects
- Defence projects near international borders will be exempted from forest clearance.
- Oil and natural gas extraction from forested lands will be permitted, but only if technologies such as Extended Reach Drilling are used.
- Strip plantations alongside roads that would fall under the Act will be exempted.
What are the concerns?
- Legalizing private ownership of forests: The rules will facilitate corporate ownership.
- Deforestation: The exemption of forests on private land will lead to the disappearance of large tracts of forests.
- Fragmentation: Exemption for private residences on private forest will lead to fragmentation of forests, and open areas such as the Aravalli mountains to real estate.
- Tribal concerns: The amendments do not address what will happen to tribals and forest-dwelling communities over the cleared lands.
- Threat to wildlife: Exemption for roads and railways on forest land acquired prior to 1980 will be detrimental to forests as well as wildlife – especially elephants, tigers and leopards.
Positives with the amendment
- It has proposed making forest laws more stringent for notified forests, making offences non-bailable with increased penalties including imprisonment of up to one year.
- It has disallowed any kind of diversion in certain forests.
- It has attempt to define and identify forests once and for all — something that has been often ambiguous.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: James Webb Space Telescope
Mains level: Dark Ages of the Univers
On Dec 18, 2021, after years of delays, the James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled to launch into orbit and usher in the next era of astronomy.
James Webb Space Telescope
- JWST is a joint NASA–ESA–CSA space telescope that is planned to succeed the Hubble Space Telescope as NASA’s flagship astrophysics mission
- It is the most powerful space telescope ever built.
- It will enable a broad range of investigations across the fields of astronomy and cosmology, including observing some of the most distant events and objects in the universe,
- It would help understand events such as the formation of the first galaxies, and detailed atmospheric characterization of potentially habitable exoplanets.
Its significance
- Some have called JSWT the “telescope that ate astronomy.”
- It is said to look back in time to the Dark Ages of the universe.
What does the ‘Dark Ages’ of the universe mean?
- Evidence shows that the universe started with an event called the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago, which left it in an ultra-hot, ultra-dense state.
- The universe immediately began expanding and cooling after the Big Bang.
- One second after the Big Bang, the universe was a hundred trillion miles across with an average temperature of an incredible 18 billion F (10 billion C).
- Around 400,000 years after the Big Bang, the universe was 10 million light-years across and the temperature had cooled to 5,500 F (3,000 C).
- Throughout this time, space was filled with a smooth soup of high-energy particles, radiation, hydrogen and helium.
- There was no structure. As the expanding universe became bigger and colder, the soup thinned out and everything faded to black.
This was the start of what astronomers call the Dark Ages of the universe.
How will JWST study this?
Ans. Looking for the first light
- The Dark Ages ended when gravity formed the first stars and galaxies that eventually began to emit the first light.
- Astronomers aim to study this fascinating and important era of the universe, but detecting first light is incredibly challenging.
- Compared to massive, bright galaxies of today, the first objects were very small and due to the constant expansion of the universe, they’re now tens of billions of light years away from Earth.
- Also, the earliest stars were surrounded by gas left over from their formation and this gas acted like fog that absorbed most of the light.
- It took several hundred million years for radiation to blast away the fog. This early light is very faint by the time it gets to Earth.
Try this PYQ:
Consider the following phenomena:
- Light is affected by gravity.
- The Universe is constantly expanding.
- Matter warps its surrounding space-time.
Which of the above is/are the predictions of Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, often discussed in media?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Post your answers here.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Natural Experiments, Nobel Prize
Mains level: Not Much
The 2021 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to three US-based economists.
Do you know?
The Nobel Prize is officially called as Sveriges Riksbank Prize!
Who are the awardees?
- Nobel Committee awarded half the Prize to David Card for his “empirical contributions to labour economics”
- Other half to Guido Imbens and Joshua Angrist “for their methodological contributions to the analysis of causal relationships”
What makes this year’s award special?
- This is the first time the economic prize has been divided in this fashion with one half going to one awardee and other half divided across two awardees.
- In the past, prize money was divided equally between the awardees even if the prize was for different topics as is the case this time around.
- It may appear that the Nobel Prize has been given for two different contributions, but there is a common theme: “natural experiments.”
What are Natural Experiments?
- Economists are often interested in causal questions such as the impact of education on incomes, impact of COVID-19 on poverty and so on.
- They are also interested is understanding the direction of causality.
- Economists have used two kinds of experiments to study these causality and direction of causality questions: random experiments and natural experiments.
(I) Random experiments
- Under randomized experiments, the researchers allocate say medicines to a treatment group and compare the effect of the medicine with the control group which is not given the medicine.
- In 2019, the Nobel Committee gave awards to three scholars for their contribution to the field of randomized experiments.
- However, one cannot randomize experiments to study issues such as why certain people and regions are more unequal or have fewer educational opportunities and so on.
(II) Natural experiments
- In natural experiments, economists study a policy change or a historical event and try to determine the cause and effect relationship to explain these developments.
- The trio used such natural experiments to make some landmark contributions to economic development.
- Natural experiments are more difficult for two reasons. The first is to identify what will serve as a natural experiment.
- Second, in a random experiment, the researcher knows and controls the treatment and control groups which allows them to study the cause and effect of medicine.
- But in natural experiments, such clear differentiation is not possible because people choose their groups on their own and even move between the two groups.
- Despite the limitations, the researchers could use the natural setting to answer some big policy questions.
Natural experiments conducted by David Card
- One question of interest for policymakers is to understand the impact of higher minimum wages on employment.
- Earlier studies showed that increasing minimum wages leads to lower unemployment.
- Economists were also not sure of the direction of causation between minimum wages and employment.
- Say a slowdown in the economy leads to higher unemployment amid lower income groups.
- This could lead to lower income groups demanding higher minimum wages. In such a case, it is higher unemployment which leads higher minimum wages.
Contribution of Angrist and Imbens
- Angrist and Imbens showed how natural experiments can be used to identify cause and effect precisely.
- We have discussed above how natural experiments make it difficult to separate control and treatment groups. This makes it difficult to establish causal relations.
- In the 1990s, the duo developed a methodology – Local Average Treatment Effect (or LATE) – which uses a two-step process to help grapple with these problems of natural experiments.
- Say, one is interested in finding the impact of an additional year of schooling on the incomes of people.
- By using the LATE approach, they showed that effect on income of an additional year of education is around 9%.
- While it may not be possible to determine individuals in the group, one can estimate the size of the impact.
What is the importance of the award today?
- Earlier it was difficult to identify natural experiments and even if one identified them, it was difficult to generate data from these experiments.
- With increased digitalization and dissemination of archival records, it has not just become easier to identify natural experiments but also get data.
- Economists have been using natural experiments to help us understand the impact of past policies.
- As the 2020 pandemic struck, economists used the natural experiments approach extensively to analyse how previous pandemics impacted different regions and tried to draw policy lessons.
India context
- The methodology date back to the early and mid-90s and they have already had a tremendous influence on the research undertaken in several developing countries such as India.
- For instance, in India, too, it is commonly held that higher minimum wages will be counterproductive for workers.
- It is noteworthy that last year, in the wake of the Covid-induced lockdowns, several states, including UP, had summarily suspended several labour laws.
- This included the ones regulating minimum wages, arguing that such a move will boost employment.
- The main learning is that minimum wages can be increased in India without worrying about reducing employment.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Olivine, Bridgmanite
Mains level: Formation of Earth
The researchers from the Geological Survey of India collected about 30 meteorite fragments with the largest weighing around a kilogram near the town of Katol in Nagpur in 2012.
Significance of meteor study
- Now, by studying the composition of these meteorite fragments, researchers have unraveled the composition expected to be present in the Earth’s lower mantle which is at about 660 km deep.
- Studying the meteorite could also tell us more about how our Earth evolved from being a magma ocean to a rocky planet.
Key component of the Meteor: Olivine
- Initial studies revealed that the host rock was mainly composed of olivine, an olive-green mineral.
- Olivine is the most abundant phase in our Earth’s upper mantle.
- Our Earth is composed of different layers including the outer crust, followed by the mantle and then the inner core.
How to study a meteorite?
- The researchers took a small sample of the meteorite and examined it using special microscopy techniques.
- The mineralogy was determined using a laser micro-Raman spectrometer.
- These techniques helped the team identify, characterise the crystal structure of the meteorite and determine its chemical composition and texture.
What does the new study show?
- The international team of scientists examined a section of this highly-shocked meteorite. It resembles to the first natural occurrence of a mineral called bridgmanite.
- The mineral was named in 2014 after Prof. Percy W. Bridgman, recipient of the 1946 Nobel Prize in Physics.
- Various computational and experimental studies have shown that about 80% of the Earth’s lower mantle is made up of bridgmanite.
- By studying this meteorite sample, scientists can decode how bridgmanite crystallized during the final stages of our Earth’s formation.
Bridgmanite: On Earth vs. on Meteorite
- Katol meteorite is a unique sample and it is a significant discovery.
- The bridgmanite in the meteorite was found to be formed at pressures of about 23 to 25 gigapascals generated by the shock event.
- The high temperature and pressure in our Earth’s interior have changed over billions of years causing crystallisation, melting, remelting of the different minerals before they reached their current state.
- It is important to study these individual minerals to get a thorough idea of how and when the Earth’s layers formed.
How does it help understand evolution of Earth?
- The inner planets or terrestrial planets or rocky planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are formed by accretion or by rocky pieces coming together.
- They were formed as a planet by increased pressure and high temperature caused by radioactive elements and gravitational forces.
- Our Earth was an ocean of magma before the elements crystallised and stabilised and the different layers such as core, mantle were formed.
- The heavier elements like iron went to the core while the lighter silicates stayed in the mantle.
- By using the meteorite as an analog for Earth, we can unearth more details about the formation.
Answer this question from our AWE initiative:
What are seismic waves? How have they helped in understanding the structure of the earth? (250 W/ 15 M)
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Hermann Bacher
Mains level: Watershed development in India
Hermann Bacher, popularly known as the ‘father of community-led watershed development in India’, passed away at the ripe old age of 97 years in Switzerland September 14, 2021.
Hermann Bacher
- Born in 1924, Bacher, came to India in 1948 at the young age of 24 years.
- He was to spend the next 60 years of his life here, most of it in Maharashtra.
- Struck by the poverty he saw in rural Maharashtra, he dedicated his life to the upliftment of the poor, the landless and rural women.
- Bacher was given Germany’s highest civilian award, the Federal Cross of the Order of Merit in 1994, in recognition of his outstanding efforts.
- In 2017, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertifiucation (UNCCD) awarded WOTR the prestigious ‘Land for Life Award 2017’.
- He is widely regarded and respected as a true ‘man of God’ for whom selfless service of the poor was worship at its most sublime. He is fondly remembered as ‘Bacher Baba’.
Notable works
- The 1972 droughts in Maharashtra led him to re-calibrate his developmental approach.
- This meant that in rain-dependent rural Maharashtra, a shift had to be made from ‘resource exploitation’ to sustainable resource use, or ‘resource mobilisation’, as he described it.
- He helped thousands of landless labourers’ secure title to land under the Land Reforms Act, 1957, beginning in 1965.
- He also organised lakhs of farmers to develop their farms and increase their agricultural productivity by helping them access irrigation, improved and hybrid seeds etc.
Pioneering water harvest
- Since rain fell in the watersheds and landscapes villagers lived in, the only way to harvest and conserve rainwater wherever it fell was to undertake watershed development measures.
- The idea was that “running water must be made to walk; walking water made to stop and sink underground”.
- This meant, planting trees and grasses, conserving forests, undertaking soil and water conservation works such as digging contour trenches, raising farm bunds, etc.
- It also meant building water harvesting structures on the streams (check dams, earthen bunds, etc) in a systematic manner across the entire landscape of the village, beginning from the top.
Establishing the IGWDP
- Through his work, was born the idea which later became the large-scale Indo-German Watershed Development Program (IGWDP) that he conceived and launched in Maharashtra in 1989.
- This was in collaboration with and the support of the Governments of India, Maharashtra and Germany, NABARD and the non-profit sector.
- Its unique and ground-breaking feature was that it put the villagers in the driver’s seat — the community would plan the programme, implement it and maintain the watershed assets.
- Funds, substantial amounts, would be given directly to them and they would have to manage and account
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: LNT Model
Mains level: Not Much
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) decisively upheld the Linear No-Threshold (LNT) model to prescribe radiation safety standards, ending the protracted controversy on the topic.
What is the LNT Model?
- The LNT is a dose-response model used in radiation protection to estimate stochastic health effects such as radiation-induced cancer, genetic mutations etc. on the human body due to exposure to ionizing radiation.
- The LNT model states that biological effects such as cancer and hereditary effects due to exposure to ionising radiation increase as a linear function of dose, without threshold.
- It provides a sound regulatory basis for minimizing the risk of unnecessary radiation exposure to both members of the public and radiation workers.
Why in news?
- LNT model continues to provide a sound basis for a conservative radiation protection regulatory framework that protects both the public and occupational workers.
- The model helps the agencies to regulate radiation exposures to diverse categories of licensees, from commercial nuclear power plants to individual industrial radiographers and nuclear medical practices.
- There are also studies and findings that support the continued use of the LNT model, including those by national and international authoritative scientific advisory bodies.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Open Market Operations (OMO)
Mains level: NA
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to halt its bond-buying under the G-Sec Acquisition Programme (GSAP).
Why such move?
- The GSAP had succeeded in ensuring adequate liquidity and stabilising financial markets.
- Coupled with other liquidity measures, it facilitated congenial and orderly financing conditions and a conducive environment for the recovery.
What is GSAP?
- The G-Sec Acquisition Programme (G-SAP) is basically an unconditional and a structured Open Market Operation (OMO), of a much larger scale and size.
- G-SAP is an OMO with a ‘distinct character’.
- The word ‘unconditional’ here connotes that RBI has committed upfront that it will buy G-Secs irrespective of the market sentiment.
What are Government Securities?
- These are debt instruments issued by the government to borrow money.
- The two key categories are:
- Treasury bills (T-Bills) – short-term instruments which mature in 91 days, 182 days, or 364 days, and
- Dated securities – long-term instruments, which mature anywhere between 5 years and 40 years
Note: T-Bills are issued only by the central government, and the interest on them is determined by market forces.
Why G-Secs?
- Like bank fixed deposits, g-secs are not tax-free.
- They are generally considered the safest form of investment because they are backed by the government. So, the risk of default is almost nil.
- However, they are not completely risk-free, since they are subject to fluctuations in interest rates.
- Bank fixed deposits, on the other hand, are guaranteed only to the extent of Rs 5 lakh by the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC).
Other decisions
- The RBI, however, remained ready to undertake G-SAP as and when warranted by liquidity conditions.
- It would also continue to flexibly conduct other liquidity management operations including Operation Twist (OT) and regular open market operations (OMOs).
Answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q.Consider the following statements:
- The Reserve Bank of India manages and services the Government of India Securities but not any State Government Securities.
- Treasury bills are issued by the Government of India and there are no treasury bills issued by the State Governments.
- Treasury bills offer are issued at a discount from the par value.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 Only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Post your answers here:
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Back2Basics: Open Market Operations (OMO)
- OMOs is one of the quantitative monetary policy tools which is employed by the central bank of a country to control the money supply in the economy.
- It is a part of the Market Stabilization Scheme (MSS) by the RBI.
- OMOs are conducted by the RBI by way of sale or purchase of government securities (g-secs) to adjust money supply conditions.
- The central bank sells g-secs to remove liquidity from the system and buys back g-secs to infuse liquidity into the system.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Nobel Price, BioCatalysts
Mains level: NA
(1) Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences, 2021
The 2021 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences has been awarded in one half to Canadian-born David Card and the other half jointly to Israeli-American Joshua D Angrist and Dutch-American Guido W Imbens.
- David Card has been awarded for his empirical contributions to labor economics. Joshua D Angrist and Guido W Imbens won the award “for their methodological contributions to the analysis of causal relationships.”
- The 2020 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to Paul R Milgrom and Robert B Wilson “for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats”.
Contributions
- David Card: He has analyzed how minimum wages, immigration and education impact the labor market.
- One of the significant findings of this research was that“increasing the minimum wage does not necessarily lead to fewer jobs”.
- It also led to the understanding that“people who were born in a country can benefit from new immigration, while people who immigrated at an earlier time risk being negatively affected”.
- It also illuminated the role of resources available in school in shaping the future of students in the labor market.
- Joshua Angrist and Guido Imbens: They were rewarded for their “methodological contributions” to the research tool.
- Their work demonstrated “how precise conclusions about cause and effect can be drawn from natural experiments”.
(2) Nobel Prize for Chemistry, 2021
The 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Benjamin List and David MacMillan for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis.
- Last year, the honour went to Frenchwoman Emmanuelle Charpentier and American Jennifer Doudna, for developing the gene-editing technique known as CRISPR-Cas9 – DNA snipping “scissors”.
About the Development
- They have developed a new and ingenious tool for molecule building: organocatalysis.
- Many research areas and industries are dependent on chemists’ ability to construct molecules that can form elastic and durable materials, store energy in batteries or inhibit the progression of diseases. This work requires catalysts.
- According to researchers, there were just two types of catalysts available: metals and enzymes. Catalysts are any substance that increases the rate of a reaction without itself being consumed.
- In 2000, they, independent of each other, developed a third type of catalysis. It is called asymmetric organocatalysis and builds upon small organic molecules.
- Significance:
- Its uses include research into new pharmaceuticals and it has also helped make chemistry greener.
- Both these sets of catalysts (metals and enzymes) had limitations.
- Heavier metals are expensive, difficult to mine, and toxic to humans and the environment.
- Despite the best processes, traces remained in the end product; this posed problems in situations where compounds of very high purity were required, like in the manufacture of medicines.
- Also, metals required an environment free of water and oxygen, which was difficult to ensure on an industrial scale.
- Enzymes on the other hand, work best when water is used as a medium for the chemical reaction. But that is not an environment suitable for all kinds of chemical reactions.
Organocatalysis
-
- Organic compounds are mostly naturally-occurring substances, built around a framework of carbon atoms and usually containing hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur, or phosphorus.
- Life-supporting chemicals like proteins, which are long chains of amino acids (carbon compounds containing nitrogen and oxygen) are organic.
- Enzymes are also proteins, and therefore, organic compounds. These are responsible for many essential biochemical reactions.
- Organocatalysts allow several steps in a production process to be performed in an unbroken sequence, considerably reducing waste in chemical manufacturing.
- Organocatalysis has developed at an astounding speed since 2000. Benjamin List and David MacMillan remain leaders in the field, and have shown that organic catalysts can be used to drive multitudes of chemical reactions.
- Using these reactions, researchers can now more efficiently construct anything from new pharmaceuticals to molecules that can capture light in solar cells.
Asymmetric Organocatalysis
-
- The process called asymmetric organocatalysis has made it much easier to produce asymmetric molecules – chemicals that exist in two versions, where one is a mirror image of the other.
- Chemists often just want one of these mirror images – particularly when producing medicines – but it has been difficult to find efficient methods for doing this.
- Some molecules with mirror versions have different properties. An example is the chemical called carvone, which has one form that smells like spearmint and a counterpart that smells like the herb, dill.
- Different versions of the same molecule might have different effects when ingested. Then it becomes important to be able to make only the mirror image of a drug that has the desired physiological effect.
(3) Nobel Prize in Physics, 2021
The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded with one half jointly to Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and the other half to Giorgio Parisi “for groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of complex physical systems.”
- This is the first time climate scientists (Manabe and Hasselmann) have been awarded the Physics Nobel. Last year, the award was given for the research into black holes.
Manabe and Hasselmann
- Awarded for work in physical modelling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming.
- Demonstrated how increases in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would increase global temperatures, laying the foundations for current climate models.
Parisi
- Awarded for “the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales.”
- He “built a deep physical and mathematical model” that made it possible to understand complex systems in fields such as mathematics, biology, neuroscience and machine learning.
(4) Nobel Prize for Physiology/Medicine, 2021
Recently, two United States-based scientists, David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian have been awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize for Physiology/Medicine for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch.
- They have focused their work on the field of somatosensation, that is the ability of specialized organs such as eyes, ears and skin to see, hear and feel.
About the Discoveries
David Julius:
- He discovered TRPV1, a heat-sensing receptor.
- His findings on the skin’s sense of temperature was based on how certain cells react to capsaicin, the molecule that makes chili peppers spicy, by simulating a false sensation of heat.
Ardem Patapoutian
- He discovered two mechanosensitive ion channels known as the Piezo channels.
- The Piezo1 is named after the Greek word for pressure, ‘píesi’.
- He is credited for finding the cellular mechanism and the underlying gene that translates a mechanical force on our skin into an electric nerve signal.
Significance of Discoveries
-
- The findings have allowed us to understand how heat, cold and mechanical force can initiate the nerve impulses that allow us to perceive and adapt to the world around us.
- This knowledge is being used to develop treatments for a wide range of disease conditions, including chronic pain.
Back To Basics: About Nobel Prizes
- The will of the Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel established the five Nobel prizes in 1895.
- The Nobel Prizes are a set of recognition given to fields of Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physics, and Physiology or Medicine by The Nobel Foundation.
- The Nobel Foundation is a private institution established in 1900, has ultimate responsibility for fulfilling the intentions in Alfred Nobel’s will.
- The prizes in Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physics, and Physiology or Medicine were first awarded in 1901.
- In 1968, Sveriges Riksbank established the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Malaria and it vaccines
Mains level: Malaria menace in India
In a historic move, the World Health Organization (WHO) has endorsed the first anti-malarial vaccine, as mankind enters a key turning point in a battle waged relentlessly over decades between man and mosquito, the vector.
Mosquirix
- RTS,S/ASO1 (RTS.S), trade name Mosquirix acts against P. falciparum, the most deadly malaria parasite globally, and the most prevalent in Africa.
- The vaccine was able to prevent approximately 4 in 10 cases of malaria over a 4-year period in Africa.
- This is the first malaria vaccine that has completed the clinical development process.
- It is also the first malaria vaccine to be introduced by three national ministries of health through their childhood immunization programs — more than 800,000 children in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi.
- have been vaccinated, and are benefiting from the added protection provided by the vaccine as part of a pilot program.
How the vaccine can help?
- WHO’s recommendation is based on the advice of its two global advisory bodies, one for immunization and the other for malaria.
- WHO has recommended that in the context of comprehensive malaria control, the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine be used for the prevention of P. falciparum malaria in children living in regions with moderate to high transmission as defined by it.
- The malaria vaccine should be provided in a schedule of 4 doses in children from 5 months of age for the reduction of malaria disease and burden.
Back2Basics: Malaria
- Malaria is caused by the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito if the mosquito itself is infected with a malarial parasite.
- There are five kinds of malarial parasites — Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax (the commonest ones), Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium knowlesi.
- Therefore, to say that someone has contracted the Plasmodium ovale type of malaria means that the person has been infected by that particular parasite.
- Malaria is treated with prescription drugs to kill the parasite. Chloroquine is the preferred treatment for any parasite that is sensitive to the drug.
Countries that have eliminated malaria
- Globally, the elimination net is widening, with more countries moving towards the goal of zero malaria.
- In 2019, 27 countries reported fewer than 100 indigenous cases of the disease, up from 6 countries in 2000.
- Countries that have achieved at least 3 consecutive years of zero indigenous cases of malaria are eligible to apply for the WHO certification of malaria elimination.
- 11 countries have been certified as malaria-free: United Arab Emirates (2007), Morocco (2010), Turkmenistan (2010), Armenia (2011), Sri Lanka (2016), Kyrgyzstan (2016), Paraguay (2018), Uzbekistan (2018), Algeria (2019), Argentina (2019), and El Salvador (2021).
Burden of Malaria in India
- In 2018, the National Vector-borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) estimated that approximately 5 lakh people suffered from malaria.
- 63% of the cases were of Plasmodium falciparum.
- The recent World Malaria Report 2020 said cases in India dropped from about 20 million in 2000 to about 5.6 million in 2019.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mundapota Kela, Denotified Tribes
Mains level: Tribal development
Members of the Mundapota Kela community in Odisha perform an unthinkable act of their head buried in soil, which requires exceptional breath control, for a living.
Mundapota Kela
- The community — Mundapota Kela (a denotified tribe) — is left with few members who earn a livelihood with this bizarre act.
- It is believed to have migrated to Odisha from Rayalaseema area of Andhra Pradesh decades ago.
- Being street performers, they travel from one village to another and bury their heads in soil for several minutes.
- They collect rice, vegetables and money from villagers for putting up the show.
Try answering this PYQ:
Q.Consider the following statements about Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in India:
- PVTGs reside in 18 States and one Union Territory.
- A stagnant or declining population is one of the criteria for determining PVTG status.
- There are 95 PVTGs officially notified in the country so far.
- Irular and Konda Reddi tribes are included in the list of PVTGs.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
(a) 1, 2 and 3
(b) 2, 3 and 4
(c) 1, 2 and 4
(d) 1, 3 and 4
Post your answers here:
Back2Basics: De-Notified Tribes
- Denotified Tribes (DNTs), also known as Vimukta Jati are the tribes that were listed originally under the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871 as Criminal Tribes.
- Once a tribe became “notified” as criminal, all its members were required to register with the local magistrate, failing which they would be charged with a “crime” under the Indian Penal Code.
- The Criminal Tribes Act was repealed in 1949 and thus ‘de-notified’ the tribal communities.
- The denotified tribes were reclassified as “habitual offenders” in 1959.
- The UN’s anti-discrimination body Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) asked India to repeal the Habitual Offenders Act (1952) and effectively rehabilitate the denotified and nomadic tribes on 9 March 2007.
- A National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (NCDNSNT) was setup in 2003 to study various developmental aspects under the chairmanship of Shri. Balkrishna Renke.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Nobel Price
Mains level: Climate Change Assessment
Three scientists received the Nobel Prize in Physics for work that is essential to understanding how the Earth’s climate is changing, pinpointing the effect of human behaviour on those changes and ultimately predicting the impact of global warming.
Who are the laureates?
- The winners were Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann of Germany, and Giorgio Parisi from Italy.
- In 2015, at a UK-based climate-focused online publication sought to identify the three most influential climate change research papers ever published.
- The paper that received the most votes was one by Syukuro Manabe and Richard Wetherald way back in 1967.
- These reports for the first time, had described the impact of carbon dioxide and water vapour on global warming.
Citation for their Climate Model
- Manabe is a senior meteorologist and climatologist at Princeton University.
- In the 1960s, he led ground-breaking research into how increased levels of carbon dioxide lead to higher temperatures on the surface of the Earth.
- This laid the foundation for the development of current climate models.
- Hasselmann is a German physicist and oceanographer who greatly advanced public understanding of climate change through the creation of a model that links climate and chaotic weather systems.
- Parisi has focused on quantum field theory and complex systems.
Why it is significant feat?
- This is the first-time climate scientists have been awarded the Physics Nobel.
- The IPCC had won the Peace Nobel in 2007, an acknowledgement of its efforts in creating awareness for the fight against climate change.
- A Chemistry Nobel was also awarded to Paul Crutzen in 1995, for his work on the ozone layer, is considered the only other time someone from atmospheric sciences has won this honour.
- The recognition of Manabe and Hasselmann, therefore, is being seen as an acknowledgement of the importance that climate science holds in today’s world.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Border Gateway Protocol
Mains level: Internet blackout
The outages at Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram occurred because of a problem in the company’s domain name system. At the heart of it was a BGP or Border Gateway Protocol issue.
What is BGP?
- Simply put, it is the protocol that runs the internet or makes it work.
- Since the internet is a network of networks, BGP is the mechanism that bounds it together.
- When the BGP doesn’t work, internet routers can’t really figure out what to do and that leads to the internet not working.
- The routers — big ones — keep up on updating other possible routes that are used to deliver network packets to the last possible source.
- In this case, Facebook platforms were the last point of destination and BGP problem meant Facebook was unable to tell other networks know that it was on the internet.
How does it work?
- The BGP is like an entity that is responsible for creating and more importantly updating maps that lead you to sites like Google, Facebook or YouTube.
- So if someone is responsible for making and updating the map, and they make a mistake, then the traffic — or users — will not end up reaching that place.
How did a BGP issue affect Facebook?
- A BGP update message informs a router of any changes you’ve made to a prefix advertisement or entirely withdraws the prefix.
- There were a lot of routing changes from Facebook last night and then routes were withdrawn, Facebook’s Domain Name Server went offline.
Role of DNS
- DNS is the phonebook of the Internet.
- People access information online through domain names — timesofindia.com or facebook.com.
- Internet browsers use IP or Internet Protocol addresses and what DNS does is that it translates domain names to IP addresses to browsers can load Internet resources.
- If DNS is the internet’s phone book, BGP is its postal service.
- When a user enters data in the internet, BGP determines the best available paths that data could travel.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Nobel Price, Genes controling senses
Mains level: Read the attached story
U.S. scientists David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian have won the Nobel Medicine Prize for discoveries on receptors for temperature and touch.
Who are the Laureates?
- David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian, working independently in the United States, made a series of discoveries in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
- They figured out the touch detectors in our body and the mechanism through which they communicate with the nervous system to identify and respond to a particular touch.
What did they discover?
- They discovered the molecular sensors in the human body that are sensitive to heat, and to mechanical pressure, and make us “feel” hot or cold, or the touch of a sharp object on our skin.
- n 1997, Dr. Julius and his team published a paper in Nature detailing how capsaicin, or the chemical compound in chili peppers, causes the burning sensation.
- They created a library of DNA fragments to understand the corresponding genes and finally discovered a new capsaicin receptor and named it TRPV1.
- This discovery paved the way for the identification of many other temperature-sensing receptors.
- They identified another new receptor called TRPM8, a receptor that is activated by cold. It is specifically expressed in a subset of pain-and-temperature-sensing neurons.
- They identified a single gene PIEZO2, which when silenced made the cells insensitive to the poking. They named this new mechanosensitive ion channel Piezo1.
How do they work?
- The human ability to sense heat or cold and pressure is not very different from the working of the many detectors that we are familiar with.
- When something hot, or cold, touches the body, the heat receptors enable the passage of some specific chemicals, like calcium ions, through the membrane of nerve cells.
- It’s like a gate that opens up on a very specific request. The entry of the chemical inside the cell causes a small change in electrical voltage, which is picked up by the nervous system.
- There is a whole spectrum of receptors that are sensitive to different ranges of temperature.
- When there is more heat, more channels open up to allow the flow of ions, and the brain is able to perceive higher temperatures.
Therapeutic implications
- Breakthroughs in physiology have often resulted in an improvement in the ability to fight diseases and disorders. This one is no different.
- There are receptors that make us feel pain. If these receptors can suppress, or made less effective, the person had felt less pain.
- Chronic pain is present is a number of illnesses and disorders. Earlier, the experience of pain was a mystery.
- But as we understand these receptors more and more, it is possible that we gain the ability to regulate them in such a way that the pain is minimized.
[Note: We will compile all Nobel Prizes into a single post once all are awarded.]
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IAO Hanle
Mains level: NA
A new study shows that the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO) located in Hanle is one of the emerging sites for infrared and optical astronomy studies.
About IAO Hanle
- The IAO, located in Hanle at Mount Saraswati near Leh in Ladakh, has one of the world’s highest located sites for optical, infrared and gamma-ray telescopes.
- It was established in 2001 and is operated by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore.
- It is currently the ninth highest optical telescope in the world, situated at an elevation of 4,500 meters.
Note: University of Tokyo Atacama Observatory (TAO) located in the Atacama desert of Chile is the highest at an elevation of 5,640 m.
Major telescopes at Hanle include:
- Himalayan Chandra Telescope (An optical-infrared telescope named after India-born Nobel laureate Subrahmanyam Chandrasekhar)
- GROWTH-India Telescope (A robotic optical telescope)
- High Altitude Gamma Ray Telescope
Distinct factors of IAO Hanle
- IAO Hanle offers a clear view of space among all observatories globally.
- This is due to its advantages of more clear nights, minimal light pollution, background aerosol concentration, extremely dry atmospheric condition and uninterrupted monsoon.
- Hanle site is as dry as Atacama Desert in Chile and much drier than Devasthal and has around 270 clear nights in a year and is also one of the emerging sites for infrared and submillimetre optical astronomy.
- This is because water vapor absorbs electromagnetic signals and reduces their strength.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Langa-Manganiyar
Mains level: NA
Considered the repository of the Thar region’s rich history and traditional knowledge, the ballads, folklore and songs of the Langa-Manganiyar artistes are being preserved through an initiative for documentation and digitisation.
Who are the Langa-Manganiyar?
- The Langas and Manganiyars are hereditary communities of Muslim musicians residing mostly in western Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer and Barmer districts and in Pakistan’s Tharparkar and Sanghar districts in Sindh.
- The music of the two marginalised communities, who were supported by wealthy landlords and merchants before Independence, forms a vital part of Thar desert’s cultural landscape.
- The performances are in multiple languages and dialects including Marwari, Sindhi, Saraiki, Dhatti and Thareli.
- The romantic tales revolving around legendary lovers such as Umar-Marvi, Heer-Ranjha, Sohni-Mahiwal, Moomal-Rana and Sorath-Rao Khangar have traditionally captivated audiences.
Instruments used
- The Langa’s main traditional instrument is the sindhi sarangi; Manganiyar’s is the kamaicha.
- Both are bowed stringed instruments with skin membrane sounding boards and many sympathetic strings.
- Both Langas and Manganiyars sing and play the dholak (double-headed barrel drum), the kartal(wooded clappers), the morchan (jaws harp), and the ubiquitous harmonium.
Try answering this PYQ:
Q. Consider the following pairs:
Tradition: State
- Chapchar Kut: festival Mizoram
- Khongjom Parba ballad: Manipur
- Thang Ta dance: Sikkim
Which of the pairs given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 1 and 2
(c) 3 only
(d) 2 and 3
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Kudavolai System
Mains level: Chola Administration
In the Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu, some Chola-era inscriptions on Kanthaleeswarar Temple bear testimony to the qualifications required for members of the village administrative council.
Inscription details: Kudavolai System
- The Kudavolai system was very vital and unique feature of administration of villages of Cholas.
- In the system one representative is elected from each ward and every village had 30 wards.
- The village administrative committee was called as variyam.
- The election was unique as names of contestants were written on palm leaf and put in a pot.
Taxation details
- The rulers were considerate while taxing agricultural produce.
- For areca nuts, only 50% tax would be collected for the first 10 years after cultivation. Farmers would pay full tax only after the trees started yielding fruits.
- Similarly, 50% tax was imposed on banana crops until the yield.
Though a tough one, but try answering this PYQ:
Q.In the context of the history of India, consider the following pairs:
Term: Description
- Eripatti: Land revenue from which was set apart for the maintenance of the village tank
- Taniyurs: Villages donated to a single Brahmin or a group of Brahmins
- Ghatikas: Colleges generally attached to the temples
Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?
(a) 1 and 2
(b) 3 only
(c) 2 and 3
(d) 1 and 3
Post your answers here.
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