Helicopters of the Chinese Army came close to the border during the face-off with the Indian Army near Pangong Tso Lake in Eastern Ladakh last week.
Keep a watch on some facts related to the Pangong Tso Lake like nearby rivers, passes, Ramsar status etc.
Aircraft restricted near LAC
- As per existing agreements between India and China, operation of fighter aircraft and armed helicopters is restricted to a distance from the LAC.
- According to the Agreement on Maintenance of Peace and Tranquility along the LAC in India-China Border Area’ of 1996 combat aircraft (to include fighter, bomber, reconnaissance, military trainer, armed helicopter and other armed aircraft) shall not fly within 10 km of the LAC.
Pangong Tso Lake
- Pangong Tso or Pangong Lake is an endorheic lake in the Himalayas situated at a height of about 4,350 m.
- It is 134 km long and extends from India to the Tibetan Autonomous Region, China.
- Approximately 60% of the length of the lake lies within the Tibetan Autonomous Region.
- The lake is 5 km wide at its broadest point. All together it covers 604 sq.km.
- During winter the lake freezes completely, despite being saline water.
- It is not a part of the Indus river basin area and geographically a separate landlocked river basin.
- Formerly, Pangong Tso had an outlet to Shyok River, a tributary of Indus River, but it was closed off due to natural damming.
- The lake is in the process of being identified under the Ramsar Convention as a wetland of international importance.
- This will be the first trans-boundary wetland in South Asia under the convention.
Back2Basics: India-China Border Dispute
The India-China borders disputes exist between three regions:
1) J&K region
- The Aksai Chin sector which originally was a part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir is claimed by China as part of its autonomous Xinjiang region.
- After the 1962 war, it is administered by China. It is the second-largest Indo-China border area covering over 38000 sq. km. However, it is uninhabited land.
- While India claims the entire Aksai Chin territory as well as the Shaksgam valley (Indian Territory gifted to China by Pakistan), China contests Indian control over Daulat Beg Oldi (a tehsil in Leh south of Aksai China-it is believed to host the world’s highest airstrip).
2) Sikkim region
- China has recognised India’s sovereignty over Sikkim and had initiated the trade at Nathu La pass.
- However, this is the region where the Doklam standoff took place.
3) Arunachal Pradesh Region
- The Arunachal Pradesh border that China still claims to be its own territory is the largest disputed area, covering around 90000 sq. km.
- It was formally called North-East Frontier Agency.
- During the 1962 war, the People’s Liberation Army occupied it but they announced a unilateral ceasefire and withdrew respecting the international boundary (Mcmahon Line).
- However, it has continued to assert its claim over the territory.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Telia Rumal, Sohrai Khovar painting
Mains level: Not Much
Jharkhand’s Sohrai Khovar painting and Telangana’s Telia Rumal were given the Geographical Indication (GI) tag by the Geographical Indications Registry.
This year, many GI tags have been allocated. A few of them to count are- Kashmir saffron, Manipur black rice, Gorakhpur terracotta, Kovilpatti kadalai mittai etc. Check here for more.
Sohrai Khovar painting
- The Sohrai Khovar painting is a traditional and ritualistic mural art being practised by local tribal women in the area of Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand.
- The painting is primarily being practised only in the district of Hazaribagh. However, in recent years, for promotional purposes, it has been seen in other parts of Jharkhand.
- It is prepared during local harvest and marriage seasons using local, naturally available soils of different colours in the area.
- Traditionally painted on the walls of mud houses, they are now seen on other surfaces, too.
- The style features a profusion of lines, dots, animal figures and plants, often representing religious iconography.
- In recent years, the walls of important public places in Jharkhand, such as the Birsa Munda Airport in Ranchi, and the Hazaribagh and Tatanagar Railway Stations, among others, have been decorated with these paintings.
Telia Rumal
- Telia Rumal cloth involves intricate handmade work with cotton loom displaying a variety of designs and motifs in three particular colours — red, black and white.
- The Rumal can only be created using the traditional handloom process and not by any other mechanical means as otherwise, the very quality of the Rumal would be lost.
- During the Nizam’s dynasty, Puttapaka, a small, backward village of the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh had about 20 families engaged in handloom weaving, who were patronized by rich families and the Nizam rulers.
- The officers working in the court of the Nizam would wear the Chituki Telia Rumal as a symbolic representation of status.
- Telia Rumals were worn as a veil by princesses at the erstwhile court of the Nizam of Hyderabad, and as a turban cloth by Arabs in the Middle East.
Back2Basics: Geographical Indications in India
- A Geographical Indication is used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.
- Such a name conveys an assurance of quality and distinctiveness which is essentially attributable to its origin in that defined geographical locality.
- This tag is valid for a period of 10 years following which it can be renewed.
- Recently the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry has launched the logo and tagline for the Geographical Indications (GI) of India.
- The first product to get a GI tag in India was the Darjeeling tea in 2004.
- The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 (GI Act) is a sui generis Act for protection of GI in India.
- India, as a member of the WTO enacted the Act to comply with the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
- Geographical Indications protection is granted through the TRIPS Agreement.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Spirulina Groundnut Chikki
Mains level: NA
The Mysuru-based Central Food Technological Research Institute, CFTRI has developed Spirulina groundnut Chikki that can provide micro-nutrients and boost the immunity of people during this time of the pandemic.
Beware, the Chikki so mentioned has no GI tag. What makes it significant is the Spirulina, a photosynthetic bacteria, which is suitable for human consumption.
Spirulina Groundnut Chikki
- It is a snack that provides good micro-nutrients.
- It has used Spirulina as well as the tasty, nourishing groundnuts to prepare Chikki that is rich in micro-nutrients such as Vitamin A, Beta Carotene and easily digestible algal proteins.
- Other nutritious snacks of CFTRI such as Nutri mango fruit bar and cardamom flavoured water is also part of the food items supplied to the migrant labourers.
- The mango bar is rich with carbohydrates, carotene, Vitamin C and Zinc to improve the immunity.
- Cardamom flavoured water with traditional herbs to have immune booster qualities.
What is Spirulina?
- Spirulina is an organism that grows in both fresh and saltwater.
- It is a type of cyanobacteria, which is a family of single-celled microbes that are often referred to as blue-green algae.
- It is used as a dietary supplement or whole food. It is also used as a feed supplement in the aquaculture, aquarium, and poultry industries.
- Just like plants, cyanobacteria can produce energy from sunlight via a process called photosynthesis.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Toda embroidery
Mains level: Not Much
Many women and indigenous Toda artisans from the Nilgiris are producing thousands of stylish, embroidered masks for local residents, police, and sanitary workers.
Recently, the Assamese Gamosa was in new. Now the Pukhoor Embroidery has made it into the list. Keep a note of all such handicrafts. We can expect a match the pair based prelim question.
Toda Embroidery
- The Toda Embroidery, also locally known as “pukhoor” is an artwork among the Toda pastoral people of Nilgiris, in Tamil Nadu, made exclusively by their women.
- The embroidery, which has a fine finish, appears like a woven cloth but is made with the use of red and black threads with a white cotton cloth background.
- Both sides of the embroidered fabric are usable and the Toda people are proud of this heritage.
- This handicraft product is listed as a geographically tagged product and is protected under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration & Protection) Act (GI Act) 1999.
Related facts
- The local terms used to describe the embroidery work are ‘kuty’ or ‘awtty’ meaning “stitching” and ‘kutyvoy’ meaning the embroidered piece.
- The materials used in this work are roughly woven white cloth, woollen black and red threads with use occasionally of blue threads and manufactured needles.
- The designs developed relate to nature and the daily cycle of life.
- The patterns used in Toda embroidery do not cover many floral motifs but generally cover celestial bodies (like Sun and Moon), reptiles, animals, and horns of buffaloes, made in crimson and black colours.
- Rabbit ears are a constant depiction on the boundary of the embroidered cloth. Another common design in the form of black triangles in a box design is done in honour of their first priest.
- Women who do embroidery consider their work as a “tribute to Nature”.
- As a traditional garment, it is worn by both men and women at all ceremonial occasions and also at funerals. Elderly people of the community wear this cloth daily.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GK Gokhale
Mains level: Gokhale and his contribution in freedom struggle
The Prime Minister has paid tributes to Gopal Krishna Gokhale on his birth anniversary.
These days, personality-based prelims questions are quite prevalent.
Q.) He wrote biographies of Mazzini, Garibaldi, Shivaji and Shri Krishna; stayed in America for some time; and was also elected to the Central Assembly. He was – (CSP 2018)
a) Aurobindo Ghosh
b) Bipin Chandra Pal
c) Lala Lajpat Rai
d) Motilal Nehru
Gopal Krishna Gokhale (1866-1915)
- Gokhale was a liberal political leader and a social reformer during the Freedom Movement.
- Gokhale was a senior leader of the Indian National Congress (INC) and the founder of the Servants of India Society.
- Through the Society as well as the Congress and other legislative bodies he served in, Gokhale campaigned for Indian self-rule and for social reforms.
Gokhale and INC
- Gokhale became a member of the INC in 1889, as a protégé of social reformer MG Ranade.
- He was the leader of the moderate faction of the Congress party that advocated reforms by working with existing government institutions.
Quest for political reforms
- Gokhale’s mentor, justice M.G. Ranade started the Sarvajanik Sabha Journal.
- Gokhale’s deposition before the Welby Commission on the financial condition of India won him accolades.
- He played a leading role in bringing about Morley-Minto Reforms (1909), the beginning of constitutional reforms in India.
Servants of India Society
- In 1905, when Gokhale was elected president of the INC and was at the height of his political power, he founded the Servants of India Society.
- It aimed to specifically further one of the causes dearests to his heart: the expansion of Indian education.
- The Society took up the cause of promoting Indian education in earnest, and among its many projects organised mobile libraries, founded schools, and provided night classes for factory workers.
Involvement in the government
- In 1899, Gokhale was elected to the Bombay Legislative Council.
- He was also elected to the Imperial Council of the Governor-General of India as a non-officiating member representing Bombay Province.
Mentor to Gandhi
- Gokhale was famously a mentor to Mahatma Gandhi in the latter’s formative years.
- In 1912, Gokhale visited South Africa at Gandhi’s invitation.
- As a young barrister, Gandhi returned from his struggles and received personal guidance from Gokhale, including a knowledge and understanding of India and the issues confronting common Indians.
- By 1931, Gandhi emerged as the leader of the Indian Independence Movement. In his autobiography, Gandhi calls Gokhale his mentor and guide.
His literary works
- In 1908, Gokhale founded the Ranade Institute of Economics.
- He started the English weekly newspaper, The Hitavad (The people’s paper).
- He also published a daily newspaper titled Jnanaprakash, which allowed him to voice his reformist views on politics and society.
With inputs from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopal_Krishna_Gokhale
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: ELISA Test, Antigen, Antibodies
Mains level: Not Much
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-National Institute of Virology (NIV) at Pune has developed and validated the indigenous IgG ELISA test “COVID KAVACH ELISA” for antibody detection for COVID-19.
Our thumb rule suggests that the ELISA test is being used only for the diagnosis of HIV infection. Right?
But the ELISA test is a broader term to diagnose antibody-antigen interaction after certain virus infection to a person. UPSC can test your basic knowledge of core biology with a question based on this concept.
What is ELISA test?
- ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) is a plate-based assay technique designed for detecting and quantifying substances such as peptides, proteins, antibodies and hormones.
- Other names, such as enzyme immunoassay (EIA), are also used to describe the same technology.
- In an ELISA, an antigen must be immobilized on a solid surface and then complexed with an antibody that is linked to an enzyme.
- Detection is accomplished by assessing the conjugated enzyme activity via incubation with a substrate to produce a measurable product.
- The most crucial element of the detection strategy is a highly specific antibody-antigen interaction.
What are antibodies?
- An antibody is a large, Y-shaped protein produced mainly by plasma cells that are used by the immune system to neutralize pathogens such as pathogenic bacteria and viruses.
- There are five immunoglobulin classes (isotypes) of antibody molecules found in serum: IgG, IgM, IgA, IgE and IgD.
- They are distinguished by the type of heavy chain they contain.
Application of ELISA
- Presence of antigen or the presence of antibody in a sample can be evaluated
- Determination of serum antibody concentrations in a virus test
- Used in the food industry when detecting potential food allergens
- Applied in disease outbreaks- tracking the spread of disease e.g. HIV, bird flu, common, colds, cholera, STD etc
Significance
- Robust antibody tests are critical for surveillance to understand the proportion of the population exposed to infection.
- The test will have the advantage of testing 90 samples together in a single run of 2.5 hours.
- Moreover, ELISA based testing is easily possible even at the district level as the ELISA kit has an inactivated virus.
- There are also minimal bio-safety and bio-security requirements as compared to the real-time RT-PCR test.
- The test has the advantage of having much higher sensitivity and specificity as compared to the several rapid test kits which have recently flooded the Indian market.
Limitations
- Since the ELISA test is based on the detection of antibodies, it can only help in knowing if the person has been previously infected by a coronavirus.
- It takes one-three weeks for the antibodies to develop in response to infection.
- So, if a person who has been recently infected by the virus is tested during the window period (the time taken to develop antibodies) the result will turn out to be negative.
- But a repeat test after a couple of weeks will indicate the true infection status.
How it is different from the PCR test?
- While the RT-PCR, which detects the RNA of the coronavirus, enables detection of current infection, it will not be useful if the testing is carried out days after the infection clears as the virus will no longer be present.
- However, antibodies developed in response to the coronavirus infection will be present in the blood for a longer duration and hence the ELISA test can help detect past infection.
- The maximum time the antibodies will be present in the body is not known for coronavirus.
Back2Basics: Reverse Transcriptase – Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) Test
- It uses a technique that creates copies of a segment of DNA. ‘Polymerase’ refers to the enzymes that make the copies of DNA.
- Kary Mullis, the American biochemist who invented the PCR technique, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1993.
- The ‘chain reaction’ is how the DNA fragments are copied, exponentially — one is copied into two, the two are copied into four, and so on.
- However, SARS-COV-2 is a virus made of RNA, which needs to be converted into DNA. For this, the technique includes a process called reverse transcription.
- A ‘reverse transcriptase’ enzyme converts the RNA into DNA. Copies of the DNA are then made and amplified.
- A fluorescent DNA binding dye called the “probe” shows the presence of the virus. The test also distinguishes SARS-COV-2 from other viruses.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Florence Nightingale
Mains level: Not Much
The 200th birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale, founder of modern nursing, falls tomorrow on May 12.
Personality based questions sometimes find their way in the Prelims. For example:
Q) A recent movie titled The Man Who Knew Infinity is based on the biography of – (CSP 2016)
(a) S. Ramanujan
(b) S. Chandrasekhar
(c) S. N. Bose
(d) C. V. Raman
Who was Florence Nightingale?
- Nightingale (1820-1910), who had considerable mathematical skills, is credited with being the first healthcare professional to use data to show that infection control improves health outcomes.
- Through her career, she stressed a practice that is relevant as ever today — handwashing.
Nurse and mathematician
- Her signature effort came during the Crimean War (1854-56), when she answered a government call for nurses and took a posting in Turkey.
- This is where she earned the name ‘Lady with the Lamp’, for walking around patients’ beds at night, holding a lamp. Here she did her pioneering work with statistics.
- When she arrived, diseases such as cholera and typhus were rife in the hospitals.
- Nightingale collected data, calculated the mortality rate, and showed that an improvement of sanitary methods would reduce the number of deaths.
- The mortality rate dropped from 60% to 42.7% by February 1855, and to 2.2% by the spring.
- She used her data to create graphics, the most famous of which is a polar area diagram (pictured) that used areas to represent variations in death rate.
- The blue wedges from the center of the circle represent area for the deaths from Preventable or Mitigable diseases, the red wedges measured from the center is deaths from wounds, & the black wedges measured from the center is the deaths from all other causes.
- The blue wedges, representing death by sickness, are far bigger than those representing wounds.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mapping: Islands in the Pacific
Mains level: Not Much
Approximately four months after COVID-19 was first detected, the South Pacific Islands have not yet reported any cases of the infectious disease.
Closely observe the map. Note important islands. UPSC may shift its traditional focus from middle east/central asia to this region. These days, Pacific and Indo-Pacific region carry a decent importance.
We can expect MCQs asking to arrange these islands in north-south / east-west direction.
Which South Pacific islands have recorded cases of COVID-19?
- Fiji recorded its first case of COVID-19 on March 19.
- Guam, a territory of the US in the South Pacific, witnessed an outbreak among the staff of the US navy.
- New Caledonia also recorded its first COVID-19 cases in mid-March, with links to overseas travel.
- The Solomon Islands, the Cook Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, the Marshall Islands, Palau and Nauru have no recorded cases of COVID-19.
What impact will COVID-19 have on Pacific island nations?
- A widespread outbreak of COVID-19 will have a disastrous impact on these island nations.
- Although these islands are popular with tourists, the outer islands and rural villages are home to indigenous populations.
- Most of these areas have a very basic infrastructure for healthcare, with larger hospitals and medical centres located in bigger towns.
- Even in everyday circumstances, these small medical centres struggle due to the lack of medical supplies.
- The socio-cultural factors, like the prevalence of large families in this region, also make the individuals susceptible to community transmission.
- There is also a lack of access to running water, making sanitation difficult.
- Environmental factors like the seasonal tropical cyclone that swept through the region in April, led to the displacement of hundreds of people in the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu and Tonga.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sal Forest Tortoise
Mains level: NA
A recent study by ecologists in the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, has found that the area designated as a protected area network has only a small overlap with the actual habitat of Sal forest tortoise. Over 90% of the potential distribution of the species falls outside the current protected area’s network.
What you should focus on?
On map, identify areas where Sal forest tortoise are found.
Revise the map of various Forest system of India and their characteristics as well.
Also…..Is tortoise a mammal or an amphibian?…..or something else??
Sal Forest/ Elongated Tortoise
- Also known as the elongated tortoise (Indotestudo elongata), the sal forest tortoise, recently assessed as Critically Endangered, is heavily hunted for food.
- It is collected both for local use, such as decorative masks, and international wildlife trade.
- The Sal forest tortoise is widely distributed over eastern and northern India and Southeast Asia.
- It is one of the only four land tortoises found in India. It is legally protected under Schedule IV of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 as amended up to 2006.
- According to the IUCN, the population of the species may have fallen by about 80% in the last three generations (90 years).
About Sal Forest
- It is a forest type dominated by a single plant species, commonly known as Sal tree (Shorea robusta).
- It belongs to the category ‘Tropical Moist Deciduous Forest’.
- The distribution of Sal forests is controlled by the conditions of topography, geology, and soil.
- Sal forests are mainly distributed in the South and Southeast Asia, occurring along the base of Tropical Himalayas from Assam to Punjab, in the eastern districts of Central India, and on the Western Bengal Hills.
Also read the complete series on-
Natural Vegetation and Wildlife- Part 1 | An Overview of Natural Vegetation Types Found in India
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Arribadas, Olive Ridley Turtles
Mains level: Not Much
Mass hatching of Olive Ridley turtles began at Odisha’s Rushikulya rookery, a major nesting site of these marine turtles.
Mass hatching of Olive Ridley turtles is a very celebrated news every year. Also make sure to look at the Rivers system in the region from the map above.
Olive Ridley Turtles
- The Olive Ridley Sea Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), also known as the Pacific ridley sea turtle, is a medium-sized species of sea turtle found in warm and tropical waters, primarily in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
- In the Indian Ocean, the majority of olive ridleys nest in two or three large groups at Rushikulya rookery near Gahirmatha in Odisha.
- The coast of Odisha in India is the largest mass nesting site for the olive ridley, followed by the coasts of Mexico and Costa Rica.
- The species is listed as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List, Appendix 1 in CITES, and Schedule 1 in Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
Special feature: Mass nesting
- They are best known for their behaviour of synchronized nesting in mass numbers, termed Arribadas.
- Interestingly, females return to the very same beach from where they first hatched, to lay their eggs.
- They lay their eggs in conical nests about one and a half feet deep which they laboriously dig with their hind flippers.
- They hatch in 45 to 60 days, depending on the temperature of the sand and atmosphere during the incubation period.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary
Mains level: Not Much
A rare Black Panther was spotted in the Netravali WLS in South Goa.
There are many WLS and National Park in the tiny state of Goa. Unlike others, they rarely find any mention in news. Here a quick revision for you.
Make sure to locate them on map.
-
Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary,
-
Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary,
-
Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary,
-
Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary,
-
Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary,
-
Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary,
-
Anshi National Park.
Black Panther
- Black Panther or Black Leopard is a color variant of spotted Indian leopards, reported from densely forested areas of south India, mostly from the state of Karnataka.
- A black panther is the melanistic colour variant of any Panthera, particularly of the leopard (P. pardus) in Asia and Africa, and the jaguar (P. onca) in the Americas.
- They are also known as the ghost of the forest.
About Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary
- Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary is located in South-Eastern Goa, India.
- It constitutes one of the vital corridors of the Western Ghats and covers an area of about 211 sq.km.
- Netravali or Neturli is an important tributary of River Zuari, which originates in the sanctuary.
- Forests mostly consist of moist deciduous vegetation interspersed with evergreen and semi-evergreen habitat; there are also two all-season waterfalls in the sanctuary.
- The Gaur or Indian Bison, Malabar giant squirrel, four-horned antelope or chousingha, leopard, black sloth bear along with a host of other predators and herbivores find home in the sanctuary.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: African Swine Fever
Mains level: Not Much
- Amid the coronavirus pandemic, another disease outbreak is affecting thousands of animals in Assam.
- Since February, over 2,900 pigs have died in the state due to African Swine Fever (ASF), which does not affect humans but can be catastrophic for pigs.
- This is the first time that an ASF outbreak has been reported in India.
As Flu is nowadays a lot in news, keep a tab on them for prelims. Be it the Swine Flue, African Swine Fever or even H5N1.
African Swine Fever (ASF)
- ASF is a severe viral disease that affects wild and domestic pigs typically resulting in an acute hemorrhagic fever.
- The disease has a case fatality rate (CFR) of about 100 per cent.
- Its routes of transmission include direct contact with an infected or wild pig (alive or dead), indirect contact through ingestion of contaminated material such as food waste, feed or garbage or through biological vectors such as ticks.
- The disease is characterized by the sudden deaths of pigs.
- Other manifestations of the disease include high fever, depression, anorexia, loss of appetite, hemorrhages in the skin, vomiting and diarrhoea among others.
How did the current outbreak start?
- As per the latest update issued by FAO, the current outbreak of ASF has affected China, Mongolia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Republic of Korea and Indonesia among others.
- In China, the first ASF outbreak was confirmed in August 2018 and since then more than 1 million pigs have been culled in the country.
- ASF came into India through Tibet into Arunachal Pradesh and then into Assam, the state with the highest population of pigs in the country.
How is ASF different from swine flu?
- Swine influenza or swine flu is a respiratory disease of pigs, which is caused by type A influenza virus that regularly causes outbreaks of influenza in pig populations.
- While the swine flu causing virus leads to a high number of infections in pig herds, the disease is not as fatal and causes few deaths. Specific swine influenza vaccines are available for pigs.
- The swine flu viruses are spread among pigs through close contact and through contaminated objects moving between infected and uninfected pigs.
- Symptoms include fever, depression, coughing, discharge from the nose and eyes, eye redness or inflammation.
Vaccines availability
- As of now, there is no approved vaccine, which is also a reason why animals are culled to prevent the spread of infection.
- It is important that determination of ASF is made through laboratory testing and it is differentiated from Classical Swine Fever (CSF), whose signs may be similar to ASF, but is caused by a different virus for which a vaccine exists.
- Even so, while ASF is lethal, it is less infectious than other animal diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease.
What is the impact ASF will have on pig farmers?
- Pig farmers in Assam describe the outbreak as a “double whammy” since the COVID-19 lockdown was already impacting sales negatively.
- The outbreak has ruined the prospect of the Northeastern states as a hub for the export of pork products.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Luhman 16A, Binary star system
Mains level: Not Much
A group of international astrophysicists have identified cloud bands on the surface of Luhman 16A, one of a pair of binary brown dwarfs in the Vela constellation.
Space terminology has gained importance in prelims. The Luhman 16A coupled with few more examples of space concepts like binary star and dwarf star are discussed in this newscard.
Luhman 16A
- Luhman 16 is a binary star system, the third closest system to the Sun after Alpha Centauri and Barnard’s star.
- At a distance of about 6.5 light-years from the Sun, this pair of brown dwarfs referred to as Luhman 16A and Luhman 16B orbit each other, casting a dim light.
- Brown dwarfs are also called failed stars because their masses are intermediate to the largest planets and the smallest main sequence stars.
- Their masses being too small, they are unable to sustain fusion of their hydrogen to produce energy.
- It is believed that some of the more massive brown dwarfs fuse deuterium or lithium and glow faintly.
The cloud band over Luhman
- The group, by using the Very Large Telescope at European Southern Observatory, Chile, found that Luhman 16A had band-like clouds in its atmosphere, whereas the same was not true of Luhman 16B.
- Many astronomers detected polarization of brown dwarfs.
- But what is special in the newest study of Luhman 16 is that the researchers have found the actual structure of the clouds — that they form bands over one of the pair.
- Understanding the cloud system over a brown dwarf can shed light on the pressure, temperature and climate on the surface of the celestial body.
Why it has made into a headline?
- The researchers have used an idea put forth nearly two decades ago by Indian astrophysicist Sujan Sengupta, who works at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru.
- Sengupta had propounded the light emitted by a cloudy brown dwarf, or reflected off an extrasolar planet, will be polarized.
- He then suggested that a polarimetric technique could serve as a potential tool to probe the environment of these objects.
Back2Basics: Binary Star System
- A binary star is a star system consisting of two stars orbiting around their common barycenter.
- Systems of two or more stars are called multiple star systems.
- These systems, especially when more distant, often appear to the unaided eye as a single point of light, and are then revealed as multiple by other means.
- Binary star systems are very important in astrophysics because calculations of their orbits allow the masses of their component stars to be directly determined.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GARUD Portal
Mains level: Not Much
Civil Aviation Ministry and DGCA have launched the GARUD (portal for providing fast track conditional exemptions to government agencies for COVID-19 related drone operations.
Possible prelim question:
The Garud Portal which sometimes finds mention in the news is related to-
a) Air travel of defence personnel
b) Airlifting of the stranded Indian citizens
c) Registration of Remotely-piloted aircraft system (RPAS)
d) None of these
GARUD portal
- GARUD is an acronym for ‘Government Authorisation for Relief Using Drones’.
- The objective of the portal is to assist governmental entities in seeking exemption for COVID-19 related Remotely-piloted aircraft system (RPAS) operations.
- The Civil Aviation Ministry has clarified that any violation of provisions will make the conditional exemption null and void and will lead to penal action.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Abutilon ranadei
Mains level: NA
Scientists at the Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), Pune have come up with plant data of the Northern Western Ghats which indicates that plateaus, in addition to the forests, should be prioritized for the conservation of the Northern Western Ghats.
Last year one species from our newscard : Species in news: Hump-backed Mahseer made it into the CSP 2019. The ‘Abutilon ranadei’ flower in the newscard creates such a vibe yet again.
A stand-alone species being mentioned in the news for the first time often find their way into the prelims. Make a special note here.
Why conserve Plateaus?
- The Western Ghats of India is one of the global biodiversity hotspots owing to the endemism that is sheltered by a chain of mountains.
- The northern part of this along with the Konkan region is considerably different from its southern and central counterparts on account of lesser precipitation and extended dry season.
- It is the plateaus and the cliffs that harbour most of the endemic species.
What did the study find?
- The study found that the Northern Western Ghats has 181 local endemic plant species, including four monospecific genera.
- They have found that a majority of the endemic species are therophytes, which complete their life cycle in a short period during monsoon.
- A notable geographical feature of the Northern Western Ghats is the presence of plateaus and cliffs that display maximum endemic species, unlike forests.
- It is the region of rapid diversification of specific herbaceous endemic genera like Ceropegia, Glyphochloa, Dipcadi, and Eriocaulon.
One such specie is-
Abutilon ranadei
- Abutilon ranadei is a shrub, measuring 2.5-3.5 m high and bears star-shaped hairs.
- It is a Critically Endangered endemic species from the northern Western Ghats.
Bonus:
Consider the following pairs:
| Wildlife |
Naturally found in |
| 1. Blue-finned Mahseer |
Cauvery River |
| 2. Irrawaddy Dolphin |
Chambal River |
| 3. Rusty-spotted Cat |
Eastern Ghats |
Which of the pairs given above are correctly matched?
(a) 1 and 2 only
b) 2 and 3 only
c) 1 and 3 only
d) 1, 2 and 3
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Vande Bharat and Samudra Setu Missions
Mains level: Indian migrants and associated issues
India is all geared to operate flights and naval vessels to repatriate Indian nationals stranded abroad.
The name Samudra Setu typically sound like a combatant naval exercise whereas Vande Bharat reminds us of Train-18. Both ideas have opposite context and meaning. One must keep this in mind.
What is the ‘Vande Bharat Mission’ mission about?
- ‘Vande Bharat Mission’ will see the operation of 64 flights from May 7 to May 13 to bring back around 15,000 Indian nationals stranded abroad.
- Once completed, it may turn out to be the largest evacuation operation ever since the 1990 airlift of 1.7 lakh people from Kuwait.
- Approximately, 2,000 people from abroad will fly back to India daily.
What is Indian Navy’s ‘Operation Samudra Setu’?
- The Indian Navy launched ‘Operation Samudra Setu’ (Sea Bridge) as a part of national effort to repatriate Indian citizens from overseas.
- Indian Naval Ships Jalashwa and Magar are presently enroute to the port of Malè, Republic of Maldives to commence evacuation operations from 08 May 2020 as part of Phase-1.
- INS Jalashwa is the largest amphibious platform in the Navy and is based at the Eastern Naval Command headquarters in Visakhapatnam.
- It can normally accommodate 1,000 people but will take about 800.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: The Long March 5B
Mains level: Not Much
China has successfully launched a new rocket and prototype spacecraft in a major test of the country’s ambitions to operate a permanent space station and send astronauts to the Moon.
Can you recall the historical link between the name “The Long March” and China’s History.
The Long March 5B
- Long March 5 or Chang Zheng 5 is a Chinese heavy-lift launch system developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT).
- It is the first Chinese launch vehicle designed from the ground up to focus on non-hypergolic liquid rocket propellants.
- The maximum payload capacities of the base variant are ~25,000 kilograms to Low Earth Orbit and ~14,000 kilograms to Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit.
- The spaceship is expected to transport astronauts to a space station that China plans to complete by 2022 — and eventually to the Moon. It will have a capacity for a crew of six.
Back2Basics: Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit
- About 35,786 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, satellites are in geostationary orbit. From the center of the Earth, this is approximately 42,164 kilometers. This distance puts it in the high Earth orbit category.
- At any inclination, a geosynchronous orbit synchronizes with the rotation of the Earth.
- While geosynchronous satellites can have any inclination, the key difference to geostationary orbit is the fact that they lie on the same plane as the equator.
- GTO is a an elliptical orbit used to transfer between two circular orbits of different radiuses in the same plane—used to reach geosynchronous or geostationary orbit using high-thrust chemical engines.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Remdesivir
Mains level: Coronovirus and the hunt for its vaccine
A new research has found how Remdesivir treats coronavirus and described the exact mechanism of interaction between the virus and the drug. Remdesivir is an experimental antiviral made by American pharmaceutical firm Gilead Sciences that was first developed to treat Ebola.
DNA/RNA related terminologies, Genes and Genomes, etc. always find their way in UPSC Prelims. Most recent one was-
With reference to the recent developments in science, which one of the following statements is not correct? (CSP 2019)
(a) Functional chromosomes can be created by joining segments of DNA taken from cells of different species.
(b) Pieces of artificial functional DNA can be created in Iaboratories.
(c) A piece of DNA taken out from an animal cell can be made to replicate outside a living cell in a laboratory.
(d) Cells taken out from plants and animals can be made to undergo cell division in laboratory petri dishes.
How Remdesivir kills coronavirus?
- Remdesivir is designed to obstruct the stage of replication, when the virus creates copies of itself, followed endlessly by the copies creating copies of themselves.
How does replication take place?
- Once the virus enters the human cell, it releases its genetic material, which is then copied using the body’s existing mechanism.
- At every stage of infection, various human proteins, virus proteins, and their interactions come into play.
- At the replication stage, the key viral protein at play is an enzyme called RdRp (an enzyme is a kind of protein that speeds up chemical reactions within a cell).
- It is RdRp that makes the copies, by processing components of the RNA of the virus.
- University of Alberta researchers called it the “engine” of the virus in a paper last week, in which they described the action of Remdesivir against this “engine”.
- In scientific literature, such an enzyme is called a polymerase (the p is RdRp stands for polymerase) or a replica.
- In any case, this is the enzyme that is targeted by Remdesivir.
And how exactly does Remdesivir target this enzyme?
- In order to replicate, the virus processes raw material from the virus RNA, broken down by another enzyme with that specific function.
- When a patient is given Remdesivir — the inhibitor — it mimics some of this material and gets incorporated in the replication site.
- With Remdesivir replacing the material it needs, the virus fails to replicate further.
- These coronavirus polymerases are sloppy and they get fooled, so the inhibitor gets incorporated many times and the virus can no longer replicate.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: BharatMarket
Mains level: Not Much
Traders’ body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said that it will soon launch a national e-commerce marketplace ‘BharatMarket’ for all retail traders in collaboration with several technology partners.
A prelims question with tricky options to throw you off track-
The BharatMarket initiative recently seen in news is-
A. Trade of Bharat-22 Exchange Traded Fund (ETF)
B. Platform for farmer to sell their produce
C. Initiative in power sector
D. e-commerce platform
Here you have to play safe…..
BharatMarket
- The marketplace will integrate the capabilities of various technology companies to provide end-to-end services in the logistics and supply chains from manufacturers to end consumers, including deliveries at home.
- It will include nationwide participation by retailers and aims to bring 95 per cent of retail traders onboard the platform, who would exclusively run the portal.
- It has been already started as a pilot project, initially with a limited number of essential commodities, in six cities — Prayagraj, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Lucknow, Kanpur and Bengaluru.
- This will be an effective way to get essential commodities to consumers during the lockdown period and within containment zones.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: e-RMB
Mains level: Cryptocurrency and its feasiblity
China in a significant move has launched a trial of digital yuan in four urban centres of the country for specific services even as the world grapples with the containment of Covid.
What is a cryptocurrency? Discuss how a vibrant cryptocurrency segment could add value to India’s financial sector. (250 W)
Prelims Perspective:-
1. Subtle differences btn digital and virtual currency – e.g. Regulatory issues
2. Which countries have official virtual currency – e.g. Petro of Venezuela
e-RMB
- It will be the electronic form of the renminbi, with a value equivalent to the paper notes and coins in circulation.
- The People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, will be the sole issuer of the digital yuan, initially offering the digital money to commercial banks and other operators.
- It will be launched in major cities of Shenzhen, Suzhou and Chengdu, as well as the Xiong’an New Area.
- It aims to change the financial system in big ways — by cutting costs and making transactions easier, more convenient and more transparent.
- The public would be able to convert money in their bank accounts to the digital version and make deposits via electronic wallets.
Back2Basics: Cryptocurrency
- A Cryptocurrency is an internet-based medium of exchange which uses cryptographical functions to conduct financial transactions.
- It leverages blockchain technology to gain decentralization, transparency, and immutability.
- The most important feature of a cryptocurrency is that it is not controlled by any central authority: the decentralized nature of the blockchain makes cryptocurrencies theoretically immune to the old ways of government control and interference.
- It can be sent directly between two parties via the use of private and public keys.
- Unlike decentralized cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, that allow users to transfer value with no central authority or third party involved, the government-backed digital currency is preferred.
What are Blockchains?
- Blockchain, sometimes referred to as Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), makes the history of any digital asset unalterable and transparent through the use of decentralization and cryptographic hashing.
- Blockchain consists of three important concepts: blocks, nodes and miners.
- Nodes can be any kind of electronic device that maintains copies of the blockchain and keeps the network functioning.
- Miners create new blocks on the chain through a process called mining.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now