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( 2019 - 29 August 2019)th23th August

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Polity & Governance, Social Justice, Social Development

1. Sabka Vishwas – Legacy Dispute Resolution SchemeWhy in News? Announced in Union Budget 2019, it will be operationalize from 1st September 2019 and would continue till

31st December 2019.About the scheme It has been introduced to resolve and settle legacy cases of the Central Excise and Service Tax. It would cover all the past disputes of taxes which may have got subsumed in GST; namely Central Excise,

Service Tax and Cesses. The Scheme would be availed by large number of taxpayers for closing their pending disputes relating to

legacy Service Tax and Central Excise cases that are now subsumed under GST so they can focus on GST. It is especially tailored to free the large number of small taxpayers of their pending disputes with the tax

administration. For all the cases pending in adjudication or appeal – in any forum – this Scheme offers a relief of 70% from

the duty demand if it is Rs.50 lakhs or less and 50% if it is more than Rs. 50 lakhs. The same relief is available for cases under investigation and audit where the duty involved is quantified and

communicated to the party or admitted by him in a statement on or before 30th June, 2019.Two Main Components Dispute Resolution Component

– liquidating the legacy cases of Central Excise and Service Tax that are subsumed in GST and arepending in litigation at various forums.

Amnesty Component– an opportunity to the taxpayers to pay the outstanding tax and be free of any other consequence

under the law.

2. an Sadhan hackathon About an initiative to ease lives of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) by making toilets smarter, more accessible,

and easier to use. In this hackathon, the government is looking for smart, scalable and innovative solutionsfor economical toilets for individual and community use in rural and urban contexts.

Parties involved Ministry of Jal Shakti and the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, in collaboration

with Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and 91spring board.

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3. Special Protection Group (SPG) CoverWhy in News? The government is likely to withdraw the Special Protection Group (SPG) from former Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh’s security detail shortly.About SPG Raised in 1985 after the assassination of PM Indira Gandhi, an armed force of the Union for providing

proximate security to the Prime Minister of India and former Prime Ministers of India and members of theirimmediate families wherever in the world they are

It was formed in 1988 by an act of the Parliament of India i.e. Special Protection Group Act, 1988 Former PMs, their immediate family members, and family members of a serving Prime Minister may, if

they choose, decline SPG security At the time, the Act did not include former Prime Ministers, and when V.P. Singh came to power in 1989 his

government withdrew SPG protection to the outgoing PM Rajiv Gandhi. After Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991 the SPG Act was amended, offering SPG protection to all

former Prime Ministers and their families for a period of at least 10 years. The SPG cover would only be reduced on the basis of threat levels as defined in the SPG Act of 1988.

4. Project SU.REWhy in News? The Union Minister for Textiles, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani launched Project SU.RE, a move towards sustainable

fashion, at Lakmé Fashion Winter/Festive 2019, in Mumbai on 22nd August, 2019.What it is? Project SU.RE is Indian apparel industry’s largest commitment to move towards sustainable fashion SU.RE stands for ‘Sustainable Resolution’ - a firm commitment from the industry to move towards fashion

that contributes to a clean environment. The five-point Sustainable Resolution is as follows:

1. Develop a complete understanding of the environmental impact of the garments being currently producedby our brand.

2. Develop a sustainable sourcing policy for consistently prioritizing and utilizing certified raw materialsthat have a positive impact on the environment.

3. Make the right decisions about how, where, and what we source across the value chain by selectingsustainable and renewable materials and processes and ensuring their traceability.

4. Communicate our sustainability initiatives effectively to consumers and media through our online andphysical stores, product tags/labeling, social media, advertising campaigns and events.

5. Through these actions, shift a significant percentage of our supply chain to a sustainable chain by theyear 2025, addressing critical global issues such as climate change, contributing to the UN SustainableDevelopment Goals, and building a world that is safe for the future generations, as an acceptance ofa responsibility we all share.

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5. National Health Mission (NHM)Why in News? Rajasthan ranks 1st in free medicine scheme implementation About National Health Mission

About National Health Mission encompasses its two Sub-Missions, the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and the newly launched

National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) The main programmatic components include

– Health System Strengthening in rural and urban areas- – Reproductive-Maternal- Neonatal-Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A), and – Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases

The NHM envisages achievement of universal access to equitable, affordable & quality health care servicesthat are accountable and responsive to people’s needs.

National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) Launched on 12th April 2005 to provide accessible, affordable and quality health care to the rural population,

especially the vulnerable groups Under the NRHM, the Empowered Action Group (EAG) States as well as North Eastern States, Jammu and

Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh have been given special focus. The thrust of the mission is on establishinga fully functional, community owned, decentralized health delivery system with inter-sectoral convergenceat all levels, to ensure simultaneous action on a wide range of determinants of health such as water, sanitation,education, nutrition, social and gender equality. Institutional integration within the fragmented health sectorwas expected to provide a focus on outcomes, measured against Indian Public Health Standards for allhealth facilities.

National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) NUHM envisages to meet health care needs of the urban population with the focus on urban poor, by

making available to them essential primary health care services and reducing their out of pocket expensesfor treatment. This will be achieved by strengthening the existing health care service delivery system,targeting the people living in slums and converging with various schemes relating to wider determinants ofhealth like drinking water, sanitation, school education, etc. implemented by the Ministries of UrbanDevelopment, Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation, Human Resource Development and Women & ChildDevelopment.

NUHM would endeavour to achieve its goal through:-– Need based city specific urban health care system– Institutional mechanism and management systems

Partnership with community and local bodies for a more proactive involvement in planning,implementation, and monitoring of health activities.

– Availability of resources for providing essential primary health care to urban poor.– Partnerships with NGOs, for profit and not for profit health service providers and other stakeholders.

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NUHM would cover all State capitals, district headquarters and cities/towns with a population of more than50000. It would primarily focus on slum dwellers and other marginalized groups like rickshaw pullers, streetvendors, railway and bus station coolies, homeless people, street children, construction site workers. Thecentre-state funding pattern will be 75:25 for all the States except North-Eastern states including Sikkim andother special category states of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, for whom thecentre-state funding pattern will be 90:10.The Programme Implementation Plans (PIPs) sent by the by thestates are apprised and approved by the Ministry.

6. Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO)Why in News? Providing relief to 6.3 lakh pensioners, retirement fund body Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation

(EPFO) has approved a proposal to restore commutation of pension, or advance part-withdrawal, under theEmployees’ Pension Scheme.

Under the commutation, monthly pension used to be cut by one-third for the next 15 years and the reducedamount would be given in lump sum. After the 15 years, the pensioners were entitled to get the full pension.

Earlier, under EPS-95 [Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995], members were able to commute one-third of their pension for 10 years, which was restored after 15 years. This facility is available togovernment employees.

About EPFO Providing relief to 6.3 lakh pensioners, retirement fund body Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation

(EPFO) has approved a proposal to restore commutation of pension, or advance part-withdrawal, under theEmployees’ Pension Scheme.

The Employees’ Provident Fund came into existence with the promulgation of the Employees’ ProvidentFunds Ordinance on the 15th November, 1951. It was replaced by the Employees’ Provident Funds Act,1952. The Employees’ Provident Funds Bill was introduced in the Parliament as Bill Number 15 of the year1952 as a Bill to provide for the institution of provident funds for employees in factories and otherestablishments. The Act is now referred as the Employees’ Provident Funds & Miscellaneous ProvisionsAct, 1952

The Act and Schemes framed there under are administered by a tri-partite Board known as the CentralBoard of Trustees, Employees’ Provident Fund, consisting of representatives of Government (Both Centraland State), Employers, and Employees.

The Central Board of Trustees administers a contributory provident fund, pension scheme and an insurancescheme for the workforce engaged in the organized sector in India. The Board is assisted by the Employees’PF Organization (EPFO),

The Central Board of Trustees administers a contributory provident fund, pension scheme and an insurancescheme for the workforce engaged in the organized sector in India. The Board is assisted by the Employees’PF Organization (EPFO),

The Central Board of Trustees administers a contributory provident fund, pension scheme and an insurancescheme for the workforce engaged in the organized sector in India. The Board is assisted by the Employees’PF Organization (EPFO),

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International Relations, India & the World and InternationalAffairs

7. Five Star MovementWhy in News?

With the collapse of Italy’s government this week, the country’s immediate political future rests once againin the hands of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement.

What is 5 Star Movement?

is a political party in Italy. The M5S was founded on 4 October 2009 by Beppe Grillo, a comedian andblogger, and GianrobertoCasaleggio, a web strategist

The M5S is variously considered populist, anti-establishment,environmentalist,anti-globalist,and Eurosceptic.The party has also been described as New Right and described by some as being right-wingdue to its anti-immigration stance despite its promotion of policies usually advocated by the Italian left-wing, such ascitizen’s income and green-inspired policies

The “five stars” are a reference to five key issues for the party: public water, sustainable transport, sustainabledevelopment, right to Internet access, and environmentalism. The party also advocates e-democracy, directdemocracy,the principle of “zero-cost politics”,degrowth and nonviolence.

8. South-South and triangular cooperationWhy in News?

An international symposium on South-South and Triangular Cooperation was recently held in New Delhi.What it is? South-South cooperation refers to the exchange of expertise between actors (governments, organizations

and individuals) in developing countries. South-South cooperation is a broad framework of collaboration among countries of the South in the political,

economic, social, cultural, environmental and technical domains Involving two or more developing countries, it can take place on a bilateral, regional, intraregional or

interregional basis. Developing countries share knowledge, skills, expertise and resources to meet their development goals

through concerted efforts Recent developments in South-South cooperation have taken the form of increased volume of South-South

trade, South-South flows of foreign direct investment, movements towards regional integration, technologytransfers, sharing of solutions and experts, and other forms of exchanges

Through this model of cooperation, developing countries help each other with knowledge, technical assistance,and/or investments.

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9. Group of seven (G7)Why in News? The G7 summit concluded on August 26, 2019 at Biarritz, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France.Brief of the summit:

1. G7 might consider reinstating Russia2. Trump open to talks with Iran3. Trump opens doors to a possible trade deal with China4. Trump skips session on ‘climate and biodiversity’5. India- Pakistan tensions expected to lighten6. G7 leaders support Hong Kong’s autonomy7. US President Donald Trump vowed to work out a very big trade deal, bigger than ever with the United

Kingdom after Brexit8. US President Donald Trump announced locking of a new trade agreement with Prime Minister Shinzo

Abe of JapanAbout G7 The Group of Seven (G7) is an international intergovernmental economic organization consisting of

the seven largest IMF-described advanced economies in the world: Canada, France, Germany, Italy,Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States between 1997 and 2014, the group included Russiaand was known as the Group of Eight, and had for a year been known as the Group of Six before the1976 inclusion of Canada.

As of 2018, the seven countries involved represent 58% of the global net wealth ($317 trillion) and morethan 46% of the global gross domestic product (GDP) based on nominal values, and more than 32% of theglobal GDP based on purchasing power parity.

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10. World Skills CompetitionWhy in News? The 45th WorldSkills Competition is being held at Kazan, Russia

About WorldSkills Competition flagship event of the WorldSkills International, organised every two years. the biggest vocational education and skills excellence event in the world that truly reflects global industry. aims of the competition include demonstrating the advantages of learning a vocational skill, and encouraging

‘parity of esteem’ between vocational and academic qualifications.About WorldSkills currently has 79 Member countries and regions which organise national skills competitions that help to prepare the workforce and talent of today for the

jobs of the future. formerly known as the International Vocation Training Organisation (IVTO). founded in the 1940s and emerged from a desire to create new employment opportunities for young people

in some of the economies that were devastated by the Second World War.About World Skills India  WorldSkills India is an initiative of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) under the Ministry

of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India. NSDC, through its WorldSkills Indiainitiative, has been leading the country’s participation at WorldSkills International competitions since 2011.

The key objectives of WorldSkills India are to: Promulgate skills in society to motivate the youth to pursue vocational education. Champion skills and learning for work through local, regional, national and international skills competitions Create partnership network comprising of government, industry, academic partners, VET institutions, trade

associations and youth to promote skills Establish long-term association with WorldSkills International and other WorldSkills member countries

Location :

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11. Henley Passport IndexWhy in News?

Ranked India at 86 from 81 in 2018. ranks passports based

on their power and mobility.

About

Prepared by Henley and Partners, a London-based global

citizenship and residence advisory firm, the HenleyPassport Index claims to be the “original ranking of all theworld’s passports”.

gathers data from the International Air Transport Association

(IATA) that manages inter-airline cooperation globally.

updated in real time according to countries’ visa policy

changes. It covers 227 destinations and 199 passports.

receives data from the IATA on a fixed day every year that

forms the basis of the index.

12. Krishna temple in Bahrain

Why in News?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the $4.2 million redevelopment project of the 200-year-old LordSri Krishna temple in Bahrain’s Manama recently

About temple

temple completes 200 years this year is estimated to have been established around 1817 and was built by Thathai Bhatia Hindu community, and

is still being managed by them. is considered to be the first and the oldest temple in the Gulf countries and has been a place of worship for

a host of Hindus since centuries.

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Indian Economy and Economic Development

13. Financial Action Task Force (FATF)Why In News? FATF regional Asia Pacific Group (APG) places Pakistan on Blacklist for failing to combat terrorism,

money laundering and meeting the required global standards.About FATF inter-governmental body established in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 It is a “policy-making body” which works to generate the necessary political will to bring about national

legislative and regulatory reforms in various areas. The FATF Secretariat is housed at the OECD headquarters in Paris.

Objectives to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for

combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the internationalfinancial system.

Functions monitors the progress of its members in implementing necessary measures, reviews money laundering and

terrorist financing techniques and counter-measures and promotes the adoption and implementation ofappropriate measures globally.

Blacklist & Grey List Backlist

– Only those countries are included in this list that FATF considers as unco-operative tax havens. Thesecountries are known as Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories (NCCTs). In other words; countrieswhich are supporting terror funding and money laundering activities are listed in the Black list.

– At Present only North Korea and Iran are in Blacklist Greylist

– countries which are considered as the safe haven for supporting terror funding and money laundering;included in this list. The inclusion in this list is not as severe as black listed.

Special Data Dissemination Standards (SDDS)Why In News? According to the IMF’s “Annual Observance Report of the Special Data Dissemination Standard for 2018”,

India failed to comply with multiple requirements prescribed in the Special Data Dissemination Standard(SDDS) — a practice mandatory for all IMF members

About Under the Special Data Dissemination Standards (SDDS) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), central

banks undertake the responsibility of disseminating information under certain data categories, such as,analytical accounts of the banking sector, analytical accounts of the central bank, balance of payments,international reserves and exchange rates. The IMF requires that these data should be available at regularintervals in public domain.

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The IMF as well as central banks also provides a National Summary Data Page (NSDP) on their websites toprovide quick access to a single comprehensive source of economic and financial data consistent with thedata categories and components described in the subscriber’s metadata. Additionally, many of the NSDPsinclude further links to additional data or information on other national Internet data sites.

The Reserve Bank of India is one of the earliest central bank signatories of SDDS Data dissemination standards enhance the availability of timely and comprehensive statistics, which contributes

to sound macroeconomic policies and the efficient functioning of financial markets.

14. e-mandate on cards for recurring transactionsWhy in News? RBI recently permitted processing of e-mandate on cards for recurring transactions (merchant payments)

with Additional Factor of Authentication (AFA) during e-mandate registration, modification and revocation,as also for the first transaction, and simple / automatic subsequent successive transactions, subject toconditions 

What it is? The credit or debit cardholder can give a mandate to the card issuer for automated payments to a merchant This e-mandate facility, which is currently available with bank accounts, allows the financial institution to

automatically debit the amount from the bank accountConditions applicable for transactions performed using all types of cards – debit, credit and Prepaid Payment Instruments

(PPIs), including wallets. The maximum permissible limit for a transaction under this arrangement shall be ¹ 2,000/-. All other instructions related to card transactions shall be applicable on these e-mandate based recurring card transactions. No charges shall be levied or recovered from the cardholder for availing the e-mandate facility on cards for

recurring transactions. This directive, issued under Section 10 (2) read with Section 18 of Payment and Settlement Systems Act,

2007 (Act 51 of 2007), will come into effect from September 1, 2019. The e-mandate arrangement on cards shall be only for recurring transactions and not for a ‘once-only’ payment. A debit or credit cardholder who wants to opt for this e-mandate facility on cards will have to undertake a

one-time registration process, with AFA (additional factor of authentication) validation by the issuer. For processing the first transaction in an e-mandate based recurring transaction series, AFA validation shall

be performed. Subsequent recurring transactions shall be performed only for those cards which have been successfully

registered and for which the first transaction was successfully authenticated and authorised Subsequent transactions may be performed without AFA. If the debit/credit holder wishes to withdraw the e-mandate at a later stage, the cardholder will have to give

an online facility to the cardholder to opt out. In respect of withdrawn e-mandates, the acquirers shall ensure that the merchants on-boarded by them,

delete all details, including payment instrument information The card issuers have to put in place “an appropriate redress system to facilitate the cardholder to lodge

grievances. Card networks shall also put in place dispute resolution mechanism for resolving these disputeswith clear turnaround time

Benefits Making small-ticket payments to a merchant, which are recurring in nature, through your debit, credit or

prepaid cards (including wallets) is set to get easier

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ENIVRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

15. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Why in News?

The 2018 IPCC Special Report on Global warming of 1.5°C delivered a clear message: Human activitieshave caused an approximately 0.87°C rise in global average temperature over pre-industrial times.

About IPCC The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations body for assessing the

science related to climate change. Through its assessments, the IPCC determines the state of knowledge on climate change. It identifies where

there is agreement in the scientific community on topics related to climate change, and where furtherresearch is needed. The reports are drafted and reviewed in several stages, thus guaranteeing objectivity andtransparency.  The IPCC does not conduct its own research.

IPCC reports are neutral, policy-relevant but not policy-prescriptive. The assessment reports are a keyinput into the international negotiations to tackle climate change. Created by the United Nations EnvironmentProgramme (UN Environment) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988, the IPCC has195 Member countries. In the same year, the UN General Assembly endorsed the action by WMO andUNEP in jointly establishing the IPCC.

16. Composite Water Management Index (CWMI 2.0)Why in News?

NITI Aayog is soon going to release Composite Water Management Index (CWMI 2.0). About the index water data collection exercise in partnership with Ministry of Jal Shakti, Ministry of Rural Development and

all the States/ Union Territories. would provide useful information for the States and also for the concerned Central Ministries/Departments

enabling them to formulate and implement suitable strategies for better management of water resources.Composite Water management Index 2019 States are displaying progress in water management, but the overall performance remains well-below of

what is required to adequately tackle India’s water challenges. 80% of the states assessed on the Index over the last three years have improved their water management

scores, with an average improvement of + 5.2 points 16 out of the 27 states still score less than 50 points on the Index(out of 100), and fall in the low-

performing category. These states collectively account for 48% of the population, 40% of agricultural produce, and 35% of

economic output of India.

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Large  economic  contributors  have  low-water  management  scores; poor management here can hamperIndia’s economic progress. – Uttar  Pradesh,  Rajasthan,  Kerala,  and  Delhi,  4  of  the  top 10 contributors to India’s economic

output ,have scores ranging from 20 points to 47 points on the CWMI.– Food  security  is  also  at  risk, given that large  agricultural  producers are struggling to  manage  their

water resources effectively. None  of  the  top  10  agricultural  producers  in  India, except  Gujaratand Madhya Pradesh, score more

than 60 points on the CWMI. On the positive side, greater focus on water governance and increased data discipline amongst states is building

a pathway for driving long-term success Going  forward, states  need to build  on  this  momentum,  and upgrade  their water  management practices 

to show outcomes and not just outputs.

17. VulturesWhy in News? The population of vultures in the Nilgiris has increased by more than 26 % since 2012.

Vultures in India Conservation Status:

There are nine species of vultures in India out of which, 3 have been on critically endangered list ofIUCN and also listed under Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. These are:– White-rumped Vulture (Gyps bengalensis)– Slender billed Vulture (Gyps tenuirostris)– Indian Vulture/long-billed vulture (Gyps indicus).

Note: – Himalayan Griffon; closely related to Indian Gyps- not endangered; only Near Threatened– Red-headed vulture is on critically endangered list of IUCN but not listed under Schedule I of the

Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. Threats: Use of veterinary drug Diclofenac

Conservation Efforts The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS – BirdLife in India) and the RSPB (BirdLife in the UK), are

working as part of Saving Asia’s Vultures from Extinction (SAVE).

18. Nitrogen Pollution Why in News? This year’s dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico — an area where decomposing algae consumes all oxygen in

the water — logged in at nearly 7,000 square miles, about the size of New JerseyNitrogen constitutes 78% of Earth’s air Nitrogen is a basic building block for plants. Nitrogen helps plants grow. When the supply of nitrogen is

enough for the ecosystem to follow its cycle, plants will grow the proper way and animals will not bedisturbed.

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but too much of everything is dangerous in the same way excess amount of nitrogen may be dangerous forsoil, plants, living beings, etc

In the form of gas it is colourless, odourless and generally considered as inert gas. In the form of liquid it isalso colourless and odourless and looks like water.

What is Nitrogen Pollution? Nitrogen pollution occurs when there is an excessive amount of phosphorus and nitrogen in the air and

bodies of water such as rivers and lakes. When there are too much phosphorus and nitrogen in the water,there may be a rapid growth of algae which may affect the balance in the ecosystem.

Impact Atmospheric emissions of nitrogen oxides reduce air quality by depleting the ozone layer and when combined

with ammonia via particulate matter, increases human health risk like respiratory diseases and cancer. In water bodies the presence of nitrates contributes to the eutrophication in lakes and coastal areas, impacting

fisheries and drinking water quality. Not only this, nitrogen also damage ecosystems through acidification ofsoils and seas.

As nitrogen change its form and can be found in the air, water and soils like nitrogen dioxide from cars cancreate ground-level ozone and then changes it to nitric acid which enters the soil and leech into groundwater.

Sources Vehicular Emissions, fertilizers, wastewater from sewer & septic systems, pet waste, certain soaps &

detergents etc The amount of hard surfaces and type of landscaping can also increase the runoff of nitrogen and phosphorus

during wet weather.

19. Amazon Fire

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20. Amazon Spread

·

Tropical Rain Forest Tropical Rain Forests occur in the areas which receive heavy rainfall. They are so dense that sunlight doesn’t reach the ground Many species of trees are found in these forests,which shed their leaves at different times of the year.

Therefore, they always appear green and are called evergreen forest. Important trees found in these forests are mahogany, ebony and rosewood. Andaman and Nicobar Islands, parts of North-Eastern states and a narrow strip of the Western slope of the

Western Ghats are home of these forestsTropical rain Forest in World

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Science and Technology, Defense, Health

20. OxytocinWhy In News? The Supreme Court has recently referred the matter to a larger bench to decide on whether it would be in

public interest to impose a ban on private companies to manufacture the controversial but life-saving drugOxytocin and restrict its manufacture to a single public sector undertaking.

About Dubbed the hug hormone, cuddle chemical, moral molecule, and the bliss hormone due to its effects on

behavior, including its role in love and in female reproductive biological functions in reproduction. Made in the brain, in the hypothalamus Transported to, and secreted by, the pituitary gland, which is located at the base of the brain. Acts both as a hormone and as a brain neurotransmitter. Release of oxytocin by the pituitary gland acts to regulate two female reproductive functions: Childbirth and

Breast-feeding. helps contract the uterus and induce delivery, control bleeding, and promote the release of breast milk.

Misuse Dairy Industry: livestock is injected with Oxytocin to make them release milk at a time convenient to

farmers. Vegetables: used to increase the size of vegetables such as pumpkins, watermelons, eggplants, gourds, and cucumbers.

21. Data SecurityWhy in News? In recent times, there have been many instances of the hard-earned money of Indians being taken out of

bank accounts and charges loaded onto credit cards through online frauds. The Srikrishna Commission recommended that data be stored in the country either directly or through

mirror servers to serve law enforcement needs.Data Localization act of storing data on any device that is physically present within the borders of a specific country where the

data was generated.Data Hygiene collective processes conducted to ensure the cleanliness of data. Data is considered clean if it is relatively

error-free includes following practices and taking precautions to keep one’s sensitive information organized, safe

and secure.

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Data Scrubbing also called data cleansing, is the process of amending or removing data in a database that is incorrect,

incomplete, improperly formatted, or duplicated. Typically the process involves updating it, standardizing it, and de-duplicating records to create a single view

of the data, even even if it is stored in multiple disparate systems.

22. Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research(FEDOR)

Why In news? Russia has launched an unmanned rocket carrying a life-size humanoid robot that will spend 10 days

learning to assist astronauts on the International Space Station.About a Russian humanoid that replicates movements of a remote operator as well as performs a limited set of

actions autonomously. Fedor is described as potentially useful on Earth for working in high radiation environments, demining and

tricky rescue missions. In 2011, NASA sent up Robonaut 2, a humanoid robot developed with General Motors that had a

similar aim of working in high-risk environments.It was flownback to Earth in 2018 afterexperiencing technical problems

In 2013, Japan sent up a smallrobot called Kirobo along withthe ISS’s first Japanese spacecommander. Developed withToyota, it was able to holdconversations — albeit only inJapanese.

23. GravitationalLensing

What? Normal lenses such as the ones

in a magnifying glass or a pairof spectacles work by bendinglight rays that pass throughthem in a process known asrefraction, in order to focus thelight somewhere (such as inyour eye). Image Source: NASA/ESA

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Gravitational lensing works in an analogous way and is an effect of Einstein’s theory of generalrelativity – simply put, mass bends light. The gravitational field of a massive object will extend farinto space, and cause light rays passing close to that object (and thus through its gravitational field)to be bent and refocused somewhere else. The more massive the object, the stronger its gravitationalfield and hence the greater the bending of light rays - just like using denser materials to make opticallenses results in a greater amount of refraction.

Gravitational lensing happens on all scales – the gravitational field of galaxies and clusters of galaxies canlens light, but so can smaller objects such as stars and planets. Even the mass of our own bodies will lenslight passing near us a tiny bit, although the effect is too small to ever measure.

Effects of Lensing

The kind of lensing that cosmologists are interested in is apparent only on the largest scales – by looking atgalaxies and clusters of galaxies. When astronomers take a telescope image of a part of the night sky, we cansee many galaxies on that image. However, in between the Earth and those galaxies is a mysterious entitycalled dark matter. Dark matter is invisible, but it does have mass, making up around 85% of the mass of theUniverse. This means that light rays coming towards us from distant galaxies will pass through the gravitationalfield of dark matter and hence will be bent by the lensing effect.

Dark matter is found wherever ‘normal’ matter, such as the stuff that makes up galaxies, is found. Forexample, a large galaxy cluster will contain a very great amount of dark matter, which exists within andaround the galaxies that make up that cluster. Light coming from more distant galaxies that passes close to acluster may be distorted – lensed – by its mass. It is the dark matter in the cluster that does almost all of thelensing as it outweighs regular matter by a factor of six or so. The effects can be very strong and verystrange; the images of the distant, lensed galaxies are stretched and pulled into arcs as the light passes closeto the foreground cluster. This can be seen in the image below of the famous Abell 2218 cluster. The realgalaxies are not this shape – they are usually elliptical or spiral shaped – they just appear this way because oflensing.

Use Knowing about dark matter Knowing about Birth of Star Knowing about formation of sun

TEMPLATES Programme It stands for Targeting Extremely Magnified Panchromatic Lensed Arcs and Their Extended Star Formation. When it comes to making new stars, the party is almost over in the present-day universe. In fact, it’s been

nearly over for billions of years. Our Milky Way continues to form the equivalent of one Sun every year.But in the past, that rate was up to 100 times greater. So if we really want to understand how stars like ourSun formed in the universe, we need to look billions of years into the past.

Using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope as a sort of time machine, a team of researchers intends to dojust that the team will take advantage of natural, cosmic telescopes called gravitational lenses. These largecelestial objects will magnify the light from distant galaxies that are at or near the peak of star formation.

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24. Mars Solar ConjunctionWhy in News? Nasa engineers are preparing to deal with a period called the Mars ‘solar conjunction’ which poses a serious

risk to its Red Planet exploration robots. On August 28, Mars and Earth will be on opposite sides of the sun.What it is? Solar conjunction is the period when Earth and Mars, in their eternal march around the Sun, are obscured

from each other by the fiery orb of the Sun itself. Like dancers on either side of a huge bonfire, the twoplanets are temporarily invisible to each other

Effects  Although some instruments aboard spacecraft - especially cameras that generate large amounts of data - will

be inactive No one attempts to send new instructions to Mars during solar conjunction. It’s impossible to predict what

information might be lost due to interference from charged particles from the Sun, and that lost informationcould potentially endanger the spacecraft. Instead, prior to solar conjunction, engineers send two weeks’worth of instructions and wait.

25. Mitra Crater

Why in News? Chandrayaan-2’s orbiter or

mother spacecraft has zeroed inon a crater on the moon namedafter 20th century’s acclaimedradio physicist Sisir KumarMitra. Images of the crater areamong the second set of picturesof the northern craters sent bythe orbiter.

About Mitra Crater Mitra is a lunar impact crater that

is attached to the western outerrim of the larger crater Mach,on the far side of the Moon. Justto the west of Mitra is Bredikhin,and to the south-southeast liesHenyey. It is named after SisirKumar Mitra.

Sisir Kumar Mitra was the firstto introduce the teaching of radiocommunication in India

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26. Floating Nuclear Plant

Why in News?

Russia launches world’sfirst floating nuclear reactorin Arctic

environmentalists warningof serious risks to theregion ‘Chernobyl on ice’

About

The Akademik Lomonosov(Ship’s Name) is carryingtwo 35-megawatt nuclearreactors to Russia’s Arcticcoast.

the ship is poised to supplyelectricity to settlements andfirms extracting preciousstones and hydrocarbons inthe remote Chukotka area,a peninsula that’s about asclose as you can get toAlaska.

The power plant is set to replace the Bilibino nuclear power plant on Chukotka, in the far east of Russia.Why Artic?

Russia wants to tap into that zone, which is estimated to have about 13 percent of the world’s oil, 30 percentof the world’s natural gas, and other rare earth minerals.

Location:

27. Molecular Scissor

Why in News? A team of scientists at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) have determined the

atomic structure of McrBC, which prevents viral infections in bacteria using electron cryo microscopy (cryo-EM)About McrBC is a complex bacterial protein which helps prevent viral infections in a bacterial cell and functions as

a molecular scissor This is the first report of the high-resolution structure from India determined using electron cryo microscopy,

commonly known as cryo-EM.

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The determination of the McrBC’s structure has long-term implications in ‘phage therapy’ and could helpcombat drug-resistant infections in the future

How Scissors work? Like the human immune system, which fights viruses, bacteria too have an elaborate defence system to

combat phages (the viruses which infect bacterial cells). These phages inject their DNA into the bacterialcell, wherein they multiply and duplicate the virus that eventually bursts out of that cell to infect many more.To prevent infection, bacteria have specialised ‘molecular scissors’ which specifically cut the foreign DNA,thus preventing their multiplication in bacterial cells

The McrBC’s unique feature is that it requires to be powered by an inbuilt motor that uses GTP (guanosinetriphosphate) — an energy currency of the bacterial cell — as ‘fuel’ to cut the foreign DNA

If you have a drug-resistant strain in bacteria, it is often seen that this machinery is absent and they becomeresistant to antibiotics

The phenomenon that the Nobel Prize-winning Luria discovered was later found to be a result of the actionof McrBC, which only cuts DNA that is labelled by a specific chemical mark. Interestingly, this chemicalmark is also seen in human DNA that regulates the reading of the encoded genetic information. Consequently,McrBC is used as a laboratory tool to study the readability of human and other genomes

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Electron Cryo Microscopy Cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is an electron microscopy (EM) technique applied on samples

cooled to cryogenic temperatures and embedded in an environment of vitreous water. An aqueous samplesolution is applied to a grid-mesh and plunge-frozen in liquid ethane. While development of the techniquebegan in the 1970s, recent advances in detector technology and software algorithms have allowed for thedetermination of biomolecular structures at near-atomic resolution

This has attracted wide attention to the approach as an alternative to X-ray crystallography or NMRspectroscopy for macromolecular structure determination without the need for crystallization.

In 2017, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank, and RichardHenderson “for developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination ofbiomolecules in solution

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