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  • India’s first indigenous Bio-Sample Collection Kit: mWRAPR

    The Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) led start-up has launched mWRAPR, a biological transport and storage medium for genomic sequencing labs, biobanks, and research labs handling biological samples for molecular analysis.

    mWRAPR

    • It is India’s first indigenous bio-sample kit, a biological transport and storage medium.
    • It would help in preserving genetic content in all types of biological samples, including microbiomes, saliva, cells, tissues, blood, body fluids, and fecal tubes.
    • It is the only Molecular Transport Medium to be manufactured in India that competes with sample stabilisation and transporting media of notable foreign brands.

    Significance

    • The disruptions in global supply chain limits accessibility to materials for molecular diagnostics.
    • India required to move to molecular tests (PCR/ RT-PCR test), but sample collection kits currently used were very cheap and not of molecular grade.
    • RNA WRAPR is the kind of molecular grade sample collection medium that India needs right now.

     

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  • Weighing in on a health data retention plan

    Context

    The National Health Authority (NHA) — the body responsible for administering the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) — has initiated a consultation process on the retention of health data by healthcare providers in India. The consultation paper asks for feedback on what data is to be retained, and for how long.

    Issues with the policy for healthcare data retention

    • Risk of over-collection: A simple classification system, as suggested in the consultation paper, exposes individuals to harms arising from over-collection and retention of unnecessary data.
    • At the same time, this kind of one-size-fits-all system can also lead to the under-retention of data that is genuinely required for research or public policy needs.
    • Instead, we should seek to classify data based on its use. 

    Do we need a policy for the mandatory retention of health data?

    • Currently, service providers can compete on how they handle the data of individuals or health records, in theory, each of us can choose a provider whose data policies we are comfortable with.
    • Whether the state should mandate a retention period at all is an open question.
    • Given the landscape of healthcare access in India, including through informal providers, many patients may not think about this factor in practice.
    • Nonetheless, the decision to take the choice out of the individual’s hands should not be taken lightly.

    Balancing the policy for public health data retention with the right to privacy

    • Four-part test for privacy: The Supreme Court of India has clarified that privacy is a fundamental right, and any interference into the right must pass a four-part test: legality; legitimate aim; proportionality, and appropriate safeguards.
    • Health data and privacy: The mandatory retention of health data is one such form of interference with the right to privacy.
    • 1] Legality: In this context, the question of legality becomes a question about the legal standing and authority of the NHA.
    • Since the NHA is not a sector-wide regulator, it has no legal basis for formulating guidelines for healthcare providers in general.
    • 2]Legitimate aim: The aim of data retention is described in terms of benefits to the individual and the public at large.
    • Benefits to the individuals: Individuals benefit through greater convenience and choice, created through portability of health records.
    • The broader public benefits through research and innovation, driven by the availability of more and better data to analyse.
    • Risk involved: Globally, legal systems consider health data particularly sensitive, and recognise that improper disclosure of this data can expose a person to a range of significant harms. 
    • Benefits must be clearly defined: As per Indian law, if an individual’s rights are to be curtailed due to anticipated benefits, such benefits cannot be potential or speculatory: they must be clearly defined and identifiable.
    • 3] Proportionality: This is the difference between saying that data on patients with heart conditions will help us better understand cardiac health — a vague explanation — and being able to identify a specific study that will include data from that patient.
    • It would further mean demonstrating that the study requires personally identifiable information, rather than just an anonymous record — the latter flowing from the principle of proportionality, which requires choosing the least intrusive option available.
    • 4] Safeguard: Standards for anonymisation are still developing.
    • We are not yet able to rule out the possibility of anonymised data still being linked back to specific individuals.
    • In other words, even anonymisation may not be the least intrusive solution to safeguarding patients’ rights in all scenarios.

    Way forward

    • Clear and specific case for retention: The test for retaining data should be that a clear and specific case has been identified for such retention, following a rigorous process run by suitable authorities.
    • Anonymise data: A second safeguard would be to anonymise data that is being retained for research purposes — again, unless a specific case is made for keeping personally identifiable information.
    • If neither of these is true, the data should be deleted.
    • Express and informed consent: An alternate basis for retaining data can be the express and informed consent of the individual in question.
    • User-based classification process: Health-care service providers — and everyone else — will have to comply with the data protection law, once it is adopted by Parliament.
    • The current Bill already requires purpose limitation for collecting, processing, sharing, or retaining data; a use-based classification process would thus bring the ABDM ecosystem actors in compliance with this law as well.

    Consider the question “What are the advantages and concerns with the retention of public health data? Suggest the ways to ensure the privacy-centric public health data retention policy.”

    Conclusion

    A privacy-centric process is needed to determine what data to retain and for how long.

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  • What is TRIPS Agreement?

    India runs the risk of being excluded from a proposal it co-authored at the World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations, in 2020, to “temporarily waive” intellectual property rights (IPR) held, by primarily Western countries, on vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics for COVID-19.

    What is the case?

    • India and China are two major global suppliers of medicine.
    • A small group of WTO members was discussing suggestions to exclude drug manufacturers in India and China from prospective waivers to IPR obligations.
    • IPR obligations are a result of the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) which WTO members are committed to upholding.

    What is the Agreement on TRIPS?

    • The Agreement on TRIPS is an international legal agreement between all the member nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
    • It establishes minimum standards for the regulation by national governments of different forms of intellectual property (IP) as applied to nationals of other WTO member nations.
    • TRIPS was negotiated at the end of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) between 1989 and 1990 and is administered by the WTO.
    • It introduced intellectual property law into the multilateral trading system for the first time and remains the most comprehensive multilateral agreement on intellectual property to date.

    Key provisions

    • TRIPS requires member states to provide strong protection for intellectual property rights.
    • It seeks to provide copyright rights, covering authors and other copyright holders, as well as holders of related rights, namely performers, sound recording producers, and broadcasting organizations.
    • It provides for geographical indications (GI); industrial designs; integrated circuit layout designs; patents; new plant varieties; trademarks; trade names and undisclosed or confidential information.
    • It also specifies enforcement procedures, remedies, and dispute resolution procedures.
    • TRIPS also has a most favored nation (MFN) clause.

    Why TRIPS?

    • The obligations of the main international agreements of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that already existed before the WTO was created:
    1. Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (patents, industrial designs, etc)
    2. Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (copyright).
    • Some areas are not covered by these agreements. In some cases, the standards of protection prescribed were thought inadequate.
    • So the TRIPS Agreement adds significantly to existing international standards.

    What else is covered under TRIPS Agreement?

    • Copyright terms must extend at least 50 years unless based on the life of the author.
    • Computer programs must be regarded as “literary works” under copyright law and receive the same terms of protection.
    • Patents must be granted for “inventions” in all fields of technology and must be enforceable for at least 20 years.

     

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  • What are Artificial Neural Networks (ANN)?

    This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in TH.

    What are ANN?

    • The concept behind an ANN is to define inputs and outputs, feed pieces of inputs to computer programs that function like neurons and make inferences or calculations.
    • It then forwards those results to another layer of computer programs and so on, until a result is obtained.
    • As part of this neural network, a difference between intended output and input is computed at each layer and this difference is used to tune the parameters to each program.
    • This method is called back-propagation and is an essential component to the Neural Network.

    Setting up of ANNs

    • Instead of CPUs, Graphic Processing Units (GPU) which are good at performing massive parallel tasks can be used for setting up ANNs.
    • A few free ANN frameworks are TensorFlow, Keras, PyTorch and Theano.
    • These can be used for both normal Machine Learning tasks like classification or clustering and for Deep Learning/ANN tasks.

    Why called Neural Network?

    • Neuron is the building block of the brain and it inspired computer scientists from the 1950s to make a computer perform tasks like a brain does.
    • It is not a simple problem and the clue to its complexity is in the brain structure.

    Why ANN?

    Ans. Making an artificial brain

    • We need billions of artificial neurons if we were to build an artificial brain.
    • With the increase in computing power, mimicking billions of neurons is now possible.

    Popularity of ANNs

    • Data Science, used interchangeably with Machine Learning, is the computer technology that uses data to detect patterns.
    • Hand-written digit recognition is a good example of machine learning.
    • However, in order for the computer to do this task, large amounts of sample data need to be manually labelled as examples of images of digits.
    • The ANN mentioned above with its backpropagation does exactly this.
    • This is why ANNs have become hugely popular in the past decade. This approach of using neural networks of many layers to automatically detect patterns and parameters is called Deep Learning.

     

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  • What is Havana Syndrome?

    A recent US intelligence report says that ‘Havana Syndrome’ —a collection of symptoms and related brain injuries, reported by some US officials could be caused by pulsed electromagnetic energy or close-range ultrasound.

    What is Havana Syndrome?

    • ‘Havana Syndrome’ is a colloquial name given to a set of symptoms such as dizziness, hearing loss, headaches, vertigo, nausea, memory loss and possible brain injuries.
    • It was first reported by 16 American Embassy staff and their family members in Havana, Cuba, in 2016-17.
    • There have been other instances of the phenomenon, which has mostly impacted US officials.

    What did the latest investigation find?

    • Such cases have been caused by pulsed electromagnetic energy in the radio frequency.
    • The results of the investigation did not point to who may have been behind the phenomenon, nor commented on their motivations.
    • A partially redacted report summary finds that the symptoms of AHI are “genuine and compelling.”

    What can be the other reasons?

    • Psychosocial factors alone do not explain the core characteristics, the report finds, although they may cause other incidents or contribute to long-term effects.
    • These other incidents could occur via hyper-vigilance or reactions to stress especially among individuals who are security-oriented.

     

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  • Places in news: Basai Wetlands

    The Basai Wetlands in Gurugram has shrunk to a quarter of its original size over the years.

    Basai Wetlands

    • Basai wetland, located in Basai village in Gurgaon Haryana is a flora and fauna rich water body.
    • It lies in one of the paleochannel of the Sahibi River, a tributary of Yamuna which originates from the Aravalli range in Rajasthan and flows through the region.

    Its significance

    • It is recognized as one of India’s Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas and is of global conservation significance.
    • It supports populations of several endangered, vulnerable, and threatened bird species.
    • It is recognized globally as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by the BirdLife International housing 20,000 birds of over 280 species including migratory birds and endangered birds.
    • However, it has not yet been declared a protected wetland by the Government of Haryana.

    Threats

    • Given the accelerated expansion of the city of the future, the wetland continues to disappear under newly laid roads, modern housing constructions and other infrastructure development.
    • An upcoming expressway, cutting through the terrain here, has majorly impacted the flyway of thousands of migratory birds from Europe and Central Asia.

     

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  • Issues with Population Control Bill

    The Rajya Sabha has discussed a Private Member’s Bill on population regulation.

    The Population Control Bill

    • First introduced in 2019, it is a private member bill proposed by Rakesh Sinha.
    • The purpose of the bill was to control the population growth of India.
    • The proposed bill then was signed by 125 Members of Parliament (MP) and is yet to become an act of law.

    It seeks to amend Article 47 by inserting article 47A to the Constitution of India. It proposes that-

    1. The State shall promote small family norms by offering incentives in taxes, employment, education etc. to its people who keep their family limited to two children
    2. The state shall withdraw every concession from and deprive such incentives to those not adhering to small family norm, to keep the growing population under control.

    Key provisions

    • Penalties: The 2019 bill talked about introducing penalties for couples not adhering to the two-child policy such as debarment from contesting in elections and ineligibility for government jobs.
    • Two-child policy: The 2020 bill proposes to introduce a two-child policy per couple.
    • Incentivizing adoption: It shall incentivize adoption through various measures such as educational benefits, taxation cuts, home loans, free healthcare, and better employment opportunities.
    • Birth spacings: It also proposes to ensure healthy birth spacing through measures related to augmenting the availability, accessibility and affordability of quality reproductive health services.

    Issues with penal provisions

    • Alienation: If a family was penalized for more than two children, then the third child would develop a feeling of alienation that he is an unwanted child.
    • Bar on Women: The biggest victim of such would be women, irrespective of religion. They would be debarred in political participation.
    • Selective abortions: In India, the preference for male children may lead to a greater anti-female child sex selection because parents will only have “two attempts” to have babies.
    • Violation of reproductive autonomy: To control and regulate the number of children a family can have is a gross violation of human rights, the right to self-determination and an individual’s reproductive autonomy.
    • Violation of Individual Privacy: A right to procreation is not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution but it comes under the ambit of Article 21, as discussed in Jasvir Singh vs State of Punjab.
    • Remarriage issues: A divorced person who has two children with a prior partner cannot bear a child with their next spouse.

    Why need such policy?

    • India had a land availability of only 1.2 hectare per person, while the resources that get regenerated automatically was 0.43 only.
    • We are an ecological debtor. The ecological footprint which we use and the gap between their regeneration is 187%.
    • If this continued for 30 years, then resources would be exhausted and people would not be able to lead a dignified life.
    • Some people see demographic dividend in the growing population but it was being used as cheap labour globally.

    Way forward

    • The population of India is seen as the biggest obstacle to its economic development.
    • It is the fall guy for governments seeking to justify their incompetence.
    • No legislation must be enacted unless its future impact and social effect are first completely realized.

     

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  • Debate over Freedom of Religion and Attire

    A row over whether educational institutions can impose a strict dress code that could interfere with the rights of students has spilled in the Udupi district of Karnataka.

    Don’t you think that such instances incite fear among the politically destitute minorities?

     

    Religious Freedom in India

    • Article 25(1) of the Constitution guarantees the “freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion”.
    • It is a right that guarantees a negative liberty — which means that the state shall ensure that there is no interference or obstacle to exercise this freedom.

    Restrictions on religious freedom

    • Like all fundamental rights, the state can restrict the right for grounds of public order, decency, morality, health and other state interests.
    • Over the years, the Supreme Court has evolved a practical test of sorts to determine what religious practices can be constitutionally protected and what can be ignored.
    • In 1954, the Supreme Court held in the Shirur Mutt case that the term “religion” will cover all rituals and practices “integral” to a religion.

    The test to determine what is integral is termed the “Essential Religious Practices” test.

    What is the essential religious practices test?

    • While these issues are largely understood to be community-based, there are instances in which the court has applied the test to individual freedoms as well.
    • In a 2004 ruling, the Supreme Court held that the Ananda Marga sect had no fundamental right to perform the Tandava dance in public streets since it did not constitute an essential religious practice of the sect.
    • For example, in 2016, the Supreme Court upheld the discharge of an airman from the Indian Air Force for keeping a beard.
    • It distinguished the case of a Muslim airman from that of Sikhs who are allowed to keep a beard.
    • In 2015, the Supreme Court restored the Jain religious practice of Santhara/Sallekhana (a ritualistic fast unto death) by staying an order of the Rajasthan HC.

    Issues with this Test

    • In the first place, what constitutes the essential part of a religion is primarily to be ascertained with reference to the doctrines of that religion itself, the SC had held in the Shirur Mutt case.
    • So the test, a judicial determination of religious practices, has often been criticized by legal experts as it pushes the court to delve into theological spaces.
    • In criticism of the test, scholars agree that it is better for the court to prohibit religious practices for public order rather than determine what is so essential to a religion that it needs to be protected.
    • In several instances, the court has applied the test to keep certain practices out.

    Precursors related to Hijab

    • Two set of rulings of the Kerala High Court, particularly on the right of Muslim women hold dressing according to the tenets of Islam.
    • In 2015, Kerala HC ruled the prescription of dress code for AIPMT exam which prescribed wearing light clothes with half sleeves not having big buttons, brooch/badge, flower, etc. with Salwar/Trouser and slippers and not shoes.
    • In 2016, it examined the issue more closely. It held that the practice of wearing a hijab constitutes an essential religious practice but did not quash the CBSE rule.
    • The court once again allowed for the “additional measures” and safeguards put in place the previous year.

     

     

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  • What is ‘Z’ Category Security?

    A noted Parliamentarian from Hyderabad has rejected the ‘Z’ category security by the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) accorded to him.

    Security Provisions in India

    • In India, security is provided to high-risk individuals by the police and local government.
    • The level of security needed by any individual is decided by the Ministry of Home Affairs, based on inputs received from intelligence agencies which include the IB and R&AW.
    • Individuals such as PM, home minister, and other officials such as the National Security Advisor generally get security cover because of the positions they occupy.
    • In addition to this, persons who are believed to be under threat also receive security cover.

    What is ‘Z’ Category Security?

    In India, the category covers are X, Y, Y-plus, Z, Z-plus, and SPG (Special Protection Group).

    • X Category: The protectee gets one gunman. Protectees in the Y category have one gunman for mobile security and one (plus four on rotation) for static security.
    • Y Plus category: It receives the cover of two gunmen (plus four on rotation) for mobile security, and one (plus four on rotation) for residence security,
    • Z Category: It has six gunmen for mobile security and two (plus 8) for residence security. They get 10 security personnel for mobile security, and two (plus 8) for residence security.
    • Z Plus Category: It is provided by National Security Guard commandos whereas the other category of security is provided by the Delhi police or the ITBP or CRPF personnel.

    What about Special Protection Group (SPG) Cover?

    • The SPG cover is meant only for the PM and his immediate family.
    • After Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her own security guards in 1984, the Rajiv Gandhi government decided to create a special cadre of security personnel for the PM.
    • In March 1985, following the recommendations of a committee set up by the Home Ministry, a special unit was created for this purpose under the Cabinet Secretariat.
    • This unit, initially called the Special Protection Unit, was renamed as Special Protection Group in April 1985.

     

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  • Species in news: Golden Langur

    Neighbours of a golden langur habitat in western Assam’s Bongaigaon district have opposed a move by the State government to upgrade it to a wildlife sanctuary.

    Kajoijana Bamuni Hill Wildlife Sanctuary

    • The Assam Forest Department has issued a preliminary notification for converting the 19.85 sq. km. patch of forest into the Kajoijana Bamuni Hill Wildlife Sanctuary.
    • It is one of the better-known homes of the golden langur (Trachypithecus geei) found only in Assam and Bhutan.

    About Golden Langur

    • Gee’s golden langur (Trachypithecus geei), also known as simply the golden langur, is an Old World monkey.
    • It is found in a small region of Western Assam and in the neighboring foothills of the Black Mountains of Bhutan.
    • Long considered sacred by many Himalayan people, the golden langur was first brought to the attention of the western world by the naturalist Edward Pritchard Gee in the 1950s.
    • Adult males have a cream to golden coat with darker flanks while the females and juveniles are lighter.
    • It has a black face and a long tail up to 50 cm in length.

    Its habitat

    • It lives in high trees and has a herbivorous diet of ripe and unripe fruits, mature and young leaves, seeds, buds and flowers.
    • The average group size is eight individuals, with a ratio of several females to each adult male.
    • It is one of the most endangered primate species of India and Bhutan.

    Distribution

    • Its habitat is bounded on the south by the Brahmaputra River, on the east by the Manas River, on the west by the Sankosh River, in Assam and on the north by the Black Mountains of Bhutan.

    Conservation status

    • IUCN Red List: Endangered
    • CITES: Appendix I
    • Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I

     

    Try this question from CSP 2014:

     

    Q. Which one of the following groups of animals belongs to the category of endangered species?

     

    (a) Great Indian Bustard, Musk Deer, Red Panda, Asiatic Wild Ass

    (b) Kashmir Stag, Cheetah, Blue Bull, Great Indian Bustard

    (c) Snow Leopard, Swamp Deer, Rhesus Monkey, Saras (Crane)

    (d) Lion Tailed Macaque, Blue Bull, Hanuman Langur, Cheetah

     

    [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”5b66kfytn5″ question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″]Post your answers here.[/wpdiscuz-feedback]

     

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