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  • Gold-Mushroom Nanoparticle to ease Drug Delivery

    gold

    Cordy gold nanoparticles (Cor-AuNPs), the outcome of a collaborative experiment by scientists from four Indian institutions, has earned an international patent from Germany.

    What is Cordy gold nanoparticles ?

    • Cordy gold nanoparticles (Cor-AuNPs) are derived from the synthesis of the extracts of Cordyceps militaris and gold salts.
    • They could make drug delivery in the human body faster and surer.
    • Cordyceps militaris is a high-value parasitic fungus, lab-grown at the Department of Biotechnology’s Technology Incubation Centre (TIC) in Bodoland University.
    • Gold salts are ionic chemical compounds of gold generally used in medicine.

    Benefits offered by this nanoparticle

    • Penetration in the cells is more when the drug particles are smaller.
    • Cordyceps militaris adds bioactive components to the synthesis of gold nanoparticles for better penetration.
    • It can be delivered as ointments, tablets, capsules, and in other forms.

    Back2Basics: Gold Nanoparticles for Medicines

    • Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are small gold particles with a diameter of 1 to 100 nm which, once dispersed in water, are also known as colloidal gold.
    • Functionalized gold nanoparticles with controlled geometrical and optical properties are the subject of intensive studies and biomedical applications.
    • They find applications in genomics, biosensorics, immunoassays, clinical chemistry, laser phototherapy of cancer cells and tumors, the targeted delivery of drugs etc.

     

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  • 2022 AP7: the Planet Killer Asteroid

    asteroid

    A team of astronomers have spotted a massive near-Earth asteroid called 2022 AP7 believed to be the largest planet killer-sized asteroid to be spotted in nearly a decade.

    2022 AP7 Asteroid

    • An asteroid is a relatively small chunk of rocky minerals that orbits the Sun, often described as a minor planet.
    • 2022 AP7 is among the three asteroids hiding in the glare of the Sun.
    • It is 1.5-kilometre-wide and has an orbit that may someday put it on a collision course with our planet.
    • At present, researchers have little information about the asteroid, including further details on its possible trajectory and its composition.
    • It was found using the Dark Energy Camera at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.

    What about the other two?

    • The two — 2021 LJ4 and 2021 PH27 — have orbits that are safely constrained inside the limits of Earth’s orbit.
    • At less than a kilometer in diameter, 2021 LJ4 is the smallest in size.
    • The asteroid, 2021 PH27, is the closest known asteroid to the Sun.
    • Due to this, its surface gets hot enough to melt lead.

    Is there an immediate threat to Earth?

    • At present, the asteroid only crosses the Earth’s orbit while it is on the opposite side of the Sun i.e., when the Sun comes between the Earth and the asteroid.
    • This will continue for several centuries as it takes the asteroid about five years to orbit the sun.
    • If impacted, Earth’s atmosphere would be inundated with dust and pollutants for years, preventing sunlight from entering.

     

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  • World Network of biosphere reserves: A backbone of biodiversity conservation

    biosphere reserves

    Context

    • November 3 will be the first ‘The International Day for Biosphere Reserves’, to be celebrated beginning 2022. The World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) was formed in 1971, as a backbone for biodiversity conservation, ecosystem restoration, and living in harmony with nature.

    biosphere reserves

    What is biosphere reserve?

    • Protected area: A biosphere reserve is an area of land or water that is protected by law in order to support the conservation of ecosystems, as well as the sustainability of mankind’s impact on the environment.
    • Serves as a Platform to study:  They are places that provide local solutions to global challenges. Biosphere reserves include terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems. Each site promotes solutions reconciling the conservation of biodiversity with its sustainable use.
    • Learning places for sustainable development: Biosphere reserves are ‘learning places for sustainable development’. They are sites for testing interdisciplinary approaches to understanding and managing changes and interactions between social and ecological systems, including conflict prevention and management of biodiversity.
    • Biodiversity conservation programs are carried out: To carry out the complementary activities of biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of natural resources, biosphere reserves are traditionally organized into 3 interrelated zones, known as: the core area, the buffer zone, and a transition zone or ‘area of cooperation.
    • The core purpose: The purpose of the formation of the biosphere reserve is to conserve in situ all forms of life, along with its support system, in its totality, so that it could serve as a referral system for monitoring and evaluating changes in natural ecosystems. Each reserve aims to help scientists and the environmental community figure out how to protect the world’s plant and animal species while dealing with a growing population and its resource needs.

    What is the process of recognition as Biosphere reserve?

    • All biosphere reserves are internationally recognized sites on land, at the coast, or in the oceans.
    • Governments alone decide which areas to nominate. Before approval by UNESCO, the sites are externally examined.
    • If approved, they will be managed based on a plan, reinforced by credibility checks while remaining under the sovereignty of their national government.

    biosphere reserves

    Current status of Biosphere reserves

    • Worldwide: There are 738 biosphere reserves in 134 countries, including 22 transboundary sites.
    • In India:
    • Presently, there are 18 notified biosphere reserves in India. Ten out of the eighteen biosphere reserves are a part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, based on the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme list.
    • In India, the first biosphere reserve was designated by UNESCO in 2000, namely, the blue mountains of the Nilgiris stretching over Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.

    You must know- UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme

    • The MAB programme is an intergovernmental scientific programme.
    • It aims to establish a scientific basis for enhancing the relationship between people and their environments.
    • It combines the natural and social sciences with a view to improving human livelihoods and safeguarding natural and managed ecosystems.
    • It promotes innovative approaches to economic development that are socially and culturally appropriate and environmentally sustainable.

    What is World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR)?

    • Dynamic network of cooperation: The WNBR, an amazing network of sites of excellence, is a unique tool for cooperation through sharing knowledge, exchanging experiences, building capacity and promoting best practices.
    • Fosters harmonious integration of people and nature: Its members are always ready to support each other.  It fosters the harmonious integration of people and nature for sustainable development through participatory dialogue; knowledge sharing; poverty reduction and human well-being improvements; respect for cultural values and society’s ability to cope with change – thus contributing to the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
    • A tool to develop sustainable approach: The Network is one of the main international tools to develop and implement sustainable development approaches in a wide array of contexts
    • The principle of Living with harmony: The best concept for ‘Living in Harmony with Nature’ that exists in the United Nations system, is the WNBR, making these places more important today than ever before, where humans are thriving and relearning how to live with nature.

     

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  • What are Coronal Holes?

    coronal

    Recently, NASA tweeted an image of the sun seemingly ‘smiling’. NASA explained that the patches are called coronal holes, which can be seen in ultraviolet light but are typically invisible to our eyes.

    What are Coronal Holes?

    • Coronal holes are regions on the sun’s surface from where fast solar wind gushes out into space.
    • Because they contain little solar material, they have lower temperatures and thus appear much darker than their surroundings.
    • Here, the magnetic field is open to interplanetary space, sending solar material out in a high-speed stream of solar wind.
    • They can last between a few weeks to months.
    • The holes are not a unique phenomenon, appearing throughout the sun’s approximately 11-year solar cycle.
    • They can last much longer during solar minimum – a period of time when activity on the Sun is substantially diminished.

    How are they formed?

    • It is unclear what causes coronal holes.
    • They correlate to areas on the sun where magnetic fields soar up and away, without looping back down to the surface as they do elsewhere.

    What do they tell us?

    • These ‘coronal holes’ are important to understanding the space environment around the earth through which our technology and astronauts travel.
    • In 2016 coronal holes covering “six-eight per cent of the total solar surface” were spotted.
    • Scientists study these fast solar wind streams because they sometimes interact with earth’s magnetic field, creating what’s called a geomagnetic storm.
    • These storms can expose satellites to radiation and interfere with communications signals.

    Back2Basics: Geomagnetic Storms

    coronal

    • Geomagnetic storms relate to earth’s magnetosphere – the space around a planet that is influenced by its magnetic field.
    • When a high-speed solar stream arrives at the earth, in certain circumstances it can allow energetic solar wind particles to hit the atmosphere over the poles.
    • Such geomagnetic storms cause a major disturbance of the magnetosphere as there is a very efficient exchange of energy from the solar wind into the space environment surrounding earth.
    • In cases of a strong solar wind reaching the earth, the resulting geomagnetic storm can cause changes in the ionosphere, part of the earth’s upper atmosphere.
    • Radio and GPS signals travel through this layer of the atmosphere, and so communications can get disrupted.

     

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  • Rhino horns are shrinking

    rhino

    The horns of rhinoceroses may have become smaller over time from the impact of hunting, according to a recent study spanning more than five centuries.

    About Indian Rhino

    • The Indian rhinoceros also called the greater one-horned rhinoceros and great Indian rhinoceros is a rhinoceros native to the Indian subcontinent.
    • It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List and Schedule I animal in the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
    • It once ranged across the entire northern part of the Indian Subcontinent, along the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra River basins, from Pakistan to the Indian-Myanmar border.
    • Poaching for rhinoceros horn became the single most important reason for the decline of the Indian rhino.

    Why are Rhinos poached for horns?

    • Ground rhino horn is used in traditional Chinese medicine to cure a range of ailments, from cancer to hangovers, and also as an aphrodisiac.
    • In Vietnam, possessing a rhino horn is considered a status symbol.
    • Due to demand in these countries, poaching pressure on rhinos is ever persistent against which one cannot let the guard down.

     

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  • State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs)

    pollution

    Context

    • In the fight against air pollution in the Indo Gangetic Plain, there are several important protagonists, none more so than India’s frontline environmental regulators, the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs), and the Pollution Control Committees (PCCs) in the Union Territories. There is no future with clean air in which the SPCB’s do not perform at the highest level possible.

    know about State Pollution Control Boards (SPCB)

    • Constituted under Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974: The SPCBs were initially constituted under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. Under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, the SPCB mandate was expanded to include air quality management.
    • New responsibility without capacity: Subsequently, several new environmental regulations added to their roles and functions. Unfortunately, this enhanced mandate has not been matched with increased capacity and capability in the Boards. As environmental indicators such as air quality and water quality worsen in many parts of the country, the Boards are evidently failing to effectively discharge their statutory mandate.

    Analyzing the performance of SPCB’s

    • Poor performance of SPCBs: Over the years, several reports that have been published, including those by the parliamentary standing committee and government committees, have identified reasons for the poor performance of the SPCBs.
    • Experts are excluded from composition: The composition of SPCBs is a matter of serious concern as important stakeholders and those with crucial expertise are missing in most States. Boards are multimember bodies headed by a chairperson and a member secretary. Their decisions and policies guide the day-to-day functioning of the organisation.
    • Conflict of interest: Over 50% of the Board members across the 10 SPCBs and PCC studied represent potential polluters: local authorities, industries, and public sector corporations. They are subject to the SPCB’s regulatory measures, and their overwhelming presence raises fundamental questions around conflicts of interest.
    • SPCBs Does not meet the statutory requirement: At the same time, scientists, medical practitioners, and academics constitute only 7% of the Board members. What is even more worrying is that most Boards do not meet the statutory requirement of having at least two Board members who have knowledge of, and experience in, air quality management.
    • SPCB’s leadership and uncertain tenure: The chairperson and the member secretary do not enjoy a long, stable, and fulltime tenure. In many States, persons in these two posts hold an additional charge in other government departments. Data also show that several chairpersons and member secretaries have held their posts for less than a year. For example, the shortest tenure for a chairperson has been 18 days (Chhattisgarh) and 15 days for a member secretary (Haryana and Uttar Pradesh).
    • Short tenure with multiple roles: With the focus of the leadership of SPCB spread thin across multiple roles and their tenures being short, often they do not even have the time to understand their mandate fully before they are moved out. In such a scenario, long term policy planning, strategic interventions and effective execution aimed at reducing air pollution substantially are extremely difficult.
    • Problem of Understaffing: The SPCBs are critically understaffed. At least 40% of all sanctioned posts are vacant across nine SPCBs/PCCs for which there is data. Vacancy levels in technical positions are as high as 84% in Jharkhand, and over 75% in Bihar and Haryana. An inadequate staff strength forces the Boards to recast their priorities among their various functions.
    • Less regulatory scrutiny: Less staff strength also means weaker regulatory scrutiny and poor impact assessment. For example, given their workload, engineers in Bihar, Jharkhand, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh have less than a day to inspect, evaluate and decide on each consent application. With Board staff running on empty, this is clearly an unsustainable situation.

    pollution

    What are the recommendations for effective SPCBs?

    • Addressing Leadership and human resource needs: Strengthening manpower at the SPCBs will not only require hiring new resources, but also training existing staff by leveraging institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology, NEERI, and others. These in-service training programs would also serve as an incentive for staff both new and existing.
    • Better Pay structures: The Pay structure need to be revised to align with sectoral norms to ensure that SPCBs are not regularly losing trained manpower to industry and other sectors.
    • Modern infrastructure: The infrastructure of PCBs also needs to be improved along with manpower i.e., facilities such as adequate computers, improved lab facility etc. The instruments used for monitoring are not maintained properly or outdated. Sometimes labs are also not equipped enough to do the necessary analysis.
    • Expert should lead the SPCBs: It is imperative for their effective functioning that States should nominate to leadership positions, individuals of technical expertise and distinguished service such that effective decision making can be carried out.
    • Providing the fixed tenure: They should be appointed for a fixed tenure and in full-time roles, with the sword of removal or termination not hanging over their heads.
    • Reduction is composition for effective functioning: The size of the boards themselves may also be reduced to aid in effective functioning, with preference in membership given to technical experts, as is the international best practice. These moves would ensure that the Boards function effectively as independent agencies, as envisioned in their foundational legislation.

    pollution

    Read the basics-Air pollution

    • Air pollution is contamination of the indoor or outdoor environment by any chemical, physical or biological agent that modifies the natural characteristics of the atmosphere.
    • Household combustion devices, motor vehicles, industrial facilities and forest fires are common sources of air pollution. Pollutants of major public health concern include particulate matter, carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide. Outdoor and indoor air pollution cause respiratory and other diseases and are important sources of morbidity and mortality.

    Conclusion

    • Given the scale and causes of air pollution in India, multidisciplinary expertise is needed to tackle it; there must also be an explicit focus on health while designing air pollution policy. The lack of expertise and skewed representation of stakeholders on the Boards can only be a hindrance to effective policy making.

  • One must know India’s Economic Growth Story

    Economic

    Context

    • As the COVID-19 pandemic fades and hopes to rise for nations and societies to return to some kind of normalcy, there is effort all around to take stock of where we stand and what our prospects look like. A look back over the last few years at how India performed in terms of its economy.

    Present situation of India’s economic growth

    • Mixed growth story: One group of experts argues, India’s growth story is more mixed. In 2021-22, its GDP growth was 8.7%, which was among the highest in the world. This is good but, against this, we must offset the fact that much of this is the growth of climbing out of the pit into which we had fallen the previous year.
    • IMF reduced the growth forecast: In 2020-21, India’s growth was minus 6.6%, which placed the country in the bottom half of the global growth chart. For 2022-23, the International Monetary Fund has cut India’s growth forecast to 6.1%.

    Economic

    Structural assessment of India’s growth

    • Rising inequality and high unemployment: Most of India’s growth is occurring at the top end, with a few corporations raking in a disproportionate share of profits, and unemployment is so high, it is likely that large segments of the population are actually witnessing negative growth.
    • Slowdown in previous years: What makes India’s growth story worrying is that the slowdown began much before the COVID19 pandemic. It began in 2016, after which, for four consecutive years, the growth rate each year was lower than in the previous year. Growth in 2016-17 was 8.3%. After that it was, respectively, 6.9%, 6.6%, 4.8%, and minus 6.6%.
    • Status of unemployment: India’s unemployment rate is high. In October, it stood at 7.8%. However, what is really worrying is youth unemployment. According to International Labour Organization (ILO) data, collated and presented by the World Bank, India’s youth unemployment, that is, from among people aged 15 to 24 years who are looking for work, the percent that does not find any, stands at 28.3%.

     Know the basics-What is Unemployment?

    • Definition: Unemployment is a phenomenon that occurs when a person who is capable of working and is actively searching for the work is unable to find work.
    • Those who are excluded: People who are either unfit for work due to physical reason or do not want to work are excluded from the category of unemployed.
    • Unemployment rate: The most frequent measure of unemployment is unemployment rate. The unemployment rate is defined as a number of unemployed people divided by the number of people in the labour force.
    • Labour Force: Persons who are either working (or employed) or seeking or available for work (or unemployed) during the reference period together constitute the labour force.

    Economic

    Other perspectives on Indian economy

    • The latest GDP numbers suggest: For Q1 FY2022–23 suggest that economic growth is on a healthy track. Consumers, after a long lull, have started to step out confidently and spend private consumption spending went up 25.9% in Q1.
    • On the production side: the contact-intensive services sector also witnessed a strong rebound of 17.7%, thanks to improving consumer confidence.
    • Healthy agriculture sector: The only sector that consistently performed well throughout the pandemic, remained buoyant.
    • Industrial growth: Industrial growth boosted from accelerating growth in construction and electricity, gas, water supply and other utility services sectors.
    • Manufacturing is not doing well: A sector that has not yet taken off sustainably is manufacturing, which witnessed modest growth of 4.5% in Q1. Higher input costs, supply disruptions, and labor shortages due to reverse migration have weighed on the sector’s growth. According to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) data on nonfinancial firms, surging raw material costs have stressed the profitability and margins of companies.

    What are the Challenges for the growth of economy?

    • High inflation: The biggest worry is that of high inflation (which has persisted for way too long) and all the challenges that come along with it. Inflationary environments increase the costs of doing business, impact profitability and margins, and reduce purchasing power. In short, inflation thwarts both supply and demand. Central banks’ monetary policy actions, in response to rising inflation, can impede credit growth and economic activity, thereby intensifying the probability of a recession in a few advanced nations.
    • Rising current account deficit: The other challenge is the rising current-account deficit and currency depreciation against the dollar. While a rebounding domestic economy is resulting in higher imports, moderating global demand is causing exports to slow. The US dollar’s unrelenting rise and global inflation are further causing India’s import bills to rise.
    • Declining forex: The RBI had to intervene to contain volatility and ensure an orderly movement of the rupee. The RBI’s intervention is leading to a drawdown in foreign exchange reserves. Consequently, the import cover from reserves has reduced to nine months from a high of 19 months at the start of 2021 (although, it remains above the benchmark of three months).

    Economic

    The economy’s growth drivers are improving

    • Exports: Exports, the first growth driver are slowing down and are likely to moderate along with the probable global economic slowdown.
    • Government spending: Government spending, the second driver, is already at an elevated level, thanks to the pandemic, and the government will likely focus on its prudence in utilizing limited resources. The good news is the share of capital expenses is going up even as the government is reducing revenue expenses. Multiplier effects of this spending will aid in growth in income, assets, and employment for years to come. Strong tax revenues may support further capital spending in the future.
    • Capital expenditure: According to experts, prospects for capex investments the third growth driver by companies are brighter. Sustained demand growth may be the most-awaited cue for a sustained push for investment.
    • Consumer demand: Consumer Demand, the fourth, and perhaps the most important, growth driver has improved significantly in recent quarters. However, spending has not grown sustainable despite improving consumer confidence. For instance, retail sales are growing but the pace is patchy, and auto registrations have remained muted. We expect that receding pandemic fears and the upcoming festive season could give a much-needed boost to the consumer sector.

    Conclusion

    • Indian economy should not be looked from isolation. It is very much integrated in global economy. Pandemic, Ukraine war, US- China trade war have given a successive shock to global and Indian economy. Despite that Indian has done well than rest of the world. Our focus should be on curbing inequality, not to allow people to descend into extreme poverty and employment generation.

    Mains Question

    Q. Analyse the present economic macro-indicators of Indian economy. What are the challenges for growth story of India in the context of global uncertainty?

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  • C295 and India’s aircraft industry

    c295

    Recently, PM laid the foundation stone for the C-295 transport aircraft manufacturing facility in Vadodara to be set up by Airbus Defence and Space and Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL).

    Why is it making headlines?

    • This is the first time a private sector company would be manufacturing a full aircraft in the country.
    • This is a huge step forward for India in the global aircraft manufacturing domain.

    What is the C-295MW transporter?

    • The C-295MW is a transport aircraft of 5-10 tonne capacity which will replace the legacy Avro aircraft in the Indian Air Force (IAF) procured in the 1960s.
    • It was originally produced by a Spanish aircraft manufacturer.
    • This company is now part of Airbus and the aircraft’s manufacturing takes place at Airbus’s plant in Spain.

    Why c-295MW?

    • The C-295 has very good fuel efficiency and can take off and land from short as well as unprepared runways.
    • As a tactical transport aircraft, the C295 can carry troops and logistical supplies from main airfields to forward operating airfields of the country.
    • It can operate from short airstrips just 2,200 feet long and can fly low-level operations for tactical missions flying at a low speed of 110 knots.
    • The aircraft can additionally be used for casualty or medical evacuation, performing special missions, disaster response and maritime patrol duties.

    A boost to domestic aircraft manufacturing

    • Over the last two decades, Indian companies, both public and private, have steadily expanded their footprint in the global supply chains of major defence and aerospace manufacturers.
    • They do supply a range of components, systems and sub-systems.

    India’s collaboration with top firm

    • Boeing’s sourcing from India stands at $1 billion annually, of which over 60% is in manufacturing, through a growing network of 300+ supplier partners of which over 25% are MSME.
    • Tata in a joint venture (JV) with Boeing, manufactures aero-structures for its AH-64 Apache helicopter, including fuselages, etc.
    • It also makes Crown and Tail-cones for Boeing’s CH-47 Chinook helicopters.
    • Similarly, Lockheed Martin has joint ventures with TASL in Hyderabad which has manufactured crucial components for the C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft.

    How this has become possible?

    • The US is simplifying its export regulations for India, through a series of measures.
    • As US and India together pursue the Indo-Pacific strategy and are enhancing technology prowess.

    Boost to India’s civil aviation sector

    • India has a much bigger footprint in civil aviation manufacturing than defence, in addition to being a major market itself.
    • Both Airbus and Boeing do significant sourcing from India for their civil programmes.
    • According to Airbus every commercial aircraft manufactured by them today is partly designed and made in India.
    • India now has world’s fastest-growing aviation sector and it is about to reach the top three countries in the world in terms of air traffic.
    • Another major growing area is Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) for which India can emerge as the regional hub.

    Conclusion

    • The private defence sector is still nascent and a conducive and stable regulatory and policy environment will be an important enabler.

     

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  • Centre restricts use of common weedicide Glyphosate

    Glyphosate

    The Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has restricted the use of glyphosate, a widely used herbicide, citing health hazards for humans and animals.

    What is Glyphosate?

    • Glyphosate is an herbicide. It is applied to the leaves of plants to kill both broadleaf plants and grasses.
    • The sodium salt form of glyphosate is used to regulate plant growth and ripen specific crops.
    • Glyphosate is one of the most widely used herbicide.
    • In India, glyphosate has been approved for use only in tea plantations and non-plantation areas accompanying the tea crop.
    • Use of the substance anywhere else is illegal.

    How does glyphosate work?

    • Glyphosate is a non-selective herbicide, meaning it will kill most plants.
    • It prevents the plants from making certain proteins that are needed for plant growth.
    • Glyphosate stops a specific enzyme pathway, the shikimic acid
    • The shikimic acid pathway is necessary for plants and some microorganisms.

    What is the recent ban?

    • Only authorized Pest Control Operators are allowed to use it.
    • Earlier, state governments of Maharashtra, Telangana, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh have tried similar steps but failed.
    • The ban notification was based on a 2019 report by the Government of Kerala on prohibiting the distribution, sale and use of glyphosate and its derivatives.

    Is it banned elsewhere?

    • Some 35 countries have banned or restricted the use of glyphosate.
    • These include Sri Lanka, Netherlands, France, Colombia, Canada, Israel and Argentina.

    Hazards of Glyphosate

    • Health impacts of glyphosate range from cancer, and reproductive and developmental toxicity to neurotoxicity and immune toxicity.
    • Symptoms include irritation, swelling, burning of the skin, oral and nasal discomfort, unpleasant taste and blurred vision.

     

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  • GI tag in news: Kashmir Saffron

    saffron

    The Directorate of Tourism, Kashmir has organised a saffron festival in the Karewa of Pampore.

    Saffron

    • Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the “saffron crocus”.
    • The vivid crimson stigma and styles, called threads, are collected and dried for use mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent in food.

    Kashmir Saffron

    • It is cultivated and harvested in the Karewa (highlands) in some regions of Kashmir, including Pulwama, Budgam, Kishtwar and Srinagar.
    • It has been associated with traditional Kashmiri cuisine and represents the rich cultural heritage of the region.
    • Its cultivation is believed to have been introduced in Kashmir by Central Asian immigrants around 1st Century BCE. In ancient Sanskrit literature, saffron is referred to as ‘bahukam’.
    • In 2020, the Centre issued a certificate of Geographical Indication (GI) registration for Saffron grown in the Kashmir Valley.

    Major types

    The saffron available in Kashmir is of three types —

    • ‘Lachha Saffron’, with stigmas just separated from the flowers and dried without further processing;
    • ‘Mongra Saffron’, in which stigmas are detached from the flower, dried in the sun and processed traditionally; and
    • ‘Guchhi Saffron’, which is the same as Lachha, except that the latter’s dried stigmas are packed loosely in air-tight containers while the former has stigmas joined together in a bundle tied with a cloth thread

    Whats’ so special about Kashmir Saffron?

    • The unique characteristics of Kashmir saffron are its longer and thicker stigmas, natural deep-red colour, high aroma, bitter flavour, chemical-free processing, and high quantity of crocin (colouring strength), safranal (flavour) and picrocrocin (bitterness).
    • It is the only saffron in the world grown at an altitude of 1,600 m to 1,800 m AMSL (above mean sea level), which adds to its uniqueness and differentiates it from other saffron varieties available the world over.

    Policy moves

    • The National Saffron Mission (launched as a part of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana) was sanctioned by the central government in the year 2010 in order to extend support for creation of irrigation facilities.
    • It seeks to facilitate farmers with tube wells and sprinkler sets which would help in production of better crops in the area of saffron production.
    • North East Centre for Technology Application and Reach (NECTAR) under Saffron Bowl Project has identified few locations in Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya for saffron cultivation.

     

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