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Type: Prelims Only

  • ISRO Missions and Discoveries

    Vyommitra Humanoid to undergo pre-flight tests

    Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Vyommitra, Gaganyaan Mission

    Mains level: Not Much

    vyommitra

    Vyommitra, the humanoid designed and developed by the ISRO to fly aboard unmanned test missions ahead of the Gaganyaan human space-flight mission, is undergoing pre-flight ground tests at the ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU).

    Vyommitra

    • The AI-based robotic system is developed at a robotics lab at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) at Thumba, Thiruvananthapuram.
    • Vyommitra will be used for an unmanned flight of ISRO’s GSLV III rocket in December 2020, which, along with a second unmanned flight in July 2021.
    • This will serve as the test of ISRO’s preparedness for its maiden manned space mission, Gaganyaan, being targeted for 2022 to mark 75 years of India’s independence.

    Functions of the humanoid

    • Vyommitra, equipped with a head, two arms and a torso, is built to mimic crew activity inside the crew module of Gaganyaan.
    • Attaining launch and orbital postures, responding to the environment, generating warnings, replacing carbon dioxide canisters, and operating switches, monitoring of the crew module, receiving voice commands, and responding via speech (bilingual) are among the functions listed.
    • It will have a human-like face, with lips synchronized for movement to mimic speech.
    • Once it is fully developed, Vyommitra will be able to use the equipment on board the spacecraft’s crew module, like safety mechanisms and switches, as well as receive and act on commands sent from ground stations.

    What is the recent development?

    • The IISU has successfully integrated it with a computer “brain”, which enables it to “read” control panels aboard the unmanned test flights and communicate with the ISRO ground stations.
    • It has a certain level of intelligence.
    • It is intended to operate and read the display panels and communicate back to ground station using its own voice.

    Back2Basics: Gaganyaan Mission

    • Gaganyaan is crewed orbital spacecraft intended to be the formative spacecraft of the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme (IHSP).
    • The IHSP was initiated in 2007 by ISRO to develop the technology needed to launch crewed orbital spacecraft into low Earth orbit.
    • ISRO had been working on related technologies and it performed a Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment and a Pad Abort Test for the mission.
    • If completed in meantime, India will become the fourth nation to conduct independent human spaceflight after Russia, US, and China.

     

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  • Nobel and other Prizes

    Nobel for work on Click Chemistry

    Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Click Chemistry

    Mains level: Read the attached story

    click

    Scientists Carolyn R. Bertozzi, Morten Meldal and K. Barry Sharpless won the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry on for discovering reactions that let molecules snap together to create desired compounds and that offer insight into cell biology.

    What the scientists worked on?

    • Sharpless came up with the term ‘Click Chemistry’ and worked extensively on it,
    • Meldal came up with a special chemical structure called ‘Triazole’ which has many significant applications, and
    • Bertozzi took the next step of developing click reactions that could work inside living organisms — ‘bioorthogonal’ reactions take place living systems without interfering with native biochemical processes.

    What is Click Chemistry?

    • Chemists often try to recreate complex chemical molecules found in nature, and this has applications, among other things, in the field of medicine – how to target and block pathogens in cells.
    • However, this process can be complicated and time-consuming.
    • Instead of trying to wrangle reluctant carbon atoms into reacting with each other, Barry Sharpless encouraged his colleagues to start with smaller molecules that already had a complete carbon frame.
    • If chemists choose simple reactions – where there is a strong intrinsic drive for the molecules to bond together – they avoid many of the side reactions, with a minimal loss of material.

    Applications of click chemistry

    • Meldal through his experiments came up with the useful chemical structure called triazoles, whch are stable and are found in pharmaceuticals, dyes and agricultural chemicals.
    • He also found that the reaction he used could bind together numerous different molecules.
    • Bertozzi, using the work of Sharpless and Meldal, came up with an efficient and innovative method to map glycans, which are carbohydrate-based polymers made by all living organisms.

     

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  • Oil and Gas Sector – HELP, Open Acreage Policy, etc.

    What is OPEC+?

    IOCRPrelims Only | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Important International Institutions

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Opec+

    Mains level: Global fuel dynamics

    Oil prices rose about 1%, as OPEC+ members agreed to its deepest cuts to output since the 2020 COVID pandemic, despite a tight market and opposition to cuts from the United States and others.

    What is OPEC+?

    • The non-OPEC countries which export crude oil along with the 14 OPECs are termed as OPEC plus countries.
    • OPEC plus countries include Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, South Sudan, and Sudan.
    • Saudi and Russia, both have been at the heart of a three-year alliance of oil producers known as OPEC Plus — which now includes 11 OPEC members and 10 non-OPEC nations — that aims to shore up oil prices with production cuts.

    Why is OPEC+ slashing production?

    • Oil prices skyrocketed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
    • The cut made recently is the biggest of its kind since 2020 when OPEC+ members slashed outputs by 10 million bpd during the Covid-19 pandemic.
    • The reductions would boost prices and be extremely beneficial for the Middle Eastern member states, to whom Europe has turned for oil after levelling sanctions against Russia since it invaded Ukraine.
    • OPEC+ members are concerned that a faltering global economy would reduce the demand for oil, and the cuts are seen as a way to protect profits.

    Concerns for India

    • Even after importing cheap Russian oil, India has not seen any cut in fuel prices.
    • Rising oil prices are posing fiscal challenges for India, where heavily-taxed retail fuel prices have touched record highs, threatening the demand-driven recovery.
    • India imports about 84% of its oil and relies on West Asian supplies to meet over three-fifths of its demand.
    • As one of the largest crude-consuming countries, India is concerned that such actions by producing countries have the potential to undermine consumption-led recovery.
    • This would hurt consumers, especially in our price-sensitive market.

     

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  • District formation in India

    Prelims Only | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Governance, Transparency & Accountability, Citizens Charters

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: District formation

    Mains level: Not Much

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

    What are Districts?

    • India’s districts are local administrative units inherited from the British Raj.
    • They generally form the tier of local government immediately below that of India’s subnational states and territories.
    • A district is headed by a Deputy Commissioner/ Collector, who is responsible for the overall administration and the maintenance of law and order.
    • The district collector may belong to IAS (Indian Administrative Service).
    • Districts are most frequently further sub-divided into smaller administrative units, called either tehsils or talukas or mandals, depending on the region.

    How are new districts carved?

    • The power to create new districts or alter or abolish existing districts rests with the State governments.
    • This can either be done through an executive order or by passing a law in the State Assembly.
    • Many States prefer the executive route by simply issuing a notification in the official gazette.

    Does the Central government have a role to play here?

    • The Centre has no role to play in the alteration of districts or creation of new ones. States are free to decide.
    • The Home Ministry comes into the picture when a State wants to change the name of a district or a railway station.
    • The State government’s request is sent to other departments and agencies such as the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Intelligence Bureau, Department of Posts, Geographical Survey of India Sciences and the Railway Ministry seeking clearance.
    • A no-objection certificate may be issued after examining their replies.

    Why create districts?

    • A district enjoys multiple benefits in terms of endowments from the government for local administration and development.
    • The formation of districts leads to the development of infrastructure, including transportation, telecommunication, water, sanitation, health, education and power facilities.
    • A good infrastructure attracts potential investors and investments.
    • New businesses and industries emerge and existing ones expand.
    • This generates employment opportunities for the citizens in and around the district.

    Challenges

    • The question that arises is what limits a state to declare each place a district.
    • The answer lies in the cost associated with the formation of a district.
    • A district requires installing administrative offices and deploying officers and public servants.
    • This adds to the burden on the government exchequer.

    Way forward

    • It is also essential to consult the local people who are the end beneficiaries of the decision to understand their aspirations and win their confidence.
    • This will potentially mitigate the issues and conflicts between people and government and thereby satisfy the people’s needs at large, which is essential for inclusive growth of state and nation.

    Conclusion

    • In sum, any political change regarding the formation of a district in a state comes with its own advantages and challenges.
    • Thus, the government and policymakers must mull over the decision and perform a cost-benefit analysis before district formation.

     

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  • Women empowerment issues – Jobs,Reservation and education

    Abortion Right extends to the Cisgenders: SC

    Prelims Only | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Governance, Transparency & Accountability, Citizens Charters

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Cisgenders

    Mains level: Abortion rights debate

    In a significant judgment, the Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional to distinguish between married and unmarried women while allowing abortion when the foetus is between 20-24 weeks.

    What is the news?

    • Going a step further, the court said the term ‘woman’ in the judgment included persons other than cisgender women.

    What is cisgender?

    • The term cisgender is used to define people whose gender identity and expression match the identity assigned to them at birth.
    • When a child is born, it is assigned a gender identity based on its physical characteristics.
    • Many believe that gender is a social construct, and growing up, the child may or may not confirm to the birth identity.
    • For transgender people, their sense of gender identity does not match the one assigned to them at birth.
    • Thus, a cisgender woman is a person who was assigned female at birth and continues to identify as a woman.
    • On the other hand, a child assigned female at birth can feel it identifies more authentically as a man as it grows up.

    Use of gender-inclusive vocabularies in official documents

    • Before India’s Supreme Court used ‘cisgender’ in the context of reproductive rights, last year in June, the US government had replaced the word ‘mothers’ with ‘birthing people’.
    • Those who advocate the use of ‘birthing people’ say it is not just women who give birth.
    • Transmen — a person assigned the female gender at birth but who identifies as a man – and genderqueer people – who identify as neither man nor woman – also give birth.

    Why the word cisgender is important?

    • If there are ‘transgender’ people, there should be a word for those who are not.
    • Giving a label to only one section of the population, especially when that is in the minority, implies that the others are default, ‘normal’, and only that section needs to be labelled.
    • Having distinct words for transgender and cisgender people denotes that both are equally valid, neutral experiences, with neither being an aberration.
    • Also, cis and trans are not the only gender identifiers in use.
    • There are many other terms, such as gender-queer, gender fluid and gender variant.
    • Some also choose not to use the traditionally gender-tied pronouns of he/she/her/his, and go for they/them.

    Criticism of the term

    • Some people, including those working on trans rights, feel terms like ‘cisgender’ belong in the realm of gender theory alone.
    • They feel that their usage can be counterproductive – people are less likely to grasp a message if they have to look up the individual words that make up the message.
    • Others feel that ‘cisgender’ as a counter to ‘transgender’ is restrictive – reinforcing a binary of genders that many choose to reject.

     

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  • Historical and Archaeological Findings in News

    Ponniyin Selvan and the Cholas

    Prelims Only | History | Mains Paper 1: Arts & Culture

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Ponniyin Selvan

    Mains level: Not Much

    In all the buzz around the Tamil film Ponniyin Selvan: 1 or PS1, a fictional period drama, a point of focus has been the Chola dynasty that the film is based on.

    Why in news?

    • A notable actor has spoke about the progressiveness of the Chola era.
    • He mentioned the architectural marvels and temples, the social setup of the time, and how cities were named after women.

    Behind the name- PS1

    • The fictional account of the Chola kingdom appeared in a weekly journal in the early 1950s and garnered popularity.
    • These were later compiled into a novel called ‘Ponniyin Selvan’, which became the inspiration for the movie, whose second part is due for release in 2023.

    Who were the Cholas?

    • The Chola kingdom stretched across present-day Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and parts of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka around 9th to 12th century AD.
    • The dynasty was founded by the king Vijaylaya, described as a “feudatory” of the Pallavas.
    • Despite being a relatively minor player in the region among giants, Vijaylaya laid the foundation for a dynasty that would rule a major part of southern India.

    Might of the Cholas

    (1) Defense

    • One of the biggest achievements of the Chola dynasty was its naval power, allowing them to go as far as Malaysia and the Sumatra islands of Indonesia in their conquests.
    • The domination was such that the Bay of Bengal was converted into a “Chola lake” for some time.

    (2) Economy

    • While the extent of this domination is disputed, the Cholas had strong ties with merchant groups and this allowed them to undertake impressive naval expeditions.
    • In general, even merchant guilds, which had close ties to the court, had to hire their own guards because roads could be dangerous.

    (3) Culture

    • Another feature is how the practice of building grand temples, common to the dynasties of the region around this time, was ramped up in an unprecedented way by the Cholas, according to Kanisetti.
    • The grand Brihadeeswara temple of Thanjavur, built by the Cholas, was the largest building in India in that period.
    • Additionally, artworks and sculptures were commissioned by Chola kings and queens, including the famous bronze Nataraja idols.

    Women under the Cholas

    • The role of women in the royal family is being brought to focus given their impact on public life.
    • But that is not to suggest that ordinary women wielded equal power as men.
    • The royal women’s proximity to male power was valued, rather than women in general.

    Local annexations

    • When the Chola King Rajadhiraja came to power in 1044, he was able to “subdue” Pandyan and Kerala kings, and presumably to celebrate these victories performed the Ashvamedha sacrifice.
    • The Chola rulers sacked and plundered Chalukyan cities including Kalyani and massacred the people, including Brahmans and children.
    • They destroyed Anuradhapura, the ancient capital of the rulers of Sri Lanka.

     

     

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  • Health Sector – UHC, National Health Policy, Family Planning, Health Insurance, etc.

    Ayushman Bharat scheme

    Prelims Only | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Ayushman Bharat

    Mains level: Success of India's health policies

    ayushman bharat

    India has completed four years of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri-Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), the world’s largest public health insurance programme.

    What is Ayushman Bharat?

    • Ayushman Bharat is National Health Protection Scheme, which will cover over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) providing coverage upto 5 lakh rupees per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization.
    • It was launched in September 2018 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
    • It is a centrally sponsored scheme and is jointly funded by both the union government and the states.
    • It has subsumed the on-going centrally sponsored schemes – Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) and the Senior Citizen Health Insurance Scheme (SCHIS).

    Features of the scheme

    • It will have a defined benefit cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family per year.
    • Benefits of the scheme are portable across the country and a beneficiary covered under the scheme will be allowed to take cashless benefits from any public/private empanelled hospitals across the country.
    • It will be an entitlement based scheme with entitlement decided on the basis of deprivation criteria in the SECC database.
    • The beneficiaries can avail benefits in both public and empanelled private facilities.
    • To control costs, the payments for treatment will be done on package rate (to be defined by the Government in advance) basis.

    India’s health expenditure post Ayushman Bharat

    Ans. India’s public healthcare spending is still among the lowest in the world.

    • Total health expenditure declined to 3.2% of GDP in 2018-19 from 3.3% in 2017-18, while the government’s health expenditure (centre and state) as a percentage of GDP fell from 1.35% to 1.28% in the same period.
    • National health estimates showed the Centre’s share decreasing to 34.3% in 2018-19 from 40.8% in the previous year, while that of states rose from 59.2% to 65.7%.
    • Out-of-pocket spending as a percentage of total health expenditure declined to 48.2% in 2018-19, though it is significantly higher than the world average of 18.1% in 2019

    What about health insurance penetration?

    Ans. Retail health insurance covers a meagre 3.2% of the country’s population.

    • With a population of 1.36 billion, India is the world’s second most populous country, and is expected to surpass China soon.
    • Launched in 2018 to provide universal health coverage, AB-PMJAY, takes care of the bottom 50% of the population of approximately 700 million individuals.
    • The top 20% of the population is covered through social and private health insurance.
    • Therefore, about 30% of the population, or about 400 million, is “the missing middle”— they don’t have any financial protection for health emergencies.

    Why is sound healthcare important for the economy?

    • Covid-19 exposed the economic consequences of poor healthcare. Higher out-of-pocket healthcare spending hits savings and consumption.
    • In the work space, poor health impacts physical and mental abilities, increase turnover and lead to lower productivity.
    • Data shows that 7% of India’s population is pushed into poverty every year due to healthcare costs.

    Way forward

    • Healthcare management and disease prevention should be the focus, along with an all-encompassing healthcare system, including OPD.
    • The government also needs to pay attention on healthcare cover for “the missing middle” population.
    • As a pilot, states may allow the authority already implementing the AB-PMJAY scheme in the state to cover the missing middle.

     

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  • Nobel and other Prizes

    Medicine Nobel for Work on Human Evolution

    Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Nobel Prize, Neanderthal, Hominins, Denisovians

    Mains level: Not Much

    Swedish scientist Svante Paabo won the Nobel Prize in medicine for his discoveries on human evolution that provided key insights into our immune system and what makes us unique compared with our extinct ancestors.

    Svante Paabo: His work, explained

    • Svante Paabo’s seminal discoveries provide the basis for exploring what makes us uniquely human.
    • Hominins refer to the now-extinct species of apes that are believed to be related to modern humans, as well as modern humans themselves.
    • Paabo found that gene transfer had occurred from these now extinct Hominins to Homo sapiens following the migration out of Africa around 70,000 years ago.
    • This ancient flow of genes to present-day humans has physiological relevance today, for example affecting how our immune system reacts to infections.
    • Paabo established an entirely new scientific discipline, called paleogenomics that focuses on studying the DNA and genetic information of extinct hominins through reconstruction.

    What is the relation between evolution and biology?

    • Paabo’s discoveries have established a unique resource, which is utilized extensively by the scientific community to better understand human evolution and migration.
    • We now understand that archaic gene sequences from our extinct relatives influence the physiology of present-day humans.

    How did Paabo establish the linkage?

    • Paabo extracted DNA from bone specimens from extinct hominins, from Neanderthal remains in the Denisova caves of Germany.
    • The bone contained exceptionally well-preserved DNA, which his team sequenced.
    • It was found that this DNA sequence was unique when compared to all known sequences from Neanderthals and present-day humans.
    • Comparisons with sequences from contemporary humans from different parts of the world showed that gene flow, or mixing of genetic information among a species, had also occurred between Denisova and Homo sapiens – the species of modern-day humans.
    • This relationship was first seen in populations in Melanesia (near Australia) and other parts of South East Asia, where individuals carry up to 6% Denisova DNA.
    • The Denisovan version of the gene EPAS1 confers an advantage for survival at high altitudes and is common among present-day Tibetans.

    What are the challenges in carrying out such research?

    • There are extreme technical challenges because with time DNA becomes chemically modified and degrades into short fragments.
    • The main issue is that only trace amounts of DNA are left after thousands of years, and exposure to the natural environment leads to contamination with DNA.

    Back2Basics: Neanderthal Man

    neanderthal

    • Neanderthals were humans like us, but they were a distinct species called Homo Neanderthalensis.
    • Together with an Asian people known as Denisovans, Neanderthals are our closest ancient human relatives. Scientific evidence suggests our two species shared a common ancestor.
    • Current evidence from both fossils and DNA suggests that Neanderthal and modern human lineages separated at least 500,000 years ago. Some genetic calibrations place their divergence at about 650,000 years ago.
    • The best-known Neanderthals lived between about 130,000 and 40,000 years ago, after which all physical evidence of them vanishes.
    • They evolved in Europe and Asia while modern humans – our species, Homo sapiens – were evolving in Africa.

     

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  • Defence Sector – DPP, Missions, Schemes, Security Forces, etc.

    Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) Prachand inducted into IAF

    Prelims Only | Trivia | Mains Paper 3: Indigenization Of Technology

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: LCH Prachanda

    Mains level: Not Much

    lch

    The indigenous Light Combat Helicopter LCH-Prachand was formally inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF).

    LCH- Prachand

    • The LCH has been designed as a twin-engine, dedicated combat helicopter of 5.8-ton class, thus categorized as light.
    • It features a narrow fuselage and tandem — one behind the other — configuration for pilot and co-pilot. The co-pilot is also the Weapon Systems Operator (WSO).
    • While LCH inherits many features of the ALH-Dhruv, it mainly differs in tandem cockpit configuration, making it sleeker.
    • It also has many more state-of-art systems that make it a dedicated attack helicopter.

    Features, the significance of LCH

    • LCH has the maximum take-off weight of 5.8 tonnes, a maximum speed of 268 kilometers per hour, range of 550 kilometers.
    • It has endurance of over three hours and service ceiling the maximum density altitude to which it can fly — of 6.5 kilometres.
    • LCH is powered by two French-origin Shakti engines manufactured by the HAL.

    Combat capabilities

    • The helicopter uses radar-absorbing material to lower radar signature and has a significantly crash-proof structure and landing gear.
    • A pressurised cabin offers protection from nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) contingencies.
    • With these features, the LCH has the capabilities of combat roles such as destruction of enemy air defence, counter-insurgency warfare, combat search and rescue, anti-tank, and counter surface force operations.

    Why need indigenous LCH?

    • It was during the 1999 Kargil war that the need was first felt for a homegrown lightweight assault helicopter that could hold precision strikes in all Indian battlefield scenarios.
    • This meant a craft that could operate in very hot deserts and also in very cold high altitudes, in counter-insurgency scenarios to full-scale battle conditions.
    • India has been operating sub 3 ton category French-origin legacy helicopters, Chetak and Cheetah, made in India by the HAL.

     

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  • Water Management – Institutional Reforms, Conservation Efforts, etc.

    Jal Jeevan Mission

    Prelims Only | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Government Scheme/Policies

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Jal Jeevan Mission

    Mains level: NA

    Around 62% of rural households in India had fully functional tap water connections under the Jal Jeevan Mission.

    Jal Jeevan Mission

    • Jal Jeevan Mission, a central government initiative under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, aims to ensure access to piped water for every household in India.
    • The mission’s goal is to provide all households in rural India with safe and adequate water through individual household tap connections by 2024.
    • The Har Ghar Nal Se Jal program was announced by FM in the Budget 2019-20 speech.
    • This programme forms a crucial part of the Jal Jeevan Mission.
    • It is a central sector scheme with the Centre funding 50% of the cost with States and UTs, except for UT without a legislature, and 90% for NE and Himalayan states.

    Note: A fully functional tap water connection is defined as a household getting at least 55 litres of per capita per day of potable water all through the year.

    Components of the mission

    The following key components are supported under JJM-

    • Development of in-village piped water supply infrastructure to provide tap water connection to every rural household
    • Bulk water transfer, treatment plants and distribution network to cater to every rural household
    • Technological interventions for removal of contaminants where water quality is an issue
    • Retrofitting of completed and ongoing schemes
    • Greywater management

    Progress of the scheme

    • Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, and Puducherry reported more than 80% of households with fully functional connections.
    • However, less than half the households in Rajasthan, Kerala, Manipur, Tripura, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Sikkim had such connection.
    • Close to three-fourths of households received water all seven days a week and 8% just once a week.
    • On average, households got water for three hours every day, and 80% reported that their daily requirements of water were being met by the tap connections.

     

     

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