Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 17th July 2021

What :

• Congenital eye defect
• Size of the eye lens is smaller than normal
• Leads to second-stage glaucoma in children if untreated

Prevalence rate :

• Described in different ethnic groups since 1901
• Mostly in Asia and North Africa
• 1.2% out of 5.6 million Indian children presenting for lens abnormalities annually have the above disorder

What is in news : Breakthrough work by researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) here has now resulted in the discovery of yet another mutant gene, WRD8 gene  which has been linked to the development of MSP in two known cases in Karnataka.

How was the study done:

• Genome sequencing of affected children was done
• Using zebrafish as a model system, and Crispr-Cas9 technology to "knockout" and "knockdown" genes in the fish, the scientists identified that mutation in the WRD8 gene
• The scientists then made humanised fish, where the human counterpart of the WDR8 gene (normal and mutated gene sequence) was expressed in zebrafish to show that the gene was indeed responsible for producing the relevant “phenotype”
• Phenotype is a description of a person’s physical characteristics, like eye colour and height.

MAHITI FOR PRELIMS

CRISPR-CAS9

• CRISPR- Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats
• Developed in - 2012
• The method  locates the specific area in the genetic sequence which has been diagnosed to be the cause of the problem, cuts it out, and replaces it with a new and correct sequence that no longer causes the problem
• CAS-9 (CRISPR-associated protein 9) is an enzyme. It uses a synthetic guide RNA to introduce a double strand break at a specific location within a strand of DNA. It is a system used by bacterial cells to recognize and destroy viral DNA as a form of adaptive immunity.

GUJRATH MODEL IN KARNATAKA

What is in news : To implement industrial developmental polices in Karnataka, industrial delegation from Karnataka headed development minister visited Dholera special investment region.

About DHOLERA SPECIAL INVESTMENT REGION

The ‘Dholera Special Investment Region’ (DSIR)

• Is envisaged to be a first “green city in the world”.
• Located to the south-west of Ahmedabad.
• One of the several greenfield cities that have been planned on the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC).
• Will be the world's largest urban development project.
• Slated to be bigger than Singapore.
• Will be connected to the city by a six-lane Expressway with a metrorail running through its centre.
• Has been well planned and is well connected through all modes of transport including rail, road, metro and port.
• The Dholera greenfield International Airport is a part of it .

What is in news : Centre has notified the purview of Krishna and Godavari River Management Boards (KRMB and GRMB) transferring the operation of all projects, including hydel generation, in the two river basins in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to the boards

Details :

KRMB & GRMB

• Autonomous bodies
• Established as per Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act (APRA), 2014
• Administrative control of MoJS
• To manage and regulate the Waters of Krishna and Godavari Basin respectively in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
• It comprises the Union Jal Shakti Minister and the Chief Ministers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

MAHITI FOR PRELIMS

SOCIAL ISSUES

What :

• Programme to provide training to teachers from Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)- affiliated schools including Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, Kendriya Vidyalayas, and Eklavya Residential Model Schools in India.
• Trained in online mode only for a duration of two months in five modules (entrepreneurship, innovation, intellectual property rights, product development, design thinking and idea generation )to encourage innovation and creativity among school students.

Program by : Innovation cell of education ministry and All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE)

What is in news :The programme was recently launched

MAHITI FOR PRELIMS

• Similar programme is run by AICTE for teachers in higher education.
• CBSE is first board in world that introduced artificial intelligence which is a skill development course launched from 2019 for students from Class 8. The design thinking subjects was introduced in 2021. CBSE has now converged with AICTE to promote sustainable innovation environment in schooling system.

All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)

• Statutory body and a national-level council for technical education.
• Established in November 1945 as an advisory body under Department of Higher Education.
• Was given statutory status in 1987
• Involved in proper planning and coordinated development of technical education & management education system across India.

Set up under :  MMDR Amendment Act, 2015

Implemented by : District Mineral foundation where state has major say

Purpose :  For interest and benefits of persons affected by mining-related operations

How is it formed : Lease holders are mandated to contribute to these not-for-profit foundations a defined percentage of royalty apart from paying royalty to state governments.

How is the fund utilized : As per directions given under Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana

What is in news : Centre undertook complete control of district mineral foundation (DMF) funds from state.

Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana (PMKKKY)

• Objective: To minimize/mitigate the adverse impacts, during and after mining, on the environment, health and socio-economic conditions of people in mining districts and also to ensure a sustainable livelihood for the affected people.
• It is implemented by the District Mineral Foundations (DMFs) of the respective districts that use the funds collected by the DMF from the miners.
• District Mineral Foundation (DMF) is a trust set up under Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Amendment Act (MMDRA) 2015 as a non-profit body in those districts affected by the mining operations.
• 60% of the funds will be utilized for high priority areas such as drinking water supply, health care, sanitation, education, skill development, women and child care, the welfare of aged and disabled people and environment conservation.

What is in news : Central government has agreed to demand from Maharashtra government to extend cut-off date to enrol farmers from July 15 to July 23 for Kharif season 2021 under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).

About PMFBY :

• Launched in - 2016
• Aim : Provide insurance cover for farmers for their yields
• Formulated under One Nation–One Scheme theme
• Replaced National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) and Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS)
• Overall benefit - Stabilising income of farmers
• Crops covered -
  • All Food & Oilseeds crops
  • Annual commercial or horticultural crops
  • covers those crops as well for which requisite number of Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) are being conducted under General Crop Estimation Survey (GCES)
• Implemented by -Empanelled general insurance companies selected by state government in bidding

What :

Fleet feature of twitter

• Is similar to “Instagram’s disappearing stories feature”
• Was launched in November 2020
• Disappear after 24 hours and don’t get Retweets, Likes, or public replies. People can only react to Fleets with Direct Messages
• Used by people who are already Tweeting to amplify their own Tweets

What is in news :Twitter Inc announced  that it is going to shut down its Fleets feature.

Why the move : Twitter will shut down this feature because it failed to attract more users.

About Twitter :Twitter is an American microblogging and social networking service. Through this platform, users post and interact with messages called as tweets.

By : OECD-FAO

Key points :

• India is central to any projection in global pulses because it is by far world’s largest producer, processor, importer and consumer of the protein-rich legume.
• Global pulses supply will increase by 22 million tonnes (mt) of which half of supply expected to come from Asia, particularly India by 2030.
• Additional 6.6 mt will be produced as a result of introduction of high-yielding hybrid seeds, supported mechanisation, minimum support price regime and procurement system.
• World pulses trade has grown to 17 mt (from 13 mt) in the last ten years and is estimated to reach only 19 mt by 2030 because of India’s efforts to become self-sufficient in pulses.
• Pulses import by India is expected to reach a steady rate of 2030 and expected to reach 5 mt.
• However report does not talk about vulnerabilities of pulse production

• Karnataka to set up south - India's first sports laboratory that would assess and tell a sportsperson if they have chosen the right sport for their body frame
• In order to facilitate farmers to get ‘right information at right time’ in their desired language, a digital platform namely ‘KisanSarathi’ was launched.‘KisanSarathi’ initiative will be highly valuable not only in addressing the location specific information needs of the farmers but also in Agricultural Extension, Education and Research activities of ICAR. It was launched by ICAR
• The Reserve Bank of India has so far barred three foreign card payment network companies — Mastercard, American Express and Diners Club — from taking new customers on board over the issue of storing data in India.