GS Analyst
Daily Current Affairs

Over 200 Malaiyali tribespeople once inhabited traditional clay huts atop Yelagiri hill in northern Tamil Nadu, now replaced by modern homes except for one ancient hut, symbolizing their transition from foraging to modern living.

• The hut is formed of red clay on a teak wood structure.
• Made of dry bamboo leaves, the thatched roof is waxed with cow dung to prevent it from leaking during the monsoon season. 
• Weatherproofed: A unique feature of the munn veedu(mud house) or andara kotai (storage facility) is that it stands on a stilt-like structure also made of teak wood.
  • This holds the house two feet above the ground to keep rodents at bay and to prevent the house from flooding during torrential rains

At present, 14 States and Union Territories are yet to sign a crucial Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Union Education Ministry, which mandates the  under the Centre’s flagship scheme for State-run higher education.

What is the new Scheme?

• Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (PM-USHA) is the new name for the Ministry’s scheme to improve the quality of higher education in State Universities — through curricular and programme changes, teacher training, physical and digital infrastructure, accreditation, and enhancing employability — while ensuring equity, access, and inclusion.
• Funding: PM-USHA scheme has 60:40 funding split between Centre and States, with no extra money for NEP reforms.
• It provides an outlay of ?12,926.10 crore between 2023-24 and 2025-26.

What are State’s Concerns?

• States like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal are among the 14 States and Union Territories that have not yet signed the crucial MoU with the Union Education Ministry.
• This MoU is necessary to receive funds of nearly ?13,000 crore over the next three years for state-run higher education under the Centre's Flagship Scheme.
• The states who have not signed yet are concerned as 40% of the PM-USHA budget must be borne by the States themselves, and no extra funds have been earmarked for NEP reforms.

What are the issues in the higher education system?

• National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) is a guiding force in preparing the base for PM-USHA.
• NEP has identified some of the major problems currently faced by the higher education system in India, which are:
  • A severely fragmented higher educational ecosystem; less emphasis on the development of cognitive skills and learning outcomes
  • A rigid separation of disciplines, early specialization, and streaming of students into narrow areas of study
  • Limited access particularly in socio-economically disadvantaged areas, with few HEIs that teach in local languages
  • Limited teacher and institutional autonomy
  • Inadequate mechanisms for merit-based career management and progression of faculty and institutional leaders
  • Lesser emphasis on research at most universities and colleges, and lack of competitive peer-reviewed research funding across disciplines; g. Suboptimal governance and leadership of HEIs
  • An ineffective regulatory system; and large affiliating universities result in low standards of undergraduate education.

The recent suspensions of leaders in Parliament has ignited a debate on the potential infringement of MPs' privileges and the arbitrary use of suspension as a political tool.

What are the issues arising out of such suspension?

• It disrupts MPs active engagement in vital parliamentary committees, casting a shadow over effective governance.
• Potential infringement of MPs' privileges.
• Potential misuse of suspension
• Impact on parliamentary functioning

What are Privilege motions?

• Privilege motionsrevolve around the concept of parliamentary privilege, which confers certain rights upon Members of Parliament to facilitate the conduct of business on the floor of the House.
• Though an exhaustive list of these privileges doesn't exist, they generally encompass the freedom of expression during parliamentary debates, with MPs being immune to court proceedings for their speech.

When does Privilege committee come into role?

• When it is believed that a privilege has been breached, any member can raise a motion. If admitted by the Chairman, it can be referred to the Privileges Committee. 
• For a question of privilege to be raised, two conditions must be fulfilled-
  • The matter must relate to a recent occurrence
  • The matter necessitate Rajya Sabha’s intervention
• Composition: The Privileges Committee consists of ten members who are nominated by the Chairman of Rajya Sabha.
• Headed by: The Privileges Committee is headed by a Chairman chosen from among the members.
• The Committee'sresponsibility is to examine cases and provide suitable recommendations. It can summon relevant individuals for examination and study pertinent documents.
• Subsequently, the committee generates a report, to be presented within a month of the reference date if no specific time has been set by the Rajya Sabha Chairman.
• The report's consideration requires a motion, with the possibility of suggested amendments. Members can agree, disagree or propose amendments to the Privileges Committee’s report.

Several new laws, passed by Parliament recently came into force after they received the assent of President Droupadi Murmu. An official gazette notification in this regard was issued by the government.

The List

• The legislations that become operational are the

1. 1. Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023
   2. The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2023
   3. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023
   4. The Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Act, 2023
   5. The Indian Institutes of Management (Amendment) Act, 2023
   6. The National Dental Commission Act, 2023
   7. The Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2023

Others

• Prior to the above the following new laws also became effective:
  • The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2023
  • The Cinematograph (Amendment) Act, 2023
  • The Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act, 2023
  • The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Second Amendment) Act, 2023
  • The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Act, 2023
  • The Multi State Cooperative Societies Amendment Act 2023
  • The Biological Diversity (Amendment) Act, 2023

How a Bill becomes an Act?

• The Indian Constitution under Article 246 and Schedule VII granted the power to the Parliament and State Legislatures to make laws.
• The constitution of Indiagives the various stages to pass the Bill.
• The Bill when passed from both the houses of the parliament and take the assent from the President of India, Bill becomes the “Act of Legislature” or “A Statute”.
• Types of bills passed in the Parliament: ordinary bill, money bill, financial bill and Constitutional Amendment Bill etc. 

Three years after the launch of the revised National Strategic Plan 2020-2025 to end TB, India is nowhere near meeting this target.

Status of TB in India:

• India’s TB incidence rate stands at 196 per 1,00,000 population, instead of the 210 estimated by the WHO, and the estimated deaths from the communicable disease stand at 3.20 lakh, instead of the 4.94 lakh that was projected in 2021.
• However, due to factors such as poverty, uneven healthcare access, stigma and low health-seeking behaviour, TB remains a significant problem in the country, with India contributing more than 20% of the global infection burden.
• Tribal communities in India are particularly affected, accounting for 10.4% of all TB cases.
• The Health Ministry noted that as per this data, the global TB reduction numbers stand at 11% while the reduction in TB cases in India is 18%.

National and international initiatives:

• National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP)
• National Strategic Plan (NSP) for Tuberculosis Elimination (2017-2025)
• The Nikshay Ecosystem (National TB information system)
• Nikshay Poshan Yojana (NPY- financial support)
• TB Harega Desh Jeetega Campaign
• TB Free India Campaign
• Tribal TB Initiative

Conclusion

By harnessing innovative solutions such as artificial intelligence, forging partnerships with stakeholders, and investing in research and development, India can effectively enhance the capacity of the public health system to eliminate TB and improve the overall health outcomes of our communities.

In order to boost the crop yields and maximise the use efficiency of imported nutrients, fortification of urea with micronutrients is a positive step.

Urea Gold Fertiliser

• The government recently launched ‘Urea Gold’ fertiliser.
• Developed by the state-owned Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd (RCF), it is basically urea fortified with sulphur.
• Normal urea contains 46% of a single plant nutrient: Nitrogen or N. 
• Urea Gold has 37% N plus 17% sulphur or Sand aims at two things.
  • Deliver S along with N: The first is to deliver S along with N. Indian soils are deficient in S, which oilseeds and pulses – the country is significantly import-dependent in both – particularly require.
  • Improve the nitrogen use efficiency (NUE): The second is to improve the nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) of urea. Coating of S over urea ensures a more gradual release of N. By prolonging the urea action, the plants stay greener for a longer time. Farmers tend to apply urea when they notice the leaves turning yellowish. If the crop retains greenness for an extended period, they would reduce the frequency of application and use, say, only two bags, as against three, for an acre of paddy or wheat.

What are the concerns?

• Urea is India’s most widely used fertiliser, with its consumption/sales rising from 26.7 million tonnes (mt) to 35.7 mt between 2009-10 and 2022-23. 
• There are two concerns over rising urea consumption.
• Imported natural gas in production: The first is imports, which accounted for 7.6 mt out of the total 35.7 mt sold last fiscal. Even with regard to domestically-manufactured urea, the feedstock used – natural gas – is mostly imported. India’s nearly 36-mt annual consumption of urea is today next only to China’s 51 mt, with the latter’s production largely coal-based.
  
  
• Declining NUE: The second concern is NUE. Barely 35% of the N applied through urea in India is actually utilised by crops to produce harvested yields. The balance 65% N is unavailable to the plants, much of it “lost” through release into the atmosphere as ammonia gas or leaching below the ground after conversion into nitrate. Declining NUE, from an estimated 48% in the early 1960s, has resulted in farmers applying more and more fertiliser for the same yield.
  
  

What measures are required?

• A country with hardly any natural gas or rock phosphate, potash and sulphur reserves shouldn’t, beyond a point, encourage the consumption of these commodity fertilisers in plain-vanilla form. 
• Instead, they must be coated with secondary nutrients (S, calcium and magnesium) as well as micronutrients (zinc, boron, manganese, molybdenum, iron, copper and nickel).
• Coating not only allows urea or DAP to be used as “carrier products” for delivering secondary and micro nutrients to crops.
• It improves their own N and P use efficiency through synergetic effects and controlled release that, in the case of urea, helps reduce losses through ammonia volatilisation and nitrate leaching.

Government measures to reduce Urea’s Consumption

• In 2015, the Centre made it mandatory to coat all indigenously manufactured and imported urea with neem oil.
• This was followed by replacing 50-kg bags with 45-kg ones in March 2018, and the launch of liquid ‘Nano Urea’ by the Indian Farmers’ Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO) in June 2021.

In order to get a breakthrough in the definitive identification of SARS-CoV-2, Scientists didn’t go the more time-consuming microbiology route; instead, and in a break from tradition, they were directly subjected to genome-sequencing and bioinformatic analysis, which helped the scientists quickly identify the virus. This new approach is called metagenomics.

What is Metagenomics?

• Metagenomics is a field of molecular biology and genomics
• It refers to the application of sequencing techniques to analyse the totality of the genomic material (DNA or RNA) present in a sample.
• Metagenomics uses gene sequencing to discover proteins in samples from environments across Earth, microbes living in the soil, in extreme environments like hydrothermal vents, deep in the oceans and in our guts and on the skin.
• A vast number of proteins, beyond those catalogued in well-studied organisms, exist in the natural world.

What are its major applications?

• Microbiome Research: Understanding the composition and functional roles of microbial communities in various environments, such as the human gut, soil, oceans, and plants. This knowledge has implications for health, agriculture, and ecology.
• Biotechnology: Identifying novel enzymes, pathways, and metabolic functions from environmental samples, which can be used for industrial processes, such as bioremediation, biofuel production, and the synthesis of valuable chemicals.
• Disease Diagnosis: Investigating the role of microbial communities in human health and disease. Metagenomic analysis can help identify potential pathogens, study the human microbiome, and understand the impact of microbial dysbiosis on various health conditions.
• Environmental Monitoring: Assessing the impact of pollution, climate change, and other environmental factors on microbial ecosystems. Metagenomics can provide insights into ecosystem health and aid in conservation efforts.
• Pharmaceutical Discovery: Exploring natural products and bioactive compounds produced by diverse microorganisms in the environment, which may have potential applications in drug development.
• Evolutionary Studies: Examining the evolutionary relationships between microorganisms and tracing the evolution of specific genes or functions within microbial communities.
• Agriculture and Food Safety: Analyzing the microbiota of crops, livestock, and food products to improve agricultural practices, enhance crop yield, and ensure food safety.
• Bioprospecting: Identifying novel species and genetic elements with unique properties that can be used for various purposes, including biotechnology, medicine, and industrial processes.

Top of Form

How significant is the new technique?

• It allows researchers to analyze the collective genomes of diverse microorganisms within a given sample, providing insights into the genetic diversity, functional capabilities, and interactions of these microbial communities.
• Metagenomics is particularly valuable for understanding the microbial composition of complex ecosystems and has applications in various fields, including ecology, biotechnology, and medicine.

Economy (GS-III)

IMF Quotas

Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das pitched for the "expeditious completion" of the 16th general review of the quotas at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), pointing out that the same can help the multilateral lender assist distressed countries in a better way.

What are IMF Quotas?

• The IMF Quotas are the building blocks of the IMF’s financial and governance structure.
• An individual member country’s quota broadly reflects its relative position in the world economy.
• Quotas are denominated in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), the IMF’s unit of account.
• The IMF's Board of Governors conducts general quota reviews quotas at least every five years.
• The two main issues addressed in a general review of quotas are the
  • size of an overall quota increase
  • distribution of the increase among the members
• Quota Formula: A quota formula is used to help assess members’ relative position in the world economy and it can play a role in guiding the distribution of quota increases.
  • The current formula was agreed to in 2008.

Environment (GS-III)

Inclusive Conservation Initiative (ICI)

First phase of Inclusive Conservation Initiative (ICI) implementation highlights importance of Indigenous-led conservation and need for increased funding.

What is ICI?

• The Inclusive Conservation Initiative (ICI)’s goal is to enhance Indigenous Peoples’ and Local Communities’ (IPs and LCs) efforts to steward land, waters and natural resources to deliver global environmental benefits.
• It is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and supported by Conservation International and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
• The Inclusive Conservation Initiative (ICI) supports IP and LC-designed and -led activities that protect biodiversity and result in other global environmental benefits.

Science & Technology (GS-III)

Pink bollworm (PBW) Attack

The cotton crop in North India is under the threat of pink bollworm (PBW) attacks and the intensity of pest attacks is seen higher this year.

What is PBW?

• Pink bollworm (Pectinophora gossypiella), armyworm (Spodoptera littoralis), cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera) and spotted bollworm (Earias insulana) are the major pests that limit cotton production around the globe.
• The pink bollworm (Pectinophora gossypiella) is one of the world’s most destructive pests of cotton.
• This invasive lepidopteran occurs in nearly all cotton-growing countries.
• The origin of this invasive lepidopteran pest is not known, but a leading candidate is India where it was first discovered damaging cotton in
• It has also been hypothesised to have originated in Australia or South East Asia.

Science & Technology (GS-III)

Legionella bacteria

Deadly bacteria outbreak forces all migrants off Bibby Stockholm barge after four days

About legionella bacteria

• The legionella bacteria occur in rivers and ponds, but only tend to cause problems in water systems where the temperature is right for them to proliferate.
  • Such settings can include hot tubs, showers and air conditioners.
• If people inhale small droplets of water containing the bacteria, they can contract legionnaires’ disease, a type of severe pneumonia.
• While this can be treated with antibiotics, it can lead to lung failure and even death.
• Symptoms include a cough, shortness of breath, a high temperature, flu-like symptoms and chest pain or discomfort.
• Legionella bacteria can also cause Pontiac fever, a mild flu-like illness.

Location in News

Black Sea

Russia opens fire on cargo vessel in Black Sea.

About Black Sea

• Black Sea, an inland sea between Eastern Europe and Western Asia.
• It is bounded by the Eastern European Plain to the north, the Balkans to the west, the Caucasus Mountains to the east, and the Anatolian Peninsula (or Asia Minor, the largest part of Turkey) to the south.
• There are six countries with coastlines on the Black Sea (clockwise), Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Turkey (Türkiye), Bulgaria, and Romania.