GS Analyst
Daily Current Affairs

Six members of ‘Razakar Bahini’, a locally recruited paramilitary force that collaborated with the Pakistan army during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, were sentenced to death for ‘crimes against humanity’ by Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal.

Razakars:

• The Razakars were an auxiliary force of the Pakistan army during the 1971 Bangladesh War.
• Razakar literally means ‘volunteer’ or ‘helper’ in Persian and Urdu, but has come to mean ‘collaborator’ and is associated with betrayal in Bangladesh.
• It composed of mostly pro-Pakistani Bengalis and Biharis from Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan).
• There were approximate 50,000 Razakars who assisted the army in raids against the local population and were accused of committing horrific atrocities.

Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal:

• The Bangladesh Collaborators (Special Tribunals) Order was passed in 1972.
• In 1973, the Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s government introduced the International Crimes (Tribunal) Act in 1973, to investigate and prosecute those that committed atrocities during the war.
• After Mujibur Rahman was assassinated in a coup by sections of the Bangladesh army in August 1975 and the ruling Awami League was ousted from power.
• During the period of military rule between 1975 and 1990, General Ziaur Rehman (1975–81) became the de facto head of the state.
• Shah Azizur Rahman, Ghulam Azam and others joined the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) (formed by General Ziaur Rehman).
• They were associated with banned organisations (then) that collaborated with Pakistani state forces, such as the Jamaat-e-Islami.
• In March 2010, the government headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina established Bangladesh’s three-member International Crimes Tribunal to investigate and administer justice to those suspected of being involved in torture and killings during the country’s struggle for independence.
• The ruling Awami League had pledged to prosecute war criminals of 1971 and had won a landslide victory in the 2008 general election.
• Abul Kalam Azad (also known as Bachchu Razakar), a former leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami was the first person to be convicted by the tribunal in 2013. 
• In 2019, government published a list of 10,789 Razakars who had collaborated with the Pakistani army in committing atrocities against Bengalis during the war.
• It included names of 127 politicians and influential people.

The Ministry of Port, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) on July 31^st observed ‘Chabahar Day’ in Mumbai to mark the Chabahar – Link to International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) – Connecting Central Asian Markets.

• India’s vision: To make Shahid Beheshti Port at Chabahar a transit hub and linking it to INSTC to reach out to Central Asian Countries.
• INSTC (International North-South Transport Corridor) is India’s vision and initiative to reduce the time taken for EXIM shipments to reach Russia, Europe, and enter the central Asian markets.

Chabahar Port:

• The Chabahar Port is a key pillar of India’s India-Pacific vision to connect Eurasia with the Indian Ocean Region.
• The Chabahar Port located in Iran is the commercial transit center for the region and especially Central Asia.
• The port will also be part International North-South Transport Corridor network connecting India.
• Notably, the first rail transit cargo from Russia to India entered Iran recently through the Sarakhs border crossing, marking the official launch of the eastern section of the North-South railway corridor.

International North-South Transport Corridor:

• International North-South Transport Corridor is a corridor to increase trade between India and Russia.
• This trade route is 7200 Km long and the transport of freight is through a multi-mode network of roads, ships, and railways.
• This route connects India and Russia through Iran and Azerbaijan.
• The corridor is aimed at reducing the carriage cost between India and Russia by about 30 per cent and bringing down the transit time from 40 days by more than half.
• Russia, India, and Iran are the founding member states of INSTC.
• The agreement was signed in 2002.
• There are 13 member states of the INSTC project – India, Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Tajikistan, Kyrgystan, Oman, Turkey, Syria and Ukraine.
• Bulgaria is the Observer State. The Baltic countries like Latvia and Estonia have also expressed willingness to join the INSTC.
• India shows interest in extending INSTC membership to countries like Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.
• Establishing a land route via Kabul and Tashkent to form the INSTC’s “Eastern corridor” would maximise the potential of this collaboration.
• Also, India wants to include Chabahar port to be included in the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).
  
  

Since the WHO declared monkeypox, a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), governments around the world are initiating steps towards developing or even sourcing a vaccine against monkeypox.

Monkeypox Virus:

• The monkeypox virus belongs to a family of viruses called orthopoxviruses, which is different from that of the coronaviruses.
• According to the WHO, it is a viral zoonosis — a virus transmitted to humans from animals.
• Its symptoms are similar, but less severe to smallpox.
• It is also an enveloped double-stranded DNA virus, unlike the RNA virus, that makes it far more stable and less prone to rapid mutations.
• There are two distinct genetic clades of the monkeypox virus:
  • the central African (Congo Basin) clade
  • the West African clade
• The Congo Basin clade has historically caused more severe disease and was thought to be more transmissible.

Vaccines for Monkeypox:

• There is yet no dedicated monkeypox vaccine.
• However, vaccinations against smallpox were found to be 85% effective in preventing smallpox, a disease eradicated in 1980.
• In 2019, the United States Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), approved the JYNNEOS vaccine for the prevention of smallpox, monkeypox and other diseases caused by orthopoxviruses, including vaccinia virus.

How does JYNNEOS work?

• JYNNEOS contains a live vaccinia virus that does not replicate efficiently in human cells.
• The vaccinia virus is the smallpox virus but made incapable of replicating within the body.
• The evidence for JYNNEOS’ effectiveness against monkeypox rests on 22 clinical trials that tested the vaccine’s safety.
• The effectiveness of the JYNNEOS is estimated based on comparison to another licensed, smallpox vaccine called ACAM2000.
• There is no data yet on JYNNEOS’ effectiveness.

What about India?

• The Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Virology Pune have isolated the virus strain from samples of people confirmed with the infection in India.
• The genomic sequence of the Indian strain has a 99.85% match with the West African strain circulating globally.
• The ICMR has invited tenders from local companies to develop a vaccine.
• The Serum Institute of India is in talks with international partners regarding a potential vaccine but it would take time.

An artificial intelligence lab called DeepMind has released predictions for nearly every protein known to science.

• In 2020, DeepMind unveiled technology that could predict the shape of proteins.
• Tool: AlphaFold
• Relevance: If scientists can identify the shapes of proteins, they can accelerate the ability to understand diseases, create new medicines and otherwise probe the mysteries of life on Earth.
• It will speed up research into more obscure organisms and spark a new field called metaproteomics

How it will help?

• Proteins begin as strings of chemical compounds, then twist and fold into three-dimensional shapes that define how these molecules bind to others.
• If scientists can pinpoint the shape of a particular protein, they can decipher how it operates.
• This knowledge is often a vital part of the fight against illness and disease.
• For instance, bacteria resist antibiotics by expressing certain proteins.
• If scientists can understand how these proteins operate, they can begin to counter antibiotic resistance.
• Previously, pinpointing the shape of a protein required extensive experimentation involving X-rays, microscopes and other tools on a lab bench.
• Now, given the string of chemical compounds that make up a protein, AlphaFold can predict its shape.
• The technology is not perfect. But it can predict the shape of a protein with an accuracy that rivals physical experiments about 63% of the time.

Sea explorers, deep in the waters along a volcanic ridge in the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, found a pattern of holes in the sand.

What has been found?

• During exploration in the north of the Azores, near Portugal’s mainland, explorers saw about a dozen sets of holes resembling a track of lines on the ocean floor, at a depth of 1.6 miles.
• There were four more sightings on the Azores Plateau, which is underwater terrain where three tectonic plates meet.
• Those holes were about 1 mile deep and about 300 miles away from the site of the expedition’s initial discovery.
  
  

Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR):

• The Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) is known as a mid-ocean ridge, an underwater mountain system formed by plate tectonics.
• It is the result of a divergent plate boundary that runs from 87° N – about 333 km (207 mi) south of the North Pole – to 54 °S, just north of the coast of Antarctica.
• Like other ocean ridge systems, the MAR developed as a consequence of the divergent motion between the Eurasian and North American, and African and South American Plates.
• In the North Atlantic, it separates the Eurasian and North American Plates; whereas in the South Atlantic, it separates the African and South American Plates.
• The peaks of the ridge stand about 3 km (1.86 mi) in height above the ocean floor, and sometimes reach above sea level, forming islands and island groups.
• The MAR is also part of the longest mountain chain in the world, extending continuously across the oceans floors for a total distance of 40,389 km (25,097 mi).
• The MAR also has a deep rift valley at is crest which marks the location where the two plates are moving apart.
  
  

In its bid to bolster military ties, Indian Army soldiers are scheduled to hold exercises with the Army personnel of Oman and Vietnam, the two countries which are strategically significant for India.

• The 3rd Edition of Vietnam India Bilateral Army Exercise “Ex VINBAX 2022” is scheduled to be conducted at Chandimandir.
• Indo-Oman joint military exercise (Military Exercise AL NAJAH –IV) commences in Rajasthan.

Ex VINBAX 2022:

• Ex VINBAX is Bilateral Army Exercise between India and Vietnam.
• The third edition will be conducted at Chandimandir, Haryana.
• Last edition was conducted in 2019
• Theme: Ex VINBAX 2022 will be held under the theme- “employment and deployment of an Engineer Company and a Medical Team under United Nations Contingent for Peacekeeping Operations”.
• Vietnam is also an important partner in Act East policy of India as well as Indo-Pacific vision.
• The exercise will strengthen mutual confidence, inter-operability and enable sharing of best practices between the Indian Army and Vietnam People’s Army.
• The joint exercise will also provide an opportunity to the troops of both the Contingents to learn about the social and cultural heritage of each other.
• Indian Army is being represented by troops from the 105 Engineer Regiment.

Military Exercise AL NAJAH –IV:

• The AL NAJAH-IV exercise is a joint military exercise between the Armies of India and Oman
• The Indian Army is represented by troops from the 18 Mechanised Infantry Battalion.
  • From the Oman side, the Sultan of Oman Parachute Regimentwill participate in the AL NAJAH-IV exercise.
• The joint exercise would focus on Counter Terrorism Operations, Regional Security Operations and Peace Keeping Operations under United Nations charter apart from organising joint physical training schedules, tactical drills, techniques and procedures.
• Joint military exercise aims to enhance the level of defence co-operation between Indian Army and Royal Army of Oman and will further manifest in enhancing the bilateral relations between the two nations.