Daily Currentaffairs: 12 Oct 2020

Tables of contents

1.Domestic Systemically Important Insurers (D-SIIs)

2.CSIR Technologies for Rural Development 

3.India-Japan Cyber Security Deal 

4.Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) 

5.Natural Gas Marketing Reforms

6. International Barcode of Life (iBOL)

7.Implication of New H-1B Visa Regime

8.Minimum Support Price (MSP)

9.Rhinoceros Beetle

10. Nobel Prize 2020 for Genome Editing

1.Domestic Systemically Important Insurers (D-SIIs)

Recently, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) has identified Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), General Insurance Corporation of India and New India Assurance Co as domestic systemically important insurers (D-SIIs).

About Domestic Systemically Important Insurers (D-SIIs)

• Definition: The D-SIIs refer to insurers of such size, market importance and domestic and global inter-connectedness whose distress or failure would cause a significant dislocation in the domestic financial system.

• Requirements: The IRDAI has asked the three insurers to raise the level of corporate governance, identify all relevant risks and promote a sound risk management culture.

• • The parameters, as per the methodology of IRDAI, include the size of operations in terms of total revenue, including premium underwritten and the value of assets under management.

  • The regulator would identify D-SIIs on an annual basis and disclose the names of these insurers for public information.

• Importance: The continued functioning of D-SIIs is critical for the uninterrupted availability of insurance services to the national economy.

  • The D-SIIs should be subjected to additional regulatory measures to deal with the systemic risks and moral hazard issues.

Source: The Hindu

2.CSIR Technologies for Rural Development

Recently, the Union Minister of Science and Technology has launched the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Technologies for rural development.

About CSIR Technologies for Rural Development

• The technologies are launched under a joint initiative of CSIR, Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA), Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD) and Vijnana Bharti (VIBHA).

• The initiatives launched under the CSIR Technologies for Rural Development are:

  • improved beehive for quality and hygienic extraction of honey developed by CSIR's Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology;

  • manufacturing of ginger paste developed by the Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore;

  • dehumidified drier for food and agri products and

  • agricultural waste (wheat bran, sugarcane bagasse and fruit peels) based biodegradable plates, cups and cutleries developed by National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST).

Vijnana Bharti (VIBHA)

 

The Swadeshi Science Movement was started in Indian Institute of Science- (Bengaluru).

 

In 1991, it was decided to launch the Swadeshi Science Movement at all India level and named it as Vijnanabharati.

 

The foundation principle of VIBHA is made:

 

As a vibrant movement for the development of Swadeshi Sciences

 

As a dynamic Science Movement with a Swadeshi Spirit, interlinking traditional and modern sciences on the one hand, and natural and spiritual sciences on the other hand

 

As a Swadeshi Movement with modern sciences adapted to national needs

Source: Business Standard

3.India-Japan Cyber Security Deal

Recently, India and Japan have welcomed the finalisation of the text of a cybersecurity agreement that will promote cooperation in key areas such as 5G network and Artificial Intelligence.

Background

• The cooperation between India and Japan on 5G technology comes in the backdrop of growing reluctance by a significant number of countries globally to allow Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei to roll out 5G services in their territories.

• India and Japan commit to an open, interoperable, free, fair, secure and reliable cyberspace environment and to promote the Internet as an engine of innovation, economic growth, and trade and commerce.

Cyber security challenges

• Deloitte ranked Japan the fourth most vulnerable country to cyber threats, estimating that it is nine times more vulnerable than other Asian countries like South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

• Japan has been the target of large-scale cyber-attacks since 2010, including the well-publicised 2011 attack on Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Key Highlights of India-Japan Cyber Security Deal

• The agreement promotes cooperation in capacity building, research and development, security and resilience in the areas of:

  • Critical Information Infrastructure, 5G, Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• The Cyber Security Deal is expected to draw the attention of the stakeholders in the Indian 5G sector as it gets ready to open up for international operators.

• The cyber-security pact will also provide for sharing strategies and best practices to promote the integrity of the supply chain of information and communication technology (ICT) products.

• The pact will enhance cooperation in the area of cyberspace and emerging technologies and provide for protection of critical infrastructure and sharing of information on cyber security threats and malicious cyber activities.

Source: The Hindu

4. Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)

Recently, the Union Cabinet has approved the ratification of seven chemicals listed under Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).

• The regulation inter alia prohibited the manufacture, trade, use, import and export seven chemicals namely Chlordecone, Hexabromobiphenyl, Hexabromodiphenyl ether and Heptabromodiphenylether, Tetrabromodiphenyl ether and Pentabromodiphenyl ether, Pentachlorobenzene, Hexabromocyclododecane, and Hexachlorobutadiene.

About Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)

• It is a global treaty to protect human health and environment from POPs.

• The POPs are identified chemical substances that persist in the environment, bio-accumulate in living organisms, adversely affect human health/ environment and have the property of long-range environmental transport (LRET).

• India had ratified the Stockholm Convention in 2006.

• The Stockholm Convention is perhaps best understood as having five essential aims:

• • Eliminate dangerous POPs, starting with the 12 worst

  • Support the transition to safer alternatives

  • Target additional POPs for action

  • Cleanup old stockpiles and equipment containing POPs

  • Work together for a POPs-free future

• The Global Environmental Facility (GEF) is the designated interim financial mechanism for the Stockholm Convention.

• Initially, twelve POPs have been recognized as causing adverse effects on humans and the ecosystem and these can be placed in 3 categories:

  • Pesticides: aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene, mirex, toxaphene;

  • Industrial chemicals: hexachlorobenzene, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); and

  • By-products: hexachlorobenzene; polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD/PCDF), and PCBs.

Source: All India Radio

5.Natural Gas Marketing Reforms

Recently, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister has approved the 'Natural Gas Marketing Reforms'.

Objectives of the Natural Gas Marketing Reforms

• The objective of the policy is to prescribe standard procedures to discover market price of gas to be sold in the market by gas producers.

• It is aimed at developing a transparent and competitive process in the natural gas market.

• It has permitted Affiliate companies to participate in the bidding process in view of the open, transparent, and electronic bidding.

• It aims to provide standard procedures for sale of natural gas in a transparent and competitive manner to discover market price by issuing guidelines for sale by contractor through e-bidding.

• It will also grant marketing freedom to the Field Development Plans (FDPs) of those Blocks in which Production Sharing Contracts already provide pricing freedom.

Significance of Natural Gas Marketing Reforms

• It will bring uniformity in the bidding process across the various contractual regimes and policies to avoid ambiguity and contribute towards ease of doing business.

• The whole eco-system of policies relating to production, infrastructure and marketing of natural gas has been made more transparent with a focus on ease of doing business.

• These reforms will prove very significant for Atmanirbhar Bharat by encouraging investments in the domestic production of natural gas and reducing import dependence.

• These reforms will prove to be another milestone in moving towards a gas based economy by encouraging investments.

• The increased gas production-consumption will help in the improvement of environment.

• These reforms will also help in creating employment opportunities in the gas consuming sectors including MSMEs.

• The domestic production will further help in increasing investment in the downstream industries such as City Gas Distribution and related industries.

Source: PIB

6. International Barcode of Life (iBOL)

Recently, the Union Cabinet has approved the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) and International Barcode of Life (iBOL) on DNA barcoding.

About International Barcode of Life (iBOL)

• It is a Canadian not-for-profit corporation which was established in 2008.

• It is a research alliance involving nations that have committed both human and financial resources to enable expansion of the global reference database.

• Its objective is to transform biodiversity science by building the DNA barcode reference libraries, the sequencing facilities, the informatics platforms, and the analytical protocols.

• iBOL maintains the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD).

  • BOLD is a cloud-based data storage and analysis platform developed at the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics in Canada.

  • It consists of four main modules, a data portal, an educational portal, a registry of BINs (putative species), and a data collection and analysis workbench.

DNA Barcoding

 

It is a methodology for rapidly and accurately identifying species by sequencing a short segment of standardized gene regions and comparing individual sequences to a reference database.

 

Source: PIB

7.Implication of New H-1B Visa Regime

Recently, the US administration has said that it was announcing an “interim final rule” which will “strengthen” the non-immigrant work visa programme under the new H-1B visa regime.

What is an interim final rule under New H-1B Visa Regime?

• The executive policies announced by agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) require them to consult stakeholders and give them a notice period of 60 days and seek comments.

• The DHS has said that the USCIS would forgo the usual 60-day comment and notice period to immediately ensure that employing H-1B workers will not worsen the economic crisis caused by COVID-19.

What are the new proposed changes?

• The new rule will narrow down the definition of what constitutes a “specialty occupation”.

  • It implies that the companies and agencies which hire workers on H-1B visas will have a tough time proving to the immigration agencies that such employees are not available from the domestic pool of US workers.

• The second proposed change relates to companies allegedly making fictitious work offers to fictitious employees in order to fulfil their quota of H-1B visa applications approved.

  • The US administration has in the past alleged that both Indian and the US-based companies have often given H-1B work visa offers to foreign employees “just on paper”, thereby allowing them to evade some part of taxes, while also undercutting the jobs for eligible US workers.

• The third and final proposed rule change talks about better enforcement of the new H-1B norms which will be done through worksite inspections and monitoring compliance, before, during and after the H-1B work visa is approved.

Impact of changes on Indian IT and other H-1B visa holders

• The DHS has proposed to narrow down the definition of what would constitute a “specialty occupation” implies that the 65,000 visas issued every year would be brought down significantly.

  • The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had received about 2.5 lakh H-1B work visa applications and the Indians had applied for as many as 1.84 lakh or 67 per cent of the total H-1B work visas.

• The reduction in the overall quota of H-1B visa workers would still mean that the number of workers they would either have to shell out more money to hire local talent or pay more to the existing H-1B work visa holders.

• The proposed change could also impact global IT companies which hire H-1B visa workers in a great number.

Source: The Indian Express

8.Minimum Support Price (MSP)

Recently, the protest by farmers over the three farm bills has a direct connection with the Minimum Support Price - Public Distribution System (MSP-PDS) regime.

What is Minimum Support Price (MSP)?

• Minimum support price (MSP) is a “minimum price” for any crop that the government considers as remunerative for farmers and hence deserving of “support”.

• It is also the price that government agencies pay whenever they procure the particular crop.

• The Centre currently fixes MSPs for 23 farm commodities i.e.:

  • 7 cereals (paddy, wheat, maize, bajra, jowar, ragi and barley);

  • 5 pulses (chana, arhar/tur, urad, moong and masur);

  • 7 oilseeds (rapeseed-mustard, groundnut, soyabean, sunflower, sesamum, safflower and nigerseed); and

  • 4 commercial crops (cotton, sugarcane, copra and raw jute).

• The centre is not legally bound to pay the MSPs even if the open market rates for the said produce are ruling below their announced floor prices.

How are MSPs determined?

• The Centre fixes MSPs for every Kharif and Rabi season based on the recommendations of the Commission of Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).

• While calculating the Minimum Support Prices (MSPs), the CACP consider the following costs:

  • A2: Covers all cash and in-kind expenses incurred by farmers on seeds, fertilizers, chemicals, hired labour, fuel, irrigation etc.;

  • FL: Actual costs plus an imputed value of unpaid family labour; and

  • C2: Includes A2+FL along with revenues forgone on owned land (rent) and fixed capital assets (interests).

Source: The Indian Express

9.Rhinoceros Beetle

Recently, the Coconut Research Station, Veppankulam, has advised farmers engaged in replanting coconut seedlings in areas affected by cyclone Gaja to adopt an integrated approach to check rhinoceros beetle attack in trees.

About Rhinoceros Beetle

• The Asiatic rhinoceros beetle, coconut rhinoceros beetle or coconut palm rhinoceros beetle is a species of rhinoceros beetle of the family Scarabaeidae.

• It is a pest which cuts the leaves of coconut in a ‘V’ shape.

• It is native to Asia, between India and Indonesia.

• The coconut rhinoceros beetle is most closely associated with its preferred host plant, Cocos nucifera L., the coconut palm.

• The visual signs such as holes bored at the base of leaves and V-shaped feeding damage help locate this beetle.

• The Rhinoceros beetles are herbivorous insects named for the horn-like projections on and around the males' heads.

• The Green muscardine fungus (Metarrhizium anisopliae) can be sprayed to check the perpetuation of the pest.

Source: The Hindu

10. Nobel Prize 2020 for Genome Editing

Recently, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020 for discovering one of gene technology’s sharpest tools i.e. the CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors.

Background

• Emmanuelle Charpentier was studying a bacteria called Streptococcus pyogenes and noticed a previously unknown molecule called tracrRNA.

  • The tracrRNA was part of the bacteria’s immune system and it helps the bacteria destroy viral DNA.

• In 2011, Charpentier and Doudna succeeded in recreating the bacteria’s scissors and reprogramming it and then proved that they can now use these scissors to cut any DNA molecule at a required site.

What is CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors?

• CRISPR is an abbreviation for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats.

• The bacteria that have survived a virus infection add a piece of the genetic code of the virus into its genome as a memory of the infection.

• The technology has had a revolutionary impact on the life sciences and is contributing to new cancer therapies and may make the dream of curing inherited diseases come true.

What Applications Are Possible With CRISPR-Cas Systems?

Gene silencing

• With the use of a target-specific CRISPR RNA (crRNA) and trans-activating crRNA (tracrRNA), or a fused format called a single guide RNA (sgRNA), locations within complex mammalian genomes can be targeted by the Cas9 endonuclease for a double stranded break.

• The crRNA, tracrRNA, and sgRNAs can either be transcribed intracellularly, in vitro transcribed or custom synthesized and introduced through transfection.

• The Intracellular expression of Cas9 endonuclease can be accomplished by plasmid or integrated lentiviral expression vectors driven by constitutive or inducible promoters.

DNA-free CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing

• The system uses no CRISPR-Cas9 components in the form of DNA vectors i.e. each component is either RNA or protein.

• The use of DNA-based Cas9 or guide RNA expression systems carries with it the possibility of undesirable genetic alterations due to plasmid DNA integration at the cut site or random lentiviral vector integrations.

• A DNA-free gene editing system can be a good choice for creating engineered cell lines.

Homology-directed repair (HDR)

• The CRISPR-Cas9 induced double-strand break can also be used as an opportunity to create a knockin, rather than a target gene knockout.

• The precise insertion of a donor template can alter the coding region of a gene to “fix” a mutation, introduce a protein tag, or create a new restriction site.

Embryonic stem cell and transgenic animals

• CRISPR-Cas systems can be used to rapidly and efficiently engineer one or multiple genetic changes to murine embryonic stem cells for the generation of genetically modified mice.

Transient activation of endogenous genes (CRISPRa or CRISPRon)

• By employing a Cas9 mutant that cannot cut DNA and to which a transcriptional activation domain has been fused, the expression of endogenous genes can be up-regulated by targeting the Cas9 fusion protein to the promoter region of an endogenous target gene, or multiple genes simultaneously.

Source: The Indian Express

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