Ten relevant news updates from across the world, useful for examinations
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Headlines - 22 - 06 - 2021
- Social Issues - White foods consumption increases manifold - Bakery and condiment industries, which use refined wheat flour and white sugar as main ingredients, have grown exponentially. White foods are the processed and refined foods, like refined wheat flour, white rice, white bread, white pasta, and simple sugars like white refined sugar, honey, and high fructose corn syrup. Harmful impacts of white foods consumption are many, and it was inversely associated with poor glycaemic control. Evidence has linked large consumption of refined sugar, particularly in the form of sugary drinks, with obesity and abdominal fat accumulation that leads to diabetes and heart diseases. Sugars were directly associated with greater risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma, small intestine cancer and pleural cancer. Along with pink, blue, and black salts, white table salt is essential to health. But it produces negative health outcomes such as high blood pressure, chronic kidney disease, and osteoporosis when consumed in excess.
- Environment and Ecology - Sea levels around Lakshadweep to rise - A study projected that sea levels will rise around Lakshadweep Islands due to the impact of global warming. This for the first climate model projection used to assess the potential areas of inundation over the archipelago of Lakshadweep Islands in the Arabian Sea. It will affect airport and residential areas close to the present coastline. The study estimated that smaller islands Chetlat and Amini are expected to have major land-loss. The larger islands Minicoy and the capital Kavaratti are also vulnerable to sea-level rise, and expected to experience land-loss along 60% of the existing shoreline. Sea-level rise effects are seen to have the least impact on Androth Island under all emission scenarios. It could have wide socio-economic impact. Projected inundation due to sea-level rise can impact the islanders as residential areas are quite close to the present coastline. Also, the only airport in the archipelago is located at the southern tip of Agatti Island, and has a high likelihood of damage due to inundation from sea-level rise.
- Agriculture - Sale of illegal HTBt cotton seeds doubles - The illegal cultivation of herbicide tolerant (HT) Bt cotton saw a huge jump this year, Sale of illegal seed packets more than doubled from 30 lakh last year to 75 lakh. BT Cotton is a genetically modified crops that produces an insecticide to combat the Cotton bollworm, a common pest. The GM crop has a gene artificially inserted from another species to provide some desired properties like pest resistance herbicide tolerance drought resistance. However, concerns are raised over its negative impact on Environment human health and crop diversity. Currently BT Cotton is the only GM crop allowed for commercial cultivation in India but herbicide tolerant BT Cotton has not been approved by regulators. They are available in the black market along with BT brinjal and HT Soya seeds. HTbt Cotton variant makes the plant resistant to the the herbicide 'glyphosate'. But that has a carcinogenic effect and can result in spread of herbicide resistance to near by plants through pollination.
- World Economy - World Investment Report 2021 - The World Investment Report 2021 was released by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). It says that India was the fifth largest recipient of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the world, and FDI increased 27% to USD 64 billion (2020) from USD 51 billion (2019), due to the acquisitions in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry. The second wave of the COVID-19 in India weighs heavily on the country's overall economic activities but its strong fundamentals provide optimism for the medium term. The investments from India may stabilise in 2021, supported by resumption of free trade agreement (FTA) talks with the European Union (EU) and its strong investment in Africa. The global FDI flows have been severely hit by the pandemic and they plunged by 35% in 2020 to USD 1 trillion. COVID-19 led lockdowns around the world slowed down existing investment projects and prospects of a recession led multinational enterprises (MNEs) to reassess new projects. The pandemic boosted demand for digital infrastructure and services globally, which led to higher values of greenfield FDI project announcements targeting the ICT industry, rising by more than 22%. While some large economies in developing Asia like China and India recorded FDI growth in 2020, the rest recorded a contraction.
- Healthcare and Medicine - Monoclonal Antibodies - A study showed that the experimental monoclonal antibody cocktail, REGEN-COV2, was found to be a life-saving treatment for some of the most severely affected Covid-19 patients. To fight a viral infection, human bodies create proteins called antibodies. Monoclonal antibodies are artificial antibodies that mimic the activity of our immune systems. They are produced through a process that involves extracting specific antibodies from human blood and then cloning them. These monoclonal antibodies are designed to target a virus or its specific part. E.g., REGEN-COV2 is a cocktail of two monoclonal antibodies developed to target the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. The monoclonal antibodies bind to specific parts of the spike protein, blocking its ability to infect healthy cells. Besides Covid-19, monoclonal antibodies have been used in the treatment of cancers as well as Ebola and HIV. Some monoclonal antibodies have shown the ability to retain activity against multiple variants of the virus. But Monoclonal antibodies are not approved for use in those hospitalised with severe Covid-19 and those requiring oxygen. Some emerging variants like the Delta Plus “variant of interest” have also displayed the ability to nullify the use of monoclonal antibodies.
- Indian Economy - Farmers' protests - According to the 'State of Environment in Figures 2021' report released by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), there was a fivefold increase in major farmers’ protests since 2017. In 2017, there were 34 major protests across 15 States. The number has now shot up to 165 protests across 22 States and Union Territories. This was due to the three contentious Central farm laws, apart from procurement and agricultural market price-related failures. 12 of these are pan-India protests, including 11 agitations against the three farm reform laws introduced in 2020. Battles against acquisition of farm land for development projects, including highway and airport construction, are the prime cause of 17 agitations. At least seven agitations have been to demand loan waivers or to protest poor insurance coverage and delayed compensation. Although Punjab and Haryana farmers have caught the limelight for the recent protests outside Delhi, data shows that the largest number of recent protests have taken place in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
- Social Issues - Illegal adoption - The Supreme Court agreed to intervene after the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) sounded the alarm on a spate of complaints about illegal adoption of COVID orphans through private individuals and organisations. Social media posts are circulating that children are up for adoption, a plainly illegal act violative of the Juvenile Justice Act. The adoption of orphaned/abandoned/ surrendered children is lawful only after the adoption procedure as given under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 is followed and the final adoption order is passed by the prescribed authority. Section 74 of the Juvenile Justice Act prohibits the disclosure of identity of children with regard to the name, school, age, address or any information which would reveal the essential details of the child. Placing any confidential information about children in the public domain which would make them susceptible to trafficking, NCPCR statistics shows that 3,621 children were orphaned, 26,176 children lost either parent and 274 children were abandoned between April 1, 2021 to June 5, 2021.
- Social Issues - National Population Register (NPR) - Migrants belonging to six non-Muslim minority communities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, while applying for long-term visas (LTVs), can also produce National Population Register (NPR) enrolment slips as proof of the duration of their stay in India, according to a Union Home Ministry manual. The NPR number is part of an illustrative list of more than 10 documents that could be provided to apply for an LTV, which is a precursor to acquiring Indian citizenship either by naturalisation or registration under Section 5 and 6 of the Citizenship Act, 1955, for the six communities — Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Christians and Buddhists — from the three countries. The special provision of LTVs for Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan and Afghanistan was first made in 2011. Ministry officials assert that the awareness drive is not related to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA), which is intended to benefit undocumented migrants from the six groups who entered India before the 2014 cut-off date. The CAA is yet to implemented.
- Science and Technology - First chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) Therapy - The first CAR-T cell therapy (a type of gene therapy) in India was done at the Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai. The CAR-T cells were designed and manufactured at Bioscience and Bioengineering (BSBE) department of IIT Bombay with support from DBT/BIRAC, through National Biopharma Mission. The Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) is a not-for-profit Section 8, Schedule B, Public Sector Enterprise, set up by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science & Technology. Technical: Chimeric antigen receptor T cells are T cells that have been genetically engineered to produce an artificial T-cell receptor for use in immunotherapy. Chimeric antigen receptors are receptor proteins that have been engineered to give T cells the new ability to target a specific protein. The CAR T-cell therapy is used to treat certain blood cancers, and it is being studied in the treatment of other types of cancer.
- Health and Medicine - India on 21st June administered more than 80 lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses, the highest single-day number of jabs in the world. Thus India has vaccinated roughly the population of Israel or twice the population of New Zealand in a single day. The centralised free vaccination policy began on 21st June, under which the government will provide free COVID-19 vaccine to all Indian citizens above 18 years of age. Under the drive, the Centre would procure 75 per cent of vaccines and give them to states for free distribution to all citizens above the age of 18. It will also handle the 25 per cent vaccination that was with states till now under the liberalised plan announced earlier. China has made its own claims about the highest no. of jabs on a single day.
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