Pr

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CURRENT
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Modul
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SCI
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TECHNOLOGY
 Index
Sr. no. Topic Page no.

Noble Prizes
1. Nobel Prize in Medicine 5
2. Nobel Prize in Physics 5
3. Nobel Prize in Chemistry 6

Space
4. GSLV and INSAT 8

5. Rosetta Mission 9

6. GSAT 18 satellite 9

7. World largest telescope 10

8. Tiangong-2 10

9. NASAS BILI 11

10. Chinas Pulsar Satellite (XPNAV-1) 12

11. Indias first private mission to moon 12

12. RESOURCESAT-2A 13

13. Indias first privately build satellite deal 13

14. NASA mission to explore asteroids 14
15. 104 satellites launched 15
16. Chandrayaan-2 Mission 15

17. Telemetry and Tele-command Processor (TTCP) 16

18. Drones in Disaster Management 16

19. Gravitational wave telescope: NGARI 17

20. Chinas first fully owned satellite ground station 17

Diseases and Health

21. Malaria 18
22. Another news item related to Malaria Sri Lanka 18
Has Been Declared Malaria Free
23. Malaria in India 19
24. Zika 19
25. Dengue 20

26. Chikungunya 20
27. Ebola vaccine 22

28. Bird Flu 23

29. Mitochondrial Gene Therapy 23

30. Fixed Dose Combination (FDC) 26

31. Hematopoietic Stem Cells 26

32. Bio-similar drugs 27
33. E-Cigarettes 27
34. Omega-3 Fatty acid 28
35. Superbugs 28
36. Fluorosis 29

37. MCR-1 isolated 30

38. Nano Crush Technique To Treat Narrowing Of 30
Coronary Arteries
39. NeurocalyxCalycinus 31

Biotechnology
40. DNA: Data Storage 33
41. Second Generation Biofuels 33

42. Bio-fuel from Aquatic Seeds 34

43. DNA-tagging 34

44. Goats Bearing Superfine Wool Cloned 35

Defense Technology
45. Sarathi 36

46. Prithvi-II missile 36

47. Agni I 37
48. Agni 5 37

49. Pinaka mark-II 38

50. Ballistic Missile Defence programme 39
51. Nirbhay Missile 39

Food and agriculture related

52. Food Irradiation 41
53. Geographical Indication Tag 41

54. Mushroom cultivation 42

55. Tobacco Farming 43

56. Aquaponic Farm 43
57. Dead Zone in Bay of Bengal 44

New technological innovations

58. Indian Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio 45

59. Making brackish water potable 45

60. Marine oil problem 46
61. First Augmented Reality (AR) Institute 46

62. Nano-generator 47

63. Fast Neutron reactor 47

64. Virtual Tour 48
65. Solar Power Tree 48

66. CSIRS Technology for Leather Processing 49

67. Graphene from Soyabean 50
68. Solar cells from Human Hair 50

69. Electric paper 50

70. Water Wave Laser 51

Government schemes and related

71. National Initiative for Development and Harnessing 52
Innovations (NIDHI)
72. Regulation of e-Pharma 52

73. GUaRDIAN( Genomics for Understanding Rare 53

Disease, India Alliance Network) project
74. Hyperloop 53

75. Digital terrestrial transmission by 2023 54

76. Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan 54

77. Policy on Synthetic Biology 55

78. National Vaccine Regulatory Authority 56

79. Biotech-KISAN 56
80. Cattle Genomics 57

81. BHIM app 57

82. Cloud seeding 57
83. Bharat QR Code 59

84. Tri Netra 59

Global Science developments

85. Project Loon 60

86. Coalition for epidemic preparedness and 61

innovations
87. New Way To Produce Nuclear Fuel Using Electricity 61

88. Nano-ceramic material 62

89. LIDAR Technology 62
 Nobel Prizes
Nobel Prize in Medicine

Yoshinori Ohsumi, a Japanese cell biologist was awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for
his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy.

About
Autophagy is a greek term for self-eating.
It is a fundamental process for degrading and recycling cellular components.
This discovery of the mechanism of autophagy will aid in the fight against diseases such as cancer,
Parkinsons disease and Alzheimers.

Nobel Prize in Physics

The Nobel Prize 2016 in Physics was awarded to David J. Thouless, F. Duncan M. Haldane and
J.MichaelKosterlitz for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of
matter.

About
 Topology refers to the study of geometrical properties and spatial relations unaffected by the continuous
change of shape or size of figures
It is referred to as the modern version of geometry.
The scientists studied different phases (such as solid, liquid and gas) of different materials.
These phases were characterized using topology.
The study is being applauded as the meeting point of topology and phase transitions.
It will make the study of phase transitions easier.

Nobel Prize in Chemistry

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2016 was awarded to Frenchman Jean-Pierre Sauvage, British-born Fraser
Stoddart and Dutch scientist Bernard Ben Feringa for developing miniscule machines at the molecular
level.

About
These molecular machines with controllable movements can perform a task when energy is added.
Machines will eventually prove to be invaluable - doing things no other machines can do.
 Space
GSLV and INSAT

ISROs GSLV F05 spacecraft has successfully placed INSAT 3DR satellite into a Geostationary Transfer Orbit
(GTO) which will station in geosynchronous orbit.

About INSAT-3DR:
It is an advanced weather satellite to provide a variety of meteorological services to the country.
It will provide imaging in Middle Infrared band to provide night time pictures of low clouds and fog.
It can also provide Imaging in two Thermal Infrared bands for estimation of Sea Surface Temperature
(SST) with better accuracy.

About GSLV F05:

It was the tenth flight of India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle.
This is the third successful launch with the indigenous cryogenic engine in GSLV.
It is a three-staged vehicle and cryogenic engine is used in the third and final stage.
GSLVs are used to carry heavy satellites (usually 2 to 2.5 tonnes) into Geostationary Transfer Orbit.

Other facts
It was the first operational flight of GSLV carrying Cryogenic Upper Stage, making the GSLV-MkIII
significant.
INSAT-3DR satellite continues the mission of the INSAT-3D satellite, which was launched in 2013.
INSAT 3DR will be able to map vertical changes of humidity, temperature and ozone content in Earths
atmosphere, thus enhancing nations meteorological capabilities.
GSLV-F05 has indigenously developed cryogenic upper stage as its fourth stage.
The INSAT-3DR carries a multi-spectral Imager, one of the four payloads.
It will generate images of the Earth from a geostationary altitude of 36,000 km every 26minutes.
It intends to provide information on parameters such as sea surface temperature, snow cover, cloud
motion winds, among others.
The major users of the service will be the Indian Coast Guards, Airports Authority of India (AAI),
Directorate General of Shipping, Defense Services and fishermen.
The Indian service region will cover a large part of the Indian Ocean and will also include Bangladesh,
Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Seychelles, Sri Lanka and Tanzania for providing distress alert services.

Important facts for Prelims

GSLV Mark III is intended to launch satellites into geostationary orbit and as a launcher for an Indian crew
vehicle.
The GSLV-III features an Indian cryogenic third stage and a higher payload capacity than the current GSLV.
Its development began in 2009-10.
A geostationary satellite is an earth-orbiting satellite, placed at an altitude of approximately 35,800 kilo
Metres directly over the equator, which revolves in the same direction the earth rotates (west to east).
A geostationary orbit, geostationary Earth orbit or geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO) is a
circular orbit 35,786 kilo metres (22,236 mi) above the Earth's equator and following the direction of the
Earth's rotation.
 A cryogenic rocket engine is a rocket engine that uses a cryogenic fuel or oxidizer, that is, its fuel or
oxidizer (or both) is gases liquefied and stored at very low temperatures.
cryogenic propellants (liquid Hydrogen and liquid Oxygen) are used in this engine.

Rosetta Mission

A landslide on a comet has been documented by astronomers for the first time in images that reveal the
dramatic collapse of a 100 metre-long cliff.

About
Rosetta is set to complete its mission in a controlled descent to the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenkos
surface.
The Mission was launched in 2004 and arrived at Comet 67P/Churyumov Gerasimenko on August 6, 2014,
after a 10-year journey through the Solar System.

Objective
To help understand the origin and evolution of the Solar System.

Why comet was chosen for probe?

Comets composition reflects the composition of the pre-solar nebula out of which the Sun and the planets
of the Solar System formed, more than 4.6 billion years ago.
Therefore, an in-depth analysis of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko by Rosetta and its lander Philae
will provide essential information to understand how the Solar System formed.
It is the first mission to orbit and land on a comet that makes Rosetta one of the most complex and
ambitious missions ever undertaken.
It is the first spacecraft to witness, at close proximity, how a comet changes as it approaches the increasing
intensity of the Suns radiation.

Important facts for Prelims

Comets are sometimes called dirty snowballs or "icy mudballs".
They are a mixture of ices (both water and frozen gases) and dust that for some reason didn't get
incorporated into planets when the solar system was formed.

GSAT 18 satellite

Indias latest communication satellite, GSAT 18 was successfully launched from the spaceport of Kourou in
French Guiana, South America.

About
It is been built by ISRO and ISROs Master Control Facility at Hassan, Karnataka is controlling the satellite.
The Master Facility will also perform the initial raising manoeuvres using the Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM)
of the satellite, placing it in a circular Geostationary Orbit.
India does not have any launcher capable of carrying heavier satellites like GSAT-18.
However, Indian scientists are developing GSLV III to overcome the challenge.

Prelims facts
 GSAT satellites are Indias indigenously developed technologies of communications satellites used for
digital, audio, data and video broadcasting.
The GSAT series of geosynchronous satellites is a system developed by ISRO with an objective to make
India self-reliant in broadcasting services.
The repertoire of 10 GSAT satellites, a total of 168 transponders (out of which 95 transponders are leased
out to provide services to the broadcasters) in the C, Extended C and Ku-bands provides services to
telecommunications, television broadcasting, weather forecasting, disaster warning and search and rescue
operations.
Guiana Space Centre is usually a French and European spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French
Guiana, also used by India.
It is particularly suitable as a location for a spaceport as it fulfills the two major geographical
requirements of such a site:
it is near the equator, so that the spinning Earth can impart extra velocity to the rockets for free when
launched eastward,
it has open sea to the east, so that lower stages of rockets and debris from launch failures cannot fall on
human habitations
Master Control Facilityis a facility set up by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in
Hassan,Karnataka.
This facility is responsible for monitoring and controlling geostationary and geosynchronous satellites
launched by ISRO. This was the only Master Control Facility of ISRO from 1984 till another one was
established in Bhopal in 2005.

World largest telescope

Worlds largest telescope, Aperture Spherical Telescope or FAST began operations from Chinas Ghinzou
Province.

About
Measuring 500 metres in diameter, the telescope is stationed in a natural basin in the county of Pintang.
It took five years and an investment of $180 million to complete.
The telescope surpasses the 300 meter Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.
The telescope would search for signals from stars and galaxies as well as extra-terrestrial life.
The project demonstrates Chinas rising ambitions in space.

Facts important for Prelims

A telescope is an optical instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by
collecting electromagnetic radiation (such as visible light).
The big lens in the telescope (objective lens) collects much more light than your eye can from a distant
object and focuses the light to a point (the focal point) inside the telescope
A smaller lens (eyepiece lens) takes the bright light from the focal point and magnifies it so that it uses
more of your retina.

Tiangong-2

Tianzhou-1 is now on track to dock with the Tiangong-2 space laboratory, or "Heavenly Palace 2," where two
astronauts spent a month last October in China's longest-ever crewed spaceflight.
That crewed mission, called Shenzhou-11, lasted 33 days.
About
It is a space lab of china which was launched recently.
It is part of an ambitious plan, stretched along several phases, to establish a manned space station
around 2022.
It will be used for testing systems and processes for midterm space stays and refuelling.
It will house experiments in medicine and various space related technologies.

Prelims facts
Chinas first space station Tiangong 1 was launched in 2011 and went out of service earlier this year.
Tainzhou-1 is Chinas first cargo ship which will be docked with Tianwgong-2, in order to provide it with
fuel and other supplies. Tainzhou-1 will lift-off in April 2017.

NASAS BILI

NASA has developed a new instrument that could search for signatures of life on Mars.

About
NASA will be using BILI- Bio Indicator Lidar Instrument, fluorescence based remote sensing instrument.
It is similar to radar in principle and operation but instead of using radio waves.
It uses light to detect and ultimately analyze the composition of particles in the atmosphere.
Positioned on a rovers mast, BILI would first detect dust plumes.
Once detected, two ultraviolet lasers from the instrument would pulse light at the dust.
The illumination would cause the particles inside these dust clouds to resonate or fluorescence.
By analyzing the fluorescence, scientist could determine whether the organic particles in the dust have
been created recently or in the past.
BILI can detect small levels of complex organic materials from a distance of several hundred metres.
Therefore, it could detect bio-signatures in plumes above recurring slopes even the areas that are not
easily accessible by a rover.
Also, it could do ground-level aerosol analysis from afar. This reduces the chances of contamination of
sample.
BILIs measurements do not require consumables other than electric power and can be conducted over a
broad area.

Facts important for Prelims

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, after Mercury.
Named after the Roman god of war, it is often referred to as the Red Planet because the iron
oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance.
Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere, having surface features reminiscent both of the impact
craters of the Moon and the valleys, deserts, and polar ice caps of Earth.
The rotational period and seasonal cycles of Mars are likewise similar to those of Earth, as is the tilt that
produces the seasons.
Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, which are small and irregularly shaped. These may be
captured asteroids, similar to 5261 Eureka, a Mars trojan.
Liquid water cannot exist on the surface of Mars due to low atmospheric pressure, which is
about 61000 that of the Earths, except at the lowest elevations for short periods.
Mars can easily be seen from Earth with the naked eye, as can its reddish colouring.
Missions to Mars
 ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. Mars orbiter and lander (ESA)
MAVEN. Mars orbiter (NASA)
Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) Mars orbiter (ISRO)
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. In orbit at Mars (NASA)
Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity.
Mars Express and Beagle 2.
2001 Mars Odyssey.
ExoMars Rover.

Chinas Pulsar Satellite (XPNAV-1)

China recently launched a satellite into space to detect signs of pulsars.

About
The satellite operates in a Sun-synchronous orbit and will conduct in-orbit experiments using pulsar
detectors to demonstrate new technologies.
It was carried by a Long March-11 rocket, the 239th flight mission by a Long March carrier rocket series.

Prelims facts
A pulsar (short for pulsating radio star) is a highly magnetized, rotating neutron star that emits a beam of
electromagnetic radiation.
Neutron stars are very dense, and have short, regular rotational periods.
This produces a very precise interval between pulses that range roughly from milliseconds to seconds for
an individual pulsar.
A Sun-synchronous orbital so called a helio-synchronous orbit is a geocentric orbit that combines altitude
and inclination in such a way that the satellite passes over any given point of the planet's surface at the
same local solar time.

Indias first private mission to moon

Team Indus, a Bangalore-based private aerospace company is to send a spacecraft to the Moon on December
28, 2017 aboard an ISRO rocket.

About
The aim of the mission is to land this aircraft on moon, have it travel at least 500 metres, and beam HD
videos, images and data back to the Earth.
Except for the launch vehicles, all the technology to be used under the mission has been developed in-
house by the company
It is one of the four international teams running for the Google Lunar XPRIZE, a $30 million competition to
encourage private companies to take up space missions.
ISROs PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) would launch the spacecraft in a three-day window after
completing a rotation around the earth.
The space craft would land on Mare Imbrium, a region in the North western hemisphere of the moon.

Prelims facts
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)is an expendable launch system developed and operated by
the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
 It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites into Sun synchronous
orbits, a service that was, until the advent of the PSLV, commercially available only from Russia.
PSLV can also launch small size satellites into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).
In 2015 India successfully launched 17 foreign satellites belonging to Canada, Indonesia, Singapore, the
United Kingdom and the United States.
Some notable payloads launched by PSLV include India's first lunar probe Chandrayaan-1, India's
first interplanetary mission, Mangalyaan (Mars obiter) and India's first space observatory, Astrosat.
On 15 February 2017, India successfully launched a payload of 104 foreign satellites in polar orbit around
the Earth using PSLV tripling the previous record held by Russia for most number of satellites sent to
space in a single launch.

RESOURCESAT-2A

In its 38th flight PSLV-C36 successfully launched RESOURCESAT-2Asatellite from Satish Dhawan Space
Centerin Sriharikota.

This is the thirty-seventh consecutive successful mission of PSLV.

About
It is a remote sensing satellite which will provide information on water bodies, farm lands, crop extent,
forests, mineral deposits, coasts, rural and urban spreads for the next five years.
The satellite was launched into the Sun Synchronous Orbit at 825 km height.
Much like its predecessors RESOURCESAT 1 and 2, RESOURCESAT-2A also has a three tier imaging
system.
It is equipped with an Advanced White Field Sensor (AWiFS) that provides images of 56 metre resolution,
(LISS-3) Linear Imaging Self-scanning Sensor and LISS-4 provides image of 23.5m and 5.6m resolution
respectively.
RESOURCESAT-2A will be useful in crop area and production estimation, drought monitoring, soil
mapping, cropping system analysis and farm advisories generation.
For the first time ISRO used cameras on-board that showed the separation stages during the flight and the
deployment of solar panels of the satellite.

Prelims facts
SatishDhawan Space Centre or Sriharikota High Altitude Range is a rocket launch centre operated
by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
It is located in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
The IRS system is the largest constellation of remote sensing satellites for civilian use in operation today
in the world, with 11 operational satellites.
All these are placed in polar Sun-synchronous orbit and provide data in a variety of spatial, spectral and
temporal resolutions.

Indias first privately build satellite deal

ISRO for the first time has signed an agreement with a consortium of six companies to deliver Indias first
industry-built satellite by 2017

About
 The deal has been signed between ISAC (ISRO Satellite Centre) and six private companies.
The agreement includes assembly, integration and testing (ATI) of two spare navigation satellites in a row
in around 18 months.
This is the first time ISRO outsourced the construction of an entire satellite.
With this initiative, we can hope to see greater participation of Indian industries in space technology

Prelims facts
ISRO Satellite Centre, ISAC assembles Indias satellites for communication, remote sensing and navigation.

NASA mission to explore asteroids

NASA has announced launch of two missions to explore asteroids in search of clues about early solar system.

About
The first mission named
a) Lucy, scheduled to launch in 2021, will explore Jupiters Trojan asteroids
b) While the second named Psyche, to be launched in 2023, will explore a giant metal asteroid known
as 16 Psyche.
Lucy is slated to arrive at its first destination, a main belt asteroid, in 2025.
From 2027 to 2033, Lucy will explore six Jupiter Trojan asteroids.
This mission will help in gaining more information about our earth core like how it separated into layers
of crusts, mantle and core.
It will also help in understanding how the sun and its family of planets formed, changed over time, and
became places where life could develop and be sustained and what the future may hold.

Prelims facts
16 Psyche is massive asteroid in the primary asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Its distance from the sun is three times the distance of the earth from the sun.
It measures 130 miles (210 km) in diameter.
It is made of mostly iron and nickel, not ice and rock like other asteroids.
Asteroids are minor planets, especially those of the inner Solar System. The larger ones have also been
called planetoids.
These terms have historically been applied to any astronomical object orbiting the Sun that did not show
the disc of a planet and was not observed to have the characteristics of an active comet.
As minor planets in the outer Solar System were discovered and found to have volatile-based surfaces that
resemble those of comets, they were often distinguished from asteroids of the asteroid belt.
There are millions of asteroids, many thought to be the shattered remnants of planetesimals, bodies
within the young Sun's solar nebula that never grew large enough to become planets.
The large majority of known asteroids orbit in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, or
are co-orbital with Jupiter (the Jupiter trojans).
 104 satellites launched

PSLV-C37, ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle has successfully launched the 714 kg Cartosat-2 Series
Satellite along with 103 co-passenger satellites.

About
The total weight of all the 104 satellites carried on-boardPSLV-C37 was 1378 kg.
This was the thirty eighth consecutively successful mission of PSLV.
International customer satellites from USA (96) and one each from The Netherlands, Switzerland, Israel,
Kazakhstan and UAE were also carried among co-passenger satellites.

Prelims facts
Cartosat- 2 series is India's indigenously built earth observation satellite
Russian Space Agency held a record of launching 37 satellites in one go during its mission in June 2014.
India previously launched 23 satellites in a single mission in June 2015.

Chandrayaan-2 Mission

ISRO is planning to deploy a rover on the lunar surface in the Chandrayaan-2 mission.

About
After reaching the 100 km lunar orbit, the Lander, containing the Rover, will separate from the Orbiter.
The Lander then will soft land on the lunar surface at a specified site and deploy a Rover.
The six-wheeled Rover will move around the landing site insemi-autonomous mode as decided by the
ground commands.
The instruments on the rover will observe the lunar surface and send back data useful for analysis of the
lunar soil.
Collection of soil and rock sediments is not planned in this mission

Prelims facts
Chandrayaan-2 is India's second lunar exploration mission after Chandrayaan-1.
The mission is planned to be launched to the Moon by a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV
Mk II).
It includes a lunar orbiter, lander and rover, all developed by India.
The ISRO is planning to launch Chandrayaan-2 in the first quarter of 2018
Chandrayaan-1 was India's first lunar probe.
It was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation in October 2008, and operated until August
2009. The mission included a lunar orbiter and an impactor.
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced the project on course in his Independence Day speech on
15 August 2003.
The mission was a major boost to India's space program, as India researched and developed its own
technology in order to explore the Moon.
 Telemetry and Tele-command Processor (TTCP)

About
TTCP is used in Integrated Spacecraft Testing of Low Earth Orbit, Geostationary Orbit and Interplanetary
Spacecraft.
The Low earth orbit space-crafts typically use ISRO formats for telemetry and telecommand, for which
indigenous equipments are being used.
However, the interplanetary spacecraft use an international standard known as CCSDS (Consultative
Committee for Space Data Systems) which are being imported for this purpose.
As part of Make in India campaign, indigenous development of TTCP was taken up by ISRO.
This system now is able to meet the requirements of both CCSDS and ISRO standard.

Prelims facts
Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) was founded in 1982 for governmental and
quasi-governmental space agencies to discuss and develop standards for space data and information
systems.
Currently composed of "eleven member agencies, twenty-eight observer agencies, and over 140 industrial
associates," the CCSDS works to support collaboration and interoperability between member agencies
through the establishment of data and system standards.
Over 600 space missions have utilized data and systems standards created by CCSDS.

Drones in Disaster Management

North-Eastern Space Applications Centre (NE-SAC) of the Indian Space Research Organisation recently tested
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to assess several regional problems, ranging from measuring diseased
paddy fields to damage caused by frequent landslides.

About
Use of drones cuts much leg work that ground surveyors must take up.
Drone technology can reduce disaster worker exposure to unnecessary danger.
Drones provide unique viewing angles at low altitudes not possible from manned aircraft.
Drone technology is highly deployable. It can be launched in a variety of environments without the need
for a runway.
The area studied by a drone will be smaller compared to the area assessed from space by satellites.
The processing and storage of large amounts of data given by a drone are a problem.

Prelims facts
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without a human pilot
aboard.
UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS); which include a UAV, a ground-based
controller, and a system of communications between the two.
The flight of UAVs may operate with various degrees of autonomy: either under remote control by a
human operator, or fully or intermittently autonomously, by onboard computers.
Compared to manned aircraft, UAVs were originally used for missions too "dull, dirty or dangerous for
humans. While they originated mostly in military applications, their use is rapidly expanding to
 commercial, scientific, recreational, agricultural, and other applications, such as policing and
surveillance, product deliveries, aerial photography, agriculture, smuggling, and drone racing.
Civilian drones now vastly outnumber military drones, with estimates of over a million sold by 2015, so
they can be seen as an early commercial application of Autonomous Things, to be followed by
the autonomous car and home robots.

Gravitational wave telescope: NGARI

China has started the construction of two-phase Ngari wave observatory in Ngari territory of Tibet close to
Indian border, which will house worlds highest altitude Gravitational Wave Telescope.
The main aim of this project is to find more about the Big Bang theory which is about the birth and
configuration of the cosmos.

About
Phase 1 of the project consists of a telescope located at 5250m above sea level and expected to be
operational by 2021.
It will be able to detect and gather data on gravitational waves in northern hemisphere.
Phase 2 consists of series of telescopes to be constructed at 6000m above sea level and will expand the
observation frequency band to improve accuracy.
Ngari is one of the worlds best spot because of high altitude, clear skies and minimum human activity

Prelims facts
Gravitational waves are ripples in the curvature of space-time that propagate as waves at the speed of
light, generated in certain gravitational interactions that propagate outward from their source.
Predicted in 1916 by Albert Einstein on the basis of his theory of general relativity, gravitational waves
transport energy as gravitational radiation, a form of radiant energy similar to electromagnetic radiation.
Gravitational waves cannot exist in the Newton's law of universal gravitation, since that law is predicated
on the assumption that physical interactions propagate at infinite speed.
On February 11, 2016, the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration teams announced that
they had made the first observation of gravitational waves, originating from a pair of merging black holes
using the Advanced LIGO detectors.
On June 15, 2016, a second detection of gravitational waves from coalescing black holes was announced.
Besides LIGO, many other gravitational-wave observatories (detectors) are under construction.

Chinas first fully owned satellite ground station

China has launched its first fully- owned overseas satellite ground station in Sweden which will enable China
to collect satellite data at a very high speed than its current capability.

About
This would play an important role in China's Gaofen project - a network of observation satellites orbiting
the Earth to provide global surveillance capabilities - which is due to be completed in 2020.
This project would halve the time taken to download the satellite data from present scenario.

Prelims facts
Gaofen Project is an ambitious space project of China that aims to launch seven high-definition
observation satellites before 2020.
 It will also support Beidou project which is a navigation project to give a domestic positioning system of
China as an alternative to GPS.

Diseases and Health

Malaria

A new compound bicyclic azetidine series was discovered that was found to act on all three stages of the
malaria parasite.

The use of chirality of molecules to cheat the malaria parasite from causing infection in humans is also
deriving positive results.

About
The compound was found to cure the disease with a single, low dose treatment.
It can also provide prophylaxis; prevent disease transmission both in lab and in animals.
It works by targeting the parasites protein translation machinery.
Protein translation is vital at every stage of the plasmodium life cycle. Since protein translation is quite
vital for the parasites functioning, mutation is quite unlikely.
Therefore, there are less chances of parasite developing drug resistance against the compound.
This discovery can be a stepping stone in the treatment of the disease and will also pave way for more
therapeutic arsenals in the coming year

About Chirality
Bio molecules are symmetrical in nature. This property is called chirality.
In case of a chiral structure, the carbon atom is central to the molecule while all other elements can be
arranged in left handed or right handed way.
The constituents of proteins i.e amino acids have a chiral structure and all naturally occurring proteins are
made up of L-amino acids.
Chiral properties of the L-amino acids are being used to curb the life cycle of Plasmodium Falciparum
Plasmodium Falciparum is one of the malaria parasites that cause particularly virulent form of the disease.
This parasite has a complex life cycle and one of the important steps is the invasion of red blood cells by
this parasite.
During the invasion of RBCs, two proteins (AMA1 and RON2) form a junction known as apical membrane.
It is at this juncture chiral property of biomolecules can be used by cheating the malarial parasite.
Chemically synthesized mirror image of the protein is replaced with the L-amino acid rendering the
protein dysfunctional for forming the junction.

Another news item related to Malaria Sri Lanka Has Been Declared Malaria
Free

Details
After certifying that the life-threatening disease had been completely eliminated in the island as WHO
declared Sri Lanka Malaria-free.
 Apart from Sri Lanka, only the Maldives and Singapore have been declared free of the disease in the Asia.

Malaria Worldwide
According to 2015 data of WHO, there were 214 million new cases of malaria and 438,000 deaths from the
illness worldwide.
The African region accounted for most, or 88%, of new cases followed by the Southeast Asia at 10%, and
the eastern Mediterranean at 2%.

Malaria in India

Although the number of cases of malaria have come down from 2 million to approximately 1,12,000
between 2000 and 2015, it continues to affect a large section of population.
According to a WHO report, 80 % of malaria cases in India are reported in north and north east India
where only 20 % of the country's total population lives.
Lessons From Srilanka: Grassroots surveillance and early detection of the disease is key to defeating the
parasite

Prelims facts
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease affecting humans and other animals caused by parasitic
protozoans (a group of single-celled microorganisms) belonging to the Plasmodium type.
The disease is most commonly transmitted by an infected female Anopheles mosquito.

Zika

In just one week, Zika cases in Singapore have gone from zero to 242 which has raised concerns about a
potential rapid surge in cases across Asia.

About
It is a viral infection transmitted by the bite of an infected Aedes mosquito, which is also the carrier of
dengue and chikungunya viruses.
Zika has mild effects for most people but doctors believe infection during pregnancy can result in babies
with small heads, which is known as microcephaly, and other serious developmental disorders.
Roughly 2.6 billion people could be at risk of zika

Control mechanism
Uniform strategy wont work. It requires different measures in different countries.
To prevent Zika from becoming entrenched in local population of an area, all confirmed cases must be
admitted to a public hospital until they recover and test negative for the virus. This will prevent further
spread.
Pre-emptive approach could be undertaken by regular inspections at residential and commercial premises
to remove the breeding habitats of vectors and prevent the transmission of diseases.
Community-level implementation of small interventions to prevent water accumulation in coolers, manhole
lids, tyres and water tanks along with general cleanliness particularly in the urban areas are required
The virus doesn't cause symptoms in most people and only mild symptoms, usually, in those who do get
sick, so people can be asked to voluntarily give blood or urine samples to see if they've been infected.
Use mosquito repellents. Almond oil with few drops of neem oil can be effective.
 Beside this robust and accurate surveillance, modelling studies, heat maps of global data and release of
sterile mosquitoes can be seriously taken into consideration.
In Miami's Wynwood neighbourhood, both aerial spraying for adults and use of larvicides to kill baby
mosquitoes worked well in helping control an outbreak of Zika. This strategy can also be employed
elsewhere.

Dengue
About
Dengue is being reported in explosive proportions globally in recent decades, bringing with it a substantial
socioeconomic impact on individuals and society.
Mortality from it still prevails in developing countries, forming a formidable threat to public health.

In India
India has reported an annual average of 20,474 dengue cases (2006-12).
It surged to 40,571 with 137 deaths in 2014. In 2015, there were 100,000 cases and 220 deaths.
Urban hubs like the national capital New Delhi, and Kolkata and Bengaluru are fighting the endemic form
of dengue.
India is bearing an estimated total annual economic cost of $1.11 billion due to dengue, which includes
direct medical costs of $548 million

Control mechanism
Similar to as described above.

Prelims Facts
Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne tropical viral disease spread by several species of mosquito of the Aedes
type, principally A. aegypti.
In a small proportion of cases, the disease develops into the life-threatening dengue hemorrhagic fever,
resulting in bleeding, low levels of blood platelets and blood plasma leakage, or into dengue shock
syndrome, where dangerously low blood pressure occurs

Chikungunya

US researchers have developed a vaccine for chikungunya made from an insect-specific virus Eilat virus since
it only infects insects and has no impact on people, making the vaccine safe and effective.

About
There is currently no commercial chikungunya vaccine.
Traditionally, vaccine development involves tradeoffs between how quickly the vaccine works and safety.
The newly-developed vaccine quickly produces a strong immune defence and completely protects mice
and nonhuman primates. It is still unable to prove effectiveness in humans.

Prelims facts
It is a fever caused by a Arbovirus that is transmitted between people by two types of mosquitos: Aedes
albo pictus and Aedes a egypti.
They mainly bite during the day.
 Arbo viruses were originally present only in the forest areas infecting primarily monkey species. Humans
were just incidental hosts.
But now due to the impact of industrialisation and loss of forest cover, these viruses have made humans as
their permanent hosts.
It is characterized by fever and severe joint pain in hands and feet, and may include headache, muscle
pain, joint swelling or rash.
The disease shares some clinical signs with dengue, and can be misdiagnosed.
There is no cure for the disease. Treatment is focused on relieving the symptoms. This is the first vaccine
treatment which may become a viable treatment in future.
The virus cannot spread from one human to another but can spread only by mosquitoes which get infected
while biting an infected individual, thereafter transmitting the virus by biting an uninfected individual.
Female mosquitoes need proteins from mammalian blood for their eggs to develop, which is why they bite
humans and due to this they spread to humans as certain viruses like the dengue and chikungunya viruses
collectively called Arbo virus(Arthropod Borne viruses) make use of this requirement of the mosquitoes to
ensure their own survival.
Like childhoods chicken pox, it happens only once in lifetime.

Control mechanism
At present there are no virus-specific detection methods and doctors have to resort to employing
antibody-specific testing which delays diagnosis by a great extent. This is a primary concern with respect
to chikungunya treatment and its effective diagnosis.
A lack of sensitive virus-specific diagnostic tools, an absence of drugs/vaccine, poor vector control
measures and public awareness contribute tremendously in escalating the problem in effectively
managing chikungunya.
Only effective method to control this hugely debilitating infection is intense vector control and public
health awareness programmes as described earlier.

Additional information

Fumigation
When cases of vector-borne diseases shoot up in the monsoon, some municipal Corporations ramped up
fogging, or fumigation to kill larva.
It is a mixture of Plumes of diesel and malathion.
As per the National Vector-Borne Disease Control Programs Operational Guidelines for Urban Vector-
Borne Disease Control 2016, one part of malathion is to be mixed with 19 parts of diesel.
Fumigation has however minimal impact on controlling the spread of vector borne diseases as it only
targets adult mosquitoes.
There is respite from mosquitoes for a few hours or a day at most after fogging, but then the mosquitoes
are back.

Recent news item

Researchers have identified specific metabolites that can potentially be used as biomarkers for distinguishing
dengue and chikungunya infections as well as co-infections by these two viruses.

The research was carried out at Delhis International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.

About
 Antigen and Antibody-based diagnostic tools are available for dengue and the diagnosis can be made
within the first few days of infection.
However, antigen-based diagnostic tools are not approved by the government and are therefore not used
in government hospitals.
On the other hand, only antibody-based diagnostic tools are available to detect chikungunya making it
difficult to diagnose it early. (Antibodies take time to develop).
Both chikungunya and dengue exhibit similar and overlapping symptoms making it challenging to
diagnose and more so in the case of a co-infection.
Currently, there are no tools for the diagnosis of a co-infection by chikungunya and dengue.
Diagnostics based on metabolites is highly sensitive making it easier to detect even the minor changes at
the molecular level both in case of mono and co-infection.
The metabolic clusters can be used for various applications- biomarkers, studying disease progression,
evaluating therapeutic potential of drugs and disease management

Prelims facts
Biomarker is a biologic feature that can be used to measure the presence or progress of disease or the
effects of treatment.
Antibody is a protein produced by immune system to fight outside invaders. Since the enemy substance
triggers the production of antibodies, such substances are called antigens-anti- being short for antibody,
and gen meaning "producer". (Similarly, an allergen produces an allergy, and a pathogen produces a
pathology or disease.)

Ebola vaccine

A new Ebola vaccine has been proved to give 100 percent protections in its final test results. The trial was
carried out in Guinea and the test results were released in The Lancet.

About
The vaccine called rVSV-ZEBOV was developed over a decade ago by the Public Health Agency of Canada
and United States Army.
The Ebola trial of this vaccine was led by World Health Organization, The Guinean Health Ministry and the
Norwegian Institiute of Public Health.
The vaccine is a ground-breaking discovery for protection against Ebola.
It will be highly effective in preventing the disease from spreading in case of a future outbreak.

Prelims facts
Ebola, also known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), is a viral hemorrhagic fever of humans and
other primates caused by Ebola viruses.
Signs and symptoms typically start between two days and three weeks after contracting the virus with
a fever, sore throat, muscular pain, and headaches.
Then, vomiting, diarrhea and rash usually follow, along with decreased function of the liver and kidneys.
At this time, some people begin to bleed both internally and externally.
The disease has a high risk of death, killing between 25 and 90 percent of those infected, with an average
of about 50 percent.
This is often due to low blood pressure from fluid loss, and typically follows six to sixteen days after
symptoms appear.
 The virus spreads by direct contact with body fluids, such as blood, of infected human or other animals.
This may also occur through contact with an item recently contaminated with bodily fluids. Spread of the
disease through the air between primates, including humans, has not been documented in either
laboratory or natural conditions.
Semen or breast milk of a person after recovery from EVD may carry the virus for several weeks to
months.
Fruit bats are believed to be the normal carrier in nature, able to spread the virus without being affected
by it.
Other diseases such as malaria, cholera, typhoid fever, meningitis and other viral hemorrhagic fevers may
resemble EVD. Blood samples are tested for viral RNA, viral antibodies or for the virus itself to confirm the
diagnosis.

Bird Flu

Recently Delhi has seen Bird flu (H5N1) scare and it has shut down Zoo, Deer park and other potential areas
where this strain could spread.

About
Avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, is an infectious viral disease of birds.
Most avian influenza viruses do not infect humans but some of them can cause serious infections in
people.
There are many types of influenza viruses that usually only infect birds; these are called avian influenza
viruses.
Very rarely, an avian influenza virus can also infect people. Some avian influenza viruses, such as H5N1 or
H7N9, have been associated with human disease.

Prelims facts
Avian influenza viruses are divided into 2 groups based on their ability to cause disease in poultry:
High pathogenicity viruses result in high death rates (up to 100% mortality within 48 hours) in
some poultry species. Most human cases of highly pathogenic infection have occurred in people
who had recent contact with sick or dead poultry that were infected with H5N1 viruses. About 60%
of people infected with the virus died from their illness.
Low pathogenicity viruses also cause outbreaks in poultry but are not generally associated with
severe disease.

Mitochondrial Gene Therapy

United Kingdom has allowed the first mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT) by allowing creation of a
three-parent baby a child in whom the vast majority of DNA comes from the mother and father and a
small amount of DNA comes from a female donor.

The procedure was done through the Pronuclear transfer technique.

About
The benefit of MRT is that it helps in preventing mitochondrial diseases which can be passed on from the
affected mother to the offspring.
The process can be done by two methods - Pronuclear transfer and Spindle transfer.
Prelims facts
Countries like India, USA etc. still have a ban on this technique.
Mitochondrial replacement (MRT, sometimes called mitochondrial donation) is a special form of in vitro
fertilisation in which the future baby's mitochondrial DNA comes from a third party. This technique is
used in cases when mothers carry genes for mitochondrial diseases.
It is a form of in vitro fertilization and involves removing eggs from a woman, removing sperm from a
man, fertilizing the egg with the sperm, allowing the fertilized egg to form a blastocyst, and then
implanting the blastocyst. It involves an additional egg from a third person, and manipulating both the
recipient egg and the donor egg.
In maternal spindle transfer (MST), an oocyte is removed from the recipient, and when it is in the
metaphase II stage of cell division, the spindle-chromosome complex is removed; some of cytoplasm
comes with it, so some mitochondria are likely included. The spindle-chromosome complex is inserted
into a donor oocyte from which the nucleus has already been removed. This egg is fertilized with sperm,
and allowed to form a blastocyst, which can then be investigated with preimplantation genetic
diagnosis to check for mitochondrial mutations, prior to being implanted in the recipient's uterus
In pronuclear transfer, an oocyte is removed from the recipient, and fertilized with sperm. The donor
oocyte is fertilized with sperm from the same person. The male and female pronuclei are removed from
each fertilized egg prior to their fusing, and the pronuclei from the recipient's fertilized egg are inserted
into the fertilized egg from the donor. As with MST, a small amount of cytoplasm from the donor egg may
be transferred, and as with MST, the fertilized egg is allowed to form a blastocyst, which can then be
 investigated with preimplantation genetic diagnosis to check for mitochondrial mutations, prior to being
implanted in the recipient's uterus.

Fixed Dose Combination (FDC)

The Delhi High Court set aside the Centres ban on 344 FDC drugs.

About
An FDC is a cocktail of two or more active drug ingredients in a fixed ratio of doses.
FDCs have advantages when there is an identifiable patient population for whom treatment with a
particular combination of actives in a fixed ratio of doses has been shown to be safe and effective and
when all of the actives contribute to the overall therapeutic effect.
Additional advantages of FDCs are potentially lower costs of manufacturing compared to the costs of
producing separate products administered concurrently, simpler logistics of distribution, improved
patient adherence and reduced development of resistance in the case of antimicrobials.
Dosage alteration of one drug is not possible without alteration of the other drug.
Differing pharmacokinetics of constituent drugs pose the problem of frequency of administration of the
formulation.
There are increased chances of adverse drug effects and drug interactions compared with both drugs
given individually.
The most pressing concern with irrational FDCs is that they expose patients to unnecessary risk of adverse
drug reactions

Hematopoietic Stem Cells

Researchers for the first time have discovered hematopoietic stem cells in Drosophila (fruit flies).
Till date there has been no evidence of hematopoietic stem cells in fruit flies and only the progenitor cells,
which are precursors to differentiated cells, were found in these flies.

About
Many diseases in humans are linked to the development of blood cells e.g. ,leukaemia and Fanconi
anaemia take root at an early embryonic stage.
To know how the development of blood cells in humans leads to these diseases has been difficult as the
early hematopoietic stem cell development takes place in a six-week-old embryo, it will be easy
henceforth after the discovery.
Fruit fly will serve as a good model as it shares many similarities with humans the signalling pathways
and a lot of molecules and processes are common.
Also, the way the hematopoietic stem cells are generated and the early process of blood cell development
are similar in vertebrates and in fruit flies.

Prelims facts
Stem cells are undifferentiated biological cells that can differentiate into specialized cells and
can divide (through mitosis) to produce more stem cells.
They are found in multicellular organisms.
In mammals, there are two broad types of stem cells: embryonic stem cells, which are isolated from
the inner cell mass of blastocysts, and adult stem cells, which are found in various tissues.
 In adult organisms, stem cells and progenitor cells act as a repair system for the body, replenishing adult
tissues.
In a developing embryo, stem cells can differentiate into all the specialized cellsectoderm, endoderm
and mesoderm but also maintain the normal turnover of regenerative organs, such as blood, skin, or
intestinal tissues.
There are three known accessible sources of autologous adult stem cells in humans:
Bone marrow, which requires extraction by harvesting, that is, drilling into bone (typically
the femur or iliac crest).
Adipose tissue (lipid cells), which requires extraction by liposuction.
Blood, which requires extraction through apheresis, wherein blood is drawn from the donor (similar to a
blood donation), and passed through a machine that extracts the stem cells and returns other portions of
the blood to the donor.
Stem cells can also be taken from umbilical cord blood just after birth. Of all stem cell types, autologous
harvesting involves the least risk. By definition, autologous cells are obtained from one's own body, just as
one may bank his or her own blood for elective surgical procedures.
Adult stem cells are frequently used in various medical therapies (e.g., bone marrow transplantation).
Stem cells can now be artificially grown and transformed (differentiated) into specialized cell types with
characteristics consistent with cells of various tissues such as muscles or nerves. Embryonic cell
lines and autologous embryonic stem cells generated through somatic cell nuclear
transfer or dedifferentiation have also been proposed as promising candidates for future therapies.
Hematopoietic stem cells are the stem cells that give rise to all the other blood cells.

Bio-similar drugs

About
A bio-similar product is a biological product that is approved based on a showing that it is highly similar to
an already approved biological product, known as a reference product, and has no clinically meaningful
differences in terms of safety and effectiveness from the reference product.
There is difference between small-molecule drugs and biologics.
Small-molecule drugs are small and fairly simple in their structure.
They are synthesized from chemicals in a consistent process so that manufacturers can be sure that each
pill has the same effect every time. Thus, their generics are easier to manufacture and consistent.
Biologic drugs, on the other hand, are made by biologic product.
They are made by a living cell, typically an engineered bacterium or a yeast. This gives them the capacity
to be chemically much more complicated.
They are bigger and heavier, and often less stable, so they require special handling like refrigeration.

E-Cigarettes

After the Karnataka State government banned sale (including online) and use of e-cigarettes in the State in
June 2016, teachers have noticed students switching to e-cigarettes which are banned for sale.

About
Electronic cigarettes are battery-operated devices designed to deliver nicotine with flavorings and other
chemicals to users in vapor instead of smoke.
Exposure of nicotine from e-cigarette use increases heart rate and produce measurable levels of blood
cotinine, a nicotine metabolite
Prelims facts
Nicotine is a potent parasympathomimetic stimulant and an alkaloid found in the night shade family
of plants.
Nicotine constitutes approximately 0.63.0% of the dry weight of tobacco.
Less than one millionth of that concentration (27 g/kg) is found in edible Solanaceae such
as eggplants and tomatoes.
It functions as an anti-herbivore chemical; consequently, nicotine was widely used as
an insecticide in the past and neo- nicotinoids such as imidacloprid are currently widely used.
An average cigarette yields about 2 mg of absorbed nicotine, and in lesser doses of that order, the
substance acts as a stimulant in mammals, while high amounts (50100 mg) can be harmful.
This stimulant effect is a contributing factor to the addictive properties of tobacco smoking.
Nicotine's addictive nature includes psychoactive effects, drug-reinforced behaviour, compulsive use,
relapse after abstinence, physical dependence and tolerance.

Omega-3 Fatty acid

A research found women who were prescribed 2.4 grams of long-chain omega-3 supplements during the
third trimester of pregnancy reduced their children's risk of asthma by 31 per cent.

About
Omega 3 fatty acid is a family of essential fatty acids (cannot be manufactured by the body) that play
important roles in the human body.
Omega-3 fatty acids are polyunsaturated, meaning that they have several double bonds in the chemical
structure.
The three most important types are:
i. ALA (alpha-linolenic acid)
ii. DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and
iii. EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid).
ALA is mainly found in plants, while DHA and EPA are mainly found in animal foods and algae.
They are found in fish oils, especially from salmon and other cold-water fish
They
i. Affect child's learning and behavior,
ii. lower risk of heart attack
iii. May help protect against Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

Prelims facts
A fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with a long aliphatic chain, which is either saturated or unsaturated.
They are important for all systems of the body to function normally
The two essential fatty acids that the human body cannot produce are : omega-3fatty acid and omega-6
fatty acids
Most omega-6 fatty acids in the diet come from vegetable oils, such as linoleic acid (LA), not to be confused
with alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), which is an omega-3 fatty acid.

Superbugs

World Health Organization (WHO) has recently provided a list of twelve Superbugs which pose an
enormous threat to human health.
WHO further urged medical experts and pharmaceutical researchers to focus first on fighting the most
dangerous among these pathogens.

About
Superbugs are a strain of bacteria that has become resistant to battery of antibiotic drugs after their
prolonged exposure to antibiotics.
Hence, the medicines become ineffective and infections persist in the body, increasing the risk of spread to
others.
Overuse (consuming more antibiotic than prescribed) and Misuse (taking prescribed antibiotic incorrectly
or taking antibiotic to treat viral infection) of antibiotics are the major reason for formation of Superbugs.
Human consumption ofantibiotic-treated chicken and livestock further increasing resistance.
Few prominent superbugs highlighted by WHO are MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus
aureus),Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Klebsiella, E. coli.
Klebsiella Bacteria has recently developed resistance to a powerful class of antibiotics called
carbapenems.

Fluorosis

A large population in Odishas Nuapada district suffering from crippled backbones on account of consumption
of high fluoride-laced water.

About
Fluorosis is usually caused by a high level of fluoride in drinking water
The earths crust has a high content of fluoride and so does the bore well water in endemic areas which is
often used as a source of water.
Regular intake of products manufactured with high-fluoride containing water may also cause fluorosis.
Vegetables and foods grown in endemic areas may also be high in fluoride content.
Fluoride is also found in toothpaste and other dental products. These may be harmful to people already
exposed to high fluoride levels.

Prelims facts
Water fluoridation is the controlled addition of fluoride to a public water supply to reduce tooth decay.
Fluoridated water has fluoride at a level that is effective for preventing cavities; this can occur naturally or
by adding fluoride.
Fluoridated water operates on tooth surfaces: in the mouth, it creates low levels of fluoride in saliva,
which reduces the rate at which tooth enamel demineralizes and increases the rate at which
it remineralizes in the early stages of cavities. Typically a fluoridated compound is added to drinking
water.
Defluoridation is needed when the naturally occurring fluoride level exceeds recommended limits.
World Health Organization suggested a level of fluoride from 0.5 to 1.5 mg/L (milligrams per litre),
depending on climate, local environment, and other sources of fluoride.
Bottled water typically has unknown fluoride levels.
 MCR-1 isolated

Scientists have isolated resistance causing mcr-1 gene in a strain of E.coli in India.

About
Mcr-1 gene is responsible for resistance against the antibiotic, Colistin- the last mile antibiotic that the
human race has currently access to.
Colistin belongs to a group of antibiotics called polymixins which are termed critically important by
WHO. It is used when no other antibiotic works.
Colistin resistance has been previously detected only in mutations in the chromosomal/genetic path. And
mutations do not spread from one patient to another.
On the other hand, mcr-1, the gene is found in the plasmid medium, a small DNA molecule outside of the
chromosomal DNA.
In other words, the infection can spread in hospitals and the community now.
Mcr-1 has already been detected in China, USA and Brazil.
Detection of mcr-1 gene in India is alarming news.
Colistin is used rampantly for non-therapeutic purposes such as growth promotion and disease
prevention in poultry, farming and aquaculture in India which makes the situation all the more vulnerable.
Although the government has advised to restrict usage of antibiotics, however no action has been taken of
yet.
Moreover, the discovery of new strain of antibiotic years away, the fight against AMR is a tough road
ahead.

Nano Crush Technique To Treat Narrowing Of Coronary

Arteries

In a breakthrough for treating abnormal narrowing of branching arteries, scientists have developed a new
stenting technique called Nano Crush.

This technique offers an easy, long-term treatment for the condition.

The technique is developed by a team of doctors at Fortis Hospital, Anandapur in Kolkata.

About
The Nano Crush technique is an easy and effective method of stenting the branching arteries, as it does not
affect the blood flow in any of the branches and offers a longterm solution.
This technique ensures minimal metal load with immediate and long-term results.
It is an improvement over the two-stent technique of bifurcation, which is difficult and cannot be
performed in all patients
Nano Crush method may be applied widely among patients with stenosis at branching points of arteries.
Blood Vessels get narrower because of
Smoking
High blood pressure
High cholesterol
 Diabetes or insulin resistance
Sedentary lifestyle
Narrowing of blood vessels decrease the blood supply to the tissue/organ leading to organ damage and
even in death, in cases where blood vessels involved supply blood to vital organs like heart, brain, kidney.

Existing Treatment has certain drawbacks

Traditional stents placed at such points often compromise one of the branches
Existing treatments for stenosis involve more metal and are difficult to execute.
The technique is time-consuming, difficult, technically demanding and leads to incomplete
revascularisation

Prelims facts
The blood vessels are the part of the circulatory system that transports blood throughout the human body.
There are three major types of blood vessels: the arteries, which carry the blood away from the heart;
the capillaries, which enable the actual exchange of water and chemicals between the blood and
the tissues; and the veins, which carry blood from the capillaries back toward the heart.

NeurocalyxCalycinus

Scientists at the Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute (JNTBGRI) have
confirmed the multiple therapeutic properties of Neurocalyxcalycinus used by the Cholanaickan tribe,
one of the particularly vulnerable groups in Kerala, to treat inflammations and wounds.

The researchers have filed for a patent on a novel herbal drug formulation possessing wound-healing,
burn-healing, anti-cancer, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, immuno- enhancing, platelet-augmentation and
anti-oxidant effects.

The scientists came to know of the miracle plant in 1988 during a biological survey deep inside the Nilambur
forests.

About
Neurocalyx Calycinus is a shrub endemic to South West India, found in evergreen forests.
This could offer scientists the key to new herbal formulations and modern drugs for the
treatment of cancer, wounds and burns.
The medicinal plant is used by the Cholanaickan tribe (one of the particularly vulnerable groups) in Kerala
to treat inflammations and wounds.
Animal trials have proved that the leaves of N.calycinus possess wound-healing properties comparable to
the standard drug Povidone/ Iodine in the early phase of inflammation.
The anti-inflammatory activity of the leaves was found comparable to the drug diclofenac sodium.
The pre-clinical trials confirmed the therapeutic effects of N.calycinus against burn wounds and pain,
besides its immuno-enhancing, platelet augmentation, and anti-oxidant potential.
The presence of high Vitamin E content and potent cytoprotective activity in cell lines has also enhanced
the prospects of developing an anti-cancer drug.

Prelims facts
Cholanaikkans are an ethnic group which primarily inhabit the southern Kerala, especially Silent Valley
National Park, and are one of the last remaining hunter-gatherer tribes of the region.
 The Cholanaikkans speak the Cholanaikkan language, a mixture of Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam.
The Cholanaikkan call themselves as Malanaikan or Sholanaikan. They are called Cholanaikan because
they inhabit the interior forests. Chola or shoals means deep ever green forest, and naikan means King.
They are said to have migrated from Mysore forests.
Nilambur is located close to the Nilgiris range of the Western Ghats on the banks of the Chaliyar River.
It has forests that contain bamboo, teak, rosewood etc.
Pothukal, Munderi and Karulai in the region are strongholds of extreme communist groups called
Naxalites.
 Biotechnology
DNA: Data Storage

A team from Microsoft and the University of Washington along with Twist Bioscience, a San Francisco startup,
reached a milestone by successfully storing 200 MB of digital data in DNA.

About
DNA has been carrier of genetic data for generations.
DNA possesses some of the attractive properties important for storing data.
It is very stable; synthetic DNA can remain intact for thousands of years.
DNA is never going to become obsolete as it holds blueprint of the living system.
It has high packing density- 1 kg of DNA is enough to store all the data available in the world.
But encoding and decoding data in DNA is a complex task, it requires more time and money.
However this limitation is fast erasing as with technological advancements storing data into DNA
structure will only become cheap, quick and less complicated.

Prelims facts
DNA is a molecule that carries the genetic instructions used in the growth, development, functioning
and reproduction of all known living organisms and many viruses.
DNA and RNA are nucleic acids; alongside proteins, lipids and complex carbohydrates(polysaccharides),
they are one of the four major types of macromolecules that are essential for all known forms of life.
Most DNA molecules consist of two biopolymer strands coiled around each other to form a double helix.

Second Generation Biofuels

Recently Second Generation (2G) Ethanol Bio-refinery was set up at Tarkhanwala, Bathinda (Punjab).

About
It is a fuel that is produced through contemporary biological processes, such as agriculture and anaerobic
digestion, rather than a fuel produced by geological processes such as those involved in the formation of
fossil fuels.
Depending on the origin and production technology of biofuels, they are generally called as the first,
second and third generation biofuels.

Prelims facts
First Generation Of Biofuels
1) They are made by converting food crops grown on prime cropland into biodiesel or ethanol, using
transesterification, or yeast fermentation, or through blending vegetable oils with fossil fuels, or
using pure vegetable oils in an engine.
2) First generation biofuels are made from sugar, starch, or vegetable oil. They differ from second
generation biofuels in that their feedstock (the plant or algal material from which they are
 generated) is not sustainable/green or, if used in large quantity, would have a large impact on the
food supply.
3) First generation biofuels are the original biofuels and constitute the majority of biofuels currently
in use.

Second Generation of Biofuels

They draw on previously unused (ligno-) cellulosic plant parts, such as straw or corn cobs.

Limitation Of First And Second Generation Of Biofuels

i. First- and second-generation biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel have a number of inherent
limitations that make them less than ideal as a long-term replacement for petroleum.
ii. These fuels cannot be used in unmodified engines above small blends and are not applicable to the
jet fuel market.
iii. Third and fourth generation biofuels are created using petroleum-like hydroprocessing, advanced
bio-chemistry, or revolutionary processes like Joules "solar-to-fuel" method

Third Generation of Biofuels

1) They are based on algal biomass production
2) They are presently under extensive research in order to improve both the metabolic production of
fuels and the separation processes in bio-oil production to remove nonfuel components and to
further lower the production costs.

Fourth Generation
They make use of novel synthetic biology tools and are just emerging at the basic research level

Biofuel from Aquatic Seeds

Scientists at IIT Kharagpur found a way to ramp up yields of biofuel sourced from commonly found aquatic
weeds such as water hyacinths.

About
A biofuel is defined as any fuel whose energy is obtained through a process of biological carbon fixation.
Biofuel can be characterized on the basis of their source biomass.
Aquatic weeds are those unabated plants which grow and complete their life cycle in water and cause
harm to aquatic environment directly.
Some limitations of Aquatic weed are that it reduces water storage capacity in reservoirs, tanks, ponds. It
also impedes flow and amount of water in canals and drainage systems.
It also reduces fish production by lowering oxygen levels and promoting nutrient assimilation. It also
interferes with navigation and aesthetic value of water body. It also promotes habitat for mosquitoes.

DNA-tagging

Andhra Pradesh is drafting a law that will enable collection and storage of genetic fingerprints in acentralized
database to track offenders.

About
 DNA fingerprinting is a laboratory technique used to establish a link between biological evidence and a
suspect in a criminal investigation.
DNA fingerprinting is also used to establish paternity, seed stock identification, the authenticity of
consumer products, and medical diagnosis.
In majority of cases where DNA of more than one person are found, DNA fingerprinting can identify the
criminals from other people, hence is accurate.
Itis more reliable than Narco analysis which is subjective and also DNA fingerprinting cannot be faked.
DNA testing as evidence is not provided under Indian Evidence Act 1872 and Criminal Procedure Code
1973.
The Union had created similar draft in 2012 which ran into controversy due to concerns around violation
of privacy rights.

Goats Bearing Superfine Wool Cloned

The world's first cloned goat bearing superfine Cashmere wool was born in north China's Inner Mongolia
Autonomous Region

About
Cashmere wool is obtained from Cashmere goats and other types of goat.
The Cashmere fibre from the goat is less than 13.8 micrometers thick, much finer than the average of 15.8
micrometers grown by the famous Erlang Mountain goats in Inner Mongolia

Prelims facts
In biology, cloning is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that
occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually.
Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments (molecular cloning),
cells (cell cloning), or organisms.
Cashmere goat
 Defense Technology
Sarathi

This is indigenously designed and built Indian Coast Guard Ship- third ship in the series of six Offshore Patrol
Vessels (OPV) commissioned recently.

About
The ship is designed to carry one twin engine Light Helicopter and five high speed boats including two
Quick Reaction Inflatable Boats for swift boarding operations, search and rescue, law enforcement and
maritime patrol.
The ship is also capable of carrying pollution response equipment to contain oil spill at sea.

Prithvi-II missile

Two Prithvi-II missiles were recently successfully test-fired from the launch complex-III of the Integrated
Test Range near Balasore in Odisha.
The Strategic Forces Command (SFC) fired the missiles from a road-mobile launcher.

About
Prithvi-II is a short-range surface-to-surface missile.
It was inducted into Indias armed forces in 2003.
Prithvi II is the first missile to be developed by DRDO under Indias prestigious IGMDP(Integrated Guided
Missile Development Program).
The twin-engine Prithvi-II is 8.56 metre in length, 1.1 metre in width and weighs 4,600 kg. It has the
ability to dodge enemy missiles.
The missile, capable of reaching targets 350 km away, can carry a 500-kg nuclear warhead
The battlefield missile has flight duration of 483 seconds and a peak altitude of 43.5km. Also, Prithvi is
Indiasfirst indigenously-built ballistic missile.
Prithvi-II has been designed to operate with both liquid and solid fuels and is capable of carrying both
conventional and nuclear payloads

Prelims facts
Strategic Forces Command (SFC) sometimes called Strategic Nuclear Command, forms part of
India's Nuclear Command Authority (NCA).
It is responsible for the management and administration of the country's tactical and strategicnuclear
weapons stockpile.
It was created on January 4, 2003 by Vajpayee Government.
 Agni I

The strategic missile, Agni-I, was recently test-fired from the Wheeler Island, off Damra village on the Odisha
coast.

The Strategic Forces Command (SFC) fired the missile positioned on a massive truck called a road-mobile
launcher.

About
Agni-I is a 12 tonne, 15 metre long, 700km range missile.
It has a specialised navigation system called Ring Laser Gyro- INS to ensure high degree of accuracy to hit
the target.
It is a single stage missile that is powered by solid propellants and can carry a nuclear warhead of 1000kg.
Agni-I can be fired from both road and rail mobile launchers at short notice.

Prelims facts
Dr. Abdul Kalam Island, formerly known as Wheeler Island, is an island off the coast of Odisha, India,
approximately 150 kilometres (93 mi) from the state capital Bhubaneswar.
The Integrated Test Range missile testing facility is located on the island.
The island was originally named after English commandant Lieutenant Wheeler. On 4 September 2015,
the island was renamed to honour the late Indian president.

Agni 5

Agni-5, India's longest range nuclear capable missile, was successfully test fired from the Kalam Island off
Odisha coast by the Defence Research and Development Organisation or DRDO. The intercontinental surface-
to-surface ballistic missile, the latest in India's "Agni" family of medium to intercontinental range missiles,
with new technology for navigation and guidance, gives India the strategic depth it needs to contain its
enemies.

About
It is Long Range, Surface-to-Surface Ballistic Missile
It is three-stage, surface-to-surface inter-continental missile.
Missile is nuclear-capable, can even reach the northernmost parts of China with its strike range of over
5,000-km.
Agni-V with its higher payload, Multiple Independently targetable Reentry Vehicle (MIRV) capability and
high accuracy give India a counter force capability.

Strategic Significance
The range of the missile indicates the ability to reach high value targets in China and the message that it
conveys is that in case of nuclear use against India, retaliation by the Agni-V would cause unacceptable
damage thereby punishing the adversary for initiating a nuclear strike on India.
Yet another notable advantage of the new missile is that it is solid fuelled which enables it to be rail and
road mobile. Indias extensive road and rail networks offer the option of moving the missile around, if
other logistic requirements of adequately hardened infrastructure and sufficient fuel reserves to ensure
freedom of movement can be met.
Solid fuelled missiles also offer the benefit of a quick response and longer storage life.
 The Agni-V also has implications for increasing Indias military capability in space. While India maintains a
firm position against weaponisation of space, trends are fast emerging among the most active space-faring
nations such as the USA, Russia and China to keep all options open.
Being a Ballistic missile Agni-V cannot be detected by the RADAR hence enhances the capabilities of
Indias defense strategy.

Prelims facts
The Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) was conceivedby renowned scientist
DR.A P J Abdul Kalam to enable Indian Attain selfsufficiency in the field of Missile Technology.
The IGMDP finally got approval from the Government of India on july 26,1983.
Top 5 Missile Systems Under Integrated Guided Missile Development Program(IGMDP) were:
Short-Range Surface-to-surface ballistic Missile Prithvi
Intermediate-Range Surface-to-Surface Ballistic missile-Agni
Short-Range Low-Level Surface-to-Air Missile-Trishul
Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missile-Akash
Third Generation Anti-Tank Missile-NAG

With a network of 52 laboratories, which are engaged in developing defence technologies covering
various fields, like aeronautics, armaments, electronics, land combat engineering, life sciences, materials,
missiles, and naval systems, DRDO is India's largest and most diverse research organisation.
The organisation includes around 5,000 The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is
an agency charged with the military's research and development, headquartered in New Delhi, India.
It was formed in 1958 by the merger of the Technical Development Establishment and the Directorate of
Technical Development and Production with the Defence Science Organisation. It is under the
administrative control of the Ministry of Defence, Government of India.
scientists belonging to the Defence Research & Development Service (DRDS)and about 25,000 other
scientific, technical and supporting personnel.

Pinaka mark-II

Pinaka rocket, which has now transformed into guided Pinaka, was successfully test fired from a defence
test facility off Odisha coast.

About
The earlier Pinaka version- Pinaka mark-I was an unguided rocket system.
It has now been transformed into a guided version- Pinaka mark-II, with a navigation, guidance and
control kit.
Pinaka-II has a range of more than 70 km (Pinaka-I has range of 40 km).
Pinaka is a multi-barrel rocket launch (MBRL) system used by the Indian Army.
Pinaka is an indigenous weapon system designed and developed by DRDO.
The launch system can fire a salvo of 12 rockets within 40 seconds.
The rockets can be fitted with wide range of warheads, including high explosive, antitank bomblet, anti-
personnel mines etc.
The system was used effectively in Kargil war.
 Ballistic Missile Defence programme

An indigenously developed interceptor missile successfully destroyed an incoming ballistic missile in a direct
hit.
It demonstrated the capability of Indias Ballistic Missile Shield (BMD), which is under development.

About
The Ballistic Missile Defence programme aims to provide an effective missile shield against
incoming enemy ballistic and nuclear missiles.
A hostile missile needs to be intercepted at boost (launch) point, mid-course (flight through space) or
terminal phase (during atmospheric descent).
The BMD is being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as a two
layered system to tackle incoming targets at endo and exo atmospheres.

Prelims
Ballistic Missile Defence Programme is an initiative to develop and deploy a multi-layered ballistic missile
defence system to protect from ballistic missile attacks.
Introduced in light of the ballistic missile threat from mainly Pakistan,it is a double-tiered system
consisting of two land and sea-based interceptor missiles, namely the Prithvi Air Defence (PAD) missile
for high altitude interception, and the Advanced Air Defence (AAD) Missile for lower altitude interception.
The two-tiered shield should be able to intercept any incoming missile launched from 5,000 kilometres
away.The system also includes an overlapping network of early warning and tracking radars, as well as
command and control posts.
The PAD was tested in November 2006, followed by the AAD in December 2007.
With the test of the PAD missile, India became the fourth country to have successfully developed an anti-
ballistic missile system, after United States, Russia, and Israel.
A ballistic missile is a missile that follows a ballistic trajectory with the objective of delivering one or
more warheads to a predetermined target.
A ballistic missile is only guided during relatively brief periods of flight (there are unguided ballistic
missiles as well, although these may well be considered rockets), and most of its trajectory is unpowered
and governed by gravity and air resistance if in the atmosphere.
This contrasts to a cruise missile, which is aerodynamically guided in powered flight.
Long range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) are launched on a sub-orbital flight trajectory and
spend most of their flight out of the atmosphere.
Shorter range ballistic missiles stay within the Earth's atmosphere.

Nirbhay Missile

About
It is an all weather, long range, subsonic cruise missile capable of carrying conventional and nuclear war
heads.
It is designed and developed in India by the Defence Research and Development Organisation.
It has a range of more than 1000 km.
It is powered by a solid rocket booster for take-off.
It is a two-stage missile system with loitering capability.
It is equipped with ring-laser gyroscope for accurate strikes.
It can fly at extremely low altitudes.
 Missile is enabled with terrain hugging technology which effectively means the missile can fly in the tree
levels. This method is instrumental in avoiding detection by enemy radar systems and can help in
reducing the reaction time of the enemies.

Prelims facts
A cruise missile is an unmanned self propelled (till the time of impact) guided vehicle that sustains flight
through aerodynamic lift for most of its flight path and whose primary mission is to place an ordnance or
special payload on a target.
They fly within the earths atmosphere and use jet engine technology. These vehicles vary greatly in their
speed and ability to penetrate.
Depending upon the speed such missiles are classified as:
i. Subsonic cruise missile.
ii. Supersonic cruise missile.
iii. Hypersonic cruise missile.
Subsonic cruise missile flies at a speed lesser than that of sound. It travels at a speed of around 0.8 Mach.
(Nirbhay is a subsonic cruise missile.)
Supersonic cruise missile travels at a speed of around 2.3 Mach i.e. It travels a kilometre approximately in
a second. (BRAHMOS is the only known versatile supersonic cruise missile system which is in service in
India.)
Hypersonic cruise missile travels at a speed of more than 5 Mach. Many countries are working to develop
hypersonic cruise missiles. (BrahMos Aerospace is also in the process of developing a hypersonic cruise
missile, BRAHMOSII would fly at a speed greater than 5 Mach.)
 Food and agriculture related
Food Irradiation

India and Russia are collaborating to set up integrated irradiation centres in India to reduce agricultural
losses.

About
It is a technology that improves the safety and extends the shelf life of foods by reducing or eliminating
microorganisms and insects.
In this food products are subjected to a low dosage of radiation to treat them for germs and insects,
increasing their longevity and shelf life.
Prevention of Foodborne Illness to effectively eliminate organisms that cause foodborne illness, such as
Salmonella and Escherichia coli
Preservation to destroy or inactivate organisms that cause spoilage and decomposition and extend the
shelf life of foods.
Control of Insects to destroy insects in or on tropical fruits imported into the United States. Irradiation
also decreases the need for other pest-control practices that may harm the fruit.
Delay of Sprouting and Ripening to inhibit sprouting (e.g., potatoes) and delay ripening of fruit to
increase longevity.
Sterilization irradiation can be used to sterilize foods, which can then be stored for years without
refrigeration.

Geographical Indication Tag

As many as 272 products such as Sangli raisins, Banaras metal repousse craft and Beed custard apple have
been registered as geographical indications since September 2003, according to a government data.

During last fiscal year, 11 products have been registered as GI from states including Maharashtra and Uttar
Pradesh. In 2015-16, 26 items got GI status.

About
GI status is an indication that identifies goods as produced from a particular area, which has special
quality or reputation attributable to its geographical origin.
It confers
Legal protection to the products.
Prevents unauthorised use of a GI by others.
Helps consumers get quality products of desired traits.
Promotes economic prosperity of producers of goods by enhancing demand in national and
international markets.

Prelims facts
The GI tag is an indication which is definite to a geographical territory. It is used for agricultural, natural
and manufactured goods.
 Indias Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration & Protection) Act 1999, has come into force with
effect from September 15, 2003.
For a product to get GI tag, the goods need to be produced or processed or prepared in that region. It is
also essential that the product has special quality or reputation.
Under the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, geographical indications are
covered as an element of intellectual property rights (IPRs).
They are also covered under the WTOs Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)
agreement.
The famous goods which carry this tag include Basmati rice, Darjeeling Tea, Chanderi Fabric, Mysore Silk,
KulluShawl, Kangra Tea, Thanjavur Paintings, Allahabad Surkha, FarrukhabadPrints, LucknowZardozi and
Kashmir Walnut Wood Carving

Mushroom cultivation

The first Indian Mushroom Growers Association (IMGA) was launched recently in national mushroom
industry interface meet made possible by the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Bengaluru.

About
Mushroom production is indoor activity using vertical space. Hence, it does not compete with agricultural
land and thus well suited to small farmers & landless labourers.
Many of its agricultural wastes can be utilised to produce quality food and organic manure for field crops.
Mushroom has high bio-efficiency i.e. conversion of dry substrate into fresh mushroom.
It can generate self-employment, alleviate poverty and improve socio-economic status for women, youth
and unemployed in the rural areas.
It can provide nutritional security particularly to poor people through incorporating mushrooms in their
diets.

What can be done?

It should be declared as agricultural activity and benefits of electricity tariff should be provided
accordingly.
Suitable machineries for mushroom production should be developed indigenously at reasonable cost in
the country.
Identify strains suitable for fresh and processed product.
Establish strong link between mushroom industry and R&D establishments.
Value added products of mushrooms should be popularised.
Awareness should be created about nutritional and medicinal values of mushrooms with a view to boost
mushroom consumption in the country.

Prelims facts
A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on
soil or on its food source.
A fungus is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such
as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms.
These organisms are classified as a kingdom, Fungi, which is separate from the other eukaryotic life
kingdoms of plants and animals.
A characteristic that places fungi in a different kingdom from plants, bacteria, and some protistas
is chitin in their cell walls.
 Similar to animals, fungi are heterotrophs; they acquire their food by absorbing dissolved molecules,
typically by secreting digestive enzymes into their environment.
Fungi do not photosynthesise.
Growth is their means of mobility, except for spores (a few of which are flagellated), which may travel
through the air or water.
Fungi are the principal decomposers in ecological systems.

Tobacco Farming

COP7 meet for WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) was held in New Delhi recently,
health authorities and Governments across the Southeast Asia region and the world explored how best
they can support tobacco farmers as demand-targeted initiatives make their mark.

Details
In the backdrop of declining demand for tobacco products among wealthier countries and measures to
roll-back tobacco consumption in the developing world supporting the tobacco farmers and finding
alternative livelihood has become necessary to secure their future.
Providing training that gives the skills needed for tobacco farmers to diversify their crops and income,
while also emphasising tobacco's harmful environmental and health outcomes for consumers and farmers.
Industry strategies to promote tobacco farming must be identified and regulated and policies should be
developed to protect tobacco growers and workers from industry practices that fix prices or create
conditions that are disadvantageous.
Raising awareness among tobacco farmers so that they can increase their autonomy, as well as creating a
network of civil society organisations able to monitor industry malpractices.
Appropriate research on market opportunities

Prelims facts
In India, Tobacco crop is grown in an area of 0.45 M ha (0.27% of the net cultivated area) producing ~ 750
M kg of tobacco leaf.
India is the 2nd largest producer and exporter after China and Brazil respectively.
In the global scenario, Indian tobacco accounts for 10% of the area and 9% of the total production.
It is grown largely in semi-arid and rain-fed areas where the cultivation of alternative crops is
economically unviable.
The distinctive and positive features of Indian tobacco include the lower levels of heavy metals, very low
levels of Tobacco Specific Nitrosamines (TSNAs) and pesticide residues compared to the other tobacco
producing countries in the world.
Endowed with varied agro-climatic conditions, India has the capacity to produce different styles of
tobacco ranging from coloury neutral filler to flavourful leaf catering to the needs of a wide variety of
customers globally.
In addition, production and processing costs of tobacco are also quite low in India, thus making the Indian
tobacco price-competitive and value for money.

Aquaponic Farm

In the backdrop of a huge demand for organic farming in the country and reports of high level of chemicals
and toxic in the vegetables the concept of kitchen gardening has come up. One such initiative is Aquaponic in
Gurugram Haryana.

About
Aquaponics, a technique that marries horticulture and aquaculture, helps the farmer raise fishes while he
also grows plants.
In aquaponics fish and plants are grown together in a tank. The tank has fishes in it and on the sides of the
tank there are beds for plants. The water from the fish tank which is rich in nutrients due to the fish waste
goes into the plants.
The beds for supporting the plants can be made using material such as thermocol sheets or gravel.

Importance
The setup cost of aquaponic farm might be higher than conventional farms, but the operational cost is
much less.
There is no need for fertilizers and the water requirement is 90% less than that required in conventional
farming.
It suits greatly to the demand of organic fruits and vegetables
The yield from aquaponics is two times higher than that of conventional farming.
However, there remains one restriction that fruits and vegetables which grow underground cannot be
grown using aquaponics

Dead Zone in Bay of Bengal

The Bay of Bengal hosts a dead zone of an estimated 60,000 square kilometres - Scientists have uncovered
evidence that this area is showing signs of one of nature's most lethal marine features.

About
It can be a reminder of the rising artificial eutrophication and steps that needs to be taken to
make the coastal communities eco-friendly.
These hypoxic situations and formation of dead zones supports microbial processes that remove vast
amount of nitrogen from the ocean.
Bay of Bengal is close to large human populations that need food produced by nitrogen based fertilizers
There are fears of more oxygen depletion in the ocean waters which can cause removal of excess nitrogen
hurting the food security.

Prelims facts
Dead Zones are areas inside the ocean that lack oxygen and cannot support the complex life
systems that allow marine life to flourish most marine life either dies, or, if they are mobile such as fish,
leave the area - forming a biological desert.
There are many physical, chemical, and biological factors that create dead zones, but nutrient pollution is
the primary cause of those zones created by humans.
Dead zones are well-known off the western coasts of North and South America, Namibia and India in the
Arabian Sea.
 New technological innovations
Indian Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio

About
It is newly introduced new star rating methodology for AC by Bureau of energy efficiency (BEE) which
takes into account different climatic zones in India.
It measures energy efficiency of air-conditioners based on a weighted average of performance at outside
temperatures between 24 and 43C based on Indian weather data.
It will help usher in higher energy efficiency of appliances and reduce energy consumption under different
Indian climatic conditions.
ISEER is the ratio of the total annual amount of heat that the equipment can remove from the indoor air
when operated for cooling in active mode to the total annual amount of energy consumed by the
equipment during the same period

Prelims facts
The Bureau of Energy Efficiency is an agency of the Government of India, under the Ministry of
Power created in March 2002 under the provisions of the nation's 2001 Energy Conservation Act.
The agency's function is to develop programs which will increase the conservation and efficient use of
energy in India.
The government has proposed to make it mandatory for certain appliances in India to have ratings by the
BEE starting in January 2010.
The mission of Bureau of Energy Efficiency is to "institutionalise" energy efficiency services, enable
delivery mechanisms in the country and provide leadership to energy efficiency in all sectors of the
country. The primary objective would be to reduce energy intensity in the economy.

Making brackish water potable

Indian Institute of Technology, Madras has developed a technology that can make it possible to convert
brackish water into drinking water at about 12 paisa per litre and that too at much ease at home.

About
The researchers used a stack of tissue paper and carbonised it at high temperature to make graphene.
Graphite electrodes were then coated with the grapheme produced in the lab. When a small potential is
applied to the electrodes, the brackish water gets deionised to become potable water.
To render the graphene porous, silica precursors were added to the graphene and removed subsequently.
The removal of silica makes the graphene porous while retaining its structural integrity.
When the electrodes are dipped into brackish water and 1.8-volt potential is applied to the electrodes, the
sodium and chloride ions move towards respective electrodes and get adsorbed.
In about five minutes, the brackish water turns into potable water with less than 500 parts per million
(ppm) of sodium chloride, which is less than the permissible limit for drinking water.
Prelims facts
Brackish water or briny water is water that has more salinity than fresh water, but not as much as
seawater.
It may result from mixing of seawater with fresh water, as in estuaries, or it may occur in brackish fossil
aquifers.
Graphene is an allotrope of carbon in the form of a two-dimensional, atomic-scale, hexagonal lattice in
which one atom forms each vertex.
It is the basic structural element of other allotropes, including graphite, charcoal, carbon
nanotubes and fullerenes.
It can be considered as an indefinitely large aromatic molecule, the ultimate case of the family of
flat polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
Graphene has many unusual properties. It is about 200 times stronger than the strongest steel. It
efficiently conducts heat and electricity and is nearly transparent.
Graphene shows a large and nonlinear diamagnetism,greater than graphite and can be levitated
by neodymium magnets.

Marine oil problem

Indian researchers have developed a membrane with exceptional hydrophobic and extremely high oil loving
(oleophilic) properties which can potentially be used for tackling the globally challenging issue of marine oil
spills.
When water-oil mixture is passed through the membrane the oil permeates by rapid absorption, while water
is retained above the membrane.

About
It was fabricated by mixing bulk metal-organic framework (MOF) material with a binder and solvent and
spray coated on to an inexpensive polypropylene substrate.
Ultra hydrophobicity nature was achieved by synthesising the MOF with a high density of fluorine;
fluorine is inherently hydrophobic in nature and any material that is fluorine-rich becomes hydrophobic.
It is water stable due to presence of Florine.

First Augmented Reality (AR) Institute

Indias first augmented reality (AR) education and training institute will be set in Varanasi.
The institution will be established by the central government in partnership with Eon Reality, an augmented
reality company based in the US.
While the company will invest two-thirds of the initial expense, the central government will bring in the rest.

About
Augmented reality is seen as the next big thing in the Internet revolution especially in learning and
practical training space
It will allow students from various ranges like skill schools, engineering, research, etc. to experience a
different kind of learning before entering the real-world workplace.
It will be a virtual manufacturing shop floor that will provide students from diploma to research level
hands-on training on high value machines that are beyond the budgets of institutions.
The institutions and the software deployed will be able to create virtual machines of many sectors-from
car design to the assembly line of an automobile firm, from textiles to heavy engineering machines.
 The idea goes well with the Skills India and Digital India initiative of the government.

Prelims facts
Augmented reality is a computer technology that functions on computer vision-based recognition
algorithms to augment sound, video, graphics and other sensor based inputs on real world objects, using
your devices camera.
It layers digital enhancements to enrich an existing real life setting by appealing to the senses.
Augmented 3D information helps workers on assembly lines, or during maintenance work and repair to
carry out required tasks

Nano-generator

Pune based Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) and the National Chemical Laboratory
have developed a nanogenerator that could produce up to 14 volts of electric power when thumb pressure is
applied.

To produce the nanogenerator, the researchers electrospun a piezoelectric polymer [P(VDF-TrFE)] directly
onto a flexible, conducting carbon cloth.

The carbon cloth was produced by heating a cotton cloth at 800 C for several hours in an inert atmosphere

About
Currently, there is considerable research emphasis to develop flexible or wearable devices like digital
watches, health gear etc. Such devices should be portable, lightweight, shock-resistant, and inexpensive.
An essential condition for these devices is that they should be powered by harvesting easily available
mechanical or vibration energy, making battery or related wiring redundant.
Thus, the development of such piezoelectric material is increasing. This invention can pave the way for
further development in this field

Prelims facts
Piezoelectricity is the electric charge that accumulates in certain solid materials (such as crystals, certain
ceramics, and biological matter such as bone, DNA and proteins) in response to mechanical stress.
It refers to electricity resulting from pressure.

Fast Neutron reactor

Russia has invited India to join it in developing the next generation nuclear reactors and to participate in its
fast-reactor research project.

The multipurpose fast reactor project, known by the Russian acronym MBIR, is coming up at the International
Research Centre in Dimitrovgrad located in the Ulyanovsk region in Russia.

About
A fast neutron reactor/fast reactor is a type of reactor in which nuclear fission chain reaction is sustained
by fast neutrons.
Such a reactor does not need any neutron moderator such as water which serves such a purpose in
thermal reactors.
 Fast reactors are beneficial in the sense that it can help in the reprocessing and deactivation of radioactive
waste material and produce energy as well.
MBIR, the fast reactor project follows the closed fuel cycle.
Transitioning to closed fuel cycle which is based on fast neutron reactors can solve five essential
problems: safety, competitiveness, shortage of fuel, reprocessing and refabricating the used nuclear fuel
and radioactive waste.
It also addresses the non-proliferation of fission materials and weapon technologies.

Details
The main purpose of the MBIR is to conduct large no. of reactor studies of Generation-4 nuclear systems.
MBIRs design includes three independent loops that can be used to test different coolants like gas, lead,
molten salt and others.
India is currently developing breeder reactors which will be fuelled by the countrys vast thorium
deposits.
The Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) is the latest Indian design for a next-generation nuclear
reactor.
Russia has also offered India a new breed of reactor units the VVER-Toi (typical optimised, enhanced
information design) for the third and fourth units of Kundakulam project in Tamil Nadu.

Prelims facts
The advanced heavy-water reactor (AHWR) is the latest Indian design for a next-generation nuclear
reactor that burns thorium in its fuel core.
It is slated to form the third stage in India's three-stage fuel-cycle plan.
India's three-stage nuclear power programme was formulated by HomiBhabha in the 1950s to secure the
countrys long term energy independence, through the use of uranium and thorium reserves found in
the monazite sands of coastal regions of South India.
The ultimate focus of the programme is on enabling the thorium reserves of India to be utilised in meeting
the country's energy requirements.
Thorium is particularly attractive for India, as it has only around 12% of the global uranium reserves, but
one of the largest shares of global thorium reserves at about 25% of the world's known thorium reserves.
However, thorium is not economically viable because global uranium prices are much lower

Virtual Tour

Google has tied up with Archaeological survey of India for 360-degree virtual tour of 280-odd monuments
across the country.

About
Virtual tour is a simulation of an existing location, usually composed of a sequence of videos or still
images.
It allows the viewer to move through the location by viewing a series of 360 degree panoramic images.

Solar Power Tree

Union Ministry for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences has launched the Solar Power Tree in New
Delhi.
It has been developed by the CSIR-CentralMechanical Engineering Research Institute (CSIR CMERI), a
constituent laboratory of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

About
This technology harnesses solar energy for producing electricity with an innovative vertical arrangement
of solar cells.
Almost akin to the architecture of a tree, with central trunk and solar panels acting like large leaves, it thus
reduces the requirement of land as compared to conventional solar photovoltaic layout, on one hand,
while keeping the land character intact on the other. Even cultivable land can be utilised for solar energy
harnessing along with farming at the same time.
The innovation finds its viability both in rural and urban areas.
It takes less land of only 4 sqft for a 5-kW solar power tree as compared to 400 sqft of land required in
case of the conventional solar photovoltaic layout.

Prelims facts
Solar panel refers to a panel designed to absorb the sun's rays as a source of energy for generating
electricity or heating.
A photovoltaic module is a packaged, connect assembly of typically 6x10 photovoltaic solar cells.
Photovoltaic modules constitute the photovoltaic array of a photovoltaic system that generates and
supplies solar electricity in commercial and residential applications.

CSIRS Technology for Leather Processing

Central Leather Research Institute has come out with a game changing technology to make leather processing
environmentally stable and to reduce chromium pollution load.

About
The technology is called Waterless Chrome Tanning Technology and is a first of its kind.
The sector hopes to achieve its target of USD 27 Billion by 2020 employing this technology.

Prelims facts
Chromium is the most sought after tanning agent with 2.0 billion sq. Ft of leather being made in India.
About 20 thousand tons of chrome tanning agent is discharged in water.
CSIR Waterless Chrome Tanning Technology has been accepted PAN India.
This technology completely eliminated two processes after and before tanning.
It also eliminates the use of water in tanning.
This process reduces the total dissolved solids in wastewater by 20%.
It also brings down the usage of chromium by 15-20% resulting in material saving.
Such technological interventions will help realise the vision of Make-in India.
It will promote environment friendly leather processing.
It will help promote global fashion forecasting for colours, design thus leading to increased trade and
exports.
 Graphene from Soyabean

Scientists have used a soybean to make the world's strongest material graphene commercially more viable.

About
Graphene form of carbon allotrope consisting of planar sheets (2D structure) which are one atom hick,
with the atoms arranged in a honeycombshaped lattice.
It is composed of carbon atoms linked in a hexagonal lattice.
It is about 200 times stronger than steel
It is better conductor compared to Copper
It is nearly transparent.
Its applicationsinclude Paints and coatings, lubricants, oils and functional fluids, capacitors and batteries,
thermal management applications, display materials and packaging, solar cells, inks and 3D-printers
materials and films.

Solar cells from Human Hair

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Kolkata have used human
hair to produce cost-effective, metal-free cathodes for use in solar cells.

About
Metal-free cathodes or carbon cathodes have been produced in the past however they lag behind the
metal ones in terms of efficiency and performance.
This human hair based graphitic porous carbon cathode, on the other hand, is at par with the metal ones
and more commercially viable.
The porosity, along with high surface area to volume ratio, plays an important role in adsorption-
desorption of electrolyte.

Details
This is a simpler, quicker and relatively cheaper process.
Unlike in the case of other synthetic porous carbons, no physical or chemical activation process or
templates is required.
The cathode was found to generate high open-circuit voltage, which is at par with conventional platinum
and activated carbon cathodes. Thereby, the power conversion efficiencies can also be enhanced.
This is the first instance where a bio-waste-derived electrode has been used as cathode in a quantum dot
sensitised solar cell device.

Electric paper

About
E-paper is a technology that mimics the appearance of ordinary ink on paper. The paper is similar to the
Kindle tablet.
The e-paper is less than a micrometre thin, bendable and gives all the colours that a regular LED display
does.
It isnt lit up like a standard display, but rather reflects the external light which illuminates it.
 Therefore, it works very well where there is bright light, such as out in the sun, in contrast to standard
LED displays that work best in darkness.
At the same time, it needs only a tenth of the energy that a Kindle tablet uses, which itself uses much less
energy than a tablet LED display.

Water Wave Laser

Scientists have created the first water-wave laser that emits a beam through the interaction of light and
water waves.

The research was conducted by Technion-Israel Institute of Technology students, Leopoldo Martin, Shmuel
Kaminski and ShaiMaayani, under the supervision of Professor Tal Carmon, the head of the
OptomechanicsCenter at the Mechanical Engineering Faculty at Technion.

About
There is the huge difference between the low frequency of water waves on the surface of a liquid and the
high frequency of light wave oscillations. Due to this the possibility of creating a laser through the
interaction of light with water waves has not been examined.
To compensate for this low efficiency, the researchers created a device in which an optical fibre delivers
light into a tiny droplet of octane and water.
Light waves and water waves pass through each other many times (about one million times) inside the
droplet, generating the energy that leaves the droplet as the emission of the water-wave laser.
The interaction between the fibre optic light and the miniscule vibrations on the surface of the droplet are
like an echo, where the interaction of sound waves and the surface they pass through can make a single
scream audible several times.
In order to increase this echo effect in their device, the researchers used highly transparent, runny liquids,
to encourage light and droplet interactions. Furthermore, a drop of water is a million times softer than the
materials used in current laser technology.
The minute pressure applied by light can therefore cause droplet deformation that is a million times
greater than in a typical optomechanical device, which may offer greater control of the lasers emissions
and capabilities.

Applications
It may be used in lab-on-a-chip devices to study cell biology and test new drug therapies.
The laser could be used in tiny sensors that combine light waves, sound and water waves.
The water-wave lasers could aid the scientists in studying the interaction of light and fluid at a scale
smaller than the width of a human hair.

Prelims facts
A typical laser can be created when the electrons in atoms become excited by energy absorbed from an
outside source, causing them to emit radiation in the form of laser light.
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated
emission of electromagnetic radiation. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for "light amplification
by stimulated emission of radiation
Gamma rays, X-rays, microwaves and radiowaves are light rays. Like all types of light, visible light is
emitted and absorbed in tiny "packets" called photons and exhibits properties of both waves and particles
 Water waves are surface waves, a mixture of longitudinal and transverse waves. Surface waves in
oceanography are deformations of the sea surface. The deformations propagate with the wave speed,
while the water molecules remain at the same positions on average. Energy, however, moves towards the
shore.

Government schemes and related

National Initiative for Development
and Harnessing Innovations (NIDHI)

NIDHI is an umbrella programme pioneered by the Department of Science and Technology. It works towards
nurturing knowledge-based and technology-driven ideas and innovations into successful start ups.

About
It also aims to provide technological solutions to the pressing needs of the society and create new avenues
for wealth and job creation.
NIDHI, by design connects and strengthens all the links of the innovation chain- scouting, sustaining,
securing, scaling and showcasing.
The key stakeholders of NIDHI includes various departments and ministries of the central government,
state governments, academic and R & D institutions, mentors, financial institutions, angel investors,
venture capitalists, industry champions and private sectors.
Components of NIDHI that support each stage of a budding start-up are:
i. PRAYAS (Promoting and Accelerating Young and Aspiring Innovators & Start- ups), which aims to
support innovators to build prototypes of their ideas by providing a grant up to Rs.10 lakhs and an
access to Fabrication Laboratory (Fab Lab).
ii. The Seed Support System which provides up to One Crore rupees per start-up and is implemented
through Technology Business Incubators.
With a view to drive the innovation and start-up centric new initiatives in a scaled up manner for its wider
outreach across the country, a 450% increase in allocation (Rs. 180 crores) has been made in the
Departments budget.

Regulation of e-Pharma

The Indian Internet Pharmacy Association under the ambit of FICCI recently announced the launch of self-
regulation code of conduct for the e-pharmacy sector.

About
E-pharmacy will process scheduled medicines only against a valid copy of prescription (physical or
scanned) of a registered medical practitioner and ensure that no schedule X and other sensitive habit
forming medicines are processed through their platform.
They must make reasonable effort to ensure that all the pharmacy partners are duly registered under the
Drugs and Cosmetics Act/ Rules.
The player must make suitable arrangements to ensure that the medicines are packed, transported and
delivered in such a way that their integrity, quality, and effectiveness are preserved
 E-pharmacy players must partner with government for any recall of medicines and collect adverse events
of medicines (consumer reports) and comply to submit them to National Centre for Pharmacovigilance.
The online pharmacy sector must ensure a proper mechanism to address any queries or grievances that
the customer may have and an ombudsman commission be appointed to address any public grievance.

GUaRDIAN( Genomics for Understanding Rare Disease, India

Alliance Network) project

It originated primarily as a research collaboration involving basic scientists and clinicians who got
together to explore potential translational applications of genomic technologies.
It is a large-scale collaborative network of clinicians from around India trying to use genomics in clinical
practice.
It aims at using cutting-edge genomics technology to enable identification of genetic variations in diseases
and enable clinicians arrive at precise diagnosis for rare genetic disease.
Project is funded by CSIR

Prelims facts
Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of science focusing on genomes.
A genome is a complete set of DNA within a single cell of an organism, and as such genomics is a branch of
molecular biology concerned with the structure, function, evolution, and mapping of genomes.
Genomics aims at the collective characterization and quantification of genes, which direct the production
of proteins with the assistance of enzymes and messenger molecules.
Proteins in turn make up body structures like organs and tissues as well as control chemical reactions and
carry signals between cells.
If a cell's DNA is mutated, an abnormal protein may be produced, which can disrupt the body's usual
processes and in some cases lead to diseases such as cancer.
In contrast to genetics, which refers to the study of genes and their roles in inheritance, genomics is the
study of genes, their functions, and related techniques, such as applications of recombinant DNA, DNA
sequencing methods, and bioinformatics to sequence, assemble, and analyze the function and structure of
genomes

Hyperloop

Recently, the government has referred the proposal to set up a hyperloop transportation system in the
country to NITI Aayog.

About
Hyperloop transportation system is a proposed mode of passenger and freight transportation that propels
a pod-like vehicle through a near-vacuum tube at more than airline speed.
The concept of high-speed travel in tubes has been around for decades. However, due to lack of technology
could not be tested.
Concept was reintroduced by billionaire inventor Elon Musk, CEO the aerospace firm SpaceX.
Musks Hyperloop consists of two massive tubes stretching between urban cities.
Pods carrying passengers would travel through the tubes at speeds topping out over 700 mph.
 Digital terrestrial transmission by 2023

The broadcast regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), has recommended introduction of
digital terrestrial transmission for broadcast services in a phased manner and complete shutdown of analog
transmission by end of 2023.

TRAI has recommended that DTT should be deployed in metros by December 2019 in phase 1, cities having
more than 10 lakh population as per Census 2011 should be covered by December 2021 and rest of India by
December 2023.

About
At present, terrestrial TV broadcasting in India is under the exclusive domain of
Doordarshan(PrasarBharati), the Public Service Broadcaster and it is predominantly analog.
The existing terrestrial TV platform provides only a few channels which do not offer a value proposition to
the viewers.

Prelims facts
Terrestrial transmission is a type of broadcasting in which signals are transmitted by radio wave from a
terrestrial transmitter. It is of two type:
a) Analog terrestrial transmission(ATT)
In analogue terrestrial television broadcasting only one signal is transmitted on a given frequency
channel.
b) Digital terrestrial transmission (DTT) Digital Terrestrial Transmission (DTT) broadcasting allows the
transmission of about 10 or more digital services in a single frequency channel, depending on the
technical parameters used and the quality of services desired.
It will provide crystal clear pictures and high quality audio through digital reception
There will be better overall reception, particularly if signal is weak
There will beccess to new free and Pay TV channels
There will be lower power requirements hence signals can be used by mobile devices.
It can provide a rich bouquet of SDTV, HDTV, UHTV, mobile TV channels, radio service and other value
added services.
There will be possibility to cost-effectively implement social programs in fields such as health and
education
It gives access to additional frequencies that may be used for essential services
The spectrum is used to transmit data over the air is scarce. To ensure optimum utilization of this valuable
resource, over 156 countries signed an ITU agreement in 2006, to switch from analogue to digital
transmission. By adopting digital transmission India can join the league of countries having DTT such as
Luxembourg.
The adoption of DTT will add to DIGITAL INDIA program and enable digital access in rural areas

Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan

The Union Cabinet has approved 'Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan' (PMGDISHA).
As per the 71st NSSO Survey on Education 2014, only 6% of rural households have a computer. This
highlights that more than 15 crore rural households (@ 94% of 16.85 crore households) do not have
computers. Thus a significant number of these households are likely to be digitally illiterate.

About
PMGDISHA is expected to be one of the largest digital literacy programmes in the world.
Under the scheme, 25 lakh candidates will be trained in the FY 2016-17; 275 lakh in the FY 2017-18; and
300 lakh in the FY 2018-19.
To ensure equitable geographical reach, each of the 250,000 Gram Panchayats would be expected to
register an average of 200-300 candidates.
The implementation of the Scheme would be carried out under the overall supervision of Ministry of
Electronics and IT in active collaboration with States/UTs through their designated State Implementing
Agencies, District e-Governance Society (DeGS), etc.
The PMGDISHA being initiated under Digital India Programme would cover 6 crore households in rural
areas to make them digitally literate.
This would empower the citizens by providing them access to information, knowledge and skills for
operating computers / digital access devices.

Prelims facts
According to World Economic Forums Annual Network Readiness Index which assess the information
and the communication capability of 140 nations, in 2013 India was at 68th position but in 2016 India has
slipped to 91st.
The BHARATNET project has not been able to provide broadband connectivity to rural panchayats. Thus
success of PMGDISHA will depend on infrastructure availability.
National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) is an ambitious initiative to trigger a broadband revolution in
rural area, which was envisaged as an information super-highway through the creation of a robust middle-
mile infrastructure for reaching broadband connectivity to Gram Panchayats.
The National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) aims to connect all the 2,50,000 Gram panchayats in the
country and provide 100 Mbps connectivity to all gram panchayats (GPs).
To achieve this, the existing fibres of PSUs (BSNL, Railtel and Power Grid) were utilised and incremental
fibre was laid to connect to Gram Panchayats wherever necessary. Dark fibre network thus created was lit
by appropriate technology thus creating sufficient bandwidth at the Gram Panchayats.
Non-discriminatory access to the NOFN was provided to all the service providers like Telecom Service
Providers (TSPs), ISPs, Cable TV operators and Content providers to launch various services in rural areas.
The NOFN project was funded by the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).
Based on NOFN experiences, newer, updated and upgraded version - BharatNet was conceived as a
nation-wide broadband network.

Policy on Synthetic Biology

Recently India took few steps to evolve a policy on synthetic biology.India currently has no policy on
synthetic biology.

Facts
Synthetic biology is an emerging science through which new life forms can potentially be made in labs and
existing life forms, such as bacteria and other microbes can be tweaked to produce specific proteins or
chemically useful products.
Synthetic biology holds promise for production of drugs, vaccines, fuel components and other chemicals.
Microorganisms have also been constructed to act as sensors that can detect a toxin in vitro (outside a
living organism) or in vivo (inside a living organism)
 National Vaccine Regulatory Authority

WHO recently declared Indian National Regulatory Authorityfunctional and awarded it highest rating 4 which
means 100% compliance with the WHO benchmarking , good result with sustained improvement trend and
stringent regulator of vaccine as per developed countries and European Union.

About
As Specified by WHO, NRAs are national regulatory agencies responsible for ensuring international
standards of quality and safety in vaccine production either for export or for public distribution.
It comprise of Central drugs standard control organization, State Drug Regulatory Authorities,
Pharmacovigilance Programme of India (PvPI) and Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI)
structures at the Central and States levels
It means that India has been classified as a stringent regulator of vaccines alongside developed countries
such as the US, Japan and EU member states.
It will boost Indian pharmaceutical companies to enter international markets and compete as drugs will
be of international standards.
It will also boost Make in India campaign by influx of investment and technology after improved global
confidence in Indian medicinal product.
India is major supplier of vaccine to UNICEF, the WHO and Pan American Health Organisation which in
turn supplies it to more than 100 countries therefore it will open up opportunities to hitherto untapped
markets and generate steady forex income

Prelims facts
Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) is the national regulatory body
for Indian pharmaceuticals and medical devices.
Within the CDSCO, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) regulates pharmaceutical and medical
devices, under the gamut of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The DCGI is advised by the Drug Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) and the Drug Consultative Committee
(DCC). It is divided into zonal offices which do pre-licensing and post-licensing inspections, post-market
surveillance, and recalls when needed.
CDSCO plans to open international offices in Beijing.

Biotech-KISAN

The Ministry of Science and Technology has launched Biotech-KISAN.

About
The Biotech-KISAN is a Farmer centric scheme launched by of the Department of Biotechnology, where
scientists will work in sync with farmers to understand problems and find solutions.
It is being developed in consultation with the farmers. Biotech-KISAN aims to link farmers, scientists and
science institutions across the country in a network that identifies and helps solve their problems in a
cooperative manner.
The scheme includes the Mahila Biotech- KISAN fellowships, for training and education in farm practices,
for women farmers. The Scheme also aims to support the women farmers/ entrepreneur in their small
enterprises, making her a grass root innovator.
Biotech-KISAN will connect farmers to best global practices; training workshops will be held in India and
other countries.
 In 15 regions, a Farmer organisation will be the hub connected to different science labs, KrishiVigyan
Kendra and State Agriculture Universities co-located in the region. The hub will reach out to the farmers in
the region and connect them to scientists and institutions.

Cattle Genomics

The Ministry of Science and Technology has launched this programme.

About
Through this programme, the government aims to improve the genetic health of the cattle population
through genomic selection. Genomic selection will ensure high-yielding, disease-resistant, resilient
livestock.
Genome sequencing of indigenous cattle breeds from all registered cattle breeds of India by involving
various stakeholders is to start soon.
The programme also envisages development of high-density DNA chips. This will reduce the cost and time
interval for future breeding programmes and productivity of indigenous cattle would be enhanced.

BHIM app

PM NarendraModi launched a digital payments app known as BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) App on
30th Decemeber 2016.

The app has been named after Dr. BabasahebBhimraoAmbedkar.

About
BHIM is a UPI-based digital payments app developed by the National Payments Corporation of India.
The app can be used both on Smartphones and feature phones.
The app will let you send money to the UPI accounts or addresses.
One can also send money via IFSC (Indian Financial System Code) and MMI (Mobile Indetofier Code) to
users that do not have UPI.
One can also generate a QR code for a specific amount. A merchant can deduct the said amount by
scanning this QR code.
Contrary to popular conception, it is not a mobile wallet like PayTM or Mobikwik. It a UPI-based app
which is directly linked to your bank account.
This app is supported by most banks that already have a UPI based app.
The BHIM app will support Aadhaar-based payments in future where transactions will be possible with
just a fingerprint impression.
If your account is UPI activated then all you need is the Virtual Payment Address (VPA) of the payee.
Once you put in the VPA, the app will verify the user.
If the payee does not have a UPI account then you can transfer money through IFSC code.
You can send up to Rs. 10, 000 per transaction and Rs. 20,000 in any 24 hours.

Cloud seeding

Maharashtra government has decided to conduct cloud seeding experiment next three year to tackle the
problem of frequent droughts in Vidarbha region.
This programme will be coordinated by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology and is part of larger
experiment of Earth Science Ministryto understand how clouds and aerosols interact and influence climate.

About
Cloud seeding, also known as weather modificationtechnique, is an artificial way to induce moisture in the
clouds so as to cause a rainfall.
In this process either silver iodide or potassium iodide or dry ice (solid carbon dioxide)is dumped onto the
clouds causing rainfall.
This method can be used to cause significant amount of rainfall over a specified area especially in location
where rain is deficient.
Several experiments have been conducted across India to protect drought affected areas. However they
were not very effective and gave mixed results.
It is not fool proof as different type of clouds may exist over a region and same type of seeding may not be
effective for all.
Moreover seeded clouds may actually travel to another location and do not cause precipitation on the
intended location questioning its effectiveness.
There are environmental consequences like spreading of harmful chemicals in atmosphere.
If not controlled properly, cloud seeding may result in undesirable weather conditions like flooding,
storms, hail, etc.
It is very expensive also.

Prelims facts
Vidarbha is the eastern region of Maharashtra, comprising Nagpur Division and Amravati Division. Its
former name is Berar.
Nagpur region is famous for growing oranges and cotton.
Vidarbha holds two-thirds of Maharashtra's mineral resources and three-quarters of its forest resources,
and is a net producer of power.
Vidarbha has TadobaAndhari Tiger Project, Melghat Tiger Project, Pench Tiger Reserve, Bor Wildlife
Sanctuary, Navegaon National Park, and Nagzira wildlife sanctuary near Gondia district.
Vidharba was ruled by the Vakataka dynasty in the 3rd and 4th centuries BCE.
Geographically Vidarbhalies on the northern part of Deccan Plateau. Unlike the Western Ghats, there are
no major hilly areas.
The Satpura Range lies to the north of Vidarbha region in Madhya Pradesh. The Melghat area of Amravati
district is on southern offshoot of the Satpura Range.
Large basaltic rock formations exist throughout Vidarbha, part of the 66-million-year-old volcanic Deccan
Traps. Gondia district is unique in Maharashtra in the sense that the entire area of the district is occupied
by metamorphic rock and alluvium.Buldhana has the Lonar crater created by impact
of meteorite or comet. The eastern districts of Gondia, Bhandara, Gadchirolli and Nagpur fall
in earthquake zone 1, which is considered safest in India, while other districts fall in zone 2.
Wainganga is the largest of all the Vidarbharivers. Other major rivers that drain Vidarbha region are
the Wardha, and Kanhan rivers which are all tributaries of Godavari river
There have been more than 200,000 farmers who committed suicide in Maharashtra in the last decade,
out of which more than 70% farmers belong to the 11 districts of Vidarbha region.
 Bharat QR Code

In its bid to promote digital economy in the country, Government of India has launched a new payment
method using QR codes.

After various new payment methods like UPI payment and BHIM App for smartphones, Government of India
has now launched Bharat QR code.

Bharat QR Code, the latest initiative to boost digital transactions, will make use of QR codes system for
payments across merchant outlets. The solution comes as a first of its kind throughoout the globe.

About
Bharat QR code has been developed jointly by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Visa,
MasterCard and American Express under instructions from Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
It works as common interface for the MasterCard/Visa/ RuPay platforms and also facilitate acceptance of
Aadhaar enabled payments and Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
It eliminates the need of using card swiping machines for digital payments.
Using Bharat QR code, the merchants will be required to display only one QR code instead of multiple
ones.
It will also eliminate the uncertainty of entering a wrong amount as all a customer would have to do is
scan and authenticate

Prelims facts
QR code (Quick Response code) is a two-dimensional (matrix) machine-readable bar code made up of
black and white square.
This code can be read by the camera of a smart phone.
It is capable of 360 degrees (omni-directional), high speed reading.
QR Code can store up to 7089 digits as compared to conventional bar codes which can store max 20 digits.
It carries information both horizontally and vertically. It has error correction capability and
data stored in it can be restored even if it is partially damaged or dirty.
UPI

Tri Netra

Ministry of Railways, Railway Board has initiated a proposal to install TRI-NETRA systems on locomotives for
enhancing the vision of Locomotive Pilots in inclement weather.

About
TRI-NETRA stands for - Terrain imaging for diesel dRiversINfra-red, EnhancedopTical&Radar Assisted
system.
TRI-NETRA system shall be made up of high-resolution optical video camera, high sensitivity infra-red
video camera and additionally a radar-based terrain mapping system. These three components of the
system shall act as three eyes (Tri-Netra) of the Locomotive Pilot.
TRI-NETRA is designed to see the terrain ahead of the running locomotive during inclement weather by
combining the images captured by the three sub-systems and to create a composite video image which
shall be displayed in front of the Loco Pilot on a computer monitor.
 During fog, heavy rain and also during night, the locomotive pilots face serious challenges in looking out
ahead to spot any obstruction on the track such as vehicles which get stuck while crossing the track or
trees or boulders which have fallen across the track etc.
Because of the heavy momentum of the running train, the train driver has to always adjust the speed of the
train such that he or she can stop the train on visually seeing the obstruction.
In fair weather and in daytime, this is not a problem since train driver has a clear view of the track ahead.
But in poor visibility, he has to reduce the speed suitably so that the brakes can be applied in time to stop
the train without hitting the obstructions.

Prelims facts
The concept of TRI-NETRA was developed by Development Cell under the guidance of Member
Mechanical, Railway Board while brainstorming on how to use the technology employed by fighter
aircrafts to see through clouds and operate in pitch darkness and the technology used by naval ships in
mapping the ocean floor and navigating in the night.

Global Science developments

Project Loon

The Project Loon team can now use machine learning to predict weather systems.

By using machine-learning algorithms, Google has found a way to predict weather with enough accuracy to
make it possible to hover balloons over a relatively small area for a long period of time.

The advance means Google has much more control over where its balloons reach, making it possible to focus
on a specific region, rather than circumnavigating the globe.

About Project Loon

It is a network of balloons travelling at high altitude and designed to extend Internet connectivity to
people in rural and remote areas worldwide.
The balloons float in the stratosphere around 18-20 kilometers high.
This particular altitude has been chosen as by raising or lowering altitude, the balloons can be caught in
different weather streams, changing direction.
Google uses solar panel and wind to power electronic equipment in the balloon throughout the day.

Prelims facts
Stratosphere is the second major layer of Earth's atmosphere, just above the troposphere, and below
the mesosphere.
About 20% of the atmosphere's mass is contained in the stratosphere.
The stratosphere is stratified in temperature, with warmer layers higher and cooler layers closer to the
Earth.
The increase of temperature with altitude is a result of the absorption of the Sun's ultraviolet radiation by
the ozone.
This is in contrast to the troposphere, near the Earth's surface, where temperatures decrease with
altitude.
 The border between the troposphere and stratosphere, the tropopause, marks where this temperature
inversion begins.
Near the equator, the stratosphere starts at 18 km (59,000 ft; 11 mi); at mid latitudes, it starts at 10
13 km (33,00043,000 ft; 6.28.1 mi) and ends at 50 km (160,000 ft; 31 mi); at the poles, it starts at about
8 km (26,000 ft; 5.0 mi).
Temperatures vary within the stratosphere with the seasons, in particular with the polar night (winter).
The greatest variation of temperature takes place over the poles in the lower stratosphere; those
variations are largely steady at lower latitudes and higher altitudes.

Coalition for epidemic preparedness

and innovations
India will lead the global fight against epidemics as it is a member of the newly formed Coalition for Epidemic
Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). It will be headquartered in Norwegian Institute for Public
Health, in Oslo.

About
The recent outbreaks of SARS, Ebola and Zika reveal gaps that partnerships like CEPI should fill.
CEPI aims to finance and coordinate the development of new vaccines to contain infectious disease
epidemics that are usually neglected (like some neglected tropical diseases)
The coalition will not focus on diseases that already have adequate attention like rotavirus, but will be
guided by WHOs R&D blueprint (2016), which lists eleven illnesses to focus on like Chikungunya, Middle
East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) etc.
The steering agencies of the coalition are - Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science &
Technology, GOI; Government of Norway; Welcome Trust; Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; and World
Economic Forum.

Importance
CEPI would provide the opportunity to leverage vaccine development capacities in India,
CEPI will increase access to vaccines. It will also bolster Indias status of pharmacy of the world.
It will help protect our population and help lower preventable deaths.
It will boost our ability to have a competitive vaccine industry and help India build on its pharmaceutical
economy.

In the era of antibiotic resistance, this initiative will help finance the development of vaccines for resistant
infections.

New Way To Produce Nuclear Fuel Using Electricity

Russia Scientists have developed a unique, low-cost method for producing high quality nuclear fuel using
electricity.

Current methodology of producing Nuclear Fuel

The main type of fuel for nuclear power reactors is the uranium oxide pellet composition.
It is produced from a powder by granulation, pressing, and sintering with the subsequent control of the
quality and size of the pellets.

About
 The researchers have proposed an alternative mode of production, which forms the basis of powder
metallurgy: electric pulse sintering under pressure.
The key idea of our method is heating by an electric current passing through the mold with the powder
placed in.
Under these circumstances, the uranium oxide fuel is simultaneously influenced by the powerful pulse
discharge and mechanical pressure
The new technology allows one to obtain products of high quality and to reduce the number of production
stages without increasing the cost.
Using the new method, the fuel pellets may be produced even from uranium dioxide powder, which is not
suitable for the conventional technology.
The method of electric pulse sintering under pressure is suitable for producing almost any fuel pellets.
With its help it is possible to obtain high-quality samples of fuel, including that for fast breeder reactors.

Nano-ceramic material

Scientists have created a nanoceramic material which may be used in next generation nuclear reactors.
The new material is made of aluminium oxide nanoceramic coating.

About
They are type of nanoparticle which are composed of ceramics which are generally classified as inorganic,
heat-resistant, nonmetallic solids made of both metallic and nonmetallic compound.
This will operate at higher temperatures and radiation fields, producing energy more efficiently and
economically.
The material can not only withstand the harsh effects of radiation, but also becomes tougher under
radiation
Traditionally, water has been used as the primary coolant in reactors, absorbing the heat released from
fission reactions. Though water poses fewer risks of corrosion damage to materials, there are also limits to
the temperatures up to which water cooled reactors can operate.
New coolants, such as liquid metals like sodium and lead, are effective at much higher temperatures, but
also are much more corrosive to the materials from which a nuclear reactor is made

Prelims facts
Nanoparticles are particles between 1 and 100 nanometers in size.
In nanotechnology, a particle is defined as a small object that behaves as a whole unit with respect to its
transport and properties. Particles are further classified according to diameter.
Ultrafine particles are the same as nanoparticles and between 1 and 100 nanometers in size, fine particles
are sized between 100 and 2,500 nanometers, and coarse particles cover a range between 2,500 and
10,000 nanometres.

LIDAR Technology

Recently Google has accused Uber of stealing its LIDAR designs in developing its own autonomous vehicles.

Autonomous vehicles use LIDAR for obstacle detection and avoidance to navigate safely through
environment.
About
LIDAR stands for Light Detection and Ranging.
It is a remote sensing method that uses narrow beam of light instead of radiowaves in the form of a pulsed
laser to build a 3-D image of surrounding landscape. The narrow beam of laser makes it possible to map
objects with high degree of resolution.
It measures and analyses the distance from the sensor to the object by determining the time between the
release of laser pulse to receiving of the reflected pulse.
For terrestrial mapping LIDAR uses near infrared wavelength laser (9001064 nanometers) and water
penetration like sea bed mapping it uses green light (532 nanometers).
A typical LIDAR instrument principally consists of a laser, a scanner, and a specialized GPS receiver.
There are three ways to collect LIDAR data airborne, satellite and ground. Airborne LIDAR data are the
most commonly available LIDAR data.

Prelims facts
LIDAR data has multiple applications like
Atmospheric remote sensing: It is used to determine cloud profiles, measuring winds, studying aerosols
and quantifying various atmospheric components
Urban planning: Helps in creation of large area models in short time. It is also used to create digital
elevation models and surface models of surrounding buildings.
Coastline management: Producing accurate shoreline maps, detecting coastal erosion.
Archaeology: Help in creation of high resolution digital elevation models to reveal micro topography.
Oil and Gas exploration: It is used to trace amount of gases above the hydrocarbon region. This tracking
helps to find exact area which has Oil and Gas deposits. Thus saves both time and money.
Quarries and Minerals: Helps in quick surveying the mining area to check its suitability. Give an accurate
indication of environment impact.
Cellular network planning: Can be used to provide analysis for determining line of sight for proposed
cellular antenna.
Forestry management and planning: It provides the height of canopy, its density and ground elevation. It is
also increasingly used for managing forest fire by mapping possible fire area.
Flood modelling: Helps in creation of accurate flood prediction models. Can be incorporated into relief,
rescue and flood simulation software to provide advanced topographical information.
Pollution modelling: Helps in detection of pollutants like carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and methane.
Detection of noise and light pollution.
Mapping and Cartography: Assist in mapping of roads, buildings and vegetations. Useful in developing
high-resolution contour maps.
Transport planning: Help in mapping transport corridor facilitating seamless navigation.
Agriculture: Helps in crop mapping and indicate which areas to need fertilizers for maximum crop yield.
Helps in creating a topographical map of the fields and reveals the slope and sun exposure of the farm
land.
Spaceflight and Astronomy: It may be used in mapping the surface of any celestial body. It is used for
atmospheric studies from space.