Color code :

Yellow for prelims

Blue for mains
Green for context

1.Coronavirus:
More anti-bodies produced by Covishield
than Covaxin

Study:A study of healthcare workers (HCW) in India, appears as a preprint in

MedrXiv, an online repository,

Points for prelims:

Two doses of Covishield vaccine produced more antibodies than Covaxin doses,
but there were relatively fewer instances of ‘breakthrough infections’
after the latter.
What is breakthrough infections?

A breakthrough infection is a case of illness in which a vaccinated individual becomes sick

from the same illness that the vaccine is meant to prevent.

 Vaccine breakthrough cases are expected. COVID-19 vaccines are

effective and are a critical tool to bring the pandemic under control.
However, no vaccines are 100% effective at preventing illness in
vaccinated people. There will be a small percentage of fully vaccinated
people who still get sick, are hospitalized, or die from COVID-19.

Overall, 97.8% of those who never had COVID and had two complete doses of
Covishield had detectable levels of antibodies, or tested seropositive, compared
to 79.3% with Covaxin. It is important to note that of the 515, only 90 got
Covaxin.

Why covaxin has less breakthrough infections?

Though the spike protein remains the key target of most vaccines, ICMR and
Bharat Biotech, the makers of Covaxin, have previously said that being a vaccine
made out of an inactivated virus, it elicited a ‘broader immune’ response,
meaning antibodies aimed at different parts of the coronavirus to neutralise it.

T-cell immunity, that is reported to elicit a longer lasting protection wasn’t

measured in the study.
T cell immunity: What is it and how does it help to protect
us from COVID-19?

What are T cells and why are they important?

DA: For your immune system to fight off any kind of invader, such as a virus, you need a kind
of white blood cell called a B cell, which makes antibodies, and a similar-looking white blood
cell called a T cell.

RB: T cells can play different roles. They can act as “killer cells”, attacking cells which have
been infected with a virus or another kind of pathogen, or they can act as “helper cells” by
supporting B cells to produce antibodies.

2.Punjab, T.N., Kerala Tops education index

ranking
Context: Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have all scored higher than 90% in
the Education Ministry’s Performance Grading Index for 2019-20

The index monitors the progress that States and Union Territories have made in
school education with regard to following domain :

 Learning outcomes
 Access and equity
 Infrastructure and facilities
 Governance and Management processes.

Explanations :
WHAT IS PERFORMANCE GRADING INDEX?
The Performance Grading Index is a tool to provide insights on the status of School
education in States and UTs including key levers that drive their performance and
critical areas for improvement.Grading will allow all States and UTs to occupy the
highest level i.e Grade I, at the same time which is a sign of fully developed nation.

The schemes initiated by the Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL) along
with the implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act,
have resulted in significant improvement in accessibility. As a logical next step, the focus has
now shifted from access to quality of education.

DoSEL, THEREFORE, HAS DESIGNED THE PERFORMANCE GRADING INDEX (PGI) TO

CATALYSE TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE IN THE FIELD OF SCHOOL EDUCATION.

WHY IT IS REQUIRED?

The exercise, which is the first of its kind at such a scale, envisages that the Index will
propel the States and Union Territories (UTs) towards undertaking multi-pronged
interventions that will bring about the much-desired optimal education outcomes.
The purpose of the PGI therefore is to help the States and UTs to pinpoint the gaps
and accordingly prioritize areas for intervention to ensure that the school education
system is robust at every level. At the same time it will also act as a good source of
information for best practices followed by States and UTs which can be shared

LEARNING OUTCOMES AND QUALITY:

The latest round of NAS for classes 3, 5 and 8 tested the LOs of the students. The report cards
give the percentage of students assessed who answered correctly. The benchmark will be 75% of
all students who answered correctly i.e. States and UTs obtaining this score get full weightage
points.

EQUITY

Since there should be zero difference between SC/ST students and General Category students.

Example Difference in student performance in Language between Scheduled Castes (SC) and
General Category in Govt. and Aided elementary schools: Class 3, 5 & 8
ACCESS
Domain of access, which measures enrolment of students in school and the ability
to keep them from dropping out as well as mainstreaming out-of-school students

INFRASTRUCTURE & FACILITIES

Examples:

Percentage of secondary schools having lab facility

Percentage of schools having functional drinking water facility - All Schools

% of primary schools provided graded supplementary material, Mid day meals etc

GOVERNANCE & MANAGEMENT

% of Teachers whose Unique ID is seeded in any electronic database of the State Government/UT
Administration

% of average daily attendance of teachers recorded in an electronic attendance system

% Secondary Schools who have teacher for all core subjects

Recruitment and Admistration , fund delays etc

3.NTFP: Non Timber forest produce

Context :Odisha’s forest produce gatherers hit hard
Due to Pandemic induced lockdown forest dwellers across
Odisha have been deprived of the right price for the non-timber
forest produce (NTFP) gathered by them.

TRIFED
Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) promoted Van
Dhan Vikash Kendra, which was introduced to create a market for minor forest produce
while ensuring minimum support price.
The Van Dhan Yojana or Van Dhan Scheme, a component of the The ‘Mechanism for Marketing of
Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP) & Development of Value
Chain for MFP’ was launched on 14th April, 2018. Implemented by TRIFED as the nodal agency at
the national level, the Van Dhan start ups is a well thought master plan for the socio-economic
development of the tribal population of the country.

About Van Dhan Vikas Kendras initiative:

1. The initiative aims to promote MFPs-centric livelihood development of tribal
gatherers and artisans.
2. It mainstreams the tribal community by promoting primary level value addition
to MFP at grassroots level.
3. Significance: Through this initiative, the share of tribals in the value chain of
Non-Timber Forest Produce is expected to rise from the present 20% to around
60%.

Implementation:
The scheme will be implemented through Ministry of Tribal Affairs as Nodal
Department at the Central Level and TRIFED as Nodal Agency at the National Level.

o At State level, the State Nodal Agency for MFPs and the District
collectors are envisaged to play a pivot role in scheme implementation at
grassroot level.
o Locally the Kendras are proposed to be managed by a Managing
Committee (an SHG) consisting of representatives of Van Dhan SHGs in
the cluster.
o Composition: As per the plan, TRIFED will facilitate establishment of MFP -
led multi-purpose Van Dhan Vikas Kendras, a cluster of 10 SHGs
comprising of 30 tribal MFP gatherers each, in the tribal areas.

Significance of MFP:

Minor Forest Produce (MFP) is a major source of livelihood for tribals living in forest
areas. The importance of MFPs for this section of the society can be gauged from the
fact that around 100 million forest dwellers depend on MFPs for food, shelter, medicines
and cash income.

o It provides them critical subsistence during the lean seasons, particularly

for primitive tribal groups such as hunter gatherers, and the landless.
Tribals derive 20-40% of their annual income from MFP on which they
spend major portion of their time.
o This activity has strong linkage to women’s financial empowerment as most
of the MFPs are collected and used/sold by women. MFP sector has the
potential to create about 10 million workdays annually in the country.