Sources: down to earth.

Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR) GS Paper 3:

Context: The Punjab government has decided to deploy direct seeding of rice
(DSR) technique instead of the traditional transplantation of paddy this year due

dy
to the shortfall of agricultural labourers triggered by reverse migration in the wake
of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

What is Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR)?

stu
.
Here, the pre-germinated seeds are directly drilled into the field by a tractor-

s
powered machine.

es
There is no nursery preparation or transplantation involved in this method.

l
Farmers have to only level their land and give one pre-sowing irrigation.

ire
How is it different from conventional method?

t
In transplanting paddy, farmers prepare
nurseries where the paddy seeds are first sown

@
and raised into young plants.

The nursery seed bed is 5-10% of the area to be

transplanted. These seedlings are then uprooted
and replanted 25-35 days later in the puddled field.

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How is the question of herbicides addressed in DSR?
• Paddy being very much water-intensive is compromised by weeds that compete for
nutrition, sunlight and water.
• Water prevents the growth of weeds by denying them oxygen in the submerged
stage, whereas the soft ‘aerenchyma tissues’ in paddy plants allow air to penetrate
through their roots.
• Water, thus, acts as a herbicide for paddy. The threat from weeds recedes once
tillering is over; so does the need to flood the fields.
• In DSR, water is replaced by real chemical herbicides. Farmers have to only level
their land and give one pre-sowing irrigation or rauni.
• Once the field has good soil moisture, they need to do two rounds of ploughing and
planking (smoothening of soil surface), which is followed by the sowing of the seeds
and spraying of herbicides.

What are these herbicides?

• There are two kinds. The first is called pre-emergent, i.e. applied before germination. In this
case, the pre-emergent herbicide used is Pendimethalin.

• The second set of herbicides is post-emergent, sprayed 20-25 days after sowing, depending
upon the type of weeds appearing.

• They include Bispyribac-sodium (Rs 600-700 at 100 ml/acre) and Fenoxaprop-p-ethyl (Rs
700-800 at 400 ml/acre).
Advantage of DSR:
Water savings. The first irrigation (apart from the pre-sowing rauni) under DSR is
necessary only 21 days after sowing. This is unlike in transplanted paddy, where
watering has to be done practically daily to ensure submerged/flooded conditions in
the first three weeks.

Less Labour. About three labourers are required to transplant one acre of paddy at
almost Rs 2,400 per acre.

The cost of herbicides under DSR will not exceed Rs 2,000 per acre.

Reduce methane emissions due to a shorter flooding period and decreased soil
disturbance compared to transplanting rice seedlings.

Limitations:
• Non-availability of herbicides.
• The seed requirement for DSR is also high,8-10 kg/acre, compared to 4-5 kg/acre
in transplanting.
• Further, laser land levelling is compulsory in DSR. This is not so in transplanting.
• The sowing needs to be done timely so that the plants have come out properly
before the monsoon rains arrive.
 List of Treatments for COVID-19 used in India
Remdesivir
• Remdesivir, an antiviral drug first developed for treating Ebola in 2014, is one of the

viral replication in the body.

dy
possible Covid-19 treatments being investigated in the WHO’s Solidarity Trial. It inhibits

•
tu
US National Institutes of Allergies and Infectious Diseases released preliminary trial
results showing recovery time of Covid patients given remdesivir improved from 15 to 11

s
•
days.

s.
The Drug Controller General of India on June 1 approved a five-day regime of remdesivir.
•
• es
Doctors are currently prescribing it for moderately to severely ill patients.

l
e
Remdesivir costs Rs 10,000-20,000 per vial.
Favipiravir
• tir
Favipiravir is an antiviral given to inhibit viral replication, It is used as an anti-influenza

•
drug.
@
First manufactured by Japan’s Fujifilm Toyama Chemical Ltd, it is manufactured in India
by Glenmark Pharmaceutical and Strides Pharma.
• It is being used for moderately symptomatic to severely ill Covid patients, but access is
not easy.
@tireless.study @tireless.international.news
Tocilizumab
• This is an immunosuppressant commonly used to treat for rheumatoid
arthritis.
• This is an expensive drug, that costs Rs 40,000-60,000 per dose, it is
used as a preventive against ventilator requirement, government
hospitals are giving it free.
• Tocilizumab is manufactured by Roche Pharma, and marketed by Cipla.
• In India it is sold under the brand name Actemra.
Itolizumab
• This drug is commonly used for the skin disorder psoriasis, rheumatoid
arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and autoimmune disorders. In India, Biocon
launched it in 2013.
• It is being trailled in Mumbai and Delhi on moderately to severely ill Covid
patients. Initial results will come by July. “The trial will take some time.
We are yet to assess its outcome,” said Dr Joshi, Nair Hospital Dean.
Hydroxychloroquine
• This antimalarial drug is a subject of debate over its efficacy against Covid.
• India is the largest producer of this drug.
• Doctors use HCQ use in Covid patients with symptoms as mild as headache,
fever, body pain, and even in critically ill patients.
• ICMR guidelines recommend low doses for nine days.
• This drug is helping in faster recovery, but that is just preliminary assessment.
• Side effects of the drug includes chaotic heartbeat.
Doxycycline + ivermectin
• Doxycycline is an antibiotic used to fight infection in the urinary tract, eye, or
respiratory tract.
• Ivermectin is an anti-parasite drug for treatment of scabies, head lice, and
filariasis.
• The combination is used to treat Covid patients with acute symptoms.
• There is very little information about these two drugs on Covid-19 patients
and It is still in experimental stage.
Ritonavir + lopinavir
• These antivirals are commonly used to treat HIV patients.
• They are being investigated in the Solidarity Trial.
• Some studies suggest they reduce mortality risk in Covid-19 patients, while
others have found no major improvement.
• Over a dozen manufacturers supply ritonavir and lopinavir in India.
• Doctors sometimes use the combination for severely ill patients.
Plasma therapy
• This is meant for critical patients with low oxygen saturation levels, or those
suffering a cytokine storm.
• Patients who have recovered from severe Covid-19 donate their plasma, which
is then injected into other critical patients to boost their immunity.
• A protocol approved by ICMR is used to select which patient is best suited for
plasma therapy.
• Preference is given to those at risk of cytokine storm, extreme breathlessness
with severe pneumonia.
Sources: Indian Express.

Rising forex reserves and its importance

GS Paper 3:

Context: Amid pandemic, India’s foreign exchange reserves are rising and

y
are slated to hit the $500 billion mark soon.

d
stu
In the month of May, forex reserves jumped by $12.4 billion to an all-time
high of $493.48 billion (around Rs 37.30 lakh crore) for the week ended
May 29.

s.
Important fact for Prelims:

les
The level of foreign exchange reserves has steadily increased by 8,400

re
per cent from $5.8 billion as of March 1991 to the current level.

i
What are forex reserves? t
@
Forex reserves are external assets in the form of gold, SDRs (special
drawing rights of the IMF) and foreign currency assets (capital inflows to
the capital markets, FDI and external commercial borrowings)
accumulated by India and controlled by the Reserve Bank of India.

@tireless.study @tireless.international.news
Why they are important?
•Official foreign exchange reserves are held in support of a range of
objectives like supporting and maintaining confidence in the policies for
monetary and exchange rate management including the capacity to
intervene in support of the national or union currency.

• It will also limit external vulnerability by maintaining foreign currency

liquidity to absorb shocks during times of crisis or when access to
borrowing is curtailed.

Why are forex reserves rising despite the slowdown in the economy?
Rise in investment in foreign portfolio investors in Indian stocks and foreign
direct investments (FDIs).

Fall in crude oil prices has brought down the oil import bill, saving the
precious foreign exchange.

Overseas remittances and foreign travels have fallen steeply – down 61 per
cent in April from $12.87 billion.
What’s the significance of rising forex reserves?
•The rising forex reserves give a lot of comfort to the government
and the Reserve Bank of India in managing India’s external and
internal financial issues at a time when the economic growth is set
to contract by 1.5 per cent in 2020-21.

• It’s a big cushion in the event of any crisis on the economic front
and enough to cover the import bill of the country for a year.

• The rising reserves have also helped the rupee to strengthen

against the dollar.

• Reserves will provide a level of confidence to markets that a

country can meet its external obligations, demonstrate the backing
of domestic currency by external assets, assist the government in
meeting its foreign exchange needs and external debt obligations
and maintain a reserve for national disasters or emergencies.
Where are India’s forex reserves kept?
•The RBI Act, 1934 provides the overarching legal framework for
deployment of reserves in different foreign currency assets and
gold within the broad parameters of currencies, instruments,
issuers and counterparties.

• As much as 64 per cent of the foreign currency reserves is held in

the securities like Treasury bills of foreign countries, mainly the US.

• 28 per cent is deposited in foreign central banks.

• 7.4 per cent is also deposited in commercial banks abroad.
• India also held 653.01 tonnes of gold as of March 2020, with
360.71 tonnes being held overseas in safe custody with the Bank
of England and the Bank for International Settlements, while the
remaining gold is held domestically.
 Airborne Rescue Pod for Isolated Transportation
Source: PIB
(ARPIT) GS Paper :2,3

Context: Recently, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has designed, developed and inducted
an Airborne Rescue Pod for Isolated Transportation i.e. ARPIT.

dy
• This pod will be utilised for evacuation of critical patients with infectious diseases
tu
including Covid-19 from high altitude areas, isolated and remote places.

s
used to fabricate this pod.
s.
• Supporting the Atmanirbhar Bharat Initiative, only indigenous materials have been

es
• Requirement of an air evacuation system with facility to prevent spread of infectious
l
e
aerosol from a Covid-19 patient during air travel was felt by IAF when the disease

tir
was declared as a pandemic.

@
@tireless.study @tireless.international.news
Lightweight Isolation System:
◦ The pod has a transparent and durable cast perspex (transparent plastic that is
sometimes used instead of glass) for enhanced patient visibility which is larger, higher
and wider than the existing models.

◦The isolation system caters for a suitable number of air exchanges, integration of
medical monitoring instruments, and ventilation to an intubated patient.

◦In addition, it generates high constant negative pressure in the isolation chamber for
prevention of infection risk to aircrew, ground crew and health care workers involved in
air transportation.

High Efficiency Particulate Air:

• It utilises High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) H-13 class filters and supports invasive
ventilation using transport ventilators.
• HEPA: It is an air-filtration system designed to capture at least 99.97% of fine airborne
particles, dust, pollen, mold, bacteria, with a size of at least 0.3 micrometre.
Cost Effective:
It has been developed at a cost of Rs. 60,000 only, as compared to the imported systems
costing up to Rs. 60 lakh.
 Central Administrative Tribunal GS Paper 2

• The Central Administrative Tribunal was established by an Act of Parliament namely

Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 as sequel to the 42nd amendment of the

y
Constitution of India inserting Article 323 A.

d
• Functions: The tribunal adjudicates disputes and complaints with respect to
u
t
Recruitment and Conditions of Service of the persons appointed to the Public Services

s
and Posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or any State or of any other Local

.
Authorities within the territory of India or under the control of the Government of India.

s
l s
• Composition: The Tribunal is headed by the Chairman and 65 Members, 33 from
e
Judicial (including Chairman) and 33 from the Administrative stream. The Chairman is
normally a retired Chief Justice of a High Court.

ire
t
Why in News?
18th Bench of Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) for the Union Territories of Jammu

@
and Kashmir and Ladakh inaugurated recently.

@tireless.study @tireless.international.news
 India’s first online waste exchange platform
• Launched by the Andhra Pradesh Government.

•
y
It will help the authorities monitor the movement of hazardous waste real-time

d
using the tools incorporated in the platform.

•
tu
The platform will be handled by the AP Environment Management Corporation

s
(APEMC).

s.
•
les
The APEMC will streamline collection of the waste from industries, sort and
streamline the waste as hazardous or non-hazardous or e-waste according to
category, and scientifically dispose it off at various waste disposal centres.

ire
t
@
@tireless.study @tireless.international.news
 Source: TH
e-Diplomacy GS Paper 2

Context: Recently, the first India-Australia Virtual Leaders’ Summit was held where
important strategic decisions, ranging from military interoperability to jointly tackling

y
the pandemic, were made.

ud
• The summit was noteworthy for its novel modus operandi after the dangers posed
by Covid-19 have compelled the traditional summit diplomacy to adapt to new digital
ways.

.st
e-Diplomacy (electronic diplomacy) is the use of technology by nations to define

of diplomats.
ss
and establish diplomatic goals and objectives and to efficiently carry out the functions

le
• These functions include representation and promotion of the home nation,
e
establishing both bilateral and multilateral relations, consular services and social
engagement.

tir
• The pandemic has forced mankind to maintain physical and social distancing,
@
leading to a shift towards work from home mode and using online platforms for
education (online classes), business (e-Commerce) and other daily things.
• Just as corporations and educational institutions have migrated to online mediums,
nation-states are left with no choice but to do the same by conducting virtual or e-
summits.

@tireless.study @tireless.international.news
Advantages
• These are physically safer for leaders because there is no need for any physical contact
with anyone.
• The process is time-saving as the leaders can attend the summits and conferences from
their offices without having the need to physically reach the venue or other country.
• These economise events by avoiding costly physical journeys and event management.
Challenges
• It is doubtful that major breakthroughs or deals requiring the direct intervention of leaders
can happen without all the protocols and structured dialogues in person.
• There is a possibility of e-diplomacy becoming less productive as online summits will
simply not satisfy the broader political goals and bigger objectives that heads of state
carry with them.
Threats related to cybersecurity also come in the picture:
• E-diplomacy is riskier and could be subject to hacking of classified content.
• This could reduce the spontaneity and openness of the conversations.
• In pre-Covid-19 times, summit venues were debugged to prevent sensitive foreign policy
content from being spied upon or leaked.
Apart from the virtual summit with Australia, India has had a few multilateral e-
diplomacy rounds since the Covid-19 outbreak. For example,
• SAARC Leaders’ video conference.
• Extraordinary G20 Leaders’ Summit.
• Non-Aligned Movement Virtual Summit.
Way Forward
• The British scholar Ernest Satow dubbed “summits a permanent feature of
diplomatic topography”. It has been a maxim in diplomacy that face-to-face
interactions at the highest level mark the zenith of foreign relations.
• In-person summits will restart one-day but the online interlude has to go on
because diplomacy has to go on.
• However artificial and unsatisfying the video conferencing medium is, having
some summit is better than no summit at all. Key partners have to get on with it
and hold high-level meetings as part of their strategic signalling.
 Biodiversity Park in Uttarakhand
Source:ToI GS Paper 3:

Context: Uttrakhand opened its biggest biodiversity park in Haldwani on the World
Environment Day (5th June).

dy
Biodiversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity Parks are basically

u
natural reserves with varieties of plants and animals.

Key Points
.st
The theme of this year's World Environment Day is ‘Celebrate Biodiversity’

ss
• Inside the Park, there are thematic gardens, a soil museum, species of plants,

le
lichens, mosses and algae from the Jurassic era, a vermicompost unit, an
interpretation centre, and a state-of-the-art weather station.

e
t r
• The Park has 40 unique sections having 479 rare plant species of cactus, medicinal
i
herbs, different types of trees, etc.
• The various species of plants have been brought to the park from diverse terrains like
@
Niti Mana Valley and even from some glaciers around Kedarnath.
• Niti Mana Valley is located near the India Tibetan Border in Chamoli district of
Uttarakhand.

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• The plant species in the biodiversity park is divided into spiritual & religious, scientific,
human health, and aesthetic value sections.
• The spiritual section has trees that find mention in holy scriptures like Guru Granth
Sahib, Quran, Bible, and others.
• It showcases the different kinds of soil found in various topographies of Uttarakhand
— alpine, bhabhar, sub-mountainous, mountainous, tertiary, loam, terai.
• Various environmental concepts and conservation issues including global warming,
forest rivers, species extinction, internal communication of plants and recent
developments like spread of virus from animals to human beings are explained at the
interpretation centre inside the park.
Source:IE GS Paper 1

Dropping Water levels in Germany’s Rhine River

Context: Recently, a part of the Rhine River flowing through Germany has
been experiencing its lowest water levels in two decades.

dy
• The lowest water levels have prompted fears of shipping disruption on
tu
Europe’s most important inland waterway.
• Rhine waters in Germany have dropped 40% since April 2020.
s
Reduced Water Levels:
s.
les
• Germany has not received the spring showers and subsequently, the
water level dropped to around 1 meter in the month of June which is the

re
lowest for the time of year in at least two decades.

i
t
• Usually, a mix of glacial run-off and rain feeds the river, but contributions
from glaciers have been disturbed in recent years due to global warming.

@
• Germany had experienced dropped water levels in 2018 which had
disrupted industrial ships, severing downriver factories from North Sea
ports.

@tireless.study @tireless.international.news
Impacts:
• The water drop levels in 2018 were severe enough to affect German economic
growth.
• Further, groundwater levels have reduced after record-breaking heat waves
recorded in 2019 which have consequently dried out soil and wilted vegetation
from consecutive years of drought.
• Additionally, if the low water levels are sustained, refineries using the river’s
water will have reduced output compared to 2018.
Rhine River
• The Rhine River is the second-longest river in Central and Western Europe after
the Danube and originates in the Swiss Alps (in Switzerland).
• The Rhine river is called by different names depending on the country it flows
through. It is called Rhein in Germany; Rhine in France and Rijn in the
Netherlands.
• The Rhine flows through six countries -Switzerland, Principality of Liechtenstein,
Austria, Germany, France and the Netherlands before flowing into the North Sea
at Rotterdam.
 microRNA
GS Paper :2,3
Source: TH

Context: Recently, researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras have
identified a specific microRNA (miRNA) called ‘miR-155’ that is over-expressed in tongue
cancer.

MicroRNAs:
◦ dy
tu
These are short non‐coding Ribonucleic Acids (RNAs) containing 20–24 nucleotides
that participate in virtually all biological pathways in animals.

s
.
◦They play important roles in many cancers, in carcinogenesis, malignant
s
s
transformation and metastasis.
• Carcinogenesis: It is the formation of cancer (uncontrolled development of cells),
le
whereby normal cells are transformed into cancer cells. It is also called

e
oncogenesis or tumorigenesis.

•
tir
Malignant transformation: It is the process by which cells acquire the properties
of cancer. This may occur as a primary process in normal tissue, or secondarily as

• @
malignant degeneration of a previously existing benign tumour.

Metastasis: The spread of cancer cells from the place where they first formed to
another part of the body. In metastasis, cancer cells break away from the original
(primary) tumour, travel through the blood or lymph system and form a new tumour
in other organs or tissues of the body.
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Oncomirs:
• The miRNAs associated with cancer are called Oncomirs.
• They affect cancer growth through inhibiting or enhancing the functions of certain
proteins.
• Oncomirs affect cancer by suppressing the performance of tumour-suppressing agents
which can prevent the growth and spread of cancer cells and sometimes prevent
tumour growth itself.
Significance of the Research:
• The finding could help develop molecular strategies to manipulate miR-155 expression
to develop therapeutics for tongue cancer.
• miRNA manipulation is being combined with conventional cancer treatment methods
such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy.
• Eliminating miR-155 causes death of cancer cells, arrests the cell cycle and regresses
tumour size in animal models and reduces cell viability and colony formation in
benchtop (suitable for convenient use on a laboratory workbench) assays.
• An assay is an investigative (analytic) procedure in laboratory medicine,
pharmacology, environmental biology and molecular biology for qualitatively assessing
or quantitatively measuring the presence, amount, or functional activity of a target
entity (the analyte).
Ribonucleic Acid
• RNA is a polymer of ribonucleotides and an important biological
macromolecule that is present in all biological cells.
• It is principally involved in the synthesis of proteins, carrying the
messenger instructions from Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), which
itself contains the genetic instructions required for the
development and maintenance of life.
RNA differs from DNA in three basic respects:
• RNA employs uracil as a nitrogenous base, in place of the thymine
used in DNA.
• RNA nucleotides possess a hydroxyl group at the 2nd position,
while DNA is deoxygenated at that position to a proton.
• RNA is more often found single-stranded than DNA, which is
typically completely base-paired into a double helix.
 Jeypore Dynasty
Jeypore Dynasty
• The Kingdom of Jeypore or Jeypore Kalinga Rajya was a kingdom

y
in the Kalinga region ruled by the kings of the Suryavansh
dynasty, who trace their origins from ‘Dev’ Suryavanshis of Jammu

•
ud
& Kashmir and thus claim to be the descendants of Rama.

•
t
It was an independent princely state from 1443 to 1775 and a

s
princely estate under British rule from 1776 to 1947.

.
s
It had three capitals under different rulers: Nandapur, Rayagada

s
and Jeypore, the most prominent.
•
e
It was the largest of all princely states and estates in the Madras

l
Presidency, covering an area of 31,079 km2 in 1880 and 36,259
km2 in 1925.
e
•
tir
Despite being the largest kingdom, it never had the status of a
princely state because it lost the crucial feudatories of Bobbili,

@
Vizianagaram, Kalahandi, Salur, Srungavarapukota, Nowagarh,
Khariar and Gajapathinagaram, which clinched independence
from Jeypore and were later recognized as princely estates under
British Rule.
• The last ruler of the kingdom was King Vikram Dev IV when the
estate was dissolved in 1947 and merged into the Union of India.

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Source: Business Standard

Facilitating Migration - Housing for Workers

Context
•
dy
Sudden and swift imposition of a complete national lockdown in India
has left many migrant workers homeless.
•
tu
The resultant scenario and the impact on economy call for government

s
intervention to ease migration process for the benefit of economy.

s.
What is the lockdown-led migrants crisis?
•
es
Many migrant workers found themselves far away from their homes
post lockdown.
l
•
ire
Also, employment opportunities and payment dried up in their cities of

•
adoption.
t
• @
The landlords threw out worker-tenants following the lockdown.
Naturally, many of the migrants tried to get back home.
• But when normal transport was unavailable, some took the road and
walked; others were stuffed into unpleasant holding camps.
@tireless.study @tireless.international.news
What does this mean to the economy?
• These unfortunate circumstances are compounded by the
general difficulties of the economy.
• This might altogether cause migrant workers to stay at
home forever.
• In result, there would be a reduction in the number of
“casual workers.”
• Casual workers are notably crucial for growth and
development of the economy.
• Their absence would cause the broader economy to run
down.
• The post-COVID India will thus have to make special
provisions for the casual workers.
What are the much-needed measures?
• Non-farm employment - The government could try and make accessible
non-farm employment closer to the migrants’ native places.
• This might require various forms of infrastructure upgrade in some of
India’s most under-developed areas.
• This would be a win-win situation as living costs for workers would drop and
wages in rural areas would go up.
• Factories in big cities and industrial centres would automatically have to
pay more to attract migrants.
• Yet this depends crucially on overcoming the clustering in job creation.
• [This is particularly a feature of any capitalist economy.
• It is even more pronounced in large countries with considerable regional
disparities, such as India.]
• Easing migration - A more realistic route would be for the government
itself to help ease the process of migration.
• This should be done in partnership with the private sector.
• There are mechanisms across the world that can be examined for effectiveness in this regard.
• One such would be the creation and management of dormitory-style housing.
• This could be made from low-cost and pre-fabricated materials to a standard design.
• It must be ensured that the roll-out is rapid and the final product familiar to workers.
• The housing could include basic housekeeping services, the availability of food.
• It could also include user fees-based community services, such as a local health centre.
• Some private space, lockers for security, and public amenities are a must.
• This would be a variant of the Chinese model where the employer directly builds large dormitory-
style accommodation for factory workers.
• The government need not do this itself; it can contract out, including to public-sector companies.
• E.g. many of the “chawls” in what was then the mill town of Bombay were built by the textile mills
themselves
• Large businesses with casual workers could be charged a cess to pay for the initial capital cost.
• Otherwise, they could be charged rent for each worker with them who uses the facility.
What is the way forward?
• Attempts as the above were sharply variable in the quality of life they
provided.
• In today’s India, emphasis must be on providing a decent rather than
graceless existence for the migrant.
• Some measures have been announced as part of the revival package
by the government to ensure the growth of rental housing in cities.
• The emphasis, however, must be on providing a path to urbanisation
for the return of the workers.
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