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📰 News : Sale of illegal HTBt cotton seeds doubles. • The illegal cultivation of herbicide tolerant (HT) Bt cotton has seen a huge jump this year. • Cultivation of the genetically modified cotton variant has serious environmental and economic consequences. • Bt cotton - It has been genetically modified to produce an insecticide to combat the cotton bollworm, a common pest. Bt cotton is the only transgenic crop that has been approved by the Centre for commercial cultivation in India. • HTBt cotton - The HTBt cotton variant adds another layer of modification, making the plant resistant to the herbicide glyphosate, but has not been approved by regulators. □ Disadvantages of HTBt cotton : • Glyphosate in the HTBt cotton has carcinogenic effect, as well as the unchecked spread of herbicide resistance to nearby plants through pollination, creating a variety of superweeds. • There is no accountability of the quality of seed, it pollutes the environment. • The industry is losing legitimate seed sale and the government also loses revenue in terms of tax collection.

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Divine Vessel by China : Chinese Space Station Tiangong ✅Shenzhou-12, meaning ""Divine Vessel"', will be the third of 11 missions needed to complete China's space station by 2022. ✅Among them, four will be missions with people on board, propelling up to 12 Chinese astronauts into space. ✅China began building its space station in April with the launch of Tianhe. ✅China aims to become a major spacefaring power by 2030. ✅In May China became the second country to put a rover on Mars, two years after landing the first spacecraft on the far side of the moon. ✅It also plans to put astronauts on the moon, the farthest celestial body that humans have travelled to. ✅The planned three-month stay would break the country's record of 30 days, set by the 2016 mission ✅The only space station currently in orbit is the International Space Station (ISS), from which China is excluded. ✅ISS is about to expire by 2024. SOURCE - THE HINDU

National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) : • NHRC of India is an independent statutory body established on 12 October, 1993 as per provisions of Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993. • Its headquarters is in New Delhi. • It is the watchdog of human rights in the country, i.e. the rights related to life, liberty, equality and dignity of the individual guaranteed by Indian Constitution or embodied in the international covenants and enforceable by courts in India. • Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. These are entitled to everyone, without any discrimination. • A UN meeting in Paris in 1991 has developed a detailed set of principles i.e. Paris Principles. These principles became the foundation for the establishment and operation of national human rights institutions. • In pursuant to these principles, India has enacted the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, with a view to bring about greater accountability and strengthening of the human rights in the country. This act also authorized State Governments to establish State Human Right Commission. • Human Rights Day is observed every year on 10th December. □ Functions & Powers of NHRC : • NHRC investigates grievances regarding the violation of human rights either suo moto or after receiving a petition. • It has the power to interfere in any judicial proceedings involving any allegation of violation of human rights. • It can visit any jail or any other institution under the control of the State Government to see the living conditions of the inmates and to make recommendations thereon. • It can review the safeguards provided under the constitution or any law for the protection of the human rights and can recommend appropriate remedial measures. • It can recommend to both the central and state governments to take suitable steps to prevent the violation of Human Rights. It submits its annual report to the President of India who causes it to be laid before each House of Parliament. □ Structure & Appointments : • NHRC is a multi-member body which consists of a Chairman and other members. • President appoints the Chairman and members of NHRC on recommendation of high-powered committee headed by Prime Minister. The Selection Committee includes : Prime Minister, Speaker of Lok Sabha, Union Home Minister, Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha,  Leaders of the Opposition in both Houses of the Parliament. • The Chairperson and the members of the NHRC are appointed for 3 years or till the age of 70 years, whichever is earlier. • They can be removed only on the charges of proved misbehavior or incapacity, if proved by an inquiry conducted by a Supreme Court Judge. • The chairman and the members of State Commission are appointed by the Governor in consultation with the Chief Minister, Home Minister, Speaker of Legislative Assembly and Leader of the Opposition in the State Legislative Assembly. □ Problems associated with NHRC : • NHRC does not have any mechanism of investigation. In majority cases, it asks the concerned Central and State Governments to investigate the cases of the violation of Human Rights. • NHRC can only make recommendations, without the power to enforce decisions. • A large number of grievances go unaddressed because NHRC cannot investigate the complaint registered after one year of incident.

🌊 Deep Ocean Mission : • The Union Cabinet has approved the long pending Deep Ocean Mission with a view to explore Deep Ocean for resources and develop deep-sea technologies for sustainable use of ocean resources. • The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) will be the nodal Ministry implementing this multi-institutional mission. • This mission will make India one among the handful of powerful nations that already have dedicated ocean studies and missions, including the US, Japan, France, Russia and China. • India has been allotted a site of 75,000 square kilometres in the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB) by the UN International Sea Bed Authority for exploitation of polymetallic nodules (PMN). These are rocks scattered on the seabed containing iron, manganese, nickel and cobalt. • Being able to lay hands on a fraction of that reserve can meet the energy requirement of India for the next 100 years, say officials at the Earth Sciences Ministry. • It has been estimated that 380 million metric tonnes of polymetallic nodules are available at the bottom of the seas in the Central Indian Ocean. • India's Exclusive Economic Zone spreads over 2.2 million square kilometres. □ There are six components to the programme. They are : 1) A manned submersible will be developed to carry three people to a depth of 6,000 metres in the ocean with a suite of scientific sensors and tools. An Integrated Mining System will be also developed for mining polymetallic nodules at those depths in the Central Indian Ocean. 2) Developing Ocean Climate Change Advisory Services, which entails developing a suite of observations and models to understand and provide future projections of important climate variables on seasonal to decadal time scales. 3) Searching for deep sea flora and fauna, including microbes, and studying ways to sustainably utilise them. 4) To explore and identify potential sources of hydrothermal minerals that are sources of precious metals formed from the earth’s crust along the Indian Ocean mid-oceanic ridges. 5) Studying and preparing detailed engineering design for offshore Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) powered desalination plants. 6) Grooming experts in the field of ocean biology and engineering. This component aims to translate research into industrial applications and product development through on-site business incubator facilities.

📰 News : Use of drones mandatory for NHAI projects. • The National Highways Authority of Indian (NHAI) has made use of drones mandatory for video recording of the national highyway projects during different stages of development, construction, operation and maintenance. • These videos will be saved on NHAI's portal "Data Lake" to assess the progress made. • What is a drone? - A drone, in technological terms, is an unmanned aircraft. Drones are more formally known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or unmanned aircraft systems (UASes). Essentially, a drone is a flying robot that can be remotely controlled or fly autonomously through software-controlled flight plans in their embedded systems, working in conjunction with onboard sensors and GPS.

📰 News : No calf serum in Covaxin final product. • The Union Health Ministry said that newborn calf serum was used only for the preparation/growth of Vero cells. The final vaccine did not contain newborn calf serum. □ Process : • Different kinds of bovine and other animal serum are standard enrichment ingredient used globally for vero cell growth. • This technique has been used for decades in polio, rabies, and influenza vaccines. • Vero cells were washed with water and chemicals (also technically known as buffer) many times to make them free from newborn calf serum. • Thereafter, they were infected with coronavirus for viral growth. • Then the grown virus was also killed (inactivated). • This killed virus was then used to make the final vaccine and in the final vaccine formulation.

UIGHUR MUSLIMS : • According to leaked Chinese government documents, there was a clampdown on Uighurs and other Muslims in the country’s northwestern Xinjiang region. • The Uighurs are a predominantly Turkic-speaking ethnic Muslim minority group, whose origins can be traced to Central and East Asia. • The Uighurs are considered to be one of the 55 officially recognized ethnic minority communities in China. However, China recognises the community only as a regional minority and rejects that they are an indigenous group. • Currently, the largest population of the Uighur ethnic community lives in the northwestern region of China, Xinjiang. • A significant population of Uighurs also lives in the neighbouring Central Asian countries such as Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. • Xinjiang is technically an autonomous region within China. It is the largest region and rich in minerals. It has abundant oil reserves and is China's largest natural gas-producing region, and Urumqi the provincial capital city of Xinjiang. • The Indian government has maintained near silence on the Uighur crisis. Persecution of Uighurs : • Uighur Muslims for decades, under the false accusation by the Chinese government of terrorism and separatism, have suffered from abuses including persecution, forced detention, intense scrutiny, surveillance and even slavery. • However, China claims its camps to be ‘educational centres’ where the Uighurs are being cured of “extremist thoughts” and radicalisation, and learning vocational skills. • China claims that Uighur groups want to establish an independent state and, because of the Uighurs’ cultural ties to their neighbours, leaders fear that elements in places like Pakistan may back a separatist movement in Xinjiang. China's Extradition treaty : • In December 2020, China approved an extradition treaty with Turkey aimed at strengthened judicial cooperation to facilitate a crackdown on transnational criminals including terrorists. • Extradition is the formal process of one state surrendering an individual to another state for prosecution or punishment for crimes committed in the requesting country's jurisdiction. • If Turkey ratifies the treaty, this will be the last nail in the coffin of Uighur culture as China will silence the biggest Uighur diaspora outside Xinjiang. • The treaty will become another instrument in the hands of China for the prosecution of its enslaved Uighur minority. Conclusion : • All the countries should reconsider their position and urge China to immediately stop the persecution of Muslims and the prohibition of Islam in Xinjiang.

ROHINGYA REFUGEES : • The Rohingya people are stateless, Indo-Aryan ethnic group who reside in Rakhine State, Myanmar. The majority are Muslim while a minority are Hindu. • Although Rohingya history in the region can be traced back to the 8th century, Myanmar law does not recognize the ethnic minority as one of the eight national indigenous races. • The Rohingya population is denied citizenship under the 1982 Myanmar nationality law. They have denied the Rohingya the possibility of acquiring a nationality. • There were an estimated 1 million Rohingya living in Myanmar before the 2016–17 crisis.  • They are described by the United Nations (UN) as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. • The flow of Rohingya from Myanmar intensified in 2017 and the coast near the Bangladeshi city of Cox’s Bazar was taken over by refugee settlements. • India maintains that Rohingyas are a threat to its national security and have links with international terror groups. • India has so far refused to exert any pressure on Myanmar for taking the Rohingyas back and giving them recognition as the citizens of Myanmar • In June 2015, the Bangladesh government suggested resettling Rohingya refugees on the Bhasan Char island under its Ashrayan Project. • The Bangladesh government has been moving these refugees to an isolated island known as Bhasan Char which is located 21 miles (34 kilometers) from the mainland. □ Bhasan Char : • Bhasan Char (Floating Island) also known as Char Piya or Thengar Char Island, is an island in Hatiya, Bangladesh. It is located in the Bay of Bengal. • It surfaced only 20 years ago and was never inhabited. • It was formed with Himalayan silt from the mouth of river Meghna in 2006 spanning 40 square kilometres. • The island, which was once regularly submerged by monsoon rains, now has flood protection embankments, houses, hospitals and mosques built at a cost of more than 112 million dollars by the Bangladesh navy. • It is underwater from June to September because of the monsoon. • As Bhashan Char falls in an ecologically fragile area prone to floods, erosion and cyclones, it is not considered safe for human settlements.

📰 News : AY.1 not a variant of concern yet. • AY.1, B.1. 617.2.1, has a mutation called K417N that is linked to high infectivity and has been associated with the Beta variant, first identified in South Africa. • It is also called as Delta Plus variant. • Various variant names - click here

● Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 : • The Act was enacted for the protection of plants and animal species. • The 42nd Amendment Act, 1976, Forests and Protection of Wild Animals and Birds was transferred from State List to Concurrent List. • Article 51 A (g) of the Constitution states that it shall be the fundamental duty of every citizen to protect and improve the natural environment including forests and Wildlife. • Article 48 A in the Directive Principles of State policy, mandates that the State shall endeavor to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country. ● Salient features of the Act : • Prohibition of hunting. • Prohibition of Cutting/Uprooting Specified Plants. • Declaration and Protection of Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Parks. ● The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 has divided the protection status of various plants and animals under the following six schedules : • Schedule I - It covers endangered species that need rigorous protection. The species are granted protection from poaching, killing, trading etc. Species under this Schedule are prohibited to be hunted throughout India, except under threat to human life or in case of a disease that is beyond recovery. Example - Leopard, hornbills, etc. • Schedule II - Animals under this list are also accorded high protection with the prohibition on their trade. They cannot be hunted except under threat to human life or if they are suffering from a disease/ disorder that goes beyond recovery. Example - Kashmir Fox. • Schedule III & IV - Species that are not endangered are included under Schedule III and IV. This includes protected species with hunting prohibited but the penalty for any violation is less compared to the first two schedules. Example - Hyena. • Schedule V - This schedule contains animals that are considered as vermin (small wild animals that carry disease and destroy plants and food). These animal can be hunted. Example - Rat. • Schedule VI - It provides for regulation in cultivation of a specified plant and restricts its possession, sale and transportation. Both cultivation and trade of specified plants can only be carried out with prior permission of competent authority. Example - Pitcher plant. ● Appointments : • The Central Government appoints the Director of Wildlife Preservation and assistant directors and other officers subordinate to the Director. • The State Governments appoint a Chief Wildlife Warden (CWLW) who heads the Wildlife Wing of the department and exercises complete administrative control over Protected Areas (PAs) within a state. • The state governments are also entitled to appoint Wildlife Wardens in each district.

G7 countries : • It is an intergovernmental organisation of the world's 7 largest so-called advanced economies that was formed in 1975. • The G7 countries are the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US. • Russia joined in 1998, creating the G8, but was excluded in 2014 for its takeover of Crimea. • The bloc meets annually to discuss issues of common interest like global economic governance, international security and energy policy. • The G7 does not have a formal constitution or a fixed headquarters. The decisions taken by leaders during annual summits are non-binding. • All the G7 countries and India are a part of G20. □ Outcomes of the recent G7 summit : • Global Minimum Corporate Tax Rate - A minimum global corporation tax rate of at least 15%, and put in place measures to ensure taxes were paid in the countries where businesses operate. [Corporation tax is a direct tax imposed on the net income or profit that enterprises make from their businesses]. • Build Back Better World (B3W) - This project is aimed at competing with China's trillion dollar Belt and Road Infrastructure (BRI) initiative, which has been saddling countries with unmanageable debt. • Carbis Bay Declaration - It is a Global Anti-pandemic action plan. It is aimed at preventing future pandemics.

Group of Seven (G-7) * It is an intergovernmental organisation that was formed in 1975. * The bloc meets annually to discuss issues of common interest like global economic governance, international security and energy policy. * The G-7 does not have a formal constitution or a fixed headquarters. The decisions taken by leaders during annual summits are non-binding. # Members G-7 is a bloc of industrialized democracies i.e. France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Japan, the United States, and Canada. * The G7 was known as the ‘G8’ for several years after the original seven were joined by Russia in 1997. * The Group returned to being called G7 after Russia was expelled as a member in 2014 following the latter’s annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine # Summit Participation: * Summits are held annually and hosted on a rotation basis by the group's members. * The groundwork for the summit, including matters to be discussed and follow-up meetings, is done by the “sherpas”, who are generally personal representatives or members of diplomatic staff such as ambassadors. * The leaders of important international organizations like European Union, IMF, World Bank and the United Nations are also invited. Join >> @dailynewscom Join >> @NitishPatelOfficial

*POSHAN 2.0 and tackling malnutrition in India* Synopsis– What is POSHAN 2.0 and how it is going to help tackle malnutrition in India. Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the burden of malnutrition, especially among the most vulnerable and economically disadvantaged families. The pandemic and the ensuing lockdown have put nearly 115 million children in danger of malnutrition as incomes, food consumption and essential services all come under pressure. Thus, to solve India’s nutrition crisis, an evidence-based, integrated, and outcome-focused approach is urgently required. What is malnutrition? Malnutrition refers to deficiencies, excesses, or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy and/or nutrients. The term malnutrition addresses three broad groups of conditions: Under-nutrition: This includes wasting (low weight-for-height), stunting (low height-for-age) and underweight (low weight-for-age); Micronutrient-related malnutrition: This includes micronutrient deficiencies (a lack of important vitamins and minerals) or micronutrient excess; and Overweight, obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases (such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some cancers). About POSHAN & POSHAN 2.0 scheme POSHAN scheme – Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment The government of India had launched the POSHAN Abhiyaan in 2018 to ensure a Malnutrition Free India by 2022. The scheme, by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, aims to reduce stunting, undernutrition, anaemia and reduced low birth weight by 2%, 2%, 3% and 2% per annum respectively. To improve nutritional outcome- POSHAN 2.0 announced in 2021 Budget. New guidelines of POSHAN 2.0- POSHAN scheme focuses on the 1,000 days between a mother’s pregnancy and her child’s second birthday. Prioritizing women and girls, and addressing their nutritional deficiencies through fortification and provision of take-home rations. The introduction of community-based programmes for tackling severe acute malnutrition. The guidelines now place accountability at the district level with nutrition indicators included in the KPIs (key performance indicators) of DN/DC. POSHAN tracker- The Ministry of Women and Child Development has developed a new software tool called the Poshan Tracker. The aim is to streamline the supply side of the scheme. This will replace the earlier ICDS CAS, because the data generated by it was not usable. Advantages of POSHAN tracker- It will provide a holistic view of distribution and access of nutrition services by Anganwadi centres and AWWs (Anganwadi workers) to eligible groups. The software will ensure real-time updates, enhance transparency and enabling the system to identify last-mile beneficiaries. The tracker carries a module that enables AWWs to identify and provide support to orphaned children [due Covid-19]. Over 2.94 million take-home rations and 1.35 crore hot cooked meals delivered and tracked using the tracker thus far. What else needs to be done to address malnutrition? Convergent actions, especially agriculture-nutrition convergence and strengthening of demand-side behaviour, can play a pivotal role in helping India tackle malnutrition. Agriculture-nutrition convergence means creating agricultural policies which are based on a nutrition-sensitive approach. For e.g.: incentivizing the production of millets in an area that is rain-deficient results not only in nutritional well-being but also promotes sustainable agriculture. Empower women farmer – The majority of India’s smallholder plots are worked upon by women farmers. Government should invest in nutrition-sensitive agricultural programmes. This can help women and their communities live healthier and more prosperous lives. Conclusion The undernutrition problem in India can be addressed through scientific innovation, traditional knowledge systems, community participation, digital technologies, and data-driven management. Join >> @dailynewscom Join >> @NitishPatelOfficial