Trump ends concessions for Indian exports under GSP                                         

Body scanners made mandatory at 84 airports                                                        

Make policy to curb illegal groundwater extraction: NGT                                        

Karnataka soon to get common mobility card                                                          

In Kashmir Valley, hundreds of pellet gun victims face a hazy future                    

Why is China laying down gene editing rules? [Editorial / Opinion]                       

Trump ends concessions for Indian exports under GSP

GS PAPER - 02 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests

Context :

• President Donald Trump has terminated India's designation as a beneficiary developing nation under the key GSP trade programme after determining that it has not assured the US that it will provide "equitable and reasonable access" to its markets.

Why U.S. ends Concession?

• India is the biggest beneficiary of the GSP programme which allowed for $5.6 billion, around Rs 3,896 crore, worth of Indian exports to enter the country duty-free.

  • The GSP programme is limited to certain categories like apparel and footwear with the aim of alleviating poverty by promoting exports by poor craftspeople and artisans in those sectors.

• India has reportedly planned to impose higher import duties on more than 20 US goods if it is dropped from the GSP programme.

• According to the US Trade Representative’s Office, the US goods and services trade deficit with India was $27.3 billion in 2017.

• Trump has repeatedly called to reduce US trade deficits and protested against India’s high tariffs. He had first brought up the matter soon after taking office, during his inaugural address to a joint sitting of the US Congress in 2017, without directly naming India.

U.S. firms unhappy:

• The Coalition for GSP, an industry body, was not supportive of the measure, saying it would cost American companies $300 million in additional annual tariffs.

• Reacting to this development, some experts have opined that American importers will pay more, while some American exporters will continue to face current market access barriers in India and others, including farmers, are very likely to be subject to new retaliatory tariffs.

                                                                                                                      Source :-The Hindu

Body scanners made mandatory at 84 airports

GS PAPER - 03 SECURITY - Challenges to internal security through communication networks, role of media and social networking sites in internal security challenges, basics of cyber security; money-laundering and its prevention.

Context :

• The government has made it mandatory for 84 airports in the country to install full-body scanners to screen air travellers within a year and issued a standard operating procedure for their use.

• The 84 airports include 26 hyper-sensitive airports and 58 sensitive airports.

• Other airports have two years’ time to introduce these scanners.

Need :

• Walk-through metal detectors and hand-held metal detectors cannot detect non-metallic weapons and explosives. Body scanners detect both metallic and non-metallic items concealed on the body

• Scanner shall provide image-free solution using a generic mannequin. Threats shall be graphically presented,” .

• Following concerns over these machines generating naked images of passengers, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has mandated privacy filters.

• Addressing the privacy concerns that these machines may generate images with full body contours.

• On the mannequin-like image generated by the machine, a yellow spot will highlight the area on the body that may need further screening.

• These scanners use millimetre wave technology, which means passengers will not be subjected to harmful X-ray radiation, and the machine is safe for use by all, including pregnant women.

                                                                                                                             Source :- The Hindu  

Make policy to curb illegal groundwater extraction: NGT

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Context :

• National Green Tribunal has directed the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) to formulate a policy against illegal withdrawal of groundwater.

More about the news:

• Following a plea seeking remedial action against illegal extraction of groundwater by private water tankers, the National Green Tribunal has directed the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) to formulate a policy against illegal withdrawal of groundwater.

• Taking note of a report furnished The bench directed authorities to take action against those involved.

• As Illegal installation of tube well is an offence under the Environment [Protection] Act, 1986, the bench has directed DJB to act in coordination with the DPCC to initiate prosecution against those involved, apart from recovering compensation for the damages caused.

• The Bench has also asked the authorities to dismantle and seize equipment so as to prevent any reopening of the seal, to curb illegal extraction of the groundwater by the private water tankers.

                                                                                                                     Source :- The Hindu

Karnataka soon to get common mobility card

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.

Context :

• Metro rail commuters in Bengaluru and four other cities will be the first to experience a single pan-India multi-purpose payment card system that is expected to be introduced this year.

National common Mobility Card (NCMC) :

• The National Common Mobility Card (NCMC), also known as One Nation One Card which was launched in March for seamless travel through various transport modes, modes of travel, shopping, parking, money withdrawal and other uses in place of separate credit, debit and prepaid cards.

• The NCMC is part of the Digital India mission and is spearheaded by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. CDAC is a technology partner.

• It is enabled through the RuPay card mechanism.

• The NCMC card is issuable as a prepaid, debit, or credit RuPay card from partnered banks such as the State Bank of India, Bank of india,Punjab National Bank, and others.

                                                                                                                                                        Source :- The Hindu

In Kashmir Valley, hundreds of pellet gun victims face a hazy future

GS PAPER - O2 POLITY - Important aspects of governance

Context :

• The latest study titled ‘Psychiatric Morbidity in Pellet Injury Victims of the Kashmir Valley’, conducted by the Department of Psychiatry, Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar, has thrown a spotlight on hundreds of pellet victims that are now a part of Kashmir’s growing population living with anxiety and depression.

Key Findings of the Study :

• According to a 2016 survey by the Geneva-based Medecins Sans Frontieres, nearly 1.8 million (45%) adults in the Kashmir Valley are experiencing symptoms of mental distress, with 41% exhibiting probable depression, 26% having anxiety, and 19% ailing from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

• The report mentions that 37% of males and 50% of females in Kashmir suffer from probable depression, while 21% of men and 36% of women suffer from a probable anxiety-related disorder.

• Also, the number of suicide attempts has also increased by more than 250% between 1994-2012.

• The study carried out by the GMC on 380 pellet and pellet-plus firearm injury patients showed that many of them were diagnosed with major depressive disorders (25.79%), followed by other issues — adjustment disorder (15.79%), panic disorder (12.11%), PTSD (9.21%), generalised anxiety disorder (7.89%), mixed anxiety with depression (5%), substance abuse (4.21%), specific phobia (2.89%), and hypomania (2.11%).

Pellet epidemic :

• According to various government and non-governmental data, the number of pellet victims in Kashmir since the pellet shotgun was introduced in 2010 to quell mass street protests, is likely to be between 10,000 to 20,000 persons.

• The latest study also shows psychiatric morbidity among those with eye injuries caused by pellets at 91.92%, when compared with 70% incidence among victims receiving pellet injuries in other parts of the body. The study was carried on 333 males and 47 females in the Valley from different districts and socio-economic background.

• Doctors fear it may impact the mental health of the next generation, too.

Alarming Figures :

• The current prevalence of depression in Kashmir is 7.3% compared with 4% in mainland India, which is an even higher figure by global standards.

• Further, pellet victims who have suffered disabilities or lost jobs are the most vulnerable to grave psychological issues.

                                                                                                                       Source :- The Hindu

Why is China laying down gene editing rules? [Editorial / Opinion]

GS PAPER - 03 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life Achievement of Indians in science & technology;

Context :

• In a bid to make babies immune to infection by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), He Jiankui, who is a researcher from the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China, used a clinically untested gene editing tool (CRISPR-Cas9) to modify a particular gene.

• The tool has also been used on another woman to make a gene-edited embryo; the pregnant woman is expected to deliver in August, 2019.

• The announcement of the birth of gene-edited twin girls late last year set off an international furore

How does it work ?

• Unusual but repeated DNA structures that scientists had been observing for some time were given a name. This name assigned was “Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats” or CRISPR.

• In 2012, scientists discovered that CRISPR is a key part of the “immune system”.

• For instance, when a virus enters a bacterium, it fights back by cutting up the virus’s DNA.

• This kills the virus but the bacterium store some of the DNA.

• The next time there is an invasion, the bacterium produces an enzyme called Cas9 which matches the stored fingerprints with that of the invader’s.

• If it matches, Cas9 can snip the invading DNA.

• The CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing tool thus has two components. These are:

1. a short RNA sequence that can bind to a specific target of the DNA and

2. the Cas9 enzyme which acts like a molecular scissor to cut the DNA.

• To edit a gene of interest, the short RNA sequence that perfectly matches with the DNA sequence that has to be edited, is introduced.

• Once it binds to the DNA, the Cas9 enzyme cuts the DNA at the targeted location where the RNA sequence is bound.

• Once the DNA is cut, the natural DNA repair mechanism is utilised to add or remove genetic material or make changes to the DNA.

Was it wrong to use gene editing tool ?

• He used the CRISPR–Cas9 gene editing technique in the twin girls to disable a gene called CCR5, which encodes a protein that allows HIV to enter and infect cells.

• Though no guidelines have been drawn up so far, there is a general consensus in the scientific and ethics communities that the CRISPR–Cas9 gene-editing technique should not be used clinically in embryos.

• There is also consensus that gene editing can be potentially used only to prevent serious genetic disorders that have no alternative treatment.

• Further, while HIV cannot be cured, medicines can keep the virus under check.

• Importantly, human clinical trials have not been carried out anywhere in the world to test whether disabling the gene completely prevents HIV infection and what the side-effects of doing so would be.

• In the absence of any clinical trial data as well as consensus to use this tool to prevent HIV infection, performing it on babies as a form of medical intervention is unethical.

• According to Nature, the hospital that had supposedly given Dr. He ethical approval to use the technique on pregnant women issued a press statement denying this.

• The hospital also “questioned the signatures on the approval form” and said no committee meeting had been held related to his research work.

• Apparently, information on the consent form suggests that the parents who had participated in the experiment were never told about the problems of disabling the gene.

Can disabling the CCR5 gene prevent HIV?

• While it is generally believed that babies without a functional CCR5 gene will become resistant to HIV infection, certain other strains of HIV use another protein (CXCR4) to infect cells.

• Hence, even people who are born with two copies of the non-functional CCR5 gene are not completely protected or resistant against HIV infection.

• There is also the possibility that the gene editing tool could have caused unintended mutations in other parts of the genome, which may lead to unpredictable health consequences.

• Most importantly, medicines and delivery through caesarean section and avoiding breast feeding can prevent vertical viral transmission from mother to foetus.

• It is important to note that while women with HIV have greater chances of passing the virus to the foetus, in this case, the mother was HIV-free; the father was HIV positive.

Does the CCR5 gene have any protective role?

• The CCR5 gene’s protective role against the West Nile virus is well established.

• According to Nature, the CCR5 gene also helps to protect the lungs, the liver and the brain during certain serious infections and chronic diseases.

• The gene is known to prompt the immune system to fight the influenza virus in the lungs.

• Without this gene the defence system would fail.

• In the case of people with multiple sclerosis, absence of this gene makes them twice as likely to die early.

Was the gene removed in both babies?

• There are two copies of the gene in every person.

• In the case of one baby girl both the copies of the gene were disabled but in the other baby, only one copy was disabled.

• So the baby with one functional copy of the gene might still be susceptible to HIV infection.

• The decision to implant the embryo with only one disabled copy makes the work all the more unethical.

• Though Dr. He claimed the babies were born in early November last year (2018), The New York Times reported that the babies were born premature in October.

Steps taken by China to prevent Misuse:

• The Chinese national health commission asked the Guangdong health commission to start an investigation.

• On January 21st this year (2019), Dr. He was fired from the university where he worked after a probe by the Guangdong health commission found that he had violated the national regulations against using gene-editing for reproductive purposes.

• According to The Scientist, Dr. He’s experiment violates the 2003 guidelines that prohibits the use of gene-manipulated embryos for reproductive purposes.

• On February 26th, 2019 China posted the draft regulation requiring researchers to obtain prior approval from the government before undertaking clinical trials.

• Those found violating the rules will be punished and this includes a lifetime ban on research.

• China is now all set to introduce gene-editing regulation.

                                                                                                                   Source :- The Hindu

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