• Worldwide, the race is going on to develop and evaluate vaccines, driven by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), a global partnership between public, private, philanthropic, and civil society organisations.
• The Indian government's Department of Biotechnology is a founding member of CEPI and several Indian scientists and scientists of Indian origin working overseas play a major role in CEPI.
• CEPI is currently backing four vaccine development efforts with funding: one university (Queensland) Australia and three companies CureVac, Inovio and Moderna (the latter with the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases).

• The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, is a "public-private coalition that aims to derail epidemics by speeding up the development of vaccines" Its headquarters is in Norway.
• CEPI's aim is to develop early phases of vaccines without knowing the details for the form in which the infection will appear, cutting down the time for initial development and deployment, while allowing the vaccine to be progressively tailored to improve its effectiveness for the particular epidemic

• British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline Plc is collaborating with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to contribute towards the effort of developing a vaccine for the coronavirus outbreak,
• GSK will make its "adjuvant platform technology" available for developing a vaccine against the 2019-nCoV virus
• The use of adjuvant allows for production of more vaccine doses and hence would increase availability to more people.

Relevance IN - Prelims (about the port city Poompuhar) +Mains GS I(Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times)

What's the NEWS

• The Chola Dynasty port city in Tamil Nadu that vanished from maritime history around 1,000 years ago will be digitally reconstructed by a consortium led by the Department of Science and Technology

Know! about the port city

• There are exhaustive narrations in works of Sangam Tamil literature to infer that the city, located 30 km from the existing Poompuhar town in southern TN, was submerged due to "kadalkol" or rising sea levels.
• The mystery of the exact location of initial establishment of Poompuhar, its age, later shifts, along with periods, time-series spatial evolution in the present location at the mouth of river Cauvery, and the reasons and periods of its extinction, remain unresolved
• The port city flourished in inter-continental trade but vanished.
• Initial studies carried out by the Indian Remote Sensing Satellites show that the city was established initially in the Cauvery Delta-A about 30km away from the present town around 15,000 years ago.
  
  

Know! about the study to be done by DST

• The study involves underwater surveys and photography by remotely operated vehicles and sea bed drilling, remote sensing-based geodynamic studies to bring out comprehensive information on the time series evolution and extinction.
• It also involves the visualisation of geodynamic processes of the last 20,000 years like land subsidence, sea-level rise, Cauvery's migration, floods, tsunami, cyclones and erosion.
• The information extracted from the studies will help digitally reconstruct the life history of Poompuhar
• The reconstruction of Poompuhar is part of DST's Indian Digital Heritage project - an exhibition of its first project ‘Digital Hampi' is currently on display at the National Museum

Polity
SC directs states to issue notification for establishing ‘Gram Nyayalayas'
Relevance IN - Prelims (about Gram Nayalaya)+Mains (GS II Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary Ministries and Departments of the Government
What's the NEWS

• The Supreme Court has directed the states, which are yet come out with notifications for establishing ‘Gram Nyayalayas', to do so within four weeks, and asked the high courts to expedite the process of consultation with state governments on this issue.
• An Act passed by Parliament in 2008 provided for setting up of ‘Gram Nyayalayas' at the grass roots level for providing access to justice to citizens at the doorstep and to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to anyone by reason of social, economic or other disabilities.
• Several states have issued notifications for establishing ‘Gram Nyayalayas' but all of them were not functioning except in Kerala, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.

Know! more about Gram Nyayalayas.

• The Act came into force on October 2, 2009
• Gram Nyayalaya is a mobile court and exercises the powers of both Criminal and Civil Courts
• The seat of the Gram Nyayalaya will be located at the headquarters of the intermediate Panchayat
• Gram Nyayalaya are courts of Judicial Magistrate of the first class and its presiding officer (Nyayadhikari) is appointed by the State Government in consultation with the High Court of the State concerned
• The Nyayadhikaris who will preside over these Gram Nyayalayas are strictly judicial officers and will be drawing the same salary and deriving the same powers as First Class Magistrates working under High Courts.
• The Gram Nyayalaya will not be bound by the rules of evidence provided in the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 but shall be guided by the principles of natural justice and subject to any rule made by the High Court
• Appeal in criminal cases shall lie to the Court of Session, which shall be heard and disposed of within a period of six months from the date of filing of such appeal.
• Appeal in civil cases shall lie to the District Court, which shall be heard and disposed of within a period of six months from the date of filing of the appeal.

Governance
Govt approves ordinance to remove end user restrictions, boost FDI in coal mining
Relevance IN - Prelims (about the amendments in Mining act + about the provisions in the ordinance) + Mains (GS II Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation
What's the NEWS

• India has opened up the coal sector completely for commercial mining for all local and global firms after easing restrictions on end-use and prior experience in auctions via an ordinance
• The Union Cabinet approved promulgation of Mineral Laws (Amendment) Ordinance 2020 to amend the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015, as well as the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957.

Know! more about the Ordinance passed (reforms)

• The ordinance puts an end to captive coal block auctions in future and will have to be adopted in the upcoming Budget session once it is cleared by the President.
• Earlier, the government used to auction coal and lignite mining licences only to companies engaged in iron and steel but now the ordinance opens up coal mining to any firm whose office is registered in India.
• The ordinance allows any India-registered company to bid and develop coal blocks. Section 11A of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act provides that the central government can auction coal and lignite mining licences only to companies engaged in iron and steel, power and coal washing sectors.
• The Ordinance removes the present restriction on the use of coal mined by companies only for specific end-uses such as power generation and steel production.
• Currently, separate licenses are provided for prospecting and mining of coal and lignite called prospecting license and mining lease respectively. Prospecting includes exploring, locating, or finding mineral deposits. The Ordinance provides for a composite type of license called prospecting license-cum-mining lease.
• The amendment will help attract more participation in coal block auctions.
• The amendments will create an efficient energy market and bring in more competition as well as reduce coal imports

Health Sectors
10% Indians to develop cancer, 1 in 15 will die of disease: WHO
Relevance IN - Prelims (about the findings of the report + about UICC) + Mains (GS II Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.)
What's the NEWS

• One in 10 Indians will develop cancer during their lifetime, and one in 15 Indians will die of cancer, according to a latest World Health Organization (WHO) report.

World Cancer Day

• February 4 is World Cancer Day and the WHO has released two global reports on the occasion.
• The report aims to set the global agenda on cancer, mobilise stakeholders and help countries set priorities for investing in cancer control and universal health coverage.
• According to the report, the six most common cancer types in India are breast cancer (1,62,500 cases), oral cancer (1,20,000 cases), cervical cancer (97,000 cases), lung cancer (68,000 cases), stomach cancer (57,000 cases), and colorectal cancer (57,000).
• Together, these account for 49 per cent of all new cancer cases
• Tobacco-related cancers account for 34-69 per cent of all cancers in men, and constitute 10-27 per cent of all cancers in women in most regions in India, the report notes.

Know! about World Cancer 4^TH Feb. Day 2020

• World Cancer Day is an international day marked on February 4 to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment.
• World Cancer Day is led by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) to support the goals of the World Cancer Declaration, written in 2008.
• The 2019-2021 campaign theme is 'I Am and I Will
• The primary goal of World Cancer Day is to significantly reduce illness and death caused by cancer and is an opportunity to rally the international community to end the injustice of preventable suffering from cancer. The day is observed by the United Nations.

Know! about UICC

• The Union for International Cancer Control is a membership based, non-governmental organization that exists to help the global health community accelerate the fight against cancer.
• Founded in 1933 and based in Geneva, Switzerland, UICC has a membership of over 800 organisations across 155 countries, and features the world's major cancer societies, ministries of health, research institutes and patient groups.
• UICC partners with its members, key partners, the World Health Organization, World Economic Forum and others, to tackle cancer on a global scale.

Prelims Factoids
The poets that FM quoted in her Budget speech
Relevance IN - Prelims (about the poets)
What's the NEWS
Finance Minister(FM) Nirmala Sitharaman quoted four poets in her Budget speech

• Pt. Dinanath Nadim
• Avvaiyar
• Thiruvalluvar and
• Kalidas

The FM also stated Chanakya Niti Sutra - "Karya purusha karena lakshyam sampadyate" which translates to "determined human efforts can ensure that a task is completed
Pt. Dinanath Nadim

• The Kashmiri nationalist poet Dinanath Nadim was at the centre of Kashmir's progressive movement, especially in the 1930s, 40s and 50s.
• Nadim wrote in Kashmiri, Hindi and Urdu, and inspired a powerful tradition of Kashmiri poetry.
• Nadim received the Sahitya Akademi award in 1986 for his opera Shuhul Kull (The Shady Tree).
• Sitharaman quoted from Nadim's poem "Myon Watan", which translates into English as "My Motherland".

Avvaiyar

• Avvaiyar translates to "Respected Woman", and the title was used by several woman poets who contributed to Tamil literature during different periods of time.
• FM quoted from Aaathichoodi's verse 81 which translates to "first tend to till one's land and then eat. One must eat only after work.

Thiruvalluvar

• Thiruvalluvar, the Tamil poet and philosopher regarded as a cultural and moral icon for Tamils across caste and religious lines, is best known as the author of Thirukkural, a collection of couplets on ethics, politics, economics, and love.
• FM quoted Thiruvalluvar: "Pini Inmai Selvam Vilaivu Inbam Emam Ani Enba", which loosely translates to having the "five jewels" required for a country that is without illness, with wealth, with good crops, with happiness, as well as safety and security.

Kalidas

• Kalidas, the legendary Sanskrit scholar, is believed to have lived during the middle of the fourth and early fifth centuries AD, during the reigns of Chandragupta II Vikramaditya and Kumaragupta.
• Raghuvamsa, from which Sitharaman quoted, is one of two long epic poems written by Kalidas.

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