Daily Current Capsules - 06^th July 2020

Information Technology
Aatmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Aatmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge) + Mains ( GS II Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation + GS III awareness in the field of IT +can be used as a fodder - steps/initiatives taken by the government in GS II & III questions)
What's the NEWS

• The Prime Minister launched the 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge' to help start-up and tech community achieve the Aatmanirbhar Bharat mission.

Know! all about the App Innovation Challenge

• To help our start-up and tech community to achieve the objective, of developing Apps which can satisfy our market as well as compete with the world Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology along with Atal Innovation Mission are coming up with the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Innovation challenge.
• This challenge will run in two tracks: Promotion of Existing Apps and Development of New Apps.
• For the promotion of existing Apps and platforms across the categories of E-learning, Work-from-Home, Gaming, Business, Entertainment, Office Utilities, and Social Networking, Government will provide mentoring, hand-holding and support.
• Track-01 will work in mission mode for identifying good quality Apps for the leader-board and shall be completed in around a month.
• For incubating new apps and platforms, Track-02 initiative will work to help create new champions in India by providing support in ideation, incubation, prototyping and roll out along with market access.

Prelims Factoids
Elyments

Relevance IN - Prelims ( factual takeaways of Elyments)
What's the NEWS

• India's Vice President Venkaiah Naidu launched the Elyments app - which claims to be India's first official social media super app.
• The app has been built by over a thousand IT professionals who are also volunteers of the Art of Living, which is helmed by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

Know! all about Elyments

• In the social media world, the app will be competing with the likes of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram.
• The app which is available in eight languages already has over 100,000 downloads on the Google Play Store.
• Its official statement on the play store says that through the app users can "connect and converse with friends, share updates, network with like-minded people, discover interests, make seamless voice and video calls, and much more."
• The app also says that it has given importance to privacy and all the servers are hosted within India.
• It is aimed at giving a new boost, a quantum jump to the economic potential of the country by strengthening infrastructure, using modern technologies, enriching human resources, and creating robust supply chains

Science & Technology
Indigenous Indian COVID19 vaccines in the global race to end the pandemic
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about COVAXIN + ZyCov-D + role of antigen, antibody, immune system and inactivated vaccine) + Mains ( GS II Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources + GS III Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology)
What's the NEWS

• Announcement of COVAXIN by Bharat Biotech and ZyCov-D Vaccine by Zydus Cadila
• Now the nod given by the Drug Controller General of India CDSCO (The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation) for the conduct of the human trial for the vaccines, marks the beginning of the end.

Know! the status of Vaccine race

• More than 140 candidate vaccines are under various stages of development.
• One of the leading candidates is AZD1222 developed Jenner Institute of University of Oxford and licenced to AstraZeneca British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Cambridge, England.
• The MRNA-1273 vaccine developed by Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, Washington and taken up for production by the US-based Moderna pharmaceutical is just a step behind.
• Both these firms have already inked an agreement with Indian manufacturers for production of the COVID vaccines.

Development of vaccines in India

• Pune based ICMR institution National Institute of Virology and Hyderabad based CSIR institution Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology, six Indian companies are working on a vaccine for COVID-19.
• Along with the two Indian vaccines, COVAXIN and ZyCov-D, the world over, 11 out of 140 vaccine candidates have entered the human trials.

Know! how our Immune system fights the Virus

• Antigen from the pathogen and antibodies produced by the human immune cells can be thought of as matching the compatible pair.
• Every pathogen has specific molecular structures called as antigen. They are like the surface with a particular hue and design.
• Once infected by the germ, the human immune system develops antibodies that match the antigen.
• Our immune system has ten thousand types of antibodies. If the pathogen is a known enemy, the immune system can pull the matching antibody (as it has ten thousand types of antibodies ).Once the match is made the pathogen is inactivated. No longer it can infect.
• However, if the microorganism is unfamiliar, and mainly when it has evolved for the first time, there is no matching antibody in the repertoire, the antibody can evolve.
• The time lag between the identification of the main antigen, and finding a pairing design piece, that is antibodies, is what makes the infection mild or severe.
• If only the immune system can neutralise the germ instantly, the infection can be prevented.
• Once the new antibody matching the antigen evolves, it is retained in the immunological memory.
• Next time the same pathogen invades, immunological memory gets activated, and twinned antibody is released. The infection is nipped in the bud. We acquire immunity.

Know! the working process of vaccine and types of Virus

• A vaccine is a method to artificially inducing the immunological memory. Once the antigens of the nasty pathogen are introduced, the immune system is triggered into developing pairing antibodies and immunological memory.
• There are many ways in which one can artificially stroke the immune system to develop antibodies and memory.
• From adenovirus-based live-attenuated virus to recombinant genetic technology is used to develop several types of vaccines.
• Two among the various possibilities produced in India are inactivated virus vaccine and DNA plasmid vaccine.
• The inactivated virus will not be able to infect or cause disease, as it is no longer functional.
• The Bharat Biotech's COVAXIN uses the virus isolated from an Indian patient by the National Institute of Virology to develop the inactivated virus vaccine.

Know! how a Novel Coronavirus attacks our body

• Novel coronavirus infects the human cells with the help of its spike proteins. The spike protein of the virus binds with the ACE2 receptors on the surface of the human respiratory tract cells.
• Once the virus fuse, the viral genome is slipped into the human cell where around a thousand copies of the virus are made in just ten hours. These baby viruses emigrate to nearby cells. Infection can be arrested if only we can deactivate the spike protein of the novel coronavirus.
• Thus the antigen on the spike protein is a crucial vaccine target. If the antibody blocks the spike protein, then the virus cannot bind the cell and multiply.

India as a vaccine manufacturing Hub

• In the past years, India has emerged as one of the significant vaccine manufacturing hubs. Indian manufacturers account for 60% of vaccine supplies made to UNICEF.
• The vaccine for novel coronavirus may be developed anywhere in the world, but without Indian manufacturers involved the production of required quantity is not going to be feasible.

Know! about CDSCO

• The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation(CDSCO)under Directorate General of Health Services,Ministry of Health & Family Welfare,Government of India is the National Regulatory Authority (NRA) of India.
• The Drugs & Cosmetics Act,1940 and rules 1945 have entrusted various responsibilities to central & state regulators for regulation of drugs & cosmetics.
• It envisages uniform implementation of the provisions of the Act & Rules made there under for ensuring the safety, rights and well being of the patients by regulating the drugs and cosmetics.
• Under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, CDSCO is responsible for approval of Drugs, Conduct of Clinical Trials, laying down the standards for Drugs, control over the quality of imported Drugs in the country and coordination of the activities of State Drug Control Organizations by providing expert advice with a view of bring about the uniformity in the enforcement of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.

Governance/Polity
Govt extends postal ballot facility to those over 65 and Covid-19 patients
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the amendments in Conduct of Election Rules, 1961+ Mains ( GS II Responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies, Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
What's the NEWS

• Those over the age of 65 years and people infected with coronavirus or suspected of having contracted the infection will be allowed to vote by postal ballot after the government amended the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.
• Those people who have mild symptoms and are not in any medical facility, but in home quarantine can also vote through postal ballot
• Earlier, casting votes through postal ballots was available only to armed forces and officials assigned poll duties.
• In February, Delhi became the first state to experiment with postal ballots, extending the facilities to those with severe disabilities or above the age of 80 years.

Know! more about the recent amendments

• The Ministry of Law and Justice issued a notification for the Conduct of Elections (Amendment) Rules 2020 for extending the postal ballot facility for voters above the age of 65 years as well as Covid-19 patients under home or institutional quarantine.
• The notification was issued ahead of the Bihar assembly polls which is scheduled to take place somewhere between October and November.

Know! about Voting through postal ballot by Absentee Voters on Essential Service (AVES)

• Postal ballot is a type of voting in elections whereby Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot Papers(ETPB) are distributed to electors and returned by post.
• By the Conduct of Elections (Amendment) Rules, 2019, ‘Absentee Voters' have been given the facility of voting through postal ballot paper.
• Absentee Voter has been defined in clause (a) of Rule-27A of CE Rules, 1961 as a person belonging to the class of persons notified by the Commission in terms of clause (c) of Section-60 of RP Act, 51 comprising persons employed in essential services who, on account of the compulsion of their duties, are not able to be present in their polling station on the day of poll.
• The Section 60 of the Representation of the People Act,1951 provides for the person to be given postal ballot facility by the Election commission in consultation with the government.
• This category would also include senior citizens of 80 plus age and those belonging to the category of physically disabled (PWD).

Know! about the Representation of the People Act, 1951

• The Representation of the People Act, 1951 is an act of Parliament of India to provide for the conduct of election of the Houses of Parliament and to the House or Houses of the Legislature of each State, the qualifications and disqualifications for membership of those Houses, the corrupt practices and other offences at or in connection with such elections and the decision of doubts and disputes arising out of or in connection with such elections.
• It was introduced in Parliament by law minister Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.
• The Act was enacted by the provisional parliament under Article 327 of Indian Constitution, before the first general election.

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