Daily Current Capsules

29th September 2020

Prelims Factoids

Cat Que Virus' (CQV)

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Cat Que Virus' (CQV)

What's the NEWS

• he scientists at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) have discovered another virus called ‘Cat Que Virus' (CQV) which has the potential to cause disease in the country.
• Falling under the category of Arthropod-borne viruses and found in pigs and culex mosquitoes, CQV has been largely reported in China and Vietnam.

• Scientists at the National Institute of Virology (NIV), ICMR, Pune discovered antibodies for the virus in two out of the 883 human serum samples tested across states.
• ICMR scientists stated that availability of vector, primary mammalian host (swine) and confirmation of CQV from the jungle myna bird signifies the potential of this orthobunyavirus as a public health pathogen in India.
• Anti-CQV IgG antibody positivity in human serum samples tested and the replication capability of CQV in mosquitoes indicated a possible disease causing potential of CQV in India.
• The ICMR study showed that Indian mosquito breeds- Ae. aegypti, Cx. quinquefasciatus and Cx. Tritaeniorhynchus were vulnerable to CQV.
• CQV has been isolated and reported from mosquitoes, which is its natural host.
• The role of birds as a host for CQV transmission and reports of human infection with CQV are not yet documented.
• Domestic pigs are the primary mammalian host and antibodies against the virus have been found in swine reared locally in China.

• Arbovirus is an informal name used to refer to any viruses that are transmitted by arthropod vectors.
• An arthropod is an invertebrate animal having an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages.
• Arthropods form the phylum Euarthropoda, which includes insects, arachnids, myriapods, and crustaceans.
• In epidemiology, a disease vector is any agent which carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism; agents regarded as vectors are organisms, such as intermediate parasites or microbes.

• Orthobunyaviruses are arthropod-transmitted viruses that are characterized by a tripartite, negative-sense RNA genome.
• Orthobunyavirus is a genus of the Peribunyaviridae family in the order Bunyavirales.
• There are currently ~170 viruses recognised in this genus. These have been assembled into 88 species and 20 serogroups.

Governance

EPFO services most accessed on UMANG App

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Scheme certificate of EPFO + about UMANG) + Mains ( GS II Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential

What's the NEWS

• The Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance (UMANG) has been a big hit among EPF subscribers enabling them to access services during COVID-19 pandemic from the comfort of their homes in a hassle free manner.
• Adding to the 16 services already on the Umang App, EPFO has now started another facility enabling EPS members to apply for Scheme Certificate under Employees' Pension Scheme, 1995.

Scheme certificate

• Scheme certificate is issued to members who withdraw their EPF contribution but wish to retain their membership with EPFO, to avail pension benefits on attainment of retirement age.
• A member becomes eligible for pension only if he has been, cumulately, a member of the Employees' Pension Scheme,1995 for at least 10 years.

• UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) is developed by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and National e-Governance Division (NeGD) to drive Mobile Governance in India.
• UMANG provides a single platform for all Indian Citizens to access pan India e-Gov services ranging from Central to Local Government bodies and other citizen centric services.

Science & Technology
Himalayan Chandra Telescope

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about HCT+ IAO + MACE+ HAGAR+GROWTH) +Mains ( GS III Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology

What's the NEWS

• To mark the 20 years of the first light event of the 2m Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT) , IIA, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), has organized a two-day online science workshop
• The workshop will highlight the science that the telescope has produced since the commissioning and the future of IAO.

• The 2-m Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT) was installed at the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO), Mt. Saraswati, Digpa-ratsa Ri, Hanle at an altitude of 4500 m (15000 ft) above by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bangalore, in August 2000.
• The telescope remotely operated using a dedicated INSAT-3B satellite communication link from the Centre for Research & Education in Science & Technology (CREST), Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bangalore
• It is equipped with 3 science instruments like The Himalayan Faint Object Spectrograph Camera (HFOSC), the near-infrared camera and Optical CCD imager for regular observations.
• The telescope has been used in many coordinated international campaigns to monitor stellar explosions, comets, exo-planets, gravitational wave sources, young supernovae and near-earth asteroids and has contributed significantly to these studies.
• It contains a modified Ritchey-Chretien system with a primary mirror made of ULE ceramic which is designed to withstand low temperatures it experiences.

• The Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO), located in Hanle near Leh in Ladakh, India, has one of the world's highest located sites for optical, infrared and gamma-ray telescopes.
• It is operated by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore.
• The Indian Astronomical Observatory stands on Mt. Saraswati, Digpa-ratsa Ri, Hanle in south-eastern Ladakh union territory of India.

Facilities at IAO
Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen (GROWTH)-India

• The telescope located at the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO) at Hanle in Ladakh is the country's first robotic telescope and the first one designed to observe dynamic or transient events in the universe.
• The GROWTH-India telescope is part of the Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen.
• Its goals are threefold: (1) Search for explosions in the optical regime whenever LIGO group detects a Binary Neutron Star merger (2) study nearby young supernova explosions.
• The project is fully funded by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) under the PIRE project, administered by Indo US Science and Technology Forum.
• The fully robotic optical research telescope joins other larger facilities at IAO in Hanle - the Himalayan Chandra Telescope, the gamma-ray array telescope (HAGAR), and the imaging Cherenkov telescope (MACE).

Prelims Factoids

Two new species of wetland plant discovered from Western Ghats

Relevance IN -Prelims( about Eriocaulon parvicephalum and Eriocaulon karaavalense)
What's the NEWS

• Scientists from Agharkar Research Institute (ARI) have discovered two new species of pipeworts, a type of wetland plant, from areas along the Western Ghats in Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Know! about the genus Eriocaulon plant species

• Some of the previously-discovered plant species, belonging to genus Eriocaulon, have proven to have medicinal values and have been in wide use for their anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial and anti-cancerous properties.
• Some 111 species exist in India, most of which are endemic to the Western Ghats and eastern Himalayas.
• The two newly-discovered species, from Sindhudurg in Maharashtra and Kumta in Karnataka, display different floral characters than previously known species
• For its distinct minute inflorescence size, researchers have named the species found in Maharashtra as Eriocaulon parvicephalum, whereas the Karnataka counterpart has been named Eriocaulon karaavalense indicating the Karaavali coastal region in the state.
• Its tiny seeds and flowers make the identification of the species difficult. Besides, all species of Eriocaulon appear very similar to one another

Prelims Factoids
JIMEX-20

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about JIMEX)
What's the NEWS

• India and Japan will kick off three-day maritime drills in the northern Arabia Sea days after India conducted an exercise with Australia in the Indian Ocean.

Know! about JIMEX

• The India-Japan maritime bilateral exercise (JIMEX) is conducted biennially.
• Its last edition was conducted off the coast of Visakhapatnam in October 2018.
• JIMEX-20 will showcase a high degree of inter-operability and joint operational skills through conduct of a multitude of advanced exercises, across the spectrum of maritime operations.
• The drills come after Indian and Australian navies conducted a passage exercise in the eastern Indian Ocean Region (IOR) from September 23-24.
• A passage exercise is normally undertaken whenever an opportunity arises, in contrast to pre-planned maritime drills.
• Just like the Indo-Australian drills, JIMEX-20 is being conducted in a "non-contact at-sea-only format", in view of Covid-19 restrictions.

Malabar naval exercise

• The stage is also set for Australia to be part of the next Malabar naval exercise conducted by India with the US and Japan.
• The next edition of Malabar, already delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, is set to be held by the end of the year.

Prelims Factoids
Sandalwood Spike Disease (SSD)

Relevance IN -Prelims ( about Sandalwood Spike Disease (SSD).

What's the NEWS

• India's sandalwood trees, of Karnataka are facing a serious threat with the return of the destructive Sandalwood Spike Disease (SSD).
• The infection has resurfaced in the aromatic tree's natural habitats in Karnataka and Kerala.

• The natural population of sandalwood in Marayoor of Kerala and various reserve forests in Karnataka, including MM Hills, are heavily infected with SSD for which there is no cure as of now.
• There is no option but to cut down and remove the infected tree to prevent the spread of the disease, caused by phytoplasma - bacterial parasites of plant tissues - which are transmitted by insect vectors.
• SSD has been one of the major causes for the decline in sandalwood production in the country for over a century.
• The devastating impact in natural habitats resulted in sandalwood being classified as "vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 1998.
• The present rapid spread of the infection is largely due to restrictions on green felling in forests, which has allowed vectors to spread the disease to healthy trees
• It is very difficult to identify the symptoms of SSD. It can be noticed only when the tree gets completely affected
• India has been the traditional leader of sandalwood oil production for perfumery and pharmaceuticals. As early as 1792, Tippu Sultan had declared it a ‘Royal Tree' of Mysuru.

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