Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Genome sequencing to map population diversity

News

• In an indigenous genetic mapping effort, nearly 1,000 rural youth from the length and breadth of India will have their genomes sequenced by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
• The project aims at educating a generation of students on the “usefulness” of genomics.

Beyond News

• Globally, many countries have undertaken genome sequencing of a sample of their citizens to determine unique genetic traits, susceptibility (and resilience) to disease.
• This is the first time that such a large sample of Indians will be recruited for a detailed study.
• The project is an adjunct to a much larger government-led programme, still in the works, to sequence at least 10,000 Indian genomes.
• Typically, those recruited as part of genome-sample collections are representative of the country’s population diversity. In this case, the bulk of them will be college students, both men and women, and pursuing degrees in the life sciences or biology.
• Genomes will be sequenced based on a blood sample and the scientists plan to hold at least 30 camps covering most States.
• Every person whose genomes are sequenced will be given a report. The participants would be told if they carry gene variants that make them less responsive to certain classes of medicines. For instance, having a certain gene makes some people less responsive to clopidogrel, a key drug that prevents strokes and heart attack.
• The project would involve the Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) and cost ₹18 crore, with the sequencing to be done at the IGIB and the CCMB.
• Ever since the human genome was first sequenced in 2003, it opened a fresh perspective on the link between disease and the unique genetic make-up of each individual. Nearly 10,000 diseases including cystic fibrosis, thalassemia are known to be the result of a single gene malfunctioning.
• While genes may render some insensitive to certain drugs, genome sequencing has shown that cancer too can be understood from the viewpoint of genetics, rather than being seen as a disease of certain organs.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

HC upholds increase in minimum wage in 34 types of industries in State

News

• Thousands of employees working in about 34 different types of private industries in the State can cheer now as the High Court of Karnataka has upheld the government’s notifications issued in 2016 and 2017 increasing the minimum wages in these industries.

Beyond News

• It directed the employers to pay the minimum wages, which remained unpaid till now due to a stay order by the court, to the eligible employees/workers within a period of eight weeks with an interest of 6% per annum from the date from which the revised wages were payable.
• The court gave a partial relief to the industries by quashing direction to pay additional allowances like seniority allowance at the rate of 1% of the minimum wages for each completed year of service or otherwise, to the employees who have put in a service of ten or more years; and to continue to pay current wages even if they were above the revised minimum wages, and payment of minimum wages to the supervisory staff who do not prima facie come under the definition of ‘employee’ as per Section 2(e) of the Minimum Wages (MW) Act, 1948.
• The new MW applies to industries like automobile engineering (service and repair); shops and establishments, ceramic, stoneware and potteries, foundry, oil mills, printing press, veneer, hostels, hospital and nursing services, private schools, colleges, and other training centres, road construction and maintenance, and building construction, saw mills, spinning mills, pulp paper and card board, areca nut, bakery, biscuit, brick, chemical, cinchona rubber, coffee, tea and mixed plantations, cloth dyeing and printing, confectionery, cotton, crystal cutting, metal rolling and re-rolling ferrous, textile, among others.

China says ties with India insulated from differences on Belt and Road Initiative

News

• China said its ties with India had a “bright future” and they were preparing for a summit between their leaders as a follow-up to last year’s two-day across-the board Wuhan informal summit between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Beyond News

• At a press conference on a three-day Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation that begins on May 25, Chinese foreign minister and state councillor was emphatic that ties between India and China were insulated from their differences on the Beijing-led Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
• Thirty-seven heads of state or heads of government, including leaders from Russia, Italy, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland, Malaysia and Singapore, as well as high level representatives from France, Germany, UK, Spain the European Union and Republic of Korea, will attend the mega event.
• Chinese foreign minister and state councillor pointed out that India and China were limiting the threshold of their differences so that overall development of ties remained unhampered.
• India has slammed CPEC, stating that it was an affront to its sovereignty as it passes through Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).
• The Chinese top diplomat rubbished accusations that BRI projects were “debt traps”. Instead, the mega-connectivity project to revive the ancient Silk Road had generated benefits. The total trade volume between China and participating countries had surpassed 6 trillion dollars and investments had scaled 80 billion dollars, generating 300,000 jobs, Chinese foreign minister and state councillor pointed out.
• An “advisory council”, comprising eminent international personalities, had been formed to impart “high quality” to projects under the BRI banner.

In a first, voting takes place at Institute of Mental Health

News

• For the first time ever in the country, voting was held on the campus of an institution for the mentally ill.
• A total of 156 of its inmates 100 men and 56 women cast their votes at an auxiliary polling booth established on the campus on Thursday.

Beyond News

• Patients started to arrive in batches to the polling station a building dating back to 1941 that at present houses the head overseer’s office to cast their votes for the Chennai Central Lok Sabha constituency.
• Holding on to their new voter identity cards, most of them found the process easy.
• In fact, staff were surprised as a majority of the voters signed instead of providing thumb impressions.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Universe’s first molecule detected in space

News

• Scientists have detected the most ancient type of molecule in our universe in space for the first time ever.

Findings

• Helium hydride ion (HeH+) was the first molecule that formed when, almost 14 billion years ago, falling temperatures in the young universe allowed recombination of the light elements produced in the Big Bang.
• At that time, ionised hydrogen and neutral helium atoms reacted to form HeH+.
• Despite its importance in the history of the early Universe, HeH+ has so far escaped detection in astrophysical nebulae cloud of gas and dust in outer space.
• Operating the GREAT far-infrared spectrometer onboard the flying observatory SOFIA, an international team reported unambiguous detection of the molecule towards the planetary nebula NGC 7027.
• During the dawn of chemistry when the temperature in the young universe had fallen below 4000 Kelvin, the ions of the light elements (hydrogen, helium, deuterium and traces of lithium) produced in Big Bang nucleosynthesis recombined in reverse order of their ionisation potential.
• Helium combined first with free electrons to form the first ever neutral atom.
• At that time hydrogen was still ionised or present in form of bare protons. Helium atoms combined with these protons into the helium hydride ion HeH+, the universe’s first molecular bond.
• As recombination progressed, HeH+ reacted with then neutral hydrogen and created a first path to the formation of molecular hydrogen marking the beginning of the modern universe.
• Despite its unquestioned importance in the history of the early Universe, the HeH+ molecule has so far escaped detection in interstellar space.
• The hard radiation field produced by the central white dwarf star with a temperature of more than 100,000 degrees drives ionisation fronts into the ejected envelope, where HeH+ is predicted to form.
• The molecule will emit its strongest spectral line at a characteristic wavelength of 0.149 mm.
• Operating the GREAT spectrometer aboard SOFIA the team now reports the unequivocal detection of HeH+ towards the envelope of the planetary nebula NGC 7027.
• The detection of this special molecule brings a long search to a happy ending, and eliminates doubts that we might not understand the underlying formation and destruction as well as we thought, researchers said.

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