IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-01

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Study of ancient DNA throws light on origin of farming, languages

News

• An international team of geneticists, archaeologists and anthropologists, have analysed genomes of 524 ancient individuals.
• The team also conducted the largest ever study of ancient human DNA, along with the first genome of an individual from the IVC with both studies revealing unprecedented details of genetic ancestry of these regions.

Study of ancient human DNA

• These studies speak of transition from hunting and gathering to farming and the spread of Indo-European languages, which are spoken today from the British Isles to South Asia, along with movement of people.
• This study also identifies two new powerful lines of evidence in favour of ‘Steppe Hypothesis’ that Anatolia-related ancestry and farming arrived in Iran and Turan (southern Central Asia) around the same time.
• This confirms that the spread of agriculture entailed not only a westward route from Anatolia to Europe but also an eastward route from Anatolia into regions of Asia previously only inhabited by hunter-gatherer groups.
• It then spread northward through the mountains of Inner Asia thousands of years after taking hold in Iran and Turan.
• Of the 140 present-day South Asian populations analysed in the study, a handful has a remarkable similarity with the Steppe.
• All but one of these Steppe-enriched populations is historically priestly groups, including Brahmins.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

U.S. backs India naming terrorists

News

• The S. has backed India’s move to declare JeM chief Masood Azhar and three others as terrorists individually under a new anti-terror law.

New anti-terror law

• Besides Azhar, India declared Mumbai terror attack accused Zaki-ur-Rehman-Lakhvi, fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, and Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed as individual terrorists.
• The decision to declare all four of them as terrorists has been taken nearly a month after Parliament approved a crucial amendment to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment (UAPA) Act, 1967.
• According to the UAPA, earlier only a group could be declared as terrorist.
• The amendments made in the Act allows the government to declare even an individual as terrorist.
• These four are involved in terrorist attacks in India and have been designated as global terrorists under United Nations.
• Under the new law, the government can impose a travel ban on individuals who have been designated as “terrorists” and seize their properties.
• The law is in conformity with United Nations conventions as well as international standards.
• The US Department of the Treasury has designated Saeed, 2008 Mumbai terror attacks mastermind, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and the US, since 2012, has offered a USD 10 million reward for information that brings the JuD chief to justice.
• In May, the United Nations designated Azhar as a “global terrorist” after China lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist him.

WHO South-East Asia Region plans to banish measles, rubella by 2023

News

• Member-countries of the World Health Organisation (WHO) South-East Asia Region have resolved to eliminate highly infectious childhood killer diseases measles and rubella by 2023.

Measles and rubella

• A resolution to eliminate the diseases was adopted at the 72nd session of the WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia in Delhi.
• Measles is particularly dangerous for the poor, as it attacks malnourished children and those with reduced immunity.
• It can cause serious complications, including blindness, encephalitis, severe diarrhoea, ear infection and pneumonia, while rubella/ congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) causes irreversible birth defects.
• Eliminating measles will prevent 500,000 deaths a year in the region, while eliminating rubella/ CRS would avert about 55,000 cases of rubella and promote health and wellbeing of pregnant women and infants.
• Measles elimination and rubella control has been a regional flagship priority since 2014.
• Bhutan, DPR Korea, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Timor-Leste have eliminated measles and Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Timor-Leste have controlled rubella.
• To achieve the new targets, the member-countries resolved to strengthen the immunisation systems for increasing and sustaining high level of population immunity against the two diseases at both the national and sub-national levels.
• The resolution calls for ensuring a highly sensitive laboratory supported case-based surveillance system better evidence for appropriate planning and response. It also emphasises on preparedness for outbreak response activities.
• All countries pledged to mobilise political, societal and financial support to ensure the interruption of transmission of indigenous measles and rubella virus by 2023.

Russia proposes joint development of submarines with India

News

• Russia has offered India joint design and development of conventional submarines through an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) at the delegation-level dialogue between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok.

Joint design and development of conventional submarines

• The Navy has issued an Expression of Interest (EoI) for six advanced conventional diesel-electric submarines under Project 75I and the bids are expected to be submitted later month.
• The procurement is through the Strategic Partnership (SP) model of the defence procurement procedure and valued over Rs. 40,000 crore.
• The indigenous AIP being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) could be incorporated in the submarine, the source stated. Russian fifth generation fighter aircraft, Su-57, was not offered to India.
• For the P-75I, Russia has pitched a modified Amur 1650 conventional submarine to suit Indian requirements.
• The contenders in the P-75I are Naval Group of France, Rosoboronexport Rubin Design Bureau of Russia, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems of Germany and Saab group of Sweden.
• India has signed a series of mega defence deals with Russia in the last few years through the IGA route.

West Bengal Assembly rules out NRC

News

• In an unprecedented show of unity, the West Bengal Legislative Assembly passed a resolution opposing the National Register of Citizens ( NRC) in Assam.

National Register of Citizens

• The resolution also categorically ruled out the possibility of any such exercise in the State.
• The development comes within a week of release of the final list of NRC, in which over 19 lakh people have been left out.

India, South Korea seal logistics pact

News

• India and South Korea concluded a military logistics agreement during the ongoing visit of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to Seoul.

Military logistics agreement

• The two countries also formulated a forward-looking road map to take bilateral defence industry cooperation to the next level, the Defence Ministry said in a statement on Friday.
• The Ministers exchanged views on regional and international developments of mutual interest. Two MoUs to further defence educational exchanges and extend logistical support to each other’s Navies were signed.
• This foreign cooperation initiative would greatly help interoperability.
• India will be able to get assured logistic support when it operates in the Indo-Pacific in the ports of South Korea.
• On the road map, it had listed a number of proposed areas of cooperation in land, aero and naval systems, research and development cooperation and collaboration in testing, certification and quality assurance.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

Prepare plan for protection of the Great Indian Bustard: NGT

News

• Noting the high mortality rate of the Great Indian Bustard, the National Green Tribunal has directed the Centre to prepare a time-bound action plan within two months for protection of the birds.

Great Indian Bustard

• A Bench also constituted a joint committee comprising officials of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Ministry of Power and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
• The committee was asked to prepare an action plan for the implementation of suggestions put forth by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII).
• The WII in its report also said steps should be taken to reduce poaching of the specie and other wildlife in the Thar landscape.

Phone numbers of 400 mn FB users exposed: report

News

• Phone numbers linked to more than 400 million Facebook accounts were listed online in the latest privacy lapse for the social media giant, U.S. media reports said.

Privacy

• An exposed server stored 419 million records on users across several databases including 133 million records on U.S.-based Facebook users, 18 million records of users in the U.K., and another with more than 50 million records on users in Vietnam.
• The databases listed Facebook user IDs unique digits attached to each account, the profiles’ phone numbers, as well as the gender listed by some accounts and their geographical locations.
• The server was not password-protected, meaning anyone could access the databases, and remained online until when TechCrunch contacted the site’s host.
• The exposure of a user’s phone number leaves them vulnerable to spam calls, SIM-swapping as recently happened to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey with hackers able to force-reset the passwords of the compromised accounts.

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