Daily Current Affairs : 12th April

Daily Current Affairs for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

1. Solar e waste
2. Kohinoor Diamond
3. Stem cell Therapy (Regenerative Medicine)
4. Mudra Loans
5. State of World Population 2019

1 . Solar e waste

Context : By 2050, India will likely stare at a pile of a new category of electronic waste, namely solar e-waste, says a study made public on Thursday. Currently, India’s e-waste rules have no laws mandating solar cell manufacturers to recycle or dispose waste from this sector.

How solar Voltaic cells are made

• Solar cell modules are made by processing sand to make silicon, casting silicon ingots, using wafers to create cells and then assembling them to make modules.
• India’s domestic manufacturers are largely involved in assembling cells and modules.
• These modules are 80% glass and aluminium, and non-hazardous. Other materials used, including polymers, metals, metallic compounds and alloys, and are classified as potentially hazardous

What constitutes Solar waste

• Photovoltaic cells that have reached their life cycle containing potentially hazardous chromium, silicon, tetrachloride, cadmium, selenium and sulfur hexafluride

Threat Perception

• Globally limited facilities exist to recycle solar cells
• India’s PV (photovoltaic) waste volume is estimated to grow to 200,000 tonnes by 2030 and around 1.8 million tonnes by 2050
• India is poorly positioned to handle PV waste as it doesn’t yet have policy guidelines on the same. A lack of a policy framework is coupled with the fact that even basic recycling facilities for laminated glass and e-waste are unavailable.
• Despite the e-waste regulation being in place for over seven years, only less than 4% of estimated e-waste is recycled in the organised sector as per the latest estimates from the Central Pollution Control Board

Facts for Prelims – : Kamuthi Solar Power Project is the largest single location solar power plant in the world,  located at Kamuthi in Tamil Nadu. The Kamuthi solar plant is the world’s second largest solar park with a capacity of 648 MW commissioned by Adani Power.

2 . Kohinoor Diamonds

Context : Pakistan on Thursday claimed the Kohinoor diamond, which is in the collection of famous jewels of the British royals. The country’s Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the jewel should be returned to Pakistan.

History of Kohinoor Diamond

• Legend has it that it was used as an eye of the deity in a Kakatiya temple in Warangal in 1310.
• Alauddin Khilji, second ruler of the Khilji dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate, and his army began looting the kingdoms of southern India. During a raid on Warangal, Malik Kafur (Khilji’s general) acquired the priceless diamond for the Khilji dynasty. It was then passed on to the succeeding dynasties of the Delhi Sultanate.
• In 1526, Babur handed a resounding defeat to Ibrahim Lodi at the Battle of Panipat. The victorious Babur received reports that the Fort of Agra housed an immense treasure, which included a diamond that defied all description. Enraptured by the jewel on its acquisition, Babur called it the ‘Diamond of Babur’ and even mentioned it in his memoir, the Baburnama.
• It passed on to Humayun from whom it passed on to successive generations of Mughal rulers, including Shah Jahan, who set the priceless gem in his legendary Peacock throne.
• It was in Aurangzeb’s reign that Tavernier, an enterprising French traveller and gem connoisseur, visited India in the search of rare and wonderful gems. Having been shown the diamond by Aurangzeb, Tavernier made the first sketch of Kohinoor in history.
• During the rule of Aurangzeb’s grand son Muhammad Shah in 1739, Delhi was invaded by Nadir Shah, the Shah of Persia. His army looted all the jewels in the royal Mughal treasury, which also included the famous Peacock Throne, and Daria-i-noor, the sister diamond of the Kohinoor.
• Nadir Shah was assassinated soon after he returned to Persia and the diamond fell into the hands of Ahmad Shah Abdali, one of his ablest generals, who later became the Emir of Afghanistan.
• A descendant of Abdali, Shah Shuja Durrani brought the Kohinoor back to India in 1813 and gave it to Ranjit Singh,the ruler of Lahore, in exchange for his help in winning back the throne of Afghanistan.
• Ranjit Singh had willed the diamond to the temple of Jagannath in Puri, in modern-day Odisha, but after his death in 1839, the East India Company did not comply with the terms of his will.
• His son, Duleep Singh lost the second Anglo-Sikh War leading to the annexation of the Punjab by the British. Under the aegis of Lord Dalhousie, the Last Treaty of Lahore was signed, officially ceding the Kohinoor to Queen Victoria along with the Maharaja’s other assets

Facts for Prelims : As per the treaty of Lahore The gem called the Koh-i-Noor, which was taken from Shah Sooja-ool-moolk by Maharajah Ranjeet Singh, shall be surrendered by the Maharajah of Lahore to the Queen of England. Hence the last ruler to hold Koh-i-noor in India is Maharaja Ranjit Singh

3 . Stem cell Therapy (Regenerative Medicine)

Context : Health ministry puts stem cell in ‘new drugs’ list, man moves court to continue treatment. He is being treated for Muscular Diastrophy

About the News

• Union Health Ministry had notified New Drugs and Clinical Trial Rules, 2019, which for the first time include “stem cell derived products” as “new drugs”.
• This includes all types of stem cells, bone marrow concentrate or embryonic cells
• The new rules will now require a clinic to attain licence from central licensing authority for clinical trials, marketing, usage or treatment of stem cell for any condition.

About Stem Cell Therapy

• Stem cell therapy, also known as regenerative medicine, promotes the repair response of diseased, dysfunctional or injured tissue using stem cells or their derivatives. It is the next chapter in organ transplantation and uses cells instead of donor organs, which are limited in supply.
• Researchers grow stem cells in a lab. These stem cells are manipulated to specialize into specific types of cells, such as heart muscle cells, blood cells or nerve cells.
• The specialized cells can then be implanted into a person. For example, if the person has heart disease, the cells could be injected into the heart muscle. The healthy transplanted heart muscle cells could then contribute to repairing defective heart muscle.

Current Case

• Bhatia was diagnosed in 2012 with Facioscapulohumeral (FSHD) Muscular Dystrophy, a rare genetic disorder that degenerates muscles.
• With no available cure, the muscles continued to weaken, affecting his face, shoulders and arms.
• In 2013, Bhatia started the contentious embryonic stem cell treatment at Nutech Mediworld. For five years, Bhatia would be injected with stem cells daily — the myoblast cells are used to repair and regrow muscles

Concerns

• According to experts, the procedure remains at an experimental stage with no clinical trial proving its efficacy, and is highly debated for using laboratory cultivated human embryos to derive stem cells.
• Stem cells are used, with no evidence, to treat a number of disorders, from autism to Parkinson’s disease.

Facts for Prelims : Embryonic stem cells come from embryos that are three to five days old. At this stage, an embryo is called a blastocyst and has about 150 cells.These are pluripotent (ploo-RIP-uh-tunt) stem cells, meaning they can divide into more stem cells or can become any type of cell in the body. This versatility allows embryonic stem cells to be used to regenerate or repair diseased tissue and organs

4 . Mudra Loans

Context : Banks and financial institutions stepped up lending under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) in the month of March to meet targets for Mudra loans.

About Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana

• The Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana or PMMY is a flagship scheme of the Government of India to extend affordable credit to micro and small enterprises.
• Mudra loans are designed to bring enterprises into the formal financial system, or to “fund the unfunded”.
• Loans under PMMY scheme are available to non-farm micro or small enterprises engaged in income generation through manufacturing, trading and services. Enterprises involved in allied agricultural activities can also apply for Mudra loans.
• Types of Loans offered – Shishu : covering loans upto  50,000/-, Kishor : covering loans above  50,000/- and upto 5 lakh,
• Tarun : covering loans above  5 lakh and upto 10 lakh

Benefits

• The Mudra loan scheme offers credit facilities to micro and small enterprises engaged in income generation.
• One of the key benefits of a Mudra loan is that borrowers are not required to provide security or collateral. Additionally, there are no processing charges on Mudra loans.
• The credit facilities extended under the PMMY can be for any type of fund or non-fund based requirements. Hence, borrowers can use the Mudra loan scheme for a variety of purposes. The credit from Mudra loans can be used for term loans and overdraft facilities, or to apply for letters of credit and bank guarantees.
• There is no minimum loan amount for Mudra loans.

About MUDRA

• Micro Units Development & Refinance Agency Ltd (MUDRA) was set up by the Government of India (GoI). MUDRA has been initially formed as a wholly owned subsidiary of Small Industries Development bank of India (SIDBI) with 100% capital being contributed by it.
• Presently, the authorized capital of MUDRA is 1000 crores and paid up capital is 750 crore, fully subscribed by SIDBI. More capital is expected to enhance the functioning of MUDRA.

Roles and Responsibilities of MUDRA

• MUDRA has been formed with primary objective of developing the micro enterprise sector in the country by extending various support including financial support in the form of refinance, so as to achieve the goal of funding the unfunded
• Subsequently GOI has also decided that MUDRA will provide refinance support, monitor the PMMY data by managing the web portal, facilitate offering guarantees for loans granted under PMMY and take up other activities assigned to it from time to time. Accordingly MUDRA has been carrying out these functions over the last one year.

5 . State of World Population 2019

Context : India accounts for over one-sixth of the world’s population in 2019 (1.37 billion out of 7.71 billion) and has grown at an rate (1.2% per year between 2010 and 2019) that is just over the world growth rate (1.2%), according to State of the World Population 2019, the flagship report of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Details of the Report

• India’s life expectancy at birth is lower than the world’s (69 years to 72), it scores higher than the global average in terms of access to healthcare during childbirth, and also has a much lower adolescent birth rate.
• Between 2006 and 2107, 86% of births in India were attended by skilled health personnel, as compared to 79% across the world.
• India’s maternal mortality ratio in 2015 was 174 deaths per lakh live births (down from 448 in 1994) while the global MMR in 2015 was 216.
• And while 28 of every 1,000 Indian adolescent women (age 15-19) gave birth between 2006 and 2017, the global adolescent birth rate was over one-and-a-half times that of India, at 44 per 1,000.
• India’s fertility rate in 2019 is 2.3 births per woman, compared to 2.5 worldwide.
• Early marriage continues to present a major cultural obstacle to female empowerment and better reproductive rights
• China, the world’s most populous country at 1.42 billion, has a population growth rate of 0.5% per year between 2010 and 2019, which is less than half of that in India or in the world.

About UNFPA

• UNFPA is formally named the United Nations Population Fund.
• The organization was created in 1969, the same year the United Nations General Assembly declared “parents have the exclusive right to determine freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children.”
• UNFPA calls for the realization of reproductive rights for all and supports access to a wide range of sexual and reproductive health services – including voluntary family planning, maternal health care and comprehensive sexuality education.

UNFPA Supports

• Reproductive health care for women and youth in more than 150 countries – which are home to more than 80 per cent of the world’s population
• The health of pregnant women, especially the 1 million who face life-threatening complications each month
• Reliable access to modern contraceptives sufficient to benefit 20 million women a year
• Training of thousands of health workers to help ensure at least 90 per cent of all childbirths are supervised by skilled attendants
• Prevention of gender-based violence, which affects 1 in 3 women
• Abandonment of female genital mutilation, which harms 3 million girls annually
• Prevention of teen pregnancies, complications of which are the leading cause of death for girls 15-19 years old
• Efforts to end child marriage, which could affect an estimated 70 million girls over the next 5 years
• Delivery of safe birth supplies, dignity kits and other life-saving materials to survivors of conflict and natural disaster
• Censuses, data collection and analyses, which are essential for development planning

Facts for Prelims : State of World Population Report is released by United Nations Population Fund