Daily Current Affairs for UPSC CSE
Topics Covered
- Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Act, 2021
- Registered unrecognised political parties (RUPPs)
- Antibiotics
- Facts for Prelims
1 . Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Act, 2021
Context: Health Ministry seeks data on single women taking the ART route.
About the news
- To assess the functioning of the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Act, 2021, the Union Health Ministry has sought data from all States and Union Territories on the total number of single women (those divorced and widows) and unmarried women who have successfully used the technology.
- Fertility experts have welcomed the move, along with the inclusion of single women and unmarried women as a category.
- The Ministry also sought category-wise figures of the total number of couples and single women who used surrogacy successfully following the implementation of the Surrogacy Act, 2021.
What is Assisted Reproductive Technology?
- ART includes all fertility treatments in which either eggs or embryos are handled.
- ART procedures involve surgically removing eggs from a woman’s ovaries, combining them with sperm in the laboratory, and returning them to the woman’s body or donating them to another woman.
- They do NOT include treatments in which only sperm are handled (i.e., intrauterine—or artificial—insemination) or procedures in which a woman takes medicine only to stimulate egg production without the intention of having eggs retrieved.
- It includes in-vitro fertilisation (fertilising an egg in the lab), gamete donation (sperm or egg), and gestational surrogacy (where the child is not biologically related to the surrogate mother)
ART Act , 2021 Provisions
- Provision of ART services: The Act defines ART to include all techniques that seek to obtain a pregnancy by handling the sperm or the oocyte (immature egg cell) outside the human body and transferring the gamete or the embryo into the reproductive system of a woman. These include gamete donation (of sperm or egg), in vitro fertilization, and gestational surrogacy. ART services will be provided through: (i) ART clinics, which offer ART related treatments and procedures, and (ii) ART banks, which collect, screen and store gametes.
- Registration of ART clinics and banks: Every ART clinic and bank must be registered under the National Assisted Reproductive Technology and Surrogacy Registry. A National Registry will be established under the Bill, which will act as a central database with details of all ART clinics and banks in the country. Clinics and banks will be registered only if they adhere to certain standards (such as specialised manpower, physical infrastructure, and diagnostic facilities). The registration will be valid for five years and may be renewed. The central and state governments will appoint appropriate authorities to support registration related services such as maintenance of details of registration of assisted reproductive technology clinics and banks, cancellation and renewal of registration.
- Boards: The Act provides that the National and State Boards constituted under the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019 will also act as the National and State Boards for the regulation of ART services. Key functions of the National Board include: (i) advising the central government on ART-related policy matters, (ii) reviewing and monitoring the implementation of the Bill, (iii) formulating a code of conduct and standards for ART clinics and banks, and (iv) overseeing bodies constituted under the Bill. The State Boards will coordinate enforcement of policies and guidelines for ART as per the directions of the National Board.
- Eligibility criteria for commissioning parties: ART services may be commissioned by married couples or women where: (i) the woman is between 21 and 50 years of age, and (ii) the man is between 21 and 55 years. Married couples must also be infertile, i.e. unable to conceive after one year of unprotected coitus or suffer from any other proven medical condition which prevents conception.
- Eligibility criteria for donors A bank may obtain semen from males between 21 and 55 years of age, and eggs from females between 23 and 35 years of age. The woman may donate eggs only once in her life and not more than seven eggs may be retrieved from her. A bank must not supply gamete of a single donor to more than one commissioning party (i.e. couples or single women seeking services).
- Conditions for offering services: ART procedures must be conducted only with the written consent of the commissioning parties and the donor. The commissioning party will be required to provide insurance coverage in favour of the egg donor (for any loss, damage, or death). Clinics are required to check for genetic diseases before implantation and are prohibited from providing any sex-selective services (e.g. sex determination).
- Rights of a child born through ART: A child born through ART will be deemed to be a biological child of the commissioning couple and will be entitled to the rights and privileges available to a natural child of the commissioning couple. A donor will not have any parental rights over the child.
- Duties of ART Clinics and Banks: ART clinics and bank must share information related to: (i) enrolment of the commissioning parties and donors, (ii) procedures being undertaken, and (iii) outcome of the procedure, with the National Registry. Further, they must maintain records of all donations for at least 10 years, after which the records must be transferred to the National Registry. While using human gametes and embryos, ART clinics and banks must: (i) harvest eggs in the manner specified by regulations, and (ii) place such number of eggs or embryos in the uterus of the woman as may be specified by regulations.
- Offences and penalties: Offences under the Act include: (i) abandoning, or exploiting children born through ART, (ii) selling, purchasing, trading, or importing human embryos or gametes, and (iii) exploiting the commissioning couple, woman, or the gamete donor in any form. These offences will be punishable with a fine between five and ten lakh rupees for the first contravention. For subsequent contraventions, these offences will be punishable with imprisonment between three and eight years, and a fine between 10 and 20 lakh rupees. A court will take cognisance of an offence only on a complaint by the National or State Board.
Issues
- Exclusion of single parent and LGBTQ community: the act allows only married couples and single women to avail ART services. This excludes single men and the LGBTQ community from benefits of ART services. It is argued that this may violate the right to equality under Article 14 of the Constitution.
- Provisions on data sharing may violate the right to privacy of parties:
- Mandatory collection of Aadhar details by ART banks may violate Supreme Court judgement In the Puttuswamy case.
- No provisions for counselling and withdrawal of consent of donors.
2 . Registered unrecognised political parties (RUPPs)
Context: The Election Commission of India (ECI) recently brought in new rules for the allocation of symbols to registered unrecognised political parties (RUPPs).
About the news
- The Election Commission of India (ECI) brought in new rules for the allocation of symbols to registered unrecognised political parties (RUPPs), making it mandatory for them to furnish
- Audited accounts of the last three financial years
- Expenditure statements of the last two elections
- Signature of the authorised office-bearer of the party along with the application form for symbols.
- The new rules would come into effect from January 11.
About Registered Unrecognized Political Parties (RUPPs)
- To form a political party, any association or a body of individuals has to get themselves registered with the Election Commission of India under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. After this, a party could fall in one of two categories: recognised and unrecognised.
- The Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, says that a party can be recognised either as a national party or a state party depending on the number of votes or seats they secure in elections.
- To be recognised as a national political party, a party has to satisfy either of the following conditions:
- Secure a minimum of 6% of the valid votes polled in at least four states in the previous Lok Sabha election or state Assembly election. In addition, it needs to have won four seats in the Lok Sabha.
- Win at least 2% of Lok Sabha seats (11 seats given 543 members presently) from a minimum of three different states.
- For recognition as a state party a party must satisfy any of the following conditions:
- Secure at least 6% of valid votes polled in the previous Assembly election and win at least two seats.
- Win at least 6% of valid votes in the previous assembly election and have one Lok Sabha member from the state.
- Win at least 3% of the seats, or three seats, whichever is more, in the previous Assembly election.
- Win at least one out of every 25 seats in the Lok Sabha elections allotted to the state.
- Secure at least 8% of the valid votes polled in the state in the previous Assembly election or the Lok Sabha election.
- Unrecognised parties can be newly registered parties or those which have not secured enough percentage of votes in the Assembly or general elections to fulfill the prescribed criteria to become a state party.
- They can also be parties that have never contested elections since their registration.
- They are not entitled to an exclusive allotment of a reserved election symbol.
- They have to choose from a list of ‘free symbols’ issued by the Commission.
- They are not eligible either to get free copies of electoral rolls, free authorisation for broadcast / telecast facilities over All India Radio / Doordarshan during Assembly and general elections, and are not eligible for subsidised land for party offices.
3 . Antibiotic
Context: New antibiotic could target drug-resistant bacterium: scientists.
About the news:
- Researchers have identified a new class of antibiotics with the potential to tackle a drug-resistant bacterium, Acinetobacter baumannii. Zosurabalpin, the antibiotic, was found to be effective against CRAB (carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii)-induced pneumonia and sepsis in mouse models.
- Zampaloni et al and Pahil et al reported the identification and analysis of the antibiotic zosurabalpin that can kill Acinetobacter baumannii, antibiotic-resistant strains of which are hard to treat in the clinic.
- They identified a tethered macrocyclic peptide (MCP) that selectively kills A. baumannii. The compound was further optimised for efficacy and tolerability, and the fine-tuning culminated in zosurabalpi.
- The evidence provided by Zampaloni et al indicates that the antibiotic kills A. baumannii through a previously unknown mode of action.
- It inhibits a key process, transport of the molecule lipopolysaccharide (LPS), by inhibiting a complex of proteins. This complex was essential for transporting LPS to the bacterial surface to create the outer-membrane structure of Gram-negative bacteria. Zosurabalpin blocks LPS transport, and the abnormal build-up of LPS in the cell kills the bacterium.
About Antibiotics
- Antibiotics are chemicals that kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria and are used to treat bacterial infections.
- They are produced in nature by soil bacteria and fungi.
- This gives the microbe an advantage when competing for food and water and other limited resources in a particular habitat, as the antibiotic kills off their competition.
How do antibiotics work?
- Antibiotics take advantage of the difference between the structure of the bacterial cell and the host’s cell.
- They can prevent the bacterial cells from multiplying so that the bacterial population remains the same, allowing the host’s defence mechanism to fight the infection or kill the bacteria, for example stopping the mechanism responsible for building their cell walls.
- An antibiotic can also be classified according to the range of pathogens against which it is effective. Penicillin G will destroy only a few species of bacteria and is known as a narrow spectrum antibiotic. Tetracycline is effective against a wide range of organisms and is known as a broad spectrum antibiotic.
Antibiotic resistance
- Bacteria are termed drug-resistant when they are no longer inhibited by an antibiotic to which they were previously sensitive. The emergence and spread of antibacterial-resistant bacteria has continued to grow due to both the over-use and misuse of antibiotics.
- Treating a patient with antibiotics causes the microbes to adapt or die; this is known as ‘selective pressure’. If a strain of a bacterial species acquires resistance to an antibiotic, it will survive the treatment.
- As the bacterial cell with acquired resistance multiplies, this resistance is passed on to its offspring. In ideal conditions some bacterial cells can divide every 20 minutes; therefore after only 8 hours in excess of 16 million bacterial cells carrying resistance to that antibiotic could exist.
How is resistance spread
- Antibiotic resistance can either be inherent or acquired.
- Some bacteria are naturally resistant to some antibiotics due to their physiological characteristics. This is inherent resistance.
- Acquired resistance occurs when a bacterium that was originally sensitive to an antibiotic develops resistance. For example resistance genes can be transferred from one plasmid to another plasmid or chromosome, or resistance can occur due to a random spontaneous chromosomal mutation.
4 . Facts for Prelims
Nathapodytes nimmoniana – camptothecin (CPT):
- Nothapodytes nimmoniana is an important anti-cancer medicinal plant which possesses various bioactive substances, of which camptothecin (CPT) is the most important.
- CPT is mainly obtained by extraction from plants.
- Camptothecin is majorly produced in southeast Asian region, with the plant being largely found only in China and India.
- The Chinese variety of the plant used to extract the cell is listed as critically endangered.
- There are only 4,000 of the species left. In India the plant is a native of western ghats and in the last decade there was a 20% decline in population.
Export Credit Guarantee Corporation:
- The ECGC Ltd. (formerly known as Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Ltd.) wholly owned by government of India, was set up in 1957 with the objective of promoting exports from the country by providing credit risk insurance and related services for exports.
- ECGC Ltd. also administers the National Export Insurance Account (NEIA) Trust which caters to project exports of strategic and national importance.
- It operates under the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Prerana
- It is a scheme launched by Ministry of Education.
- It is an experiential learning programme, which will operate from the vernacular school in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthplace Vadnagar, Gujarat where he had studied.
- A weekly residential programme, it will host 20 students (10 boys and 10 girls) from across the country on a rotational basis in the town.
- It caters to students from Classes 9 to 12.
- The day-wise programme schedule will feature yoga, mindfulness, followed by and hands-on interesting learning activities.
Aadhaar-enabled Payment System (AePS)
- Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS) allows the merchant to accept payment from a customer of any bank, by authenticating the customer’s biometrics.
- AePS is a bank led model which allows online interoperable financial inclusion transaction at PoS (MicroATM) through the Business correspondent of any bank using the Aadhaar authentication.AePS allows one to do six types of transactions.
- The only inputs required for a customer to do a transaction under this scenario are:-
- Bank Name
- Aadhaar Number
- Biometrics captured during enrolment