Daily Current Affairs

India’s tiger population tops 3,000, shows census (GS Paper 3, Environment)

Why in news?

• India has at least 3,167 tigers, according to estimates from the latest tiger census.
• The tiger population numbers were made public by Prime Minister in Mysuru, at an event to mark the International Big Cat Alliance conference and the 50th anniversary of Project Tiger.
• There were 2,967 tigers recorded in 2018, and 2,226 in 2014. The figures were provisional and could be revised.

 

Growth pattern:

• The tiger population has grown the most in the Shivalik hills and the Gangetic flood plains, followed by central India, the northeastern hills, the Brahmaputra flood plains, and the Sundarbans.
• There was a decline in the Western Ghats numbers, though “major populations” were said to be stable.
• The tiger numbers are estimated by adding animals caught in camera traps, and those that may not have been captured in this way. The latter are estimated by statistical techniques.

 

Mean value:

• In their four-year estimates, the scientists provide a range of the estimated tiger population, and the mean value is highlighted as the latest tiger population.
• For instance, in 2018, the tiger population was a minimum of 2,603 and a maximum 3,346 with a mean value of 2,967.

 

Challenges:

• The current estimate also does not give numbers on the proportion of tigers outside protected areas, which are a growing number and a key marker of the environmental threats as well as man-animal conflicts.
• However, the census report warn that nearly all of the five major tiger-zones face challenges to the growth of the tiger population due to the increasing demands from infrastructure development.
• Since 1973, when Project Tiger was established, the number of dedicated tiger reserves has grown from nine reserves covering 18,278 square km to 53 reserves spanning 75,796 square km, which is roughly 2.3% of India’s land area.
• However, most of the country’s tigers are focused within a handful of reserves which are fast approaching their peak carrying capacity, and unless new regions are developed as reserves, it may be a challenge to ensure further growth in numbers.

 

What’s next?

• Following the translocation of cheetahs from Africa, India is now looking at international initiatives to translocate tigers into other locations.
• It is in talks with Cambodia, where the tiger has gone extinct due to poaching, to create a suitable habitat there and ship a few tigers from India to revive the big cat’s population in that country.

 

Why a non-invasive test for endometriosis is taking such a long time

(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)

Why in news?

• Recently, a U.S.-based company named DotLab has announced a blood test to reliably diagnose endometriosis.
• The significance of this technology is highlighted by the fact that people have to wait for 6.7 years on average for a diagnosis, even as the number of people with endometriosis could be much higher than the estimated 190 million worldwide (about 42 million in India alone), due to the number of cases that go undiagnosed.

Why is endometriosis hard to diagnose?

• Endometriosis is a painful chronic disease in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus, or endometrium, grows outside of it.
• Doctors often struggle to diagnose endometriosis because of its variety of symptoms, including pain during menstruation, urination, sexual intercourse, bowel movements, fatigue, and sometimes infertility.
• There are also no reliable non-invasive diagnostic tools. Laparoscopic surgery is required for a definitive diagnosis.

 

New test by DotLab:

• The blood test is the first of its kind: a non-invasive method to accurately diagnose endometriosis.
• This test relies on detecting microRNA, which are small, non-coding RNA segments that regulate gene expression. Many studies have identified microRNAs that are expressed differently in people with endometriosis.
• So, researchers can use these unique expression patterns as a sign of the disease. Currently, researchers are exploring the use of microRNA from saliva and blood as diagnostic biomarkers.
• The blood test by DotLab is the product of a study in which researchers identified blood-based microRNAs that were expressed differently in people with endometriosis, relative to a group of people who didn’t have the disease.
• The researchers then created an algorithm combining the expression values of these microRNAs to predict the presence or absence of endometriosis.
• They validated it with a different group of people and found that it was able to accurately identify those who did have endometriosis.

 

Is the new test available to use?

• The microRNA screen is at testing level only”. Indeed, DotLab is actively recruiting people to participate in ongoing clinical trials expected to be completed by September 2024. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn’t yet approved the test.
• The researchers also noted that while the test was able to accurately identify both mild and advanced endometriosis, it wasn’t able to differentiate between the stage and the severity of the disease.
• The importance of the test’s sensitivity and specificity, found to be 83% and 96%, respectively.
• Sensitivity refers to the test’s ability to correctly identify the disease based on microRNA expression levels, i.e. its ability to identify true-positive results.
•  Specificity is a measure of the test’s ability to reliably say that some abnormal microRNA expression is the result of endometriosis, and not some other condition. It’s the test’s ability to avoid false-positive results.

 

What do we know about endometriosis?

• Endometriosis was first characterised in 1860 but its first biomarkers were found only 150 years later.
• Most of them were related to inflammation, which is not specific to endometriosis because it’s observed in many diseases. Even when a marker was found, the results were inconsistent.
• Endometriosis research is severely underfunded worldwide. A May 2022 report by the U.S. National Institutes of Health stated that endometriosis research accounted for only 0.05% of the institutes’ total research budget.
• Better funding is one component of designing effective and accessible diagnostic tools.

 

What are the benefits of a test for endometriosis?

• Further, if the test is successful, it could have clinical implications that include reduced time to diagnosis, disease progress, fewer years of discomfort, and lower surgical risk.
• In addition to these clinical implications, understanding which microRNAs are abnormal in endometriosis could also help researchers identify which genes, and thus which pathways, are involved in the disease, which in turn could help unravel its complex biology and offer potential targets for therapy.

 

NCF 2023 Draft: What are the proposed changes for the Indian school system?

(GS Paper 2, Governance)

Context:

• School system in India may undergo a major restructuring with an expert committee appointed by the Union government recommending board examinations twice a year, a semester system for class 12, freedom to students to pursue a mix of science, humanities and commerce subjects among others.
• Recently, the Ministry of Education released the pre-draft of the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) for school education for public feedback on the recommendations.
• It will be finalised after further rounds of discussions involving the national steering committee led by former ISRO chairperson K Kasturirangan that developed it.

 

What is NCF?

• The NCF, which was last revised in 2005 under the Congress-led UPA government, is a key document based on which textbooks are prepared.
• So the current set of NCERT textbooks, barring the deletions, are all based on the NCF 2005. Before 2005, the NCF was revised thrice, including once under the NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
• Under the latest round of revision, which is underway since September 2021, draft frameworks on early childhood care and education and school education have already been prepared, while work on teacher and adult education is underway.
• Apart from textbooks, the NCF, after its adoption by the CBSE and other state boards, will also restructure various other aspects of the classroom, including choice of subjects, pattern of teaching, and assessment.

 

What are the proposed changes in design of subjects and exams at secondary stage?

• Among the most significant recommendations in the draft NCF on school education are about choice of subjects and exams in classes IX-XII.
• Over two years, in class IX and X, the students will have to study 16 courses categorised under eight curricular areas.
• The suggested curricular areas are Humanities (that includes languages), Mathematics & Computing, Vocational Education, Physical Education, Arts, Social Science, Science, and Inter-disciplinary Areas.
• Students will have to clear eight board exams, each of which will assess their hold on courses they learnt in class IX and X, to obtain the final certification which will factor in their performances in exams held over two years.
• Under the current system, there are no such links between class IX and X and students across most boards have to pass at least five subjects to clear class X.

 

Changes introduced in XII:

•  The committee has recommended more changes at the level of Class XI and XII, including the introduction of a semester system in class XII.
• In terms of subjects, students will be given a choice to pick 16 courses from eight curricular areas. Currently, in Class 12, CBSE students appear for the board exam in at least five subjects and a maximum of six and there is little scope for them to pursue multidisciplinary education.
• In other words, a student who has picked a combination of Physics, Mathematics and Chemistry cannot simultaneously study History or Political Science. But under the proposed system, that will be possible as the NEP envisages “no hard separation” among arts, humanities, and sciences.
• Modular Board Examinations will be offered as opposed to a single examination at the end of the year. The final certification will be based on the cumulative result of each of the examinations.

 

How will teaching-learning change for younger students if the recommendations are implemented?

• At the foundational level, for children aged 3-8 enrolled in grades between preschool and class II, the pedagogical approach suggested is play based. It adds that textbooks are to be used from Grade 1 and most of the content should be concrete materials – toys, puzzles, and manipulatives.
• For grades III, IV, V or the preparatory stage, children are to be introduced to textbooks on languages, mathematics, while also retaining the activity and discovery-based approach.
• And in the middle stage (class VI, VII, VIII), natural as well as social sciences will be introduced.

 

When will these changes come into effect?

• The government recently announced that textbooks based on the revised NCF will be taught in schools starting from the 2024-25 academic session.
• But a specific timeline on the implementation of the changes on exams, assessment and subject design has not been made available yet.