11 May 2024, The Hindu
Industrial output slows to 4.9% in March
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GS 3: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilisation of resources, growth, development and employment
- India’s industrial output growth slowed to 4.9% in March from 5.6% in February, as per the National Statistical Office, with base effects from last March when output had tanked 1.9%, boosting the uptick.
- Mining output slid to a 19-month low growth of 1.2%, while electricity generation rose 8.6% from a 1.6% contraction in March 2023.
- Manufacturing, which constitutes 77.6% of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), grew at a five-month high pace of 5.2% in March, relative to a mild 1.5% uptick in the same month last year.
- Manufacturing growth for February was revised downwards to 4.9% from 5% estimated earlier, along with the month’s IIP growth which was downgraded from 5.7%.
Steel plant privatisation issue takes centre stage in Gajuwaka
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GS 3: Indian Economy - Infrastructure – Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.
- The people of Visakhapatnam in general and those from the industrial belt of Gajuwaka in particular, who eagerly awaited the arrival of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his public meeting in Anakapalli on May 6, were disappointed as he conveniently skirted the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) privatisation issue.
- The steel plant is located in the Gajuwaka Assembly segment in Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha constituency. This Assembly segment alone has 3,27,438 voters, the second highest in the State after Bheemunipatnam, which has 3,56,481 electors.
- A vast majority of the workers and executives of VSP, and their families live in Ukkunagaram, Gajuwaka and adjoining areas.
- Interestingly, this is the only Assembly segment in Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat where male voters outnumber their female counterparts.
Folds and faults
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GS 3: General awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, Robotics, Nanotechnology, bio-technology
- Proteins are long chains of amino-acid residues that fold into specific shapes. Properly folded proteins function normally whereas misfolded ones can lead to debilitating diseases.
- Since these chains are quite long, a given protein can actually fold into one of a very large number of shapes — yet it makes a beeline for a specific shape while avoiding all the others.
- How and why this happens constitute an important mystery in structural biology called the protein-folding problem.
- In 2018, five decades after it was mooted, a Google subsidiary named DeepMind developed a purpose-built AI tool to predict the shapes into which different proteins could fold, called AlphaFold.
- The upgraded AlphaFold 2 followed two years later.
- Many scientists and technologists acknowledge that these two deep-learning systems have transformed human awareness of protein structures, a feat the machines demonstrated in the biennial Critical Assessment of Protein Structure Prediction contest.
Health Ministry issues norms for confirming heat-related deaths
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GS 2: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources
- The Union Health Ministry has issued standardised guidelines for confirming heatstroke and heat-related deaths in the country.
- Prepared by the National Programme on Climate Change and Human Health (NPCCHH) and National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the set of guidelines is aimed at helping hospitals become aware of the criteria to label a death as heat-related/ heat stroke and bring in evidence-based medical decision-making processes.
Govt. notifies Act for armed forces’ control
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GS 3: Various Security forces and agencies and their mandates
- The Government has notified the Inter-Services Organisations (ISOs) (Command, Control, and Discipline) Act through a Gazette notification to be enforced with effect from May 10, 2024.
- In order to bolster effective command, control, and efficient functioning of the ISOs, the bill was passed by both the Houses of Parliament during the Monsoon Session of 2023 and received the assent of the President on August 15, 2023, a Ministry statement noted.
- “The Act empowers Commanders-in-Chief and Officers-in-Command of ISOs to exercise control over Service personnel, serving under them, for effective maintenance of discipline and administration, without disturbing the unique service conditions of each individual Service,” the Ministry said.
- With the notification, the Act will empower the Heads of ISOs and pave the way for expeditious disposal of cases, avoid multiple proceedings and will be a step towards greater integration and jointness among the armed forces personnel, it stated.
India backs Palestine’s bid for full UN membership
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GS 2: International Relations- Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting the Indian interests
- India on May 10 voted in favour of a draft U.N. General Assembly resolution that said Palestine is qualified and should be admitted as full member of the United Nations and recommended that the Security Council “reconsider” the matter “favourably”.
- The 193-member General Assembly met in the morning for an emergency special session where the Arab Group resolution ‘Admission of new Members to the United Nations’, in support of the State of Palestine’s full membership in the UN, was presented by the UAE, as Chair of the Arab Group in May.
After 18 months, China sends Ambassador to India
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GS 2: International Relations- India and its neighbourhood
- After 18 months of China not having an Ambassador in India, senior diplomat Xu Feihong arrived in Delhi to assume office as the 17th Ambassador to India on Friday, Chinese government-run media CGTN reported.
- Mr. Xu said that his priority is to work to restore exchanges and cooperation in various fields and create favourable conditions for a sound and steady India-China relationship.
