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Cyclone Mandous that crossed the north Tamil Nadu coast near Mamallapuram with fierce winds and heavy downpour, claimed five lives, uprooted about 500 trees and caused power disruptions till Saturday afternoon in many areas in the city. Of the five persons who died, four were electrocuted in different locations.
Heavy rains pounded several areas in north Tamil Nadu and particularly in and around Chennai that came under the cyclone’s track.
Cyclone Mandous had emerged as a strong cyclone as it maintained a wind speed of 65-75 kmph gusting to 85kmph as it entered the land.
It moved at a speed of 12-14 kmph and made landfall between 11.30 p.m. on Friday and 1.30 a.m. on Saturday.
The system weakened into a well-marked low pressure area over north interior Tamil Nadu. It is very likely to move nearly west-southwestwards and weaken further. Rain bands had shifted to north interior parts of Tamil Nadu as the system moved further inland.
News
Badri cow breed of Uttarakhand to get a genetic boost (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
To increase the productivity of its indigenous petite Badri cow, that grazes on the medicinal herbs of the Himalayas, Uttarakhand is now planning for its genetic enhancement.
At the recent chintan shivir (brainstorming session) of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami with Uttarakhand’s bureaucrats, the officials of the animal husbandry department of the hill State proposed to use sex-sorted semen technology to improve production of Badri cattle. They also proposed to opt for the embryo transfer method in order to produce more cattle of high genetic stock.
Apart from Badri ghee, which is available at the rate of ₹3,000 to ₹5,000 per kg, the State is also looking at the marketing potential of gaumutra ark (distilled cow urine), cow dung, and Panchgavya (the five products of the cow, including milk, curd, ghee, dung and urine).
Talking about the plan, B.V.R.C. Purushottam, secretary of the department, told The Hindu that the Badri cow is the first registered cattle breed of Uttarakhand which has been certified by the National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR).
To make the farmers of Uttarakhand breed Badri and not to shift to other high milk-producing alternative breeds like Jersey cows, we have decided to opt for Multiple Ovulation Embryo Transfer (MOET), a conventional embryo flush, which is the most common procedure used in advanced cattle breeding.
The official also said that ovum pickup in vitro fertilisation (IVF) is the other technology that will be used to increase the yield per animal. The proposal to introduce Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) for the project, to generate employment and entrepreneurship through native Badri cattle productivity enhancement, will cost ₹50 crore.
Parliament must examine issue of age of consent: CJI Chandrachud (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on December 10, 2022 appealed to Parliament to have a relook at the issue of age of consent under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 as it posed difficulties for judges examining cases of consensual sex involving adolescents.
There is a growing concern surrounding this issue which must be considered by the Legislature,” the CJI said while addressing a national stakeholders’ consultation on the POCSO Act, which completes 10 years. In 2012, the POCSO Act raised the age of consent to 18 years, which had been at 16 years since 1940.
The two-day consultation, which started on Saturday, is being conducted by the Supreme Court’s Committee on Juvenile Justice and is part of its annual stakeholders’ meet.
Explaining the peculiar challenge posed by the POCSO Act, the CJI said that the law criminalises all sexual activities for those under the age of 18 years, even if consent was factually present between two minors.
He shared the dais with Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani; Chairperson of the Supreme Court’s Juvenile Justice Committee Ravinder Bhat; Justice B.V. Nagarathna; and UNICEF’s country representative Cynthia McCaffrey.
Among the audience were other Supreme Court judges as well as High Court and POCSO court judges, among others.
The CJI’s comments come at a time when several High Courts have called for an urgent need for legal reform to deal with “romantic cases” involving adolescents.
The Madras High Court recently said that it was “eagerly” waiting for the legislature to reduce the age of consent under the POCSO Act from the current 18 years, as it upheld the conviction of a man sentenced to seven years imprisonment for having kidnapped and repeatedly raped a 17-year-old girl.
In Vijayalakshmi Vs. State Rep. the Inspector of Police, the Madras High Court questioned the wisdom of criminalising such acts. In Sabari Vs. Inspector of Police, too, the Madras High Court recommended that the age of consent be revised to 16 years.
World
IMF holds talks about debt situation of Sri Lanka, Zambia (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reached a staff-level agreement with crisis-hit Sri Lanka, in a first step before extending a $2.9 billion loan package that the Fund has made contingent on assurances from the island nation’s creditors.
IMF staff and the Sri Lankan authorities have reached a staff-level agreement to support Sri Lanka’s economic policies with a 48-month arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) of about $2.9 billion.
The announcement comes even as Sri Lanka endures an agonising economic downturn that has left scores of families starving, as they cannot afford basic food items.
Headline inflation soared to 64.3% in August 2022, while food inflation rose to 93.7%. As the crisis worsened this year, at least six million people, or about 30% of Sri Lanka’s population, became food insecure, according to the World Food Programme.
The objectives of the new programme — Sri Lanka’s 17th with the Fund — are “to restore macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability, while safeguarding financial stability, protecting the vulnerable, and stepping up structural reforms to address corruption vulnerabilities and unlock Sri Lanka’s growth potential.
However, the international financial institution has laid out expectations that Sri Lanka must meet, before the IMF management and Executive Board can approve the programme.
“Prior actions” on Sri Lanka’s part include raising fiscal revenue through a “more progressive” income tax regime, rebuilding foreign reserves, and increasing social spending.
Significantly, Sri Lanka, which opted for a pre-emptive sovereign default on its $51 billion foreign debt in April, must work to obtain debt relief from its creditors and additional financing from multilateral partners “to help ensure debt sustainability and close financing gaps,” the Fund said in its statement.
Science
Lending a helping hand to eliminate TB as Ni-kshay Mitra (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
Public health experience has shown that undernutrition and TB form a vicious cycle. Poor nutritional status predisposes an individual to get infected by the disease, or have a dormant disease manifest clinically. TB leads to depletion of nutrient reserves and aggravation of undernutrition.
Optimum nutritional support to TB patients improves weight gain, adherence to therapy, muscle strength, quality of life, robust recovery and reduced mortality. Good nutrition also prevents relapse of the disease.
With a sharper focus on the nutritional improvement among TB patients, the Union Health Ministry launched the Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana in 2018 as part of National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP) which provides direct cash benefit transfer of ₹500 per month to TB patients on treatment.
Large-scale country-wide health programmes such as smallpox and polio eradication became a success only through j an bhagidari (people’s participation).
Community participation plays a key role in mass awareness, behaviour change, demand creation, clearing myths and convincing the reluctant to embrace services.
The success of these health programmes reinforced our belief that a further augmentation of multi-sectoral approach involving community and institutional-stakeholder support in TB elimination is required.
This can play a pivotal role in addressing the social and nutritional determinants, thereby contributing toward the attainment of national goal.
Jan bhagidari forms the core principle of the recently launched Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan to provide additional support to TB patients.
Under this, Ni-kshay Mitras can adopt and care for TB patients. Ni-kshay Mitras are volunteers who could be individuals, NGOs, co-operative societies, corporates, and even political parties.
Is anaemia seen in 3 in 10 rural men due to iron deficiency? (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
While anaemia among adolescent girls and boys, and women, particularly those of reproductive age has been studied extensively, anaemia in men has been largely ignored.
In 2019, a paper published in The Lancet Global Health highlighted that nearly one in four men (23.2%) in the age group 15-54 years in India were anaemic (mild, moderate, or severe).
The conclusion was based on the analysis of over 1,06,000 men from the fourth round of the National Family Health Survey carried out from January 2015 to December 2016.
Men are considered to have anaemia if haemoglobin concentration is less than 13.0 g/dL. While iron deficiency is the main cause of anaemia, particularly in women, other causes of anaemia are deficiency in folate, vitamin B12, or vitamin A.
Now, a recent analysis of the fifth National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) has shed light on anaemia among men living in rural areas.
The study, published in PLOS Global Public Health, analysed the data of over 61,000 men aged between 15-54 years. It found that three out of ten men in rural areas were anaemic; prevalence of anaemia was more in rural areas than in urban areas — one of five urban men are anaemic, while three out of every ten rural men are anaemic.
Prevalence of anaemia was found to be higher (34.7%) among men who were underweight compared with men who were overweight (19.3%).
Men who consumed alcohol and smoked had “slightly higher” occurrences of anaemia, and older men were found to be more vulnerable.
Men in the southern States had lower anaemia prevalence (18.5%), while prevalence was highest in the eastern region (34.1%). Anaemia prevalence was 27.2% in the north region, 28.9% in west, 26.9% in northwest and 25% in the central region.
Those fascinating hornbills (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
The logo for India’s upcoming G20 presidency was officially unveiled recently at the Hornbill festival in Nagaland. This popular festival showcases the art, culture and cuisine of Nagaland. It also brings attention to a family of some of the largest, most magnificent birds in our country.
The Great Hornbill is found in the Himalayan foothills, the Northeast and the Western Ghats. It is the state bird of Arunachal Pradesh and Kerala. With a wingspan of five feet, it presents an awesome (and noisy) spectacle while landing on a perch.
The wreathed hornbill, the brown hornbill and the rufous-necked hornbill are slightly smaller, and only found in Northeast India.
A great place to spot the oriental pied hornbill is the Rajaji National Park, Uttarakhand. The Malabar grey hornbill’s loud ‘laugh’ echoes in the Western Ghats.
The smallest of the group, the Indian grey hornbill is found all over (except the Thar Desert), and is often spotted in urban settings such as Theosophical Society gardens in Chennai.
Their large, heavy beaks pose some limitations — for balance, the first two vertebrae are fused. Hornbills can move their heads as in ‘yes’, but have difficulty in saying ‘no’.
Large beaks are also seen in toucans from Central and South America — an example of convergent evolution — as both birds have the same feeding ecology.
Hornbills prefer tall trees for their nests (breast height being 1.5 metres or more). There is a mutualism between these birds and the trees where they nest.
FAQ
Will new Alzheimer’s drug work? (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
In late November, news of the success of a drug to reduce cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer’s disease burst on the horizon with all the promise of being a silver bullet.
The drug, lecanemab, jointly developed by pharma companies Biogen and Eisai, was tested on patients with early Alzheimer’s.
Results of the study presented at the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease conference in San Francisco, U.S., and published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) showed modest effects in arresting decline in cognitive and functional aspects in patients with early disease.
This has sparked hope in a world where an estimated 55 million people live with the debilitating effects of Alzheimer’s disease.
Lecanemab belongs to a class of drugs called monoclonal antibodies. These antibody-mediated drugs target beta amyloid, the protein deposition that is seen in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, and disrupts cells function.
Neuropsychiatrist Ennapadam. S. Krishnamoorthy, founder, Buddhi Clinic, Chennai, says: “For years amyloid plaques have thought to be an important target for treatment in Alzheimer’s. This class of drugs does precisely that.”
As per the NEJM paper, the clinical trial, conducted over 18-months, a multi-centre, double-blind, phase 3 trial, involved persons 50 to 90 years of age with early Alzheimer’s disease (mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease) with evidence of amyloid deposition.
Participants were randomly assigned intravenous lecanemab or placebo. It was observed that lecanemab “robustly removed the amyloid plaques.”
This was the primary end point of the trial, which showed a change in the score recorded at baseline when the trial began on the Clinical Dementia Rating–Sum of Boxes (CDR-SB).
Key secondary end points included a change in amyloid burden on PET (positron-emission topography). There were changes both in the lecanemab group versus the placebo group, the researchers concluded.
Why a price cap on Russian oil? (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
After months of negotiation, western countries comprising the Group of Seven nations, the European Union and Australia, agreed to a price ceiling of $60 per barrel of seaborne Russian Urals crude oil that came into force just as sanctions against freighters carrying Russian crude oil took effect earlier this week.
Western nations, led by the G-7, want to punish Russia for having invaded Ukraine and rein in the profits accruing to Russia from oil exports.
But they also want to keep some oil from Russia flowing globally so that supply is not significantly affected, which could push up energy prices.
With a recession in parts of the western world already a possibility, oil price spikes would only hasten the spiral into economic contraction.
So western nations came up with the concept of a price cap, above which accessorial services such as ship insurance, vessel clearances and the like would not be available to freighters carrying Russian oil.
About 95% of global insurance for freighters by tonnage comes from European countries, especially the United Kingdom. Without such services, Russia would find it difficult to sell its crude above the price cap.
Russia had first said the price cap might only impact its output minimally. Later, it also spoke about considering a ban on export to countries that insisted on the price cap.
Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak has been quoted by the Russian media as saying that a mechanism was being worked out and that the ban on oil export to such countries would take effect before the year closed.
Russian news agency Interfax quoted Mr. Novak as saying, “Global consumption, economic growth in the world must be provided with energy resources.
Business
Centre to review situation in March before deciding on the announcement of new FTP’ (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The government will review the trade situation in March before deciding on the announcement of a new Foreign Trade Policy.
Attending a meeting organised by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations in Tiruppur, Mr. Sarangi explained to mediapersons that the volatility in the global trade scenario and the Russia- Ukraine conflict had led the government and many industry bodies to take a view in September that it might not be the right time to announce a new Foreign Trade Policy. The Centre had therefore extended the existing policy till the end of March 2023.
The decision was to evaluate the evolving situation and calibrate a policy that would be ‘more stable, more long term’, rather than bringing out a policy that would be forced to tackle a highly volatile situation.
Given that the volatility was, however, continuing, he said: “We are in the process of framing a new foreign trade policy, we will hold a review about the FTP 15-20 days before March 31. But notwithstanding that we are working on the contours of the [new] foreign trade policy.
Asked about an amnesty scheme for cases of default under the Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme, he said negotiations were on with the Department of Revenue to finalise the contours of the scheme.
There were extensive discussions with the industry too. “We have agreed upon the broad contours with the Department of Revenue. The amnesty scheme would be announced when the details were sorted out.
Mr. Sarangi said exports were expected to touch $450 billion this financial year. While 2023 was expected to be a challenging year, markets such as Latin America, Africa and West Asian countries were expected to see growth.
The government had signed an FTA with the UAE and was talking to other Gulf countries to explore the possibility for FTAs.