UPSC Daily Current Affairs | Prelim Bits 26-07-2020
iasparliament
July 26, 2020
Sero-Surveillance Study
Recently, the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) conducted a Sero-surveillance study for Covid-19 in New Delhi.
NCDC is under administrative control of the Directorate General of Health Services in the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Serosurveillance provides estimates of antibody levels against infectious diseases and is considered the gold standard for measuring population immunity due to past infection or vaccination.
ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) is a test that detects and measures antibodies in blood.
IgG (Immunoglobulin G) is a type of antibody which develops in most Covid-19 patients (infections) at around two weeks after infection and remains in the blood even after recovery.
Highlights of recent Sero-survey are
Detects Specific Antibodies- It seeks to assess the prevalence of disease in a population by detecting the presence of specific antibodies against the virus.
Immunity Check- It can also be conducted to check if a person has developed immunity to certain diseases.
Past Infections - It indicates past infections (and which triggered an immune response), and is not used to detect active infections.
Tested Immunoglobulin G Using ELISA- The Sera (a part of blood) of samples were tested for IgG antibodies and Covid-19 infection using Covid Kavach ELISA kits approved by ICMR.
Result - 23.48% of the people surveyed had developed IgG antibodies, indicating they had been exposed to the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that causes Covid-19, with a large number showing no symptoms (asymptomatic).
Latent Virus
A latent viral infection is an infection that is inactive or dormant.
Latent infections are essentially static which last the life of the host and occur when the primary infection is not cleared by the adaptive immune response.
Examples are
Herpes simplex viruses type 1 and 2,
Varicella-zoster virus,
HIV,
Epstein-Barr virus (human herpesvirus 4),
Cytomegalovirus.
Latent viral infections can be reactivated into a lytic form (the replication of a viral genome).
The ability to move back and forth from latent to lytic infections helps the virus spread from infected individuals to uninfected individuals.
Scientists speculates that SARS-CoV-2 is a latent virus infection which can recur.
Discretionary powers of Governor
A Constitution Bench judgment of the SC has held that a Governor is bound to convene a meeting of the Assembly for a floor test on the recommendation of the Cabinet.
In Nabam Rebia Vs Deputy Speaker 2016 case, SC held that a Governor cannot employ his ‘discretion’, and should strictly abide by the “aid and advice” of the Cabinet to summon the House.
Highlights of the judgement
The Governor can summon, prorogue and dissolve the House only on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers with the Chief Minister as the head. And not at his own.
Governor’s discretionary powers are limited to specified areas like giving assent or withholding/referring a Bill to the President or appointment of a Chief Minister or dismissal of a government which has lost of confidence but refuses to quit, etc.
The area for the exercise of his discretion is limited, even in this limited area, Governor’s choice of action should not be arbitrary or fanciful.
It must be a choice dictated by reason, actuated by good faith and tempered by caution.
Article 163
The article explains about discretionary powers of governor, under which it states the following
If any question arises the decision of the Governor in his discretion shall be final, and the validity of anything done by the Governor shall not be called in question on the ground that he ought or ought not to have acted in his discretion.
The question whether any, and if so what, advice was tendered by Ministers to the Governor shall not be inquired into in any court.
Thus Article 163 of the Constitution does not give the Governor a “general discretionary power to act against or without the advice of his Council of Ministers”.
Kashmir saffron
Kashmir Saffron has been given the Geographical Indication (GI) tag by the Geographical Indications Registry.
It is the only saffron in the world grown at an altitude of 1,600 m to 1,800 m AMSL (above mean sea level).
This feature adds to its uniqueness and differentiates it from other saffron varieties available the world over.
It is cultivated and harvested in the Karewa (highlands) of Jammu and Kashmir.
Kashmir saffron rejuvenates health and is used in cosmetics and for medicinal purposes.
Its cultivation is believed to have been introduced in Kashmir by Central Asian immigrants around 1st Century BCE.
In ancient Sanskrit literature, saffron is referred to as ‘bahukam’.
The GI certification will acquire more prominence in the export market and also stop adulteration prevalent in the trade of Kashmir saffron.
Kongonaphon kely Fossils
Kongonaphon kely or tiny bug slayer was an extremely small ancestor to dinosaurs and pterosaurs (extinct flying reptiles).
The fossils of Kongonaphon Kely were discovered in 1998 as part of an expedition by an American–Malagasy crew made in Madagascar.
Analysis of body size throughout the history of dinosaurs shows that ancestrally medium-sized animals evolved into very small animals.
Kongonaphon, a triassic vertebrate would have been around 10 cm tall and about 30 cm long.
This then evolved into dinosaurs and pterosaurs which could reach enormous sizes.
From this study, it is concluded that all flying animals seem to have evolved from very small ancestors.
Around 237 million years ago, Madagascar was directly attached to India as part of the supercontinent Gondwana.
In India, Triassic vertebrate fossils of similar age have been found in a band of rocks extending across Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha, but thus far nothing like Kongonaphon has been found there.
