CURRENT AFFAIRS CAPSULE – July 18, 2020

News: Three volunteers were administered Covaxin.

News details

During phase-1, 3 volunteers were administered Covaxin at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) in Rohtak.

Volunteers were administered the vaccine after health checks to ensure proper liver function and the absence of infection.

After 2 hours of administered vaccine, no major complications were observed.

Volunteers will be given the second dose after an interval of 14 days. Once their schedule is complete, the volunteers will be examined thoroughly for any after-effects of the vaccine.

The vaccine will be tested on over 1,100 people in two phases.

The entire process might take six months and the final assessment on safety and the level of production of antibodies would be made by a safety board.

About Covaxin

Covaxin is India’s first indigenous vaccine. Its development has reached Clinical trials- phase -1 stage.

Vaccine developed by: Hyderabad based Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research and National Institute of Virology.

Covaxin has been derived from a strain of the novel coronavirus isolated by the National Institute of Virology in Pune.

It is an “inactivated” vaccine i.e. it is a killed virus with no potential to infect or replicate, once injected into the body.

What are the phases of vaccine development?

Phase 1- It involves a basic understanding of the virus to identify the structure of proteins and genetics that make up the virus. It provides a basis for developing diagnostics kits and potential treatment options.

Phase-2– It involves the identification of vaccine candidates by isolating the live virus before inactivating or weakening that can be used for immunity development.

Phase -3 – Pre-clinical testing: It involves testing of the vaccine on animals before starting clinical trials on human.

Phase -4 – Clinical trials: It involves testing on humans. There are 3 phases of clinical trials

1. Phase I of a clinical trial only indicates what is the ideal dose required to administer in the next stage, it provides evidence of the vaccine’s ability to generate an immune response and its safety. It involves a small number of participants in the trial.
2. In phase II, the age range of participants is expanded to see if there is variation in the immune response between older people and children and it also assesses the time period for which antibodies last to provide immunity against the virus.
3. Phase-III involves a very large group of people to investigate its efficiency among large population groups.

Phase- 5: It involves regulatory approval before the mass production of a vaccine starts.

Phase -6: It involves the production of Vaccine.

News: Weak earthen embankments are the major reason for floods in Assam every monsoon.

News details

As per the daily flood summary of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA):

• Some 5.35 million people of 5,004 villages and localities across 30 of Assam’s 33 districts have been affected.
• 76 casualties have been reported due to floods and 26 due to landslides.
• Flood has damaged around 1,606 roads and 164 bridges or culverts.

Issues with Assam’s flood management

As per studies, it has been found out that human casualty, farm, and infrastructure damage have been proportionate to the breaching of embankments.

News: Prime Minister addressed the high-level segment of the UN-ECOSOC session.

Key takeaways from the address

Theme: Multilateralism after COVID­19: What kind of UN do we need at the 75th anniversary?”

• United Nations was originally born from the furies of the Second World War. Today, the fury of the pandemic provides the context for the rebirth and reform of the United Nations.
• While celebrating 75 years of the United Nations, nations should pledge to reform the global multilateral system.
• Multilateral system needed to more representative, and India believed that “the path to achieve sustainable peace and prosperity” was through multilateralism.
• India had extended assistance to more than 150 countries, and helped set up a SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) COVID­19 emergency fund in the South Asian neighbourhood.
• This was the first opportunity for PM to address the broader UN membership since India’s overwhelming election as a non- permanent member at UNSC.

About UN-ECOSOC (United Nations Economic and Social Council)

Establishment: Established in 1945 by UN Charter, it is one of the 6 main organs of UN.

Responsibility: To direct and coordinate the economic, social, humanitarian, cultural activities and related work of the fourteen United Nations specialized agencies, functional commissions and five regional commissions.

Members: It consists of 54 Members of the United Nations elected by the General Assembly. Members are elected for three-year term.

Each member holds one vote, voting in the Council is by simple majority.

News: SC refused to entertain a plea for a uniform and common curriculum for school students in the age group of 6 to 14.

Petition

Petitioner had sought ‘one nation, one board’, and merger of ICSE with CBSE to set up a National Education Council/Commission for school students in the age group of 6 to 14 across the country.

• Common syllabus and common curriculum would achieve the code of a common culture, removal of disparity across the country.

Compulsory inclusion of chapters, throughout the territory of India, on fundamental rights and duties, directive principles, and the golden goals set out in the Preamble.

Statements of SC for rejection

It was a “matter of policy” and the judiciary could not “command” the government.

It won’t be correct to burden students with one more book when our children are already burdened with heavy bags on their shoulders.

Board system in India

At present, India has three national-level boards namely the CBSE, the ICSE Board, and the NIOS which is a national open school board. Besides this, every state in the country has an education board.

National boards prescribe to NCERT syllabus while state boards prescribe to the respective state’s SCERT curriculum designed.

News: UN has designated leader of Tehreek­e­Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terror group, Noor Wali Mehsud, as a global terrorist

• He was accused of participating in the financing, planning, and perpetrating acts on behalf of and in support of entities associated with al­Qaeda.
• Action has been taken by the UN Security Council’s 1267 ISIL and Al­Qaeda Sanctions Committee, subjecting him to the assets freeze, travel ban, and arms embargo.
• TTP has itself been blacklisted by the UN on July 29, 2011, for its association with al­Qaeda.
• Under Noor Wali’s leadership, TTP has taken responsibility for several terror attacks.
• Blacklisting affects: Blacklisting by Security Council entails that all states are required to freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of designated individuals and entities.

UN Sanctions committee

The UNSC has been given the responsibility of maintaining international peace and security, and sanctions are one of the binding measures that can be adopted towards this objective.

To monitor and implement sanctions, the Sanctions committee were set up as subsidiary organs of UNSC to consider the listing and delisting of suspect entities.

Each sanctions committee is chaired by a non-permanent member on a rotational basis and comprises of all 15 members of the Security Council.

Today, there are 14 ongoing sanctions regimes that focus on supporting the political settlement of conflicts, nuclear non-proliferation, and counter-terrorism. 1267 sanctions committee is one of these committees.

1267 sanctions committee

The ISIL (Da-esh) and Al Qaida sanctions committee, also known as the 1267 sanctions committee.

This sanctions regime targets individuals and entities suspected of associating with Al Qaeda and/or the Taliban.

News: Hong Kong demands Taiwan officials sign ‘one China’ document for visa renewal.

As per some sources, Taiwanese officials in Hong Kong have been denied their visa renewal unless they sign a document supporting Beijing’s claim to Taiwan under its “one China” policy.

This move came after Taiwan criticized the new security law imposed on Hong Kong by Beijing, and opened an office in Taipei this month to help people who may want to leave Hongkong.

Taiwan has 15 Taiwanese staff at its de facto consulate in the city.

What is one-China policy?

Origination of Policy can be traced back to the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, when the defeated nationalists, known as Kuomintang, retreated to Taiwan and made it their seat of government and the Communist party started ruling mainland as the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Taiwan is being ruled under the official name of the Republic of China (ROC).

Both the parties claimed to represent whole of the China. The Communist party has since the beginning threatened to use force if Taiwan ever tried to formally declare independence.

One China Policy is the diplomatic acknowledgment of China’s position that there is only one Chinese government.

One China Policy is different from the One China principle. Under Principle, China insists Taiwan is an inalienable part of one China and to be reunified one day.

Whereas, Taiwan’s government claims it is an independent country officially called the “Republic of China”, any country that wants diplomatic relations with mainland China must break official ties with Taipei (Capital of Taiwan). That is the reason that most of the countries maintain informal relations with Taiwan.

News: Despite the announcement of several schemes to dispose of surplus food grains including Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), Central pools of foodgrains have registered an only marginal decline.

• At 94.42 million tonnes (mt), although total stocks were below last month, it is still 2.3 times the operational-cum-strategic reserve requirement of 41.12 mt for this date.
• Also, Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state government agencies held an un-milled paddy equivalent of 12.26 mt rice.
• This stock has not reduced despite the huge allocation of food grains to new schemes including Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), other than the existing ones like Mid-day meal, Integrated Child Development Services, TPDS.

Reasons

• Food grain supplies under MDM/ICDS may be impacted due to schools being shut and Anganwadi centers not fully operating.
• Another major reason is Higher procurement of record 38.94 mt of wheat and 50.27 mt of rice from the 2019-20 way above necessary buffer levels.
• With annual procurement at 80-90 mt and normal offtake at 62-65 mt, FCI’s problem of plenty may require more PMGKAY-like interventions.

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY)

• The scheme was announced as a relief package against hunger and poverty in march during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Under this scheme, the food needs to be provided to all the beneficiaries under the public distribution system (TPDS) for Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and priority household (PHH) ration cardholders.
• Eligible beneficiaries will receive 5kg of food grains and 1 kg Gram per month.
• 80 crore individuals, i.e., roughly two-thirds of India’s population would be covered under this scheme.

Scheme has been extended until the end of November.