Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 27 October 2022

::NATIONAL::

The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) under the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change recommended the “environmental release” of the transgenic hybrid mustard DMH-11 for seed production and conduct of field demonstration studies with respect to its effects, if any, on honey bees and other pollinating insects.

What exactly is hybrid mustard?

Hybridisation involves crossing two genetically dissimilar plant varieties that can even be from the same species.
The first-generation (F1) offspring from such crosses tend to have higher yields than what either parent can individually give.
Such hybridisation isn’t easy in mustard, as its flowers have both female (pistil) and male (stamen) reproductive organs, making the plants largely self-pollinating.
Since the eggs of one plant cannot be fertilised by the pollen grains from another, it limits the scope for developing hybrids — unlike in cotton, maize or tomato, where this can be done through simple emasculation or physical removal of anthers.
By genetic modification (GM). Scientists at Delhi University’s Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants (CGMCP) have developed the hybrid mustard DMH-11 containing two alien genes isolated from a soil bacterium called Bacillus amyloliquefaciens.

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said that two more Indian Beaches have entered the coveted list of Blue Beaches.
After this, India now has 12 Blue Flag beaches, an eco-label given to the cleanest beaches in the world.

About:

The Blue Flag programmebegin in France in 1985 and in areas out of Europe in 2001.
It promotes sustainable development in freshwater and marine areas through four main criteria: water quality, environmental management, environmental education and safety.

Australia joined the Global Methane Pledge, becoming one of the last major developed economies to sign on to an effort to reduce emissions of the potent greenhouse gas 30% from 2020 levels by the end of this decade.
Methane is 24% of Australia’s emissions and we are the world’s 11th biggest emitter of methane, so it’s very important that we have a seat at the table and we are part of the solution.

About:

Global Methane Pledge (GMP) was launched at COP26 in 2021 to catalyse action to reduce methane emissions.
It is led by United States and European Union.
It now has more than 100 country participants who together are responsible for 45% of globalhuman-caused methane emissions.
Members commit to collectively reduce methane emissions by at least 30% below 2020levels by 2030.
India did not sign the pledge because of its concerns over the impact on trade, on the country’svast farm sector, and the role of livestock in the rural economy.

7th ASEAN-India Ministerial Meeting held on Agro-Forestry under co-chairmanship of Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.
Heurged the ASEAN member countries to support the efforts of India in increasing the production, processing, value addition and consumption of millets.

About ASEAN:

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)is a regional grouping that promotes political,economic, and security cooperation.
Established in August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration) by the founding fathers of ASEAN, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
Its chairmanship rotates annually, based on the alphabetical order of the English names of Member States.

Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman attended the 7th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) via video conference from New Delhi.
The Finance Minister shared her thoughts in the Governor’s Roundtable Discussion on the theme “Financing Infrastructure in a Crisis-Prone World”.

About:

AIIB is a multilateral development bank that aims to improve economic and social outcomes in Asia.
The headquarters of this bank is located in Beijing, China.
All powers of the Bank are vested in our Board of Governors, which is the highest decision-making body under our Articles of Agreement.
AIIB has 105 members. China is the AIIB’s largest shareholder with a 26.5% voting share. India is the second-largest, with 7.5%, followed by Russia, which has a 5.97% voting share.

The eight-year-old got the treatment as part of the safety trials for India’s first indigenously made CAR-T cells.

About:

CAR-T therapy is indigenously developed by IIT Bombay and Tata MemorialCentre, Mumbai.
It is funded under National Biopharma Mission (NBM) by BiotechnologyIndustry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).
Price of indigenous technology would be a 10th of its cost in the US.
CAR-T cells therapy entails reengineering the body’s T immune cells (a type ofwhite blood cell that attacks foreign pathogens) with some genetic material sothat they selectively target cancer cells for destruction.

Benefits of CAR-T therapy

While existing cancer treatments work towards increasing life of patients by afew years or months, CAR-T technology holds promise of curing certain typesof cancers.