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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 19 February 2022

::NATIONAL::

Tamil Nadu Assembly re-adopted the anti-NEET (National Eligibility-cum-EntranceTest) Bill, which was sent back to the government by state Governor earlier.
The bill is aims to provide for admission to undergraduate (UG) courses in medicine, homeopathy on the basis of marks obtained in the qualifying examination.
Also provides for public school students to obtain a horizontal share of 7.5% of medical admissions.

Arguments of states’ against NEET

NEETs favour wealthy and privileged social classes, who can afford special support in addition to pursuing class XII.
Students from the affluent class do not serve in rural areas after medical UG programmes and often pursue postgraduate courses abroad, leading to a decline in the number of serving doctors in the state.
Biased in favour of physics, chemistry and biology instead of being open to testing “all possible knowledge” as in State board examinations.
Previously the Supreme Court held that NEET is prescribed to improve medical education, co-related to the improvement of public health.
In 2013, NEET was introduced as a national-level and only medical entrance exam for admission to medical and dental courses in India.

In recent budget, the government announced ‘vibrant village programme’ to improve social and financial infrastructure in remote habitations, primarily along the border with China.
The program initiated by Ministry of Home Affairs. It is developed in the backdrop of the Chinese setting up model villages along India and Bhutan borders.

Objectives of the scheme:

To strengthening infrastructure along the border.
Ensuring that residents don’t abandon their villages in looking for economic opportunities in other areas.
It will include construction of village infrastructure, housing, tourist centres, road connectivity, direct-to-home access for Doordarshan and educational channels, and support for livelihood generation.

Program needs:

Border villages with sparse populations, limited connectivity and infrastructure are often excluded from the benefits of development.
To build “modern system of transportation and connectivity on the mountains” which will help border villages of country to become vibrant.
Other government steps to improve border villages:
Border Area Development Programme, launched in 1986-87 to meet developmental needs of people living in remote and inaccessible areas situated near the international border.
Union Budget 2022-23 has increased capital outlay for Border Roads Organisation, by a record 40 percent, as compared to FY 2021-22.

A new highly virulent and damaging Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) variant discovered in the Netherlands.

Key highlights:

In a study led by the University of Oxford, the new HIV variant with higher virulence and more damaging health impacts has been discovered.
Individuals infected with the new “VB variant” (for virulent subtype B) showed significant differences before antiretroviral treatment compared with individuals infected with other HIV variants:
Individuals with the VB variant had a viral load (the level of the virus in the blood) between 3.5 and 5.5 times higher.
In addition, the rate of CD4 cell decline (the hallmark of immune system damage by HIV) occurred twice as fast in individuals with the VB variant, placing them at risk of developing AIDS much more rapidly.
Individuals with the VB variant also showed an increased risk of transmitting the virus to others.

French researcher Luc Montagnier, who won a Nobel Prize in 2008 for discovering the HIV virus, has died at age 89.
As a virologist, he led the team that in 1983 identified the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) which causes AIDS, leading him to share the 2008 Nobel Prize in medicine with colleague Francoise Barré-Sinoussi. He was born in 1932 in the village of Chabris in central France.
He joined the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in 1960 and became head of the Pasteur Institute’s virology department in 1972.

In a written reply the Union Power Minister has informant to the Rajya Sabha, as financial year 2020-21, power requirement was 1,275.53 billion units (BU).
Power requirement in the country is estimated to be 1,650.59 billion units in 2022-23 while it was 1,141.94 billion units till January of the ongoing fiscal year.

About:

Integrated Power Development Scheme was launched in 2014 by Ministry of Power.
Power Finance Corporation Limited is Parent Agency for operationalization and implementation of the scheme.
It helps in reduction in AT&C losses; establishment of IT enabled energy accounting / auditing system, improvement in billed energy based on metered consumption and improvement in collection efficiency.

Key objectives highlighted:

The by Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) has launched Accelerate Vigyan scheme in 2020, to strengthen scientific research mechanisms in the country.

Three key goals:

Components highlighted:

ABHYAAS Programme for boosting R&D by enabling potential PG/PhD students through High-EndWorkshops i.e., KARYASHALA and Research Internships i.e., VRITIKA.
SAMMOHAN programme for capacity building activities in S&T.
SERB was setup by an Act of Parliament, for promoting basic research in Science and Engineeringand to provide financial assistance to persons engaged in such research, etc.

Phasi wood for Jagannath chariot this year was made entirely from private lands instead of forest. Scientific name: Anogeissus acuminata.

About:

It is a deciduous tree with a narrow crown and take 50-60 years to mature.
It has been found mainly in the countries of India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam.
In India mostly found in alluvial floodplain of Mahanadi.

Habitat:

Tropical low land open forest or semi-deciduous forests at elevations below 700 metres.
It is found particularly in deep, humus-rich, loamy soils, along streams or river banks.
As threat to declining/dwindling due to loss of forests as well as climate change.