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06 07 20 Notes

SL. NO. TOPICS

THE HINDUPAGE NO.

1 Step into the Light 13

2 FAO issues locust alert for India 10

3 China doubles down on claims on Eastern Bhutan boundary 01

4 Vaccine trials take 6 to 9 months: WHO Chief Scientist + Surely, even if slowly

Pg 01 + Pg 06

5 India must not cast anchor in Enrica Lexie case 06

1.

Dated: 06-July -2020 DNS Notes

Title Step into the Light (Pg 13)Syllabus Mains: GS Paper I – Art & Culture Theme Modern Indian PaintingHighlights Raja Ravi Verma

Raja Ravi Varma (29 April 1848 – 2 October 1906) was a celebrated Indian painter and artist. He is considered among the greatest painters in the history of Indian art for a number of aesthetic and broader social reasons.

First great modern painter in India. His paintings had Western Influence He evolved a national style of painting by combining various regional elements

like costumes, jewellery and facial features. His paintings, which mostly depicted mythological themes, became very

popular not only in India but abroad. His illustrations of Ramayana and Mahabharata were the most appealing visual

representations of that time. He won a gold medal at the World Art Exhibition, Vienna, for his picture Nair Lady Adorning Her Hair

Famous Paintings: Lady in Moon Night, Ravana Kidnapping Sita etc.


Personal Notes

Title 2. FAO issues locust alert for India (Pg 10)Syllabus GS Paper III – Environment & Ecology Theme Locust attackHighlights

Locusts Attack in India

Image showing an ongoing locust attack in Rajasthan

Context

Over the past several weeks, locust attacks emanating from the desert area in Pakistan have struck parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat,


causing heavy damage to standing crop. The situation is being closely monitored by agri-experts in the states

and the Centre. What are Locusts?

Locusts are a collection of certain species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae that have a swarming phase.

What is swarming phenomenon?

Swarm behaviour, or swarming, is a collective behaviour exhibited animals, of similar size which aggregate together, perhaps milling about the same spot or perhaps moving en masse or migrating in some direction.

What are locust attacks and how are they caused?

Normal situation:

o These grasshoppers are innocuous, their numbers are low, and they do not pose a major economic threat to agriculture.

Attack situation:

o However, under suitable conditions of drought followed by rapid vegetation growth, serotonin in their brains triggers a dramatic set of changes: they start to breed abundantly, becoming sociable and nomadic (loosely described as migratory) when their populations become dense enough.

Is the difference in environmental condition also reflected on their morphology?

Yes, differences in morphology and development are seen.

In the desert locust, the gregaria nymphs become darker with strongly contrasting yellow and black markings, they grow larger, and have longer developmental periods.

How do these locusts harm agriculture?


The swarms eat leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, bark and growing points, and also destroy plants by their sheer weight as they descend on them in massive numbers.

Desert locusts can have about 40 million to 80 million locust adults in each square kilometre of a swarm and travel up to 150 kilometres a day, according to the FAO.

There is an exponential increase in locust numbers with every new generation of breeding and a swarm the size of one square kilometre, containing about 40 million locusts, eats the same amount of food in one day as about 35,000 people.


How many species of locusts are native to India?

Only four species of locusts are found in India: o Desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria), o Migratory locust (Locusta migratoria), o Bombay Locust ( Nomadacris succincta)o Tree locust (Anacridium sp.).

The desert locust is regarded as the most important in India as well as internationally.

the attack of 2019-2020 has been causes mainly due to Desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria)

Fig: The locusts coming to India (Rajasthan and Gujarat) originate from Horn of Africa and traverse Middle Eastern countries before coming via Pakistan after

monsoon

Fig: Areas impacted due to locust attack in India


How does India Plans to control these attacks?

India has a locust control and research scheme that is being implemented through the Locust Warning Organisation (LWO) under Ministry of Agriculture.

The LWO’s responsibility is monitoring and control of the locust situation in Scheduled Desert Areas, mainly in Rajasthan and Gujarat, and partly in Punjab and Haryana.

India is most at risk of a swarm invasion just before the onset of the monsoon. The swarms usually originate in the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa.

What are the situations which exacerbate these attacks?

The task is more difficult because of political instability in some countries.

In Somalia, for example, the FAO says that aerial spraying has been ruled out in areas not controlled by the government. The civil war in Yemen may also have contributed to the outbreak.


Personal Notes


Title 3. China doubles down on claims on Eastern Bhutan boundary (Pg 01)

Syllabus GS Paper II – International relations Theme Hegemony and Expansive stance of China Highlights

Context - China on Saturday officially stated for the first time it has a boundary dispute with Bhutan in the eastern sector. China’s claim came against the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assertion during a visit to Ladakh on Friday that the “era of expansionism” is over. Series of events

China attempted last month to stop funding for the Sakteng sanctuary from the UN Development Program’s Global Environment Facility (GEF), on the grounds that it was “disputed” territory.

Bhutan had issued a demarche to the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi (Bhutan does not

have any formal diplomatic relations with Beijing), protesting against the Chinese statement at the GEF meeting. [The Sakteng sanctuary has in the past, too, received such grants, including in 2018-2019 for a project on preventing soil erosion, without any objection from China.]

As the reaction Beijing has doubled down, including Bhutan’s “eastern sectors” to the

boundary dispute between the two countries. Chinese claim that the boundary between China and Bhutan has never been delimited. - "there have been disputes over the eastern, central and western sectors for a long time". However, China and Bhutan had 24 previous rounds of boundary negotiations held between the two countries, between 1984 and 2016. According to written records, there has been no mention of eastern Bhutan that borders Arunachal Pradesh. Talk so far have been about three specific areas -

1. Jakarlung in the north2. Pasamlung in the north and3. the Chumbi Valley, where Doklam is situated, in west Bhutan.

The negotiations have not been held since the Doklam stand-off between Indian and Chinese troops in 2017. Coronavirus pandemic has delayed the talk further. Why such a more from China? China is seeking to open up more theatres and this is a continuation of the policy to pressure India through the Himalayas. The India-Bhutan Friendship Treaty of 2007 enjoins both sides to “cooperate closely with each other on issues relating to their national interests”. Experts believe the Chinese move, like the intrusions in Doklam in 2017 that also triggered a standoff, is aimed at driving a wedge


between New Delhi and Thimphu.


Personal Notes

Title 4. Vaccine trials take 6 to 9 months: WHO Chief Scientist + Surely, even if slowly (Pg 01 + Pg 06)


Syllabus Prelims: Science & Technology Mains: GS paper III – Science & Technology

Theme Clinical trial in vaccine development Highlights

The pandemic paradigm requires multiple activities to be conducted at financial risk to developers and manufacturers and without knowing whether the vaccine candidate will be safe and effective, including very early manufacturing scale-up to commercial scale before establishment of clinical proof of concept. ID denotes identification.

First-in-man Phase I studies are usually small trials in healthy, immunocompetent naIve adults who are at low risk of acquiring a vaccine-relevant infection (determined by serology, exposure, and travel history).

Based on results of adult studies (referred to as Phase Ia trials), subsequent Phase I studies may be conducted in different age or population groups closer to the target population to assess possible differences in dose, safety, vaccine schedule, or route of administration. Such subsequent studies in different geographies and populations are referred to as Phase Ib.

It is recommended that the Phase I study site be located within or in the vicinity of a tertiary care hospital. After immunization, the need for day-care observation is guided by the need for monitoring adverse events. Tolerability and reactogenicity due to the vaccine or the process of vaccination is the major safety outcome evaluated in a Phase I trial.

A candidate vaccine should proceed to Phase II clinical evaluation after achieving a satisfactory outcome in Phase I studies in terms of both safety and immunogenicity. The transition from a controlled clinical setting to field evaluation incurs much greater monetary investment, hence stringent go/no-go criteria are observed by the developers.

The objective is to identify the vaccine preparation, optimal dose, and schedule to be taken up for confirmatory Phase III trials. These studies have the desired statistical power and a defined sample size, and hence are expected to provide a clinically meaningful outcome on the safety, immunogenicity, and efficacy end points.

Phase II studies assess the impact of multiple variables on immune response, such as age, ethnicity, gender, and presence of maternal or pre-existing antibodies (in infants) and evaluate the following :

Age of first administration of vaccine [e.g., during the development of Rotarix™, the age of first administration varied between countries depending on factors such as nutrition status, influence of maternal antibodies, and Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) schedule].

Number of vaccine doses (For Rotarix™, two and three doses were studied in Phase II studies, while for Gardasil™ the dosing schedule remained standard throughout clinical development).

Sequence or interval between vaccine doses, route of administration, duration of immunity, potential need for booster immunizations, and qualitative aspects of the immune response.

Pivotal Phase III trials, essential for registration and approval to market of a vaccine, assess the effect of the final formulation. These trials are typically


designed to evaluate efficacy and safety. Vaccine Efficacy (VE) is defined as the percent reduction in incidence (of disease or infection) among the vaccinated.

Phase III trials are large-scale clinical trials enrolling thousands of subjects from the target population. They are conducted in “field” conditions that are similar to future routine use.

Incidence of disease in the study population impacts the sample size: A low incidence means that large numbers of subjects are required to estimate vaccine efficacy in comparison to the numbers needed if disease incidence is greater. In diseases where an immunological end point correlates with clinical protection, it can be used as a primary efficacy end point, and smaller sample sizes often suffice.


Personal Notes


Title 5. India must not cast anchor in enrica lexie case (Page 06)Syllabus Mains: International Relation Theme Italian Marine Case Highlights

Context

This article discusses the recent implications of the Tribunal ruling under UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) involving Enrica Lexie case. It also highlights as to what should be the strategy of the Indian Government going forward. Ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA)

The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) was required to give ruling on the following questions:

Whether Italian marines had violated the provisions of UNCLOS by firing upon the Indian Fishermen?

Who should try the cases against Italian Marines?

Question: Whether Italian marines had violated the provisions of UNCLOS by firing upon the Indian Fishermen?

Ruling: The Tribunal said that the actions of the Italian military officers breached India’s freedom of navigation under UNCLOS. Hence, accordingly it ruled that India is entitled to payment of compensation in connection with loss of life and physical harm. The tribunal did not declare the compensation amount. However, it called upon both the countries to decide on compensation amount amicably.

Strategy to be adopted by Government: The Indian government must ensure that Italy is made to pay fully for the loss of life and the suffering it has caused. The negotiations for the higher compensation amount should be de-linked from having good relations with Italy. The negotiations for compensation should be treated as a standalone matter. Question: Who should try the cases against Italian Marines?

Ruling: The Tribunal observed that India and Italy had concurrent jurisdiction over the incident and a valid legal basis to institute criminal proceedings against the Marines. However, it ruled that Italian Marines should be tried in Italy and not in India. Such a ruling was given on the basis that the Italian marines were not private Individuals, rather they were state officials and hence enjoyed immunity. Implications: India has consistently argued that Immunity of state officials has to be governed by specific multilateral treaties such as Vienna convention. Further, India has also been arguing that immunity from local criminal jurisdiction should be applicable only to certain specified state officials such as heads of governments, foreign ministers, accredited diplomats etc. There cannot be blanket immunity for all types of state Officials.


Now, the Tribunal ruling sets a dangerous precedent wherein some of the countries may misuse such an immunity to all state officials. Going forward, a country can designate its military and para-military personnel on-board private ships as State officials and use them for their strategic ends. Such a ruling thus has a potential to create tensions between the countries.

Strategy to be adopted by Government:

The government should closely monitor the case proceedings in the Italian court and ensure that the trial is conducted in a fair and transparent manner. The government should instruct the Embassy in Rome that a diplomat should always be present during court proceedings.

Personal Notes

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