These nanomaterials possess enhanced biocidal activity
This technology will also be explored for antiviral efficiency considering its relevance to the current scenario Posted On: 25 APR 2020 3:42PM by PIB Delhi
Scientists at the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST), an autonomous institute under the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India have found a low-cost metal-free nanomaterial for visible light microbial disinfection which can be an alternative to silver and other metal-based materials.
Dr. Kamalakannan Kailasam’s group at INST in their recent study published in collaboration with Dr.Asifkhan Shanavas in the journal Carbon, have tested carbon nitride quantum dots (g-CNQDs) for visible-light-driven antibacterial activity and found it to be efficient, apart from being biocompatible with mammalian cells. The team has suggested it to be a viable anti bacterial alternative to metal/non-metal semiconductors and expensive silver, thus making it cost-effective.
According to the INST team, these nanomaterials possess enhanced biocidal activity attributed to larger surface area of g-CNQDs having more reactive sites and optical absorption both in the ultraviolet and visible region. The g-CNQDs have the ability to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS).
The ROS rapidly interact and damage the immediately available biological macromolecules such as lipids present on the cell membrane or envelope and proteins present on the cellular surface, towards inactivation of the microorganism. The mechanism of inactivation is non-specific to a particular pathogen, as lipid and protein are major components of the inhabitants of the microbial world.
The scientists are exploring ways of incorporating doped and undoped carbon nitride-based materials into cloth fabrics that can continuously produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) under optimal humidity and temperature for the antimicrobial activity.
They explained that aerosol droplets generated during sneezing have enough moisture that might help in ROS mediated disinfection of any infectious agents in the droplet, once it comes into contact with the nanomaterial sewn fabric under sunlight or ambient white light exposure. The present study utilized a common table lamp which provides luminance comparable to sunlight on a clear day.
Coronavirusis sensitive to UVC light, as in the case of other viruses and bacteria
The present system has been deployed at Employee’s State Insurance Corporation hospital in Hyderabad for field trials Posted On: 25 APR 2020 3:46PM by PIB Delhi
International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), an autonomous R&D Centre of Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India and University of Hyderabad (UoH) together with the help of Mekins Industries Ltd. (MIL), have developed a UVC based disinfection trolley to fight against COVID-19 by rapid cleaning of hospital environment.
UV light in the range of wavelengths between 200 and 300 nm is capable of inactivating microorganisms, such as bacteria and viruses, thus disinfecting both air and solid surfaces. Often, chemical disinfectants are not enough to remove the bacteria and viruses found in hospitals and other contamination prone environment. Rapid decontamination of the used patient-care beds and hospital rooms before admission of subsequent occupants is a major requirement in hospitals in view of the limited availability of beds.
Coronavirus is sensitive to UVC light, as in the case of other viruses and bacteria. The germicidal effects of UVC irradiation with a peak intensity at 254 nm results in cellular damage of the virus, thereby inhibiting cellular replication. Unlike chemical approaches to disinfection, UV light provides rapid, effective inactivation of microorganisms through a physical process.
Over 1.5 lakh farmers and traders registered on app that facilitates transportation of foodgrains and agri products
Posted On: 24 APR 2020 7:34PM by PIB Delhi The Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India is taking several measures to facilitate the farmers and farming activities at field level during the lockdown period. The updated status of activities is given below:
Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare had launched “Kisan Rath” App on 17.04.2020 to facilitate Farmers and Traders in identifying right mode of transportation for movement of farm produce ranging from food grain (cereal, coarse cereal, pulses etc), Fruits & Vegetables, oil seeds, spices, fiber crops, flowers, bamboo, log & minor forest produce, coconuts etc. Till date, total of 80,474 farmers and 70,581 traders are registered on this App.
Due to complete lockdown, all the wholesale mandis were closed on 25.03.2020. There are 2587 Principal/Main agricultural Markets available in India, out of which 1091 markets were functional on 26.03.2020. As on 23.04.2020, 2067 markets were made functional.
The procurement of Pulses & Oilseeds on MSP is currently in progress in twenty (20) States. A quantity of 1,79,852.21 MT of Pulses and 1,64,195.14 MT of Oilseeds has been procured by NAFED and FCI valued at Rs 1605.43 Crores through which 2,05,869 farmers have been benefited.
Its 90 years for Peshawar’s Qissa Khwani Bazaar massacre. The massacre was perpetrated by British soldiers against non-violent protesters of the Khudai Khidmatgar movement on April 23, 1930.
Who were the Khudai Khidmatgars? The Khudai Khidmatgar was a non-violent movement against British occupation of the Indian subcontinent.
It was led by Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a Pashtun freedom fighter, in the North-West Frontier Province. Over time, the movement acquired a more political colour, leading to the British taking notice of its growing prominence in the region.
Following the arrest of Khan and other leaders in 1929, the movement formally joined the Indian National Congress after they failed to receive support from the All-India Muslim League.
Members of the Khudai Khidmatgar were organised and the men stood out because of the bright red shirts they wore as uniforms, while the women wore black garments.
Why did the Qissa Khwani Bazaar massacre happen? Abdul Ghaffar Khan and other leaders of the Khudai Khidmatgar were arrested on April 23, 1930 by British police after he gave a speech at a gathering in the town of Utmanzai in the North-West Frontier Province. Khan’s arrest spurred protests in neighbouring towns, including Peshawar. Protests spilled into the Qissa Khwani Bazaar in Peshawar on the day of Khan’s arrest.
British soldiers entered the market area to disperse crowds that had refused to leave. In response, British army vehicles drove into the crowds, killing several protesters and bystanders.
What was the aftermath of the Qissa Khwani Bazaar massacre? The British ramped up the crackdown on Khudai Khidmatgar leaders and members following the Qissa Khwani Bazaar massacre.
In response, the movement began involving young women in its struggle against the British, a decision in line with tactics adopted by revolutionaries across the undivided India. Women were able to move undetected with more ease than men.
According to accounts by Khudai Khidmatgar activists, the British subjected members of the movement to harassment, abuse and coercive tactics adopted elsewhere in the subcontinent. This included physical violence and religious persecution. Following the recruitment of women in the movement, the British also engaged in violence, brutality and abuse of women members.
In August 1931, the Khudai Khidmatgar aligned themselves with the Congress party, forcing the British to reduce the violence they were perpetrated on the movement.
Post Independence: The Khudai Khidmatgar opposed Partition, a stance that many interpreted as the movement not being in favour of the creation of the independent nation of Pakistan. Post 1947, the Khudai Khidmatgar slowly found their political influence decreasing to such an extent that the movement and the massacre 90 years ago in the Qissa Khwani Bazaar has been wiped out from collective memory.
What’s the issue? Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray may end up losing his seat if he is not elected to the Legislative Council of the state before May 24th.
He took the oath of his office on November 28, 2019 without being a member of either the State legislature or council. But, he will have to get elected to either of the houses of the state legislature before May 24, as Article 164(4) of the Constitution stipulates.
However, the Election Commission has already postponed Rajya Sabha polls, byelections and civic body elections in the wake of Covid 19 pandemic.
What does the Constitution say? Article 164 of the Constitution allows a non-legislator to occupy a post in the council of ministers, including the office of the chief minister for six months.
What’s the alternative available now? Article 171 of the Constitution says the governor can nominate eminent persons from the field for literature, science, art, cooperative movement and social service.
Uddahv Thackeraydoes not directly fit into any of the criteria mentioned but social service has a wider scope. And, if governor nominates somebody to the legislative council, his/her decision cannot be challenged in the court, at least as of the precedent right now.
The Maharashtra legislative council has two vacancies to be filled by governor’s nominations.
Then, what is the problem now? There are some legal hurdles. Section 151A of Representation of the People Act 1951 puts a bar on the governor’s discretionary power to nominate a person to the legislative council.
It says election or nomination to vacant seats in the legislative council cannot be done “if the remainder of the term of a member in relation to a vacancy is less than one year”. The tenure of the two vacancies that arose on the account of resignations by members recently ends in June. So, the remainder of the term is less than a year.
So, what next? Uddhav Thackeray cannot continue unless elected to any of the houses of Maharashtra legislature after May 28. Technically, he can be reappointed as the Maharashtra chief minister again after he resigns on May 27 or 28 and takes oath afresh.
But, if Uddhav decides to resign and takes oath afresh, there could be another obstacle. This relates to a case in Punjab, where Tej Parkash Singh of the Congress was appointed a minister in 1995 and was reappointed at the expiry of six months’ period in 1996 without getting elected to state assembly.
Litigation followed. And, in 2001, the Supreme Court declared the resign-and-reappoint bid as “improper, undemocratic, invalid and unconstitutional”.
This judgment did not have a bearing on Tej Parkash Singh but may come in the way of Uddav Thackeray if he takes the same route.
What is Classical Swine Fever (CSF)? Hog Cholera or Classical swine fever (CSF) is a contagious viral disease of domestic and wild swine.
It happens due to the viruses that bring viral diarrhea in pigs and ailments in sheep. The disease does not harm humansbut all-important precautions are advised to follow.
Concerns for India: Classical Swine Fever (CSF) is one of the biggest pigs’ diseases in India. It causes a loss of about 400 crores of rupees per year in India. This has led to a decrease in the population of pigs in 2019.
India currently requires 22 million doses of the CSF (Classical Swine Fever) vaccine every year. However, currently, only 1.2 million doses are being produced. The reason behind its less production is that only 50 doses can be prepared from the spleen of a rabbit.
About Krishi Kalyan Abhiyan: Launched in 2018 under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare. Aim: to aid, assist and advise farmers to improve their farming techniques and increase their incomes.
Implementation: Krishi kalyan Abhiyaan will be undertaken in 25 Villages with more than 1000 population each in Aspirational Districts identified in consultation with Ministry of Rural Development as per directions of NITI Ayog.
In districts where number of villages (with more than 1000 population) is less than 25, all villages will be covered.
The overall coordination and implementation in the 25 villages of a district is being done by Krishi Vigyan Kendra of that district.
Various activities to promote best practices and enhance agriculture income are being undertaken under this plan such as: Distribution of Soil Health Cards to all farmers 100% coverage of bovine vaccination for Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in each village
100% coverage of Sheep and Goat for eradication of Peste des Petits ruminants (PPR) also known as sheep and goat plague Distribution of Mini Kits of pulses and oilseeds to all Distribution of Horticulture/Agro Forestry/Bamboo plant @ 5 per family(location appropriate)
Making 100 NADAP Pits in each village Artificial insemination saturation Demonstration programmes on Micro- irrigation Demonstrations of integrated cropping practice
Previously, Reverse vaccinology has been used for developing vaccinations for meningococcal and staphylococcal infections.
What is reverse vaccinology? Reverse vaccinology defines the process of antigen discovery starting from genome information.
This is done with the aid of computers without culturing microorganism. The process includes comparative in silico analyses of multiple genome sequences in order to identify conserved antigens within a heterogeneous pathogen population and identification of antigens that are unique to pathogenic isolates but not present in commensal strains.
In addition, transcriptomic and proteomic data sets are integrated into a selection process that yields a short list of candidate antigens to be tested in animal models, thus reducing the costs and time of downstream analyses.
Reverse_Vaccinology Pros: Finding vaccine targets quickly and efficiently.
Cons: Only proteins can be targeted using this process. Whereas, conventional vaccinology approaches can find other biomolecular targets such as polysaccharides.
Ir is celebrated in Manipur every year on April 23 to pay tribute to the war heroes of Anglo-Manipuri War 1891 who had sacrificed their lives fighting against the British to protect freedom of Manipur.
What are deep nudes? Deep nudes are computer-generated images and videos.
Cybercriminals use Artificial Intelligence (AI) software to superimpose a digital composite (assembling multiple media files to make a final one) on to an existing video, photo or audio.
Concerns: Because of how realistic deepfake images, audio and videos can be, the technology is vulnerable for use by cybercriminals who could spread misinformation to intimidate or blackmail people.