Daily Current Affairs 22 December 2019

Current Affairs of Today Are 

1) 22nd round of the Sino-­India boundary talks

• The 22nd round of the Sino-­India boundary talks, held under the framework of Special Representatives’ dialogue said the officials resolved to respect each other’s sensitivities for the sake of better ties. “The Special Representatives resolved to intensify their efforts to achieve a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to the India-­China boundary question following the directives provided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping
• Both sides agreed that it was important to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas for the “overall bilateral relationship
• The two countries are planning 70 events to celebrate the 70th anniversary of diplomatic ties next year. The statement added that the two sides would “actively advance boundary negotiations in line with the Agreement on the Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for the Settlement of the India­China Boundary Question”
• The 22nd round was led by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chinese State Councillor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi. 

Reason For This Meeting

Border-­related the meeting was especially significant as China has been critical of India's August 5 decision to end the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcation of the region into two Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. India had retorted by reiterating Delhi's claims over Pakistan Occupied Kashmir by urging China to stop its activities in that region.

2) Rajasthan bags four prizes for NREGA works 

• Rajasthan has bagged four prizes for its performance under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. 
• The Union Ministry of Rural Development has especially praised the State’s initiative of geotagging the NREGA works in the Kota district.
• Union Minister of Rural Development Narendra Singh Tomar gave away the prizes at a function in New Delhi over the weekend.
• The prizes were given to the Zila Parishad officials and panchayat representatives of Kota, Dungarpur, Bhilwara, and Jaisalmer districts. 
• The achievements of the Panchayati Raj bodies in the NREGA works included the construction of watershed structures and strengthening of rural infrastructure. 

3) IIT-KGP study throws light on the last 900 years rain pattern in India

A recent study by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IIT­-KGP) has revealed that abrupt changes in the Indian monsoon in the last 900 years decided the course of human history in the subcontinent. A paper titled “Abrupt changes in Indian summer monsoon strength during the last 900 years and their linkages to socioeconomic conditions in the Indian subcontinent” by Anil K. Gupta, professor at the geology and geophysics department of IIT­-KGP, highlights that the decline of Indian dynasties was linked to weak monsoon and reduced food production. 

Monsoon effects on Dynasties 

• Deficient rainfall led to the collapse of the Mansabdari system, started by Mughal emperor Akbar, in the late 17th century. Similarly, drought interspersed with violent monsoon rains sounded the death knell for the Khmer empire of Southeast Asia in the 15th century.
• Several dynasties, such as the Sena in Bengal, Solanki in Gujarat in the mid­13th century and Paramara and Yadav in the early to mid­14th century all of which flourished during abundant rainfall declined during the dry phases of the Indian summer monsoon (ISM), suggesting a role of the climate in the socio­political crisis, the study revealed
• The paper published in international journal PALEO 3 highlights three phases in the 900­ year stretch Medieval Climate Anomaly from 950 CE to 1350 CE, Little Ice Age from 1350 CE to 1800 CE and Current Warm Period from 1800 CE till today. The paper highlights strong monsoon during Medieval Climate Anomaly and Current Warm Period and phases of weak and strong monsoon in Little Ice Age. 

About Research 

For the study on longterm spatiotemporal variability of the ISM, a group of researchers, which also included experts from Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, looked at palaeoclimatic

records using oxygen isotope proxy record from speleothems (a structure formed in a cave by deposition of minerals from water) at the Wah Shikar cave in Meghalaya. 

4) Manual scavenging left 282 dead

• As many as 282 people have died while cleaning sewers and septic tanks in the country between 2016 and November 2019
• Among the States, Tamil Nadu has recorded 40 deaths, the highest in number, in these four years. This is followed by Haryana with 31 deaths and Gujarat and Delhi with 30 deaths each. Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have recorded 27 deaths each in the same period.
• These figures are based on FIRs filed by the respective State governments. According to the data tabled in the Rajya Sabha, 50 deaths were reported in 2016, 83 in 2017, 66 in 2018 and 83 till November 2019.
• Sanitation being a State subject, the people for cleaning of sewers and septic tanks are employed by local bodies. States and Union Territories have been requested to ensure filing of FIRs and prosecution in all cases of employment of persons for hazardous cleaning of sewers as per the provisions of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013

Reason for Manual Scavenging

The deaths have been higher in states like Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh where there has been rapid and unplanned urbanization

Current Situation

• The Central government has put on record that there are about 60,440 manual scavengers identified across the country, in 17 States.  More than half of them, about 35,472, have been identified from Uttar Pradesh alone. 
• The Parliament had enacted the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 which came in force from December 6, 2013.

According to Safai Karmachari Andolan, an organization working to eradicate manual scavenging, have been collecting statistics of such deaths since 1993. It is only after 2000 that they started getting figures. Their website has put the figure at 1,760 deaths

5) The plant extract, heat to kill cancer cells 

 Anthocephalus cadamba

• Lipid­-based nanoparticles encapsulating chlorophyll-rich extract of a medicinal plant Anthocephalus cadamba and a near­infrared dye has been found to selectively kill cancer cells when exposed to near­infrared light.
• Unlike the conventional photothermal therapy that relies on heat to kill cancerous cells, a multi-institutional team led by researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad used the heat generated by the dye when exposed to light to destroy the encapsulation and release the extract. 
• The extract generated an excess amount of reactive oxygen species, which caused cell death through autophagy (the body’s way of removing damaged cells).
• The extract showed selectivity in killing only cancer cells; the extract released inside normal cells caused insignificant cell death. 
• The reason: the extract did not increase the number of reactive oxygen species generated inside normal cells thus not causing them through autophagy.
• Since the extract increased the amount of both reactive oxygen species and autophagy, the researchers set out to explore the link between the two. They used a known chemical that inhibits the generation of reactive oxygen species and then treated the cancer cells with the extract. “Cells, where the ROS generation is inhibited, showed negligible cell death due to reduced autophagy 
• The efficacy of the nanoparticles containing the plant extract and dye was tested in a mouse model with breast cancer. The tumor volume reduced significantly when treated with the extract along with photothermal therapy compared with controls and cells treated with the extract alone. “But the nanoparticles had no adverse effect on the body weight of mice, indicating the biocompatibility of the nanoparticles

Autophagy

Autophagy is the body's way of cleaning out damaged cells, to regenerate newer, healthier cells

6) U.S. sanctions companies building Russia’s gas pipeline to Germany

• President Donald Trump signed off on the U.S. sanctions against companies building a Russian natural gas pipeline to Germany that Congress fears will give the Kremlin dangerous leverage over European allies. 
• The sanctions, which are opposed by the European Union (EU), were included in a sprawling defense spending Bill Mr. Trump signed at a ceremony on Joint Base Andrews. They target companies building the nearly $11 billion Nord Stream 2 pipeline under the Baltic Sea with the aim of doubling deliveries of Russian natural gas to Germany
• The sanctions were inserted into a much wider $738 billion annual Pentagon funding Bill and, given the level of congressional support, a veto would likely have been overturned. The U.S. measures have angered Moscow and the EU, which says it should be able to decide its own energy policies

7) Carbon dots help detect herbicide pollution

• In an extraordinary waste­towealth feat, researchers from Assam have used the commonly found invasive plant water hyacinth to produce carbon nanoparticles. These extremely tiny (less than 10 nanometres) particles can be used for detecting a commonly used herbicide pretilachlor. The nanoparticles were found to be selective and sensitive for the detection of the herbicide.
• The team harvested water hyacinth leaves, removed the chlorophyll, dried and powdered it. The sieved powder underwent several treatments including heating at 150 degree Celsius to convert it to carbon dots
• When a nanoparticle is less than 10 nanometre it is a dot or nanodot. Our carbon dots were able to give a green fluorescence under UV light. The extremely small oxygen functional groups on the surface of the dot are responsible for the fluorescence
• The herbicide pretilachlor is mixed with water and carbon dots and studied using special equipment. The fluorescence intensity increases in the presence of the herbicide. The team also tested using different pesticides and other compounds having similar chemical structures and
• found that the carbon dot was extremely sensitive to pretilachlor and could detect even a very small quantity of the herbicide. After successful testing in the laboratory conditions, the team collected soil samples from different places across the State and proved the efficiency of the carbon dots in detecting pretilachor in soil samples.