Prime Minister’s Research Fellows (PMRF) Scheme

In order to attract meritorious students into research, Government of India, in 2018 launched Prime Minister’s Research Fellows (PMRF) Scheme, which offers direct admission to such students in the Ph.D programmes in IITs, IISERs and IISc.

• The scheme is aimed at attracting the talent pool of the country to doctoral (Ph.D.) programmes for carrying out research in cutting edge science and technology domains, with focus on national priorities.
• Under the scheme, students who have completed, or are pursuing, the final year of four year undergraduate or five year integrated M.Tech or five year integrated M.Sc. or five year undergraduate-postgraduate dual degree programmes or two year M.Sc. programmes in Science and Technology streams from IIEST/IISc/IITs/NITs/IISERs and centrally funded IIITs or any other Institute / University recognized in India, are eligible for admission to full time Ph.D. programme in the IISc, IISERs and IITs.
• A fellowship of Rs.70,000/- per month for the first two years, Rs.75,000/- per month for the 3^rd year, and Rs.80,000/- per month in the 4^th and 5^th year provided under the scheme.
• Apart from this, a research grant of Rs.2.00 lakh per year will be provided to each of the Fellows for a period of 5 years to cover their academic contingency expenses and for foreign/national travel expenses.
• With further modification, the scheme has been opened for eligible students from all recognized institutions/universities in the country.
• There will be a rigorous review of the performance of Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship holders and continuation of the next year fellowship shall be contingent upon successful review.
• For attracting highly skilled researchers and scientists to pursue their R&D interests in Indian Institutions, several initiatives have been launched such as:
  
  • CV Raman Post-Doctoral Fellowship Scheme by University Grants Commission (UGC),
  • Ramanujan Fellowship,
  • JC Bose Fellowship,
  • Young Scientist Project Award,
  • Women Scientist Scheme by Department of Science & Technology (DST), and
  • Global Initiative for Academic Network (GIAN) launched by MHRD, seeks to tap the talent pool of scientists and entrepreneurs from abroad, including those of Indian origin to augment the country’s existing academic resources.

Source: PIB

South Asians at Higher Health Risks

According to a study published in Nature Scientific Reports,South Asians, even those who move to other countries, are at a higher risk of diabetes than people of most other ethnicities, the reason for this is their relatively low lean mass.

Findings

• Mesolithic hunter-gatherer ancestors of South Asians were much taller, but low lean mass has characterised South Asians for at least 11,000 years, putting them at higher risk of type-2 diabetes and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as heart disease, according to the study which analysed 197 archaeological and recent South Asian adult skeletons.
• Height decreased by 8.5cm in men and 7.7cm in women when South Asians transitioned from hunting and gathering to farming around 9,000 years ago, but their lean mass (organ and muscle mass) has remained unchanged over the past 11,000 years, the study said.
• The study suggests that while height is determined by nutritional factors, physique (bone breadth and lean mass) reflects ecological pressures.
• The ancient origins of low lean mass in South Asians would be most consistent with long-term adaptation to ecological pressures, rather than more recent dietary change or the impact of 19^th-20^th century famines exacerbated by British colonial policy.
• Low lean mass is present at birth in South Asian babies compared with European babies. Even after South Asian families migrate to other parts of the world, such as the UK, their children, after several generations still have low lean mass compared with children of European ancestry.
• People of South Asian ancestry are at a higher risk of diabetes, compared to their European counterparts, even after considering the risks like unhealthy diet, sedentary lifestyles and obesity.

Projection

• Since changes in lean mass are unlikely over the next four to five generations, making lifestyle interventions are crucial to containing NCDs, which account for 60% of all deaths in India.

Suggestions

• The implications of the study are that low lean mass is a very ancient characteristic, so it is unlikely to change much in the coming generations.
• This means that other interventions, especially the promotion of healthy lifestyles, are particularly critical to manage the growing health and economic burden of chronic diseases.
• Building muscle mass and high fitness levels have the potential for averting diabetes, and even heart disease.
• South Asians need to build lean muscle mass from an early age, so sports should be an integral part of school curriculum, along with muscle-building exercises and enhanced protein intake.

Source: HT

Draft Bill Banning Cryptocurrency

The Inter-Ministerial Committee on Virtual Currency constituted under the Chairmanship of Subhash Chandra Garg has submitted its report along with Draft Bill ‘Banning of Cryptocurrency & Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2019’.

Provisions of the Draft Bill

• Cryptocurrency cannot be used as legal tender or currency at any place in India.
• The bill prohibits everyone to mine, generate, hold, sell, deal in, issue, transfer, dispose of or use Cryptocurrency in the territory of India.
• The Central Government is allowed to declare Digital Rupee to be legal tender with the consent of the Reserve Bank of India.
• The Reserve Bank is empowered to declare any official foreign digital currency to be recognised as foreign currency in India.
• The use of Distributed Ledger Technology for creating a network for delivery of any financial or other services or for creating value, without involving any use of cryptocurrency is not prohibited.
• Direct or indirect use of Cryptocurrency shall be punishable with fine or imprisonment of 1 year which may be extended to 10 years or both.
• The maximum amount of fine that may be imposed upon a person for an offence shall be as follows:
  
  • the higher of,–
    
    • three times the loss or harm caused by the person; or
    • three times the gains made by the person.
• The Court is empowered to transfer any fees recovered, to the Consolidated Fund of India.
• The Central Government on the recommendation of investigating agency without being bound to it, is empowered to grant immunity for any offence under the act.
• The bill also provides that no such immunity can be granted by the Central Government in cases where the proceedings for the prosecution for any such offence have been instituted before the date of receipt of application for grant of such immunity.

Source: Livemint

Chandrayaan-2 : Launched Successfully

India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLVMkIII-M1), successfully launched the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft into the earth orbit.

• The chandrayaan-2 is now revolving round the earth with a perigee (nearest point to Earth) of 169.7 km and an apogee (farthest point to Earth) of 45,475 km.

• Chandrayaan-2 is India's second mission (after Chandrayaan-1) to the moon and comprises a fully indigenous Orbiter, Lander (Vikram) and Rover (Pragyan).
  
  • The Rover Pragyan is housed inside Vikram lander.
• The mission aims to expand our knowledge and understanding of the origin and evolution of the Moon through a detailed study of its topography, mineralogy, surface chemical composition, thermo-physical characteristics and atmosphere.
• After Chandrayaan-2, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has planned the launch of its solar mission, Aditya-L1, in the first half of 2020 to study the Sun’s corona.

Source: TH

JATAN: Virtual Museum Software

Archaeological site museums under Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) have been digitised through JATAN software.

• JATAN is a virtual museum builder software, that enables creation of digital collection management system for Indian museums and is deployed in several national museums across India.
• It’s objective is to make a digital imprint of all the objects preserved in museums and help researchers, curators and other people interested in the field.
• Designed and developed by Human Centres Design and Computing Group, Centre for Development of Smart Computing (C-DAC) Pune.
• The digital imprints (of preserved objects and monuments) created using the JATAN software are integrated in the national digital repository and portal for making them accessible to the public.
  
  • The National portal and digital repository (developed by C-DAC, Pune) for museums of India provides an integrated access to theme based collections and artefacts (in terms of sculptures, paintings, manuscripts, weapons, coins and numerous other categories of artefacts) irrespective of the physical and geographical locations of museums.
• Centre for Development of Smart Computing (C-DAC) Pune has also developed “Darshak”, a mobile-based application aimed at improving the museum visit experience among the differently-abled.
  
  • It allows real-time museum visitors gather all details about objects or artifacts simply by scanning a QR code placed near the object.

Source: PIB

Sarus Crane

The annual census conducted by the state forest department of Uttar Pradesh has revealed that the Sarus crane population in Ghaziabad has been stagnant over the period of five years.

• The Sarus Crane is the tallest flying bird in the world and was declared as the state bird of Uttar Pradesh (UP) in 2014.
• It is listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list.
• According to World Wildlife Fund (WWF), their population is now on the decline with only 15,000-20,000 in India (a majority of which are in UP).
• The Sarus is listed under schedule IV of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
  • Species listed in Schedule IV are protected, but the penalties are much lower.
• Sarus Cranes are known to live in association with humans and well watered plains, marshland, ponds, and wetlands (like Dhanauri wetland in UP) which are suitable for their forage and nesting.
• Human activities, habitat loss, predation by feral dogs, mongoose and snakes, and hunting being counted as the major threats to the species.

Source: HT

Kakinada Hope Island

The project named “Development of Kakinada Hope Island, Konaseema (Andhra Pradesh) as World Class Coastal & Eco Tourism Circuit” which was sanctioned under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme has been completed.

About Hope Island

• It is tadpole shaped island formed 200 years ago by sand formation in the East Godavari district.
• It is situated 10 km from Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary and Sri Kukkuteswara Swamy Temple.

Swadesh Darshan Scheme 

• The Ministry of Tourism (MoT) launched the Swadesh Darshan Scheme as a Central Sector Scheme in 2014-15 with the objective of improving connectivity and infrastructure of tourism destinations to enrich overall tourist experience, enhance livelihood and employment opportunities and to attract domestic as well as foreign tourists to the destinations.
• The projects for development are identified in consultation with the State Governments/UT Administrations.
• Theme based circuits include Buddhist, Coastal, Desert, Eco, Heritage,Himalayan, Krishna, North-eastern, Ramayan, Rural, Spiritual, Sufi. Tirthankar, Tribal and Wildlife circuits

Source: PIB

Trauma Care Centres for Road Accident Victims

The Government of India has taken initiatives towards setting up of Trauma Care Facilities along National Highways, under the scheme “Capacity Building for Developing Trauma Care Facilities on National Highways”.

• The overall objective of the scheme is to bring down preventable deaths due to road accidents by developing a pan-India trauma care network.
• The scheme provides for setting up a designated trauma center at every 100 km on NHs.

Source: PIB