12 Mar 2023: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

CNA 12 March 2023:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A. GS 1 Related
B. GS 2 Related
C. GS 3 Related
ENVIRONMENT
1. Deforestation
D. GS 4 Related
E. Editorials
SOCIAL JUSTICE
1. How is Bengal tackling fatal viral infection?
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. What is the new U.K. policy on refugees?
POLITY AND GOVERNANCE
1. Why is crypto trade within PMLA ambit?
F. Prelims Facts
1. Sickle cell anaemia
2. Japanese encephalitis vaccination
3. Failure of Silicon Valley Bank
G. Tidbits
1. Sukhoi Su-35 fighter Jets
2. Mount Merapi
3. World’s fastest camera
H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions
I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions
FIP Magazine

2. Japanese encephalitis vaccination

Syllabus: GS02-Health

Prelims: Types of Vaccines; Antibodies

Context: A recent study found no neutralising antibodies after Japanese encephalitis vaccination

Introduction:

  • A small study involving 266 children, who had received two doses of a live, attenuated Japanese encephalitis vaccine SA-14-14-2 made in China, found very low levels of neutralising antibodies IgG at different time points after vaccination. 
    • Study did not measure cell-mediated immune responses (T-cell immune responses).
  • Nearly 98% of the children who received the vaccine did not have any IgG antibodies against the virus. 
  • The results are in line with other studies conducted outside India, which too found a decline in neutralising antibody levels post-vaccination. 
  • Immunisation of children with the Chinese vaccine began in 2006 in 11 endemic regions, and became a part of the Universal Immunisation Programme in 181 endemic districts in 2011 first with a single dose and subsequently (2013) with two doses. 
  • Despite vaccination, there have been several outbreaks in the endemic regions, particularly in Gorakhpur district.
    • The disease burden is highest in the Gorakhpur region of eastern Uttar Pradesh. 

Jenvac:

  • In contrast, a trial carried out using an inactivated vaccine-Jenvac, developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with National Institute of Virology(NIV), Pune using a virus strain collected in India, has found superior protection at the end of two years even with a single dose. 
  • Jenvac has been approved as a single-dose vaccine; two doses of Jenvac are used as part of the Universal Immunisation Programme.
  • In the head-to-head comparison trial using Jenvac and the Chinese vaccine, the seroprotection at the end of one year and two years was 81.7% and 88.5% for Jenvac and just 47.9% and 68.3% for the Chinese vaccine, respectively.
  • The trial also found significantly higher neutralising antibodies when children received two doses of Jenvac rather than two doses of the Chinese vaccine.

Read more on Vaccine Types

3. Failure of Silicon Valley Bank

Syllabus: GS03-Economy

Prelims: U.S. Federal Bank Regulations; Bond Portfolios

Context: Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank

Introduction:

  • On March 10,2023, Silicon Valley Bank became the largest bank to fail since the 2008 financial crisis. 
    • The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation shut down Silicon Valley Bank.
  • The move put nearly $175 billion in customer deposits under the control of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC). 
  • The FDIC created a new bank to hold the deposits and other assets of the failed one. 

Reasons behind Bank’s Failure:

  • SVB’s downfall can be attributed to a bank run, which is when a large number of depositors withdraw their funds from a bank all at once, typically due to fears of the bank’s insolvency. 
  • In SVB’s case, the bank was largely affected by the downturn in technology stocks over the past year as well as the Federal Reserve’s aggressive plan to increase interest rates to combat inflation. 
  • SVB bought billions of dollars worth of bonds over the past couple of years, using customers’ deposits. The value of those investments fell because they paid lower interest rates than what a comparable bond would pay if issued in today’s higher interest rate environment. 
  • SVB’s customers were largely startups and other tech-centric companies that started becoming more needy for cash over the past year. Venture capital funding was drying up, companies were not able to get additional rounds of funding for unprofitable businesses who then began to withdraw their money. 
  • To pay those requests, Silicon Valley Bank was forced to sell off some of its investments at a time when their value had declined.
  • To fund the redemptions, Silicon Valley Bank on March 08,2023 sold a $21 billion bond portfolio consisting mostly of U.S. Treasuries. 
  • SVB’s decision to sell $2.25 billion in common equity and preferred convertible stock to fill its funding resulted in decline of share price by 60%, as investors believed that the deposit withdrawals may push it to raise even more capital.
  • Several SVB clients pulled their money from the bank which spooked investors such as that SVB had lined up for the stock sale, and the capital raising effort collapsed resulting in the failure of the bank.

Effects of Silicon Valley Bank’s failure on India:

  • SVB has been a major player in the Indian startup ecosystem, providing banking services and funding to many of the country’s most successful startups, including Flipkart, Ola, and Zomato.
  • The closure has sent shock waves in the Indian startups’ sector, which was already facing a funding problem.
  • It will also dent the fundraising ability of Indian startups as the US-based bank was a key source of funding for tech startups. 
  • This could lead to a cash crunch for many companies, which may be forced to cut costs, delay projects, or lay off employees.
  • SVB has also been instrumental in helping Indian startups expand into the US market, by providing them with the necessary infrastructure and support to set up operations in Silicon Valley. 

G. Tidbits

1. Sukhoi Su-35 fighter Jets

  • Iran has finalised a deal to buy Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets from Russia.
  • The air force of sanctions-hit Iran has an ageing fleet of aircraft and has struggled to acquire spare parts to keep its warplanes in the air.
    • Iran currently has Russian MiG and Sukhoi fighter jets that date back to the Soviet era, as well as Chinese aircraft, including the F-7.
    • Few F-4 and F-5 fighter jets from the U.S. dating back to before the 1979 Iran Revolution are also part of its fleet.
  • Iran was restricted from purchasing conventional weapons under UN Resolution 2231. This expired in October 2020.
  • Iran has forged strong ties with Moscow in various sectors including the military in recent years.
  • Ukraine has accused Tehran of supplying Moscow with Shahed-136 “kamikaze” drones used in attacks on civilian targets since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

2. Mount Merapi

  • Indonesia’s Mount Merapi erupted on March 10.
  • The 9,721 feet Merapi is one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes and was already on the country’s second-highest alert level.
  • Merapi is the youngest in a group of volcanoes in southern Java. It is situated at a subduction zone, where the Indo-Australian Plate is subducting under the Sunda Plate.
  • A series of eruptions of the volcano in late 2010, which included pyroclastic flows, killed scores of people, injured dozens more, and forced tens of thousands to evacuate the area.
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Image Source: BBC

3. World’s fastest camera

  • Scientists from Germany and the U.S. have built the world’s fastest single-shot laser camera — 1,000x faster than its predecessors at capturing extremely short-lived events.
    • The  device can capture images at 12.5 billion frames per second
  • The device’s technique is called laser-sheet compressed ultrafast photography (LS-CUP). The LS-CUP consists of laser-sheet imaging, compressed sensing, and a standard streak camera.
    • It can resolve a plane of a three-dimensional object like a flame or spray or any turbid media and can “resolve physical or chemical processes” in space and time.
  • This camera was used to provide the most precise view of how a hydrocarbon flame produces soot.
  • This could help in studying the impact of  climate pollutants produced in kitchen stoves, car engines, and wildfires and can validate models that predict soot formation in industrial processes. 
    • Soot changes rainfall patterns and melts glaciers faster.

H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions

Q1. Which of the countries did India sign the “Critical Minerals Investment 
Partnership” recently? (Level-Easy)
  1. USA
  2. Australia
  3. Japan
  4. Kazakhstan
CHECK ANSWERS:-

Answer: b

Explanation:

  • India and Australia recently signed the “Critical Minerals Investment Partnership” in efforts towards investment in critical minerals such as Lithium and cobalt to develop supply chains between the two countries.
  • Investments under the partnership will seek to build new supply chains underpinned by critical minerals processed in Australia, that will help India’s plans lower emissions from its electricity network and become a global manufacturing hub, including for electric vehicles.
Q2. What do you understand by “Vayulink”? (Level-Difficult)
  1. It is an indigenously built GPS system of India.
  2. It is a digital platform for the coordination of the Air Traffic Controllers in the country.
  3. It is a system developed by the Indian Air Force to avoid fratricide during air strikes.
  4. It is a radar system technology that India has received from Israel.
CHECK ANSWERS:-

Answer: c

Explanation:

  • Vayulink is an ad-hoc data link communication system that would help pilots deal with bad weather and provide jammer-proof uninterrupted communication with the base station.
    • It is developed by the Indian Air Force (IAF).
  • It uses the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) to send radio communication to the base station when the signals are low.
  • Vayulink, when installed in an aircraft, gives the position of other aircraft close by and encrypted traffic data over a secure channel.
Q3. Which of the following statements is/are true? (Level-Difficult)
  1. Indonesia has volcanoes due to its location at the Circum-Pacific Ring of Fire.
  2. Mount Merapi is the most active volcano in Indonesia.
  3. The Southern Alps of New Zealand are formed due to the convergence of Pacific and Indo-Australian Plates.

Options:

  1. 1 and 2
  2. 2 and 3
  3. 1 and 3
  4. 1, 2 and 3
CHECK ANSWERS:-

Answer: d

Explanation:

  • Statement 01 is correct, the Ring of Fire is a roughly 25,000-mile chain of volcanoes and seismically active sites that outline the Pacific Ocean.
    • The Ring of Fire is also where an estimated 75% of the planet’s volcanoes are located. Indonesia has volcanoes due to its location at the Circum-Pacific Ring of Fire. 
  • Statement 02 is correct, the 9,721 feet Mount Merapi is one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes.
  • Statement 03 is correct,  The Alpine Fault is a geological fault that runs almost the entire length of New Zealand’s South Island and forms the boundary between the Pacific Plate and the Indo-Australian Plate. 
    • The Southern Alps have been uplifted on the fault over the last 12 million years in a series of earthquakes.
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Image Source: Teara.gov

Q4. Which of the following statements is/are true? (Level-Medium)
  1. The Central Government provides 100% funding to the SDRFs.
  2. The SDRF funds disaster management operations in case of all the listed natural disasters in India.
  3. Cloudbursts and lightning are included in the list of natural disasters in India.

Options:

  1. 1 and 2
  2. 2 only
  3. 1 and 3
  4. 1, 2 and 3
CHECK ANSWERS:-

Answer: b

Explanation:

  • Statement 01 is incorrect, The State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), constituted under Section 48 (1) (a) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, is the primary fund available to State Governments for responses to notified disasters.
    • The Central Government contributes 75% of SDRF allocation for general category States/UTs and 90% for special category States/UTs (NE States, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu, and Kashmir).
    • The annual Central contribution is released in two equal instalments as per the recommendation of the Finance Commission.
  • Statement 02 is correct,  The SDRF funds disaster management operations in case of all the listed natural disasters in India. NDRF comes in only when a disaster is declared as of ‘severe nature’.
  • Statement 03 is incorrect, according to present norms, cyclone, drought, earthquake, fire, flood, tsunami, hailstorm, landslide, avalanche, cloudburst, pest attack, frost and cold waves are included in the list of natural disasters in India.
Q5. Consider the following statements: ​(PYQ-CSE-2020) (Level-Medium)
  1. Jet streams occur in the Northern Hemisphere only.​
  2. Only some cyclones develop an eye. ​
  3. The temperature inside the eye of a cyclone is nearly 10°C less than that of the surroundings. ​

Which of the statements given above is/are correct? ​

  1. 1 only
  2. 2 and 3 only
  3. 2 only
  4. 1 and 3 only
CHECK ANSWERS:-

Answer: c

Explanation:

  • Statement 01 is incorrect, Jet streams occur in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
  • Statement 02 is correct, Extra-tropical cyclones may not always have an eye, whereas mostly mature storms have well developed eyes. Rapidly intensifying storms may develop an extremely small, clear, and circular eye, sometimes referred to as a pinhole eye.
  • Statement 03 is incorrect, The warmest temperatures are found in the eye itself, not in the eyewall clouds where the latent heat occurs. The air is saturated only where convective vertical motions pass through flight level. Inside the eye, the temperature is greater than 28°C and the dewpoint is less than 0°C. These warm and dry conditions are typical of the eyes of extremely intense tropical cyclones.

I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

  1. Regulations on crypto and other digital assets have become necessary to deal with the evils of cryptocurrency. Do you agree? Elaborate. (250 words; 15 marks) (GS-2;Governance)
  2. Identify the evils associated with deforestation. (250 words; 15 marks)(GS-3; Environment)

Read the previous CNA here.

CNA 12 March 2023:- Download PDF Here

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