TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Performance Grading Index
2. CRISPR Cas9
3. Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA)
4. Vigilance Awareness Week, 2022

1. Performance Grading Index

Syllabus – GS 2, Government Policies and Interventions (Education)

Prelims – Performance Grading Index (PGI).

Context – The Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSE&L), Ministry of Education released the PGI for States/UTs for 2020-21.

About PGI – 

• Performance Grading Index (PGI) is a relatively new index that measures the performance of States/UTs on a uniform scale to catalyse transformational change in the field of school education. One of the objectives of the PGI is to provide insight into the status of school education in States/UTs, including key levels that drive their performance and critical areas of performance. It pinpoints the gaps and helps States/UTs in prioritising the areas for intervention to ensure that school education is robust at every level.
• PGI evaluation classifies States/UTs into grades/levels, as opposed to rankings.
• The PGI structure comprises 1000 points across 70 indicators grouped into 2 categories viz., Outcomes, Governance Management (GM). 
  • These categories are further divided into 5 domains, viz., Learning Outcomes (LO), Access (A), Infrastructure & Facilities (IF), Equity (E) & Governance Process (GP).
• PGI classifies States/UTs into ten grades, the highest achievable grade is level 1 when the State/UT scores more than 950 points out of total 1000 points. The lowest grade is level 10 when the score is less than 551. 
• The indicator-wise PGI score shows the areas where a State needs to improve. The PGI will reflect the relative performance of all the States/UTs on a uniform scale which encourages them to perform better and to adopt best practices followed by performers.

Details –

• Seven states viz, Punjab, Chandigarh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala have attained level II (score 901-950) in 2020-21. In 2019-20 only 4 states achieved level  II and in 2017-18 none of the states/UTs reached level II. 
• Ladakh, the newly formed UT has shown significant improvement in moving from level 8 in 2019-20 to level 4 in 2020 – 21.

Read more about PGI in the linked article –Performance Grading Index. 

2. CRISPR Cas9

Syllabus – GS 3, Biotechnology.

Prelims – CRISPR Cas9.

Context – CRISPR gene editing is possible in temperature sensitive organisms, plants and crop varieties.

About  CRISPR –

• CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) are short DNA sequences found in the genome of prokaryotic organisms like bacteria which are reminders of previous bacteriophage (virus) attacks that the bacteria had successfully defended against. Cas9 enzyme (a relatively large protein), part of the bacteria’s defence system, uses these flags to precisely target and cut any foreign DNA, thus protecting the bacteria from future attacks by similar bacteriophages. The precision of targeting the DNA sequences and then cutting them forms the basis of CRISPR Cas9 gene editing technology.
• This CRISPR Cas9 technology is being explored for a wide range of applications from agriculture for designing better quality grains and fruits to human health by developing new treatment technology and gene therapy.
• The binding trials were typically performed at 37 °C.

Details –

• The CRISPR gene editing technology received the Nobel Prize in 2020.
• Scientists at the Raman Research Institute, an autonomous institute of DST, have explored temperature-dependent binding and release of cleaved products by the Cas9 enzyme. The scientists demonstrated that Cas9 enzymes strongly bind to the target at low temperatures and remain attached to the cleaved DNA products even when the enzyme has done its work. Subsequently, the bound products were released in a controlled fashion using high temperature or chemical denaturants. 
• This high efficiency of Cas9 enzymes to bind to targets even at low temperatures provides an opportunity to edit genomes of the less explored organisms called cryophiles having an optimal growth temperature of 15°C.

3. Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA)

Syllabus – GS 2, Regional Groupings.

Prelims – IORA, IUU (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated) fishing.

Context – Seminar on IUU fishing under the aegis of IORA.

About IORA –

• The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) is an intergovernmental organisation established in 1997. It aims at strengthening regional cooperation and sustainable development within the Indian Ocean region through its 23 Member States and 10 Dialogue Partners.

Details –

• A Seminar on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing, under the aegis of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), was conducted by the Indian Navy at Goa.
• Representatives from 14 out of 23 IORA Member States (Bangladesh, Comoros, France, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Seychelles, Tanzania and Thailand) attended the Seminar. 
• The scale of IUU fishing activities and their adverse effects on the marine ecosystem were discussed in the seminar. The collaborative strategies and capacity-building measures to tackle the issue of IUU fishing in the IOR were deliberated upon. 

4. Vigilance Awareness Week, 2022

Syllabus –  GS 2, Government policies and interventions.

Prelims – Vigilance Awareness week, launch of new Complaint Management System Portal of CVC (Central Vigilance Commission).

Context – Shri Narendra Modi addressed the programme marking Vigilance Awareness Week of CVC (Central Vigilance Commission) in New Delhi and launched the new Complaint Management System Portal of CVC.

Details –

• The campaign of Vigilance Awareness Week is taking place to realise the dreams and aspirations of a corruption-free India. The Vigilance Awareness Week began with the birth anniversary of Sardar Patel who relentlessly worked to build a public service system based on honesty and transparency. 
• The ultimate aim for any civilised nation is to usher in a corruption-free society. 
• The roadmap to a developed country lies in striving for a corruption-free nation and a multipronged strategy of preventive, punitive and participative vigilance coupled with high integrity and moral values constitute the holistic approach for the way forward.
• Vigilance Awareness Week is one of the tools of CVC in increasing public awareness about the perils of corruption. It is observed every year during the week in which the birthday of Sardar Vallabhai Patel falls (31st October). 

Read more about CVC in the linked article – Central Vigilance Commission (CVC)

November 3rd, 2022, PIB:- Download PDF Here

Read the previous PIB articles here.