Goaltide Daily Current Affairs 2021

Jul 13, 2021

Current Affair 1:
Liquid Oxygen

 

We know 65% of human body is oxygen. Yes, oxygen is vital for respiration, the process that transfers energy from glucose to cells. In fact, every cell in our body requires oxygen. When we breathe air in, oxygen molecules enter the lungs and pass through lung walls into our blood.

Oxygen is crucial for the treatment of patients with severe COVID-19, since the disease affects lung functioning. Shortness of breath or difficulty of breathing is one of the most common symptoms in patients with severe COVID-19. It also hampers the supply of oxygen to various parts of the body. They hence need oxygen therapy, to be supplied through medical oxygen.

One of the ways in which this oxygen can be supplied is through Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO). LMO is nothing but high purity oxygen used for medical treatment, and is developed for use in the human body.

Why in liquid state?

Due to its low melting and boiling points, oxygen is in a gaseous state at room temperature. Liquification enables storage in larger volume and easier transportation.

How Liquid Medical Oxygen is produced?

There are several methods. The most common production method is separation of oxygen in what are known as Air Separation Units or ASUs. ASUs are basically plants that separate large volumes of gases. They use a method called Fractional Distillation Method to produce pure oxygen from atmospheric air, which consists mostly of nitrogen and oxygen - 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and remaining 1% other gases including argon, carbon dioxide, neon, helium, and hydrogen.

  • In this method, gases from the air are separated into various components after cooling them into a liquid state and then liquid oxygen is extracted from it.
  • Atmospheric air is first cooled to -181°C. Oxygen liquifies at this point. Since, the boiling point of Nitrogen is -196°C, it remains in a gaseous state. But Argon has a boiling point similar to that of oxygen (–186°C) and hence a significant amount of Argon liquifies along with Oxygen.
  • The resultant mixture of Oxygen and Argon is drained, decompressed and passed through a second low-pressure distillation vessel for further purification.
  • We then get the output as final purified liquid oxygen, which is then transported using cryogenic containers.

What are cryogenic containers?

Cryogenics is the production and behaviour of materials at very low temperatures. A cryogenic liquid is defined as a liquid with a normal boiling point below –90°C.

 

Cryogenic liquid containers are specially designed for safe and economic transportation and storage of liquefied gases at cryogenic temperatures, lower than –90°C.   These containers are highly insulated, in which liquid gases are stored at very low temperatures.

What is Pressure Swing Adsorption Technique?

Oxygen can also be produced non-cryogenically, in gaseous form, using selective adsorption. This method leverages the property that under high pressure, gases tend to be attracted to solid surfaces. The higher the pressure, the more the adsorption of gas.

If a gas mixture such as air is passed under pressure through a vessel containing an adsorbent bed of ‘zeolite’ that attracts nitrogen more strongly than oxygen, a part or all of the nitrogen will stay in the bed, and the gas exiting the vessel will be richer in oxygen, relative to the mixture entering the vessel.

Also watch this video: https://youtu.be/12cILMxLngI

Current Affair 2:
Report finds positive associations between antimicrobial use in animals and AMR in humans

Source Link

A new joint inter-agency report has found positive associations between antimicrobial use (AMU) in animals and antimicrobial resistance in animals as well as in humans.

The report, titled antimicrobial consumption and resistance in bacteria from humans and animals, analyzed possible relationships between antimicrobial consumption (AMC) in humans and food-producing animals, and the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacteria from humans and food-producing animals in the European Union (EU) / European Economic Area (EEA).

The report analyzed data for six classes of antibiotics: Third and fourth generation cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones, polymyxins, aminopenicillins, macrolides and tetracyclines.

The report analyzed data from three years — 2016, 2017 and 2018 — for a comparison between antimicrobial consumption in food-producing animals and humans.

The report also established significant correlations between AMU in humans and animals with AMR in humans, animals respectively and also across sectors. Antimicrobial use in food-animals is linked to AMR, not only in animals, but also in humans, according to the report.

For example, there was a significant positive association between consumption of fluoroquinolones and other quinolones in animals and resistance in E. coli from food-producing animals as well as humans. The consumption of third- and fourth-generation cephalosporins in food-producing animals was seen to be associated with resistance to third-generation cephalosporins in humans.

Current Affair 3:
Atmospheric carbon dioxide and warming shaped past Indian monsoons

Source Link

Scientists reconstructed the South Asian summer monsoon rainfall going back to 0.9 million years, using sediment cores extracted from the Bay of Bengal.

Recently a study was conducted.

The reconstruction of the monsoons in the Pleistocene showed that monsoon intensity was shaped by atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, continental ice volume and moisture import from the southern hemisphere of the Indian Ocean.

This validates numerical models that predict stronger monsoons with increasing carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere in the future.

Along with fluctuations in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), the monsoons in the Pleistocene were also sensitive to continental ice volume and moisture import from the southern hemisphere of the Indian Ocean, according to the research.

Don’t need to go on minute details in research. This is enough.

Current Affair 4:
Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956

 

What does Water dispute include?

Water dispute means any dispute or difference between two or more State Governments with respect to:

  • Use, distribution or control of the waters of, or in, any inter-State River or river valley
  • The interpretation of the terms of any agreement relating to the use, distribution or control of such waters or implementation of such agreement.
  • Levy of any additional fee with respect to use of water by other State or their inhabitants.

Complaints by a State about water dispute

If it appears to the government of any state that a water dispute with the Government of another State has arisen or is likely to arise, then the State Government may request the Central Government to refer the water dispute to a Tribunal for adjudication.

When a request with respect to water dispute is made by any State government, then the Central Government (if it is of the opinion that water dispute cannot be settled by negotiations) shall within one year from the date of receipt of such request by notification in the Official Gazette, constitute a Water Disputes Tribunal for the adjudication of the water dispute.

So, centre under this Act has the discretion to constitute water tribunal and this at times is based on political considerations of parties enjoying power at the centre and state. This also results in delay to solve the dispute.

Composition of Water Disputes Tribunal

The Water Disputes Tribunal shall consist of a Chairman and two other members nominated in this behalf by the Chief Justice of India from among persons who at the time of such nomination are Judges of the Supreme Court or of a High Court.

Bar of jurisdiction for Supreme Court

Neither the Supreme Court nor any other Court shall have or exercise jurisdiction in respect of any water dispute which may be referred to a Tribunal under The Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956.

It means that once a matter is referred to the Tribunal, no state can proceed to either the Supreme Court or any other Court during the course of proceeding at the Tribunal.

A new Bill on Inter-State River water dispute

With an aim to settle inter-state river disputes in a speedy manner, the government had earlier introduced The Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill 2017.

The Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill 2017 aims to replace the existing the Inter- State River Water Disputes Act, 1956.

The 2017 Bill has proposed to constitute Disputes Resolution Committee (DRC) and a permanent tribunal having multiple benches for settlement of river water disputes among states.

How is the New Bill different from the Inter-State River Water Dispute Act, 1956?

  • The Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2017 seeks to streamline the adjudication of inter-State River water disputes and make the present legal and institutional architecture robust.
  • The Bill proposes to introduce a mechanism to resolve the water dispute amicably by negotiations through a Disputes Resolution Committee, to be established by the Central Government consisting of experts from relevant fields, before such dispute is referred to the Tribunal. This was not provided in the previous Act.
  • The proposed Bill further seeks to provide for a single standing tribunal which will be permanent in nature (with multiple Benches) instead of multiple tribunals as per the Dispute Act of 1956.
  • The proposed Bill also provides for experts known as Assessors as they will provide technical support by furnishing relevant data and information which shall be helpful in the adjudication of water disputes.
  • The total time period for adjudication of a water dispute has been fixed at a maximum of four and half years. This will help in coming to a solution in a strict and scheduled time frame.

Current Affair 5:
Point of Order

 

In parliamentary procedure, a point of order occurs when someone draws attention to a rules violation in a meeting of a deliberative assembly.

What is a Point of Order?

  1. Any member can and should bring to the Chair’s immediate notice any instance of what he considers a breach of order or a transgression of any written or unwritten law of the House which the Chair has not perceived, and he may also ask for the guidance and assistance of the Chair regarding any obscurities in procedure.
  2. A member is entitled, in such cases only, to interrupt proceedings of the House by rising and saying, ‘On a point of order, Mr. Chairman’ and then to state the point in question concisely before him.
  3. However, there is often some doubt amongst members as to what exactly constitutes a point of order, and the Presiding Officer often replies that the point in question is not a point of order.

 

Rule 258 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Rajya Sabha makes a provision to enable a member to raise a point of order.  It provides as follows:

  1. Any member may at any time submit a point of order for the decision of the Chairman, but in doing so, shall confine himself to stating the point.
  2. The Chairman shall decide all points of order which may arise, and his decision shall be final.

Point of Order is also raised on similar line in Lok Sabha.

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