Pfizer''s haemophilia B gene therapy succeeds in late-stage study

• Data from the study showed that a single dose of the therapy was superior to the current standard of care in helping reduce the bleeding rate in patients with moderately severe to severe forms of hemophilia B.

Haemophilia

• It is a medical condition, mostly inherited, in which the ability of blood to clot is severely reduced.
• This disease is caused by a mutation in one of the genes, that provides instructions for making the clotting factor proteins needed to form a blood clot.
• This change or mutation can prevent the clotting protein from working properly or to be missing altogether. These genes are located on the X chromosome.
• Men are more vulnerable to haemophilia than women. It is a rare disease where in about 1 in 10,000 people are born with it.

Indian Institute of Astrophysics team surprised by their discovery on hot stars and white dwarfs

• A team of Scientists at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics detected strange hot stars in the Globular clusters using the Ultra Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) images on AstroSat (India’s first dedicated space observatory, which has been operating since 2015).

Globular clusters

• Globular clusters are spherical aggregates of several thousand to millions of stars bound by gravity. These systems are thought to have formed early on in the Universe and can serve as perfect astrophysical laboratories for astronomers to understand how stars evolve through various phases.
• Omega Centauri is a globular cluster in the constellation of Centaurus that was first identified as a non-stellar object by Edmond Halley in 1677.
• Located at a distance of 17,090 light-years, it is the largest-known globular cluster in the Milky Way at a diameter of roughly 150 light-years.

Galaxy

• A galaxy is a huge collection of gas, dust, and billions of stars and their solar systems bound together by gravity.
• Milky Way, is stuffed with between 100 billion and 400 billion other stars, many of them with planets of their own. The Milky Way got its name from the way it looks from the ground: like a streak of spilt milk across the sky

On Congress Foundation Day, a brief history of the INC

• The English bureaucrat Allan Octavian Hume or AO Hume is credited as the founder of the organisation.
• On December 28, 1885, 72 social reformers, journalists and lawyers congregated for the first session of the INC at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College, Bombay.
• At that point, the aim of this group was not to demand independence from the ongoing colonial rule but to influence the policies of the British government in favour of Indians.

Transformation towards the demand for independence

• Over the next few years, the party’s work continued, to shift the colonial administrators’ attitudes and policies on the rights and powers allowed to Indians.
• The party largely consisted of educated, upper-class people who were likely to have studied abroad. But with time, this grouping became more diverse, as the organisation began setting up provincial organisations.
• At its Eleventh Session in 1895, there was an increase in the number of delegates from 1,163 the previous year to 1,584. President Surendranath Banerjea congratulated the Congress for bringing together “the scattered element of a vast and diversified population.”

Splits and reconvening

• In Surat in 1906, the divisions between the ‘moderates’ led by Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Surendranath Banerjea, and the ‘extremists’ led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak came to the fore and there was a split. While Tilak and Lala Lajpat Rai wanted the Congress to boycott the visit of the Prince of Wales in protest against the Bengal Partition a year prior, the moderates opposed any such move.
• But by 1915, the Bombay session saw these two groups coming together again as one.

Pralay — India’s first tactical quasi-ballistic missile, a step towards own rocket force

• Pralay is an indigenous short-range ballistic surface-to-surface missile. The missile will be India’s first tactical quasi-ballistic missile and will give the armed forces the capability to hit enemy positions and key installations in actual battlefield areas.
• Developed by: The solid-fuel, battlefield missile developed by the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) is based on Prithvi Defence Vehicle from the Indian ballistic missile programme.
• Features:
  • Pralay’ is powered with a solid propellant rocket motor and other new technologies. The missile guidance system includes state-of-the-art navigation and integrated avionics, according to the DRDO.
  • The advanced missile has been developed in a way to be able to defeat interceptor missiles. It has the ability to change its path after covering a certain range mid-air.
  • It is capable of carrying a conventional warhead of about 350 kg to 700 kg, which gives it a deadly punitive capability.
• Range: The canisterised Pralay missile, has a range of 150-500 kilometres.
• Ballistic missiles: They are initially powered by a rocket or series of rockets in stages, but then follow an unpowered trajectory that arches upwards before descending to reach its intended target at high speed. Unlike intercontinental ballistic missiles that exit the Earth’s atmosphere, short-range ballistic missiles stay within it.

Uzbekistan Says 18 Deaths Linked To India-Made Syrup, Centre Responds

• Ethylene glycol is a colourless and odourless alcoholic compound that can be fatal if consumed.
• The sweet-tasting ethylene glycol is a syrupy or viscous liquid at room temperature.
• It is mostly used as an automotive antifreeze and as a raw material for manufacturing polyester fibres.
• It is also found in several products such as hydraulic brake fluids, stamp pad inks, ballpoint pens, solvents, paints, cosmetics and plastics.
• Diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol are adulterants that are sometimes illegally used as solvents in liquid drugs.
  • Diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol may be used by pharma companies as an alternative to non-toxic solvents such as glycerine or propylene glycol to cut costs.
• The ingestion of ethylene glycol can cause severe health effects. Central nervous system depression, nausea, vomiting, intoxication, euphoria, stupor, respiratory depression, and reduced excretion of urine can occur due to ethylene glycol intoxication.

Fishermen raise concern over invasive species of mussel in Ennore and Pulicat

• The marine biologists identified these species as Mytella strigata or Charru mussels which are Native to South America.
• These mussels have invaded tidal wetlands in several parts of the world, including Vembanad in Kerala. This is spreading due to the discharge of ballast waters from ships visiting the ports of Kattupalli.
• After Cyclone Vardah in December 2016, the mussels began to intensify and spread far north towards the Pulicat waters.
• Human interference in the wetlands, pollution and nature’s actions have triggered the rapid spread of the species.
• Threats: These mussels spread like a carpet over the river bottoms and thus preventing prawns from grazing or burying themselves in the sediment.
• Its spread is wiping out the locally prevalent yellow clams and green mussels.

IAF successfully test fires extended range version of Brahmos missile from SU-30MKI fighter

• The missile achieved the desired mission objectives in the Bay of Bengal region. With this, IAF has achieved a significant capability boost to carry out precision strikes from SU-30MKI aircraft against land or sea targets over very long ranges.
• The capability of striking the targets located at around 350 kilometres compared to around 290 kilometres for the initial version.
• The first test of the initial version of the Brahmos Air Launched Cruise Missile was conducted in 2017.

Brahmos missiles

• Brahmos is a joint venture between the Defence Research and Development Organisation of India and NPOM of Russia. It is named after the rivers Brahmaputra and Moskva.
• It is a two-stage, solid propellant engine in the first stage and a liquid ramjet in the second.
• It can be launched from land, air, and sea and multi a capability missile with pinpoint accuracy that works both day and night irrespective of the weather conditions.
• It operates on the "Fire and Forgets" principlee it does not require further guidance after launch.
• These are called **“standoff range weapons”,**e fired from a range far enough to allow the attacker to evade defensive counter-fire.
• Brahmos is one of the fastest cruise missiles currently operationally deployed with the speed of Mach 2.8, which is nearly 3 times more than the speed of sound.

Maharashtra: Rename Ahmednagar for Ahilyadevi Holkar, demands BJP legislator

• Ahilyabai (1725 -1795) was one of the women rulers of Medieval India who belongs to the Holkar dynasty of the Maratha Empire.
• She was married Khanderao Holkar in 1733 at the tender age of 8. Her husband was killed in the battle of Kumbher in 1754.
• Ahilyabai is famous for having built numerous forts and roads in the Malwa region, sponsoring festivals and offering donations to many Hindu temples. Her philanthropy was reflected in the construction of several temples, ghats, wells, tanks and rest houses stretching across the length of the country.
• She welcomed stalwarts such as Marathi poet Moropant, Shahir Ananta Gandhi, and Sanskrit scholar Khushali Ram into her capital.
• John Keay, the British historian, gave the queen the title of ‘The Philosopher Queen’. She had been an acute observer of the wider political scene.

What is triple test survey, which UP is to carry out for OBC quota in urban local bodies

• The five-member commission will conduct a survey to ensure that the OBCs are provided reservation on the basis of the triple test, as mandated by the Supreme Court. This is the first time that the triple test exercise will be carried out in Uttar Pradesh.
• Rapid survey:
  • The Urban Development Department of the UP government had on April 7, 2017 issued orders to conduct a rapid survey for determining the population of OBCs.
  • Based on such a rapid survey in each constituency of a municipality, seats were reserved in proportion to the population of the backward class of citizens in the constituency/ward concerned.

Triple test

• The triple test requires the government to complete three tasks for finalisation of reservation to OBCs in the local bodies. These include:
• To set up a dedicated commission to conduct a rigorous empirical inquiry into the nature and implications of the backwardness in local bodies;
• To specify the proportion of reservation required in local bodies in light of recommendations of the commission, so as not to fall foul of overbreadth;
• To ensure reservation for SCs/STs/OBCs taken together does not exceed an aggregate of 50 per cent of the total seats.
• These triple test/conditions were outlined by the Supreme Court in the case of Vikas Kishanrao Gawali vs. State of Maharashtra and others, decided on March 4, 2021.

Triple test instead of rapid survey

• The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court said that any inquiry or study into the nature and implications of the backwardness with respect to local bodies involves ascertainment of representation in such bodies.
• The court said such an exercise cannot be confined to counting of heads alone, as is being done through the rapid survey.
• The court said simply granting reservation on the basis of population misses a very crucial factor for determination of backwardness, and that factor is political representation of the class or group concerned.
• The High Court quoted the Supreme Court’s observation in the K Krishna Murthy case, which pointed out that the nature of disadvantages which restrict access to education and employment cannot be readily equated with disadvantages in the realm of political representation.

Amit Shah launches the “Prahari app” of the BSF

• BSF ‘Prahari’ app is a great example of Proactive Governance, now Jawans can get personal and service related information, housing, Ayushman-CAPF and leave related information on their mobile.
• Other features of the app include:
  • Availability of Bio Data
  • Grievance redressal on “Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System” (CP-GRAMS)
  • information on various welfare schemes.
• The app will also connect the Jawans with the portal of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The Border Security Force (BSF)

• It is India''s border guarding organisation on its border with Pakistan and Bangladesh.
• It is one of the seven Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) of India, and was raised in the wake of the 1965 war on 1 December 1965.
• It comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
• BSF contributes its personnel every year for UN Missions.