DNA Profiles Would Not Be Kept Permanently

The DNA profile of a person in a criminal case will remain in the DNA databank till the case is solved. It will be removed after a judicial order. This will be specified in the rules which will come after Parliament’s approval of the DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2018.

• The Bill is the latest version of the DNA ‘Profiling’ Bill framed by the Department of Biotechnology in 2015.
• The aim of that draft legislation was to establish an institutional mechanism to collect and deploy DNA technologies to identify persons based on samples collected from crime scenes or to identify missing persons.
• In its report no. 271, Law Commission had raised the concern over whether the databanks were secure enough to protect the privacy of those from whom DNA details were collected. It also deliberated on how, and who were authorized, to collect such information.

DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill 2018 envisages

• DNA Profiling Board- The 11-member Board is supposed to be the regulatory authority that will grant accreditation to DNA laboratories. It will be a full-time Board and chaired by the Secretary, Department of Biotechnology. This will ensure that private laboratories don’t proliferate and work without scientific validation.
• DNA Data Bank- To help in investigations, central and regional databanks would store DNA profiles under various heads, such as a ‘crime scene index’ or ‘suspects index’ or ‘offenders index.’
• The Board, in consultation with members of the judiciary, will frame rules on how long the DNA details of an entrant on a crime index would be maintained.

Benefits

• Forensic DNA profiling helps in solving cases involving offenses that are categorized as affecting the human body (such as murder, rape, human trafficking, or grievous hurt), and those against property (including theft, burglary, and dacoity).
• As per the statistics of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) for 2016, the aggregate incidence of such crimes in the country is in excess of 3 lakhs per year. Of these, only a small proportion is being subjected to DNA testing at present. The Bill will ensure speedier justice delivery and increased conviction rate.
• The Bill will enable the cross-matching between persons.
• The technology is also useful during natural disasters to identify dead bodies. Establishing the identity of missing persons with certainty becomes easier with the use of DNA technology.

India Is Not A Surveillance State: SC

The Supreme Court has stated that government monitoring of every social media message can make the country a surveillance state. The statement was made with reference to the Central government’s proposal to create a hub- Social Media Communication Hub (SMCH), under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to track social media trends.

• The government had claimed that the hub was to track views on various programmes and understand popular perception on schemes.
• Concerns were raised that the proposed SMCH would become a tool in the hands of a private agency to help the government launch surveillance on citizens’ activities on social media platforms in violation of the right to privacy which is part of right to life, guaranteed under Article 21 of the constitution.
• The project envisages employment of media persons on contractual basis in each district to be the “eyes and ears” of the government and provide real-time updates from the ground which in turn can be misused by the government. This will be in contravention of Article 19 (1)(a) which guarantees freedom of speech and expression.

India-China Maritime Affairs Dialogue

The second India-China Maritime affairs dialogue was held in Beijing, wherein both sides exchanged views on mutual interest, including perspectives on maritime security, blue economy and on ways to further boost practical cooperation.

• India-China Maritime Affairs Dialogue is an annual mechanism held between the countries for consultations on maritime issues.

Key Highlights

• Both the sides emphasized the need to further strengthen maritime cooperation as an important area of India-China bilateral relations.
• Strengthen political and strategic mutual trust between the two countries.
• India also elaborated on her vision for the Indo-pacific region as articulated by the Indian PM at the Shangri-La Dialogue at Singapore,  this may raise the question on the future of the “quad” group.
• The “quad” or the “quadrilateral security dialogue” is an informal mechanism between India, the US, Australia and Japan, almost always interpreted as a joint effort to counter China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

Highlights of PM Modi's address at Shangri-La

• By projecting an equivalence in ties with the US, Russia, and China – India reaffirmed its principle of strategic autonomy and cautioned against the return of the ‘great power rivalries’.
• India’s Indo-Pacific strategy is not aimed at China’s containment.
• India sees the Indo-Pacific as primarily a geographic domain — a “natural region”.
• The Indo-pacific region is ultimately multi-polar, hence rejecting or contesting the idea that either China or the United States could be the one regional hegemonic power.
• India is indispensable to the security of the Indian Ocean.
• Signified the interconnectedness of the Indian and Pacific Oceans and the importance of the oceans to security and commerce.

What is the Shangri-La Dialogue?

• The Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD) is an intergovernmental security forum held annually by an independent think tank, the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore.
• The Shangri-La Dialogue has evolved into a key strategic gathering of the Asia-Pacific region.
• It is attended by defense ministers, permanent heads of ministries and military chiefs of Asia-Pacific states.

Government Gives Nod to Iran bank

The Government of India has approved a proposal from Iranian private lender Bank Pasargad to open a branch in India.

Key Highlights

• The clearance to the Iranian bank comes amidst the US announcing sanctions and asking other countries to minimize oil purchases from Iran.
• Apart from the Iranian Bank, branch license proposals of two South Korean banks, KEB Hana Bank and Kookmin Bank, have also been approved by the Indian government.

Why the Need for an Iranian Bank?

• India imports a large quantity of oil from Iran and has committed an investment of $500 million for the development of the crucial Chabahar port.
• The rupee-rial arrangement was used to buy oil from Iran before US sanctions were lifted against it three years ago.
• In the wake of US sanctions, India is exploring the possibility of reviving the rupee-rial arrangement to import oil from Iran that it has used in the past.
• The presence of an Iranian bank in India will open up a significant financial channel that will ensure the smooth flow of funds between the two countries.

NOTE: After the RBI gives its first internal clearance to a foreign bank branch proposal, it is vetted by a committee comprising senior officials of the ministries of Finance, Commerce, External Affairs and Home Affairs. Clearance from each ministry is required before the RBI issues a license to a foreign bank.

Ministry of Mines Organizes 4th National Conclave on Mines & Minerals

The Ministry of Mines organized the 4th National Conclave on Mines & Minerals –attended by state Mining ministers, officials of central ministries as well as industry and academic experts.  

• The conclave, first of its kind, will go a long way in strengthening the efforts of the Ministry in enabling the mining sector to contribute its fullest to foster the rapid growth of national economy and employment generation.

Mining Sector in India

• Mining sector is one of the core sectors of economy - providing basic raw materials to many important industries.
• Mining sector (including fuel, atomic, major and minor minerals) contributed about 2.4% of GDP in 2014-15 as per the data released by Central Statistical Organization.
• Exploration activities in India are mostly carried out by Geological Survey of India (GSI), Mining Exploration Corporation Limited (MECL), various State Directorates of Geological Mining (DGMs), public sector undertakings (PSU) and private sector entities both domestic and subsidiaries of many global companies.
• The Mines & Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act, which governs the mineral sector, has been amended recently for bringing in greater transparency.
• Further, India has a liberalized FDI up to 100% in mining under automatic route.

Recent Amendments to Mines & Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act

• Mineral Concessions Grant Through Auctions to bring transparency and remove discretion.
• DMF: District Mineral Foundation (DMF) to address the long time grievance of the people affected by mining and in turn improve the image of the mining sector.
• NMET: National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET) for incentivizing regional and detailed exploration to fill the gaps in exploration in the country.
• Mining Leases for 50 years and even the existing leases deemed extended eliminating any renewals for security of tenure.
• To promote conducive environment for trade, stronger penal provisions for checking illegal mining with higher penalties up to USD 7692.30 per hectare of the area and jail term up to 5 years.

National Mineral Exploration Policy, 2016

• About 100 blocks have been identified by GSI for auctioning on revenue sharing mechanism for regional exploration to encourage private participation in exploration.
• If the explorer agencies do not discover any auctionable resources, their exploration expenditure will be reimbursed on normative cost basis.
• The mechanism is being formulated in consultation with the stakeholders.
• Creation of baseline geoscientific data as a public good for open dissemination free of charge.
• A National Geoscientific Data Repository is proposed to be set up to collate all baseline and mineral exploration information generated by various central & state government agencies and also mineral concession holders and to maintain these on geospatial database.
• Provisions for inviting private investment in exploration through attractive revenue sharing models.

Challenges Affecting Growth of Indian Mining Sector  

• India’s mining sector contribution to GDP is low compared to major mining countries such as China, the United States, Australia, Brazil and Chile.
• Further, in recent years India’s mining sector has grown at a much slower rate as compared to other mining economies.
• Some of the Reasons for this are:
  • India lags in baseline geophysical and geochemical data generation.
  • Public and private mining companies face delays to the tune of several years to start mining on the identified land due to challenges in land acquisition and executing resettlement and rehabilitation.  
  • Long clearance time for different licenses and limitations like captive use also hamper mining output.
  • Deep seated resources (e.g., coal) or minerals located in eco-sensitive areas have not been considered for mining due to lack advanced and eco-sensitive technology.
  • Often different interpretation of laws by states and central government, and inadequate communication results in confusion.

India Going Ahead With Purchase of S-400 Air Defense Systems

India has now reached the ‘conclusive stage’ in the procurement of the S-400 Air Defence Missile Systems.

Key Highlights

• India will go ahead with the Rs 39,000 crore acquisitions of five advanced S-400 Triumf air defense missile systems from Russia.
• Recent US law called CAATSA deters countries from buying Russian weapon systems.
• CAATSA will also be discussed in the inaugural ‘two-plus-two’ dialogue mechanism between India and US. The dialogue will be held between the external and defense ministers and their American counterparts.

Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act

• The Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) is a United States federal law that imposed sanctions on Iran, North Korea, and Russia.
• It includes sanctions against countries that engage in significant transactions with Russia's defense and intelligence sectors.
• India could face US sanctions for purchasing high-value military defense items, in particular, state-of-the-art S-400 Triumf missile defense system, from Russia under the act.

Scientists Perform First Color X-ray on a Human

Scientists from New Zealand performed the first ever 3D color X-Ray on a human being using a technique that could improve the field of medical diagnostics.      

• The new device, named Medipix, is based on the traditional black-and-white X-Ray but has incorporated a particle-tracking technology developed by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) for its Large Hadron Collider.

Comparison with Other Techniques

• X-rays suffer from the deficit that they can sharply visualise only hard tissues. The shadows of soft tissues are less precise. Blood vessels and other conduits are imaged with invasive dyes.
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides a slightly different picture, based on the difference in water and fat content in tissues.
• All but MRIs use radiation and dyes and chemical markers.
• The Medipix is superior to its predecessors - it uses algorithms to model very accurate spectroscopic data in three dimensions and shows all tissues with equal clarity, in color.

Significance

• The color X-ray imaging technique could by providing clearer and more accurate pictures can help doctors give their patients more accurate diagnoses.
• In the case of a fracture, for instance, not only would it show physical damage to a bone — which is what an X-ray depicts — but it would also reveal trauma to surrounding tissue and reveal if blood and nerve supply is compromised.
• According to the CERN, it will not only clearly show the difference between bone, muscle and cartilage, but also the position and size of cancerous tumours.
• Also, it would depict structures exactly as they are since not all humans are built exactly the same.
• In the near future, when medical care will be customised to the individual, this would make a difference to the efficacy of care.

High-Energy Neutrinos Detected

Recently, researchers have located a deep-space source for omnipresent subatomic particles called high-energy neutrinos. These observations have made at the Ice Cube Neutrino Observatory at a U.S. scientific research station at the South Pole in Antarctica.

• Detection of neutrinos will provide the scientists a new way to expand the understanding of the Universe.

Key Points

• High-energy neutrinos are produced by the same sources as cosmic rays, the highest-energy particles.
• Cosmic rays cannot be traced straight back to their source because strong magnetic fields in space alter their trajectory.
• Neutrinos are electrically neutral, undisturbed by even the strongest magnetic field, and rarely interact with matter. The direction from which they arrive points directly back to their original source.
• Neutrinos are produced during natural radioactive decays and all sorts of nuclear reactions in nuclear power reactors, particle accelerators or nuclear bombs.
• However, the most common sources of neutrinos are celestial phenomena i.e. the birth and death of stars, collisions, and explosions happening in space.

Application of High Energy Neutrinos

• The high-energy neutrinos in astronomy enable a more robust examination because astronomers have relied upon electromagnetic observations (studying light) but this approach has limitations because too many aspects of the universe are indecipherable using light alone.
• Neutrinos are nature’s ideal astronomical messenger because it can essentially escape their site of production and bring that information directly across the cosmos to their point of detection.

Note: The India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) is located at the Bodi West Hills region in Theni District of Tamil Nadu.