May 22nd Current Affairs

1. NMMS app and Area officer monitoring App

IN NEWS:

Union Minister of Rural Development, Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Panchayati Raj and Food Processing Industries, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar   launched National Mobile Monitoring Software (NMMS) app and Area officer monitoring App.

KEY POINTS:

• The NMMS App permits taking real time attendance of workers at Mahatma Gandhi NREGS worksites along with geotagged photograph.
• It will increase citizen oversight of the programme besides potentially enabling processing payments faster.
• Area Officer Monitoring App facilitates them to record their findings online along with time stamped and go-coordinate tagged photograph for all the schemes of Deptt of Rural Development- Mahatma Gandhi NREGS, PMAYG, PMGSY.
• This would also enable not only better record keeping of inspections by field and supervisory officials but also facilitate analysis of the findings for better programme implementation.
• Mahatma Gandhi NREGA is providing alternative employment to the rural people, esp. during COVID-19 pandemic.
• Government enhanced the outlay of MahatmaGandhi NREGS for the year 2020-21 from Rs. 61,500 crore to 1.11 lakh crore for ensuring all needy households get work under the Scheme as per their need.

SOURCE:PIB

2. DIPCOVAN

IN NEWS:

Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS), a laboratory of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), has developed an antibody detection-based kit ‘DIPCOVAN’, the DIPAS-VDx COVID-19 IgG Antibody Microwell ELISA for sero-surveillance.

KEY POINTS:

• The DIPCOVAN kit can detect both spike as well as nucleocapsid (S&N) proteins of SARS-CoV-2 virus with a high sensitivity of 97 per cent and specificity of 99 per cent.
• The kit has been developed in association with Vanguard Diagnostics Pvt Ltd, a development and manufacturing diagnostics company based at New Delhi.
• The DIPCOVAN kit was developed indigenously by the scientists, followed by extensive validation on more than 1,000 patient samples at various COVID designated hospitals in Delhi. Three batches of the product were validated during last one year.
• The antibody detection kit is approved by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in April 2021.
• In May 2021, the product received the regulatory approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, to manufacture for sale and distribution.
• DIPCOVAN is intended for the qualitative detection of IgG antibodies in human serum or plasma, targeting SARS-CoV-2 related antigens.
• It offers a significantly faster turn-around-time as it requires just 75 minutes to conduct the test without any cross reactivity with other diseases.
• The kit has a shelf life of 18 months. It is expected to be available at about Rs 75 per test.
• The kit will be very useful for understanding COVID‐19 epidemiology and assessing an individual’s previous SARS‐CoV‐2 exposure.

SOURCE:PIB

3. Jackfruits from Tripura exported to London

IN NEWS:

In a major step towards harnessing exports potential of agricultural and processed food products from north-eastern region, a shipment of 1.2 metric tonne (MT) of fresh jackfruit was today exported from Tripura to London.

KEY POINTS:

• Jackfruits were sourced from the Tripura based Krishi Sanyoga Agro Producer Company Ltd.
• The consignment was packed at APEDA assisted pack-house facility of Salt Range Supply Chain Solution Ltd and exported by Kiega EXIM Pvt Ltd.
• This was the first APEDA assisted pack house for exports to European Union, which was approved in May 2021.
• APEDA regularly carries out promotional activities to bring the North- Eastern states on the export map of India.

RED RICE

• Recently, the first consignment of ‘red rice’ was sent to the USA from Assam.
• Iron rich ‘red rice’ is grown in Brahmaputra valley of Assam, without the use of any chemical fertilizer.
• The rice variety is referred as ‘Bao-dhaan’, which is an integral part of the Assamese food.

• APEDA undertakes market promotion activities for evolving structured marketing strategies for export of food products, market intelligence for taking informed decisions, international exposure, skill development, capacity building and high-quality packaging.

SOURCE:PIB

4.WHITE FUNGUS.

IN News

• As the central government asks states to notify black fungus or mucormycosis an epidemic, an infection called white fungus or Candidiasis has also been found to affect some people.
• Covid-19 patients are more prone to white fungus as it affects the lungs and similar symptoms are created like that of coronavirus.
• Black fungus is a serious but rare fungal infection caused by a group of molds called mucormycetes, which is abundant in the environment.

KEY POINTS:

• White Fungus or Candidiasis is a fungal infection caused by a yeast (a type of fungus) called Candida.
• Candida normally lives on the skin and inside the body, in places such as the mouth, throat, gut, and vagina, without causing any problems.
• Candida can cause infections if it grows out of control or if it enters deep into the body (for example, the bloodstream or internal organs like the kidney, heart, or brain).
• The most common species that causes infection is Candida albicans.

Cause:

• This infection can be caused due to low immunity, or if people come in contact with things that contain these moulds like water, etc.
• Children and women are more at risk of contracting the fungal infection.
• Like the black fungus, white fungus is also more likely to afflict people with compromised immune systems, pre-existing medical conditions, AIDS, a recent kidney transplant or diabetes.

Symptoms:

• People experience symptoms similar to Covid if it reaches the lungs such as chest infection, despite testing negative for the virus.
• White fungus affects the lungs as well as other parts of the body including the nails, skin, stomach, kidney, brain, private parts and mouth.

Diagnosis and Treatment:

• CT scans or X-Rays can reveal the condition.
• Patients with the white fungus are currently being treated with known anti-fungal medication.

Prevention:

• Special caution is required of moulds in water that can lead to infection.
• Proper sanitation is very important.

SOURCE:IE

5. Personal Guarantors Liable for Corporate Debt : SC

In news

• The Supreme Court upheld a government move to allow lenders to initiate insolvency proceedings against personal guarantors, along with the stressed corporate entities for whom they gave guarantee.
• These personal guarantors are usually the promoters of big business houses.

Key takeaways

• It held that the November 15, 2019, government notification which allowed creditors (usually financial institutions and banks), to move against personal guarantors under the Indian Bankruptcy and Insolvency Code (IBC) was “legal and valid”.
• The government had also decided that corporate debtors and their personal guarantors should be dealt with by a common forum — National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) — through the same adjudicatory process.
• Besides, Section 60(2) of the IBC had required the bankruptcy proceedings of corporate debtors and their personal guarantors to be held before the NCLT.

SOURCE:TH

6. GST on Imported Oxygen Concentrator unconstitutional: Delhi HC

In news:

• The Delhi High Court held the government’s imposition of GST on oxygen concentrators imported for personal use as “unconstitutional”.

Key takeaways

• It said that oxygen concentrators constitute a life-saving device during the COVID-19 pandemic and during a pandemic a different approach needs to be adopted.
• Government’s May 1 notification levied 12% GST on such imports from 28% earlier.
• The court had asked the government to consider temporarily dropping the 12% GST levied on such imports altogether, citing the shortage of oxygen in the second wave of the pandemic.

Important Information:

• Article 21 of the Constitution enshrines the fundamental right to life.
• An oxygen concentrator is a device that concentrates the oxygen from a gas supply (typically ambient air) by selectively removing nitrogen to supply an oxygen-enriched product gas stream.

SOURCE:TH