AFFORDABLE WATER DISINFECTION SYSTEM- ONEER

Context

An innovative technology for “Drinking Water Disinfection System” with trade name “Oneer” has been developed by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (CSIR-IITR), Lucknow.

About

• The device will continuous treat water and eliminate all disease causing pathogens such as virus, bacteria, fungi, protozoa and cyst to provide safe drinking water to domestic and communities settings as per national and international standards prescribed for potable water (BIS, WHO etc.).
• It will provide access to safe and clean drinking water at a cost of just 2 Paise / Ltr.
• Its community level model has capacity of 450 LPH which can be scaled up to 5000 to 1 lakh L/day and is also maintenance and membrane free.
• The smaller unit of Oneer is particularly suitable for homes, street food vendors, and small establishments.

CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (CSIR-IITR), Lucknow, a constituent laboratory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), was established in 1965. It is the only institute of toxicology in the country contributing towards cutting-edge research and innovation in toxicology. It is working to mitigate problems of human health and environment. It has following objectives: Safety evaluation of chemicals used in industry, agriculture and everyday life. Mode of action of toxic chemicals/pollutants. Remedial/preventive measures to safeguard health and environment from pollutants. Occupational health hazards due to exposure in chemicals industries, mines, agricultural fields and environment. Simple/rapid diagnostic tests for disorders caused by industrial and environmental chemicals Collect, store and disseminate information on toxic chemicals. Human resource development for dealing with industrial and environmental problems. Provide a platform to public and entrepreneurs to address queries and concerns regarding safety/toxicity of chemicals additives and products.

Significance

According to the World Health Organization, "access to safe drinking-water is essential to health, a basic human right and a component of effective policy for health protection”. But, currently, a large proportion of India's rural community is consuming water that does not meet the WHO drinking water quality standards. It is well known that infection through drinking water results in an increase in morbidity and mortality particularly amongst children. The developed technology will enhance the quality of life of common people. It will be helpful especially for rural people since it can be solar powered. At economy front, it is also in line with the ‘Make in India’ mission.

DWARF PLANET 'THE GOBLIN' DISCOVERY

Context

• An extremely distant dwarf planet, named The Goblin, has been discovered in observations that are redefining the outer reaches of the solar system.
• A new minor planet called “the Goblin” is the second most distant known object in the solar system.
  
  

About

• Formal Name:As assigned by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center, the new dwarf planetwould be formally known as 2015 TG387.
• It is memorably nicknamed Goblin because its human examination occurred in roughly the Halloween time frame.Astronomers made the discovery while hunting for a hypothetical massive planet, known as Planet Nine.
• The Goblin dwarf planet appears to be under the gravitational influence of a giant unseen object, possibly a hypothetical massive planet referred to as Planet Nine.
• Telescope used:The Japanese Subaru 8-metre telescope located on the dormant Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii was used.
• Why this telescope? The telescope is the only one in the world to be able to produce deep images capable of probing the outer reaches of the solar system, while it also has a wide enough field of view to be able to cover enough sky to discover rare objects.

About Goblin:

• Radius: The newly discovered icy world, estimated to be just 300km across, is in an extremely elongated orbit. At its closest, it gets about two and a half times as far from the sun as Pluto.
• Revolution time period: Then it heads off to the outermost fringes of the solar system, to almost 60 times further out than Pluto, taking an astounding 40,000 years to loop once around the sun.
• For 99% of its orbit, it would be too faint to see.

Significance

Why it is important:

• This will be adding to astronomers’ certainty that Planet Nine is out there.
• The object is the third minor planet to have been found in the outer solar system, following the discoveries of Sedna and, recently, another object called 2012 VP113. 
• Intriguingly the orbits of the three objects discovered so far appear to be clustered together, suggesting that they are being shepherded by a giant, unknown object. This has pointed astronomers to the existence of a ninth, super-Earth sized planet again.
• Planet Nine is suspected to be in orbit far beyond Pluto in a mysterious region known as the Oort Cloud.
  
  

CONSUMER CONFIDENCE SURVEY 2018: RBI

Context

Reserve Bank released the results of the September 2018 round of its Consumer Confidence Survey (CCS).

About

• The survey seeks qualitative responses from households, regarding their sentiments on general economic conditions, overall price situation, employment, income, spending, scenario
• Consumer confidenceis a key driver of economic growth and is widely considered a leading economic indicator of household spending on consumption. Confident consumers buy more goods and services, providing a boost to the Indian economy. Consumers tend to increase consumption when they feel confident about the current and future economic situation of the country and their own financial conditions.
• The survey was conducted in some major cities.
• The agency M/s Hansa Research Group Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai has been engaged to conduct the field work of this round of the survey on behalf of the Reserve Bank of India.

Findings

• Economic Condition:Only 29.1% of those surveyed said their economic condition had improved from what it was a year ago, while 34.4% said it had worsened.Perceptions on the current general economic situation dropped as compared with the preceding round and remained in the pessimistic zone.
• Price situation: While the majority of the respondents remained highly pessimistic about the price situation, there was a slight improvement in expectations one year ahead.
• Employment:2% said their employment prospects had improved, while 45.5% said they had worsened. However, those surveyed are hopeful that job prospects will improve a year from now. The one-year-ahead-expectations survey shows there is a net positive response of 25.1 percentage points.
• Income:On perceptions of income next the net response in September 2018, at 51.3 percentage points, is higher than 2013’s net response of 37.2 percentage points. People remain hopeful that incomes will rise; the government can derive some solace from that.
• The survey portrays reduced optimism on spending by consumers, particularly in respect of non-essential items.
• RBI’s current situation index of the consumer confidence survey is at 94.8 for September 2018, compared to 91.6 in December 2013, not too much of a gap, but, a marginal uptick is observed in the future expectations index at 121.1 points now, on the back of optimistic sentiments on future income, employment and the evolving price situation.

Significance

• Barometer of governance: It reflects the measurement of how happy people are with the government’s management of the economy. The government has done a considerable job of keeping people’s hopes alive. The risk for the government is that current reality may finally dampen future expectations, which is what seems to be happening in the markets.
• Boost to Indian Economy: In economies such as Indiaand the US, where personal consumption accounts for more than 60% and 70% of GDP respectively, consumer confidence has a particularly significant impact on the economy. Measuring it can provide critical insight into the economy's growth prospects. Consumer sentiment indices are essential tools used by global investors and will be an immense aid to individual and institutional investors in India.
• Monetary policy formulation: The results of this survey will provide useful information, data and statistics for monetary policy formulation in accordance with the market expectations and push and pull factors.   

BILATERAL MARITIME EXERCISE BETWEEN JAPAN AND INDIA (JIMEX 18)

Context

Bilateral maritime exercise JIMEX-18 between India and Japan was held in Visakhapatnam.  

About

• The nine-day event is aimed at enhancing inter-operability, improving understanding and imbibing the best practices of each other.
• From Japanese side, Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) with Ships Kaga, an Izumo Class Helicopter Destroyer and Inazuma – a Guided Missile Destroyer is taking part.
• The IN was represented by three indigenously designed and built warships and a Fleet Tanker.
• JIMEX-18 comprised of harbour phase and sea phase.
  • The Harbour Phase of the exercise will include professional and social interactions between ship’s crews, sports fixtures and operational planning for the Sea Phase.
  • The Sea Phase would include Anti-Submarine Warfare Exercises, VBSS (Visit, Board, Search and Seizure) Drills, Gun Firings, Cross Deck Helo Operations and coordinated operations in Anti-Submarine/ Anti-Air threat scenarios.
• The last edition of JIMEX was conducted in Dec 2013 off Chennai.
• Indo-Japanese Navies also participated in the recently concluded MALABAR 18 in the Pacific Ocean and biennial multilateral exercise RIMPAC-18 off Hawaii, USA.
• In addition, the ships of the two navies have been working in close coordination in Anti-Piracy Operations in the Gulf of Aden for the past few years.

Significance

The conduct of JIMEX-18 after five years is indicative of an upswing in the Indo-Japanese defense relations and the continued efforts of both Governments to work closely to enhance safety and security of the global commons in keeping with ‘rule based order’.

JEE Main Syllabus 2019

• JEE Main 2019 Syllabus - Paper I
• Mathematics
• ·         Sets, relations and functions
• ·         Complex numbers and quadratic equations
• ·         Matrices and determinants
• ·         Mathematical reasoning
• ·         Mathematical induction
• ·         Permutations and combinations
• ·         Sequences and series
• ·         Limit, continuity and differentiability
• ·         Integral calculus
• ·         Differential equations
• ·         Binomial theorem and its simple applications
• ·         Three-dimensional geometry
• ·         Vector algebra
• ·         Co-ordinate geometry
• ·         Statistics and probability
• ·         Trigonometry
• Physics
• Section A
• ·         Physics and measurement
• ·         Kinematics
• ·         Thermodynamics
• ·         Work, energy and power
• ·         Rotational motion
• ·         Gravitation
• ·         Laws of motion
• ·         Properties of solids and liquids
• ·         Electronic devices
• ·         Kinetic theory of gases
• ·         Oscillations and waves
• ·         Communication systems
• ·         Current electricity
• ·         Magnetic effects of current and magnetism
• ·         Electromagnetic induction and alternating currents
• ·         Electromagnetic waves
• ·         Optics
• ·         Dual nature of matter and radiation
• ·         Electrostatics
• ·         Atoms and nuclei
• Section B
• ·         Experimental Skills (complete syllabus in link below)
• Chemistry
• Physical Chemistry
• ·         Some basic concepts in chemistry
• ·         States of matter
• ·         Atomic structure
• ·         Chemical bonding and molecular structure
• ·         Chemical thermodynamics
• ·         Solutions
• ·         Equilibrium
• ·         Redox reactions and electrochemistry
• ·         Chemical kinetics
• ·         Surface chemistry
• Organic Chemistry
• ·         Purification and characterisation of organic compounds
• ·         Hydrocarbons
• ·         Chemistry in everyday life
• ·         Principles related to practical chemistry
• ·         Organic compounds containing halogens
• ·         Organic compounds containing oxygen
• ·         Organic compounds containing nitrogen
• ·         Polymers
• ·         Some basic principles of organic chemistry
• ·         Biomolecules
• Inorganic Chemistry
• ·         Classification of elements and periodicity in properties
• ·         Hydrogen
• ·         Block elements (alkali and alkaline earth metals)
• ·         P Block elements group 13 to group 18 elements
• ·         d- and f - block elements
• ·         Co-ordination compounds
• ·         Environmental chemistry
• ·         General principles and processes of isolation of metals
•  

NCERT 12 BIO 1 CH

Question 5:
How does the progeny formed from asexual reproduction differ from those
formed by sexual reproduction?
Answer 5:
Progeny formed from asexual                                Progeny formed from sexual

      reproduction                                                                 reproduction
1. Asexual reproduction does not involve            Sexual reproduction involves the
   the fusion of the male and the female                fusion of the male and the female
   gamete. Organisms undergoing this                   gamete of two individuals, typically
   kind of reproduction produce                             one of each sex. Organisms
   offspring’s that are morphologically                 undergoing this kind of reproduction
    and genetically identical to them                         produce offspring’s that are not
                                                                                      identical to them.
2.Offsprings thus produced do not show          Offspring’s thus produced show
   variations and are called clones.                      variations from each other and their
                                                                                   parents.


Question 6:
What is vegetative propagation? Give two suitable examples.
Answer 6:
Vegetative propagation is a mode of asexual reproduction in which new
plants are obtained from the vegetative parts of plants. It does not involve
the production of seeds or spores for the propagation of new plants.
Vegetative parts of plants such as runners, rhizomes, suckers, tubers, etc.
can be used as propagules for raising new plants.
Examples of vegetative reproduction are:
1. Eyes of potato:
The surface of a potato has several buds called eyes. Each of these buds
when buried in soil develops into a new plant, which is identical to the
parent plant.


2. Leaf buds of Bryophyllum:
The leaves of Bryophyllum plants bear several adventitious buds on their
margins. These leaf buds have the ability to grow and develop into tiny
plants when the leaves get detached from the plant and come in contact with
moist soil.

Question 8:
Define
(a) Juvenile phase,
(b) Reproductive phase,
(c) Senescent phase.
Answer 8:
(a) Juvenile phase:
It is the period of growth in an individual organism after its birth and before
it reaches reproductive maturity.
(b) Reproductive phase:
It is the period when an individual organism reproduces sexually.
(c) Senescent phase:
It is the period when an organism grows old and loses the ability to
reproduce.


Question 9:
Higher organisms have resorted to sexual reproduction in spite of its
complexity. Why?
Answer 9:
Although sexual reproduction involves more time and energy, higher
organisms have resorted to sexual reproduction in spite of its complexity.
This is because this mode of reproduction helps introduce new variations in
progenies through the combination of the DNA from two (usually) different
individuals. These variations allow the individual to cope with various
environmental conditions and thus, make the organism better suited for the
environment. Variations also lead to the evolution of better organisms and
therefore, provide better chances of survival. On the other hand, asexual
reproduction does not provide genetic differences in the individuals
produced.

Question 10:
Explain why meiosis and gametogenesis are always interlinked?
Answer 10:
Meiosis is a process of reductional division in which the amount of genetic
material is reduced. Gametogenesis is the process of the formation of
gametes. Gametes produced by organisms are haploids (containing only one
set of chromosomes), while the body of an organism is diploid. Therefore,
for producing haploid gametes (gametogenesis), the germ cells of an
organism undergo meiosis. During the process, the meiocytes of an
organism undergo two successive nuclear and cell divisions with a single
cycle of DNA replication to form the haploid gametes.


Question 11:
Identify each part in a flowering plant and write whether it is haploid (n) or
diploid (2n).
(a) Ovary ———————————
(b) Anther ———————————
(c) Egg ———————————
(d) Pollen ———————————
(e) Male gamete ———————————
(f ) Zygote ———————————
Answer 11:
(a) Ovary Diploid (2n)
(b) Anther Diploid (2n)
(c) Egg Haploid (n)
(d) Pollen Haploid (n)
(e) Male gamete Haploid (n)
(f ) Zygote Diploid (2n)

Question 12:
Define external fertilization. Mention its disadvantages.
Answer 12:
External fertilization is the process in which the fusion of the male and the
female gamete takes place outside the female body in an external medium,
generally water.
Fish, frog, starfish are some organisms that exhibit external fertilization.


Disadvantages of external fertilization:
In external fertilization, eggs have less chances of fertilization. This can lead
to the wastage of a large number of eggs produced during the process.
Further, there is an absence of proper parental care to the offspring,

NCERT 12 BIO 1 CH

Question 1:
Why is reproduction essential for organisms?
Answer 1:
Reproduction is a fundamental feature of all living organisms. It is a
biological process through which living organisms produce offspring’s
similar to them. Reproduction ensures the continuance of various species on
the Earth. In the absence of reproduction, the species will not be able to exist
for a long time and may soon get extinct.


Question 2:
Which is a better mode of reproduction sexual or asexual? Why?
Answer 2:
Sexual reproduction is a better mode of reproduction. It allows the formation
of new variants by the combination of the DNA from two different
individuals, typically one of each sex. It involves the fusion of the male and
the female gamete to produce variants, which are not identical to their
parents and to themselves. This variation allows the individual to adapt to
constantly changing and challenging environments. Also, it leads to the
evolution of better suited organisms which ensures greater survival of a
species. On the contrary, asexual reproduction allows very little or no
variation at all. As a result, the individuals produced are exact copies of their
parents and themselves.



Question 3:
Why is the offspring formed by asexual reproduction referred to as clone?
Answer 3:
A clone is a group of morphologically and genetically identical individuals.
In the process of asexual reproduction, only one parent is involved and there
is no fusion of the male and the female gamete. As a result, the offsprings
so produced are morphologically and genetically similar to their parents and
are thus, called clones.



Question 3:
Why is the offspring formed by asexual reproduction referred to as clone?
Answer 3:
A clone is a group of morphologically and genetically identical individuals.
In the process of asexual reproduction, only one parent is involved and there
is no fusion of the male and the female gamete. As a result, the offsprings
so produced are morphologically and genetically similar to their parents and
are thus, called clones.



Question 3:
Why is the offspring formed by asexual reproduction referred to as clone?
Answer 3:
A clone is a group of morphologically and genetically identical individuals.
In the process of asexual reproduction, only one parent is involved and there
is no fusion of the male and the female gamete. As a result, the offsprings
so produced are morphologically and genetically similar to their parents and
are thus, called clones.


Question 4:
Offspring formed due to sexual reproduction have better chances of
survival. Why? Is this statement always true?
Answer 4:
Sexual reproduction involves the fusion of the male and the female gamete.
This fusion allows the formation of new variants by the combination of the
DNA from two (usually) different members of the species. The variations
allow the individuals to adapt under varied environmental conditions for
better chances of survival. However, it is not always necessary that the
offspring produced due to sexual reproduction has better chances of
survival. Under some circumstances, asexual reproduction is more
advantageous for certain organisms. For example, some individuals who do
not move from one place to another and are well settled in their
environment. Also, asexual reproduction is a fast and a quick mode of
reproduction which does not consume much time and energy as compared
to sexual reproduction.