Essential Facts (Prelims) – March 29 , 2019


Malham

Category: International

  • Israeli researchers have discovered the world’s longest salt cave.
  • It is a 10-km long warren of underground passages and chambers in Mount Sodom, overlooking the Dead Sea.
  • The cave is called Malham.

Finance Bill

Category: Polity

  • The Centre told the Supreme Court that Finance Bill of 2017 was certified as a Money Bill by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and judicial review of that decision cannot be done.
  • The government said the court cannot question the speaker’s decision of certifying a bill as a Money Bill and it is a well settled law.
  • The centre argued that the certification of a particular Act as a Money Bill is an internal function of the Parliament. If there is any dispute, the Speaker can applies his mind and takes a decision. No one can questions the bonafide of the Speaker and all members abide by the decision.
  • The centre held that the certification of Money Bill is for the whole Finance Bill and saying that a part of the Bill does not qualify for the Money Bill cannot be held to be correct.

Imported Embryo

Category: Science & technology

  • In medical terms, the unborn offspring is an embryo from the day of fertilisation until the eighth week of pregnancy; after that, it is a foetus.
  • Following in vitro fertilisation (outside the body), some couples choose to freeze embryos that are left over. This would allow patients to conceive at a later time.
  • Embryos are frozen from the second day of fertilisation, using techniques to halt physiological or biological development.
  • The embryo is stored in liquid nitrogen or nitrogen vapour at a temperature below -190°C.
  • One possible reason for importing embryos could be to meet demands from Indian couples for a baby with “non-Indian looks”.
  • It is also possible that embryos are imported for commissioning illegal surrogacy in India.
  • In India, the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016, passed by Lok Sabha in 2018, bans commercial surrogacy but permits altruistic surrogacy.
  • then, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has stopped giving no-objection-certificates for import of embryos or gametes.

Turing Award

Category: Science & technology

  • Recently, three pioneers in artificial intelligence — a senior Google executive, Facebook’s chief AI scientist, and an academic — were announced as the winners for this year’s A M Turing Award.
  • It is often described as the “Nobel Prize for computing”.
  • It is for major contributions of lasting importance to computing.
  • First awarded in 1966, it has been awarded annually for 53 years so far to 70 recipients. These include 3 women, the first of these having won in 2006.
  • This year’s winners worked on neural networks, a component of robotic systems that are automating a wide range of human activity, such as driving. These deep neural networks are good at speech and image recognition.

WTO

Category: International

  • Thailand has expressed its interest to join the consultations sought by Guatemala under the aegis of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) dispute settlement mechanism against India’s sugar subsidies.
  • On March 25, after Brazil and Australia, Guatemala dragged India to the WTO alleging that New Delhi’s sugar subsidies to farmers are inconsistent with global trade rules.
  • Thailand has substantial trade interest in these consultations, it said, adding that in 2018 it was the world’s second largest exporter of sugar.
  • Seeking consultation is the first step of dispute settlement process. If the two nations are not able to reach a mutually agreed solution through consultation, India may request for a WTO dispute settlement panel to review the matter.
  • Guatemala has sought consultations with India under the rules and procedures governing the settlement of disputes of the Geneva-based 164-member WTO.
  • It has said that India maintains various domestic support measures in favour of sugarcane and sugar producers, such as a system of administered prices for sugar cane.

Single-Use Plastics

Category: Environment

  • The European Union decided to ban plastic consumer items including plates, cutlery and straws as of 2021 to help clean up oceans.
  • The prohibition on single-use plastics approved by the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, also applies to beverage cups, food containers and cotton bud sticks.
  • Plastics account for around 80 percent of marine litter.

 

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