Khasi States
Category: Polity
- A federation of 25 Himas or Khasi kingdoms that have a cosmetic existence today, plan to revisit the 1948 agreements that made present-day Meghalaya a part of India.
- The revisiting in consultation with legal experts and academicians is aimed at safeguarding tribal customs and traditions from Central laws in force or could be enacted.
- The 25 Khasi states had signed the Instrument of Accession and Annexed Agreement with the Dominion of India between December 15, 1947, and March 19, 1948.
- The Khasi states, though, did not sign the Instrument of Merger unlike most other states in India.
- During the British rule, the Khasi domain was divided into the Khasi states and British territories. At that time, the British government had no territorial right on the Khasi states and they had to approach the chiefs of these states if they needed land for any purpose.
- After independence, the British territories became part of the Indian dominion but the Khasi states had to sign documents beginning with the Standstill Agreement that provided a few rights to the states.
- Though the Constitution has provided self-rule to a considerable extent through tribal councils, there has been an increasing demand for giving more teeth to the Khasi states.
WHO-Vaccination
Category: International
- Despite immunisation being one of the most successful and cost-effective means to help children grow into healthy adults, worldwide 12.9 million infants — nearly 1 in 10 — did not receive any vaccination in 2016.
- What is worrying, says WHO, is the fact that “global vaccination coverage remains at 85%, with no significant changes during the past few years.
- According to WHO in 2017, the number of children immunised — 116.2 million — was the highest-ever reported.
- Immunisation prevents illness, disability and death from vaccine-preventable diseases including cervical cancer, diphtheria, hepatitis B, measles, mumps, pertussis (whooping cough), pneumonia, polio, rotavirus diarrhoea, rubella and tetanus.
Ocean’s Plastic
Category: Environment
- The Indian Ocean is the world’s biggest dumping ground for plastic waste, but where the trash ultimately ends up has remained a mystery.
- Scientists have found that the unique characteristics of the southern Indian Ocean pushes floating plastics towards the western side of the ocean, where it leaks past South Africa into the South Atlantic Ocean.
- Because of the Asian monsoon system, the southeast trade winds in the southern Indian Ocean are stronger than the trade winds in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
- It is also most likely that floating plastics will ultimately end up on beaches, transported by the reversing monsoon winds and currents, researchers said. However, t the atmospheric and oceanic attributes of the Indian Ocean are different to other ocean basins and that there may not be a concentrated garbage patch.
Cell-Based Meat
Category: Sc & tech
- India’s ’s first project to research on cell-based meat, also called clean meat, would be taken up at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad.
- Clean meat would be produced through cellular agriculture with cells sourced from animals and cultivated into meat. Hence, it promises to revolutionise the food system by providing protein without harming the environment.
Bt Brinjal
Category: Sc & tech
- Genetically modified (GM) brinjal is being illegally grown in some parts of the country.
- Brinjal has been genetically modified by inserting a protein gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis to give protection against certain pests.
- Bt Brinjal, which was developed in India by Maharashtra-based seed company Mahyco, was on the verge of becoming India’s first GM food crop, when the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee cleared it for commercialisation in 2009.
