[Mission 2023] Current Affairs Quiz , 29 September 2022

Solution: b)

What is the National List of Essential Medicines?

Curated by experts in consultation with stakeholders, the list includes medicines that are needed to address the priority healthcare needs of the majority of the population. The drugs included are those that are best for the treatment of a particular condition and are cost-effective at the same time. This is the reason the list almost always sees the inclusion of generics (unbranded medicines, like paracetamol instead of crocin).

The list usually includes medicines that are a part of government’s health programmes, such as bedaquiline, included in the 2022, that is used in the country’s TB elimination programme.

Framed on the principles of the World Health Organisation’s essential medicine list, India’s first list was developed in 1996. It has since been modified four time – in 2003, 2011, 2015, and now in 2022.

The revisions are done keeping in mind the changing profile of diseases in the country, newer drugs becoming available in the market, drugs becoming obsolete or being banned for certain risks, and newer treatment protocols.

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Solution: c)

The government has the power to control the prices of certain medicines, those needed in public interest, through the Drug Prices Control Order. The National List of Essential Medicines forms the primary basis for considering a drug as essential and controlling its prices. Additionally, the prices of drugs other than those included in the NLEM may also be controlled through the DPCO.

Once a drug is included in the NLEM, its prices are controlled by the central government and cannot be changed by companies themselves.

The new list (NLEM-2022) has added 34 medicines that were not in the NLEM-2015.

The list has also included at least four drugs that are still under patent.

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Solution: d)

On September 20, the American meteorologist Vernon Dvorak passed away at the age of 100. In the era of advanced satellite technology, Machine Learning (ML), Artificial Intelligence (AI), this key technique, named after him, continues to be widely relied upon by forecasters till date.

Dvorak was an American meteorologist best credited for developing the Dvorak (read as Do-rak) technique in the early 1970s. The technique has been upgraded multiple times since then.

The updated technique, would improve the tropical storm forecasts by many folds as they would have access to sharper and detailed images than ever before.

The Dvorak technique was a cloud pattern recognition technique based on a concept model of the development and decay of the tropical cyclone.

From the satellite images thus obtained, the Dvorak technique helps forecasters to do a pattern recognition from the observed structure of the storm, locate its eye and estimate the intensity of the storm.

It is the Dvorak technique which gives the best estimates of the cyclone intensity — a vital component while issuing weather warnings.

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Solution: c)

Founded in 1997, the seven-member BIMSTEC, which includes the littoral states of India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar (Thailand is a member too) and the land-locked states of Nepal and Bhutan, has identified 14 pillars for special focus. These are trade and investment, transport and communication, energy, tourism, technology, fisheries, agriculture, public health, poverty alleviation, counter terrorism and transnational crime, environment and disaster management, people-to-people contact, cultural cooperation and climate change.

A Bay of Bengal Maritime Dialogue (BOBMD) organised recently by the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue and the Pathfinder Foundation brought together government officials, maritime experts, and representatives of prominent think tanks from Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand and Indonesia.

Solution: d)

The major biosafety concerns falls into these categories:

Bio-safety of human and animal health

• Risk of toxicity, due to the nature of the product or the changes in the metabolism and the composition of the organisms resulting from gene transfer.
• Newer proteins in transgenic crops from the organisms, which have not been consumed as foods, sometimes has the risk of these proteins becoming allergens.
• Genes used for antibiotic resistance as selectable markers have also raised concerns regarding the transfer of such genes to microorganisms and thereby aggravate the health problems due to antibiotic resistance in the disease-causing organisms.

Ecological concerns 

• Gene flow due to cross pollination for the traits involving resistance can result in development of tolerant or resistant weeds that are difficult to eradicate. 
• GM crops could lead to erosion of biodiversity and pollute gene pools of endangered plant species. 
• Genetic erosion has occurred as the farmers have replaces the use of traditional varieties with monocultures.

Environmental concerns

Effect of transgenic plants on population dynamics of target and non-target pests, secondary pest problems, insect sensitivity, evolution of new insect biotypes, environmental influence on gene expression, development of resistance in insect population, development of resistance to herbicide