PIB 26th April 2021

SVAMITVA

Focus: Government Policies and Interventions

Why in news?

PM launched distribution of e-property cards under SWAMITVA scheme on 24th April  (National Panchayati Raj Day)

About SVAMITVA

• SVAMITVA (Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas) scheme is a collaborative effort of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, State Panchayati Raj Departments, State Revenue Departments and Survey of India.
• Aim: To provide an integrated property validation solution for rural India.
• It is a scheme for mapping the land parcels in rural inhabited areas using drone technology and Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS).
• The mapping will be done across the country in a phase-wise manner over a period of four years – from 2020 to 2024.

Benefits:

• The scheme will help in streamlining planning and revenue collection in rural areas and ensuring clarity on property rights.
• The scheme will enable creation of better-quality Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDPs), using the maps created under this programme.
• The Gram Panchayats are constitutionally mandated for preparation of Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDP) for economic development and social justice.
• The GPDP is based on a participatory process in convergence with schemes of all related Central Ministries/Line Departments related to 29 subjects listed in the Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution.
• Present Coverage Area: The program is currently being implemented in six states – Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

PRADHAN MANTRI GARIB KALYAN ANNA YOJANA

Focus: GS II- Government policies and Interventions

Why in news?

More than 80 crore NFSA beneficiaries will be provided additional 80 LMTs of foodgrains under the PMGKAY scheme 2021

About Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana:

• It is considered as world’s largest food security scheme, aims at ensuring sufficient food for the poor and needy during the coronavirus crisis.
• It was announced as part of the first relief package during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Part of the scheme, the food needs to be provided to all the beneficiaries under public distribution system (TPDS) for Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and priority household (PHH) ration cardholders.
• As per updates, the eligible beneficiaries will receive 5kg of foodgrains and 1 kg Gram per month.

Eligibility 

• Families belonging to the Below Poverty Line – Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and Priority Households (PHH) categories will be eligible for the scheme.
• PHH are to be identified by State Governments/Union Territory Administrations as per criteria evolved by them. AAY families are to be identified by States/UTs as per the criteria prescribed by the Central Government:
• Households headed by widows or terminally ill persons or disabled persons or persons aged 60 years or more with no assured means of subsistence or societal support.
• Widows or terminally ill persons or disabled persons or persons aged 60 years or more or single women or single men with no family or societal support or assured means of subsistence.
• All primitive tribal households.
• Landless agriculture labourers, marginal farmers, rural artisans/craftsmen such as potters, tanners, weavers, blacksmiths, carpenters, slum dwellers, and persons earning their livelihood on daily basis in the informal sector like porters, coolies, rickshaw pullers, hand cart pullers, fruit and flower sellers, snake charmers, rag pickers, cobblers, destitutes  and other similar categories in both rural and urban areas.
• All eligible Below Poverty Line families of HIV positive persons.

EXERCISE VARUNA – 2021

Focus: GS III- Defence, Prelims

Why in news?

The 19th edition of the Indian and French Navy bilateral exercise ‘VARUNA-2021’ is scheduled to be conducted in the Arabian Sea from 25th to 27th April 2021.

About Exercise Varuna:

• Three day exercise will see high tempo-naval operations at sea, including advanced air defence and anti-submarine exercises, intense fixed and rotary wing flying operations, tactical manoeuvres, surface and anti-air weapon firings, underway replenishment and other maritime security operations.
• Units of both navies will endeavour to enhance and hone their war-fighting skills to demonstrate their ability as an integrated force to promote peace, security and stability in the maritime domain.
• VARUNA-21 highlights growing bonhomie and showcases increased levels of synergy, coordination and inter-operability between the two friendly navies.
• These interactions further underscore the shared values as partner navies, in ensuring freedom of seas and commitment to an open, inclusive Indo-Pacific and a rules-based international order.

GENOME SEQUENCING

Focus: GS III- Science and Technology

Why in news?

Department of Biotechnology organized Public Webinar on the “Genome Sequencing of SARS-CoV-19”

Key points

• The webinar aimed at demystifying the science behind mutations in the viral genome, viral genome sequencing, and public health implications of the mutations in the viral genome.
• A panel of experts from various reputed institutes & organisations discussed different aspects of genome sequencing and highlighted the importance of sequencing the Genome of SARS-CoV-19, and the work done by the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium in ascertaining the presence of variants of SARS-CoV-2, establishing sentinel surveillance for early detection, and determining the genomic variants in the unusual events/trends.

About Genome Sequencing: 

Genome sequencing is figuring out the order of DNA nucleotides, or bases, in a genome—the order of Adenine, Cytosine, Guanines, and Thymine that make up an organism’s DNA.

Human genome

• It is made up of 23 chromosome pairs with a total of about 3 billion DNA base pairs.
• There are 24 distinct human chromosomes: 22 autosomal chromosomes, plus the sex-determining X and Y chromosomes.
• Chromosomes 1-22 are numbered roughly in order of decreasing size.
• Somatic cells usually have one copy of chromosomes 1-22 from each parent, plus an X chromosome from the mother and either an X or Y chromosome from the father, for a total of 46.
• There are estimated 20,000-25,000 human protein-coding genes.
• The estimate of the number of human genes has been repeatedly revised down from initial predictions of 100,000 or more as genome sequence quality and gene finding methods have improved, and could continue to drop further.

Importance of Genome Sequencing

• Sequencing the genome is an important step towards understanding it.
• The genome sequence will represent a valuable shortcut, helping scientists find genes much more easily and quickly. A genome sequence does contain some clues about where genes are, even though scientists are just learning to interpret these clues.
• Scientists also hope that being able to study the entire genome sequence will help them understand how the genome as a whole works—how genes work together to direct the growth, development and maintenance of an entire organism.
• Finally, genes account for less than 25 percent of the DNA in the genome, and so knowing the entire genome sequence will help scientists study the parts of the genome outside the genes. This includes the regulatory regions that control how genes are turned on and off, as well as long stretches of “nonsense” or “junk” DNA—so called because significance of it hasn’t been established.