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The influence of James Cameron, the Canadian-American filmmaker, whose cinema has frequently explored the mysteries of the deep ocean, looms large on scientists at the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) in Chennai.
The documentary charts Mr. Cameron’s solitary, 10,000-metre journey down the Marianna Trench — the deepest point in earth’s seabed — in 2012 aboard the Deep Sea Challenger, a submersible. It is incredible.
Dr. Ramadass and his colleagues aspire to capture some of the aura of the ocean depths when India’s indigenous submersible, MATSYA-6000, plunges into the bowels of the Indian Ocean, with a three-person crew onboard.
At 6,000 metres, this will be shallower than Mr. Cameron’s excursion but the deepest dive yet by Indians. If India’s mission — expected to take place in late 2024 or in 2025 — were to be successful, it would make it only one among six countries to have piloted a manned under-sea expedition beyond 5,000 metres.
Much like the early days of India’s space programme, which prioritised public utility over Cold War spurred space races, India’s motivations are guided by pragmatism – explore the potential for precious metals and scope marine biodiversity. India’s seabed and the relevant zones with economic potential aren’t deeper than 6,000 metres. Our technology and vehicles are designed and developed for our needs.
Samudrayaan, or the journey into the sea, and NIOT mission can be conceptualised as the reverse of the forthcoming Gaganyaan mission — The Indian Space Research Organisation’s attempt at a manned mission into space.
News
Modi, Hasina open 131.5-km oil pipeline to Bangladesh (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina virtually inaugurated the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline that will bring diesel from Assam’s Numaligarh refinery’s marketing depot in Siliguri to Parbatipur in northern Bangladesh.
Welcoming the initiative, Ms. Hasina thanked Mr. Modi and the Chief Minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, but skipped any mention of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The omission is being interpreted as a sign of Bangladesh’s unhappiness regarding the planned construction of hydel power projects in West Bengal that may divert the waters of the Teesta river and have been in the middle of a stalled negotiation for more than a decade.
The 131.57-km-long pipeline will bring diesel from a marketing depot in Siliguri to Dinajpur of Bangladesh. Ms. Hasina and Mr. Modi had inaugurated the works for laying the pipeline in September 2018.
In her speech, Ms. Hasina thanked India for its partnership in her country’s quest for energy security, saying, “Out of the total length of the pipeline, Bangladesh has 126.57 km and India has five kilometres.
The pipeline has become operational from today. Many countries in the world are suffering from energy insecurity because of the Russia-Ukraine war, but this pipeline will help our people.” She added that at least 16 districts of Bangladesh would benefit from the pipeline.
Mr. Modi praised Ms. Hasina’s leadership, and said, “Whether it is in the field of transport, energy, electricity, or digital field, the more our connectivity increases, the more our people-to-people relations will be strengthened.”
The omission of Ms. Banerjee’s name is being viewed as a subtle message conveying Dhaka’s unhappiness about reports of West Bengal’s plans to construct hydel power projects and canals near Darjeeling to irrigate agricultural fields in Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar that may divert the Teesta’s waters.
Millets can be a solution for food, nutrition crisis: Modi (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Global Millets Conference here on Monday, and said that coarse grains, locally named Shree Anna, can be a solution for the problem of food and nutritional security faced by the world.
A Ministerial round table on millets was also held here with the participation of Ministers and officials from 10 countries, including India.
The two-day conference will have sessions on promotion and awareness of millets among producers, consumers and other stakeholders.
Mr. Modi said brainstorming sessions would be held on topics such as the farming of millets, millet economy, health benefits and farmers’ income among others with the active participation of local self-governments, Agriculture Department offices, schools, colleges and agricultural universities along with the Indian embassies and several foreign countries. The Prime Minister said millets are not limited to just food or farming.
“Shree Anna is a door to prosperity for the small farmers of the country, Shree Anna is the cornerstone of nutrition for crores of countrymen, Shree Anna is a felicitation of Adivasi Community, Shree Anna means getting more crops for less water, Shree Anna is a big foundation for chemical-free farming, Shree Anna is a huge help in fighting climate change,” he added.
Millets were declared nutri-cereals in 2018 where work was carried out on all levels from making the farmers aware of its benefits to generating interest in the market.
He added that millets are primarily cultivated in 12 or 13 States. Earlier, the consumption per month per person was not more than three kilograms, whereas it has increased to 14 kilograms per month at present.
The Prime Minister said the sale of millet food products had also seen a boost of roughly 30%. Mr. Modi claimed that India’s millet mission — the campaign for Shree Anna — would prove to be a boon for 2.5 crore farmers of the country.
Science & Tech
At a high dose, sucralose impairs mouse immune responses (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
A recent study, published in the Nature, provides evidence that high doses of sucralose — a calorie-free sugar substitute that is 600 times sweeter than sucrose and approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use as a general-purpose sweetener — can limit immune responses in mice.
Sucralose is generally regarded as safe — the reason why the FDA has approved it. However, of late, concerns have been raised about the long-term safety of certain sweeteners.
In line with these concerns, the latest study has shown that intake of high doses of sucralose in mice results in “immunomodulatory effects by limiting Tcell proliferation and Tcell differentiation”.
The lead author from the Francis Crick Institute, London and other researchers have now shown that sucralose affects the membrane order of Tcells, accompanied by a reduced efficiency of Tcell receptor signalling and intracellular calcium mobilisation.
When mice with subcutaneous cancer and bacterial infection were given a dose of sucralose, which is higher than what humans consume daily, it resulted in impaired T cell responses; mice in the control group did not show any reduction in T cell responses.
Also, when the researchers stopped feeding the mice in the intervention group with sucralose, the T cell responses began to recover, thus clearly indicating the link between sucralose and impaired T cell responses.
Overall, these findings suggest that a high intake of sucralose can dampen T cell-mediated responses, an effect that could beused in therapy to mitigate Tcell-dependent autoimmune disorders.
Our findings do not provide evidence that normal sucralose intake is immunosuppressive, but they do demonstrate that at high (but achievable) doses, sucralose has an unexpected effect on Tcell responses and functions in autoimmune, infection as well as tumour models.
However, they note that the study cannot exclude the possibility that sucralose may affect Tcells through “additional mechanisms, such as epigenetic changes in response to long-term sucralose exposure or an ability to modulate taste receptors that are not shared with other sweeteners.
Tamil Nadu’s novel initiative results in reduced TB deaths (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
Tamil Nadu has pioneered an initiative across the State to reduce the mortality rate among people with tuberculosis. The initiative — TN-KET (Tamil Nadu Kasanoi Erappila Thittam, meaning TB death-free project) — which began in April 2022 in 2,500-odd public healthcare facilities that diagnosed TB in 30 districts, has already achieved significant reduction in the number of early TB deaths.
Nearly 70% of all TB deaths among notified TB patients take place in the first two months after diagnosis. In Tamil Nadu, thanks to TN-KET, deaths within two months of TB diagnosis, referred to as early TB deaths, have reduced from more than 600 in April 2022 to less than 350 in December 2022. Also, the average time to death after diagnosis doubled from less than 20 days before April to 40 days in July 2022.
The heart of the initiative is the ‘Differentiated TB Care’ aimed at assessing whether people with TB need ambulatory care or admission in a health facility to manage severe illness at the time of diagnosis.
The differentiated TB care guidelines, released by the Central TB Division in January 2021, requires comprehensive assessment of 16 clinical, laboratory and radiological parameters.
But the challenge is that undertaking the comprehensive assessment would take time, and most PHCs, many taluk and block-level healthcare facilities lack clinical and diagnostic capacity to carry out these assessments.
In lieu of the 16 parameters, Chennai-based National Institute of Epidemiology (ICMR-NIE), which is spearheading TN-KET along with the State TB Cell, found that preliminary assessment (triaging) of patients based on just three conditions — very severe undernutrition, respiratory insufficiency, and inability to stand without support — was feasible for quick identification at diagnosis and referral for admission in a healthcare facility for comprehensive assessment and further management of the disease.
The comprehensive assessment is mainly for identifying the medical conditions that require immediate treatment. Using only three conditions meant that people with severe TB illness needing immediate care were identified and admitted to a healthcare facility on the same day of diagnosis even under programmatic conditions, thus vastly cutting down the delay and increasing the chances of saving lives.
FAQ
What is India’s stand on same-sex marriage? (Page no. 18)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
On March 13, a Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud referred petitions to legally recognise same-sex marriages to a Constitution Bench of five judges of the Supreme Court. The Court has listed the case for final arguments on April 18.
The Court has been hearing multiple petitioners’ requests for legal recognition of same-sex marriages under a special law.
Initially, it took up the case of two partners who said the non-recognition of same-sex marriage amounted to discrimination that strikes at the root of “dignity and self-fulfilment” of LGBTQIA+ couples.
The petitioners cited the Special Marriage Act, 1954, which provides a civil marriage for couples who cannot marry under their personal law, and appealed to the Court to extend the right to the LGBTQIA+ community, by making the “marriage between any two persons” gender neutral.
Even if LGBTQIA+ couples may live together, legally, they are on a slippery slope. They do not enjoy the rights married couples do.
For example, LGBTQIA+ couples cannot adopt children or have a child by surrogacy; they do not have automatic rights to inheritance, maintenance and tax benefits; after a partner passes away, they cannot avail of benefits like pension or compensation.
Most of all, since marriage is a social institution, “that is created by and highly regulated by law,” without this social sanction, same-sex couples struggle to make a life together.
The Courts, leaning on Article 21 that guarantees the right to life and liberty, have time and again ruled in favour of inter-faith and inter-caste marriages, directing the police and other rights organisations to give them protection when they were threatened by parents or society, pointing out that “all adults have the right to marry a person of their choice.”
Profiles
A three-way alliance in the Indo-Pacific (Page no. 19)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Anthony Albanese, Rishi Sunak and Joe Biden, leaders of Australia, the U.K. and the U.S., appeared in front of the USS Missouri, a Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarine, in San Diego, California, to unveil the AUKUS agreement.
The three countries had announced a security alliance in September 2021 and had since then been in talks to thrash out the details of the pact.
Last week, the leaders outlined how AUKUS (acronym for Australia, the U.K, and the U.S.) is going to implement its decades-long partnership in undersea military systems and strategic technology.
At its crux, the AUKUS partnership is about helping Australia, the island continent in Oceania right outside the “second island chain” in the Pacific, build a fleet of at least eight nuclear-powered submarines.
The origins of the agreement go back to a visit by Andrew Shearer, the Director-General of Australia’s Office of National Intelligence, to the U.S. in April 2021, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
Mr. Shearer had an extraordinary request from the then Prime Minister, Scott Morrison — Canberra was looking at acquiring nuclear submarines.
Australia had six Collins-class diesel-electric boats, which were ageing and should be replaced by the early 2030s. The country had reached an agreement with France to buy diesel subs.
Nuclear-powered submarines, however, can stay underwater for far longer than diesel boats and travel at greater distance.
Australia will be able to operate such subs stealthily for prolonged periods, collect intelligence more robustly and deploy troops quickly. The leaders of the three countries held a top-level discussion in June that year on the sidelines of the G-7 summit in Britain.
What brought them together was the dragon in the Pacific. All three countries were facing the heat of China’s rise. The U.S. was already pivoting to Asia, seeking to reinforce its conventional might, strengthen and streamline coordination with existing allies and build new alliances.