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GUARANTEED PRELIMS SELECTION OR GET 100% FEE BACK Manda buffalo gets ‘unique breed’ tag2 Vaccine in the works against Nipah virus3 What is the ‘food emergency’ in Sri Lanka?5 India’s digital architecture: From infrastructure to superstructure7 Nipah virus: Focus on surveillance, contact tracing, central team tells Kerala govt9 IREDA to Support TANGEDCO in Green Energy projects; MoU Signed11 Union Agriculture Minister Shri Narendra Singh Tomar and Union Commerce Minister Shri Piyush Goyal address Chief Ministers’ Conference on initiatives and schemes for farmers’ welfare13 Explained17 ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY AND INDIAN NAVY COMMENCE BILATERAL EXERCISE – ‘AUSINDEX’19 Page 2 Source : www.thehindu.com Date : 2021-09-07 MANDA BUFFALO GETS ‘UNIQUE BREED’ TAG Relevant for: Economy | Topic: Economics of Animal-Rearing incl. White, Blue & Pink Revolutions

The National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR) has recognised the Manda buffalo, found in the Eastern Ghats and plateau of Koraput region of Odisha, as the 19th unique breed of buffaloes found in India.

The Manda are resistant to parasitic infections, less prone to diseases and can thrive on modest resources.

This buffalo germ-plasm was first identified through a survey conducted by the Animal Resource Development (ARD) department of Odisha in collaboration with the Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT).

Bishnupada Sethi, former ARD director and Susanta Kumar Dash, an animal geneticist of OUAT, had played a key role in seeking national recognition for the Manda breed.The NBAGR, affiliated to Indian Council of Agriculture Research, made an assessment and recognised it as an indigenous and unique breed.

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crackIAS.com Page 3 Source : www.thehindu.com Date : 2021-09-07 VACCINE IN THE WORKS AGAINST NIPAH VIRUS Relevant for: Science & Technology | Topic: Health & Sanitation and related issues

The ChadOx1 vaccine vector was customised to protect against the Nipah virus.

Can a Covishield-like vaccine give protection against the Nipah virus? Preliminary animal trial results seem to suggest so. In July, researchers at the Jenner Institute, Oxford University and the National Institutes of Health, United States, reported that the ChadOx1 vaccine vector, when customised to the Nipah virus, fully protected African green monkeys, a primate species.

No approved vaccine yet exists for the lethal Nipah virus that has killed a 12-year old boy in Kozhikode, Kerala. An outbreak of the virus in the State in 2018 killed 17 of the 18 confirmed with the virus.

The study appears on the pre-print server bioRxiv, indicating that it is yet to be peer-reviewed.

ChAdOx1 is a multi-purpose vaccine vector, meaning it can be customised to carry DNA from a wide variety of pathogens. The version of ChAdOx1 that is used in the Covishield or AstraZeneca vaccine is the ChAdOx1 with a piece of spike protein of SARS-CoV-2.

For the Nipah study, the scientists loaded a piece of glycoprotein from a Nipah virus strain found in Bangladesh, where annual outbreaks occur. This test vaccine for the purposes of the study was called ChadOx1 NiV.

8 monkeys chosen

One group of four monkeys was administered either two shots or a single shot of the ChadOx1NiV and another group of four was given shots of a dummy protein (ChAdOx1 GFP), again vectored by ChAdOx1. All the eight were then “challenged” or artificially infected with the Nipah virus, some given via the nose and others through the throat.

Within three days, the unvaccinated group manifested disease symptoms and within 5-7 days were euthanised after they were confirmed to manifest severe disease. On the other hand, the vaccinated animals showed no disease.

Throat and nose swabs from all unvaccinated animals revealed evidence of replicating virus whereas swabs from one only one vaccinated animal showed such signs of virus.

“These data suggest the vaccine may provide close to complete protective immunity in African green monkeys,” the scientists report in their study, “ If the next pandemic were to be caused by a membercrackIAS.com of the genus Henipavirus [to which the Nipah virus belongs], the current study could be influential in the development of a rapid vaccine.”

Hamster trial

The study in monkeys follows a study by the group on Syrian hamsters. Encouraging studies on the primates pave the way for trials in people.

For instance, the group’s work on developing a vaccine for the Middle Eastern Respiratory Virus (MERS) and tested in rhesus macaques paved the way for the development of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was among the first vaccines to be approved. Page 4

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crackIAS.com Page 5 Source : www.thehindu.com Date : 2021-09-07 WHAT IS THE ‘FOOD EMERGENCY’ IN SRI LANKA? Relevant for: International Relations | Topic: India - Sri Lanka

People queuing outside a supermarket to buy essential food items in Colombo.AFPISHARA S. KODIKARA

On August 30, 2021, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, using powers vested in the country’s Public Security Ordinance, declared Emergency regulations pertaining to the distribution of essential food items. The regulations sought to empower authorities to provide essential food items at a “concessionary rate” to the public by purchasing stocks of essential food items, including paddy, rice and sugar, at government-guaranteed prices, and prevent market irregularities and hoarding.

President Rajapaksa has appointed Major General N.D.S.P. Niwunhella as the Commissioner General of Essential Services. In the week since the regulations were promulgated, several questions have risen on their legal ambit, and their likely impact on the country’s larger economic crisis persisting for two years now.

Is there a precedent?

According to Austin Fernando, a retired civil servant who served as Commissioner General of Essential Services in the 1980s, the post came into prominence after the 1983 ‘Black July’ riots to ensure that affected families — Tamils who were targeted and attacked — had food supplies and other essentials; to facilitate their movement and return to their homes. “I held the post from 1986 to 1988 and was also tasked to look after the requirements of thousands of displaced in the North and East affected by the conflict,” he told The Hindu .

What is the criticism?

Criticism of the Emergency regulations has largely been over the government’s legal choices, and their political implications.

In a commentary on the regulations published in Sri Lankan media, senior constitutional lawyer, and former parliamentarian Jayampathy Wickramaratne argued that the government — with a comfortable parliamentary majority — “had all the time in the world” to bring in any legislation needed to deal with the crisis but opted not to do so.

“The danger is that given the present government’s propensity to stifle dissent, emergency regulations would be used to curb protests and other democratic action”, he wrote in The Island newspaper.crackIAS.com Is there a food shortage?

There is fear of one. The possibility has grabbed international headlines, with the government’s drastic measures against hoarding, triggering speculation over food security in Sri Lanka that is home to 21 million people. Fuelling the speculation are different factors, including the country’s known reliance on imports for essentials — such as petroleum, sugar, dairy products, wheat, medical supplies — its fast-dwindling foreign reserves, from $7.5 billion in November 2019 to $2.8 billion in July 2021, and the daunting foreign debt repayment schedule in the coming years.

The pandemic’s lethal blow since early 2020, to all major sources of foreign exchange earnings Page 6 — exports, worker remittances and tourism — has further compounded the economic stress.

Sri Lanka’s economy contracted by 3.6 % last year. According to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan rupee depreciated by 10.1% against the dollar this year. It hovered around 200 against a dollar last week.

The fear of a possible food shortage also stems from the Rajapaksa administration’s decision in April to ban import of chemical fertilizers and adopting an “organic only” approach.

Meanwhile, many, especially daily-wage earners, and low-income families, are complaining about being unable to afford, and in many cases access, essentials such as milk, sugar, and rice during the current lockdown, imposed on August 20 following a rapid surge in daily Covid-19 cases and fatalities, and extended twice since.

Prices of essential commodities — including rice, dhal, bread, sugar, vegetables, fish — have risen several times during the pandemic, and more rapidly in recent weeks.

What’s govt.’s response?

The government has denied reports of a food shortage. In a statement responding to international media reports, the Department of Government Information accused traders of creating an “artificial shortage”. With the recent Emergency regulations, the government has “dealt with the situation,” it said.

Few outside the government think so. “These Emergency regulations are not sustainable,” said K. Amirthalingam, Professor of Economics at the University of Colombo. “Sri Lanka does not have a universal public distribution system or ration cards that can ensure essential goods reach all consumers. The current regulations do not address our fundamental economic problem, and instead pose the risk of creating black markets,” he told The Hindu .

In his view, the recent measures, coupled with the government’s move last year to restrict import of non-essential goods, are taking Sri Lanka back in time. “After four decades since our economy was liberalised, we are going back to 1970s,” he said, referring to the time when then Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike promoted import substitution, a policy that her critics associate with food shortage and long queues of people waiting outside shops to buy essentials.

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END Downloaded from crackIAS.com crackIAS.com© Zuccess App by crackIAS.com Page 7 Source : www.livemint.com Date : 2021-09-07 INDIA’S DIGITAL ARCHITECTURE: FROM INFRASTRUCTURE TO SUPERSTRUCTURE Relevant for: Developmental Issues | Topic: Issues relating to Growth & Development - Industry & Services Sector incl. MSMEs and PSUs

Factoring enablers and account aggregation can underpin our ecosystem for financial inclusion

Even as India’s asset monetization initiative—the National Monetisation Pipeline—justifiably garnered attention, two recent initiatives which are far more substantive did not get their fair share of it. One was the Factoring Bill amendments passed on 29 July. Moving the Bill in the Lok Sabha, the finance minister promised that thousands of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) would now be able to buy receivables from Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). She was not exaggerating. Earlier, the law stipulated that for an NBFC to engage in the factoring business, its: (i) financial assets in the factoring business and (ii) income from the factoring business should both be more than 50% (of gross assets/net income), or more than a threshold as notified by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The Bill removed this threshold for NBFCs to engage in this business (bit.ly/3h4EPuZ).

Then, on 3 September, the country announced the launch of its Account Aggregator platform. Eight banks said that they would be rolling it out. Account Aggregators (AAs) are ‘data access fiduciaries’ who act as the front end of its Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture (DEPA). Okay, let me explain this in English. All of us leave various trails of data when we use smartphones and public WiFi. We don’t think about it. But, financial data is different. It needs to be secure and should be accessed only with the consent of the user (data owner) and for purposes the user had consented to. That is what DEPA assures every Indian. It empowers you and I, the folks who generate data when we do any transaction using digital means. AAs are trustees of our data. They do not get to peer into its details. Nor can they use this data. With our consent, however, they can pass on data from financial information providers (FIPs) to financial information users (FIU).

If you are an individual or run a small business and are applying for a collateral-free loan, the lender might ask you to submit reams of documents to establish your credit worthiness. You have to download these from different sources (bank statements, insurance policies, mutual fund holdings, etc.) or give the lender access to the same. Now, upon your approval, AAs will do that. The data in their hands will be encrypted and can only be decrypted by FIUs. These are typically financial institutions.

What does account aggregation do? It fills an information gap efficiently, securely and conveniently. This is critical. Most of the time, risk-based lending does not happen because information is either unavailable or not easily retrievable, and hence lenders stick to collateral- basedcrackIAS.com lending. Over time, as all parties get comfortable with the AA platform, that will change. Every formal financial transaction that we do online can be useful information in meeting our own future need for funding. In that sense, AAs can become agents of financial inclusion (pwc.to/38H52eE).

This has been in the making since 2016. It is another important milestone in the amazing digital transformation that the country is going through, most of which started with the PM Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) and Aadhaar. In August, the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) had brought out a report on India’s digital public goods. That they are public goods is very important. In the West, and in the US in particular, they are in private hands. Page 8 They have become veritable monopolies. They own, control, dictate and manipulate what information goes through the ‘highway’ that they have monopolized. In India, in contrast, “the Government emerging as an enabler of citizen-centric services is one of the key factors driving the rise of public digital platforms in India." Nasscom added that our digital platforms were developed at low cost, were inter-operable and had been adopted on a large scale. In another report, PwC India mentions that since its launch in April 2016, the Unified Payments Interface has taken the Indian payment ecosystem by storm (pwc.to/38H52eE). In its August bulletin, RBI notes that its Digital Payments Index rose 2.7 times in just three years after March 2018 (bit.ly/3zKDl0d).

It is also gratifying to note that the Goods and Services Tax Network has been given in-principle approval to become an FIP on the AA network. The GST network is such a huge repository of information that its being part of any data network is a big plus for MSMEs to access finance. Quietly, a lot of work has been done in the past seven years to empower and enable MSMEs.

Now, the GSTN and TReDS (Trade Receivables Discounting System) should shake hands and make it automatic that if a buyer accepts an invoice for claiming input tax credit, then the invoice shall be deemed accepted for TReDS purposes too. Further, if the GST Reverse Charge Mechanism were to be applied to MSME suppliers (which are too small to be paying GST), it could give the MSME sector a big boost.

After that, the only thing that would be pending is an amendment to India’s MSME Act to allow MSMEs to retain their classification until both sales turnover and investment criteria are exceeded, rather than any one of them. That will serve as an enduring foundation on which a durable edifice of economic growth can be built.

V. Anantha Nageswaran is a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. These are the author’s personal views.

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crackIAS.comEND Downloaded from crackIAS.com © Zuccess App by crackIAS.com Page 9 Source : www.livemint.com Date : 2021-09-07 NIPAH VIRUS: FOCUS ON SURVEILLANCE, CONTACT TRACING, CENTRAL TEAM TELLS KERALA GOVT Relevant for: Science & Technology | Topic: Health & Sanitation and related issues

The Kerala government on Monday issued a Nipah management plan listing the health protocol to be followed by government and private hospitals

The central team from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) that was deputed to Kerala's Kozhikode district in the wake of the Nipah virus outbreak has submitted its recommendations to the state government.

Following this, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan to Kerala chief secretary VP Joy, recommending the measures.

To control further spread of the virus, the team has suggested the state to focus on:

2. Contact tracing

3. Hospital infrastructure and logistics

Kerala govt's management plan

The Kerala government on Monday issued a Nipah management plan listing the health protocol to be followed by government and private hospitals.

State health minister Veena George in a statement said district authorities can prepare a separate management plan for Nipah and also informed that the treatment and discharge guidelines were also published.

She asked all districts authorities to remain cautious and to keep under observation those who are affected by encephalitis.

The state health department has been on high alert after a 12-year old boy from Kozhikode succumbed to Nipah virus infection on Sunday.

"The prime objective is surveillance, testing and treatment of the patients. As part of surveillance, effective contact tracing and quarantine will be done. Treatment protocol will be strictly followed and it will be constantly monitored," the minister said in a release. The NipahcrackIAS.com management plan will be coordinated at the state, district and hospital levels.

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crackIAS.com Page 11 Source : www.pib.gov.in Date : 2021-09-07 IREDA TO SUPPORT TANGEDCO IN GREEN ENERGY PROJECTS; MOU SIGNED Relevant for: Economy | Topic: Infrastructure: Energy incl. Renewable & Non-renewable

Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd. (IREDA) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Tamil Nadu Generation & Distribution Corporation Limited (TANGEDCO), for providing its technical expertise in developing Renewable Energy projects and fund raising.

The MoU was signed by Shri Pradip Kumar Das, Chairman & Managing Director (CMD), IREDA and Shri Rajesh Lakhoni, CMD, TANGEDCO in the presence of Shri M K Stalin, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Shri and other dignitaries.

Under the MoU, IREDA will extend its technical expertise to TANGEDCO for Renewable energy project development, bid process management, and implementation support. IREDA will also assist TANGEDCO in debt raising through developing financial models, assistance in the understanding market instrument, underwriting services for the proposed debt requirement, and conducting pre-market surveys, road shows to generate interest amongst prospective investors.

TANGEDCO is planning for 20,000 MW of Solar Power Project, with adequate Battery Storage, 3,000 MW of Pumped Storage Hydro Electric Project, and 2,000 MW of Gas Based Power Plant for efficient Renewable integration. The estimated loan required for the above projects is about Rs.1,32,500 Crores approximately. IREDA, as the largest lender of the Renewable Energy sector is committed to play an important role in the fulfillment of the financial requirements for RE projects.

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Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd. (IREDA) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Tamil Nadu Generation & Distribution Corporation Limited (TANGEDCO),crackIAS.com for providing its technical expertise in developing Renewable Energy projects and fund raising.

Under the MoU, IREDA will extend its technical expertise to TANGEDCO for Renewable energy project development, bid process management, and implementation support. IREDA will also assist TANGEDCO in debt raising through developing financial models, assistance in the Page 12 understanding market instrument, underwriting services for the proposed debt requirement, and conducting pre-market surveys, road shows to generate interest amongst prospective investors.

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crackIAS.com Page 13 Source : www.pib.gov.in Date : 2021-09-07 UNION AGRICULTURE MINISTER SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR AND UNION COMMERCE MINISTER SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL ADDRESS CHIEF MINISTERS’ CONFERENCE ON INITIATIVES AND SCHEMES FOR FARMERS’ WELFARE Relevant for: Indian Economy | Topic: Agriculture Issues and related constraints

Agriculture has to be linked with digital technology, scientific research and knowledge, stating this at the Chief Ministers’ conference on initiatives and schemes of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare held via video conferencing today,Union Agriculture Minister Shri Narendra Singh Tomar emphasized that the Central government and State governments must work together for agriculture to give a boost to the economy.

Talking about digital agriculture, the Minister urged all States to study the Karnataka Model whichcrackIAS.com was presented during the conference. He told the States to create a database for the State using the federated farmer database prepared by Government of Indiaand allow linkage to state land record database. He said that MoAFW has created database of 5.5 crore farmers and it will be increased to 8 crore farmers by December, 2021 with the help of State governments.The Minister said that with the establishment of Agriculture Infrastructure Fund, FPOs, PACS, Mandis and start-ups will get loans easily. Talking about the Oil Palm Mission the Minister said that ICAR has conducted a study on the areas in which oil palm cultivation can be expanded.

Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs and Textiles Shri PiyushGoyal said in his address that with an increase in agriculture exports, India is Page 14 emerging as a trusted export partner and there is further scope for improvement of agri-exports. He emphasized that the infrastructure needs to be strengthened for storage and warehousing.

The objectives of the conference were to highlight the salient features of AatmanirbharKrishi and to enable States to enhance farmers’ income. It was also an occasion to share innovative initiatives undertaken by the States.

The discussion with the States centeredaround the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund set up to drive infrastructure investment. The recent modifications in the scheme were explained – the eligibility has been extended to APMSs/state agencies/ National and state federations of cooperatives/ FPOs and SHGs. The eligible activities were explained like community farming, assets, post-harvest management projects and primary processing. The need to make India self-reliant in edible oils and palms was stressed and the role of the States was discussed. Digital agriculture and use of emerging technology for smart agriculture was also discussed.

The concept of farmers’ database was explained. A national farmer database is being created by taking data from existing schemes like PM-KISAN, soil health card and PM FasalBimaYojana. The database will have connectivity to State land records data base. The Pradhan MantriKisanSammanNidhi and the saturation ofKisan Credit Card for small and marginal farmers was also discussed. Upgradation of the beneficiary database was emphasized. There was discussion on export of agriculture products and the role of APEDA (Agrictural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority) in increasing agriculture exports. APEDA will facilitate cluster centric capacity building exercise for state officials, FPOs, farmers, start-ups etc.

The first day of the two-day conference saw the participation of Chief Ministers and Agriculture Ministers of around a dozen States.

Union Minister of States Shri Kailash Choudhary gave the vote of thanks. Secretary, MoAFW, Shri Sanjay Agarwal gave the welcome address and moderated the conference. MoSMs. ShobhaKarandlaje, Secretary MoF&PD, Shri Sudhanshu Pandey were also present. Additional Secretary, MoAFW Shri Vivek Agarwal gave a presentation on the agenda points of the conference. Chairman, APEDA gave a presentation on Agri exports. Other senior officials from Central and State Governments also participated in the conference.

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APS/JK

Agriculture has to be linked with digital technology, scientific research and knowledge, stating this at the Chief Ministers’ conference on initiatives and schemes of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare held via video conferencing today,Union Agriculture Minister Shri Narendra SinghcrackIAS.com Tomar emphasized that the Central government and State governments must work together for agriculture to give a boost to the economy.

Page 15

Talking about digital agriculture, the Minister urged all States to study the Karnataka Model which was presented during the conference. He told the States to create a database for the State using the federated farmer database prepared by Government of Indiaand allow linkage to state land record database. He said that MoAFW has created database of 5.5 crore farmers and it will be increased to 8 crore farmers by December, 2021 with the help of State governments.The Minister said that with the establishment of Agriculture Infrastructure Fund, FPOs, PACS, Mandis and start-ups will get loans easily. Talking about the Oil Palm Mission the Minister said that ICAR has conducted a study on the areas in which oil palm cultivation can be expanded.

Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs and Textiles Shri PiyushGoyal said in his address that with an increase in agriculture exports, India is emerging as a trusted export partner and there is further scope for improvement of agri-exports. He emphasized that the infrastructure needs to be strengthened for storage and warehousing.

The discussion with the States centeredaround the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund set up to drive infrastructure investment. The recent modifications in the scheme were explained – the eligibilitycrackIAS.com has been extended to APMSs/state agencies/ National and state federations of cooperatives/ FPOs and SHGs. The eligible activities were explained like community farming, assets, post-harvest management projects and primary processing. The need to make India self-reliant in edible oils and palms was stressed and the role of the States was discussed. Digital agriculture and use of emerging technology for smart agriculture was also discussed.

The concept of farmers’ database was explained. A national farmer database is being created by taking data from existing schemes like PM-KISAN, soil health card and PM FasalBimaYojana. The database will have connectivity to State land records data base. The Pradhan MantriKisanSammanNidhi and the saturation ofKisan Credit Card for small and marginal farmers was also discussed. Upgradation of the beneficiary database was emphasized. Page 16 There was discussion on export of agriculture products and the role of APEDA (Agrictural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority) in increasing agriculture exports. APEDA will facilitate cluster centric capacity building exercise for state officials, FPOs, farmers, start-ups etc.

The first day of the two-day conference saw the participation of Chief Ministers and Agriculture Ministers of around a dozen States.

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APS/JK

crackIAS.com Page 17 Source : www.thehindu.com Date : 2021-09-07 EXPLAINED Relevant for: Science & Technology | Topic: Health & Sanitation and related issues

The virus takes from 6-21 days to incubate and manifest as disease. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

STORY SO FAR: Kerala has reported a fatality from a case of infection by the Nipah virus in the northern district of Kozhikode bringing back memories of the chaos in May-June 2018 when the same district reported 18 confirmed cases of which there were 17 laboratory-confirmed deaths. It’s the high mortality associated with the virus that triggered panic across the State and the country and when it was controlled the State’s healthcare surveillance system came in for praise though, as it turned out, it was only a test-run for the pandemic of 2020.

The human Nipah virus, as it is called, is classified as an “emerging zoonotic disease”, meaning that it can transfer to people after being incubated in other species. It was first recognised in a large outbreak of 276 cases in Malaysia and Singapore from September 1998-1999.

Prior to the Kerala outbreak of 2018, there have been several Nipah virus outbreaks in Bangladesh with spillovers into India particularly in 2001 and 2007 at Siliguri and Nadia in West Bengal. During the outbreak in Siliguri, 33 health workers and hospital visitors became ill after exposure to patients hospitalised with Nipah virus illness. At least 70 people died in the outbreaks in these two districts. In the 2018 outbreak in Kerala, four from the family of the first person confirmed with the infection succumbed to the viral disease.

Nipah virus (NiV) is classified as a “highly pathogenic paramyxovirus” and handling the virus requires the highest grade of facilities called BS-4. The natural reservoir for the virus are large fruit bats of Pteropus genus. From here the virus may pass on to pigs who may be infected after eating fruits that are bitten on by infected bats.

The initial outbreaks were reported among pig breeders whereas in Bangladesh the virus was suspected to have jumped to humans who directly consumed fruits that may have been contaminated by bat saliva or urine. The virus takes from 6-21 days to incubate and manifest as disease.

Drinking of raw date palm sap contaminated with NiV and close physical contact with Nipah- infected patients are believed to be the two main modes of spread. The person-to person transmission may occur from close physical contact, especially by contact with body fluids.

Unlike in the case of the novel coronavirus which is more airborne and can spread among great distances, the Nipah virus isn’t a very efficient spreader. Contact with body fluids and an infected person’scrackIAS.com respiratory droplets, that aren’t expected to travel very far, are said to be the main sources of spread which explains why close family members in a house are said to be at highest risk along with the infection spreading in hospital settings between patients.

Fever, delirium, severe weakness, headache, respiratory distress, cough, vomiting, muscle pain, convulsion, diarrhoea are the main associated symptoms. In infected people, Nipah virus causes severe illness characterised by inflammation of the brain (encephalitis) or respiratory diseases which is why it is associated with a high fatality rate. Because of the lethality of the virus, very few labs such as the Pune-based National Institute of Virology are equipped to confirm it by isolating the virus. Page 18 Antibody tests that detect the presence of antibodies in the serum of cerebrospinal fluid can be used to detect infection or the RNA of the virus can be detected from respiratory secretions, urine or cerebrospinal fluid.

Currently there is no known treatment or vaccine available for either people or animals. Ribavirin, an antiviral may have a role in reducing mortality among patients with encephalitis caused by Nipah virus disease, according to a fact sheet by the National Centre for Disease Control.

The thrust of treatment relies on managing symptoms.

There are, however, immunotherapeutic treatments (monoclonal antibody therapies) that are currently under development and evaluation for treatment of NiV infections. One such monoclonal antibody, m102.4, has completed phase 1 clinical trials and has been used on a compassionate use basis. In addition, the antiviral treatment remdesivir has been effective in nonhuman primates when given as post-exposure prophylaxis, according to the U.S. Centres for Disease Control. There are no approved vaccines or even test-vaccines as part of human trials for the virus.

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Clinical trial to pair Covaxin, nasal vaccine doses on cards, Mr. Ella says.

DCGI nod is significant given shortage of Covaxin.

crackIAS.com Page 19 Source : www.pib.gov.in Date : 2021-09-07 ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY AND INDIAN NAVY COMMENCE BILATERAL EXERCISE – ‘AUSINDEX’ Relevant for: International Relations | Topic: India - Australia

The participating Indian Naval Ships Shivalik and Kadmatt are the latest indigenously designed and built Guided Missile Stealth Frigate and Anti-Submarine Corvette respectively. They form part of the Indian Navy's Eastern Fleet based at Visakhapatnam under the Eastern Naval Command.

Commenced in 2015 as a bilateral IN-RAN maritime exercise, AUSINDEX has grown in complexity over the years and the 3rd edition of the exercise, held in 2019 in the Bay of Bengal, included anti-submarine drills for the first time.

In the Fourth Edition, the surface units of both the countries will be exercising with HMAS Rankin, a Collins Class Australian Submarine, Royal Australian Air Force P-8A and F-18A aircraft, along with integral helicopters of both the Navies. The exercise will provide an opportunity for both Navies to further bolster inter-operability, gain from best practices and develop a common understanding of procedures for Maritime Security Operations.

The exercise is a true representation of Joint Guidance signed by the Chief of the Naval Staff, IN and Chief of Navy, RAN on 18 Aug 21. This important document is aligned to the '2020 Comprehensive Strategic Partnership' between the two nations and aims to further consolidate shared commitment to regional and global security challenges promoting peace, security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. The conduct of this exercise despite COVID restrictions is also a testimony of existing synergy between the participating Navies. crackIAS.com Page 20

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CGR/VM/PS

Indian Navy Task Group comprising IN Ships Shivalik and Kadmatt, under the Command of Flag Officer Commanding, Eastern Fleet, Rear Admiral Tarun Sobti, VSM is participating in the 4th edition of AUSINDEX from 06 to 10 Sep 21. Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Anzac Class Frigate, HMAS Warramunga which participated in Exercise MALABAR along with the IN units is also part of the exercise. This edition of AUSINDEX includes complex surface, sub-surface and air operations between ships, submarines, helicopters and Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft of the participating Navies. The participatingcrackIAS.com Indian Naval Ships Shivalik and Kadmatt are the latest indigenously designed and built Guided Missile Stealth Frigate and Anti-Submarine Corvette respectively. They form part of the Indian Navy's Eastern Fleet based at Visakhapatnam under the Eastern Naval Command.

In the Fourth Edition, the surface units of both the countries will be exercising with HMAS Page 23 Rankin, a Collins Class Australian Submarine, Royal Australian Air Force P-8A and F-18A aircraft, along with integral helicopters of both the Navies. The exercise will provide an opportunity for both Navies to further bolster inter-operability, gain from best practices and develop a common understanding of procedures for Maritime Security Operations.

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CGR/VM/PS