• The CSIR-CMERI indigenously developed an Oxygen enrichment unit recently.

Oxygen Enrichment Unit

• An Oxygen enrichment unit is a device, which concentrates the Oxygen from the air around us by selectively removing nitrogen to supply an oxygen-enriched air.
• The unit works on the principle of Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) and utilizes Zeolite Columns to selectively remove nitrogen from air under certain pressure, thereby increasing the Oxygen Concentration.
• The subsystems of oxygen enrichment unit are Compressor, solenoid operated 3/2 valves, flow meter and Pre-Filter.
• The concentrated Oxygen is delivered to the patients, having respiratory diseases, through oxygen mask or nasal cannula.
• The device may be used in remote places, homes or hospital like facilities for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD), chronic hypoxemia and pulmonary edema.
• It may be used as an adjunct treatment for severe sleep apnea (in conjunction with a continuous positive airway pressure unit).

Working

• The Compressor feeds pressurized air into the module and oxygen is enriched on the permeate side due to its preferential permeation over nitrogen. 
• The suspended particles, viruses, bacteria present in the air are filtered out by the available HEPA filter.
• The machine can regulate flow with accuracy 0.5 Ipm.
• This facility will help in High Flow Oxygen Therapy, which is proven to be a better method in treatment and management of COVID-19 patients.

• Ministry of Science & Technology has recently launched a multipronged nationwide mass awareness campaign with information packages to bust myths about COVID 19 vaccination in 11 languages, including English and Hindi, make the immunization programme successful.
• The COVID-19 vaccination awareness campaign organized by Indian National Young Academy of Sciences (INYAS) will be carried out through COVACNEWS android-based mobile app made by INYAS for ensuring information at the fingertips.

Indian National Young Academy of Sciences (INYAS)

• It is the first and only recognized young scientist academy of India.
• INYAS was founded by the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) council in December 2014 with a vision to promote Science education and networking among young scientists at National as well as International level.
• Currently, it has 80 members.
• INYAS provides a platform to exchange ideas, initiate discussions on scientific topics, collaborations among the new generation of scientists and to make the voices of the young researchers be heard by senior academicians and policy makers of the country.

• The Government of India has recently notified the Copyright (Amendment) Rules, 2021.
• In India, the copyright regime is governed by the Copyright Act, 1957 and the Copyright Rules, 2013.
• The Copyright Rules, 2013 were last amended in the year 2016.

Copyright (Amendment) Rules, 2021

• It aims to ensure smooth and flawless compliance in the light of the technological advancement in digital era by adopting electronic means as primary mode of communication and working in the Copyright Office.

Amendments

• Elimination of Publication in Official Gazette - A new provision regarding publication of a copyrights journal has been incorporated, thereby eliminating the requirement of publication in the Official Gazette.
• The said journal would be available at the website of the Copyright Office.
• Accountability and Transparency - In order to encourage accountability and transparency, new provisions have been introduced, to deal with the undistributed royalty amounts and use of electronic and traceable payment methods while collection and distribution of royalties.
• To reinforce transparency in working of copyright societies a new rule has been introduced, whereby the copyright societies will be required to draw up and make public an Annual Transparency Report for each financial year.
• Merger - The amendments have harmonised the Copyright Rules with the provisions of Finance Act, 2017 whereby the Copyright Board has been merged with Appellate Board.
• Registration of Software - The compliance requirements for registration of software works have been largely reduced, as now the applicant has the liberty to file the first 10 and last 10 pages of source code, or the entire source code if less than 20 pages, with no blocked out or redacted portions.
• Increased Time Limit - The time limit for the Central Government to respond to an application made before it for registration as a copyright society is extended to one hundred and eighty days, so that the application can be more comprehensively examined.

• Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ recently launched the NanoSniffer, the world’s first Microsensor-based Explosive Trace Detector (ETD).

Nanosniffer

• It has been developed by NanoSniff Technologies which is an IIT Bombay incubated startup.
• It can detect explosives in less than 10 seconds and it also identifies and categorizes explosives into different classes.
• It detects all classes of military, conventional and homemade explosives.
• NanoSniffer gives visible & audibles with sunlight-readable color display.
• It is a step towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a self-reliant India.
• NanoSniffer is a 100 per cent Made in India product in terms of research, development & manufacturing.
• The core technology of NanoSniffer is protected by patents in the U.S. & Europe.
• This affordable device will reduce our dependency on imported explosive trace detector devices.
• It will also encourage other institutions, startups and medium-scale industries to research & develop products indigenously. 

• Fermilab, the American particle accelerator, has released first results from its “muon g-2” experiment.
• These results spotlight the anomalous behaviour of the elementary particle called the muon.
• The muon g-2 experiment measured the extent of the anomaly and the Fermilab announced recently that “g” deviated from the amount predicted by the Standard Model. 

Muons

• Muons are elementary subatomic particles similar to the electron but heavier than electron.
• They belong to lepton family and has two forms, the negatively charged muon and its positively charged antiparticle.
• A muon is relatively unstable, with a lifetime of only 2.2 microseconds before it decays by the weak force into an electron and two kinds of neutrinos.
• Muons are expected to have a value of 2 for its magnetic moment, labelled “g”.

Disqualification of MLAs

• Constitutional Provisions for Disqualification of MLAs

Under the Constitution, a person shall be disqualified for being chosen as and for being a member of the legislative assembly or legislative council of a state:

1. If he holds any office of profit under the Union or state government (except that of a minister or any other office exempted by state legislature),
2. If he is of unsound mind and stands so declared by a court,
3. If he is an undischarged insolvent,
4. If he is not a citizen of India or has voluntarily acquired the citizenship of a foreign state or is under any acknowledgement of allegiance to a foreign state, and
5. If he is so disqualified under any law made by Parliament.

• Parliamentary Provisions for Disqualification of MLAs

The Parliament has prescribed a number of additional disqualifications in the Representation of People Act (1951) and the same is followed by Legislative Assembly and Council:

1. He must not have been found guilty of certain election offences or corrupt practices in the elections.
2. He must not have been convicted for any offence resulting in imprisonment for two or more years.
3. But, the detention of a person under a preventive detention law is not a disqualification.
4. He must not have failed to lodge an account of his election expenses within the time.

• The governor’s decision is final on the question whether a member has become subject to any of the above disqualifications and the governor should obtain the opinion of the Election Commission and act accordingly.

Disqualification on Ground of Defection

• The Constitution lays down that a person shall be disqualified for being a member of either House of state legislature if he is so disqualified on the ground of defection under the provisions of the Tenth Schedule.
• The question of disqualification under the Tenth Schedule is decided by the Chairman, in the case of legislative council and, Speaker, in the case of legislative assembly.
• In 1992, the Supreme Court ruled that the decision of Chairman/Speaker in this regard is subject to judicial review.

Forex reserve of a country

• Foreign-exchange reserves are, in a strict sense, only foreign-currency deposits held by national central banks and monetary authorities.
• However, in popular usage and in the list below, it also includes gold reserves, special drawing rights (SDRs) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) reserve position because this total figure, which is usually more accurately termed as official reserves or international reserves or official international reserves, is more readily available and also arguably more meaningful.
• These foreign-currency deposits are the financial assets of the central banks and monetary authorities that are held in different reserve currencies (e.g. the U.S. dollar, the Euro, the Japanese Yen, Swiss Franc, Chinese Yuan, Indian Rupees and the Pound Sterling).
• These are used to back its liabilities (e.g. the local currency issued and the various bank reserves deposited with the Central bank by the government or financial institutions).
• China is the top nation with high amount of forex reserve where India has the fourth highest amount of forex reserve amounting 579000 Million USD.

Provisions under Tribunal Reforms Ordinance 2021

• Recently, the President promulgated Tribunal Reforms (Rationalisation and Conditions of Service) Ordinance 2021 through which the Appellate authorities under nine laws have been replaced with High Courts.
• It empowered the central government to notify rules on qualifications of members, terms and conditions of their service, and composition of search-cum-selection committees for 19 tribunals (such as Customs, Excise, and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal).
• Search-cum-selection committees will consist of:

1. Chief Justice of India, or a Supreme Court Judge nominated by him, as the Chairperson (with casting vote),
2. Secretaries nominated by the central government,
3. The sitting or outgoing Chairperson, or a retired Supreme Court Judge, or a retired Chief Justice of a High Court.
4. The Secretary of the Ministry under which the Tribunal is constituted (with no voting right).

• The term of office for the Chairperson of the tribunals will be of four years or till the attainment of the age of seventy years, whichever is earlier.
• For other members of the tribunals, the term will be of four years or till the age of sixty-seven years, whichever is earlier.
• The Nine Laws (Replacement of Appellate Authorities/Tribunals):

1. The Cinematograph Act, 1952.
2. The Trade Marks Act, 1999.
3. The Copyright Act, 1957.
4. The Customs Act, 1962.
5. The Patents Act, 1970.
6. The Airports Authority of India Act, 1994.
7. The Control of National Highways (Land and Traffic) Act, 2002.
8. The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999.

Peltzman Effect

• The reduction of predicted benefit from regulations that intend to increase safety is sometimes referred to as the Peltzman effect.
• Peltzman first published the “Effects of Automobile Safety Regulation" in the Journal of Political Economy in 1975 in which he controversially suggested that "offsets (due to risk compensation) are virtually complete, so that regulation has not decreased highway deaths".
• According to Peltzman, regulation was at best useless, at worst counterproductive.
• Peltzamn effect is often connected with HIV and HPV infections and it’s safety measures, in recent times it is being associated with Covid-19.

Central Vigilance Commission

• Central Vigilance Commission is conceived to be the apex vigilance institution, free of control from any executive authority, monitoring all vigilance activity under the Central Government.
• It advises various authorities in Central Government organizations in planning, executing, reviewing and reforming their vigilance work.
• The CVC was set up by the Government in February, 1964 on the recommendations of the Committee on Prevention of Corruption, headed by K. Santhanam.
• CVC has no investigation wing of its own as it depends on the CBI and the Chief Vigilance Officers (CVO) of central organizations, while CBI has its own investigation wing drawing its powers from Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946.
• It is a multi-member Commission consisting of a Central Vigilance Commissioner (Chairperson) and not more than 2 Vigilance Commissioners (Member).

Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) guidelines

• Recently, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has modified the guidelines pertaining to the transfer and posting of officials in the vigilance units of government organisations, restricting their tenure to three years at one place.
• The tenure of personnel in a vigilance unit at one place including lower level functionaries, should be limited to three years only.
• The tenure may be extended to three more years, although at a different place of posting.
• The personnel, who have completed more than five years in vigilance units at the same place, should be shifted on top priority basis.
• After transfer from the vigilance unit, a compulsory cooling off period of three years should be observed before a person can be considered again for posting in the vigilance unit of the organisation concerned.