7 October 2024

• Nobel Prize: Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation.
• Defence: India deployed T-90 Bhishma tanks to Ladakh for high-altitude operations. China's ZTQ-15 light tanks were positioned across the Line of Actual Control.
• Agriculture: The Bureau of Indian Standards began work on a National Agriculture Code to standardise farming practices from crop selection through post-harvest operations.
• Conservation: The Halari donkey of Gujarat was flagged as endangered with fewer than 500 individuals remaining.

GS area: Science and Technology (Biology, Medicine)

The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm announced the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on 7 October 2024. The prize went to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun jointly for discovering microRNA.

• What is microRNA (miRNA): A class of very short RNA molecules, typically 22 nucleotides in length. They do not code for proteins. Instead, they regulate gene expression after the gene has been transcribed. This is called post-transcriptional gene regulation.
• The discovery: In 1993, while studying the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans (a 1-millimetre organism widely used in genetics research), Ambros found that the gene lin-4 produced a tiny RNA rather than a protein. Ruvkun showed that this tiny RNA suppressed another gene by binding to its messenger RNA.
• Significance: Before this discovery, scientists believed regulation of gene expression happened primarily at the transcription stage. The discovery opened a completely new layer of control: RNA molecules regulating other RNA molecules after transcription is complete.
• Scale of the system: Humans have over 1,000 types of microRNA. Together they are estimated to regulate more than half of all human protein-coding genes.
• Medical implications: Dysregulated microRNA is associated with cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and autoimmune disorders. MicroRNA profiles are being developed as biomarkers for diagnosis and as targets for therapies.

Static linkage: Molecular biology, gene regulation, biotechnology (Science and Technology).

GS area: Internal Security, International Relations

Reports detailed the positions of Indian and Chinese armour along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh at altitudes between 13,000 and 15,000 feet.

• India's deployment: T-90 Bhishma main battle tanks. These are 47-tonne third-generation tanks equipped with a 125 mm smoothbore gun, a guided missile system with a 5-kilometre range, and an explosive reactive armour system.
• Operating challenges: At those altitudes, temperatures fall to minus 40 degrees Celsius, oxygen is sparse enough to affect both personnel and engine performance, and equipment degrades rapidly.
• China's deployment: The ZTQ-15 is a purpose-built high-altitude light tank at roughly 33 tonnes. It is lighter and better suited to mountain terrain than China's main battle tanks. China also positioned Type 96A tanks and wheeled armoured personnel carriers.
• India's response: Indigenous development of the "Zorawar" light tank, announced for trials by 2025. The T-72 Ajeya, an older model in India's fleet, is also being upgraded.

Static linkage: India-China relations, Ladakh, defence modernisation (Security and International Relations).

GS area: Economy (Agriculture)

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) began drafting the National Agriculture Code (NAC), a framework to standardise agricultural practices across India.

• Scope: The code will cover the full farm-to-gate cycle: crop selection, soil preparation, irrigation, input use, harvest, and post-harvest operations. It also incorporates organic farming and natural farming standards, and IoT-based precision agriculture protocols.
• Timeline: A draft is expected for public consultation by October 2025.
• Implementation: Demonstration farms called Standardised Agriculture Demonstration Farms will test and showcase the code's practices.
• Rationale: Fragmented practices across states lead to large productivity gaps. Standardisation through the NAC is intended to reduce the gap between best-practice farmers and average farmers.

Static linkage: Agricultural productivity, BIS (Economy).

GS area: Environment (Biodiversity, Animal Breeds)

The Halari donkey, endemic to the Halar region covering Jamnagar and Dwarka districts of Gujarat, was flagged as critically endangered with fewer than 500 individuals surviving.

• Historical use: Halari donkeys were used for construction, dam building, and heavy load carrying in Gujarat's coastal belt.
• Economic value today: Individual animals now sell for over one lakh rupees. Their milk is exported as powder for 7,000 rupees per kilogram, primarily to cosmetics and health markets in Europe and the Middle East.
• Threat: Mechanisation of construction and transport made them economically redundant for traditional uses. Herders shifted to other livelihoods and stopped maintaining flocks.

Static linkage: Indigenous animal breeds, biodiversity conservation (Environment).

GS area: History (Prehistory and Early History)

Excavations at the Doddalathur megalithic site in Chamarajanagar district, Karnataka, continued to yield finds from the Iron Age period (1200 BC to 300 CE).

• Type of site: Hundreds of megalithic burials arranged with boulder circles. Megaliths are large stone structures erected as burial or ceremonial monuments.
• Period significance: The Iron Age in the Deccan peninsula corresponds to the spread of iron technology, settled agriculture, and proto-urban communities. Megalithic burial traditions are characteristic of this period.
• Excavation lead: University of Mysore.

Static linkage: Prehistoric India, megalithic culture, Karnataka history (History).

GS area: Science and Technology (Energy)

Technology companies including Google announced partnerships with nuclear energy firms to power their data centres using Small Modular Reactors (SMRs).

• What an SMR is: A nuclear reactor with a capacity of up to 300 megawatts, compared to 1,000 megawatts or more for a conventional large reactor. The smaller size allows factory fabrication of components and modular on-site assembly.
• Google's deal: An agreement with Kairos Power to procure 500 megawatts of carbon-free nuclear power by 2035.
• Advantages: Scalable, low-carbon, can be sited in remote locations, high capacity factors exceeding 90 per cent.
• Challenges: Limited commercial deployment to date. Higher per-unit cost than large reactors. Regulatory frameworks for SMRs are still being developed in most countries. Waste management remains the same challenge as large reactors.
• India's context: The Department of Atomic Energy has included SMRs in India's nuclear energy expansion plans under the 100 GW nuclear target.

Static linkage: Nuclear energy, climate targets, energy transition (Science and Technology).