India gifts Dornier aircraft to Sri Lanka (GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Why in news?
- Recently, India gifted a Dornier maritime reconnaissance aircraft to Sri Lanka.
- Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe was present at the impressive handover ceremony which took place on a day when India celebrated its 76th Independence Day.
Maritime security:
- It will enable the island nation to tackle multiple challenges like human and drug trafficking, smuggling and other organised forms of crime in its coastal waters more effectively.
- Such cooperation is envisaged to add further capability and capacity to Sri Lanka and is in line with the vision of Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR).
- The maritime security has been identified as a key pillar of the Colombo Security Conclave.
What’s next?
- The aircraft is being provided to Sri Lanka from the inventory of the Indian Navy to help the country meet its immediate security requirement.
- India will provide to Sri Lanka two Dornier aircraft which are being manufactured by state-run aerospace major Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
- Once these two HAL-manufactured aircraft are handed over, then the Dornier aircraft will return to the Indian Navy.
- This is the start of cooperation between the Sri Lanka Air Force, Sri Lanka Navy with the Indian Navy in maritime surveillance.
Researchers develop 3D printed artificial cornea
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
Why in news?
- Recently, researchers from Hyderabad have 3D-printed an artificial cornea and transplanted it into a rabbit’s eye.
Collaboration:
- A team of clinicians and scientists from the LV Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI), Hyderabad, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad, and Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), have collaborated to develop the 3D-printed cornea from the human donor corneal tissue which would have otherwise been discarded for not meeting optical standards for clinical transportation.
Corneal damage:
- Corneal damage is the leading cause of blindness worldwide with more than 1.5 million new cases of corneal blindness reported every year.
- Pointing at the wide gap between the demand and supply of donor corneal tissue worldwide, and lack of adequate eye banking networks, they said that less than 5% of new cases every year are treated by corneal transplantations due to donor tissue shortage.
Natural:
- While corneal substitutes are being actively researched throughout the world, they are either animal-based or synthetic.
- The recent researchers said that their product is completely natural, contains no synthetic components, and is free of animal residues.
- It is developed indigenously through government and philanthropic funding.
Key Highlights:
- With recent advancements in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, the researchers used decellularised corneal tissue matrix and stem cells derived from the human eye to develop a unique biomimetic hydrogel (patent pending) that was used as the background material for the 3D-printed cornea.
- Because the 3D-printed cornea is composed of materials deriving from human corneal tissue, it is biocompatible, natural, and free of animal residues.
- In addition, since the tissue used for this technology is derived from donor corneas that do not meet the optical standards for clinical transplantation, this method also finds unique use for the donated corneas that would otherwise be discarded.
Made in India:
- Corneal transplantation is the current standard of care for cases with severe disease and vision loss. The made-in-India product could offer an alternative solution to corneal blindness.
- Each donor cornea can aid in the preparation of three 3D-printed corneas.
- The cornea can be printed in various diameters from 3 mm to 13 mm and can be customised based on the specifications of the patient.
Way Forward:
- This can be a ground-breaking and disruptive innovation in treating diseases like corneal scarring (where the cornea becomes opaque) or Keratoconus (where the cornea gradually becomes thin with time).
- The printed corneas need to undergo further clinical testing and development before they can be used in patients, which could take several years. The team is hopeful of a positive outcome.
Tibetan Plateau to experience significant water loss this century
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Why in news?
- The Tibetan Plateau will experience significant water loss this century due to global warming, according to recent research that warns of severe supply stress in a climate change ‘hotspot’.
Background:
- The reservoirs of the Tibetan Plateau, which covers much of southern China and northern India, are fed by monsoons and currently supply most of the water demand for nearly two billion people.
- But the plateau's complex terrain has made it difficult for scientists to predict how warming temperatures and altered weather patterns linked to climate change will affect the region's water stores.
Satellite image:
- Researchers based in China and the United States used satellite-based measurements to determine the net change in water and ice mass over the past two decades.
- They added in direct measurements of glaciers, lakes and sub-surface water levels to estimate changes in the water mass, then used a machine learning technique to predict storage changes under scenarios such as higher air temperature and reduced cloud cover.
Key findings:
- They found that due to an increasingly warm and wet climate, the Tibetan Plateau has lost just over 10 billion tonnes of water a year since 2002.
- They projected changes in water storage across the plateau under a middle-of-the-road emissions scenario, where levels of carbon pollution stay roughly at current levels before falling gradually after 2050.
- They found two river basins were particularly vulnerable to water loss.
- For the Amu Darya, central Asia's largest river, water loss could be equivalent to 119 per cent of the current demand.
- Communities reliant on the Indus basement for water supply could see a loss equivalent to 79 per cent of current demand.
Way Forward:
- They recommended that governments begin to explore alternative water supply options, including more groundwater extraction, to make up for the anticipated shortfall.
- The substantial reductions in carbon emissions over the next decade would limit global warming and the predicted collapse of the Tibetan Plateau water towers.
- But even in a best-case scenario, further losses are likely unavoidable, which will require substantial adaptation to decreasing water resources in this vulnerable, highly populated region of the world.
50 years of PIN Code as India completes 75 years of Independence
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
Why in news?
- This Independence Day is not just significant as it marks the 76th anniversary of India's Independence, but because the Postal Identification Number (PIN) has turned 50 this August 15.
- The Postal Service's PIN Code, used to send couriers, letters and other postal items across the country, was launched on August 15 in the year 1972.
- The PIN code system was introduced in India by Shriram Bhikaji Velankar, who was the then additional secretary in the Union Ministry of Communications and a senior member of the Posts and Telegraphs Board.
Why was PIN code needed?
- The need for PIN code was felt when cases of duplication of names of several places across India increased.
- Also, addresses in different languages made it impossible for postmen to locate the recipients. Thus, a code system helped postmen deliver postal items to the right address and to the right people.
How does the PIN code work?
- PIN codes are made up of six-digit numbers, which makes it easier for the postman to trace and deliver a letter to the recipient.
- The first number of the PIN code indicates the postal zone — Eastern, Western, Northern and Southern. Number 9 indicates the Army Postal Service.
- The second number of the PIN Code denotes a sub-region, and the third number represents the sorting district.
- The final three digits of the PIN code are handed over to individual post offices within the sorting district of the zone.
What are some parallel systems followed world over?
- Globally, in the US, the Zone Improvement Plan (ZIP) code was introduced July 1, 1963, under the aegis of the Postal Service Nationwide Improved Mail Service plan to improve the speed of mail delivery.
- In the UK, the sorting of mail started getting mechanised in the mid-1960s. The key to mechanisation is an alphanumeric postal code that provides for sorting by machine at every stage of handling, including the carrier’s delivery route.
- The coding equipment translates the postal code into a pattern of dots by means of which machines can sort mail at eight times the speed of manual sorting.
- Japan created its postal code address system in July 1968, and automatic postal code reader-sorters exist in major post offices of the country.
