According to the researchers:

• They have developed an innovative treatment that may defeat the virus with a one-time injection, with the potential of bringing about tremendous improvement in the patients’ condition.
• When the engineered B cells encounter the virus, the virus stimulates and encourages them to divide, so they are utilizing the very cause of the disease to combat it.
• Furthermore, if the virus changes, the B cells will also change accordingly in order to combat it, so they have created the first medication ever that can evolve in the body and defeat viruses in ‘arms race’.

KEY POINTS:

• A new study from Tel Aviv University offers a unique treatment for AIDS — a vaccine or a one-time treatment for patients with HIV.
• The study examined the engineering of type B white blood cells in the patient’s body so as to secrete anti-HIV antibodies in response to the virus.
• They had been able to engineer B cells outside of the body, and in this study, they were the first to do this in the body and to make these cells generate desired antibodies.
• The genetic engineering is done with viral carriers derived from viruses that were engineered so as not to cause damage but only to bring the gene coded for the antibody into the B cells in the body.
• They have been able to accurately introduce the antibodies into a desired site in the B cell genome.
• All model animals who had been administered the treatment responded and had high quantities of the desired antibody in their blood.
• They produced the antibody from the blood and made sure it was actually effective in neutralizing the HIV virus in the lab dish.
• The genetic editing was done with CRISPR, a technology based on a bacterial immune system against viruses.
• CRISPR to direct the introduction of genes into desired sites along with the capabilities of viral carriers to bring desired genes to desired cells. Thus, it helps to engineer the B cells inside the patient’s body.
• They use two viral carriers of the AAV family, one carrier codes for the desired antibody and the second carrier codes the CRISPR system.
• When the CRISPR cuts in the desired site in the genome of the B cells it directs the introduction of the desired gene: the gene coding for the antibody against the HIV virus, which causes AIDS.
• Currently, the researchers explain, there is no genetic treatment for AIDS, so the research opportunities are vast.

KEY POINTS:

• After taking actions against 2,100 registered unrecognised political parties (RUPP), the Election Commission (EC) delisted 111 RUPP for flouting rules and found them to be “non-existent” during a verification exercise aimed at cleaning up the system.
• According to the EC, its action came after chief electoral officers (CEOs) of states had reported that these “registered unrecognised political parties” either have been found to be “non-existent” on verification or the letters issued by authorities to verify their addresses and communication details had been returned as undelivered by the postal department.
• Subsequently, the EC decided to withdraw various benefits accorded to these parties under the Symbols Order (1968), including allocation of common election symbol.
• These details of various parties that have flouted laws and rules on disclosure of funds and donations are in public domain and are available on the websites of state chief electoral officers.
• According to EC, a reference has also been sent to the Department of Revenue for necessary legal and criminal actions against three such parties involved in serious financial impropriety.
• A list of RUPPs that have not submitted their contribution reports in FY 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 has been shared with the Revenue Department for taking all consequential action as per Representation of the People Act read with the relevant provisions of the IT Act 1961.
• Another list of 66 RUPPs which have claimed income tax exemption without submitting contribution reports as mandated under law has also been shared with the Revenue Department.
• There are nearly 2,800 registered unrecognised political parties in India.
• The poll panel had been pushing the government to allow it to de-register political parties.
• On multiple occasions, it has written to the Law Ministry to amend the election law to give it the power to de-register so that it can deter the parties that indulge in financial and other irregularities.

KEY POINTS:

• The Spiny Horntail was spotted, during a recent expedition to the Kottiyoor forests of Kannur.
• The species that is known to be endemic to the Western Ghats was discovered in Maharashtra earlier this year.
• The discovery that was recorded from Kottiyoor was confirmed by an odonate expert who represents the TNHS Odonata Research Group (TORG) of the Travancore Nature History Society (TNHS).
• Researchers had spotted the species from Chaukul in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra.
• Prior to their finding, the dragonflygenus Burmagomphus was represented by three species – B. cauvericus, B. pyramidalis and B. laidlawi. While B. laidlawi is found throughout the Western Ghats, B. cauvericus is more restricted in its distribution. B. pyramidalis is found in the Western Ghats as well as in Peninsular India. All other species of the genus are found in the Western and Eastern Himalayas.
• The new species can be separated from its congeners by the markings on the lateral thorax and peculiar shape of anal appendages.
• According to a paper published by TORG, 181 odonata species have been recorded in Kerala. The addition of B. chaukulensis will take the count to 182.

• FATF Headquarters: Paris, France
• FATF Founded: 1989
• Pakistan will continue to be on the “Grey List” of countries under increased monitoring of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), from the global money-laundering and terror-financing watchdog.
• Pakistan has been on the grey list of the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) since June 2018 for failing to check money laundering, leading to terror financing, and was given a plan of action to complete it by October 2019.

Key points:

• Since then, the country continues to be on that list due to its failure to comply with the FATF mandates. The concluding session of the plenary meeting of the FATF is due and includes Pakistan’s review on the agenda.
• Pakistan is now targeting the full completion of the 2021 action plan on anti-money laundering and combating terror financing by the end of January 2023.
• In October 2021, the FATF acknowledged Pakistan’s progress on a 27-point action plan on completion of 26 items but kept the country on its increased monitoring list to exhibit terror financing investigations against and prosecutions of top cadres of UN-designated terror groups.
• Pakistan had to complete two concurrent action plans with a total of 34 items.

KEY POINTS:

• Prime Minister unveiled the renovated Shree Kalika Mata temple at Pavagadh Hill in Gujarat’s Panchmahal district.
• At the temple, he also conducted Puja with customary customs. A ‘Dhwaja’ was raised at full mast atop the shrine by
• This majestic Mahakali temple’s sanctum sanctorum is composed of gold.
• It is one of the region’s oldest temples and draws a huge number of pilgrims.
• The president of the Pavagadh Temple Trust, estimates that almost two crore people visit the temple each year. The temple’s reconstruction was finished at a cost of 125 crore rupees.

KEY POINTS:

• CM inaugurated a park near Oakover, his official residence, in Shimla. The park, which has been constructed at a cost of Rs 2.40 crore under the AMRUT Mission, has facilities such as open gym, playground, ramp for specially-abled and waterfall.
• The park also boosts of a storage tank with a capacity of 1.14 lakh litre to irrigate the plants. Two crore Rupees would be spent on the development of the park in second phase under the Smart City Mission.
• The park has more than 30 species of plants and pine trees in order to conserve the flora.
• Roads are being widened and more parking lots are being constructed to facilitate the resident and the tourists
• The park was an important step toward the beautification of the city.

• The Himachal Pradesh government has won first prize in the finance and revenue categories nationally in the SKOCH State of Governance Report 2021.
• According to CM, State was chosen for the award because of several initiatives taken by the state government by implementing the HP-VAT- IT Project in the state and introducing around 31 online services, reductions and rationalization of business-related compliance burden on taxpayers and other stakeholders.
• Despite covid restrictions, the department has collected around Rs 8,500 crores during the financial year 2021-22 against the collections of around Rs 7,000 crores during the last financial year which is more than 20 percent.
• This substantial increase in revenue is due to proactive measures taken up by the department, providing ICT based hardware and software to the field authorities, imparting regular knowledge, training to the field officers and stakeholders for better compliance in a time bound and transparent manner.
• The department also won the SKOCH award for the implementation of the Excise e-governance project leaving behind other states.

KEY POINTS:

• PM flagged off the First-ever torch relay for the Chess Olympiad ahead of the 44th edition of the event, which is to be held in Mahabalipuram.
• The international chess body, FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs), for the very first time has instituted the torch relay, which is part of the Olympic tradition but was never done in the Chess Olympiad.
• The torch will be taken to 75 cities in a span of 40 days before arriving in Mahabalipuram near Chennai.
• At every location, chess grandmasters of the state will receive the torch.
• Leh, Srinagar, Jaipur, Surat, Mumbai, Bhopal, Patna, Kolkata, Gangtok, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Thrissur, Port Blair and Kanyakumari are among the 75 cities.
• In 1956, India participated for first time in Chess Olympiad.

KEY POINTS:

• The day was recognised on 21 December 2016after the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted the resolution and declared 18 June as Sustainable Gastronomy
• Every year, UNGA, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) work together to ensure that the day is celebrated properly around the world.
• The objective of this day is to recognise the practices associated with sustainable food consumption, especially with the art of collecting and preparing the food we eat.
• Gastronomy is sometimes called the art of food. It can also refer to a style of cooking from a particular region.
• In other words, gastronomy often refers to local food and cuisine. Sustainability is the idea that something (e.g., agriculture, fishing or even preparation of food) is done in a way that is not wasteful of our natural resources and can be continued into the future without being detrimental to our environment or health.
• Sustainable gastronomy, therefore, means cuisine that takes into account where the ingredients are from, how the food is grown and how it gets to our markets and eventually to our plates.

KEY POINTS:

• The Government gave its nod for the auction of spectrum that can be used to offer 5G services.
• A total of 72 Ghz of spectrum with a validity period of 20 years will be put on sale during the auction.
• The auction will be held for spectrum in various Low(600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz), Mid (3300 MHz) and High (26 GHz) frequency bands.
• It is expected that the Mid and High band spectrum will be utilised by telecom service providers (TSPs) to roll¬out 5G services wherein speeds would be 10 times higher than the current 4G services.
• According to Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, the 5G deployment is likely to start from August –September this year, and service should commence in about 20¬- 25 cities by the year ¬end.
• The two issues that the industry has highlighted with regards to the upcoming auctions are high reserve prices for the spectrum and direct allotment of spectrum to enterprises for setting up captive private networks.