Arsenic-resistant rice
Why in news?
- Researchers have developed and commercialised a rice variety that is resistant to arsenic. Several studies have shown that arsenic from groundwater and the soil can enter the food chain through paddy.
- West Bengal is among the States with the highest concentration of arsenic in groundwater, with as many as 83 blocks across seven districts having higher arsenic levels than permissible limits.
Key facts:
- The new rice variety, Muktoshri — also called IET 21845 —, was developed jointly by the Rice Research Station at Chinsurah coming under West Bengal’s Agriculture Department and the National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, over several years.
- A gazette notification for the commercial use of Muktoshri was made by West Bengal last year.
- According to the World Health Organization, long-term exposure to arsenic, mainly through drinking water and food, can lead to poisoning. Skin lesions and skin cancer are the most characteristic effects.
Niket Dalal
Why in news?
- Niket Dalal, a 38-year-old from Aurangabad, created history on February 7 by becoming the first completely visually-challenged athlete to finish an Ironman triathlon.
Key facts:
- An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation, consisting of swim, bicycle ride and a run, raced in that order. It is widely considered one of the most difficult one-day sporting events in the world.
- Associated with Adventures Beyond Barriers Foundation (ABBF), Mr. Dalal completed the gruelling Ironman 70.3 — consisting of a 1.9 km swim, a 90 km bicycle ride and a 21.1 km run — with assistance from his sighted companion, Arham Shaikh.
- Dalal and Mr. Shaikh completed the race in seven hours and 44 minutes, with 46 mins to spare. They stood second in their category of physically disabled athletes, and were the first Indian team to finish a Ironman 70.3 triathlon.
- The first Indian achieved an Ironman finish in 2005.
Thwaites Glacier
Why in news?
- In the Antarctic floats a massive glacier, roughly the size of Britain, whose melting has been a cause of alarm for scientists over the years.
- A new study has pinned the cause of the melting to the presence of warm water at a vital point beneath the glacier.
What is the glacier and why is it important?
- The Thwaites Glacier, it is 120 km wide at its broadest, fast-moving and melting fast over the years.
- Because of its size (1.9 lakh square km), it contains enough water to raise the world sea level by more than half a metre. Studies have found the amount of ice flowing out of it has nearly doubled over the past 30 years.
- Today, Thwaites’s melting already contributes 4% to global sea level rise each year. It is estimated that it would collapse into the sea in 200-900 years.
- Thwaites is important for Antarctica as it slows the ice behind it from freely flowing into the ocean. Because of the risk it faces — and poses — Thwaites is often called the Doomsday Glacier.
What has the new study found?
- A 2019 study had discovered a fast-growing cavity in the glacier sized roughly two-thirds the area of Manhattan.
- The researchers from New York University detected warm water at a vital point below the glacier. The NYU study was funded by the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration, headed by the Natural Environment Research Council of the UK and the National Science Foundation of the US; the collaboration has been studying the glacier since 2018.
- The New York University study reported water at just two degrees above freezing point at Thwaites’s “grounding zone” or “grounding line”.
Mandamus
Why in news?
- The Supreme Court has ruled that reservation in the matter of promotions in public posts is not a fundamental right, and a state cannot be compelled to offer the quota if it chooses not to.
About:
- Mandamus is among the “prerogative writs” in English common law — meaning the extraordinary writs or orders granted by the Sovereign when ordinary legal remedies are inadequate. These are habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, certiorari, and quo warranto.
- In India, the Supreme Court can issue prerogative writs under Article 32 of the Constitution, and the High
Courts under Article 226. - Mandamus literally means ‘we command’. When issued to a person or body, the writ of mandamus demands some activity on their part. It orders the person or body to perform a public or quasi-public duty, which they have refused to perform, and where no other adequate legal remedy exists to enforce the performance of that duty.
- The writ cannot be issued unless the legal duty is of public nature, and to whose performance the applicant of the writ has a legal right.
Exceptions:
- The writ cannot be issued unless the legal duty is of public nature, and to whose performance the applicant of the writ has a legal right. The remedy is of a discretionary nature — a court can refuse to grant it when an alternative remedy exists.
- Under Article 361, mandamus cannot be granted against the President or Governor of a State, “for the exercise and performance of the powers and duties of his office or for any act done or purporting to be done by him in the exercise and performance of those powers and duties”.
- The writ also cannot be issued against a private individual or body, except where the State is in collusion with the private party for contravening a provision of the Constitution or a statute.