Current Affairs 18th March 2024 for UPSC Prelims Exam

Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs)

Context: Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) invested over 5000 crore into the Indian stock market in March 2024.

Comparison Between FPIs and FDIs

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IceCube and Neutrinos

Context: Scientists at the giant IceCube detector at the South Pole found evidence of a specific type of neutrino (tau neutrino) after analysing years of data.

About Neutrinos or Ghost Particles

• Nature: Ghost particles, also known as neutrinos, are subatomic particles that interact very weakly with matter.
  • This makes them extremely difficult to detect, hence the nickname “ghost particle.”
• Neutrinos are the most abundant particles in the universe, but they are also among the least understood.
• Origin: Neutrinos are produced in a variety of ways, including nuclear fusion in stars, supernovae, and radioactive decay.
  • They are also produced in the Big Bang, and trillions of neutrinos pass through our bodies every second.
  • However, because neutrinos interact so weakly with matter, most of them pass through us without being noticed.
• Types: Neutrinos exist in three types—electron, muon, and tau
• Neutrino oscillation: They have the ability to change from one type to another through a process called neutrino oscillation.
  • This quantum phenomenon confirmed neutrinos’ mass, leading to a Nobel Prize in 2015 for Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald.
• Early Theories and Detection: Neutrinos were hypothesised in the 1930s and first confirmed in the 1950s, marking a significant milestone in particle physics.
• Historic Detection: The first detection of a neutrino in nature occurred in 1965, deep within a South African gold mine.
• Interaction: Neutrinos can only be detected when they interact with other particles. This usually happens when a neutrino collides with a nucleus of an atom. The collision can produce a variety of different particles, including electrons, muons, and pions.
• These particles can then be detected by particle detectors.
  • Current Detection Capabilities: The University of Madison-Wisconsin’s “IceCube” telescope is the largest neutrino-detecting telescope, located in Antarctica.
    • Super-Kamiokande neutrino detector in Japan.
    • Daya Bay neutrino detector in China
  • Importance: They can tell us a lot about the universe.
    • For example, neutrinos from the Sun can tell us about the nuclear fusion reactions that power the Sun.
    • Neutrinos from supernovae can tell us about the explosions of massive stars. And neutrinos from the Big Bang can tell us about the early universe.

SIMA, Google Deepmind

Context: Google DeepMind has developed a new AI agent named SIMA or Scalable Instructable Multitask World Agent that can perform complex video game tasks and potentially real-world activities.

About SIMA

• Task Completion based on Instructions: Unlike traditional AI models trained for specific goals, SIMA understands natural language instructions from human users.
  • Users can instruct SIMA to perform various actions within the game, such as building structures or finding objects.
• Learning and Adaptation: SIMA is not static. It learns and improves its ability to understand and fulfill user requests through interactions.
  • The more a user interacts with SIMA, the better it becomes at completing tasks based on instructions.
• Collaborative Efforts: DeepMind partnered with Unity, a game engine, for cross-platform implementation.

About DeepMind

• DeepMind is an artificial intelligence technology that uses machine learning to solve problems that computers haven’t traditionally been able to tackle, such as beating humans at the game Go and predicting the myriad ways in which proteins can fold themselves into functional shapes.

Background:

• Founded in 2010: Started as a London-based startup focused on AI.
• Acquired by Google in 2014: Became a subsidiary of Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc.
• Recognition for Innovation: DeepMind scientists won the prestigious $3 million Breakthrough Prize in 2022 for their protein-folding program, AlphaFold.

How DeepMind Works:

• Technology: DeepMind utilises artificial neural networks.
• Neural Network Structure: Mimics the human brain’s structure, with interconnected nodes like neurons.
• Specific Technique: Convolutional neural networks are used, resembling the human visual cortex for processing visual information.
• Benefits of this Approach:
  • Identifying specific features: By processing large amounts of training data, the network can learn to recognize particular features within data sets.
    • Example in image recognition: Nodes can become adept at identifying specific features like eyes or specific sound combinations in audio data.

Rhodamine B

Context: The Karnataka government recently “banned” the use of harmful colouring agents in gobhi manchurian and cotton candy, with a violation attracting imprisonment of up to 7 years and fine of up to Rs 10 lakhs.

Reason for the Ban

• Health Risks: Consumption of food items containing these artificial colours may pose long-term health risks, including cancer.
• Test Results: Government testing found artificial colouring in a significant portion of samples:
  • 107 out of 171 gobhi manchurian samples (63%)
  • 15 out of 25 cotton candy samples (60%)

About Rhodamine B

• Rhodamine B is a chemical colour used for dyeing clothes, paper, leather, printing, and plastics. It is not a permitted food colouring agent in India.
• It is used to give red and pink colours to these products.
• While not definitively classified as carcinogenic to humans, some studies suggest potential risks.
• Exposure to Rhodamine B can cause:
  • Acute toxicity
  • Eye damage
  • Respiratory tract irritation

Use of Rhodamine B in Food Products

• Rhodamine B is not commonly added to food.
• When found, it’s typically used by small roadside vendors due to:
  • Lack of awareness about permissible food dyes.
  • Lower cost compared to safe alternatives.
• Food products where Rhodamine B might be illegally added include:
  • Gobi Manchurian
  • Potato wedges
  • Butter chicken
  • Pomegranate juice
  • Ice-creams (small scale)
  • Cotton candy

Permissible Food Colours in India

• The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) regulates the use of food colours.
• Only a limited number of natural and synthetic colours are allowed.
• Specific restrictions govern which colours can be used in different food products.
• Natural Colours Allowed by FSSAI:
  • Carotene and carotenoids (yellow, orange)
  • Chlorophyll (green)
  • Riboflavin (yellow)
  • Caramel
  • Annatto (orange-red, derived from a tree seed)
  • Saffron
  • Curcumin (yellow, from turmeric)
• Synthetic Colours Allowed by FSSAI:
  • Red: Ponceau 4R, Carmoisine, Erythrosine
  • Yellow: Tartrazine, Sunset Yellow FCF
  • Blue: Indigo Carmine, Brilliant Blue FCF
  • Green: Fast Green FCF

Important Note:

• Even permissible colours are not allowed in all food items.
• Permitted colours can be used in products like:
  • Ice creams
  • Biscuits
  • Cakes
  • Confectionaries
  • Fruit syrups and crushes
  • Custard powder
  • Jelly crystals

Examples and Case Studies for Value addition

1. International Relation (GS 2): EU and Egypt agree to a €7.4 billion financial package focussed on boosting energy trade and stemming irregular migrant flows to the 27-member bloc.
2. Development and Employment (GS 3): Self-employment remained predominant, with over 50% of the workforce engaged in the formal sector. Self-employment saw a notable increase in the share of women, rising by 8% points from 56.5% in 2011-12 to 64.3% in 2022-23.

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