Union Minister of Education and Skill Development, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan releases the UGC (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2023

UGC (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2023

• The UGC Act 1956 provides for Central Government to declare any institution other than a University to a status of Institution Deemed to be University.
• The first set of Regulations was notified in the year 2010, which was revised in 2016 and 2019.
• It is aligned with the National Education Policy 2020.

New Regulations

• Eligibility criteria - To apply for deemed to be university status is NAAC ‘A’ grade with at least a 3.01 CGPA for three consecutive cycles (or)
• NBA accreditation for 2/3rd of eligible programmes for 3 consecutive cycles (or)
• In the top 50 of any specific category of NIRF Ranking for last 3 years continuously.
• A cluster of institutions managed by more than one sponsoring body can also apply for deemed to be university status.
• They may provide fee concession or scholarships or may allocate seats to meritorious students belonging to socially and economically deprived groups of the society.

A Govt-owned engineering firm is studying whether petroleum reserves can be developed in Rajasthan’s salt caverns.

Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR)

• Currently, India has 3 strategic oil storage facilities at
  • Mangaluru - Karnataka
  • Padur - Karnataka
  • Visakhapatnam - Andhra Pradesh
• India is also in the process of expanding its SPR capacity at two locations
  • Chandikhol – Odisha
  • Padur – Karnataka
• They all are made up of excavated rock caverns.
• India, the world’s 3rd largest consumer of crude, depends on imports for more than 85% of its requirement.
• Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) could help ensure energy security and availability during global supply shocks and other emergencies.
• In India construction of strategic crude oil storage is managed by Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL).
• ISPRL is a special purpose vehicle (SPL) wholly owned by subsidiary of Oil Industry Development Board (OIDB) under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural gas.

Climate change and human intervention threaten the Myristica swamps of Kerala.

Myristica Swamps

• Myristica swamps are freshwater swamps predominated by members of the Myristicaceae family.
• These swamps are found in the Sacred Groves or evergreen forest patches and are included in the littoral and swamp forest groups.
• Kammadam Kavu is the largest in Kerala.
• This grove is home to a Myristica swamp over 2-3 acres.
• This species has stilt roots, or knee roots that pop up above the water level to breathe creating a varied habitat for many life forms.
• These forests are characterized by trees with large protruding roots jutting out of waterlogged soil which remains inundated throughout the year.
• In India, these unique habitats occur in the Western Ghats and a smaller distribution exists in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• The formation of these swamps is dependent on abiotic conditions like the shape of the valley between the forested hills, the amount of rainfall a place receives and water availability throughout the year.
• Typically, Myristica swamps are seen next to rivers and help in retaining water and act as a sponge, ensuring perennial water availability.
• Historically, they formed a large hydrological network all along the Western Ghats.

Protein Nano-computers

• The first protein-based nano-computing agent that functions as a circuit has been created by Penn State researchers.
• Traditional synthetic biology approach rely on the expression or suppression of proteins that produce a desired action within a cell.
• Protein-based devices or Nano-computing agents respond directly to stimuli (inputs) and then produce a desired action (outputs).
• Researchers engineered a target protein by integrating 2 sensor domains, or areas that respond to stimuli.
• In this case, the target protein responds to light and a drug called rapamycin by adjusting its orientation, or position in space.
• To test their design, the team introduced their engineered protein into live cells in culture. By exposing the cultured cells to the stimuli, they used equipment to measure changes in cellular orientation after cells were exposed to the sensor domains’ stimuli.
• Previously, their nano-computing agent required two inputs to produce one output.
• Now, there are two possible outputs and the output depends on which order the inputs are received.
• If rapamycin is detected first, followed by light, the cell will adopt one angle of cell orientation, but if the stimuli are received in a reverse order, then the cell adopts a different orientation angle.
• This experimental proof-of-concept opens the door for the development of more complex nano-computing agents.
• Theoretically, the more inputs you embed into a nano-computing agent, the more potential outcomes that could result from different combinations.

Brick structure revealed at Porpanaikottai excavation in Tamil Nadu's Pudukkottai district.

Porpanaikottai Excavation Site

• It is situated in the Pudukottai town, Tamilnadu.
• It is a Sangam Age site with a big fort and habitation.
• The fort has 3 entrance gates.
• The northern side entrance has brick walls on both sides.
• A habitation mound with continuous settlements from the Iron Age is believed to have existed within the fort.
• Iron Age burials, black-and-red ware and early historic bricks have been recovered from the site.
• Potsherds engraved with graffiti, Tamil-Brahmi inscribed potsherds, shell bangles, bone tools and hopscotches were unearthed during an excavation.
• The earliest lithic evidence in the form of a memorial stone datable to 3rd - 4th century CE, on the palaeographical ground, emerged from this site.
• It looks contemporary to the Poolankurchi inscription.

Poolankurchi inscription

• Poolankurichi is a Village in Sivaganga District of Tamil Nadu.
• Idol of Tirthankar Neminatha, Yakshi Ambika, Inscriptions are found carved in the Pulankurichi hill.
• This inscription belogs to the period of the 4th century AD, under the rule of the Kalabhras, said to be tribal invaders from Karnataka following the Jaina faith.