TNPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 22.5.2024

1. HIMALAYAN IBEX

• It is a subspecies of the Siberian ibex that is native to the Himalayan region of India, Pakistan, Tibet, and Nepal.
• Ibex is any of several sure-footed, sturdy wild goats of the genus Capra in the family Bovidae that are found in the mountains of Europe, Asia, and northeastern Africa.
• Scientific Name: Capra sibirica hemalayanus
• They inhabit the high-altitude regions of the Himalayas, including the Trans-Himalayan region, where they can be found at elevations between 3,000 and 5,800 meters.
• It is found in several parts of India, primarily in the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.
• An adult ibex weighs about 90 kgs, and stands around 40 inches tall, with huge curved horns. Males are larger than females.
• The horns have notches on the front, and grow each year.
• They have a light brown to reddish-brown coat, with a white belly and black and white markings on their legs. 
• Their coat is thick and woolly in winter, and shed in early summer.
• The colour ranges from pale brown to dark brown, with a darker dorsal stripe.
• They are usually found in small herds, sometimes around 50 together. 
• They can run at a speed of up to 50 km/h.
• Conservation Status: IUCN Red List: Near Threatened

2. The Supreme Court (SC) recently reiterated that the benefit of Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) is also applicable to those accused of money laundering.

• It was introduced in the CrPC, 1973, vide an amendment in 2005.
• As per Section 436A CrPC, a person who has spent one half of the maximum period of the prescribed sentence as an under trial shall be released on bail.
• It states that where a person has, during the period of investigation, inquiry, or trial under the CrPC, 1973, of an offence under any law (not being an offence for which the punishment of death has been specified as one of the punishments under that law) undergone detention for a period extending up to one-half of the maximum period of imprisonment specified for that offence under that law, he shall be released by the Court on his personal bond with or without sureties.
• Provided that the Court may, after hearing the Public Prosecutorand for reasons to berecorded by it in writing, order the continued detention of such person for a period longer than one-half of the said period or release him on bail instead of the personal bond with or without sureties.
• Provided further that no such persons hall, in any case, be detained during the period of investigation, inquiry, or trial for more than the maximum period of imprisonment provided for the said offence under that law.
• In computing the period of detention under this Section for granting bail, the period of detention passed due to delay in proceeding caused by the accused shall be excluded.

3. X-Chromosome

• It is one of the two sex chromosomes in humans (the other is the Y chromosome).
• There are 23 pairs of chromosomes in the human body. This includes 22 pairs of autosomal or somatic chromosomes that are common to both men and women and one chromosome that differs according to what gender a person is (sex chromosomes).
• Each person usually has one pair of sex chromosomes in each cell. Females typically have two X chromosomes, while males typically have one X and one Y chromosome.
• Men inherit the X chromosome they have from their mother and the Y chromosomefrom their father, while women inherit one X chromosome from the mother and the other from the father.
• In women, the X chromosome represents almost 5% of the total DNA, and in men, who have only one X chromosome, it represents about 2.5% of the total DNA.
• Early in the embryonic development of people with two X chromosomes, one of the X chromosomes is randomly and permanently inactivatedin cells other than egg cells. This phenomenon is called X-inactivation or lyonization.
• X-inactivation ensures that people with two X chromosomes have only one functional copy of the X chromosome in each cell.
• Because X-inactivation is random, normally, the X chromosome inherited from one parent is active in some cells, and the X chromosome inherited from the other parent is active in other cells.
• The X chromosome likely contains 900 to 1,400 genes that provide instructions for making proteins.
• Genetic disorders that arise from missing, additional, or malformed copies of the X chromosome are termed numerical disorders.
• Examples include Klinefelter’s syndrome, where a male has one or more extra copies; Triple X syndrome, where a female has one extra copy and Turner syndrome, where a female has one normal X chromosome and one missing or abnormal one.

4. PM-WANI Scheme

Public wifi hotspots under the Prime Minister Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM-WANI) scheme are nearing the 2-lakh mark in the country.

• It was launched by the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) in December 2020 to provide affordable and high-speed internet connectivity to the public in rural and remote areas of the country. 
• The scheme aims to establish a public Wi-Fi network across the country through the creation of Wi-Fi Access Points (WAPs) set up by public data offices (PDOs).
• The WAPs will operate on an open-architecture system, allowing multiple service providers to offer their services to the public through a single platform.
• PM-WANI ecosystem: It consists of four parts: Public Data Office (PDO), Public Data Office Aggregator (PDOA), App Provider, and Central Registry.
• PDO establishes the Wi-Fi hotspots and provides internet access to users. There shall be no license requiredby PDOs from the DoT for providing broadband Internet through these public Wi-Fi networks.
• PDOA provides authorisation and accounting services to PDOs. PDOA provides user interface for the user to buy a plan and keep track of their data consumption. PDOA need not pay any licensefees.
• The small shopkeepers can become PDOs as last-mile access service providers and take services from PDOAs for Internet and backend services.
• App Provider, who will develop an application to register users, and ‘discover’ and display PM-WANI Wi-Fi hotspots in proximity for accessing the internet service, and also authenticate the potential broadband users. Startups and wallet providers can become App Providers.
• The central registry overseen by the Centre for Development of Telematics maintains details of App Providers, PDOs, and PDOAs.

5. Emblica chakrabartyi

Recently, scientists have reported the discovery of a new plant species Emblica chakrabartyi from Adichilthotti within the Edamalayar forest range of Kerala

• The species belonging to the gooseberry (Phyllanthaceae) family has been named after Tapas Chakrabarty, former scientist at the Botanical Survey of India, for his contribution to the study on Phyllanthaceae.
• The plant attains a height of approximately 2 metres. The leaves are large with a shiny elongated oval shape of up to 13 cm.
• The flowering and fruiting occur during December to June. Male flowers are found in inflorescence whereas females ones are in single, on the leaf axils.
• Each flower bears yellowish green coloured six petals. The fruits are brown to black when they ripen and the seeds are black about 8-9 mm diameter.
• Generally growing as shrubs in tropical rain forests, 55 species of the genus Emblica have been recorded all around the world.
• The new plant is the eleventh from India

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