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Critical Topics and Their Significance for the UPSC CSE Examination on October 14, 2024
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Can India escape middle-income trap?
For Preliminary Examination: Current events of nattional and international importance
For Mains Examination: GS III - Indian Economy
Context:
The World Development Report 2024 — authored by the World Bank — calls attention to the phenomenon of the “middle-income” trap, or the slowing down of growth rates as incomes increase. The World Bank estimates a stagnation of income per capita when economies reach a level of per capita incomes 11% of that of the U.S., hindering their journey to high-income status. Over the last 34 years, only 34 middle-income economies — defined as economies with per capita incomes between $1,136 and $13,845 — have transitioned to higher income levels.
Read about:
What is Middle-income Trap?
Challenges facing by India
Key takeaways:
The World Development Report 2024, produced by the World Bank, highlights the "middle-income trap," where growth rates decline as income levels rise. According to the World Bank, countries may experience stagnation in per capita income once they reach 11% of U.S. per capita income, obstructing their path to high-income status. Over the past 34 years, only 34 middle-income nations—defined as those with per capita incomes between $1,136 and $13,845—have successfully advanced to higher income levels.
The report outlines the necessary policies and strategies to escape this trap, drawing lessons from countries that successfully transitioned. It emphasizes the "3i" approach: investment, infusion of global technologies, and fostering innovation. Economies need to invest, embrace new technologies, and cultivate an environment that encourages domestic innovation. This is a challenging endeavor that demands agile and responsive state policies. In the current economic landscape, India faces significant obstacles to overcome the middle-income trap.
Role of the State
- Most nations that successfully avoided the trap were part of the European Union, which facilitated growth through the mobility of capital and labor among its members. However, many countries lack such institutions; while they liberalize capital inflows, they often impose restrictions on labor movement. A notable exception is South Korea, which managed to escape the trap.
- The South Korean government played an active role in guiding the private sector and promoting an export-driven growth model. Successful companies were granted access to new technologies and supportive measures, while underperforming firms were allowed to fail. This approach was not a pure free market but involved significant state intervention to achieve developmental goals, maintaining oversight of local elites and ensuring alignment with the state’s economic strategy.
- Chile is another country that escaped the middle-income trap, thanks to state intervention that supported its natural resource sectors, such as the successful salmon industry, which benefited from targeted government actions.
- The lessons from South Korea's government strategy are crucial for India today. The state must maintain neutrality among private enterprises and allow underperforming firms to fail. Support from the government should be performance-based, rather than reliant on personal connections to power.
- The presence of influential business groups can foster growth if they prioritize investment, adopt new technologies, and drive innovation. South Korean conglomerates, or chaebols, are now leaders in innovation.
Challenges Ahead
- South Korea's success was largely built on manufacturing exports, a strategy that is less viable today. Global export growth has slowed, particularly due to decreasing demand from major economies after recent economic shocks. Many countries are turning towards protectionism, complicating access to foreign markets for nations like India.
- Additionally, several countries face what economist Dani Rodrik describes as "premature deindustrialization," where the manufacturing sector's share of income declines at much lower GDP levels compared to earlier economies. Manufacturing is no longer the primary growth engine for developing nations, and it remains uncertain whether the service sector can effectively fill this gap.
Specific Challenges for India
- In India, the influence of billionaires has grown, with perceptions that they are closely aligned with the government, which appears unable or unwilling to stimulate high levels of domestic investment. The manufacturing sector has stagnated, and post-pandemic employment has shifted back to agriculture and low-productivity jobs, reversing previous structural transformations.
- Despite government claims of approximately 7% real GDP growth in recent years, this is not reflected in the wage growth for workers. Data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) indicates that nominal wages for regular workers grew only about 5%, and for casual workers, roughly 7%, during April to June 2023-24.
- With an inflation rate around 5%, this translates to minimal real wage growth. An economy cannot escape the middle-income trap if workers do not benefit from economic growth, as weak consumption demand can hinder overall economic progress.
- Moreover, the issue of democracy is significant. South Korea's export-led growth was managed by a military government until the 1980s, which often suppressed labor unions to facilitate capital accumulation.
- Similarly, Chile experienced a military coup that removed the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende, installing General Augusto Pinochet as leader. It is essential to avoid drawing incorrect conclusions from these examples, such as believing that sacrificing democracy is a trade-off for increased growth.
- The challenge for policymakers is to encourage state intervention to foster growth while preserving the integrity of democratic principles
Follow Up Question
1.Which of the following statements about the middle-income trap is/are correct?
- The middle-income trap refers to a situation where a country experiences stagnant growth after reaching a certain level of income.
- Countries that successfully transition out of the middle-income trap typically have high levels of state intervention and support for strategic sectors.
- Only countries with abundant natural resources can escape the middle-income trap.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
A) 1 and 2 only
B) 2 and 3 only
C) 1 and 3 only
D) 1, 2, and 3
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Answer (A)
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For Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance
For Mains Examination: GS III - Science & Technology
Context:
The Nobel Committee announced on October 7 that the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology would be shared by Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun “for the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation,” thereby unlocking a secret on how different types of cells develop.
Read about:
What is mRNA?
Why does mRNA make great Medicine?
Key takeaways:
What is MicroRNA?
- The human body represents an intricate puzzle that continues to challenge our understanding. Each new insight that fits into this puzzle is a reason for celebration, and sometimes even a Nobel Prize. This year’s recipients of the Nobel Prize in Medicine, Ambros and Ruvkun, have contributed significantly to our understanding of how different cell types develop.
- Every cell in the human body contains the same set of chromosomes, which means they have identical genes and presumably the same instructions. However, the distinct characteristics of various cell types have puzzled researchers until Ambros and Ruvkun offered a plausible explanation. Their discovery centered around microRNA, a new class of small RNA molecules essential for regulating gene expression. According to the Nobel announcement, their groundbreaking work unveiled a novel principle of gene regulation crucial for multicellular organisms, including humans.
- It is now known that the human genome encodes more than 1,000 different microRNAs. The flow of genetic information occurs as DNA is transcribed into messenger RNA (mRNA), which then directs protein production in the cell. The translation of mRNA ensures that proteins are synthesized according to the genetic instructions encoded in DNA.
- The critical aspect lies in precisely regulating gene activity, ensuring that only the appropriate genes are active in each specific cell type. Moreover, gene activity needs to be continuously adjusted to meet the changing conditions within our bodies and the environment. Disruptions in gene regulation can lead to severe diseases, making the understanding of gene activity regulation a long-standing objective for researchers.
What Work Led to the Nobel Prize?
- Both Ambros and Ruvkun, American biologists, began their collaborative journey during their post-doctoral research at the H. Robert Horvitz lab in the 1980s, which sparked their interest in cell development.
- This organism was not a random choice; it featured numerous specialized cell types, including nerve and muscle cells, making it an ideal model for studying complex genetic regulation across species—a process conserved throughout evolution.
- Afterward, both scientists pursued their research paths while remaining committed to their shared focus, frequently exchanging data, a practice that is highly valued in contemporary scientific research.
- Investigating mutant strains that disrupt cellular processes provides valuable insights into gene function. Ambros and Ruvkun examined two mutant strains of worms, lin-4 and lin-14, which exhibited defects in the timing of genetic program activation during development.
- Following his post-doctoral research, Ambros analyzed the lin-4 mutant in his laboratory, successfully cloning the gene. His findings revealed that the lin-4 gene produced an unusually short RNA molecule without a coding sequence for protein production, suggesting that this small RNA was responsible for inhibiting lin-14.
- Simultaneously, Ruvkun studied the regulation of the lin-14 gene at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He demonstrated that the inhibition occurred later in the gene expression process by shutting down protein production. Further experiments identified a segment in lin-14 mRNA essential for its inhibition by lin-4. This indicated complementary sequences between lin-4 and lin-14 mRNA, with lin-4 binding to these sequences in lin-14, thereby blocking its protein production.
- The two scientists compared their findings, leading to a groundbreaking discovery: a new principle of gene regulation mediated by an unknown type of RNA—microRNA. Their results were published in two articles in the journal Cell in 1993.
- Interestingly, Ambros’ wife, Rosalind Lee, was a co-author and the first author of one of the papers recognized by the Nobel Committee. As noted by Iorio and Croce in their publication, “microRNAs represent an entirely novel level of gene regulation that compelled scientists to rethink and reorganize their understanding of molecular biology.”
- Initially, the scientific community did not react strongly to these findings; however, this changed seven years later when Ruvkun's research group published their discovery of another microRNA, encoded by the let-7 gene.
- This gene was highly conserved across the animal kingdom, unlike lin-4. In the years that followed, various microRNAs were identified, leading to the understanding that more than 1,000 genes for microRNAs exist and that microRNA-mediated gene regulation is present in all multicellular organisms.
What Are the Future Applications?
- Since the initial discovery, Iorio and Croce highlight significant advancements in understanding microRNA biology. These include identifying hundreds of microRNA genes, elucidating microRNA biogenesis pathways, identifying numerous microRNA targets, and establishing regulatory principles for these targets. More importantly, extensive studies have explored their biological roles in both normal and pathological conditions.
- Researchers have found that a single microRNA can regulate multiple genes, while a single gene can be controlled by various microRNAs, allowing for the coordination and fine-tuning of entire gene networks.
- Further research has indicated that normal development of cells and tissues is dependent on microRNAs. Abnormal microRNA regulation can contribute to cancer, and mutations in microRNA-coding genes have been linked to conditions such as congenital hearing loss, eye disorders, and skeletal abnormalities.
- Mutations in proteins necessary for microRNA production can lead to DICER1 syndrome, a rare but severe condition associated with cancer in various organs and tissues
Follow Up Question
In the context of vaccines manufactured to prevent COVID-19 pandemic,
consider the following statements : (UPSC CSE 2022)
1. The Serum Institute of India produced COVID-19 vaccine named Covishield using mRNA platform.
2. Sputnik V vaccine is manufactured using vector based platform.
3. COVAXIN is an inactivated pathogen based vaccine.
Which of the statements given above are correct ?
A. 1 and 2 only
B. 2 and 3 only
C. 1 and 3 only
D. 1, 2 and 3
|
Answer (B)
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For Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance
For Mains Examination: GS III - Science & Technology
Context:
The 2024 Nobel Prize for Chemistry was jointly awarded to David Baker for his work on computational protein design and to Demis Hassabis and John Jumper for developing technologies to predict the structure of proteins.
Read about:
What is Protein?
Significance of Protein
Key takeaways:
Why are Proteins Essential?
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry focuses on two key areas within protein research: design and structure.
Proteins are fundamental to all known forms of life, and they are composed of amino acids. Although nature contains a variety of amino acids, only 20 of them combine in various ways to form all the proteins found in the human body and most living organisms. Amino acids play critical roles in providing structural support in tissues, serving as catalysts in biochemical reactions, facilitating the movement of molecules across biological membranes, regulating muscle contractions for movement and heartbeat, and aiding cell communication for task execution.
What is the Protein-Folding Challenge?
- Proteins possess multiple identities, one of which is determined by the arrangement of their amino acids in three-dimensional space, or their 3D structure.
- In 1962, John Kendrew and Max Perutz from the University of Cambridge were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for creating the first 3D models of the proteins hemoglobin and myoglobin through X-ray crystallography.
- A significant breakthrough occurred in 1969 when scientists discovered that proteins do not simply bend into different shapes; rather, they inherently know the shape they need and quickly fold themselves accordingly. This intriguing ability of proteins to 'know' their required structure is referred to as the protein-folding problem.
- By the late 2010s, researchers had deciphered the structures of approximately 170,000 proteins, a notable achievement, but still a small fraction of the estimated 200 million proteins found in nature. However, this scenario changed dramatically around 2018.
What is AlphaFold?
- In 2010, Demis Hassabis co-founded DeepMind, which was acquired by Google in 2014. In 2018, Hassabis and his team introduced AlphaFold, a deep-learning model designed to predict the structures of nearly all proteins. DeepMind released AlphaFold 2 in 2020, achieving structural predictions with an accuracy comparable to X-ray crystallography.
- Jumper led the development of AlphaFold 3, capable of predicting the structures of various proteins and the interactions between two proteins or a protein and another molecule.
- These models can determine the 3D shapes of most proteins in just hours, although they still cannot explain why a protein favors a particular structure. Scientists have noted that while AlphaFold assists in testing hypotheses, understanding the results remains a human task.
- As Derek Lowe, a pharmaceutical researcher and columnist for Science, remarked to The Hindu in June 2024, “If the protein folding problem was set to us by God to teach us how to learn molecular interactions from first principles, we cheated.”
What is Protein Design?
- Baker has developed tools that enable scientists to design new proteins with specific shapes and functionalities. His notable work began in 2003 when he led a team to create a novel protein and determined its structure using a custom computer program called ‘Rosetta,’ developed in 1999. The results from Rosetta were compared with X-ray crystallography outputs and were found to be strikingly similar.
- The Nobel Committee for Chemistry states, “Rosetta was created as a versatile program for both protein structure prediction and design, and it has been continuously refined since its launch, supported by a large community of users and collaborators.”
- The capacity to design proteins has significant implications. For instance, in 2022, Baker's team developed an antiviral nasal spray for COVID-19, incorporating proteins they designed using computational methods to attach to vulnerable sites on the virus's surface, targeting the spike protein.
- Additionally, Baker's teams have engineered new enzymes to facilitate commercially valuable organic chemistry reactions, such as the aldol reaction (used in atorvastatin production) and the Diels-Alder reaction (for vitamin B6 synthesis). Recently, researchers have been investigating innovative protein designs for applications as biosensors, such as monitoring blood glucose levels in individuals with diabetes
Follow Up Question
1.Consider the following statements regarding proteins:
- Proteins are polymers made up of amino acids linked by peptide bonds.
- There are 22 standard amino acids that combine in various sequences to form proteins in the human body.
- The primary structure of a protein refers to its unique three-dimensional shape.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
A. 1 and 2 only
B. 2 and 3 only
C. 1 only
D. 1, 2 and 3
|
Answer (C)
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Subject and Subject Wise Notes for the Sunday Exam (Free)
| Subject | Topic | Description |
| History | Modern Indian History | Company rule and Crown rule 1773 - 1947 |
| History | Modern Indian History | Fall of Mughals |
| History | Modern Indian History | Establishment of British rule in India |
| History | Modern Indian History | Economic Policies of the British |
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