Daily Editorials Analysis for 30th January 2020

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Genome Editing in Agricultural Biotechnology

Paper: III

For Prelims: CRISPR-Cas9

For Mains: Achievements of Indians in Science & Technology; Indigenization of Technology and Developing New Technology.

Context of News:

  • With increasing world population and rising climate threat the only way, agricultural production can be enhanced and sustainable food security can be ensure is through role of productivity enhancement, which should be paramount importance for governments around the world and in India.
  • In this scenario genome editing technology and role of biotechnology is paramount.

What is CRISPR-Cas9?

  • CRISPR-Cas9 is a genome editing tool that is creating a buzz in the science world. It is faster, cheaper and more accurate than previous techniques of editing DNA and has a wide range of potential applications.
  • CRISPR-Cas9 is a unique technology that enables geneticists and medical researchers to edit parts of the genome? By removing, adding or altering sections of the DNA? Sequence.
  • It is currently the simplest, most versatile and precise method of genetic manipulation and is therefore causing a buzz in the science world.

What is Agricultural Biotechnology?

  • Agricultural Biotechnology includes a range of tools, including traditional breeding techniques that alter living organisms, or parts of organisms, to make or modify products; improve plants or animals; or develop microorganisms for specific agricultural uses. Modern biotechnology today includes the tools of genetic engineering.

What is genome editing?

  • Genome editing, or genome engineering, or gene editing, is a type of genetic engineering in which DNA is inserted, deleted, modified or replaced in the genome of a living organism.
  • Genome editing is a technique used to precisely and efficiently modify DNA? Within a cell?
  • It involves making cuts at specific DNA sequences? With enzymes? Called ‘engineered nucleases’.
  • Genome editing can be used to add, remove, or alter DNA in the genome?
  • By editing the genome the characteristics of a cell or an organism can be changed.

Benefits of Gene Editing in Agriculture:

  • Genetically-altering food aims to enhance nutritional value, increase shelf life, and improve crop yields.  Real-life examples include soybeans that have healthier fatty acids, potatoes that stay fresh for a longer time, and wheat that has an increased resistance to fungal diseases.
  • Gene editing is a powerful tool for global agriculture, offering breeders the potential to wipe out genetic disease, improve drought resistance, boost nutrient efficiency, and prolong shelf life.
  • As the population grows, farmers will likely be forced to use lands with less than favorable conditions to grow their crops. Luckily, through gene editing we can enhance plants to thrive in these regions.

Challenges associated with Gene Edited Agriculture:

  • Lack of Integrity:
  • Plant developers in academia and industry, concerned about the public’s negative reactions to many crops grown out of genome editing technology and are hoping to create more positive public attitudes about gene-edited crop varieties by coming up with new names for gene editing meant to engender positive attitudes. These efforts are likely to have the opposite effect of what biotech advocates intend; the public is likely to view the nomenclature as dishonest and the communicators as lacking integrity.
  • Decades of scholarship on public attitudes about risk show that honesty and accuracy in communicating about new technologies is the best way to engender public trust. Efforts to prevent a repetition of the public rejection of GM foods through rebranding the products and disguising the complexities of gene-editing technology will likely backfire, further diminishing public trust in the new products.
  • Lack of transparency:
  • The only way genome edited food can be accepted by consumers is by increasing transpancy right from top to bottom.
  • Regardless of whether gene-edited foods are as safe as conventionally bred foods from a human health standpoint (more on this point below), consumers will likely feel duped, public trust in biotech in food production will likely decline, and in the end, gene-editing industries are likely to suffer the consequences of their sleight of hand.
  • Lack of Oversight:
  • Premarket mandatory oversight is very necessary in use of the genome edited crops. Consumers want to know that the government is making sure that GM crops meet standards of environmental health and safety. Trust in government to manage the technology is a key component of public acceptance. Short-term interests of biotech crop developers want to avoid regulatory oversight, the lessons of first-generation biotech, combined with what we have learned about public and expert attitudes, suggest that such an approach is likely to further stoke public skepticism and distrust.

Way Forward:

  • Gene editing can potentially offer plant and animal breeders endless opportunities to optimise food production, but whether its benefits can deliver on a global scale will depend on how regulators view the technology.
  • There is no iota of doubt that gene editing is the solution of many agricultural problems but how we are managing this technology will determine the positive and negative of Genome Edited crops.

Remembering Mahatma Gandhi on Martyrs Day

Paper: I

For Prelims:

For Mains: Modern Indian History from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present- significant events, personalities, issues.

Context of News:

  • In India, five days are declared as Martyrs Day in honour of those who laid down their lives for the nation. Of these, the first falls on January 30, the day when Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse in 1948.
  • January 30 is not just a day of mourning but rather of celebrating the triumph of Gandhi’s life-sustaining insight that in nonviolence there is no defeat.

Contributions of Mahatma Gandhi in Building Indian Society:

  • Almost every Indian is well aware of Gandhi’s public image as the social reformer, politician, preacher, lawyer, and a freedom fighter that waged a long war to end colonialism, and sought to end the longstanding Hindu- Muslim divide and caste-based discrimination in the country. But, when it came to who Gandhi was in actuality, his real persona, faith and morality, many questions come to the forefront.
  • The magnitude of Gandhi’s public role in social and political reform was such that, his ideas and movements were discussed in American and European newspapers, magazines, books, and radio. His work was keenly followed by top politicians and statesmen across the globe.
  • Gandhi was one of the pioneers of environmental sustainability. The quintessential Gandhian question- “How much should a person consume?” still rings true today. His model of sustainability continues to hold relevance in our burgeoning and populous nation. Gandhi was the driving force behind what would later become a vigorous environmental movement, by campaigning against the excesses of industrial development and consequently, promoting renewable energy and small-scale irrigation systems.
  • The philosophy of non-violence or Ahimsa has become synonymous with Gandhi. His practice of Ahimsa was an extension of respect for other religions and a sense of fraternity. Gandhi vehemently opposed injustice and authoritarian rule, but sans any arms or violent actions. His peaceful and verbal yet non-violent opposition to the arbitrary use of state power is the primary manifestation of the Gandhian legacy today.
  • Casting aside the constant furore between secularists and monotheists, Gandhi believed that no religion had a monopoly on the truth. He reasoned against religious conversion, saying that ‘one should accept the faith into which one was born, but seek always to interpret it in the most broad-minded and nonviolent way.’ Along with the secular ideal, he actively encouraged friendships and mingling across religions.
  • Gandhi’s method of Satyagraha has been successfully applied in countless ways to achieve a resolute end to subordination. Be it, the Chipko Movement in the  1970s for bringing an end to deforestation, to Tribal Movement in the 1980s Central India against a massive dam construction, to the more recent 2011 anti-corruption campaign which spread nationwide in a praiseworthy attempt to counter the political class.
  • Gandhi has played an instrumental role in the upliftment of women across the country. The most notable one is SEWA, the Self Employed Women’s Association in Ahmedabad which is responsible for organising a million plus women in producer cooperatives, providing them with child and maternal healthcare and a cooperative bank to encourage economic self-reliance.
  • Through dialogue and compromise, Gandhi sought to bring a mini-India together by strengthening the foundation of Indian National Congress – which under his foresightful direction, transformed from an elitist body of professionals into a mass political organisation with a wide outreach in all states and districts.
  • Unlike the plight of numerous ex-colonies; despite being a victim of crony capitalism, India has stridden far ahead in terms of political parity. The Constitution of India clearly lays down the democratic principles that have to be abided by all; from free and fair elections, linguistic diversity, separation of state and religion to a more inclusive step- affirmative action for underprivileged classes of society. A lot of these achievements owe credit to Gandhi’s visionary approach while framing the Constitution.
  • In order to emancipate Dalits and uplift the so-called untouchables’ condition, Gandhi set up the All India Anti-Untouchability League and later renamed it Harijan Sevak Sangh. He coined the term Harijan; which translates to “children of God” – a term far above the derogatory and derisive words used for identifying them. A breakthrough moment happened when untouchability was finally abolished by law.
  • Through his leadership in the Civil Disobedience Movement, Gandhi played a crucial role in the unification of the country, awakening of the masses, and bringing politics within reach of the common man.

Conclusion:

  • Through “Gandhi: The Years That Changed the World”, Ramachandra Guha keenly explores the unseen face of Gandhi beyond his minutely dissected public image. What makes this an interesting read – is his heightened self-awareness and openness to self-criticism, his singularity of thoughts, belief, and morals. There is more to Mahatma than the carefully coiffured leader of the nationalist movement – his defects, setbacks, passions, superstitions, selflessness and more importantly an unapologetic self.
  • The United Nations has greatly honored Mahatma Gandhi. UN has made 2nd October as “the International Day of Nonviolence.” Furthermore, many countries observe 30th January as School Day of Nonviolence and Peace.
  • The awards given to Mahatma Gandhi are too many to discuss. Probably only a few nations remain which have not awarded Mahatma Gandhi.
  • Mahatma Gandhi was one of the greatest political icons ever. Most noteworthy, Indians revere by describing him as the “father of the nation”. His name will certainly remain immortal for all generations.

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