1) Titan Tragedy Lessons for Proposed Indian Submersible Dive: Scientists are preparing for a Deep See Dive with the Vehicle Matsya-6000 in late 2024 similar to the Titan submersible, which recently went missing.
- Matsya-6000 is an indigenous deep-sea dive submersible being developed by the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) in India. It is designed to explore the depths of the Indian Ocean at a depth of about 6,000 meters.
- The mission’s primary objective is to support India’s energy requirements and explore ocean resources.
- The submersible features a spherical titanium hull, which is crucial for withstanding the immense pressure at great depths.
- The recent incident has highlighted the need for thorough safety evaluations and repeated testing.
2) ART Regulations: Impact on Cost and Conception Opportunities: Recently, industry insiders have raised concerns about the restrictions imposed by the provisions of the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Regulations Act, 2021 introduced by the Health Ministry.
Features of the ART Regulations Act, 2021:
- Every ART clinic and bank must be registered under the National Registry of Banks and Clinics of India, maintaining a central database.
- Registered ART banks can screen, collect, and store semen from men aged 21-55 years. Eggs can be stored from women aged 23-35 years.
- Oocyte donors must be ever-married women with at least one living child of their own (minimum three years of age).
- An ART bank cannot supply gametes from a single donor to more than one commissioning couple (couple seeking services).
- Children born through ART are deemed the couple’s biological child, and the donor has no parental rights.
- Written informed consent is required from both the couple and the donor for ART procedures.
- The National and State Boards formed under the Surrogacy Act 2021 will regulate ART services.
- Parties seeking ART services must provide insurance coverage in favor of the oocyte donor, covering any loss, damage, or death of the donor.
- Clinics are prohibited from offering to provide a child of pre-determined sex, ensuring non-discriminatory practices.
- Offences include abandonment or exploitation of children born through ART, sale or trade of embryos, and exploitation of the couple or donor.
3) Indian Ocean Dipole: The Indian Monsoon is expected to be influenced by the El Nino phenomenon in 2023, there are also anticipations of a positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) developing, which could potentially offset the impact of El Nino.
- IOD, sometimes referred to as the Indian Nino, is similar to the El Nino phenomenon, occurring in the relatively smaller area of the Indian Ocean between the Indonesian and Malaysian coastline in the east and the African coastline near Somalia in the west.
- In the Indian Ocean, IOD exhibits an ocean-atmosphere interaction that closely resembles the fluctuations observed during El Niño events in the Pacific Ocean. However, the IOD is considerably less powerful compared to El Niño, resulting in relatively minimal impacts.
- In 2019 the IOD event developed during the late monsoon but was so strong that it compensated for the deficit rainfall during the first month of the monsoon season (June had 30% deficiency that year).
