Explained Snippets: When Parliament got work done in last four years, when it did not

The coming session, which runs until January 8, is scheduled to have 20 sittings.

Winter session of Parliament to start from Dec 11

In the four Winter Sessions during this period, neither Lok Sabha nor Rajya Sabha has reached 100% productivity.

PARLIAMENT SESSIONS in the last four years leading up to the 2018 Winter Session, which begins Tuesday, show a mixed performance in productivity figures compiled by PRS Legislative Research. In the 12 sessions from Winter 2014 to Monsoon 2018, Lok Sabha productivity (time actually spent on sittings as a percentage of time allotted) varied from a high of 122% to a low of 15%, while Rajya Sabha productivity ranged between extremes of 94% and 18%. Budget Sessions have often been more productive than the other two, but this too hit a low in 2018. In the four Winter Sessions during this period, neither Lok Sabha nor Rajya Sabha has reached 100% productivity. The coming session, which runs until January 8, is scheduled to have 20 sittings.

The PRS website said 23 Bills are listed for consideration and passage, besides 20 new ones listed for introduction, consideration and passage, and another 2 for withdrawal. Among these, the DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2018 proposes to regulate use of DNA technology for establishing identity in criminal and civil matters; the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Second Amendment) Bill, 2017 (already passed by Lok Sabha) empowers the government to detain a child in classes V and/or VIII; and the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2018 replaces an Ordinance that makes triple talaq void and a punishable offence.

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Tip for Reading List: How to Block Malaria in the Liver

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To combat malaria, the traditional way has been to give medicines after the patient catches the disease. Now, researchers are exploring a new pathway — killing parasites in the liver, before the illness emerges. Scientists spent two years extracting malaria parasites from hundreds of thousands of mosquitoes and then testing more than 500,000 chemical compounds for their ability to shut down the malaria parasite at the liver stage. After further testing, they narrowed the list to 631 promising compounds that could form the basis for new malaria prevention drugs.

The researchers made the findings open source (online at science.sciencemag.org/content/362/6419/eaat9446) so that the data can be freely shared with the scientific community. “It’s our hope that, since we’re not patenting these compounds, many other researchers around the world will take this information and use it in their own labs and countries to drive antimalarial drug development forward,” Elizabeth Winzeler, professor of pharmacology and drug discovery at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, said in a statement on the university website.

Most malaria cases are caused by the mosquito-borne parasites Plasmodium falciparum or Plasmodium vivax. For safety’s sake, Winzeler and team used a related parasite called Plasmodium berghei in the study, which can only infect mice. The team will next take a closer look at the 631 promising drug candidates to determine how many work against the liver stage of the Plasmodium species that affect humans. Winzeler and members of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Malaria Drug Accelerator are collaborating to unravel the mechanism by which many of the compounds work against the malaria parasite. The ideal new drug would also be affordable and practical for administration in parts of the world without refrigeration or an abundance of health care providers, the university statement said.

According to the World Health Organization, malaria cases are on the rise, particularly in 13 countries. There were 219 million cases of malaria in 2017, compared to 217 million the previous year. In 2017, approximately 4.35 lakh people died of malaria. —Source: University of California San Diego