Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Convalescent Plasma Therapy
Mains level: Coronovirus outbreak and its mitigation
With no specific treatment available for novel coronavirus disease and a vaccine at least a year away, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved use of blood plasma from recovered patients to treat severely critical COVID-19 patients.
Convalescent Plasma Therapy
- The therapy seeks to make use of the antibodies developed in the recovered patient against the coronavirus.
- The whole blood or plasma from such people is taken, and the plasma is then injected in critically ill patients so that the antibodies are transferred and boost their fight against the virus.
- A COVID-19 patient usually develops primary immunity against the virus in 10-14 days.
- Therefore, if the plasma is injected at an early stage, it can possibly help fight the virus and prevent severe illness.
How often has it been used in the past?
- This therapy is no new wonder. It has been used several times.
- The US used plasma of recovered patients to treat patients of Spanish flu (1918-1920).
- In 2014, the WHO released guidelines to treat Ebola patients with convalescent whole blood and plasma.
- In 2015, plasma was used for treating MERS patients.
How is it done?
- The process to infuse plasma in a patient can be completed quickly.
- It only requires standard blood collection practices, and extraction of plasma.
- If whole blood is donated (350-450 ml), a blood fractionation process is used to separate the plasma.
- Otherwise, a special machine called aphaeresis machine can be used to extract the plasma directly from the donor.
- While blood is indeed extracted from the donor, the aphaeresis machine separates and extracts the plasma using a plasma kit, and the remaining blood components are returned into the donor’s body.
WHO’s guidelines
- WHO guidelines in 2014 mandate a donor’s permission before extracting plasma.
- Plasma from only recovered patients must be taken, and donation must be done from people not infected with HIV, hepatitis, syphilis, or any infectious disease.
- If whole blood is collected, the plasma is separated by sedimentation or centrifugation, then injected in the patient.
- If plasma needs to be collected again from the same person, it must be done after 12 weeks of the first donation for males and 16 weeks for females, the WHO guidelines state.
How optimistic is the latest move?
- COVID-19 does not have a specific treatment, only supportive care— including antiviral drugs, oxygen supply in mild cases and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.
- Plasma can be infused into two kinds of COVID-19 patients— those with a severe illness, or individuals at a higher risk of getting the virus.
- However, that while plasma transfers immunity from one person to another, it is not known if it can save lives in COVID-19 infection.
- The treatment could be effective for patients in the age group 40-60, but may be less effective for people aged beyond 60 years.
Can it be done in India?
- India has facilities for removing 500 ml of plasma from a donor using aphaeresis.
- For this experimental therapy to be tried out, the Drug Controller General of India will first have to grant blood banks approval for removal of plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients.
- The procedure is simple and can be done in India, but it is important to control the risk of infection during transfusion, and the patient’s acceptance is required.
- It’s like a vaccine. It will engulf the virus and kill it. But it is easier said than done. We may need a series of approvals which India has never done before.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IPC sections mentioned in the newscard
Mains level: COVID-19 and its mitigation
Sections 269 & 270 IPC invoked are being invoked against persons who malignantly do any act which is likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life.
Sections 269 and 270 of the IPC
- Sections 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) come under Chapter XIV of the IPC.
- The chapter is named ‘Of Offences Affecting The Public Health, Safety, Convenience, Decency and Morals’.
- While Section 269 provides for a jail term of six months and/or fine, Section 270 provides for a jail term of two years and/or fine.
- In Section 270, the word ‘malignantly’ indicates a deliberate intention on the part of the accused.
- During the coronavirus outbreak, penal provisions, such as Sections 188, 269 and 270 of the IPC, are being invoked to enforce the lockdown orders in various states.
Earlier instances of invocation
- Both Sections have been used for over a century to punish those disobeying orders issued for containing epidemics.
- The Sections were similarly enforced by colonial authorities during outbreaks of diseases such as smallpox and bubonic plague.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PM-CARES Fund
Mains level: Not Much
Our PM has called for donations to the newly instituted PM-CARES Fund which has been formed on popular demand to help fight the novel coronavirus.
PM-CARES Fund
- The fund will be a public charitable trust under the name of ‘Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund’.
- The PM is Chairman of this trust and members include the Defence Minister, Home Minister and Finance Minister.
- Contributions to the fund will qualify as corporate social responsibility (CSR) spending that companies are mandated to make.
- The Fund accepts micro-donations as well.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Himalayan Ibex
Mains level: NA
A recent study by scientists of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has proved that Himalayan Ibex, distributed in the trans-Himalayan ranges of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh, is a distinct species from the Siberian Ibex.
Himalayan Ibex
IUCN/WPA Status: Least Concern / Schedule I
- Himalayan Ibex (Capra ibex sibirica) is widely found in arid and rocky mountain of Karakoram, Hindukush and Himalayas of Gilgit-Baltistan.
- The males are characterized by heavy body, large horns, long bears while females have small body small horns.
- The threats that Himalayan ibex face are the illegal hunting, human disturbance, habitat loss and competition for forage with domestic livestock.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National Teleconsultation Centre (CoNTeC)
Mains level: Telemedicine and its effectiveness
The Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has launched the National Teleconsultation Centre (CoNTeC).
About CoNTeC
- The CoNTeC is a Telemedicine Hub established by AIIMS, New Delhi, wherein expert doctors from various clinical domains will be available 24×7 to answer the multifaceted questions from specialists from all over the country.
- It is a multi-modal telecommunications hub through which 2 way audio-video and text communications can be undertaken from any part of the country as well as the world at large.
- The modes of communication will include simple mobile telephony as well as two way video communications, using WhatsApp, Skype and Google Duo.
- The CoNTeC is also fully integrated with the National Medical College Network (NMCN) to conduct a full fledged Video Conference (VC) between the 50 Medical Colleges.
How to Contact the CoNTeC?
- A single mobile number (+91 9115444155) can be dialled from anywhere in the coutnry/world by COVID-19 treating doctors to reach the CoNTeC which has six lines that can be used simultaneously at present.
- This number of lines can be increased in future if needed.
- The incoming calls will be picked up by the CoNTeC Managers, who will then handover the call to the appropriate expert doctors from the clinical domains as desired by the calling specialists managing the COVID-19 cases anywhere in the country.
- The Managers will guide the callers in establishing a two way video call using the WhatsApp, Skype or Google Duo as preferred by the caller.
- The callers from the NMCN network can connect anytime using the Telemedicine infrastructure at their end.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 3- Why pumping more money into the economy at such point is unlikely to kickstart it?
Context
On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) convened for an emergency meeting, ahead of schedule, to discuss its response to the economic challenges posed by the Covid-19 outbreak.
Bond market reaction to the RBI announcement
- The MPC deliberated for three full days, but its decision would most probably have been sealed right at the onset.
- For that day, the Indian bond market saw no trades in the first twenty minutes.
- Fear and uncertainty in the market: The gap between the asking price and bids was so wide that the first trade for the day took place at 9:33 am. Gripped by uncertainty and fear about the future following the outbreak, the market had frozen.
Measures by the RBI
- Injecting the liquidity of Rs. 3.74 trillion: Responding to the market signal, the RBI rolled out a slew of measures from its armoury that will release liquidity of up to ₹3.74 trillion, or nearly 2% of gross domestic product, in the financial system.
- This will facilitate the market’s orderly functioning.
- Condition on LTRO-created-liquidity: In particular, the condition that the liquidity created through the Long Term Repo Operations (LTRO) tool must only be deployed in corporate debt securities was a direct response to the disruption in the markets seeing heavy sell-offs in the midst of thin trading volumes.
- Comparison with measures by the Fed.: The US Federal Reserve, which has launched an unconventional asset sales programme for $4 trillion, has announced it will also directly buy corporate bonds to ease the tight market.
- RBI has refrained from following suit, instead of passing the buck to banks via the conditional LTRO liquidity.
- Banks are unlikely to step in to ease the tight corporate securities market.
- Repo rate below the level seen in 2008: To combat the economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, the MPC has dropped its policy interest rate by 75 basis points, taking it down to 4.4%, a multi-year low.
- The rate is now lower than it was in April 2009, when the central bank had taken it down to 75%, responding to the global financial crisis.
- In 2008, just four days ahead of a scheduled policy review, RBI had cut the policy repo rate by 1 percentage point, sending an extraordinarily strong signal.
How the challenge this time is different from the 2008 crisis?
- The nature of the current economic challenge is a lot different.
- Economy at standstill: The shock back then had depressed demand, but the economy had not been brought to a standstill as it has now, with resources, including labour and capacities idling.
Why the measures would not kickstart the economy
- Effect of rate cut: When all economic activity has halted, and uncertainty about the future is soaring, there’s no way a rate cut—no matter how steep—can kickstart the economy.
- Businesses cannot plan for the future and will not borrow.
- Banks will hold on too, fearful of the risk of loans going bad.
- As it is, even before Covid-19 struck, credit disbursement was sluggish.
- Now, with a host of companies facing the threat of credit rating downgrades, the probability of lenders turning a little less risk-averse is even lower.
- Who would be the beneficiary of the rate cut? The biggest beneficiary of RBI’s rate cut—which was bigger than market expectations—would be the government.
- Reduced borrowing cost for the government: In one stroke, the MPC has altered the fiscal deficit calculation by reducing the government’s borrowing cost.
- There will be savings on its outgo on interest payments for new and rollover borrowings.
Three-month moratorium and issue with it
- RBI also permitted banks and non-bank financial institutions to grant a three-month moratorium on loan repayments and reclassification of stressed loans as non-performing assets (NPAs).
- This will provide relief by cushioning cash flow pressures for firms and individuals when incomes and revenues have dropped sharply due to the lockdown.
- The forbearance on downgrading these loans will prevent a sharp spike in NPA levels for banks and NBFCs.
- There could be a sharp rise in the bad loans: The risk now is that a few quarters after the end of the moratorium there could be a sharp rise in bad loans.
- It could give rise to the NPA problem: In that sense, it amounts to kicking the problem of a potential spike in NPAs down the road.
- The problem of evergreening: On balance, it is the right call given the extraordinary challenge of the lockdown—provided a new cycle of evergreening of loans by banks is not allowed in a repeat of what happened in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
Way forward
- What more could RBI have done? Special credit windows for the worst-hit sectors like aviation, hotels and tourism may soon be required.
Conclusion
While prioritising financial stability is fine, the MPC’s inflation projection is puzzling. While refraining from providing estimates on growth and inflation, given that the spread, intensity and duration of Covid-19 remain uncertain, RBI said it expects food price pressures to soften going ahead on account of a blow to demand during the lockdown. The projection seems unreasonable when there are unprecedented supply-side bottlenecks.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Mains level: Paper 2- Need for reforms in the administrative functioning of the Supreme Court.
Context
In the several cases with potential significance, there was no effective hearing at the interim stages which created fait accompli. And which results in the status quo cementing itself.
The Sabarimala case and ‘balance of convenience’ principle
- Review petition pending: Millions of disciples have protested the Court’s 2018 verdict where gender equality was held to trump the tenets of the faith and rejoiced at the November 2019 order of the Chief Justice’s bench granting their cause a fresh lease of life.
- As things stand, their review petitions are kept pending until the questions of law are determined.
- Please to enter the temple declined: In December 2019, fervent pleas on behalf of certain women devotees to enter the temple were declined, although the 2018 verdict continued to hold the field.
- Why declining the plea for entry matters? This was justified by the Court on a “balance of convenience”, thereby laying down a new principle for not directing the implementation of its own judgement.
Pendency of Article 370 challenge case hearing
- Nine judge bench: This year it was decided to put together the nine-judge bench to hear the cases on an urgent basis.
- Kashmir case on the backburner: But with two judges from the ongoing Kashmir/Article 370 challenges also a part of the Sabarimala case, it would mean that the Kashmir issues would be put on the back burner in the middle of its hearing.
- This is despite the advocates representing the right of women’s entry stating that they had no objection to the Kashmir cases being heard first.
- Then, barely a day into the hearing, a strain of swine flu reached some of the members of the Bench, leading to a postponement of hearings till the middle of March.
- Now, with a fierce pandemic enveloping the globe, the case is adjourned indefinitely.
Criticism of administrative functioning of the SC
- Over the last few months, the Supreme Court has been besieged by criticism of its administrative functioning.
- Delay in the hearing of important cases: Cases that have customarily been heard with alacrity, like those concerning personal liberty, law and order and criminal investigation, have been posted after long intervals with the Government being granted the luxury of time to respond.
- No effective hearing in cases with immediacy: Where immediacy is pre-eminent so that fait accompli may not be created, as with the validity of the Kashmir notifications, the CAA and the electoral bonds, there have been no effective hearings at the interim stage.
- Thus, the status quo slowly cements itself.
Reason for problems in administrative functions of the SC
- Dual role played by the CJI: Since the early years of the judiciary, one person has been given the onerous dual charge of heading both the administrative and judicial functions of the court.
- As a result, apart from sitting every day, reading briefs, hearing arguments and delivering detailed judgements, the Chief Justice has to also act as the final authority for all service-related matters of the Court’s 2,500 employees, issue office orders to streamline the registry.
- The CJI also supervise measures for security and infrastructure, chair committees, correspond with and entertain judicial delegations, attend symposia, delegate subject matters among colleagues, constitute benches of varying strengths and interview candidates for the various courts.
- In the old days, when the burden of cases was modest, these tasks would not have been challenging.
- But in the present time, not only are they overwhelming, but they also bring in their wake a host of attacks on the person who occupies that high office.
Need for the Chief Executive Officer in the SC
- Administrative functioning of the SC: In all the administrative tasks, the Chief Justice is assisted by a team of registrars, who are headed by the secretary-general.
- As they are junior judicial officers, they neither have the training nor the complete independence to take steps towards course correction.
- The requirement of CEO: This is why the Supreme Court sorely requires a chief executive officer – an independent professional who is equipped with the day-to-day management of the Court and is not beholden to the judges in any way.
- How it will help? The CEO will be charged with the entire mission of running the Court so that the judges can concentrate on what they are trained and experienced to do – adjudicate.
- Operational autonomy: The CEO will, of course, have to be given adequate operational autonomy and be answerable to a committee of the Court, comprising judges and bar representatives, thereby providing for a professional process, much like in the corporate sphere.
- With this, the judges will at least be spared the charges that they have had to withstand over the last few years.
Conclusion
It is only for politicians to concern themselves with public opinion, not for judges. They are weaponised by the Constitution to serve the cause of justice, and in this, as per Article 144, all civil and judicial authorities are enjoined to cooperate. Just a few blows of the gavel to any misadventures would be sufficient to send the message loud and clear: That the Court offers no sanctuary to the executive knaves.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2- The lockdown hits the poor hardest and how it could have been avoided?
Context
Lockdown announcement has not been matched by national strategy — on containing fallout for poor.
Two arguments advanced against lockdown
- India’s decision to lock down was necessary. Two arguments are being advanced against it.
- The first argument: India is a poor economy, with millions at the margins of subsistence, who cannot bear the consequences of a lockdown. The density and living conditions in India make social distancing difficult in many cases.
- The second argument: It is that the extent of community transmission does not justify such drastic measures.
What are the justifications for the lockdown?
- The only hope: Precisely because millions in India are vulnerable and will not later have the possibilities of quarantining or medical care, the only hope we have of securing their lives is to slow down the spread of the virus as much as possible.
- And the only shot you have at it is when community transmission is possibly still at manageable levels.
- There is, therefore, a bit of bad faith in using the poor as the basis for expressing scepticism at the need for a lockdown. That is the most insidious form of privilege.
- The risks of any catastrophic spread will be even more incalculable for the poor.
Underscoring the importance of federalism and decentralisation
- States responding in innovative ways: One of the more encouraging things has been the way in which several state governments like Punjab, Odisha, Kerala, Delhi and others have come into their own, innovating under difficult circumstances.
- Role of panchayat and local officials: The much-neglected panchayat and local officials are key nodes in keeping track of possible cases and the creation of quarantining infrastructure.
- Role of frontline workers: It would also be churlish not to acknowledge the ways in which most of the frontline workers of the state are responding, learning and innovating in this situation.
- Federalism and decentralisation: If anything, this crisis is bringing home the importance of both federalism and decentralisation as central to a resilient governance architecture.
The preparation and follow-up of the lockdown
- But the national preparation and follow-up to take full advantage of the lockdown do not inspire full confidence.
- Lack of strategy: The announcement of the lockdown has not been matched by a commensurate national strategy.
- This is manifest, in the early signals on the following two important aspects:
- Containing the economic fallout for the poor.
- Building up the health infrastructure.
- It is, admittedly, early days; but the signs are not good.
Economic fallout for the poor
- Focus is not on the poor: In the entire framing of the problem, the poor have been at best an afterthought, at worst expendable damage.
- Steps taken not adequate: Steps like health insurance cover for frontline workers, increased food rations, are welcome steps. But a crisis of this magnitude required assurance to the most vulnerable that no stops will be pulled to secure their futures.
- Instead, what you got was incrementalism of the worst kind, masquerading as a big commitment.
- Low cash transfer: The cash transfers, in particular, through different schemes, are shockingly low.
- Need for the unprecedented social security support: This crisis is one of the rare instances where economists and even bankers, from across the political spectrum, have rallied around the intellectual argument for unprecedented levels of social security support.
- So the government’s “support by stealth” strategy is even more mystifying.
- Impact of lockdown on migrant labour: The magnitude of the crisis unleashed for migrant labour could have been avoided with a little forethought.
- What could have been done? Early announcement of cash transfers, shelter and food availability, would have obviated the need for migration.
Opacity on the health infrastructure side
- Issue of testing: Opacity is often a consequence of scarcity. And nowhere is this more manifest than in our discussion of testing.
- Underutilisation of capacity: Everyone understands that India has the scarce testing capacity, though it seems it is also under-utilising what it has.
- No clear testing strategy: The government is procuring more testing kits. But what is worrying is that there seems to be no publicly articulated statement of what exactly our testing strategy is, given the scarce resources.
- But there is still no sense of how we plan to put a testing strategy in place (not just numbers of tests, but where can they be optimally deployed), that will minimise the need for future lockdowns.
- What objectives is it trying to meet? There is more than a whiff of suspicion that there is a view that more testing might spread more panic.
- Or it might put more pressure on the health care system than it can handle.
- India has never understood that health expenditure is not an expenditure; it is an investment.
- Building up of health infrastructure: The success of the lockdown strategy is premised on an unprecedentedly vigorous building up of health infrastructure to fight the pandemic.
- There is a commitment by the Centre to infuse an extra Rs 15,000 crore in this sector. Some steps are being taken in building up capabilities, including ramping up production of ventilators and masks.
- Need for warlike mobilisation: This is an area where India needs almost a warlike mobilisation, to make sure we have enough testing, tracking, frontline workers, logistics and equipment in place to make sure that the duration of a lockdown is minimised or a repeat is not necessary.
- The creation of this kind of infrastructure will pay huge dividends even in non-pandemic times.
Conclusion
The prime minister is constantly asking the citizens to mobilise, and most of them respond. But it about time the state mobilises: On an economic stimulus that is truly meaningful and health infrastructure push that inspires confidence.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PM’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF)
Mains level: Coronovirus outbreak and its mitigation
Keeping in view the novel coronavirus crisis across the country, various govt. employees, celebrities and political dignitaries are open-heartedly contributing to the PM’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) to help combat the disease.
PM’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF)
- In pursuance of an appeal by the then PM, Pt. Nehru in January, 1948, the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) was established with public contributions.
- It was aimed to assist displaced persons from Pakistan.
- The resources of the PMNRF are now utilized primarily to render immediate relief to families of those killed in natural calamities like floods, cyclones and earthquakes, etc. and to the victims of the major accidents and riots.
- Assistance from PMNRF is also rendered, to partially defray the expenses for medical treatment like heart surgeries, kidney transplantation, cancer treatment and acid attack etc.
- The fund consists entirely of public contributions and does not get any budgetary support.
Legal status
- PMNRF has not been constituted by the Parliament.
- The fund is recognized as a Trust under the Income Tax Act and the same is managed by PM or multiple delegates for national causes.
Donations
- PMNRF accepts only voluntary donations by individuals and institutions.
- Contributions flowing out of budgetary sources of Government or from the balance sheets of the public sector undertakings are not accepted.
- Conditional contributions, where the donor specifically mentions that the amount is meant for a particular purpose, are not accepted in the Fund.
Its operation
- PMNRF operates from the Prime Minister’s Office and does not pay any license fee.
- PM is the Chairman of PMNRF and is assisted by Officers/ Staff on an honorary basis. Permanent Account Number of PMNRF is AACTP4637Q.
Tax exemptions
- PMNRF is exempt under the Income Tax Act, 1961 under Section 10 and 139 for return purposes.
- Contributions towards PMNRF are notified for 100% deduction from taxable income under section 80(G) of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Ensuring food supplies amidst COVID-19 crisis
This is perhaps the first time ever that India is facing a national disaster or a war-like situation amidst plentiful supplies of food even as a bumper Rabi crop beckons.
Bumper yield in crisis
- Farmers are currently about to harvest —if they haven’t already.
- Given the surplus and extended monsoon rains, which helped recharge ground water and fill up reservoirs, superabundant produce is round the corner.
- This comes even as there is demand destruction from the shutting down of HORECA (hotels, restaurants and catering) and other institutional segment businesses following the nationwide lockdown.
- It raises the possibility of a crisis similar to the one three years ago that followed demonetization. But the scale, it is feared, could be bigger.
- The post-demonetization rabi crop, also a bumper one, was at least harvested and marketed even if it didn’t fetch a good price.
The real challenge
- The food and civil supplies departments in states will ultimately ensure that the terminal markets in these centres major cities receive their required daily flow of produce anyhow.
- The problem will be in the remote towns and the rural hinterlands that are serviced through upcountry APMCs.
- The grocers there are at the greatest risk of running out of stocks if the lockdown continues without inter-state movement restrictions in agricultural commodities being removed.
How to transport produce
- This time, there are doubts being raised even on that.
- The simple reason for it is: Will farmers, labourers and machines (combines, threshers and tractor trolleys) be able to move freely to harvest the produce and take it to the mandis?
- The UP government has issued a direction to all district administrations and law-enforcement authorities to exempt all services, including labour, that are involved in agricultural production, processing and marketing from the current lockdown provisions.
- Other states, too, may follow. But the question remains of the directives being implemented on the ground.
Will there be workers?
- At the second stage comes the mandis, where marketing of the crop would happen.
- Here again, there is a possibility of shortage of labour (the people who do unloading, cleaning, bagging and reloading of the grain that is auctioned or sold) and even gunny bags.
- Further, it would be necessary to prevent crowding, and maintain social distancing.
Possible alternatives
- One way out could be to allow entry only to a limited number of farmers, who may be issued SMS alerts informing them about the date and time to bring their crop.
- Each farmer can also be given a maximum quantity — say, one tractor-trolley load of 30-40 quintals — that may be brought in a single day.
- The permission for the next trolley load will be only after other farmers have got their turn to sell.
- All this will obviously delay the process of marketing, raising the prospect of panic sales.
- This could be avoided if the government were to give a clear-cut assurance — at least in respect of crop where there is MSP-based procurement — that it will continue buying till the last grain is offered.
Safer places than APMC
- Besides, the marketing of produce needn’t be limited to the APMC (agricultural produce market committee) mandi yard.
- Any flour or dal mill, and even primary school premises can be designated as an APMC marketing area.
- The objective should be to ensure that the farmer’s produce gets marketed without resulting in overcrowding.
Way forward
- The risk of shortages today is really not in the metros or state capitals.
- Once marketing is done, the crop has to move beyond the mandi.
- This is probably the right time to dismantle all inter-state and intra-state movement restrictions in farm produce.
- Free movement is necessary for the context of both a bumper crop and the ongoing lockdown.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Schedule H1 drugs
Mains level: Coronovirus outbreak and its mitigation
Hydroxychloroquine is now a schedule H1 drug and can be sold on prescription only.
What are Schedule H1 drugs?
- The sale of the Hydroxychloroquine drug from now on should be in accordance with the conditions for sale of drugs specified in Schedule H1 to the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945.
- In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 26B of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 (23 of 1940), the Central Government can direct that sale by retail of any drug.
Why such move?
- The Central Government is satisfied that the drug ‘Hydroxychloroquine’ is essential to meet the requirements of emergency arising due to pandemic COVID-19.
- And in the public interest, it is necessary to regulate and restrict the sale and distribution of the drug ‘Hydroxychloroquine’ and preparation based thereon for preventing their misuse.
Hydroxychloroquine
- Hydroxychloroquine is used to prevent or treat malaria infections caused by mosquito bites.
- It does not work against certain types of malaria (chloroquine-resistant).
Pls take a note-
- Hydroxychloroquine and a related drug, chloroquine, are currently under study as possible treatments for COVID-19.
- These drugs have not yet been approved for this use.
- Do not use these medications to treat COVID-19 unless your doctor recommends that you do so.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Indian Scientists’ Response to CoViD-19 (ISRC)
Mains level: Not Much
Several Indian scientists have come together to form a Google group to address some of the concerns that the COVID-19 outbreak has thrown up.
Indian Scientists’ Response to CoViD-19 (ISRC)
- It is a voluntary group of scientists who regularly discuss the rapidly evolving situation with its dire need for science communication.
- With nearly 200 members, the group has scientists from institutions such as the NCBS, the IISc, the TIFR, the IITs, the IISERs and many others.
- The group aims to study existing and available data to bring out analyses that will support the Central, State and local governments in carrying out their tasks.
Self-assigned tasks
- Several working groups have been formed by scientists.
- They include one on hoax busting to address disinformation spreading with respect to the coronavirus and one on science popularization to develop material that explains concepts such as home quarantine.
- Other groups work on resources in Indian languages, mathematical models and apps.
Why such a group?
- The scientific community has realized their social and democratic responsibility in the current situation, both in terms of analysing the situation and reaching out to the public.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2- The US-Taliban pact and its implications for India.
Context
Attack on gurdwara underlines that the US-Taliban deal has brought Afghanistan no respite.
The futility of US-Taliban deal highlighted
- The attack on a gurdwara in Kabul, in which 25 people were killed, has shown that the coronavirus may well be vanquished by science, but human beings will continue to inflict barbarity upon each other.
- Within hours, it was claimed by the Islamic State, which later also said it had carried it out in revenge for Kashmir.
- The deal not leading to peace: If there were still doubts left on this score, it must be clear after this attack that the US-Taliban deal was not an arrangement to return Afghanistan to peace.
Why the attack matters for India?
- The gurdwara attack was the first strike after the agreement claimed by the IS.
- A provision in pact: Under the pact, the Taliban have committed themselves to eliminate the Islamic State from Afghanistan.
- Yet to start honouring commitment: If the IS claim is true, the Taliban have yet to begin honouring that commitment.
- India’s reaction: Appearing to hint at something more sinister, the ministry of external affairs called the attack “diabolical” and condemned the “perpetrators and their backers”, a formulation usually reserved for attacks suspected to have emanated from or to have the backing of Pakistan.
- Connection of attack with India: The Taliban’s operational leadership is now in the hands of Sirajuddin Haqqani of the Haqqani group, which has been blamed for several attacks on Indian targets, including the 2008 Indian Embassy bombing in Kabul.
- The Taliban have denied having anything to do with the gurdwara attack, and Pakistan has condemned it strongly.
- The question over IS in Afghanistan: Who, really, is the IS in Afghanistan is a question that security experts have been asking for some time now.
COVID-19 outbreak in Afghanistan
- Appeal for ceasefire: The UN Secretary-General made an appeal for an immediate ceasefire in theatres of conflict across the world, to enable governments, health workers and humanitarian aid agencies to access those who might be most vulnerable to COVID-19.
- The epicentre of the outbreak is Herat, where over 1,00,000 Afghans recently crossed over from Iran.
- After the number of confirmed cases rose to 58, the province has been placed under lockdown.
- But the government is hobbled in its efforts to contain the disease, both by a contested election result — Afghanistan has two presidents — and the burden of an agreement that has brought it no respite.
Conclusion
With the recently concluded US-Taliban deal delivering no peace and coronavirus spreading unabated, Afghanistan faces two contagions, new and old — COVID-19 and the relentless violence.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Banking rates and markets instrument.
Mains level: Paper 3- Steps taken by the RBI to revive growth and provide stability to economy.
Context
The RBI’s Governor’s ‘bazooka’ announcement earlier today has seen the usually conservative institution and its head pull out the big guns in word and action.
Four steps taken by the RBI
- One, increase the liquidity in the system.
- Two, make sure the lower policy rate is transmitted. Steps one and two are linked.
- Three, give a three-month window for a payback on all term loans.
- Four, take steps to reduce volatility and provide stability.
- Big cut in repo rate: He announced a big cut in the repo rate by 75 basis points (100 basis points make a per cent, so three-quarters of a percentage point) to 4.4%.
- What is the repo rate? Repo rate is the rate at which the banks borrow from the RBI. Banks give ‘eligible securities’ they hold for cash that RBI gives as an overnight loan.
- Banks pay the repo rate as interest for this borrowing.
First two steps of the RBI: Increasing liquidity and ensuring policy rate transmission
- Why lower repo rate matters? When the repo rate is high, banks find it costly to borrow and in turn raise the price of loans to their borrowers.
- Reducing interest for the system: A low repo rate has the overall effect of reducing interest rates for the system. Lower rates make it easier for entrepreneurs to take loans for working capital and for households for homes, vehicles and so on.
- Issue of policy rate transmission: Previous rate cuts have not been ‘transmitted’ by the banks who have not reduced lending rates and have preferred to keep money with the RBI at the ‘reverse repo rate’.
- What is reverse repo rate? This is the rate at which banks lend to the RBI.
How RBI is ensuring transmission now?
- The RBI has now reduced the reverse repo rate by 90 basis points to 4%.
- This cut in reverse rape sharper than the one on the repo rate to encourage banks to borrow from the RBI rather than lend to it.
- How reverse repo rate matters? Banks have preferred to deposit money with the RBI rather than lend it out with an average daily amount of ₹3 trillion being kept with the RBI.
- A reduction of the reverse repo to 4% makes it unattractive to banks to park it with the RBI and banks will be nudged to lend.
- Why bank lending matters for business? Bank lending provides the needed oxygen to businesses for their working capital and longer-term loans.
- Read this as a measure to help banks take the decision to lend rather than play it safe by keeping money with the RBI.
How lock-down slows down the economy?
- Rush to safety for money: If people are in a lock-down, the wheels of the economy begin to grind down and there is a rush to safety for money in the system.
- Freezing of the markets market: Investors begin to redeem their shares, bonds and mutual funds. These redemptions cause a fire sale of assets. Finally, when there are no buyers, markets begin to freeze.
What are the measures taken by RBI to stabilise the market?
- To keep the wheels of the markets well-oiled with cash, the RBI has made ₹3.74 trillion available. This it has done using four weapons.
- The first measure: It has used targeted long-term repo operations.
- RBI will lend money to banks (a total of ₹1 trillion) that can be invested in bonds and other forms of lending instruments.
- What is a hold-to-maturity way? Under the hold-to-maturity way, the portfolio is valued not on the market price but on what the price should be given the rate of interest of the bond, the holding period and the rating of the bond.
- Basically, it allows trades to happen at a price that is not confused with the current pandemic in the market.
- The second measure: The RBI reduced the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by a full percentage point down to 3% for a year.
- The CRR is the percentage of demand and time deposits banks have to keep with the RBI.
- Why CRR and not SLR was reduced? There is another 18.25% of deposits that is also not used for lending under the Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR), further reducing the money banks have to lend.
- RBI has reduced the CRR to 3%, freeing up ₹1.37 trillion for banks to lend. CRR has been chosen rather than SLR because this increases ‘primary liquidity’ with the banks a bit better.
- Not only is there CRR rate down, banks now need to maintain 80% of the limit on a daily basis instead of 90% till June 26, 2020.
- The third measure: ₹1.37 trillion will be made available under the emergency lending window called the marginal standing facility (MSF).
- Banks will now be able to borrow 3% of their deposits under this window, up from the current 2%. Basically, RBI is willing to lend more than before.
- How much more? ₹1.37 trillion under this window.
The third step of the RBI: Regulatory forbearance
The fourth step of the RBI: Measures to reduce volatility in the exchange rate
- Fourth is a measure to reduce the volatility of the price of the rupee in international markets by allowing banks to deal in off-shore non-deliverable rupee derivative markets.
- It looks like reform using the crisis to bring about this long-awaited change.
Conclusion
We don’t know if measures taken by the RBI and the government are enough. But what is comforting is that the government and the RBI are working in tandem to deal with this giant killer of a virus.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Payment Aggregators
Mains level: Regulation of online payment systems in India
The Reserve Bank of India released guidelines for regulating payment aggregators (PAs) and payment gateways (PGs), nearly six months after it first proposed regulating these entities in a discussion paper.
Payment Aggregators (PAs)
- PAs are entities that facilitate e-commerce sites and merchants to accept various payment instruments from the customers for the completion of their payment obligations.
- PGs are entities that provide technology infrastructure to route and facilitate the processing of an online payment transaction without any involvement in the handling of funds.
- With the new set of guidelines PAs and PGs such as Paytm, Pay Pal, Mobikwik, Razorpay, PayU, CCAvenue etc. will be regulated by RBI to ensure the safety of all our online transactions.
What are the new guidelines?
The new guidelines say that-
- A payment aggregator (entities that facilitate e-commerce sites and merchants to accept various payment instruments) should be a company incorporated in India under the Companies Act, 1956 / 2013.
- Non-bank entities offering payment aggregator services will have to apply for authorisation on or before June 30, 2021.
- E-commerce marketplaces providing payment aggregator services will have to be separated from the marketplace business and they will have to apply for authorisation on or before June 30, 2021.
- Pas existing today will have to achieve a net worth of ₹15 crore by March 31, 2021 and a net worth of ₹25 crore by the end of third financial year, which means or before March 31, 2023.
- The net-worth of ₹25 crore shall be maintained at all times thereafter.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: COVID 19 diagnosis
Mains level: Coronovirus outbreak and its mitigation
The ICMR invited bids for an estimated 10 lakh antibody kits (for serological tests) for the diagnosis of COVID-19.
What are serological tests?
- Viral infections are mainly identified by two kinds of tests– genetic and serological.
- Genetic tests can identify infections that are active but cannot be used to detect past infections.
- To trace how infections like the novel coronavirus have spread so far, it is important to detect people who contracted the disease in the past and have recovered.
- This is what serological tests seek to determine.
How are the two different?
- The genetic test is conducted on a swab collected from the back of the throat, a liquid sample from the lower respiratory tract, or a simple saliva sample.
- For SARS-COV-2, the virus’s RNA is first converted into DNA.
- By a process called polymerase chain reaction (PCR), DNA fragments in the sample are copied exponentially — one is copied into two, the two are copied into four, and so on.
- Unlike genetic tests, which look for RNA in swab samples, serological tests work on antibodies in blood samples. Hence, they are also called ‘antibody tests’.
How serological tests work?
- Antibodies, or protective proteins produced by the immune system to neutralize pathogens such as bacteria and viruses, are present in one’s bloodstream for a considerable period of time after the infection has gone.
- To disable a pathogen, the antibody latches to a unique protein molecule on pathogen’s surface, called an antigen.
- Serological tests use antigen molecules to detect the presence of antibodies relevant to the infection.
- Generally, a blood sample is placed in a test tube that is lined with antigens on the inside. If the relevant antibodies are present, they latch on to the antigens.
- Such tests are relatively inexpensive, and can display results within a few minutes.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: G-20 countries
Mains level: Global cooperation for COVID-19 pandemic
A Virtual G20 Leaders’ Summit was recently convened yesterday to discuss the challenges posed by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and to forge a globally coordinated response.
About G20
- Formed in 1999, the G20 is an international forum of the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies.
- Collectively, the G20 economies account for around 85 percent of the Gross World Product (GWP), 80 percent of world trade.
- To tackle the problems or the address issues that plague the world, the heads of governments of the G20 nations periodically participate in summits.
- In addition to it, the group also hosts separate meetings of the finance ministers and foreign ministers.
- The G20 has no permanent staff of its own and its chairmanship rotates annually between nations divided into regional groupings.
Aims and objectives
- The Group was formed with the aim of studying, reviewing, and promoting high-level discussion of policy issues pertaining to the promotion of international financial stability.
- The forum aims to pre-empt the balance of payments problems and turmoil on financial markets by improved coordination of monetary, fiscal, and financial policies.
- It seeks to address issues that go beyond the responsibilities of any one organisation.
Member Countries
The members of the G20 consist of 19 individual countries plus the European Union (EU).
- The 19 member countries of the forum are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States.
- The European Union is represented by the European Commission and by the European Central Bank.
Who are the G20 Sherpas?
- A Sherpa is the personal representative of a head of state or government who prepares an international summit, particularly the annual G7 and G20 summits.
- Between the summits, there are multiple Sherpa conferences where possible agreements are laid out.
- This reduces the amount of time and resources required at the negotiations of the heads of state at the final summit.
- The Sherpa is generally quite influential, although they do not have the authority to make a final decision about any given agreement.
- The name is derived from the Sherpa people, a Nepalese ethnic group, who serve as guides and porters in the Himalayas, a reference to the fact that the Sherpa clears the way for a head of state at a major summit.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Project 'Isaac'
Mains level: Not Much
IIT, Gandhinagar has launched Project Isaac to engage its students in creative projects to enhance their critical skills while they are confined to their homes because of Coronavirus.
Project ‘Isaac’
- The project is inspired by Sir Isaac Newton, who was similarly sent home by Trinity College, Cambridge, because of the Great Plague of London in 1665.
- During this year, Newton, then a 22-year-old college student developed some of his most profound discoveries, including early calculus, as well as his theories of optics and gravity.
- As part of the project, four different competitions are being organized by IIT, Gandhinagar to cultivate new skills among students regarding writing, painting, coding, music, creative expression, and so on.
- Students can take part in competitions online.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Keqiang Index
Mains level: NA
China’s GDP numbers which are preferably represented by Keqiang Index has been recently seen in news amid coronavirus outbreak.
Keqiang Index
- Li Keqiang index or Keqiang index is an economic measurement index created by The Economist to measure China’s economy using three indicators, as reportedly preferred by Li Keqiang.
- It uses three other indicators:
- the railway cargo volume,
- electricity consumption and
- loans disbursed by banks
- Li Keqiang currently the Premier of the People’s Republic of China, suggest the index as better economic indicator than official numbers of GDP.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2- Learning from the experience of South Korea in designing the policies to deal with coronavirus.
Context
How this coronavirus pandemic threat will pan out no one knows but what we do know is that the intensity of the challenge and its impact on our well-being will depend greatly on how we reach out to ordinary people, and the policies we implement.
Historical perspective and comparison
- Compared to the fatality numbers of some earlier pandemics, such as the Asian flu, 1957-58 (1.1 million dead) and Hong Kong Flu, 1968 (2 million dead), the fatality numbers of the current coronavirus pandemic are, as yet, nowhere near.
- One of the most comprehensive studies on the pandemic, by the Imperial College of London, shows that the “case fatality rate”, or fatality among those who get coronavirus is 0.9 per cent — this means a 99.1 per cent survival rate among the people who get it.
- What makes this pandemic special is that it is happening in the age of digital connectivity and greater scientific knowledge than we have ever had.
- We can inform people quickly and take big steps to contain it.
- But this also has a danger we have never faced.
- Policy actions can have a mega backlash on the economy.
- We are in uncharted territory — never before have we taken the kind of collective action against a pandemic as we are doing now.
Time to collectively confront our common humanitarian challenge
- Using the experience of South Korea: There is some evidence from history, and from the country that has been the most successful in dealing with this pandemic —South Korea.
- The country’s success has saved lives, protected the economy from undue damage, boosted the popularity of the Korean President Moon Jae-In across political divides and raised the global standing of South Korea.
- France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Lofven have consulted Moon Jae-In for advice.
- We have some evidence and estimates about the kind of damage this pandemic can do.
- China’s industrial production in January-February 2020 declined by 5 per cent compared to a year ago.
- Goldman Sachs has estimated that the US’s GDP growth could decline 24 per cent for the second quarter this year.
- Data are coming in on recent US unemployment claims climbing by 30 per cent.
- This is clearly time to put political differences aside, and collectively confront our common humanitarian challenge.
Designing policy to deal with the pandemic
- Economic implications: In designing policy, it is important to realise that all interventions to contain the pandemic have economic implications.
- Some people react to this by saying that our first priority is to save lives, not the economy. This is a mistake. The two are not separate matters.
- A poorly-executed policy can damage the economy and this can end up taking more lives than the original problem.
- Examples of policy doing damage to lives: We have examples of the damage policies can do from history. In 1958, Mao Zedong initiated the Great Leap Forward to boost China’s production. This unleashed the biggest famine in modern times, which resulted in 20 to 40 million deaths.
- The Bengal Famine of 1943 occurred with no decline in food production but there were disruptions in supply chains from the farms to those who needed food.
- The death toll was two to three million. Such evidence from the past warns us that policies not designed well can cause more deaths than the pandemic itself.
Three lessons from South Korea
- We already have three lessons from Korea, which are being widely discussed in newspapers and the media around the world.
- First, you need strong leadership.
- Second, it is critically important to have trust between society and government. There is only that much you can do if people do not cooperate.
- Third, the need is for nuanced policies, with the government having the courage to make course correction as it goes along.
Way forward
- First, trust can be a casualty with the lockdown. There are reports of the police wielding the baton too quickly on ordinary vendors, small grocers and sellers. They need to explain to people so that they begin to actually cooperate, instead of complying only when under observation. That is the key difference between a trusting society and a trustless one.
- The government cannot be a substitute for the private firms: To believe that small traders and private firms can be substituted by the government is the mistake Communist China made in the 1960s and 1970s, before the arrival of Deng Xiaoping.
- An example of the importance of specialised knowledge — this applies to the US as well — pertains to the role of cash grants to the poor. Such grants work well in normal times but may need to be supplemented with the direct support of food and medical services.
Conclusion
Some say that the Korea analogy is of no use to us because it is a relatively small country. It is true that everything will not apply here. But on the other hand, Korea and Hubei province of China are very comparable. Korea’s population is 52 million, Hubei’s is 58 million. The number of people who died of the virus in Korea is 126. The figure for Hubei is 3,160. Korea, of course, had the follower’s advantage since the virus struck there later. But we too have that advantage.
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