Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

U.S.-backed forces wrest Raqqa from IS

News:

• U.S.-backed forces took full control of Raqqa from the Islamic State group on Tuesday, defeating the last jihadist holdouts in the de facto Syrian capital of their now-shattered ‘caliphate.’

Background:

• The victory caps a battle of more than four months for Raqqa, and hammers another nail in the coffin of the jihadist group’s experiment in statehood, which has collapsed in the face of offensives in Syria and Iraq.
• Inside Raqqa, joyous fighters from the Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) celebrated and raised their yellow flag in the city’s Al-Naim traffic circle, which became known as ‘Hell Roundabout’ after it was used for gruesome public executions.
• The SDF broke into Raqqa in June, after months of fighting to surround the city, and on Tuesday flushed the last few hundred IS fighters from their remaining positions in the main hospital and the municipal stadium.

Notes for enrichment:

• The 2017 Battle of Raqqa was the fifth and final phase of the Raqqa campaign (2016–2017) launched by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) de facto capital in the city of Raqqa.
• The battle began on 6 June 2017, and was supported by airstrikes and ground troops from the US-led coalition. The operation was named the “Great Battle” by the SDF.
• The battle ran concurrently with the Battle of Mosul, which started six months earlier, as part of an effort by the CJTF–OIRand its allies to strip ISIL of its regional centers of power and to dismantle it as an organization controlling territory.

---

65 AYUSH hospitals in three years

News:

•  Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that time had come for a “health revolution” under the aegis of the traditional medicine system.

Background

• The government is working towards setting up an Ayurveda hospital in each district.
• The day was also celebrated as Dhanwantari Jayanti (Dhanteras) across India.

Beyond news

• The AYUSH Ministry is working swiftly in this direction, and in more than three years, more than 65 AYUSH hospitals have been developed.
• The Prime Minister urged private players to use part of their corporate social responsibility funds to help strengthen Ayurveda.

---

More check-posts to come up on Bangladesh border

News:

• The Home Ministry will move a Cabinet note to construct seven integrated check-posts (ICPs) along the Bangladesh border to give a fillip to trade and business with the neighboring country.

Beyond News:

• The project was envisaged in 2007.
• A separate body — the Land Port Authority of India (LPAI) — was constituted in 2011 to boost trade via the land border points.
• Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) was studying the proposal estimated to cost Rs. 5,000 crore.
• 19 ICPs are expected to come up along the Bangladesh border. Besides the seven in West Bengal, three will be in Assam, two in Meghalaya and seven in Tripura.
• An ICP has several facilities such as passenger terminal building, currency exchange counter, Internet hubs, cargo process building, cargo inspection sheds, warehouse, cold storage, quarantine laboratory, clearing agents, banks, vehicle scanners, isolation bay, parking and cafeteria.

U.S. ploy against Iran: envoy

News:

• Accusing the U.S. of trying to ensure that India reduced oil imports from his country, Iranian Ambassador Gholamreza Ansari said that even so, U.S. President Donald Trump’s policy shift would not affect the India-Iran relationship, and the development of the Chabahar port project remained on track.

Beyond News:

• India has cut its oil imports from Iran by approximately 20% in 2017, though its global imports have risen by 5.4%.
• Some companies such as Essar oil have dropped imports from Iran in August by as much as 75%, according to oil industry estimates.
• According to Petroleum Ministry: India has been trying to “diversify” its imports so as to get more competitive rates.
• Major development is India’s decision to import its first shipment of crude oil from the U.S., with an order of 8.45 million barrels, giving rise to speculation that New Delhi’s new policy will come at the cost of imports from Iran.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Investments in overseas units fall 39%

News:

• India Inc.’s investment in overseas ventures fell by almost 39.3% to $2.65 billion in September this year, according to the RBI data released on Tuesday.

Beyond news:

• Domestic companies had committed $4.37 billion as outward foreign direct investment in the year-earlier period.
• In August 2017, India Inc. had invested $1.34 billion in their overseas ventures that were either fully owned subsidiaries or joint ventures of the Indian parent companies.
• The $2.65 billion worth of investment in September was in the form of equity stake, loan and issuance of guarantee by Indian entities, the RBI said.

{Op-Ed}Of faith and fever

Key aspect: Need for the validation of traditional medicine

Example from Tamil Nadu:

• This year the Tamil Nadu government responded to one of the worst dengue epidemic by freely distributing a herbal concoction,nilavembu kudineer , recommended for fevers under the ancient Siddha system of medicine.
• Even though there is no evidence of their efficacy, alternative remedies such as papaya-leaf juice for dengue find many takers during epidemics.
• While it is hard for government bodies to curb such practices, what they must never do is to endorse them.

Core issues:

• Eventhough there are some evidence exists for herbs potency against a range of illnesses, only a tiny handful of these remedies go on to prove their efficacy in large-scale, placebo-controlled human trials, the gold standard of modern medicine.
• This is because the science of developing drugs from medicinal plants is complicated.
• Poly-herbal remedies like nilavembu are a mix of several compounds, while most of modern medicine relies on single-compounds.
• The amount of the active ingredient — the compound in a herb that acts against an illness — varies across plants.

Way ahead:

•  Drugmakers have to find a way to identify this ingredient and test it in large- scale trials. This exercise requires not only massive financial investment but also intellectual honesty.
• Too many attempts in India by the government to validate traditional medicine are driven less by honesty and more by blind faith. This has led to the promotion of herbal remedies with scant evidentiary basis.
• At a time when modern medicine is advancing towards greater transparency and replicability in clinical evidence, the government’s claims on nilavembu aren’t fooling anyone in the scientific community.

[sociallocker id=”2087″] [/sociallocker]

CLICK HERE TO SEE DATE WISE CURRENT AFFAIRS