Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

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Rising healthcare costs impoverish 75 lakh families annually: Minister

News

• The Central government has admitted that 75 lakh families fall below the poverty line annually due to the rising cost of healthcare in India.

Beyond News

• Central government is providing generic medicines under the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP) which are normally cheaper by 50-90% of average price of top 3 brands of corresponding medicines.
• A total 5,028 PMBJP Kendras have been opened across the country, where 714 of the 900 medicines in the product basket of PMBJP is currently available.
• Product basket of PMBJP now comprises 900 medicines and 154 surgicals and consumable items. Out of this, 714 medicines and 53 surgicals are now available for sale at PMBJP Kendras.
• The purchase orders for procurement of 24 medicines and 90 surgical items have already been issued and these medicines/surgicals will be available for sale at PMBJP Kendras in the next two months. For 162 medicines and 11 surgical items, no bids were received in the last two tenders. Floating tenders for required medicines is an ongoing process.
• The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), he said, fixes the ceiling price of scheduled medicines specified in the first schedule of the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013 (DPCO) in accordance with the provisions of the DPCO.
• All manufacturers of scheduled medicines (branded or generic) have to sell their products within the ceiling price (plus applicable local taxes) fixed by the NPPA. A manufacturer is at liberty to fix the maximum retail price of a non-scheduled formulation (branded or generic) launched by it.
• However, as per the DPCO, the manufacturers of non-scheduled formulations are not allowed to increase the maximum retail price of such formulations by more than 10 % per annum.

Crop insurance claims of ₹9,046-cr paid to 80 lakh farmers in kharif 2018: Govt.

News

• The government has paid crop insurance claims worth ₹9,046 crore to 80 lakh farmers for the kharif 2018 season under PMFBY and RWBCIS, Parliament was informed.

Beyond News

• The government currently offers two crop insurance schemes the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and the Restructured Weather-based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS).
• ₹9,046 crore worth claims have been paid to 80 lakh farmers under PMFBY and weather index-based RWBCIS for the kharif 2018 season.
• Admissible claims under PMFBY are worked out on the basis of yield data submitted by the concerned State government while on the basis of weather data from weather stations designated in the notification by the State government under RWBCIS.
• PMFBY was launched in 2016 under which farmers pay very nominal premium and get full claim for damages. The scheme is being implemented in most States.
• The insurance unit for calculation of admissible claims has also been reduced to village/village panchayat level to provide claims proportionate to their crop yield damage.

CPCB pulls up 52 firms over handling of waste

News

• The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has pulled up 52 companies for not specifying a timeline or a plan to collect the plastic waste that results from their business activities.

Beyond News:

• The Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, (which was amended in 2018) prescribed by the Union Environment Ministry, says that companies that use plastic in their processes packaging and production have a responsibility to ensure that any resulting plastic waste is safely disposed of.
• Under this system called the Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR) companies have to specify collection targets as well as a time-line for this process within a year of the rules coming into effect on March 2016. The plastic waste can be collected by the company or outsourced to an intermediary.
• The Rules also mandate the responsibilities of local bodies, gram panchayats, waste generators and retailers to manage such waste.
• A notice posted on the website of the Cental Pollution Control Board, a Ministry body, said these 52 companies hadn’t yet registered at the online portal and disclosed their disposal plans.
• Failing to do so would invite action against the defaulters. This action can include fines or imprisonment under provisions of the Environment Protection Act. The companies were to have registered more than a year ago.
• Inspite of these laws, India has made little progress in managing its plastic waste. According to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) estimates in 2015, Indian cities generate about 15,000 tonnes of plastic waste per day and about 70 per cent of the plastic produced in the country ends up as waste.
• Nearly 40 per cent of India’s plastic waste is neither collected nor recycled and ends up polluting the land and water.
• Plastic packaging has been singled out as one of the key contributors to plastic waste though there isn’t any number on its relative contribution. However like the companies, states too have come in the CPCB’s firing line.
• The National Green Tribunal earlier this year hauled up 25 states and union territories for not following its orders on submitting a plan, on how they would comply with the Plastic Waste Management Rules of 2016. They stand to potentially pay a fine of Rs 1 crore.

Trump accuses India of imposing tariffs on American products; says ‘no longer acceptable’

News

• President Donald Trump said India has long had a “field day” imposing tariffs on American products, which is “no longer acceptable” to the U.S.

Beyond News

• Trump’s comment came days after his meeting with Indian Prime Minister on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Osaka, where the two leaders aired their concerns over bilateral trade disputes and agreed for a meeting of their Commerce Ministers to sort out the issues.
• S President, championing his ‘America First’ policy, has been a vocal critic of India for levying “tremendously high” duties on U.S. products and has described the country as a “tariff king“.
• Though trade is an important part of the booming bilateral relationship, a row over market access and tariffs has escalated in recent months, leading to fears of a protracted dispute.
• India has raised tariffs on 28 items, including almond, pulses and walnut exported from the U.S., in retaliation to America’s withdrawal of preferential access for Indian products. Mr. Trump has also criticised India’s high import tariff on the iconic Harley Davidson motorcycles as “unacceptable”.
• S Trump terminated India’s designation as a beneficiary developing nation under the key Generalized System of Preference (GSP) trade programme from June 5, after determining that New Delhi had not assured the U.S. that it will provide “equitable and reasonable access” to its markets.
• The GSP is the largest and oldest U.S. trade preference programme and is designed to promote economic development by allowing duty-free entry for thousands of products from designated beneficiary countries.
• The Trump administration wants India to lower the trade barriers and embrace “fair and reciprocal” trade.
• Last February, India slashed the customs duty on imported motorcycles like Harley-Davidson to 50% after Mr. Trump called it “unfair” and threatened to increase the tariff on import of Indian bikes to the U.S.
• The government on June 21 last year decided to impose these duties in retaliation to the U.S. decision to significantly hike customs duties on certain steel and aluminium products. America, in March last year, imposed 25% tariff on steel and a 10% import duty on aluminium products.
• Many U.S. companies like Google, Mastercard, Visa and Amazon have raised concerns over the issue of data localisation and its impact on their operational cost.
• In April last year, the Reserve Bank of India had issued a directive on the ‘Storage of Payment System Data’. It had advised all system providers to ensure that, within a period of six months, data relating to payment systems operated by them is stored in a system only in India for effective monitoring.
• India has also dragged the U.S. to the World Trade Organisation’s dispute settlement mechanism over the imposition of import duties on steel and aluminium.
• India’s exports to the U.S. in 2017-18 stood at $47.9 billion, while imports were at $26.7 billion. The trade balance is in favour of India.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Honour for ‘Plan Bee’ that helped save jumbos

News

• Plan Bee, an amplifying system imitating the buzz of a swarm of honey bees to keep wild elephants away from railway tracks,earned the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) the best innovation award in Indian Railways for the 2018-19 fiscal.

Beyond News

• There are 29 earmarked elephant corridors with the operating zone of NFR spread across the north-eastern states and parts of Bihar and West Bengal. Trains are required to slow down at these corridors and adhere to speed specified on signs.
• The desperation to find an “elephant repellent” was triggered by 67 pachyderms being knocked down by trains from 2013 to June 2019. Most of these cases were reported from Assam and northern West Bengal.
• A team tested the honey bee buzz on a domestic elephant in north-eastern Assam’s Rangapara. The second test at a tea estate under Rangiya Division proved successful on a herd of wild elephants.
• A device was subsequently designed to generate the amplified sound of honey bees audible from 700-800 metres. The first instrument was installed at a level crossing west of Guwahati on a track adjoining the Rani Reserve Forest, an elephant habitat. NFR now has 46 such devices installed at vulnerable points.
• NFR officials said that a mix of Plan Bee and other measures have helped them save 1,014 elephants from 2014 to June 2019.

Army takes measures to check drug addiction among recruits in Shillong

News

• The Army has taken steps to check drug addiction among its recruits at a training centre in Meghalaya’s capital Shillong.

Beyond News

• At an average altitude of 4,908 ft above sea level, Shillong has been a major base of the Army since the Second World War.
• The Indian Air Force’s Eastern Air Command and the headquarters of the Assam Rifles India’s oldest paramilitary force formed in 1835 are located on the city’s outskirts.
• Once the capital of undivided Assam comprising much of present-day Northeast, Shillong has for long grappled with the drug trade and addiction. Officials said drug cartels for long had been using the city as the hub of their illegal trade from Myanmar via Mizoram.
• Special Narcotics Squad and Criminal Investigation Department of the Mizoram Police arrested eight people, including three women, and seized heroin and cannabis worth ₹13.3 lakh. The eight were caught from Hringlangtang village in Champhai district bordering Myanmar.
• Zokhathawr in Champhai district is a major border trade centre.
• Almost a month ago, the Mizoram Police arrested 29 people and seized 1,085.97 grams of heroin, 1,21,800 methamphetamine tablets, small arms and a few exotic animals such as black parrots, black cockatoos, emus and an owl monkey. These were together worth ₹2.21 crore.
• Addiction among Army personnel came to light after 15 people were arrested on July 4 for possessing 58 grams of heroin. The police had acted on a tip-off and arrested one person with almost half a gram of heroin. He spilt the beans, following which the police arrested the others one after the other from different parts of Shillong.
• The police have also flagged some schools and colleges where students have fallen prey to drug dealers.

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