Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

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India to lose preferential trade terms with U.S. under Generalized System of Preferences programme

News

• India will lose access to preferential trade terms with the U.S. under the latter’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programme, a Senior State Department official told.

Beyond News

• The official, said the restoration of benefits remained a possibility if underlying trade issues were resolved, but the withdrawal of India’s GSP eligibility, was “a done deal”.
• S. President Donald Trump had written to the U.S. Congress stating his intention to withdraw GSP benefits for India, saying India had failed to assure the U.S. that it would provide “equitable and reasonable access to the markets of India”.
• Trump had issued a similar notification for Turkey as well, on the same day, because Turkey was economically developed enough to no longer warrant it getting GSP benefits.
• Now that the statutory 60-day notification has passed since Mr. Trump’s notification, GSP can and is expected to be terminated via a Presidential proclamation imminently. Mr. Trump terminated Turkey’s GSP program.
• S. lawmakers had written to the administration since Mr. Trump’s announcement, asking that a final decision on GSP be put on hold until the Indian elections concluded.
• Twenty-five lawmakers wrote to the administration to request that GSP benefits not be cancelled as it would represent “a step back, not forward” and would harm U.S. companies. The lawmakers had urged further negotiations with the Indian side.
• Indian exports to the U.S. worth $ 5.6 billion are covered by GSP, although India gets only $ 190 million in tariff savings. Nevertheless, the program impacts crucial Indian sectors including textiles, leather, engineering goods, gems and jewellery.
• A number of trade irritants have rankled the bilateral relationship. The U.S. has had concerns over access to India’s dairy and medical devices market. On top of this, Indian tariffs in ICT have been an issue for the U.S. India’s policies on data localisation and FDI in India’s e-commerce space have caused the trade relationship to go downhill.
• For India, being placed on a list of countries whose aluminium and steel were taxed by the U.S. in 2018 was an issue. India has also had concerns the U.S. tightening its policies around the H1B skilled worker visa program.
• The official however, also talked at length about the positive aspects of the Indo-US relationship including in the trade dimension, where U.S. exports to India, as per the official, had increased by 28% last year and India had exported $ 3 billion in U.S. crude and contracted to import $ 2 billion in liquified natural gas per year.

PM Modi hikes National Defence Fund scholarship assistance

News

• Prime Minister approved changes to the ‘Prime Minister’s Scholarship Scheme’ under the National Defence Fund.
• This was his first decision on assuming office for the second time, a government statement said.

Beyond News

• The Prime Minister, approved the increase in scholarship amount from ₹2,000 to ₹2,500 per month for boys and from ₹2,250 to ₹3,000 per month for girls.
• The ambit of the scheme was also expanded to cover the wards of State police officials martyred in terror or Naxal attacks.
• The scheme is meant to encourage technical and post-graduate education of widows and wards of deceased personnel of the Armed forces, the paramilitary forces and the Railway Protection Force.

Indian-origin Anita Bhatia appointed UN Deputy Executive Director

News

• Indian-origin Anita Bhatia, a veteran in strategic partnerships, resource mobilisation and management, has been appointed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as the Deputy Executive Director in the global body’s agency focussed on women empowerment and gender equality.

Beyond News

• Anita Bhatia has been appointed the Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) for Resource Management, Sustainability and Partnerships.
• The key appointment comes after Mr. Guterres appointed decorated Indian Army officer Lieutenant General Shailesh Tinaikar as his new Force Commander of the UN Mission in South Sudan.

WHO award for Rajasthan Health Dept.

News

• The World Health Organization has selected the Rajasthan government’s Medical & Health Department for its award this year in recognition of its achievements in the field of tobacco control.

Beyond News

• The department’s Additional Chief Secretary will receive the award at a function to mark World No Tobacco Day in New Delhi.
• The Health Department of the State is the only government body in the country which will be awarded for its tobacco-free initiatives.
• WHO has selected five organisations from the South-East Asian region for the prestigious award.
• Individuals and institutions in each of the six WHO regions were recognised every year for their accomplishments in the area of tobacco control.
• Three other organisations in the South-East Asian region have been selected from Thailand and Indonesia, while the Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute, New Delhi, is also among the recipients of the award.
• The Medical & Health Department launched several campaigns against tobacco consumption at places such as schools, colleges, police stations and government offices during 2018-19.
• As part of the tobacco-free initiatives, 1.13 crore people took a pledge against tobacco consumption at the events held in 1.56 lakh government institutions on January 30 this year, marking Martyrs’ Day.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

India GDP growth slows to five-year low at 5.8%, falls behind China

News

• India’s economic growth rate slowed to five-year low of 5.8% in January-March 2018-19, due to poor performance in agriculture and manufacturing sectors, official data said.

Beyond News

• The Central Statistics Office also revealed that GDP growth during the 2018-19 fiscal stood at 6.8%, lower than 7.2% in the previous financial year.
• The growth in gross domestic product was slowest since 2014-15. The previous low was 6.4% in 2013-14.
• The fourth quarter growth was below China’s 6.4%.

Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal fined ₹25 lakh each for not curbing pollution in Ganga

News

• The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has imposed a penalty of ₹25 lakh each on the States of Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal for not taking adequate steps to curb pollution in the river Ganga.

Beyond News

• A Bench observed that while in Bihar there was no progress in terms of completion of sewage treatment infrastructure projects, in West Bengal only three out of the 22 projects had been completed.
• The States of West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand are not represented in spite of orders of this Tribunal by which we recorded strong disapproval to such attitude of the said States. Such insensitivity in a serious matter is a matter of concern, the Bench observed.
• The States were directed to deposit the penalty within a month with the Central Pollution Control Board, and the amount “may be spent on restoration of the environment.”
• Noting that the discharge of effluents is an offence, the green panel directed the Uttar Pradesh government to prohibit industrial activity that resulted in pollution. The U.P. Chief Secretary may personally monitor and ensure zero tolerance approach to the pollution of the Ganga, the Bench said.

E-cigarettes pose public health risk, says ICMR

News

• The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has warned of a potential public health disaster if action was not taken to completely prohibit and dissuade the use of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) or e-cigarettes given that the nicotine delivered by these devices adversely affect almost all systems in a human body.

      Harmful effects

• E-cigarette use adversely affects the cardiovascular system, impairs respiratory immune cell function and airways in a way similar to cigarette smoking and is responsible for severe respiratory disease.
• It also poses risk to foetus, infant, and child brain development, the council noted in a white paper released here on Friday.
• Use of e-cigarettes has documented adverse effects on humans which include DNA damage; carcinogenesis; cellular, molecular and immunological toxicity; respiratory, cardiovascular and neurological disorders and adverse impact on foetal development and pregnancy.
• Given the harmful health effects e-cigarettes pose to users, as well as passive exposure, failure to make appropriate interventions at the right time by bringing together all stakeholders under one umbrella to prevent this impending epidemic of e-cigarettes use could lead to a public health disaster in India.

Findings

• There are more than 460 different e-cigarette brands with varying configurations of nicotine delivery available in the market, according to the ICMR.
• Now, based on the currently available scientific data from multiple streams of research, the ICMR has recommended complete prohibition on ENDS or e-cigarettes in India in the greater interest of protecting public health.
• Tobacco consumption, especially cigarette smoking, had shown a decline in India in recent years, this had been achieved through several tobacco control measures that had already been initiated.
• Thus, at this juncture, marketing of a product like e-cigarettes, with unproven benefit and high potential harm from addiction and health risks, is unwarranted as a tobacco control measure.
• E-cigarettes also open a gateway for new tobacco addiction, which is a potential threat to the country’s tobacco control laws and ongoing tobacco control programmes and efforts.

S-400 Triumf missile shield deal: U.S. repeats threat of sanctions

News

• India should not assume it will get a waiver from U.S. sanctions if it goes ahead with its purchase of the S-400 Triumf missile shield from Russia, Washington made it clear.
• The purchase could also hamper the future of Indo-U.S. defence relationship, an official said.

Beyond News

• India had committed last October to purchasing a Russian S-400 Triumf long-range missile defence shield for about $5 billion.
• The deal has run the risk of attracting sanctions from the U.S. under a 2017 law the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
• While sanctions can kick in only when payments start being made, the U.S. Congress’s annual defence budget authorisation, the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) passed last year, allows the President to grant waivers from CAATSA sanctions under certain conditions.
• The NDAA for fiscal year 2020 is currently making its way through Congress but the theoretical possibility of a waiver remains valid and does not have to be renewed each year with the NDAA.
• The State Department official emphasised, however, that a CAATSA waiver was not automatic and it was for the President to grant waivers on a case-by-case basis.
• This view that India should not bank on a waiver appears to be consistent across U.S. government departments.
• The S-400 question has come up with another U.S. ally Turkey. Tensions in the U.S. Turkey relationship have escalated recently with Turkey on the verge of deploying the S-400 (Turkish soldiers are already in Russia being trained to use the S-400).
• The country has also signed up for U.S. F-35 jets, and is a co-producer of the jets. It now risks facing CAATSA sanctions and being excluded from the F-35 production process. Congress has already blocked delivery of F-35s to Turkey until the issue is resolved.
• Purchasing the S-400 would preclude a deep and broad defence relationship with the U.S, the official said. India is currently in discussions to buy various other U.S. defence equipmentincluding combat aircraft and the Sea Guardian drones.

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