UPSC Key—15 August, 2023: Aditya-L1, Inflation and India’s merchandise exports

Landslides, cloudbursts kill 48 as rain batters Himachal

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Indian and World Geography-Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.

Mains Examination: General Studies I: Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc., geographical features and their location-changes in critical geographical features (including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- At least 48 people lost their lives in landslides and cloudbursts as heavy rain lashed Himachal Pradesh for over 55 hours, officials said Monday. According to officials, deaths were recorded from Solan, Mandi, Shimla, Sirmaur, Hamirpur, Kangra and Chamba, prompting the state government to cancel all Independence Day functions. At least nine people died when a temple in the Summer Hill area of Shimla came crumbling down around 7.15 am Monday. The incident took place when an aarti was going on and, according to locals, more than 30 people were inside. Nestled in a deep gorge between two hills, the Prachin Shiv Mandir collapsed following a cloudburst, burying a host of devotees.

• What India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said so far?

• The Southwest monsoon has been vigorous over the northern hilly regions-Why

• For Your Information-The Southwest monsoon has been vigorous over the northern hilly regions. Adding to this is the passing of a western disturbance stream that is causing such enhanced rainfall. Since the beginning of August, these states have recorded exceptionally high rainfall amounts, resulting in levelling of infrastructure, breaching of the river banks and massive landslides at multiple locations. “Such extremely heavy rainfall is mainly due to the position of the monsoon trough, which currently runs along the foothills of the Himalayas. As a result, the Southwest monsoon winds are being pulled over these regions,” explained an official from IMD. Between July 31 and August 13, Uttarakhand recorded 179 mm of rain whereas Himachal Pradesh recorded 97.8 mm, the IMD rainfall data showed. Since June 1, Uttarakhand has recorded 884.7 mm of rain and Himachal Pradesh 657 mm, with rainfall departures from normal at 15 per cent and 35 per cent, respectively. IMD records show that the wettest day (24 hours) in Uttarakhand was recorded at Haridwar Hydro (495.3 mm) on September 18, 1880, followed by Raipur station in Dehradun district (487.5) mm on August 2, 1959.
As much as 73 per cent of Himachal Pradesh’s annual rainfall is received during June-September, with July and August being the rainiest months. The wettest days ever in Himachal Pradesh was recorded at Kangra observatory (800 mm) on October 19, 1874 and on October 19, 1899 at Shimla observatory; both were not during the Southwest monsoon season.

• What is Landslide?

• What causes Landslides?

• What are the types of landslides?

• Know the Landslide-Prone Areas in India and mark them on Map

• The Geological Survey of India (GSI) and national landslide susceptibility mapping-connect the dots

• What is a cloudburst?

• For Your Information-A cloudburst is a localised but intense rainfall activity. While it can also occur in plains, the phenomenon is most common in hilly regions.
Not all instances of very heavy rainfall, however, are cloudbursts. A cloudburst has a very specific definition: Rainfall of 10 cm or more in an hour over a roughly 10 km x 10 km area is classified as a cloudburst event. By this definition, 5 cm of rainfall in a half-hour period over the same area would also be categorised as a cloudburst.
To put this in perspective, in a normal year, India, as a whole, receives about 116 cm of rainfall over the entire year. This means if the entire rainfall everywhere in India during a year was spread evenly over its area, the total accumulated water would be 116 cm high. There are, of course, huge geographical variations in rainfall within the country, and some areas receive over 10 times more than that amount in a year. But on average, any place in India can be expected to receive about 116 cm of rain in a year. During a cloudburst event, a place receives about 10% of this annual rainfall within an hour. It is a worse situation than what Mumbai had experienced on July 26, 2005, which is one of the most extreme instances of rainfall in India in recent years. At that time, Mumbai had received 94 cm of rain over a 24-hour period, resulting in the deaths of over 400 people and more than USD 1 billion in economic losses.

• What is the criteria for Cloudbursts as per Indian Meteorological Department?

• Why do cloudbursts occur in hilly areas?

• Can we predict cloudbursts?

• What is a ‘Highly local cloud’?

• What is the reason of cloudburst?

• What is flash flooding?

• What is the reason for flash floods?

• How common are cloudbursts?

• Can cloudbursts be forecast?

• Are cloudburst incidents increasing lately?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍IMD: Let-up in extreme rain from today in Himachal, Uttarakhand

📍Heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh: When is high rainfall termed as a ‘cloudburst’?

Vegetable price spike pushes July retail inflation up to 7.44%

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story--India’s retail inflation rate surged to a 15-month high of 7.44 per cent in July 2023, primarily driven by a rise in prices of vegetables, cereals, pulses, spices and milk and products, data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Monday showed. The inflation print had last breached the 7 per cent mark in September 2022 and the previous high for the headline retail inflation rate was recorded at 7.79 per cent in April 2022.
This is the third instance of retail inflation rate crossing the upper limit of the 4+/- 2 per cent band of Reserve Bank of India’s medium-term inflation target in this calendar year and seventh instance since July 2022. The RBI mainly factors in the retail inflation while deciding the benchmark interest rate (repo rate).

• Why this sharp increase in inflation?

• For Your Information-Food prices, especially of vegetables and cereals, pushed up prices at the wholesale level also, with the wholesale price index-based inflation rising to (-)1.36 per cent in July from (-)4.12 per cent in June even though on a year-on-year basis it continued to remain in the deflationary zone for the fourth consecutive month, separately released data by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Monday showed. The sharp increase in inflation has come amid the RBI keeping the key repo rate unchanged at 6.50 per cent in its latest monetary policy review last week. While the six-member MPC, led by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, retained the policy stance as ‘withdrawal of accommodation’, it hiked the inflation projection from 5.1 per cent to 5.4 per cent for FY2024 in the wake of high food inflation, signalling that a rate cut is unlikely in the near future.
As per the RBI projection, inflation is expected to remain above 5 per cent till the first quarter of 2024-25 and is likely to hit the 6.2 per cent level in the ongoing quarter (July-September).

• Why RBI is failing to meet the inflation target recently?

• What is Monetary policy?

• What is the primary objective of the monetary policy?

• The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is a Statutory Body-True or False?

• Under Section 45ZB of the amended (in 2016) RBI Act, 1934, the central government is empowered to constitute a six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)- What is the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)?

• What are the steps taken by RBI to control inflation?

• What factor distinguishes India’s inflation from many other developed countries?

• What is Inflation?

• Know the Types of Inflation like Moderate Inflation, Galloping Inflation, Hyper-Inflation, Stagflation, Deflation, Core Inflation etc.

• What are the causes of Inflation in the present situation

• How Inflation is Measured in India?

• What is the Long term, Medium Term and Short-term impact of Inflation?

• New Standard for Measuring Inflation in India and Old Standard for Measuring Inflation-Key Differences

• Steps or Measures Taken by GOI to Control Inflation

• What do you understand by Wholesale Price Index (WPI) and Consumer Price Index? WPI and CPI is published by whom?

• What’s the RBI assessment on inflation recently?

• Know these Terms-Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR), Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR), Open Market Operations (OMOs), Market Stabilisation Scheme (MSS), Repo Rate, Reverse Repo Rate, Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF), Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) Bank Rate

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Everyday Economics: What are WPI and CPI inflation rates?

EXPLAINED

Why doctors are protesting rule to prescribe generic drugs

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- After the National Medical Commission notified new guidelines on professional conduct recently, doctors have been protesting one of the stipulations — using generic names of medicines on the prescription instead of a particular brand name.

The Indian Medical Association, the largest body of doctors in the country, said in a statement this was akin to “running trains without tracks.” They said before implementing any policy to meaningfully promote generic medicines, the quality of drugs across manufacturers has to be ensured.

• What do the guidelines say?

• For Your Information-The guidelines say that doctors can only write the generic names of the medicine on the prescription. For example, a doctor will have to prescribe paracetamol for fever, instead of Dolo or Calpol “Every RMP should prescribe drugs using generic names written legibly,” the guidelines say. This practice can only be relaxed for medicines with narrow therapeutic index (drugs where a small difference in dosage may lead to adverse outcomes), biosimilars (a different version of biologic products that are manufactured in living systems), and “similar other exceptional cases.” The guideline says that generic medicines, on average, are 30% to 80% cheaper than the branded versions, and are hence likely to bring down healthcare costs.

• What are the major changes?

• How will the changes help?

• When will the changes be implemented?

• What is generic medicine?

• Do You Know-Doctors, drug manufacturers, and the government all agree that there is much to be done when it comes to the quality of generic medicines in the country.
While the doctors in the IMA statement said that only 0.1% medicines are tested for quality checks, manufacturers said it is not possible for the government to test every batch, but following good manufacturing practices to the T can assure quality by design.
Many have also questioned the tests that a company needs to do to get approval. Until a few years ago, it was not mandatory for companies making generics to carry out bio-equivalence or stability studies. Bio-equivalence studies are done to show that the generic drug elicits the same response as a branded version. Stability studies are done to see how the quality of the drug varies over a period under specific environmental conditions. Experts from the pharmaceutical sector admit that there are drugs still in the market that never underwent these studies.

• What are the issues with generic medicines?

• What is difference between generic medicine and normal medicine?

• For Your Information-When a company develops a new drug — often after years of research — it applies for a patent, which prohibits anyone else from making the drug for a fixed period. To recover the cost of research and development, companies usually price their brand- name drugs on the higher side. Once the patent expires, other manufacturers duplicate and market their own versions of the drug. Since the manufacture of these generic drugs do not involve a repeat of the extensive clinical trials to prove their safety and efficacy, it costs less to develop them. Generic drugs are, therefore, cheaper. However, because the compounds in the generic versions have the same molecular structure as the brand-name version, their quality is essentially the same. The generic drug has the same “active ingredient” as the brand-name drug. This ingredient is the one that cures the patient; and other, “inert ingredients”, which give the drug its colour, shape or taste, vary from the brand-name drug to the generics.

• What was the need for the improved standards?

• What are doctors saying?

• Doctor’s Concern-The main reason for doctors protesting the guidelines is the quality of generic medicines, they say. “The biggest impediment to generic drugs is the uncertainty about its quality. The quality control in the nation being very weak, there’s practically no guarantee of the quality of drugs, and prescribing drugs without assured quality would be detrimental to patient health,” IMA said in its statement. Dr Sharad Agarwal, IMA president, said: “What happens if a person takes a generic medicine prescribed by me and doesn’t get better, then buys a branded version from the pharmacy and does? It hampers my reputation. What about hospitalised patients? I give them generics and they do not get better. Later, the family would say they could have paid for any medicine, why did I not use it. This will lead to violence.” He also said that the guidelines were notified without consultation with stakeholders. “IMA demands deferring of this regulation for wider consultations by the Government of India,” the statement from the doctors’ body says.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Revised manufacturing norms for drug firms: what changes, why

📍Adopt WHO-standard good manufacturing practices: Govt sets deadline for pharmas

📍Cheap generic vs costly branded: Issues in picking right drug in India

Behind TN vs Centre over NEET, a larger equity & federalism battle

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States, issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure, devolution of powers and finances up to local levels and challenges therein.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-The ongoing tussle between Tamil Nadu and the Centre over the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to undergraduate medical courses escalated dramatically after a 48-year-old single parent was found dead at his home outside Chennai, two days after his 19-year-old son, Jagadeeswaran, died by suicide after failing the exam twice. Jagadeeswaran killed himself on Saturday, the same day that state Governor R N Ravi, who has been steadfastly opposed to legislative attempts to take Tamil Nadu out of the ambit of the all-India entrance exam, said he would “never, ever” assent to the anti-NEET Bill passed by the Assembly. NEET has been conducted since 2013. The strong political opposition to the exam was triggered by the suicide, in 2017, of Anitha, a 17-year-old Dalit girl who was a school topper but had been unable to clear NEET.

• Why does Tamil Nadu oppose NEET?

• Why is this such an emotive issue?

• For Your Information-In June 2021, Stalin’s government appointed the Justice A K Rajan Committee to examine whether NEET was an equitable method to select candidates for admission to medical courses. The Committee, which submitted its report in September that year, was critical of NEET, and said that it undermined societal diversity and favoured the affluent in medical education. It recommended immediate steps to eliminate it through the passage of suitable legislation. The Committee’s report, ‘Impact of NEET on Medical Admissions in Tamil Nadu’, concluded that the examination disproportionately benefited repeaters (71% in 2021) and coached students (99% in 2020), and discriminated against first-time applicants. It noted a 50% decline in seat share in backward districts like Ariyalur and Perambalur after the introduction of NEET, and an increased representation from urban centres such as Chennai. Admissions fell among first-generation graduates, rural applicants, and candidates with small parental incomes, the report said.

• How has Tamil Nadu’s opposition played out in the legislative sphere?

• What was the basis of the anti-NEET Bill?

• Where do things stand now?

• What is National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) and it is Conducted by whom?

• National Testing Agency (NTA) and National Board of Examinations (NBE)-Compare

• What Supreme Court said on National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)?

• The Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Medical Degree Courses Bill, 2021-Key Features

• Tamil Nadu’s Apprehension over National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)-What are they?

• For Your Information-Critics argue that NEET’s mechanical focus on marks disregards the importance of student quality and aptitude. It has disrupted admired education models like that of Christian Medical College (CMC) Vellore, which emphasised aptitude over marks. The introduction of NEET has also dismantled the state’s in-service quota for medical graduates in the government sector, which, according to critics, has undermined quality healthcare. The demand for educational autonomy has fused into strongly held notions of social justice, and the struggle for the preservation of local values against centralised control. The opposition to NEET has been situated in the demand for equity in education. Tamil Nadu’s vision for education was shaped by Chief Minister K Kamaraj (1954-63), who initiated critical reforms such as having “a primary school every 3 km, a high school every five km”. A verified anecdote about Kamaraj has it that he once took only a few minutes to pick 10 candidates from a large bundle of applications for admissions under the CM’s quota.
Asked by his secretary how he could make his choice in such a short time, Kamaraj said he had picked the applications in which the parents had put thumb impressions in place of signatures. His decision is seen as embodying a deep empathy for the unlettered masses, and a reflection of his understanding of human potential and aptitude.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍 Explained: What is the Bill to scrap NEET in Tamil Nadu?

📍 Simply put: Finally, a NEET way to enter medical college

EXPRESS NETWORK

After moon, ISRO turns to sun: India’s 1st solar mission looks at Sept launch date

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-AFTER TWO successful mission launches in July, including the Chandrayaan-3, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is getting ready for its next big mission – to the sun. According to sources, Aditya-L1 — India’s first mission to the sun — is expected to be launched in early September this year.

• What is ISRO’s Aditya-L1?

• ‘L’ stands for what in Aditya-L1?

• What is Lagrange Point?

• Aditya-L1 Mission-Know the key features

• Aditya-L1 Mission-What makes this Mission very Unique?

• Know the significance and Importance of the Aditya-L1 Mission

• What are the Challenges which were faced during Aditya-L1 Mission?

• For Your Information-“Aditya-L1, the first space-based Indian observatory to study the sun, is getting ready for the launch. The satellite realised at the U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), Bengaluru, has arrived at SDSC-SHAR, Sriharikota,” ISRO tweeted on Monday.
Just like the ongoing Chandrayaan-3 mission, the satellite will go around the earth gathering speed and then slingshot towards the sun. It will then cruise the 1.5 million kilometres in around four months. And, then it will be inserted into a halo-shaped orbit around the L1 point. The solar mission will not see the spacecraft actually go to the sun, it will instead create a space observatory at a point from which the sun can be observed even during an eclipse. To get this unobstructed, continuous view of sun, the satellite will travel to L1 or Lagrange point between the sun and the earth. Lagrange points — there are five between any two celestial objects — are referred to as parking spots in space because gravitational pull of celestial objects equals force required to keep it in orbit. “Even after travelling the 1.5 million kilometres, we would have covered only 10% of the distance to the sun. This will allow the main payload VLEC to look directly into the source of coronal mass ejection. Once at L1, it will be the best instrument observing the solar corona. Although there are observatories studying the solar corona even on ground, but the weather conditions and atmospheric interference does not allow it to see this as clearly,” said Prof Dipankar Banerjee, director of Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), which will host the support cell for the Aditya-L1 mission. Aditya-L1 aims to study the solar corona, solar emissions, solar winds and flares, Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), besides carrying out imaging of the sun, round-the-clock, ISRO said. After Astrosat, this is ISRO’s second astronomy mission/ observatory done in collaboration with scientific and research institutes. The main collaborators in the solar mission with seven payloads are Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad; Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru; Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune; and the Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISER), Kolkata.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Explained: Eyes on the Sun, how ISRO is preparing for its next giant leap in space

ECONOMY

India’s merchandise exports drop to 9-month low of $32.25 bn in July

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Mains Examination: 

• General Studies II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

• General Studies III: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-India’s merchandise exports declined for the sixth consecutive month to a nine-month low of $32.25 billion in July, marking a decline of 15.9 per cent year-on-year amid weak external demand, especially slowing consumption demand in some developed economies, data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Monday showed. The decline came amid a steeper fall in imports, which fell 17 per cent year-on-year to $52.92 billion.

• What Is Export Merchandising?

• Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS)-Key Highlights

• Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2023-Key highlights and features

• What is the duration of Foreign Trade Policy in general?

• What is the major highlight of Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2023? (Hint: Something related to Rupee)

• “The framework of trade policy in the 21st century has since moved to development and facilitation of trade, but there is no reflection of this in FTP 2023. Instead of recasting this vitally important policy, FTP 2023 is a compilation of “Foreign Trade Procedures” in which the words, regulate, prohibit, and restrict find more mentions than facilitate”-Analyse FTP 2023

• E-commerce, a focus of FTP 2023, is an area in which India has looked less comfortable in the past for at least two reasons-what are those?

• For Your Information-While this policy comes at a time of considerable uncertainty across the world, as India accounts for a minuscule portion of global trade (its share in global merchandise exports stands at around 1.8 per cent, while that in services is roughly 4 per cent), there is considerable scope for improvement for the country on this count. The new policy needs to be supplemented with other measures to boost the country’s trade performance. These range from lowering import tariffs and ensuring a competitive exchange rate to signing broader and deeper free trade agreements.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍India sets $400 billion export record: Its significance and key drivers of growth

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