Daily Prelims Notes 17 November 2022

November 17, 2022
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Category: DPN

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Daily Prelims Notes

17 November 2022

Table Of Contents

1. Bulk drug park

Subject : Economy

Context :

The department of pharmaceuticals has set up a high-level committee to monitor the progress of bulk drug parks.

Concept:

Bulk drug:

A bulk drug, also called an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API)
It is the key ingredient of a drug or medicine, which lends it the desired therapeutic effect or produces the intended pharmacological activity.
- For example, paracetamol-acts against pain-mixed with binding agents or solvents to prepare the finished pharmaceutical product, i.e. a paracetamol tablet, capsule or syrup.
The primary chemical or the basic raw material which undergoes reactions to form an API is called the key starting material, or KSM.
Chemical compounds formed during the intermediate stages during these reactions are called drug intermediates or DIs.
Types:
- Chemical Synthetic Drugs
  - Inorganic – Examples – Aluminum hydroxide and Magnesium trisilicate
  - Organic – Examples – Aspirin, Chloramphenicol, Caffeine, etc.
- Natural Chemical Drugs
  - Biochemical – Examples – Antibiotics
  - Phytochemical – Examples – Paclitaxel (taxol), Resveratrol

What are bulk drug parks?

The department of pharmaceuticals announced a scheme for the promotion of three bulk drug parks in the country.
A bulk drug park will have a designated contiguous area of land with common infrastructure facilities for the exclusive manufacture of APIs, DIs or KSMs, and also a common waste management system.
It will provide financial assistance to three States for establishing Bulk Drug Parks and aims to bring down the cost of manufacturing of bulk drugs by creation of world class common infrastructure facilities thereby increasing the competitiveness of the domestic bulk drug industry.
It is a Central Sector Scheme
State Implementing Agencies (SIAs) will implement the scheme.
The Centre will provide a one-time grant-in-aid for the creation of common infrastructure facilities.
- The grant-in-aid will be 70 percent of the cost of the common facilities but in the case of Himachal Pradesh and other hill states, it will be 90 per cent.
- The Centre will provide a maximum of Rs 1,000 crore per park.
Selected states-Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh

How strong is Himachal’s case?

According to the state government, Himachal already has Asia’s largest pharma manufacturing hub, that is the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial belt, and the state produces around half of India’s total drug formulations.

About Pharmaceutical Industry:

The Indian pharmaceutical industry is the third largest in the world by volume and It is the 14th largest in terms of value.
India exported pharmaceuticals worth Rs. 1,75,040 crore in the financial year 2021-22, including Bulk Drugs/ Drug Intermediates.
Also, India is one of the major producers of Active Pharma Ingredients (API) or bulk drugs in the world. However, the country also imports various Bulk Drugs/ APIs for producing medicines from various countries.

2. Vostro Account

Subject: Economy

Why in the news?

The government announced that nine special Vostro accounts have been opened with two Indian banks after permission from the RBI.

Details:

It aims to facilitate trade in rupee in the wake of sanctions on Russia.

Vostro account?

A Vostro account is an account that a domestic bank holds for a foreign bank in the domestic bank’s currency — rupee.
In the case of trade with Russia, payments in rupee for the export and import of goods will go to these Vostro accounts.
- A vostro account is established to enable a foreign correspondent bank to act as an agent or provide services as an intermediary for a domestic bank.
The owners and beneficiaries of this money will be the exporters and importers in both the countries.
The banks will keep the record of money transferred.
Vostro account services include executing wire transfers, performing foreign exchange transactions, enabling deposits and withdrawals, and expediting international trade.
- For example, if a Spanish life insurance company approaches a U.S. bank to manage funds on the Spanish life insurer’s behalf, the account is deemed by the holding bank as a vostro account of the insurance company.

Nostro account?

Both Vostro and Nostro are technically the same type of account, with the difference being who opens the account and where.
So, if an Indian bank like the SBI wants to open an account in the United States, it will get in touch with a bank in the US, which will open a Nostro account and accept payments for SBI in dollars.
It will be a Nostro account for the Indian bank, while for the US bank, the account will be considered a Vostro account.
- Nostro means ‘ours’ and Vostro means ‘yours’ in Latin.

What led to creation of the Vostro accounts?

The RBI has recently put a mechanism to settle international trade in rupees–promote growth of global trade and exports from India in the rupee.
According to which –for settlement of trade in rupee with any country, an Authorised Dealer bank in India may open special rupee Vostro accounts of correspondent banks of the partner trading country.

3. Evergreening of patents

Subject: Science and Technology

Context:

India is unlikely to agree to a British demand for evergreening of patented medicines under the UK-India free trade agreement.

Concept:

Evergreening is the practice of companies filing for an extension of a patent with minor process or product modifications just before the original patent expires at the end of 20 years.
Patents offer their owners market exclusivity for a limited period of time–For medicines, this exclusivity should last as long as the primary patent — which relates to the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) of the medicine is in effect, typically 20 years.
- The end of patent exclusivity will reduce the drug prices drastically.
The threat of this steep fall in profits urges pharmaceutical companies to find new ways to postpone their exclusivity.
- Companies use a process known as secondary patenting or evergreening to keep generic companies out of the market
- Secondary patenting or evergreening is achieved by seeking extra patents on modifications of the original drug: new forms of release, new dosages, new combinations or new forms.

Indian Patent Act and evergreening:

The basic principle of the Patent Law in our country is that a patent is granted only for an invention which must be new and useful.
Section 3(d) of India’s patent law forbids patenting of incremental innovations—or evergreening.
Section 3(d) of The Patents Act, 1970 –“the mere discovery of a new form of a known substance or the discovery of any new property or new use for a known substance or of the use of a known process, machine or apparatus unless such known process results in a new product or employs at least one new reactant is not patentable”.
- This clause was also upheld by the Supreme Court in 2013 when it turned down Swiss drugmaker Novartis’ plea for patenting its cancer drug Glivec.
  - Section 3(d) necessitates a demonstration of improvement in its therapeutic efficacy. The provision also bars patents for new uses and new properties of known substances.
  - In the case of Novartis, Glivec was just a new form of a known substance, imatinib, and therefore the patent for Glivec was rejected under section 3(d) of the Patents Act.
- Section 2(1)(ja) -the product in question must feature a technical advance over what came before that’s not obvious to a skilled person.
- Section 3(e) ensures that patents for combinations of known substances are allowed only if there is synergistic effect.
- Section 3(i) ensures that no exclusivity can be claimed over methods of treatment.

4. Sub-Committee of the Financial Stability and Development Council

Subject : Economy

Context :

Members of the Sub-Committee of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC-SC) resolved to remain vigilant and proactive to ensure that financial markets and financial institutions remained resilient.

Concept:

Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC)

It is a non-statutory apex council under the Ministry of Finance constituted by the Executive Order in 2010.
It is established as an autonomous body dealing with macroprudential and financial regularities in the entire financial sector of India.
The Raghuram Rajan Committee (2008) on financial sector reforms first proposed the creation of FSDC.
Composition of FSDC:
- Chairperson: The Union Finance Minister of India.
- Members of FSDC include Heads of the Financial Sector Regulators listed below:
  - Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
  - Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA)
  - Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)
  - Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA)
- Other members are Finance Secretary, Secretary of Department of Financial Services (DFS), and Chief Economic Adviser.
- The government reconstituted the FSDC to include the following Members in the Council:
  - Minister of State responsible for the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA),
  - Secretary of Department of Electronics and Information Technology,
  - Chairperson of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) and
  - The Revenue Secretary.
- The Council can invite experts to its meeting if required.
Aims and Objectives:
- To strengthen and institutionalise the mechanism of maintaining financial and macroeconomic stability.
- To enhance inter-regulatory coordination and promote financial sector development.
- It also focuses on financial literacy and financial inclusion.
- Coordinating India’s international interface with financial sector bodies such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and Financial Stability Board (FSB).
Functions:
- To strengthen and institutionalize the mechanism for maintaining financial stability, enhancing inter-regulatory coordination and promoting financial sector development.
- To monitor macro-prudential supervision of the economy. It assesses the functioning of the large financial conglomerates.
FSDC Sub-Committee (FSDC-SC)
- The FSDC is supported by a Sub-Committee (FSDC-SC), chaired by the RBI governor.
- Excluding the Chair of the FSDC and the MoS (Finance), all members of the FSDC are also the members of the Sub-Committee.
- Additionally, all four deputy governors (DG) of RBI, and secretary (FSDC), are also the members of the sub-committee.
- The Financial Stability Report (FSR) acts as a communication tool of the central bank in limiting instability by pointing out the key risks and vulnerabilities, which may have systemic impact, to policy makers, market participants and the public at large.
- It reflects the collective assessment of the Sub-Committee of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC-SC) on risks to financial stability and the resilience of the financial system in the context of contemporaneous issues relating to development and regulation of the financial sector.
Various working groups/technical groups under the aegis of the FSDC:
- The Inter-Regulatory Technical Group was set up in September 2011 for the purpose of inter-regulatory coordination among the financial sector regulators.
- The Technical Group on Financial Inclusion and Financial Literacy was set up in November 2011.
- Inter Regulatory Forum for monitoring Financial Conglomerates (IRF-FC), modelled around the ‘lead regulator’ principle, was set up in August 2012.
- The Early Warning Group was set up by the FSDC Sub-Committee in June 2012.

The Macro Financial Monitoring Group was set up in May 2012, which meets regularly in DEA, to discuss any specific emergent issues.

5. How climate-induced disasters are creating a new dynamic of migration

Subject : Environment

Context-

Disasters, mostly weather-related and potentially due to climate change, are displacing more people than wars and conflicts.
Internal migration is picking up:216 million people will move within their countries by 2050, says a World Bank estimate.

Climate- change induced migration-

International Organization for Migration (IOM) says-
- climate change-induced migration will not be limited to a country’s borders. This is changing the migration pattern globally.
- As many as 55 million people were internally displaced within their countries due to extreme weather events in 2020.
- The World Bank estimates that, by 2050, the impact of the climate crisis, such as poor crop yields, a lack of water and rising sea levels, will force more than 216 million people across six regions, including sub-Saharan Africa, south Asia and Latin America, from their homes
- Overtime, urban centres of a country will overload with migrations and people will move to other countries, legally or illegally. This is started to happening now.
- The international community can no longer implement migration and development policy without considering the impacts of climate change.
- Migration is already accepted as an adaptation tool.

Repercussions of interstate migration-

Local administrations or states have mechanisms that not just facilitate but also protect migrants and their right to pursue livelihoods.
In India’s chronic drought-prone areas, migration for daily wage has evolved as a key source of income.
Indian states such as Uttarakhand and Odisha are adopting schemes and programmes to rehabilitate people from disaster-prone areas.
There are several inter-state agreements to facilitate and protect the rights of migrant workers.
These steps have developed on the community’s adaptation strategy to migrate for survival.
With increasing climate disasters, this adaptation reaction will be seen at planetary level.
This will further precipitate the immigration crisis.

Suggestions to adapt the changing migration patterns-

Several ongoing initiatives — including the Warsaw International Mechanism Task Force on Displacement (WIM TFD), the Sendai Framework, etc — should be coordinated to increase understanding of, and response to, growing risks of climate-induced migration / displacement and exposure to modern slavery.
Migration or mobility due to climate change has to be accepted under the “loss and damage” definition of the climate framework.

6. COP27: Kolkata presents climate action roadmap, announces city-level summit

Subject : Environment

Context-

Kolkata presented a report on its climate vulnerability as well as actions taken for mitigation and adaptation during a meeting at the 27th Conference of Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change being held at Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt.

About the City- level climate summit-

The civic body announced its decision to hold a city-level climate summit soon.
Kolkata was the only city from the country part of the meeting focused on urban climate resilience organised by the Climate Action Network South Asia.
The meeting was attended by representatives from several South Asian cities.
Kolkata has been identified as one of the most vulnerable global cities to climate change in recent UN reports.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation received the invitation after recently announcing its support to the global pledge to cut fossil fuel – the first city corporation in India to take the step.

Vulnerability of Kolkata-

Recent global reports have highlighted the vulnerability of Kolkata particularly due to its proximity to Sundarbans; one of the world’s major biodiversity hotspots.
Major risk involve- high heat, severe cyclones, intense rainfall within short duration.
About 15,000 trees were toppled in the city during Cyclone Amphan in 2020 alone.
The civic body and state have already taken some steps like providing solar connectivity in eight major city parks and turning them carbon neutral; introducing electrical vehicles; undertaking the plantation of trees.

IPCC report highlights concerns-

AR 6 IPCC report underlined both the city’s existing as well as predicted risks–
- Beyond 2040, climate change would lead to numerous risks and the occurrence of multiple climate hazards, often in tandem.
- Substantial green cover was lost because of Cyclone Amphan
- Limitations of resilience plans to address the vulnerability
- It is the most vulnerable to disaster-related mortality among eight megacities – only one from India
- It is third among the 20 largest coastal flood-prone global cities, with the highest estimated flood losses by 2050. The city also has a risk of subsidence because of sea-level rise and flooding. In future, rainfall may increase by 55 per cent.
- Category 3-5 cyclones (extremely severe or super cyclones) likely to increase in Sundarbans, also affecting Kolkata
- Bay of Bengal water expected to rise 0.6 metres by century-end; impacting Kolkata which already has an old and stressed drainage system
- Warming in the city increased by 6°C in the last six decades, highest in the world followed by Tehran and Moscow
- Average temperature may rise about 5 degrees by century-end, while the maximum temperature may touch about 50 degrees Celsius if the present trend of global emission continues.

7. Extreme weather hits economies, hurts Asia most: WMO report

Subject : Environment

Context-

Economic losses incurred by Asian countries due to natural disasters have increased manifold as climate change has made these events more frequent.

Details-

In 2021, at least 48.3 million people in Asia were affected by over 100 natural hazards, which claimed at least 3,803 lives, according to the State of the Climate in Asia 2021.
The total economic damage due to the extreme weather events was estimated to be $35.5 billion.
These events included drought, extreme temperature, floods, glacial lake outbursts, landslides, storms and wildfires.

Scenario in Asia-

In Asia, floods have been the most impactful, causing the highest number of human deaths and economic damage.
Drought affected the highest number of people in the region.
Losses due to landslides increased 147 per cent, compared to the 20-year average from 2001–2020, according to the report.
Losses from drought increased 63 per cent and flood 23 per cent during that period.
The report, which was produced jointly by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), was presented at the 27th Conference of Parties (COP27) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
Earlier this month, WMO announced its plan to develop a global early warning system for extreme weather events.

Floods, the costliest disaster

Floods were estimated to be the costliest disaster from Asian countries including China and India.
China lost $18.4 billion due to floods, followed by India ($3.2 billion) and Thailand ($0.6 billion)
India lost $4.4 billion due to storms, followed by China $3 billion and Japan $2 billion.
In 2021, over 80 per cent of the extreme events were floods and storms.
Floods in India, China and Afghanistan caused the greatest number of fatalities, highlighting the high level of vulnerability of Asia, especially to floods.
In India, during the monsoon season, the heavy rain and flash floods resulted in about 1,300 human deaths.
Data on loss and damage is required more than ever as funding for loss & damage has made it to the COP27 agenda for the first time ever in the history of UN climate negotiations.
A realistic estimate can still be made about the number of days the country recorded extreme weather events.

Impact of extreme weather events on SDGs-

These events will impact food security, poverty, and inequality and will threaten the global goals on sustainable development.
SDG 13 for climate action has suffered from a lack of global participation: Progress on achieving targets such as 13.1.1 on the number of deaths, missing persons and directly affected persons attributed to disasters and 13.1.2 on adoption and implementation of national disaster risk reduction strategies have been insufficient.
Early warning systems can help achieve SDG 13 as well as other associated SDGs, including Goal 1 (No Poverty), Goal 2 (Zero Hunger), Goal 3 (Good Health and Well-being), Goal 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) and Goal 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities).

8. Double standards on fossil fuel, backtracking on pledges: BASIC fires shots at wealthy countries at COP27

Subject : Environment

At COP27- UNFCCC-

The bloc of four large newly industrialised countries, Brazil, South Africa, India and China, also known as BASIC, have put pressure on developed countries, alleging they have not shown leadership, backtracked on financial commitments and showed double standards on fossil-fuel use.

BASIC countries-

The BASIC group was formed as the result of an agreement signed by the four countries on November 28, 2009.
They are a bloc of four large newly industrialized countries – Brazil, South Africa, India and China.

Recent meeting of BASIC-

A meeting of BASIC was chaired by Barbara Creecy, South Africa’s minister for forestry, fisheries and the environment.
The representatives also collectively expressed concern that climate adaptation has still not received the appropriate amount of attention and called for a fundamental transformation of the global financial architecture.

Concerns of developing countries raised by BASIC countries-

BASIC countries have already implemented the ambitious nationally determined contributions goals announced at COP26 despite enormous developmental challenges and pressures of poverty eradication during a global economic downturn and economic recovery.
The bloc alleging that-
- developed countries are not doing enough on fossil fuel use — redirecting a complaint often shot by wealthy nations, particularly against China and
- Significant increase in consumption and production of fossil fuels in the past year by developed countries, even as they continue to press developing countries to move away from the same resources.
Concerns on Climate finance
- Climate finance provided by developed countries continues to fall short of the $100 billion per year commitment.
- Developing countries and especially the BASIC countries have to channel many times this amount of money from their domestic resources or commercial loans.
Adaptation ignored; multilateral climate funds struggling
- Adaptation is still not being accorded the “balanced and substantive attention they deserve in the UNFCCC process,” despite the opportunities and linkages with loss and damage.
- They also called for to operationalise Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), flagged off in Paris, and underscored the necessity for a special report on GGA to be produced by the UN agency Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to help deepen global understanding of the agenda.
- Adaptation financing needs to be impact based and the new collective quantified goal (NCQG) by developed countries must, therefore, go beyond the floor of $100 billion per year, be significantly public funded with greater transparency.

Pakistan gets BASIC support-

India and China vowed to work alongside Pakistan, which is the present chair of Group of 77 and China to “advance the common interests of developing countries”.

Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA)-

Recognizing that adaptation is a globally relevant issue, the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) was established under the Paris Agreement to enhance work on adaptation with the aim of building adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience, and reducing vulnerability to climate change.

About New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG)-

The New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance is expected to be finalised by 2024.
It will replace the current climate finance goal of $100 billion annually from developed countries.

9. China; other large economies must also pay for loss and damage: EU

Subject : Environment

Context-

Supporting the demand first put forward by the small island countries, the European Union asserted that China must also be asked to contribute towards loss and damage finance, a new funding mechanism that is proposed to be set up to help poor countries hit by climate disasters.

EU’s stand-

China is one of the biggest economies on the planet, with a lot of financial strength.
In 1992, there was a reasoning behind this, which I can follow, but no longer in 2022.
EU’s position deepens the divide on the loss and damage finance.
India is not being mentioned by name but some small island states have said that India must also be asked to contribute.
The US also wants both India and China, and possibly other major economies, to contribute.
EU was open to a setting up a new facility, but a much better, and quicker, way to start helping the affected countries right away was to use the existing financial instruments.
The US, and other developed countries, also want existing instruments to be used for this purpose.

Concern over beneficiary of the climate finance-

There is also a big difference on who the beneficiaries of loss and damage finance would be.
Developing countries want every one of them to be able to access this money, but others have been insisting that only the most vulnerable and poor countries should benefit.
Another issue being keenly tracked is the Indian proposal for a decision calling for a phase-down (instead of phase out) of all fossil fuels (and not just coal).
The Indian proposal has won support from large number of developing countries and even EU, which uses large amount of oil and gas.
But the United States is not on board, and neither is China.

10. Road to net-zero status

Subject: Environment

India’s strategy for achieving Net-Zero status-

A year after announcing its intention to achieve a net-zero emission status by 2070, India on Monday told the world how it was going to reach there.
In a 121-page document, India listed some of the measures — decarbonising of electricity and transport sectors, redesigning of urban spaces, increase in energy and material efficiency, revitalisation of forests, and a push for climate-oriented research and development — it planned to take in the coming decades to achieve the net-zero status.
The context Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries have to prepare and submit two kinds of climate action plans— one for the short term, and another for the long- term.

Short-term climate- action plans (NDCs)-

Also called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)
Have to be submitted every five years, with specific actions being taken over 5- or 10-year periods.
The NDCs are meant to be acheived till 2030.
For developed countries, NDCs must include specific emission reduction targets for the year 2030.
Every subsequent NDC— the next one is due in 2025 — must be a progression from the existing NDC.
In its NDC, India has promised three main targets for 2030-

a 45 per cent reduction in emission intensity (emission per unit of GDP) from 2005 levels,
a 50 percent share of renewables in electricity generation,
creation of5 to 3 billion tonnes of additional carbon sink through forests.

Long Term Low Emissions Development Strategies (LT-LEDS)-

There is no particular time frame for which these long-term strategies have to be prepared.
At COP26 held in Glasgow, countries announced target years for achieving net-zero status.
Most of the developed countries set the target year for Net-Zero status2050.China has set 2060 as its target year, while India set it as 2070.
India’s strategy To reach the net-zero destination-
- India is planning large-scale interventions in five sectors— energy and electricity, transport, urban design, industries, and forestry.
The long-term strategy document lists key focus areas and specific interventions that India is already taking or has planned to initiate, in each of these priority sectors.
- In the energy sector, for example, decarbonisation would come mainly through expanding the share of renewable energy, rationalising the utilisation of fossil fuels, and focusing on demand-side management.
- Low carbon development in the transport sector would be driven mainly by the electrification of both public and private vehicles,phased transition to cleaner fuels, and introduction of intelligent traffic systems.
There are no mid-term goals or indicative pathways.
Most of the 60-odd countries that have submitted their long-term strategies have not offered mid-term targets or pathways, but some, including the UK and the US, have provided a few sectoral projections with expected milestones they hope to reach.

Agriculture missing-

One of the sectors India has not mentioned in its long-term strategy is agriculture, which is mainly responsible for methane emissions.
Methane is the second most common greenhouse gas in the atmosphere after carbon dioxide.
That is because methane is far more dangerous than carbon dioxide in its potential to cause global warming.
That also means that from molecule to molecule, the reduction of methane offers far greater benefits than carbon dioxide.
Unlike carbon dioxide, methane is largely a sectoral gas, so its reduction does not have economy-wide repercussions the way carbon dioxide has.

Carbon removal technologies-

The net-zero status can be achieved only when the emissions are offset either by the absorption of greenhouse gases by forests or the physical removal of these gases through futuristic technologies.
Emissions can be reduced significantly but not brought down to zero.
The balance would have to be offset through various kinds of carbon capture, and storage technologies (CCS).
India will be heavily reliant on CCS and negative emissions technologies to achieve this goal, and in particular, to offset emissions from challenging and hard-to-abate sectors.
R&D Accordingly, India has identified several climate- specific technologies in CCS, biofuels, smart grids, solar photovoltaics, energy storage, and others.

11. Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism

Subject : Environment

Context : India, China, Brazil, South Africa opposed ‘carbon border tax’ proposed by European Union in the 27th edition of the Conference of Parties (COP) in Sharm El Sheikh.

Concept :

The European Union has proposed a policy — called the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism — to tax products such as cement and steel, that are extremely carbon intensive, with effect from 2026.
BASIC, a group constituting Brazil, India, South Africa and China, and therefore large economies that are significantly dependent on coal, has reiterated their right to use fossil fuel in the interim during their countries’ eventual transformation to clean energy sources.

About Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism

It is a duty on imports based on the amount of carbon emissions resulting from the production of the product in question. As a price on carbon, it discourages emissions. As a trade-related measure, it affects production and exports.
The carbon border tax proposal is part of the European Commission’s European Green Deal that endeavours to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.
There is the risk that it becomes a protectionist device, unduly shielding local industries from foreign competition in so-called ‘green protectionism’.
If implemented as planned, EU importers will have to buy carbon certificates corresponding to the carbon price that would have been paid in the EU, if the goods had been produced locally.
The price of the certificates would be calculated according to the auction prices in the EU carbon credit market.
The number of certificates required would be defined yearly by the quantity of goods and the embedded emissions in those goods imported into the EU.

Impact on India :

The EU is India’s third largest trading partner. By increasing the prices of Indian-made goods in the EU, this tax would make Indian goods less attractive for buyers and could shrink demand.
- The tax would create serious near-term challenges for companies with larger greenhouse gas footprint

12. Patan Patola

Subject : Art and Culture

Context:

Recently, PM Narendra Modi gifted ‘Patan Patola Dupatta’ to Italian PM GiorgiaMeloni.

What is Patan Patola:

The ancient art of double ikat or Patola woven in pure silk dates back to the 11th century. The Patola fabrics bear an equal intensity of colours and design on both sides.
This peculiar quality has its origins in an intricate and difficult technique of dyeing or knot dyeing, known as ‘bandhani’, on the warp and weft separately before weaving.
One of the major practitioners of the dwindling art form is the Salvi family from North Gujarat.
The base price of a Patola saree in the Patan weave starts from Rs 1.5 lakh up and can go up to Rs 6 lakh.

What is the weaving process:

Patola is woven on primitive hand-operated harness looms made out of rosewood and bamboo strips.
The loom lies on a slant.
The other commonly worn Patola is the Rajkot Patola, woven on a flat loom.
The weaving involves warp and weft silk threads that are tied with cotton thread on portions marked with the proposed design.
This tied portion remains unexposed to colours while dyeing, which is followed by tying, untying, redyeing and dyeing in different shades.

13. Permanent commission for 32 women ex short service commission officer

Subject :Polity

Context:

The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Centre and the Indian Air Force to consider granting Permanent Commission to 32 retired women Short Service Commission officers based on their suitability with the purpose of giving them pensionary benefits.

What is the issue:

The Supreme Court, in exercise of power under Article 142 of the Constitution, directed the Indian Air Force to consider 32 Women Short Service Commission Officers in the present batch of appeals, who were released from service between December, 2006 and December, 2009 and were not considered for grant of Permanent Commission for grant of one-time pensionary benefits deeming that they have completed 20 years of service.
The relief was granted following the logic applied by the Apex Court in its judgment in Secretary, Ministry of Defence v. BabitaPoonia.
The bench said the women IAF officers, if found eligible by the IAF for grant of permanent commission, will be entitled to grant of one-time pensionary benefit from the date when they would have completed 20 years in service if it had continued.

What is Permanent Commission and Short Service Commission:

A Permanent Commission means a career in the army till retirement.
For Permanent Commission, the entry is through National Defence Academy (NDA), Pune, Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun and OTA, Gaya.
While Short Service Commission is for 10 years, with the option of either leaving or opting for Permanent Commission at the end of 10 years.
If an officer doesn’t get Permanent Commissionthen, the officer can choose a four-year extension.

Women’s Entry in Armed Forces:

The induction of women into the officer cadre and their training was undertaken by the Officers Training Academy (OTA) in 1992.
They were commissioned for a period of five years in certain chosen streams such as Army Education Corps, Corps of Signals, Intelligence Corps, and Corps of Engineers.
Recruits under the Women Special Entry Scheme (WSES) had a shorter pre-commission training period than their male counterparts who were commissioned under the Short Service Commission (SSC) scheme.
In 2006, the WSES scheme was replaced with the SSC scheme, which was extended to women officers. They were commissioned for a period of 10 years, extendable up to 14 years.
Serving WSES officers were given the option to move to the new SSC scheme, or to continue under the erstwhile WSES.
They were , however, restricted to roles in streams specified earlier which excluded combat arms such as infantry and armoured corps.

What was Supreme Court earlier verdict:

In a landmark verdict on February 17, 2020, the top court had directed that women officers in the Army be granted permanent commission, rejecting the Centre’s stand on their “physiological limitations” as being based on “sex stereotypes” and “gender discrimination against women”.
The apex court had directed that within three months all serving SSC women officers have to be considered for permanent commission irrespective of them having completed 14 years or, as the case may be, 20 years of service.

14. Juvenile Justice Act

Subject :Polity

Context:

The Supreme Court on Wednesday held that an accused, declared a juvenile in the case of the gangrape and murder of an eight-year-old nomadic girl in Kathua in J&K in 2018, was an adult at the time of the offence and should, therefore, be tried as one.

What was the issue:

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that one accused in the 2018 alleged Kathua rape-cum-murder case has to be tried as an adult, and not as a juvenile,
Since the medical opinion has to be given precedence in absence of any other conclusive proof.
The bench of Justice Ajay Rastogi and J B Pardiwala set aside an order by the Jammu and Kashmir Court order of Kathua to treat the accused as juvenile.
The court’s judgement came on an appeal by the Jammu and Kashmir government which claimed that the High Court had erroneously affirmed the order of a trial court holding the accused to be a minor.

What is Juvenile Justice Act 2015:

It was introduced and passed in Parliament in 2015 to replace the Juvenile Delinquency Law and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children Act) 2000.
The Act seeks to achieve the objectives of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children as ratified by India on December 11, 1992.
It allows the trial of juveniles in conflict with the law in the age group of 16-18 years as adults, in cases where the crimes were to be determined.
The nature of the crime, and whether the juvenile should be tried as a minor or a child, was to be determined by a Juvenile Justice Board.
The Act streamlined adoption procedures for orphans abandoned and surrendered children.
The act had introduced foster care in India.
The existing Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) has been given the status of a statutory body to enable it to perform its function more effectively.
The law had also made provision that while adopting a child,priority is given to disabled children and physically and financially incapable
Special provisions have been made to tackle child offenders committing heinous offences in the age group of 16-18 years.
The Juvenile Justice Board is given the option to transfer cases of heinous offences by such children to a Children’s Court e Court of Session after conducting the preliminary assessment.

What is Juvenile Justice Board:

This is a judiciary body before which children detained or accused of a crime are brought.
This acts as a separate court for juveniles since they are not to be taken to a regular criminal court.
The Board comprises a judicial magistrate of the first class and two social workers, one of whom at least should be a woman.
The Board is meant to be a child-friendly place and not intimidating for the child.

What does the law say on trying a juvenile as an adult:

According to Section 15 of The Juvenile JusticeAct (JJ Act), where a child of 16 years of age or above has committed a heinous offencee a crime for which the minimum punishment is seven years imprisonment,then the Juvenile Justice Board is required to “conduct a preliminary assessment with regard to his mental and physical capacity to commit such offence, ability to understand the consequences of the offence and the circumstances in which he allegedly committed the offence” before taking a decision whether the child needs to be tried as an adult.
The assessment is required to be done within three months from the date of first production of the child before the Juvenile Justice Board

15. Ex-adviser to Finance Minister appointed NITI Aayog member

Subject :Polity

Context:

Recently the government has appointed senior economist Arvind Virmani as a full-time member of the NITI Aayog.

Who is Dr Arvind Virmani:

He is the founder-chairman of the non-profit public policy organisationFoundation for Economic Growth and Welfare and has served as the Chief Economic Advisor in the Ministry of Finance during the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government from 2007-09.
He was a member of the Reserve Bank of India’s Technical Advisory Committee on Monetary Policy from February 2013 to August 2016.
He has also served at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Washington DC as the Executive Director served there till 2012.

What is NITI Aayog:

NITI Aayog is a premiere policy think tank of the Government of India. It was established with the aim to achieve sustainable development goals by active involvement of state government in the planning process
It was established in 2015 via an executive resolution by replacing the Planning Commission of India

What is the composition of the NITI Aayog:

Chairperson: Prime Minister
Vice-Chairperson: To be appointed by Prime-Minister.Equivalent to cabinet minister.
Governing Council: Chief Ministers of all states and Governors of Union Territories.
Regional Council: To address specific regional issues, Comprising Chief Ministers and Lt. Governors Chaired by the Prime Minister or his nominee.
Adhoc Membership: 2 members in ex-officio capacity from leading Research institutions on rotational basis.
Ex-Officio membership: Maximum four from the Union council of ministers to be nominated by the Prime minister.
Chief Executive Officer: Appointed by Prime-minister for a fixed tenure, in rank of Secretary to Government of India.
Special Invitees: Experts, Specialists with domain knowledge nominated by the Prime-minister.

16. GST Council

Subject :Polity

Context:

Citing regulations for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, Principal Chief Advisor to West Bengal Chief Minister Amit Mitra urged Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a letter on Wednesday to call for a meeting of the Council urgently.

What is the issue:

Amit Mitra urged Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a letter that the Council has not met over the last four-and-a-half months, in violation of the Rule 6 of the Procedure & Conduct of Business Regulations of the GST Council, according to which it has to meet once in a quarter of a financial year

What is GST Council:

The GST Council is a joint forum of the Centre and the states.
It was set up by the President as per Article 279A (1) of the amended Constitution.
The Council, according to Article 279, is meant to “make recommendations to the Union and the states on important issues related to GST, like the goods and services that may be subjected or exempted from GST, model GST Laws”.
It also decides on various rate slabs of GST.

What is the composition of GST Council:

As per Article 279A of the amended Constitution, GST Council shall consist of the following :
Union Finance Minister(Chairperson)
The Union Minister of State (MoS) in-charge of Revenue of finance (Member)

The Minister In-charge of taxation or finance or any other Minister nominated by each State Government (Members)

17. Moscow Format Consultations on Afghanistan

Subject : International Relations

Context :India participated in the fourth Meeting of the Moscow Format Consultations on Afghanistan, which was held in Moscow on November 16.

Concept:

Special envoys and senior officials from Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan also participated in the meeting.
During the meeting, the participants discussed issues related to Afghanistan, including the current humanitarian situation and the ongoing efforts of various stakeholders to provide assistance, intra-Afghan talks, formation of an inclusive and representative government, efforts to counter threats of terrorism and ensuring regional security.

About Moscow Format:

It was introduced in 2017 on the basis of the six-party mechanism for consultations among special representatives from Russia, Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, Iran and India.
The Moscow format meeting’s main objective is to facilitate the national reconciliation process in Afghanistan and secure peace in that country as soon as possible.

The present meeting includes a group of 10 nations including India, China, Pakistan, Iran and the Central Asian republics with Taliban officials.