Daily Prelims Notes 23 September 2020

September 23, 2020
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

Table Of Contents

1. MSME

Subject: Economy

Context:

The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) implements various schemes and programmes for promotion and development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) throughout the country. This information is given by minister in Lok Sabha

Concept:

The schemes/programmes such as Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI), A Scheme for Promoting Innovation, Rural Industry and Entrepreneurship (ASPIRE), Entrepreneurship and Skill Development Programme (ESDP), Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for Micro and Small Enterprises, Credit Linked Capital Subsidy – Technology Up-gradation Scheme (CLCS-TUS), Micro & Small Enterprises – Cluster Development Programme (MSE-CDP), National Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Hub (NSSH), etc. are under implementation
Under Atmanirbhar Bharat, Government recently announced a special economic and comprehensive package of Rs. 20 Lakh crore for all the sections of the society including Industries and MSMEs. Government has taken a number of initiatives to support the MSME sector in the country which include the following;
- Rs 20,000 crore Subordinate Debt for MSMEs.
- Rs 3 lakh crores Collateral free Automatic Loans for business, including MSMEs.
- 50,000 crore equity infusion through MSME Fund of Funds.
- New revised criteria for classification of MSMEs.
- New Process of MSME Registration through ‘Udyam Registration’.
- No global tenders for procurement up to Rs. 200 crores, which will help MSMEs.
The Prime Minister has launched an online Portal “Champions”. The portal covers many aspects of e-governance including grievance redressal and handholding of MSMEs.
The Government has notified Public Procurement Policy for Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) Order, 2012 under MSMED Act. Under this policy, 25% of annual procurement by Central Ministries /Departments/Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) has to be made from Micro & Small enterprises. This includes 4% from MSEs owned by SC/STs and 3% from MSEs owned by Women entrepreneurs. 358 items are reserved for exclusive procurement from MSEs.
The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (MSMED) Act, 2006 contains specific provisions to deal with cases of delayed payments of the Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs). Under the provisions of the Act, Micro & Small Enterprises Facilitation Councils (MSEFC) have been set up in the States/UTs. These Councils can be approached by the MSEs for resolution of delayed payment cases by way of conciliation and/or arbitration.
Ministry of MSME has launched SAMADHAAN portal to enable Micro & Small Enterprises (MSEs) to directly register their cases on the portal relating to delayed payments by Central Ministries / Departments/ CPSEs/ State Government & other buyers.
Ministry of MSME implements a scheme namely “Building Awareness on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)”, to encourage registration of IPR by MSMEs.

2. Biomedical park

Subject: Schemes

Context:

Kerala will soon house one of the first medical device parks in the country, focusing on the high-risk medical device sector to provide full range of services for the medical devices industry like R&D support, testing, and evaluation.

Concept:

MedSpark, the medical devices park envisaged as a joint initiative of SreeChitraTirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology (SCTIMST), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation Ltd (KSIDC) is going to be established in the Life Science Park, Thiruvananthapuram.
This medical device park will stand out with its emphasis on the high-risk medical device sector involving medical implants and extracorporeal devices, in which SCTIMST scores with its knowledge.
The Medical Devices Park will create an enabling support system for R&D, testing and evaluation of medical devices, manufacturing support, technology innovation, and knowledge dissemination, all of which are the full range of services that the medical devices industry seeks.
These services can be utilized by the medical device industries located within the MedSpark as well from other parts of India. This will benefit small and medium-sized medical devices industries, which dominate the medical devices sector.
When completed, the MedSpark will have:
- A Medical Device Testing & Evaluation Centre accredited to international agencies
- An R&D Resource Centre for facilitating R&D in medical device domain, the services of which would be shared by the entities within the Park
- A centralised Knowledge Centre for skill up-gradation with facilities for conducting training and providing support on regulatory issues, clinical trials, etc.
- A Technology Business Incubation Centre for promoting start-ups and early-stage companies
- A set of Modular Manufacturing Units for lease by the industries coming to the park or land modules for setting up manufacturing units
- The business model for the MedSpark is self-sustaining in which its operational expenses will be generated from its revenue streams. Funding from the state and central governments (both Kerala State and Central) through various schemes will meet the capital expenditure and deficit in income against expenses during the initial stages
- It is expected that the project would provide direct employment to 1200 people. Besides, employment generation up to 4000 – 5000 jobs through the supporting industries like OEM suppliers, service providers, and marketing/post marketing support activities

3. YuWaah

Subject: Schemes

Context:

Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports and United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) have signed a “Statement of Intent to establish YuWaah, Generation Unlimited (GenU), a global multi-stakeholder platform in India.

Concept:

As per the Statement of Intent, the objectives of this project are:

Support young people by providing entrepreneurship classes (online and offline) with successful entrepreneurs and experts, towards establishing entrepreneurial mindset among young people.
Upskilling of young people on 21st century skills, life skills, digital skills through online and offline channels and support them through self-learning, for their productive lives and the future of work.
Create linkages with aspirational economic opportunities to connect young people with employment opportunities, including building pathways to connect them with jobs or self-employment. For this, innovative solutions and technology platforms will be engages to take maximize the scale and reach.
Providing career guidance support to young people through career portal as well as through job-readiness and self-exploration sessions to make young people career-ready.
The role of Department of Youth Affairs in this project is to provide relevant experts to participate on the YuWaah Technical Working Groups/ Task Forces.

4. Net neutrality

Subject: Economy

Context:

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has suggested the setting up of a multi-stakeholder body (MSB) to ensure that internet service providers in the country adhere to the principles of net neutrality.

Concept:

The concept that all data on the internet should be treated equally by corporations, such as internet service providers, and governments, regardless of content, user, platform, application or device.
Network neutrality requires all Internet service providers (ISPs) to provide the same level of data access and speed to all traffic, and that traffic to one service or website cannot be blocked or degraded.
ISPs are also not to create special arrangements with services or websites, in which companies providing them are given improved network access or speed.

5. State development loan

Subject: Economy

Context:

Eleven States raised a total of Rs. 14,298 crore at the auction of State government securities or State development loans (SDLs) held on September 22.
From April 7 to September 22 in this financial year, 27 States and 2 Union Territories have cumulatively raised Rs. 3.26 lakh crore via market borrowings, which is a 45% increase from the borrowings in the corresponding period of 2019-20.

Concept:

State Development Loans (SDLs) are dated securities issued by states for meeting their market borrowings requirements.
Purpose of issuing State Development Loans is to meet the budgetary needs of state governments. Each state can borrow upto a set limit through State Development Loans.
The SDL securities issued by states are credible collateral for meeting the SLR requirements of banks as well as a collateral for availing liquidity under the RBI’s LAF including the repo.
One remarkable feature of SDL is that it is a market oriented instrument for states to mobilise funds from the open market. Higher the fiscal strength of a state, lower will be the interest rate (yield) it has to pay for the SDL borrowings.
SDLs are basically securities and they are auctioned by the RBI through the e-Kuber which is dedicated electronic auction system for government securities and other instruments. RBI holds SDL auctions once in a fortnight.
The rate of interest or yield of SDL securities are determined through auction. Still the interest rate will be slightly higher than that of Central Government securities (G-secs) of matching tenure.
The investors in SDL are basically commercial banks, mutual funds, insurance companies who are attracted by the slightly higher interest rate of SDL (compared to central government securities).

6. CDSCO and COVID drugs

Subject: Government organisation

Context:

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) will only approve Covid-19 vaccines that meet parameters, such as their ability to show they can improve clinical outcomes by at least 50 per cent during human testing.

Concept:

The regulator is trying to ensure the candidate approved for mass vaccination shows an improvement of at least 50 per cent over the status quo.
This means the number of people who develop symptoms, and are diagnosed by a doctor with Covid, should reduce by at least 50 per cent upon vaccination, as opposed to those who aren’t vaccinated.

CDSCO

CDSCO under Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare is the National Regulatory Authority (NRA) of India.
The Drugs & Cosmetics Act,1940 and rules 1945 have entrusted various responsibilities to central & state regulators for regulation of drugs & cosmetics.
CDSCO is constantly thriving upon to bring out transparency, accountability and uniformity in its services in order to ensure safety, efficacy and quality of the medical product manufactured, imported and distributed in the country.
Under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, CDSCO is responsible for approval of Drugs, Conduct of Clinical Trials, laying down the standards for Drugs, control over the quality of imported Drugs in the country and coordination of the activities of State Drug Control Organizations by providing expert advice.
Drug Controller General of India within CDSCO is responsible for approval of licenses of specified categories of Drugs such as blood and blood products, I. V. Fluids, Vaccine and Sera

7. Data Free Flow with Trust (DFFT)

Subject: Science and tech

Context:

India is not in a position to accept the concept of Data Free Flow with Trust (DFFT) as it is neither well understood nor is comprehensive enough in the legislation of many countries.
In view of the huge digital divide among countries, there is a need for policy space for developing countries which still have to finalise laws around digital trade and data.

Concept:

A major international initiative on data flows, the Osaka Track, was launched by heads of governments under Japan’s G20 leadership in 2019.
This paper develops a framework for ‘data free flow with trust’ – the key underlying concept of the Osaka Track.
It maps a multi-dimensional architecture for international cooperation on data flows, between governments, as well as involving business, with recommendations to increase levels of governance trust and build openness through trade rules and other tools.
Powered by data flows, digitalization has become crucial for the seamless functioning of economies and societies.
Countries, however, can have concerns that once data moves abroad it will not be treated the same as at home. Jurisdictions do not trust each other to act appropriately on data governance.
Motivated by objectives such as privacy, security, access to data, and industrial policy, national regulations often restrict the cross-border movement of data, resulting in fragmented and sometimes contradictory rules.

8. Immunity

Subject: Science and tech

Context:

Two recent studies have confirmed that people previously infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can be reinfected with the virus.

Concept:

Any infection initially activates a non-specific innate immune response, in which white blood cells trigger inflammation. This may be enough to clear the virus.
But in more prolonged infections, the adaptive immune system is activated. Here, T and B cells recognise distinct structures (or antigens) derived from the virus.
T cells can detect and kill infected cells, while B cells produce antibodies that neutralise the virus.
During a primary infection – that is, the first time a person is infected with a particular virus – this adaptive immune response is delayed. It takes a few days before immune cells that recognise the specific pathogen are activated and expanded to control the infection.
Some of these T and B cells, called memory cells, persist long after the infection is resolved. It is these memory cells that are crucial for long-term protection. In a subsequent infection by the same virus, the memory cells get activated rapidly and induce a robust and specific response to block the infection.
A vaccine mimics this primary infection, providing antigens that prime the adaptive immune system and generating memory cells that can be activated rapidly in the event of a real infection.
However, as the antigens in the vaccine are derived from weakened or noninfectious material from the virus, there is little risk of severe infection.

9. K-shaped recession

Subject: Economy

Context:

Since it became obvious the pandemic would create a recession, economists have debated the shape of it. Joe Biden weighed in on the matter in a speech blaming President Trump for creating an unusual “K shape.

Concept:

A K-shaped recovery occurs when an economy recuperates unevenly, and there’s a separate trajectory for two segments of the society.
While the financial markets recover and grow, the real economy, or the flow of goods and services, gets worse.
That’s worrying, because 84% of the stock market is owned by 10% of households. While the market continued to rise even amid a global pandemic, GDP and employment rates fell.
These different paths follow the direction of the two spokes that poke out from the vertical line on the “K.”
The two prongs can also represent: people with high and low wage levels, those that have the ability to work from home and those who don’t, and those who have liquid wealth assets to survive during the recession and those who don’t. It’s very much a split of the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’.