Daily Prelims Notes 28 April 2024
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Daily Prelims Notes
28 April 2024
Table Of Contents
- What is a Bambi Bucket, being used by an IAF helicopter to fight Nainital forest fires?
- Druggist association opposes Centre’s move to sell over-the-counter medicines without license
- India, Chinese Taipei ask WTO body to delay ruling on ICT import duties dispute till July 26
- Center releases disaster relief funds for Karnataka and Tamil Nadu
1. What is a Bambi Bucket, being used by an IAF helicopter to fight Nainital forest fires?
Subject: Science and tech
Sec: Msc
Context:
- Indian Air Force’s MI 17 V5 helicopter was deployed on Saturday (April 27) to extinguish the raging forest fires in Nainital district, Uttarakhand, according to the state’s Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.
More on news:
- The helicopter used a “Bambi Bucket”, also known as helicopter bucket or a heli bucket, to collect water from Bhimtal lake, located near Nainital, and pour it over the burning forests. Here is a look at what a Bambi Bucket is and how it was invented.
- Forest officials said the IAF helicopter collected water from the Naini and Bhimtal lakes in a Bambi bucket and poured it over the burning forests of the Pines, Bhumiadhar, Jyolikot, Narayan Nagar, Bhawali, Ramgarh and Mukteshwar areas.
What is a Bambi Bucket?
- Bambi Bucket is a specialized aerial firefighting tool which has been in use since the 1980s.
- It is essentially a lightweight collapsible container that releases water from underneath a helicopter to targeted areas.
- The water is released by using a pilot-controlled valve.
- One of its key features is that it can be quickly and easily filled.
- The bucket can be filled from various sources, including lakes and swimming pools, which allows firefighters to swiftly refill it and return to the target area.
- Bambi Bucket is available in a variety of sizes and models, with capacities ranging from 270 liters to more than 9,840 liters.
How was the Bambi Bucket invented?
- The Bambi Bucket was invented by Don Arney, a Canadian business, in 1982.
- Arney came up with the idea after he realized that the aerial firefighting water buckets in use at the time were not efficient and had a high failure rate.
- These water buckets were generally made of solid fiberglass, plastic, or canvas with metal frames and were too rigid to fit inside the aircraft and had to be trucked to fire sites or flown in on the hook of a helicopter thereby slowing the aircraft down.
Advantages of Bambi Bucket:
- One, it can be stored within the helicopter until development.
- Two, it discharges a solid column of water, resulting in a more accurate and effective water dump, less evaporation on the descent, and greater impact force.
2. Druggist association opposes Centre’s move to sell over-the-counter medicines without license
Subject: Science and tech
Sec: Health
Context:
- The Central Government’s proposal to permit the sale of Over-The-Counter (OTC) drugs without a license in India is a cause of deep concern, warned the All India Organization of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD).
More on news:
- Such a move would contravene existing drug laws, pharmacy regulations, and pertinent legal frameworks, including directives from the Supreme Court.
About this Centre’s move:
- Allowing OTC drug sales without proper regulation poses serious threats, including drug abuse, increased risk of adverse drug reaction, delayed access to healthcare, possible compromise in storage of medicines etc.
- The absence of pharmacist consultation services, proliferation of counterfeit drugs, delayed access to healthcare services and inadequate pharmacovigilance measures are also cause of concern.
- The group has also urged the government to consider the multifaceted implications of this proposal, emphasizing that unregulated availability of medications in general and grocery stores does not serve the best interests of society.
About Over-The-Counter (OTC) drugs:
- OTC treats common, self-treated medical problems and symptoms like colds, mild discomfort, allergies, and other benign health issues.
- The Union Government has proposed to bring OTC medications into India through an amendment to the Drugs and Cosmetics Regulations and permit their retail market sales without the need for a prescription.
- A list of OTC medicines which are permitted to be sold in shops will be authorized by the Drug Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) and could include drugs like — antifungal creams, cough syrup, laxatives etc.
3. India, Chinese Taipei ask WTO body to delay ruling on ICT import duties dispute till July 26
Subject: IR
Sec: Int Org
Context:
- India and Chinese Taipei have asked the WTO’s dispute settlement body not to adopt any ruling against New Delhi’s import duties on certain information and technology products till July 26 as both sides are engaged in resolving the matter.
More on news:
- The issue came up during a meeting of the dispute settlement body (DSB) in Geneva on April 26.
- DSB had agreed to three previous requests from India and Chinese Taipei to delay consideration of the reports.
- As per rules of the WTO, the panel’s ruling will have to be adopted by DSB for implementation within 60 days of the release of the order. However, countries can mutually request DSB for delay in adoption of the ruling.
- A dispute panel of the WTO on April 17, 2023, said import duties imposed by India on certain information and technology products violate global trading norms.
- The ruling followed a case filed by the EU, Japan and Taiwan against these duties in WTO.
- Besides formulating norms for global exports and imports, the Geneva-based 164-member multilateral body adjudicates trade disputes among the member countries.
About the case:
- In May 2019, Chinese Taipei had filed a case against India in the WTO over the import duties imposed on certain electronic goods, including telephones for cellular networks; machines for reception, conversion and transmission or regeneration of voice, images or other data; and parts of telephone sets.
- India has stated that these ICT products are part of WTO’s Information Technology Products (ITA-2) agreement, and New Delhi is not part of this pact. India is a part of ITA-1, signed in 1997, which did not have any obligation to eliminate customs duties on these products.
- According to WTO rules, a member country can file a case in WTO if they feel that a particular trade measure is against the norms of WTO.
- Bilateral consultation is the first step to resolving a dispute.
- If both sides are not able to resolve the matter through consultation, either of them can approach the establishment of a dispute settlement panel.
About Dispute settlement body (WTO):
- The General Council convenes as the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) to deal with disputes between WTO members.
- Such disputes may arise with respect to any agreement contained in the Final Act of the Uruguay Round that is subject to the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU).
- The DSB has authority to establish dispute settlement panels, refer matters to arbitration, adopt panel, Appellate Body and arbitration reports, maintain surveillance over the implementation of recommendations and rulings contained in such reports, and authorize suspension of concessions in the event of non-compliance with those recommendations and rulings.
4. Center releases disaster relief funds for Karnataka and Tamil Nadu
Subject: Polity
Sec: National Body
Context:
- The Union government has ordered the release of ₹3,730.32 crore towards “relief assistance for natural calamity” from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
More on news:
- An order by the Finance Ministry said that the amount is being released to the State governments based on the recommendation of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on April 24.
- For the damage caused by Cyclone Michaung in December 2023 and the floods later in the month in southern Tamil Nadu, the MHA approved an assistance of ₹285.54 crore and ₹397.13 crore respectively.
About State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF):
- SDRF has been constituted by each state under the provisions of Disaster Management act 2005.
- It was constituted based on the recommendations of the 13th Finance Commission.
- The government of India contributes 75% and 90% of the total yearly allocation of SDRF to general states and special category states respectively.
- The state executive committee headed by the Chief Secretary is authorized to decide on all matters relating to the financing of the relief expenditure from the SDRF.
- Disaster (s) covered under SDRF: Cyclone, drought, earthquake, fire, flood, tsunami, hailstorm, landslide, avalanche, cloudburst, pest attack, frost and cold waves.
- The SDRF is the primary fund available with State governments as part of their response to notified disasters to meet expenditure on providing immediate relief to victims.
- The Centre contributes 75% of the SDRF allocation for general category States and Union Territories and 90% for special category States (northeastern States, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir).
- As per Section 46 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the NDRF supplements the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) in case of a disaster of severe nature, provided adequate funds are not available in the SDRF.
- The States have to submit utilization certificates, pending which no future allocation is made.
About National Disaster Response Fund:
- Defined under sec 46 of Disaster Management Act, 2005 (DM Act).
- It is a fund managed by the Central Government for meeting the expenses for emergency response, relief and rehabilitation due to any threatening disaster situation or disaster.
- Constituted to supplement the funds of the State Disaster Response Funds (SDRF) of the states to facilitate immediate relief in case of calamities of a severe nature.
- National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF) was renamed as National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) with the enactment of the Disaster Management Act in 2005.