Daily Prelims Notes 29 June 2020

June 29, 2020
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

Table Of Contens

1. What is National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA)?

Subject: Polity

Context:

National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) in an office memorandum has “advised” manufacturers to comply with BIS standards for N95 mask.

Concept:

National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) was constituted as an attached office of the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) in 1997 under Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers as an independent Regulator for pricing of drugs and to ensure availability and accessibility of medicines at affordable prices.
It fixes ceiling prices of scheduled essential drugs and monitors Maximum Retail Prices (MRPs) of remaining non-scheduled medical devices, which have been regulated as drugs.

Drugs (Prices Control) Order (DPCO)

The Drugs Prices Control Order, 1995 is an order issued by the Government of India under Sec. 3 of Essential Commodities Act, 1955 to regulate the prices of drugs.
The Order inter alia provides the list of price controlled drugs, procedures for fixation of prices of drugs, method of implementation of prices fixed by Govt., penalties for contravention of provisions etc.
For the purpose of implementing provisions of DPCO, powers of Government have been vested in NPPA.

BIS

BIS is the National Standard Body of India established under the BIS Act 2016 for the harmonious development of the activities of standardization, marking and quality certificationof goods.
BIS has been providing traceability and tangibility benefits to the national economy in a number of ways – providing safe reliable quality goods; minimizing health hazards to consumers; promoting exports and imports substitute; control over proliferation of varieties etc. through standardization, certification and testing.

2. What is WTO IT Agreement?

Subject: IR/Economy

Context:

Japan and Chinese Taipei is planning to set up a dispute settlement panel at the World Trade Organization (WTO) against New Delhi’s customs duties on imports of certain information and communications technology (ICT) products.

Concept:

Both alleged that imposition of import duties on certain electronic products by India infringes WTO norms as India has committed zero per cent bound tariffs on these products. India has strongly opposed these allegations.
Bound tariffs or duties refer to the ceiling over which a WTO member country cannot impose import duty, the applied tariff is the duty which is currently in place.
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, in which it did not contain any obligation to eliminate customs duties on these products.

ITA

The Information Technology Agreement (ITA) was concluded by 29 participants at the Singapore Ministerial Conference in December 1996.
Since then, the number of participants has grown to 82, representing about 97 per cent of world trade in IT products.
The ITA covers a large number of high technology products, including computers, telecommunication equipment, semiconductors, semiconductor manufacturing and testing equipment, software, scientific instruments, as well as most of the parts and accessories of these products.
The participants are committed to completely eliminating tariffs on IT products covered by the Agreement.

ITA2

In June 2012, the ITA-2 negotiation was launched in order to both expand the coverage of ICT products and address classification issues.
At the Nairobi Ministerial Conference in December 2015, over 50 members concluded the expansion of the Agreement, which now covers an additional 201 products valued at over $1.3 trillion per year.

3. IRDA

Subject: Schemes

Context:

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India has announced guidelines on CoVID-19 standard benefit-based health policy and individual Covid-19 standard health policy.

Concept:

IRDAI has announced Corona Rakshak policy which is a standard benefit-based policy and Corona Kavach Policy, a standard health policy which will be offered on indemnity basis and insurers have been asked to launch the product from July 10, 2020.
Under indemnity health insurance plans, insurers cover the cost of medical expenses during hospitalization, while in defined benefit plans a lump-sum is paid irrespective of the actual hospital expense
According to the guidelines by IRDAI, minimum sum insured for Corona Kavach Policy will be ₹50,000 and maximum sum insured would be ₹5 lakh. However, for Corona Rakshak Policy, the minimum sum insured would be ₹50,000 and maximum limit is set at ₹5 lakh.

IRDAI

Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) is a statutory body set up by the IRDA Act, 1999.
It is an autonomous and apex body which has the responsibility to regulate and control the Insurance sector in India.
Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) was established after the recommendations of Malhotra Committee report of 1994. The committee had recommended for the establishment of an independent authority for the regulation of Insurance sector in India.
As per the section 4 of IRDAI Act’ 1999, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India has composition of a Chairman; five whole-time members; four part-time members, all appointed by the Government of India.

4. Official Language of HC

Subject: Polity

Context:

Recently Governor of Haryana sent his recommendation to the President of India for his consent to authorize use of Hindi language in proceedings before the Punjab & Haryana High Court.

Concept:

The constitutional provisions dealing with the language of the courts are as follows:
Until Parliament provides otherwise, the following are to be in the English language only in all proceedings in the Supreme Court and in every high court.( Article 348 (1))
However, the governor of a state, with the previous consent of the president, can authorise the use of Hindi or any other official language of the state, in the proceedings in the high court of the state, but not with respect to the judgements, decrees and orders passed by it. In other words, the judgements, decrees and orders of the high court must continue to be in English only (until Parliament otherwise provides). .( Article 348 (2))

5. Illegal wildlife trade

Subject: Environment

Context:

“Money Laundering and the Illegal Wildlife Trade” report was released by FATF.

Concept:

Findings:

The illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is a major transnational organisedcrime that fuels corruption, threats biodiversity, and can have significant public health impacts. In particular, the spread in recent years of zoonotic diseases underlines the importance of ensuring that wildlife is traded in a legal, safe and sustainable manner, and that countries remove the profitability of illegal markets.
According to the 2016 UN World Wildlife Crime report, criminals are illegally trading products derived from over 7 000 species of wild animals and plants across the world. This includes iconic mammals, but also lesser-known species of reptiles, birds and amphibians.
Criminals are relying on “established” methods to launder proceeds from IWT, including the placement and layering of funds through the formal financial sector. This shows the important role that financial institutions can play in detecting suspicious activity.
Wildlife traffickers often use front companies that have connections to import-export industries to help to justify the movement of goods and payments across borders (e.g., plastics, timber, frozen foods, or artwork).
New technologies play an important role in facilitating communication and non-face-to-face payments between buyers and sellers for illegal wildlife. In particular, encrypted communication platforms and illegal wildlife marketplaces hosted via social media sites, online vendor platforms, and the dark net increase the ease with which wildlife transactions can occur between buyers and sellers

6. Gynandromorphs

Subject: Science and tech

Context:

Researchers have spotted a peculiar dragonfly, the Scarlet Skimmer (Crocothemisservilia), in the Puzhakkal area of the Kole wetlands in Thrissur with very rare biological phenomenon.

Concept:

Gynandromorphs (“gyne” from Greek meaning female, “andro” for male, and “morph” meaning variety) are individual animals that have both genetically male and female tissuesand often have observable male and female characteristics.
They may be bilateral, appearing to divide down the middle into male and female sides, or they may be mosaic, with patches characteristic of one sex appearing in a body part characteristic of the other sex.
Gynandromorphs occur in insects, spiders, crustaceans, and other arthropods as well as in birds, but they are extremely rare.