In News

Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), has recently released India’s Bioeconomy Report 2022.

About the News

• The release was accompanied by the launch of aspecial Biotech Ignition Grant call for the North East Region (BIG-NER).
• BIRAC is a not-for-profit Section 8, Schedule B, Public Sector Enterprise, set up by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT).

Highlights of the Report

• India’s bioeconomy is likely totouch USD 150 billion by 2025 and over USD 300 billion by 2030.
• The country’s bioeconomy hasreached over USD 80 billion in 2021, registering a 14.1% growth over USD 70.2 billion in 2020.

• On average,at least three biotech startups were incorporated every day in 2021 (a total of 1,128 biotech startups set up in 2021) and the industry crossed USD 1 billion in research and development spending.
• India has the second highest number of USFDA (US Food and Drug Administration)-approved manufacturing plants outside the US.
• India has administered nearly 4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines per day (a total of 1.45 billion doses given in 2021).
• The country has conducted 1.3 million Covid-19 tests each day in 2021 (a total of 506.7 million tests).

India and Bioeconomy

• There are various sectors which are contributing to the growth of India’s Bioeconomy sector like:
  • Bio-Industry: which got a fillip from India’s Atmanirbhar Bharat vision and India becoming“energy independent” by 2047.
    • The Indian Government has also approved amendments to theNational Policy on Biofuels which aims at increasing biofuel production and advancing the introduction of ethanol-blended petrol with up to 20% blend from April 2023.
  • Bio-Agri: which comprises Bt Cotton, pesticides, marine biotech, and animal biotech and has the potential to nearly double its Bioeconomy contribution from USD10.5 billion to 20 billion in 2025.

Indian Initiatives related to Bioeconomy

• National Biopharma Mission, ‘Innovate India’ 2017, a Department of Biotechnology (DBT) programme that aims to bring together industry and academia in order to promote entrepreneurship and indigenous manufacturing in biopharma.
• 35 Bio incubatorshave been set up across India with world-class facilities for promoting startups. The first International Incubator- Clean Energy International Incubator has been set up under Mission Innovation by DBT & BIRAC.
• 'National Mission on Bioeconomy' was launched by the Institute of Bio-resources and Sustainable Development under the Science and Technology Ministry, in 2016.

 Source:

• Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh says the Bioeconomy will be key to India's future economy over the next 25 years
• Bioeconomy: the challenges of a key model for sustainable development

Image source:

• Bioeconomy: the challenges of a key model for sustainable development

In News

Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice has made recommendations substantial changes to the Mediation Bill.

What are the recommendations of the Committee?

• The panel cautioned against making pre-litigation mediation compulsory as it may result in delaying of cases. The committee has warned the Centre against the provision to give higher courts the power to frame rules for mediation.
  • Clause 26 of the Bill provides that court annexed mediation including pre-litigation mediation in court annexed mediation centre shall be conducted in accordance with the practice, directions or rules by whatever name called by the Supreme Court or the High Court.
• The members questioned the non-applicability of the provisions of the Bill to disputes/matters of non-commercial nature involving the Government and its agencies.
• Qualifications and appointment of the Chairperson and Members of the proposed Mediation Council should be based on ‘shown capacity’ and ‘knowledge and experience’ in ‘mediation.
  • According to present provisions in the Bill, people dealing with problems relating to ‘Alternative Dispute Resolution’ can become members and chairman of the council.
• Each mediator should be given a unique registration number by the Mediation Council and empower the Mediation Council to continuously evaluate the mediator.
• The Committee recommended that the State Mediation Councils should function under the overall superintendence, direction and control of Mediation Council of India and discharge such functions as may be specified by it.
• The Committee recommended that the Centre to redefine the term ‘mediation’.

What are the major concerns w.r.t. the Bill?

• The Bill treats international mediation when conducted in India as a domestic mediation. The settlement under the domestic mediation is given the status of a judgment or decree of a court.
  • This proposition is good for cases between Indian parties, but disastrous when one party is foreign. The reason is that the Singapore Convention does not apply to settlements which already have the status of a judgment or decree.
  • The Singapore Convention on Mediation is a uniform framework for international settlement agreements resulting from mediation. It applies to international settlement agreements resulting from mediation, concluded by parties to resolve a commercial dispute.
• Problems with the Mediation Council: This is an all-powerful body which regulates, certifies, accredits, plans, governs, etc., and it doesn’t have a single mediator.
• Disputes not to be mediated: Some cases like Fraud (wherein accusations are disposed of by retraction or apology or simply ignored), Cases involving minors or persons of unsound mind have been denied the possibility of a beneficial mediated settlement.
  • Patents and copyright cases and cases related to telecom, manufacturers and service providers and consumers, which have not been enlisted for mediation, can be talked and resolved.

Sources:

• Mediation Bill: House panel recommends against compulsory mediation, role for judiciary:
• Mediation Bill: Not getting the Act together:

In News

Corals of Great Barrier Reef are currently going through another mass bleaching event.

About the News

• Although the Great Barrier Reef has been suffering its fourth mass bleaching event since 2016, it is for the first time, that the reefs of the Great barrier have bleached under the cooling conditions of the natural La Nina weather pattern.

• When coral bleaches, it is not dead and can still recover if conditions improve. But it’s estimated to take up to 12 years if there’s no new disturbance in the meantime, such as a cyclone or another bleaching event.
• Given the reef has bleached six times since the late 1990s, alongside global climate trajectories, full reef recovery appears an unlikely scenario.

What are the factors responsible for death of a coral reef?

• About: When corals are stressed by changes in conditions such as temperature, light, or nutrients, they eject their zooxanthellae, single-celled algae that gives coral colour and energy, causing them to turn completely white.

• Water temperature: If water remains too warm for too long, corals will eventually die. But if the water temperature drops and the ultraviolet light becomes less intense, then the coral may recover and survive.
• Stress: If coral does survive a bleaching event, it is still impacted physiologically, as bleaching can slow growth rates and reduce reproductive capacity. Surviving colonies also become more susceptible to other challenges, such as disease.
• Resilience: Survival also depends on each individual coral’s own resilience: its ability to cope with higher temperatures and increased ultraviolet stress.
• Life-cycle: Fast growing branching corals are the most susceptible to bleaching and are generally the first to die. Long-lived massive corals, such as porites, may be less susceptible to bleaching, show minimal effects of bleaching and recover quicker.
• Poor adaptation to heat change: One degree heating week is when the temperature at a given location is more than 1 degree Celsius over the historical maximum temperature. At four-degree heating weeks, corals feel stress and coral bleaching and at eight-degree heating weeks coral die.
• Lesser time-period: While some corals may learn to cope with these new conditions by potentially acquiring more heat-tolerant zooxanthellae, the reality is that change is happening too fast for corals to adapt via evolution.

What can be done?

• Early detection of stress: Reef scientists should early detect fluorescent pigments used by corals to shield themselves from excessive ultraviolet radiation which are obvious signal that corals are stressed and struggling to regulate their internal balance.
• Stronger policies: Australia has the world’s best marine scientists and marine park managers. And yet, its policies are rated ‘highly insufficient’. There is need to take substantial action on climate change.
• Stakeholder approach: Federal government, reef businesses and individuals should show leadership and maintain healthy reefs and work together and take rapid, drastic action to reduce carbon emissions.

Sources:

• Great Barrier Reef suffers another mass bleaching event: What will it take for coral to survive?
• Life and death after Great Barrier Reef bleaching:

On July 25, 1977 Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, the sixth president of India, took oath as President. Since then, successive presidents including Giani Zail Singh, R Venkataraman, Shankar Dayal Sharma, K R Narayanan, A P J Abdul Kalam, Pratibha Patil, Pranab Mukherjee and Ram Nath Kovind have all taken oath on the same date. Droupadi Murmu, who will take oath as the President of India today, will be the tenth successive president since 1977 to be sworn in on the same date — July 25. 

While there is no written rule behind swearing-in ceremonies of presidents taking place on this date, records dating back to 1977 show that every president elected by usual procedure has taken oath on July 25. The exceptions to this were India's first president, Rajendra Prasad, and successors Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Zakir Hussain and Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed.

Source:

• Why July 25 holds special role in the history of India's presidents:

• Context: The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently declared the Monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), its highest level of alarm.
• Monkeypox is a rare infection mainly spread by wild animals in parts of west or central Africa and is caused by infection with the Monkeypox virus.

• The infection was first discovered in 1958 following two outbreaks of a pox-like disease in colonies of monkeys kept for research, which led to the name ‘monkeypox’.
• However, the first human case was recorded in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
• It is a zoonotic disease that is transmitted from infected animals to humans.
• The related symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, back ache, exhaustion, swelling of lymph nodes etc.
• The incubation period (time from infection to symptoms) for monkeypox is usually 7-14 days but can range from 5-21 days.
• It is to be noted that, there is no safe, proven treatment for monkeypox yet.
• Thus, for the purpose of controlling infection smallpox vaccine, antivirals, and vaccinia immune globulin (VIG) are used.
• The largest incidence of the infection in the world is found in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Source:

• Explained: Why monkeypox is spreading, but not as fast as Covid-19
• Explained: What is monkeypox, a smallpox-like disease from Africa that has been reported in the UK?

Image source:

• https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/faq-what-you-should-know-about-monkeypox-877391

• Context: Windfall tax on diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) has been reduced by Rs 2 per litre and that on export of petrol has been reduced by Rs 6 per litre.
• A windfall tax is a higher tax rate on sudden big profitslevied on a particular company or industry.

• The tax targets those who are gaining from something they were not responsible for.
• Domestic producers sell crude oil at international parity prices, to domestic refiners. Thus, they make windfall gains and attract windfall tax.
• It is a one-time tax more than the normal rates of tax, imposed on profits.
• In the aftermath of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, energy companies are gaining profit from the sale or export of oil and there has been no improvement in their domestic processes.
• Thus, governments are imposing a windfall tax on profits being earned by these companies that will help in boosting the government’s finances as well as help in funding the efforts being made by the government for protecting vulnerable sections from inflation.

Source:

• Explained: Why India has cut windfall tax on diesel, aviation fuel exports
• What Is Windfall Tax And Why Do Companies Have To Pay It?

Image source:

• Govt slaps export tax on petrol, diesel; windfall tax on domestic crude oil

• Context: The Minister of Law and Justice has recently informed the details of funds allocated by NALSA to Legal Services Authorities to organise Legal Aid Programmes in India.
• The NALSA was founded in 1995 under the Legal Services Authorities Act of 1987to monitor and review the effectiveness of legal aid programs and to develop rules and principles for providing legal services under the Act.

• It also distributes funding and grants to state legal services authoritiesand non-profit organisations to help them execute legal aid systems and initiatives.
• Article 39Aof the Constitution of India provides that State shall secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall in particular, provide free legal aid, by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disability.
• Articles 14 and 22(1)also make it obligatory for the State to ensure equality before law and a legal system which promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity to all.
• The main objectives of NALSA include: providing free legal aid and advice, spreadinglegal awareness, organising lok adalats, promoting settlements of disputes through Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Mechanisms etc,.

Source:

• Legal Aid Programme
• National Legal Services Authority (NALSA)

Image source:

• National Legal Services Authority (NALSA)

• Context: ISRO is building up its orbital debris tracking capability with space junk posing increasing threat to Indian assets in space.
• Space junk or debris are those generated by the dysfunctional space objects such as pent rocket stages, dead satellites, fragments of space objects which move at an average speed of 27,000 kmph in LEO (Low Earth Orbits).
• They pose a very real threat as collisions involving even centimetre-sized fragments can be lethal to satellites.

• ISRO’s orbital debris tracking capability deploys new radars and optical telescopes under the Network for Space Objects Tracking and Analysis (NETRA) project.
• Under this project, space debris tracking radar with a range of 1,500 km and an optical telescope will be inducted as part of establishing an effective surveillance and tracking network.
• The radar will be indigenously designed and built and will be capable of detecting and tracking objects 10 cm and above in size.
• Two such radars will be deployed 1,000 km apart for spatial diversity.
• This is the need of the hour as the present Multi-Object Tracking Radar at Sriharikota has a limited range only.

Source:

• ISRO to step up tracking of space debris
• ISRO TO STEP UP TRACKING OF SPACE DEBRIS

Image source:

• India doesn't trust US with measuring space debris — and so it will set up its own agency

Essence: India’s Supreme Court this week gave its first order enforcing an Indian citizen’s right to be forgotten when it directed the court registry to begin the process on how the details of a married couple, locked in litigation, can be removed from online search engines.

The issue is nuanced as the balance between freedom of expression and the right to privacy is delicate. India needs to quickly codify the right in law and lay down guidelines.

Why should you read this article?

• To understand the for codification of privacy laws.

Source:

• Expanding the right to privacy:

Essence: The article discusses India- USA relationship. The possibility of India’s continuing rise over this century seems to be on a stronger wicket today than it did a decade ago. Along with this, China is now home to a manufacturing-led and technology-driven economy, competing head-on with the US in areas like biotech, robotics, artificial intelligence, and advanced materials.

From seeing non-democratic China as a benign partner, the US now sees it as a threat, the present preoccupations in Europe notwithstanding. India, which for a time welcomed Chinese involvement in its economy, has also recalibrated after the 2020 Galwan face-off.

Thus, US and India are – and should be – closely aligned in addressing the threat posed by an authoritarian party controlling the state of China.

Why should you read this article?

• To understand the geo-political tussle between India, China and the USA
• To understand the right equation of India-USA relationship

Source:

• The key to US-India partnership: Defence and technology cooperation:

Background

• Education for girls is a difficult subject in India. This became more problematic during the epidemic, when adolescent girls made up 40% of the estimated 30 million out-of-school
• Initiatives such as Educate Girls address the impact of poverty and patriarchy on girls' access to education, school, and opportunity.

How It Takes a Village to Keep Girls in School:

• Organizations such as Pratham Foundation and Educate Girls have conducted extensive surveys and sensitization campaigns in rural communities in order to establish a strong team of local change agents.
• Since its inception in 2007, Educate Girls has enrolled over 5 lakh girls in school in over 20,000 villages across Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh.
• It has assisted over 3 lakh adolescent females in receiving life skills training, allowing them to develop decision-making agency and gain greater control over their lives.
• This impact is the result of the 14-year efforts of 15,000-strong armies of village-based Team Balika volunteers. These volunteers have accomplished a great deal, from going door to door to locate out-of-school girls to convincing all stakeholders, including their parents, of the necessity of girls' education.
• When a community comes together to take ownership and responsibility for empowering its girls and women, half of the battle is won since the community plays a critical part in assisting a girl to receive an education and stay in school.

Quote: Women, like men, must be educated with a view to action, or their studies cannot be called education.– Harriet Martineau

Source:

• ‘It Takes a Village to Keep Girls in School’: How 2 NGOs Enrolled Lakhs of Girls in Schools: