 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar IAS Academy for the date 19th of February 2020. The list of news articles taken up for today's discussion is displayed here, along with the page numbers of five different editions. The handwritten notes in the PDF format and the time stamping of all the news articles taken up for today's analysis is available in the description section and also in the common section for the benefit of the smartphone users. Let us now start our analysis. Now let us see an editorial which discusses about mainstreaming innovations in the healthcare system of India. See this editorial is co-authored by the CEO of Niti Aayog and the CEO of Pradhan Mantri Jan Arakayogina of the Aishman Bharat scheme. In this editorial, let us see a few information about this Pradhan Mantri Jan Arakayogina. Then we will see about the need to expand the supply side in the healthcare system and then we will see some solutions that can transform the health sector and then we will see the challenges in mainstreaming healthcare innovations and finally we will conclude this editorial by discussing the measures that have been suggested by the authors. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this editorial is highlighted here for your reference. See Pradhan Mantri Jan Arakayogina was launched in September 2018. Now it is close to 18 months since its launch. We know that the scheme aims at providing health insurance coverage which is around 5 lakh rupees per family per year. This insurance cover is for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization. It covers over 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable families across India and in terms of individual beneficiaries, it would be covering approximately 50 crore beneficiaries and there is no cap on the family size under this scheme. So this is in brief about the scheme. Now the authors of this editorial are saying that the initial momentum has been very encouraging for the scheme which comes under Aishman Bharat. This scheme is currently being implemented in 32 out of 36 states and union territories and so far it has provided 84 lakh free treatments to poor and vulnerable patients for secondary and tertiary ailments. And at present there are around 22,000 empaneled hospitals across India in order to avail the secondary and tertiary treatments under this Pradhan Mantri Jan Arakayogina. See there is statistics for this scheme which tells that there is one free treatment which is done for every 3 seconds and two beneficiaries are verified every second. Now let us see the need to expand the supply side in healthcare at present there is one government bed for every 1,844 patients and one doctor for every 11,082 patients. See these numbers are based on national health profile of 2018. It states that there is one government hospital bed available for a population of 1,844 persons and the average population serve for government allopathic doctor is 11,039. So this shows the general level of availability of government allopathic doctors and beds in the government hospitals. The authors are considering that in the next few years if there is to be 3 percentage hospitalization for the beneficiaries covered under Pradhan Mantri Jan Arakayogina then this scheme is likely to provide treatment to 1.5 crore patients every year. So this implies that the existing physical and human infrastructure capacity have to be augmented widely in order to cater to this demand. For this there are two strategies based on the time that is required. One is a comprehensive long-term strategy and the next is a near-term or a short-term strategy. The long-term strategy will focus on expanding the hospital and the human resources infrastructure whereas the immediate requirement that is the short-term strategy should be to improve the efficiencies and to bridge the gaps within the existing supply and likely demand. So it is for this near-term approach the authors are suggesting to mainstream innovation in the Indian healthcare system. Here when we say innovation the healthcare technology startups are being discussed by the authors. This is because these startups are working to bring innovative technologies and business models in healthcare in order to overcome the existing challenges in infrastructure and human resources. And they are also important from the angle of improving cost effectiveness and to bridge efficiency challenges. Now let us see some solutions that could be built by the startups in order to transform the healthcare system in India. One is artificial intelligence platforms which help or aid in rapid radiology diagnosis. Here the term radiology refers to the use of radiation like X-rays or other imaging technologies such as ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging that is the MRI scan in order to diagnose or treat the disease. So these artificial intelligence platforms will be highly helpful particularly in low resource settings. Now if you look at the next solution it is the tele-intensive care unit platforms. These platforms will bridge the gap in high skilled critical care personnel. It is basically using an offset command center in which a critical healthcare team is connected with patients in remote or distant intensive care units in order to exchange health information through real-time audio, visual and electronic means. So with the help of this tele-intensive care unit platforms if the infrastructure is available then critical care can be delivered even in the remote areas, villages and semi-urban regions across India. Some other solutions include drone delivery of blood, medicines and vaccines to reach remote locations because these solutions will be cost effective and they will also be reliable in the long run. Now why all these solutions are important because the healthcare must be made accessible to all across India irrespective of their location and also this will save huge costs that are currently spent by patients because they need to travel to cities or to the state capitals or to the national capitals and in some cases we are also seeing some patients who are travelling to foreign countries for tertiary care treatment. So such innovative solutions will be helpful for the entire population especially for the poor and vulnerable families and for those who are living in rural and remote areas and also for those people who are living in tier 2 and tier 3 cities nothing but those cities which have lesser population when compared to the larger cities which are called the tier 1 cities. So we just saw some of the transformative solutions. Now are these solutions mainstreamed into our government hospitals? The answer is a big no because there are challenges which are found at every step when it comes to mainstreaming these healthcare innovations in the government hospitals. Now let us see them. One main challenge is non-uniform regulatory and validation standards. See the regulatory requirements specifically for biomedical startups are still evolving in India. So the healthcare sector on a whole does not know which standards they should follow. So because of the lack of uniform regulatory and validation standards for startups hospitals often rely on foreign regulatory certifications especially for riskier devices and instruments. Some of the foreign regulatory certifications include the United States Food and Drug Administration and the other is CE certification which is given for products in the European economic area. So this is one challenge in mainstreaming innovation in the Indian healthcare system because of lack of such standards innovations developed by startups are not able to be sold to the healthcare sector. Now coming to the next problem. The next problem is the operational liquidity crunch due to long gestation periods in the healthcare system. Here gestation period refers to the time spent in the early development of a product. The time taken will be more especially when potential clinical risks are involved and the gestation period will also involve the process of testing the idea and working prototype and then it involves receiving certifications, performing clinical and commercial validations and it also includes the process of raising funds for research. Now the authors are telling that all these are currently happening in a low trust and unstructured environment. So end of the day all these make the gestational period of the projects unusually long and as a result it limits the operational liquidity of the startup. Here operational liquidity refers to the finance or the money that is required to meet the day to day expenses for the startups. So this is one challenge. The next challenge is the lack of incentives and adequate frameworks to grade and adopt innovations. The challenges with respect to the healthcare providers and clinicians to be specific. Here the authors state that there is lack of incentives for healthcare providers to consider and adopt innovations in health sector and there is also lack of operational capacity and frameworks in health sector which are necessary to consider and adopt innovations in healthcare. So all these challenges lead to limited grip for the startups in order to promote innovative solutions. So these are the major challenges which the startups face and because of which innovation is not happening in health sector in India. Now let us see some of the measures or suggestions which have been given by the author to address these constraints or challenges. See the authors are calling to focus on identifying promising market ready healthcare innovations that are ready to be tested and that are ready to be deployed at a considerable scale. So this will give recognition to developed healthcare innovations and this will also accelerate the process of mainstreaming innovations within the hospital system in India. Nothing but the supply side of the healthcare system. Then there is a need to facilitate standardized operational validation studies for market adoption of healthcare innovations. So there should be regulatory and validation standards and these standards shall help to simplify the procurements for the startups and also ensuring that the solutions can be adopted with confidence in the healthcare system. So these are the main suggestions that have been given by the authors to improve the innovation in India's healthcare system. This is all about the discussion of this editorial. To conclude this editorial the authors are giving a call that is they are inviting the private sector healthcare workers, then the health innovators, then the industry and the startups to become equal partners in Pradhan Mantri Jarnarokya Yojana. The call is mainly in reference to complement the innovation-based infrastructure in India's healthcare system so that the poor and vulnerable families shall have access to high quality healthcare irrespective of where they reside in India. So this is all about this editorial. To summarize our editorial discussion, we saw a few information about Pradhan Mantri Jarnarokya Yojana and then we saw the need to expand the supply side in healthcare system in India. Then we saw some of the solutions that can transform the health sector. Finally, we saw some of the challenges in mainstreaming the healthcare innovations and the related suggestions given by the authors. So the main theme of this editorial is mainstreaming innovations in India's healthcare system. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about the supply and distribution of compressed natural gas and piped natural gas in Tamil Nadu under the city gas distribution infrastructure. So in this context, let us discuss in brief about natural gas, then about compressed natural gas, then about piped natural gas and then we'll discuss about the city gas distribution project. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. First, let us understand about natural gas. See, natural gas is a fossil energy source. It is formed deep beneath the earth surface. It is the cleanest fossil fuel among the available fossil fuels. See, natural gas contains many different compounds. The largest component of natural gases, methane, which is CH4. It also contains smaller amounts of other liquids, that is the hydrocarbon gas liquids like ethane, propane, butane and then some non-hydrocarbon gases like carbon dioxide and water vapor. Note that natural gas is orderless and colorless. That is, there is no smell, no color. So how is natural gas formed? See, over millions of years of time ago, the remains of plants and animals were built up in thick layers on the earth surface and ocean flows. Sometimes they got mixed with sand, silt and calcium carbonate. Over time, these layers got buried under sand, silt and rock. And then pressure and heat changes happened, where some of this carbon and hydrogen rich materials turned into coal and some into oil and some into natural gas. So this is how natural gas formed. We use natural gas as a fuel in power generation in fertilizer plants and for industrial purposes and so on. Now what do we mean by compressed natural gas? It is nothing but the natural gas that is compressed and stored under high pressure. Storing in a compressed stage will help for transportation as a vehicle fuel. Though it is still in its gaseous form, compressed natural gas is under more pressure. So it takes up only smaller volume when you compare to an ordinary natural gas. As we just saw, compressed natural gas is used as an alternative for the regular petrol and diesel in vehicles as an auto fuel. Now let us see about pipe natural gas. It is nothing but the natural gas which is transported through a network of pipelines from its source to the endpoint that is the customers. Now if you look, this pipe natural gas is mainly used in domestic segment than in commercial and industrial segments. In India, if you see, the natural gas is supplied from oil and gas fields that are located at western and southeastern parts of India like Hazira Basin in Gujarat, then Mumbai offshore and then Krishna-Godavari Basin as well as the northeast region which includes the states of Assam and Tripura. See at present, the share of natural gas in India's energy mix is just over 6% whereas if you look at the world average it is 24%. So India's aim is to take this share to 15% and move towards a gas based economy. So the increase in the share of gas in India's primary energy mix is what is anticipated from 6% to 15%. So the city gas distribution network or the city gas distribution project is a step in this direction. This city gas distribution project aims to promote natural gas as a fuel or feedstock across India. It is an interconnected network of gas pipelines and the associated equipment. It is mainly used for transporting natural gas from a bulk supply to the distribution grid and subsequently supplying it to the service pipes. And these service pipes will then supply the natural gas to domestic premises and also to industrial or commercial premises and also to the CNG stations that are situated in a specified geographical area. Accordingly, development of CGD networks has been focused to increase the availability of cleaner cooking fuel that is the pipe natural gas and the transportation fuel which is the compressed natural gas across India. And this will also benefit the industrial and commercial units by ensuring uninterrupted supply of natural gas. See in India the permission for this city gas distribution network is granted by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board. Know that it is a statutory body formed under the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board Act of 2006. Now let us discuss in brief about the functions of this PNGRB. First and foremost, they have to protect the interests of the consumers and entities who are engaged in specific activities related to petroleum, petroleum products and natural gas. And then they have to promote competitive markets for these products further they are mandated to regulate refining, process, storage, transportation, marketing and sale of petroleum products and natural gas. This is to ensure adequate and uninterrupted supply of petroleum products and natural gas in all parts of the country. Here you need to note that this Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board is not involved in production of crude oil and natural gas. So this is all you need to know about the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board. Now let us discuss in brief about the benefits from increased use of compressed natural gas and pipe natural gas. First let us discuss the environmental advantages. As we know compressed natural gas is one of the cleanest and most environmental friendly fuels when compared to other fuels that are used by automotive vehicles like petroleum, diesel. So the level of vehicular emissions is significantly lower in case of CNG when compared to the other liquid fuels. It contains no impurities or sulphur or lead. So this makes compressed natural gas environmental friendly. Now let us see the economic advantages. See natural gas as compressed natural gas is cheaper by 60% when compared with petrol and it is cheaper by 45% when it comes to diesel. Similarly natural gas as piped natural gas is also cheaper by 40% when compared to the market price of liquefied petroleum gas. So the usage of compressed natural gas and piped natural gas will benefit the customers. And once the usage of this CNG and PNG is increased it will substitute the liquid fuels. Therefore it will also lead to significant reduction in the subsidy burden of the government. Also if you see in case of piped natural gas it not only provides convenience but it is also much safer. It indirectly saves a lot of fuel and efforts that are required in managing the logistics of domestic LPG cylinders because once the infrastructure is set up then the supply will be smooth or seamless. And we know that India is a signatory of the Paris climate agreement which aims to bring down the rise in global temperatures. One of India's commitment is by 2030 India would reduce the carbon emission intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35% from the 2005 levels. Although this CNG and PNG is not a very clean energy when compared to renewables it is comparatively cleaner energy when compared to other fossil fuels like petroleum and diesel because the emissions from these fuels are low. So in a way it will help to meet India's commitment to reduce the carbon emission intensity. So this is the background that you need to know about the city gas distribution network and about the fuels like compressed natural gas and piped natural gas. Now let us come to the news article a goods drug based CNG and PNG supply and distribution company has received Supreme Court's nod to create distribution networks in Chennai and in the district of Thiruvallur in the state of Tamil Nadu. Earlier if you see the PNGRB that is the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board had authorized this company to develop city gas distribution infrastructure but this was challenged in Supreme Court by another company. Now the Supreme Court has said that the power to determine the reasonability of the bids for city gas distribution resided solely with the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board. So this judgment will fasten the development of the CGD infrastructure in Chennai and Thiruvallur. The article says that this is the only metro region in India where the city gas distribution infrastructure does not exist till date. So this is all that you need to know from this news article but this we come to the end of the discussion. In the context of this discussion we saw in brief about the natural gas then about the compressed natural gas and then we saw about the piped natural gas then we saw about the city gas distribution network and along with this we also saw in brief about the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board. Let us move on to the next news article. This editorial is written in the context of recent designation of India and other countries as developed countries by the United States government. In this context let us see in brief about the decision of the United States and then its impact on Indian economy which is discussed in this editorial. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this editorial is given here for your reference. Know that with effect from 10th of February 2020 the United States officially designated countries like Brazil, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam as developed countries. This latest designation by the United States is for the purposes of implementing the countervailing measures that is provided by the agreement on subsidies and countervailing measures of the World Trade Organization. This is in short called as the SCM agreement. Now according to this SCM agreement developing countries are allowed to grant higher levels of subsidies when compared to the developed countries before the countervailing duties can be imposed. See this SCM agreement regulates the actions taken by the countries in order to counter the effects of subsidies by imposing countervailing duties. These duties are imposed to minimize the impact of cheap imports. So as per this agreement there is a de minimis rule. Here de minimis means minimal things. This rule states that a price threshold. So the price threshold is 2% for developing countries as per this SCM agreement. Now we have discussed extensively about what do we mean by countervailing duties then about the SCM agreement then about the de minimis limits for the developed and the developing countries. In our 14th February analysis we request the viewers to have a look at it for a better understanding about the recent decision taken by the United States. In our today's analysis we will focus on the impact of this action taken by the US which is discussed in this editorial. The biggest impact is losing benefits as per the agreements of the organization like the special and differential treatment and then losing benefits as per the agreement on agriculture. Know that these agreements of WTO extend longer duration to any developing country in order to comply any new rules or agreements made. So the WTO gives highest lapse for subsidies for the developing countries when compared to the developed nations. In the US, India would lose the ability to use the special and differential treatment as we just saw the developing countries are allowed longer implementation periods this helps the developing countries to introduce new agreements or existing agreements in phases. See this special and differential treatment has been particularly beneficial for India in two critical areas. One is the implementation of the disciplines on agricultural subsidies and the other is opening up India's markets for both agricultural and non-agricultural products. If you look at the WTO's agreement on agriculture this classifies various agri-related domestic subsidies into three classes or we can tell into three boxes. The three boxes are green box subsidies blue box subsidies and amber box subsidies. Here the green box subsidies are related to supporting research and development then environment protection etc then the blue box subsidies include production limiting subsidies mainly for the livestock sector. And as per this agreement on agriculture there is a limit for green box and blue box subsidies. In case of amber box subsidies they are considered as production and trade distortion subsidies. For example input subsidies like subsidized electricity, fertilizers minimum support prices etc As per this agreement on agriculture for developing countries the amber box subsidies that is spending on price support measures and input subsidies taken together cannot exceed 10% of the total value of agricultural production. In contrast if you see the developed countries are allowed to spend only 5% of their value of agricultural production. So this is all about the agreement on agriculture so you can see that the developing countries have certain special treatment so you can see that the developing countries are having certain relaxations when compared to developed countries. Now because of this decision taken by the United States India may be required to comply with the rules and regulations that are applicable to developed countries however if you see as per the rules of world trade organization the member nations have to self declare as a developed country or as a developing country but not by the third party like United States or some other country. And also if you see there is no specific basis for this declaration but if you see other nations can challenge this self declaration made by any of the member nations of world trade organization that is for example if India today declares that it is a developing country for example then even US can challenge this in WTO. But if you see as of now there won't be any impact on India's ongoing subsidies to agriculture and also to protecting India's business from import competition but if you see this developed nation tag which has been given by US to India and certain other countries is definitely going to affect our policy makers because if you see generally the decision of US on any matters will have a cascading effect that is other nations may also follow the same logic states so it will put more pressure on India to self declare itself as a developed nation and we know that India is aspiring to be a vital in economy by 2024-2025 and often if you see a policy makers are publicly declaring India as a developed nation. Therefore the self contradicting statements or policies by the policy makers at the domestic and international levels needs to be reworked in order to defend India effectively at the international arena like WTO. So this is all about this editorial to summarize this editorial we saw about the SM agreement of WTO in brief then about the impact of United States decision to designate India as a developed nation and the impacts of this decision of US and what needs to be done by India further. This is all about this editorial now have a look at the practice question let us move on to the next news article. Now let us see two news articles which discuss about the impact of corona virus outbreak in China on several industries in India especially the pharmaceutical sector. We know that China sit by the deadly corona virus which is officially designated as Covid-19 virus we have been seeing many news articles on this Covid-19 in fact we saw two editorials on 15th of February which discussed about the strategies of China and the state of Kerala in tackling this Covid-19 outbreak. It is not just that this outbreak impacts only the health of humans across the world. It has in fact impacted the business across the world. The entire economy of the world is facing some sort of a demand slow down and every day you get news articles on this. Now if you look at this news article it tells that the death all in China as near 2000 it is close to 1900 now and the World Health Organization is telling that though the death toll is high it is less deadly when compared to SARS outbreak which happened in the year 2003 and it has suggested that measures should be taken in proportion to the situation across the world. Blanket measures will not help. Now if you look at this news article the demand for oil has fallen by two percentage because of this Covid-19 impact and even the sales of a mobile phone Apple has been affected because of this Covid impact in China. So you can see that the economy across the world is facing some sort of demand slow down because of this health outbreak which has happened in China. Now let us see two news articles which discuss about the impact of this virus on India-China trade especially. We know that China is one of the largest exporting countries in the world. It means so many countries and their industries are dependent on Chinese goods and services. Now since the industries and services in China is hit by this Covid-19 outbreak it is affecting the global trade and economic growth overall as we just saw. Now both these news articles discuss about the term active pharmaceutical ingredients. So in this context let us discuss in brief what is meant by active pharmaceutical ingredients and then let us see both these news articles. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of both these news articles is given here for your reference. As we just saw Indian industries that are depending on raw materials from China are facing serious impacts since the supply chain is disrupted. One of the most affected industries is the Indian pharmaceutical industry. To substantiate this news article shows an analysis that is given by the industry body called as the Indian industry. This analysis shows that China supplies 43% of India's imports of the top 20 goods. It includes electronic items like mobile handsets, then computers, then integrated circuits and other inputs and fertilizers. Now when it comes to pharmaceutical sector, China supplies active pharmaceutical ingredients worth 1.4 billion US dollars and antibiotics worth 1.1 billion US dollars. And if you see as per some sources around 60 to 80% of our requirement of active pharmaceutical ingredients is now made by China. This shows the dependence of Indian industries, especially the pharmaceutical industry on Chinese exports. So what is meant by this active pharmaceutical ingredients? See active pharmaceutical ingredient is the term used to refer to the biologically active component of a drug product. It can be a tablet or a capsule or a syrup. So usually if you see these tablets, capsules or syrups are composed of several components. If you see a tablet, you can see a list of components that are mentioned in that strip of the tablet or in the label of a syrup bottle. Here the active pharmaceutical ingredient is the primary ingredient of that particular tablet or a capsule or a syrup. And the other ingredients are commonly known as excipients. And these substances shall be biologically safe and they make up for fraction of the total drug product. So if you see the identity of a medicine is the active pharmaceutical ingredient, sometimes it is also called as bulk drug. Now let us understand this with an example. Assume that an active pharmaceutical ingredient is a solid. But the drug is required to have a liquid dosage from say we need a cough syrup. So the excipients would be the liquids that are used to formulate the syrup along with this active pharmaceutical ingredient. So this procedure of combining the mixture of components used in the drug is known as formulation. So the products which we actually refer to as medicines may be the tablets or the capsules or the syrups are actually formulations but not active pharmaceutical ingredients. So know this difference. Sometimes if you see some drugs like certain combination therapies have multiple active ingredients in order to treat different symptoms or act in different ways. So just have an idea. Now we have understood that active pharmaceutical ingredient is the substance which is responsible for the product being a medicine. Now when this bulk drug is absent the product is no longer a medicine and when it is changed it is a new medicine. So this is all that you need to know about this active pharmaceutical ingredient. Now let us come back to the news article. According to this news article the union finance minister has said that there is no need to be afraid of any rise in prices of medicines as there are no reports of immediate shortages. As per the news article most sectors including pharmaceutical sector have 3 to 4 weeks of raw materials available with them. So now the concern is actually about the long term impacts because if you see even if the government conducts measures like air lifting the active pharmaceutical ingredients to India then it is bound to increase the prices of the medicines. So the industry representatives have requested for reduction in the customs duties if such a situation arises. So what can be the long term solution? It is quite simple. We just saw we are majorly dependent on imports especially from China for the active pharmaceutical ingredients. Not just for the pharmaceutical industry but also in industries such as chemicals, fertilizers and even solar energy. So the expectation is that this COVID-19 outbreak should be taken as an opportunity to invest more in the startups in all these sectors. So the government must make a favorable environment for these sectors under its Make in India campaign and this will in the long term reduce our dependence on other countries for raw materials. In the long term it will make India's economy and domestic production more resilient to global changes. Now in this context you need to know about the Katoch committee see the Katoch committee was formed to study and identify the active pharmaceutical ingredients of critical importance and to work out a package of interventions like augmenting various infrastructure related to pharma and then giving financial and other policy level concessions that are required to build the domestic production capabilities and also it ask the committee to examine the cost implications of active pharmaceutical ingredients and this Katoch committee submitted its recommendations in the year 2015. These are the major recommendations that have been submitted by the Katoch committee for example like establishing mega parks for the active pharmaceutical ingredients with common facilities that are mentioned here then extending financial assistance to the states in order to acquire land and for setting certain common facilities then it also gave recommendations for reviving the public sector units for starting the manufacturing of selected and very essential critical drugs like penicillins, paracetamol and then it also recommended to extend the fiscal benefits for creating community cluster infrastructure and even for creating individual unit infrastructure and then it recommended for extending the fiscal and financial benefits to promote the bulk drug sector then it recommended for a stronger industry academia interaction then it called for incentivizing the scientists in order to promote the research effects and it also recommended for duty exemptions so these are some of the major recommendations given by the Katoch committee in order to reduce the dependence on imports of active pharmaceutical ingredients but if you see as of now little progress has been made towards the implementation of the recommendations of Katoch committee so this is all that you need to know from this news article now if you look at this news article the pharmaceutical industry leaders have stressed the same concept that India should take it as a chance to scale up the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients in India and they have sought the support of the government in this matter so this is all about the discussion of active pharmaceutical ingredients to summarize we saw what do we mean by active pharmaceutical ingredient what do we mean by formulation and then we saw about the recommendations of the Katoch committee in order to reduce the dependence on active pharmaceutical ingredients in India simultaneously we also saw certain other news articles which appeared in today's newspaper related to the COVID-19 outbreak now have a look at the practice question let us move on to the next news article this news article is with respect to BOROS and Kharbis in the state of Assam know that BOROS are pronounced as BOROS and in official documents they are mentioned as BOROS in this analysis we will see about who are eligible for the benefits and schedule tribes in the state of Assam and then we will discuss the news article the syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference first let us see who can claim the benefits and protection as schedule tribes in the state of Assam in Assam the list of schedule tribes is based on two areas one area is the area of hill districts and the other is the area other than the hill districts those tribal population who inhabit the hill districts are called as hill tribes and those who are living in other than the hill districts are called as plain tribes see there are two hill districts in the state of Assam one is the Kharbi-Anglang district and the other is the North Kachar Hills which is also called as the Mahasau district see a set of tribal communities are listed as schedule tribes for hill districts and set of tribes are listed as schedule tribes in Assam including the BOROLAN territorial areas district but excluding hill districts in the news article it states that there are 14 recognized plain tribe communities and 15 hill tribe communities for example you can find that BOROLAN are listed as schedule tribes in regions other than hill districts this means that persons belonging to BOROLAN community living in region other than hill districts only can claim benefits and protection for schedule tribes and those persons belonging to BOROLAN community who live in hill districts cannot claim the welfare measures and benefits of the schedule tribes for better understanding of the analysis article note that Kharbi tribal community is listed as schedule tribe in the region of hill districts so this is the difference as of now in getting benefits by getting listed in the list of schedule tribes see on 28th January 2020 in our Hindu news analysis we saw that an agreement has been signed to resolve some of the demands of persons belonging to BOROLAN community in Assam this agreement was signed between the central government the state government of Assam and various organizations of BOROLAN community in this analysis we saw about BOROLAN then we saw the background of various issues with respect to the BOROLAN community since 1960s and 1970s and then we also saw the objectives of the recent agreement that was signed one of the very important provisions under this recent agreement as raised concerns among some of the tribal populations who are living in hill districts that is the agreement reportedly mentioned that BOROLAN community will be included in the list of schedule tribes for the hill districts as well that is why the title of this news article is Carbis against schedule tribe status for hill BOROLAN we saw that Carbis are protected as schedule tribes in the hill districts and the population of Carby tribal community feel that if BOROLAN living in hill districts are notified as schedule tribes in hill districts then it will affect the social identity, cultural identity and the political identity of the Carby population in the hill districts of Deema, Hussoff. So this has been the reaction of the members of the Carby Longree and North Kachar Hills Liberation Front. The news article states that this group has signed a ceasefire agreement for the central government in the year 2009. So this is the essence of this news article now if you look at this news article it speaks about redrawing the BOROLAN territorial area districts if you see this was also important provision of the BOROLAN agreement which was signed recently in this agreement it stated that the boundaries of BOROLAN territorial area districts will be redrawn and it will be renamed as BOROLAN territorial region and after redrawing the boundaries the villages dominated by BOROLS are to be included in this BOROLAN territorial region so this is another important provision which has been discussed in this news article so these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this news article from this analysis we saw how the tribal communities are listed as scheduled tribes in the state of USM and then we also saw how few provisions of the January agreement have become bone of contention for raising concerns by the tribal communities in the hill districts now have a look at the practice question let us move on to the next news article this news article is about the recent decision by the central government to rename the institute for defense studies and analysis as the Manohar Parikar Institute for defense studies and analysis this comes in line after the announcements made by the government on renaming an institute on financial management after Arun Jaitley the ex finance minister and two foreign affairs related institute after Mrs. Sushma Swaraj the ex foreign affairs minister of India know that Manohar Parikar was the ex defense minister of India who served in the first term of this national democratic alliance so this institute for defense studies and analysis is now named after him as Manohar Parikar Institute for defense studies and analysis know that the institute is an autonomous organization which is funded by the ministry of defense it was established in the year 1965 as a registered society its mission is to provide objective assessments of issues relating to national and international security so it conducts objective research and policy relevant studies on all aspects of defense and security see it publishes four journals they are strategic analysis journal of defense studies then CW magazine and Africa trends you see this institute also publishes briefs and papers on significant national and international events they provide the background as well as analysis and recommendations of these significant national and international events these include policy briefs then issue briefs and special features like occasional papers and sometimes you even get questions in your main exam based on some of the publications by the institute for defense studies and analysis for those who wish to get few facts about international relations and about India's defense they can make use of the resources available in the website of this institute which is idsa.in and it will be even useful for those aspirants who have political science and international relations as their optional subject they can get data from this website this is all that you need to know from this news article now let us move on to the next news article now let us see two news articles which have a common link nothing but the link of birds one news article is about a bird called as strawberry finch this bird is also called as red avada vet or red munia this bird has been spotted recently in the arculum lake in the city of trivandrum and next you can see this picture in the front page of chennai edition this is a picture of flamingo bird to be specific the greater flamingo in this picture you can see that it is mentioned that the flamingos flying from the run of kachan gujarat every year in december and they leave by the end of march know that flamingos are found in the kach desert wildlife sanctuary located in gujarat and the world famous flamingo cities located here in the mud flats of the run so these flamingos flying from this run of kach from gujarat every year in december and they leave by the end of march now this table is about the protection status of both these birds that are mentioned in today's editions you can see the protection status as per the iocn red list of threatened species then as per the wildlife protection act of 1972 in which schedule they are and they are mentioned in the appendices of sites and cms sites being the convention on international trade in endangered species and cms being the convention on migratory species so just try to have an idea about the protection status now let us move on to the final article of the day which is an editorial title birds head this editorial speaks about the state of India's birds 2020 report if you remember yesterday we have discussed this in detail so this editorial basically gives a summary of yesterday's discussion this editorial points that this state of India's birds 2020 report is a rare synthesis of scientific understanding and citizen led initiatives because we saw that this report has been prepared as per the observations made by over 15,000 bird watches that have been recorded in a portal called ebird so this editorial is basically a summary of yesterday's analysis we request our viewers to have a look at yesterday's analysis on the state of India's birds 2020 report if you see this editorial appreciates the fact that citizen science is being used as a good data and it tells that such citizen science initiatives should serve as a foundation for the collaborative work this is all that you need to know from this editorial with this we come to the end of the analysis session now let us move on to the practice questions discussion session look at this question two statements are given and you need to choose the correct statements statement one tells that tribal communities notified as particularly vulnerable tribal groups reside in all northeastern states and statement two tells that Khartby's boroughs are listed as PVTG's in the state of Assam now the first statement is wrong because the particularly vulnerable tribal groups reside only in the states of Manipur and Tripura from the state of Manipur the tribe of Maram Nagas have been listed under this PVTG category and the Riyan tribe from the state of Tripura also come under this PVTG category from the other northeastern states we do not have any tribes under this PVTG category so the second statement also goes wrong now we need to choose the correct statements since both the statements are wrong the correct answer is option D neither one nor two if you see there was question on particularly vulnerable tribal groups in 2019 problems as you can see here so always try to know whenever you are studying about tribes if that particular tribe is a particularly vulnerable tribal group or not now let's move on to the next question which is about active pharmaceutical ingredients out of these four options you need to choose the correct option look at the first option it tells that active pharmaceutical ingredient is the inactive ingredient of a drug which is also known as bulk drug and the second option tells that the procedure involved in the formation of API that is the active pharmaceutical ingredient is called as formulation and the third option tells that when we refer a product as medicine we are actually referring to the API and option D tells that when API is absent the drug no longer has therapeutic values know that in the name itself you have active pharmaceutical ingredients so this makes the first option wrong because active pharmaceutical ingredients is the active ingredient of any drug and sometimes these APIs are also called as bulk drug see the drug can be a tablet or a capsule or a syrup now consider an example of syrup you have the bulk drug which is the active pharmaceutical ingredient now you also have some of the components in the drug which are called components which are used in low fractions they all combine together and they form a mixture of components so this procedure of mixing all the components that are used in a drug is called as formulation so it is not the procedure involved in the formation of API which is called as formulation so the second option also goes wrong now look at the third option it tells that when we refer a product as medicine we are actually referring to the API it is wrong because when we refer any product as medicine we are referring to the API that is the active pharmaceutical ingredient so the first three options are wrong this makes option D the correct option so whenever an active pharmaceutical ingredient is absent in a drug that particular drug will no longer have a therapeutic value it is no longer a medicine and whenever any active pharmaceutical ingredient is changed it becomes a new medicine so the correct answer to this question is option D now let us look at the main questions look at this question the question is mainstreaming innovation and health system is a key to cater to meet the demands of health service discuss suggest measures to address the constraints in mainstreaming innovation and health care in India you need to answer this question in 250 words it is a 15 marks question now look at this main question the question is United States officially designated India as a developed nation for the purposes of implementing the countervailing measures provided by the agreement on subsidies and countervailing measures of the world trade organization India as a developed country in the light of the above statement you need to answer this question in 150 words it is a 10 marks question please post your answers for both these questions in the common section we shall review your answers and give suitable suggestions and feedback within a reasonable time frame with this we come to the end of the analysis of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion and also the practice questions discussion session if you like the video press the like button comment and share 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