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Imported Indian drugs are at the centre of a medical storm in Sri Lanka following cases of complications and fatalities, reportedly after patients were administered medicines sourced from India.
On Friday, local media reported the death of a patient undergoing treatment at the Peradeniya Teaching Hospital, in Kandy district, after being given the Indian-manufactured anaesthetic Bupivacaine.
The news sparked concern among local people, especially since the incident came less than two months after a pregnant woman was reported dead at the hospital, after being given an Indian anaesthetic drug.
Even before these incidents, Transparency International Sri Lanka had filed a fundamental rights petition in the Sri Lankan Supreme Court, challenging the decision of the Cabinet and health authorities to procure drugs from unregistered suppliers.
The petition further questioned the national drug regulator’s role in providing a waiver of registration to allow for the swift import of essential drugs. Gujarat-based Savorite Pharmaceuticals (Pvt) Ltd. and Chennai-based Kausikh Therapeutics were named as respondents.
States
Kerala CM pushes for investment in start-ups (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
Kerala Chief -Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday made a strong pitch for investments in the State’s burgeoning start-up ecosystem at a function organised in the United Arab Emirates.
Formally launching the first Infinity Centre of the Kerala Start-up Mission (KSUM) in Dubai, Mr. Vijayan positioned Kerala as among the fastest growing start-up hubs in the country.
Elaborating on the government’s plans to attain a sustainable start-up ecosystem, Mr. Vijayan stressed on the possibility of bridge funding in the sector.
He added that there was immense possibility for start-ups in various avenues including software design, information technology, agriculture and arts.
The Chief Minister added that the start-up revolution unfolding in Kerala had made its start-up ecosystem the best in Asia in terms of affordable talent, according to the Global Start-up Ecosystem Report.
The assessment had also ranked the State fourth globally. In a sign of their growing global appeal, start-ups in Kerala have received investments to the tune of ₹4,500 crore from across the globe.
Mr. Vijayan said the start-ups in the State were bound to generate 20,000 jobs in the current financial year with the opening of the first-ever Infinity Centre in Dubai.
Editorial
What Indians should be saying to the U.S. on June 21 (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
When this April India surpassed China as the world’s most populous nation, commentators were quick to declare this the “Indian Century”, a plaudit primarily reflecting the so-called “demographic dividend”.
By 2030, the ratio of India’s working-age population to its total population will reach 70%, the highest of any large economy in the world.
This is a workforce of extraordinary magnitude — fully one quarter of the globe’s — and a consumer class of equally extraordinary potential.
There have been other Indian centuries, however — prior to the colonial depredations suffered before regaining independence in 1947.
For a millennium before the arrival of the British, India, along with China, was a powerhouse; by the 1600s it is estimated to have possessed up to a quarter of the world’s production capacity.
The imperial capital in Delhi was the destination of ambassadors, from the court of King James I to that of the Ayutthaya emperor of today’s Thailand; of poets and painters and musicians from across central and west Asia, and of craftsmen from as far afield as Italy, who brought with them the pietra dura artistry that adorns the Taj Mahal.
The invention of zero, making possible algebra and calculus and eventually the computer; the perfection of linguistics, matched by the West only in the 20th century; a language landscape vastly unlike Rome’s or China’s, which saw writers in dozens of languages producing works of transcendent beauty; weavers who clothed the world as far as Africa and beyond; metallurgists who made corrosion-resistant iron 2,000 years ago.
And farmers who sent new cereals and cumin, cardamom, and other cultivars into the world — who also demonstrated how to live in harmony with animals hunted to extinction everywhere else.
Colonialism eroded most of the traditions that made India great, but after four decades of the most creative mobilisation for freedom in history, the country began in 1947 to reclaim its patrimony.
Although the democratic constitution of independent India may have been written by an Indian who had studied at Columbia University, B.R. Ambedkar, the republican practices and federalism inherent in it have much deeper roots in the country; and while independent India’s self-description, “unity in diversity,” may have become a mere slogan today, it was exemplified throughout the long historical record of India’s pluralism.
Responsibility and the complexities of climate leadership (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Over the last few weeks, there has been an increasingly vocal campaign to unseat the President-Designate of COP28, Minister Sultan Al Jaber of the host nation, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
This includes a recent letter from United States and European parliamentarians calling for his removal on the grounds that he is CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.
As representatives of developing countries in the climate change front line, i.e., Bangladesh and the Maldives, and as leaders of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, a group of 58 of the world’s most climate vulnerable countries hosting 1.5 billion of the world’s poorest people, we know only too well the urgency of the climate challenge. We have endured climate-related economic losses of $500 billion in the last two decades alone.
However, we also recognise that this journey, towards a clean energy future, is one we must embark on together. Fossil fuel-dependent economies are critical to these efforts, and they clearly have a more difficult task defining their energy transition strategy.
It is important to avoid division and we must continue to engage our fellow parties at COP28 and elsewhere on the best way forward for their economies and for the planet.
Sultan Al-Jaber has led Masdar, the renewable energy company which has made huge investments in solar and wind projects.
The UAE’s Barakah nuclear power plant, which was recently opened, generates 6 gigawatts (5.6 or 5.8?) of clean power. Masdar and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) recently signed an agreement aiming to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030.
Finance will be crucial for COP28. Our programme of Climate Prosperity Plans, including the Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan adopted in Bangladesh, seeks to generate inward investment of tens of trillions of dollars in building clean energy infrastructure. This climate prosperity agenda recognises that economic growth for the poorest countries is non-negotiable, and that our prospects should not be curtailed so that the rich countries can keep on polluting.
Opinion
Emerging challenges to the Dravidian model (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
The introduction in Tamil Nadu of a Bill raising the number of working hours from eight to 12 hours a day, and its withdrawal amid protests, has reopened the discussion around the strategies for industrialisation that do not undermine workers’ rights.
The core ideal of the Dravidian model is the pursuit of inclusive industrialisation that addresses both economic deprivations that arise through the market and social deprivation that emerges from caste inequality.
The model is about sharing prosperity through productivity. In that sense, the introduction of the Bill raising working hours was a deviation from its core ideal.
Even as the Bill stands withdrawn, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government claims that the amendment would have attracted more investments to the State and created employment. This understanding is deeply flawed.
Tamil Nadu is one of the few States to have achieved structural change and poverty reduction simultaneously in India. A key indicator of this is the lower share of agriculture in total employment in the State as against the all-India average.
However, this trend is reversing now. The share of agricultural employment increased from 27% in 2018-19 to 30% in 2020-21. Even in absolute terms, it increased from 8.5 million to 10.5 million.
The entry of 2 million people into agriculture is driven by distress. The share of manufacturing declined from 20% to 16.8%. The decline is sharper in absolute terms, from 6.5 million in 2011-12 to 5.8 million in 2020-21.
Of course, the period discussed here precedes the present DMK government assuming power. Yet, we do not see the course correction followed since then to be promising either.
For instance, a recent government release says that State investments worth ₹2,73,448 crore were secured in two years by signing 224 memorandums of understanding.
While we are not sure how much of the investment was actually realised, what is interesting is the claim of the creation of 4,10,561 jobs which work out to be 0.01 per unit of promised capital (less than one job per crore of investment), much lower than earlier.
Explainer
China’s ‘developmental’ security approach (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Late in May this year, the Cyberspace Administration of China announced that the U.S. chip giant Micron, which had been under investigation by the Cybersecurity Review Office, failed to obtain a security clearance, and that its products posed a threat to national security.
Consequently, business operators tied to critical information infrastructure were advised not to procure Micron products. This is the latest incident in a series of crackdowns by the Chinese government against American consultancies and domestic firms dealing with overseas clients.
Two weeks before the Micron announcement, the Chinese authorities had raided the offices of Capvision, a Shanghai-based consultancy firm that connects lakhs of China-based experts with backgrounds in defence, military, finance, high tech, trade, energy, and medicine among others, to mostly overseas clients.
Capvision was charged by Chinese security authorities with using economic inducements to steal state secrets and facilitating the transfer of sensitive information sourced from its experts, to its foreign clients. In the process, the company was found guilty of violating several laws relating to national security.
Before that, in April this year, the offices of American consultancy firm Bain and Co. were raided and its employees in China questioned.
While no employee was detained, the authorities seized computers and phones from its offices. In March too, Chinese authorities raided another American firm called Mintz, and detained some of its employees, forcing the firm to shut its two offices in Beijing.
Meanwhile, the Chinese government has been stalling several mergers and acquisition applications involving foreign entities, which has, in turn, led to mounting operational costs for foreign businesses.
Text & Context
Telegram bots: their functioning and possible security threats (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
On June 12, reports came out which alleged that a Telegram bot had access to and was presenting the identification numbers of the documents submitted for vaccination purposes which includes Aadhaar, PAN card, and even passport numbers of individuals.
In a similar incident, in 2021, a bot on the platform was found selling phone numbers pulled from Facebook. Security researchers reportedly found a network of deep fake bots on the platform that were generating non-consensual images of people submitted by users, some of which involved children.
Vox described Telegram as “ISIS’s app of choice”, saying the real use of the platform was the use of channels to distribute materials to large groups.
While the platform has acted to remove public channels affiliated with terrorism, its backers have reiterated that they have no business snooping on private conversations.
Telegram is an open-source API messaging platform service launched in 2013. The platform allows developers to create their own apps and use the free-to-use API to develop specialised tools, like bots, to integrate services.
The platform currently has over 700 million monthly active users and is one of the 10 most downloaded apps in the world, and is known for supporting file shares of up to 2GB, stored on the cloud that can be accessed from different devices.
Supported financially by Pavel Durov and his brother Nikolai on the technological front, Telegram makes money through its sponsored messages and premium subscriptions.
The platform protects private conversations from snooping third parties including officials, marketers, and advertisers, the platform’s website says.
The platform does not process any requests related to group chats and private conversations among participants. They only entertain requests related to sticker sets, channels, and bots as they are publicly available.
News
Gita Press, Gorakhpur, awarded Gandhi Peace Prize for 2021 (Page no. 12)
(Miscellaneous)
The Gandhi Peace Prize for 2021 will be conferred on Gita Press, Gorakhpur, one of the largest publishers of religious texts such as the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana and the Upanishads.
The decision to confer the award on Gita Press was taken by a jury headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after due deliberations in recognition of the publishing house’s “outstanding contribution towards social, economic and political transformation through non-violent and other Gandhian methods”.
While recalling the contribution of Gita Press in promoting the Gandhian ideals of peace and social harmony, Mr. Modi observed that the conferment of the award was a recognition of the work done by the institution in community service.
The annual Gandhi Peace Prize was instituted in 1995 on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The award carries an amount of ₹1 crore, a citation, a plaque and an exquisite handicraft or handloom item.
The previous awardees include organisations such as the Indian Space Research Organisation, Ramakrishna Mission, Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari and Sulabh International, New Delhi.
It has also been awarded to former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela, social worker Baba Amte, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, environmentalist Chandi Prasad Bhatt and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman of Bangladesh.
Net direct tax collection rises 11.2% to ₹3.8 lakh crore, says Finance Ministry (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Economic)
Net direct tax collections have risen 11.2% in the first two-and-a-half months of this financial year, with advance tax inflows for the first quarter of 2023-24 increasing 13.7%.
As of June 17, the gross direct tax kitty had grown 12.7% over the corresponding period last year to cross ₹4.19 lakh crore. Of the gross collections so far, advance tax accounted for ₹1,16,776 crore, while tax deducted at source was ₹2,71,849 crore. Inflows from self-assessment tax stood at ₹18,128 crore, while regular assessment yielded ₹9,977 crore.
With refunds of over ₹39,500 crore made to taxpayers, the net tax kitty since April 1 stood at almost ₹3.8 lakh crore. Notably, the tax refunds so far this fiscal are 30.1% higher than the corresponding period of 2022-23.
The net direct tax collection of ₹3,79,760 crore includes corporation tax (CIT) at ₹1,56,949 crore (net of refund) and personal income tax (PIT), including securities transaction tax (STT) at ₹2,22,196 crore (net of refund).
Within the advance tax revenues, CIT accounted for ₹92,784 crore, while PIT payers paid in ₹23,991 crore.
States look for alternatives as Centre restricts FCI purchase (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Even as the Union Food Ministry maintained that its recent decision to reduce the quantity of foodgrains a bidder can purchase under the Open Market Sale Scheme (Domestic) is to curb inflation, several States ruled by non-BJP parties have started taking steps to ensure supply of foodgrains to be distributed under the Public Distribution System but not covered under the National Food Security Act.
The Centre recently decided that the quantity that a bidder can purchase in a single bid under the OMSS(D) from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) will range from 10-100 tonnes.
Earlier, the maximum quantity allowed was 3,000 tonnes per bid for a buyer. “The quantities have been reduced this time to accommodate more small and marginal buyers and to ensure wider reach of the scheme.
This will facilitate the release of stocks sold under OMSS(D) to reach the general public immediately,” the Centre said in a press note.
The Opposition parties have questioned this. “By forcing the FCI to discontinue the sale of wheat and rice to States through its OMSS, the Modi government is hurting the most marginalised sections of society.
How petty must the PM be to take out his frustrations from his Karnataka loss on the people,” Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said. He, however, maintained that the Karnataka government will ensure ‘Anna Bhagya’ guarantee is implemented and 10 kg of free foodgrains is provided to poor families.
Tamil Nadu is trying to purchase 50,000 tonnes of rice from government agencies other than the FCI. “We get 2,74,00 tonnes of rice from the Government of India.
To manage the supplies, we were buying from OMSS at a rate of about ₹35 for a kilo of rice and then subsidising it. Now, the Union government has stopped the supply under OMSS.
We have to find an alternative. It has stopped the supply of 23,000 tonnes of wheat. We have to procure this stock from the open market.
World
Blinken arrives in Beijing as U.S. and China look to mend fractured ties (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Antony Blinken landed in Beijing in the first visit by a U.S. Secretary of State in five years, as the world’s two biggest powers attempt to manage an increasingly fractious relationship.
Mr. Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang held talks on Sunday for several hours before a working dinner. Mr. Blinken said following the talks that both sides “discussed how we can responsibly manage the relationship between our two countries through open channels of communication”.
They emphasised “the importance of diplomacy and maintaining open channels of communication across the full range of issues to reduce the risk of misperception and miscalculation.
A Chinese statement said that an agreement was reached on encouraging more exchanges, including on increasing passenger flights, and more mutual visits by students, scholars and businesspeople.
Both sides agreed to jointly implement the important common understandings reached by the two Presidents in Bali, effectively manage differences, and advance dialogue, exchanges and cooperation,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said, adding that “both sides agreed to maintain high-level interactions” and Mr. Blinken invited the Chinese Foreign Minister to the U.S.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Mr. Qin also “expounded on China’s firm position and raised clear demands on the Taiwan question and other core interests and major concerns” describing the Taiwan issue as “the most consequential issue and the most pronounced risk in the China-U.S. relationship”.
A breakthrough is not expected in any of the key issues recently straining ties, from Taiwan and trade to the South China Sea and human rights. That the visit is taking place is, in of itself, being seen by both sides as a sign of much-needed progress.