10 September 2024, The Hindu
GoM to decide on tax on health, life covers soon
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GS 2: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation
- To soothe the growing clamour for a reduction in the 18% tax levy on the premium paid for health and life insurance policies, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council on Monday set the stage for a possible rethink by mandating a stiff 50-day deadline for a new Group of Ministers (GoM) to review the tax rate.
- The Council’s chair, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, said the matter was discussed extensively with State Ministers and a lot of questions arose, including on whether the tax rate should be reduced or the GST levy scrapped altogether, who should be exempted if at all, and how group insurance policies might be treated.
Bangladesh to seek Hasina’s extradition from India
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GS 2: India and its neighborhood- relations
- Bangladesh's war crimes tribunal is to seek the extradition of ousted leader Sheikh Hasina from neighbouring India, its chief prosecutor has said, accusing her of carrying out "massacres".
- Weeks of student-led demonstrations in Bangladesh escalated into mass protests last month, with Ms. Hasina quitting as Prime Minister and fleeing by helicopter to old ally India on August 5, ending her iron-fisted 15-year rule.
AAP asks L-G to quit over ‘deteriorating’ law and order in city
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GS 2: Issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure
- The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday demanded the resignation of Lieutenant-Governor V. K. Saxena over the “deteriorating” law and order situation in the national capital.
- AAP’s demand comes two days after a purported video of a group of men firing shots outside a club in east Delhi’s Seemapuri went viral on social media. In the video, believed to have been shot on Saturday night, the assailants can be seen aiming their firearms at a few of the club’s employees, including a woman, forcing them to kneel and firing shots in the air. A 30-year-old man has been arrested in the case and a hunt is on to nab two others, the police said.
Regulatory reform stuck in a loop in Health Ministry
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GS 2: Important aspects of governance
- Earlier this year, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), working under the direct control of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, announced policy initiatives on three issues: recall guidelines, guidelines on good distribution practices and the use of similar brand-names by pharmaceutical companies for their drugs.
- All three measures have a direct impact on public health. Recall guidelines are meant to swiftly remove drugs that fail testing in government laboratories from the market. The guidelines on good distribution practices are meant to regulate how drugs are stored and distributed during transit and sale. The measure against confusing brand names is aimed at preventing prescription errors, wherein wrong drugs are dispensed to patients causing them harm.
Next Census should be the last enumeration-based one
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GS 1: Population and its associated issues
- According to media reports, India is likely to begin conducting the long-delayed Census exercise and complete the survey within 18 months. So, realistically, the final Census report might be available sometime in late 2026 or in 2027, with a roughly 16-year gap since the last Census of 2011. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, is cited as the primary reason for the delay in the census.
- As per a United Nations report, in the interim, India surpassed China in population. There have been significant changes in the demographics too. Hauz Khas, a posh neighbourhood in southern Delhi with affluent urbanites, was partly designated as rural in 2011, for example.
Looking beyond Sanskrit
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GS 1: Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India
- India commemorated Sanskrit Day on August 19 to highlight and promote the richness and antiquity of Sanskrit. At the same time, recognising the contributions of the nation’s other languages is equally important. While Sanskrit has played a significant role in our cultural, religious, and intellectual history, focusing solely on this ancient language may overlook the rich literary traditions of other Indian tongues.
- Sanskrit, one of the oldest languages in the world, holds a prestigious place in the liturgical and scholarly traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Its vast corpus of literature, including the Vedas, Upanishads, epics such as the Mahabharata and Ramayana, and numerous classical texts on philosophy, science, and arts, cements its importance in Indian culture. Historically, Sanskrit received patronage from religious institutions, royal dynasties such as the Guptas and Cholas, and colonial-era European scholars such as William Jones and Max Müller. Post-independence, efforts to promote Sanskrit have been seen as a means to reconnect with India’s ancient heritage.
The role of district agro-met offices in supporting farmers
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GS 2: Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability
- Last week, PTI reported that the India Meteorological Department (IMD) is planning to revive District Agro-Meteorology Units (DAMUs) under the Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS) scheme. The IMD established 199 DAMUs in 2018 in collaboration with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. The aim was to use weather data to prepare and disseminate sub-district level agricultural advisories. In March, DAMUs were shut down following an order issued by the IMD.
- Around 80% of farmers in India are small and marginal. They largely practise rain-fed agriculture in the backdrop of a decades-long farm crisis that is now overlaid with climate change-related weather variability. “The climate is changing. Monsoon onset and withdrawal dates have changed. We also see extended dry spells and heavy wet spells. Farmers should have this information because it affects crops,” Madhavan Rajeevan, former secretary, Ministry of Earth Science, told The Hindu.
At BRICS summit in Russia, Doval may meet Chinese Minister Wang Yi
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GS 2: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests
- National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval will attend a three-day meeting of BRICS and BRICS Plus High-Level Security Officials beginning on Wednesday in St. Petersburg, where he will engage with Russian NSA Sergei Shoigu in their first meeting since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Ukraine, as well as China’s top diplomat Wang Yi. While the government has not confirmed his meeting with Mr. Wang yet, their presence at the conference comes on the heels of a flurry of meetings between Indian and Chinese officials focused on resolving the four-year old military stand-off at the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
- In July, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met Mr. Wang twice, in Astana on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, and in Vientiane on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and India meeting. The two sides agreed to finding an “early resolution” on the LAC situation, to “rebuild” bilateral relations, and to work with “purpose and urgency” for a “complete disengagement at the earliest”.
India, UAE ink pact for civil nuclear cooperation
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GS 2: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
- In a first, India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for civil nuclear cooperation. The deal between the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and the ENEC (Emirates Nuclear Energy Company)-led Barakah Nuclear Power Plant Operations and Maintenance took place during the Indian visit of Sheikh Khalid bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
- During the August 2015 visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the UAE, both countries had agreed to cooperate in “peaceful use of nuclear energy”, including in areas of “safety, health, agriculture, and science and technology.” Diplomatic sources pointed out that nothing like the agreement between the NPCIL and the ENEC had been signed before. The NPCIL-ENEC agreement is part of the UAE’s policy of expanding investments into the nuclear energy sector.
Two anti-submarine warfare vessels for the Indian Navy launched at Cochin Shipyard
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GS 3: Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate
- Two anti-submarine warfare shallow watercrafts vessels (ASWCWC) of the Indian Navy were launched at Cochin Shipyard here on Monday. The vessels are the fourth and fifth ships in the series of eight such watercraft.
- The vessels -- 78 metres long, 11.36 metres wide and with a draught of about 2.7 metres -- can sail at a maximum speed of 25 knots and have an endurance of 1,800 nautical miles. Once commissioned by the Indian Navy, the vessels will be called INS Malpe and INS Mulki. The ships, with a displacement about 900 tons, are designed to fit the indigenously developed sonar for underwater surveillance.
‘MSMEs face fresh headwinds on new machine-safety norms
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GS 2: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment
- India’s Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) could be in for a fresh shock in the form of cost increases and supply disruptions, thanks to new stiff safety norms prescribed by the government for most machinery and electrical equipment, including pumps, cranes and compressors, a Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) report has warned.
- The Machinery and Electrical Equipment Safety (Omnibus Technical Regulation) Order, 2024, issued by the Ministry of Heavy Industry (MHI) on August 28, introduces three levels of stringent safety standards for machinery and electrical equipment manufactured or imported into India, and will kick in a year from now.
EU says it has ‘credible information’ that Iran supplied ballistic missiles to Russia
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Prelims: Current events of national and international importance
- The European Union said on Monday (September 9, 2024) that its allies had shared "credible" intelligence that Iran had supplied Russia with ballistic missiles, a claim rejected by Tehran but not explicitly denied by the Kremlin.
- U.S. media outlets reported last week that Washington believed Iran had transferred the weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine, citing anonymous sources.
