Daily Current Affairs for 10th September 2022

Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan

GS Paper 2: Government policies and intervention

Important for

Prelims exam: Provision of Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan

Mains exam: Burden of TB on India and effort to mitigate it

Why in news

The President of India launched the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan on September 9.

Burden of TB on India

• India has the world’s highest tuberculosis (TB) burden, with an estimated 26 lakh people contracting the disease and approximately 4 lakh people dying from the disease every year.
• The economic burden of TB in terms of loss of lives, income and workdays is also substantial.
• TB usually affects the most economically productive age group of society resulting in a significant loss of working days and pushing TB patients further into the vortex of poverty.

Need of this Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan

• The community and the institutions in the society can play a critical role in filling gaps and addressing social determinants, thereby contributing to the national goal of elimination of TB.
• For effective engagement of the community in the path towards ending TB in India, MoHFW(Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) is implementing the “Community Support To TB Patients – Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan.

Objective of the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan

• Provide additional patient support to improve treatment outcomes of TB patients
• Augment community involvement in meeting India’s commitment to end TB by 2025
• Leverage Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities

Stakeholders For The Initiative:

• TB Patient
• Community
• Ni-kshay Mitra – Co-operative / Corporate / Elected Representative / Individual / Institution /NGO / Political Party / Partner
• State & District Administration
• Central TB Division, MoHFW, GoI

Scope of The Initiative:

• The Ni-kshay Mitra shall provide additional support to all the on-treatment TB patients who have given consent for support, in the selected health facilities /blocks/urban wards/districts/states.
• Only individual Ni-kshay Mitra can choose patients from a given health facility. The other Ni-kshay Mitras have to choose the entire geographical unit (blocks/urban wards/districts/states).
• The type of additional assistance that may be provided by the Ni-kshay Mitra to on-treatment TB patients who have given consent for support shall include the following:
  • Nutritional support
  • Additional investigations for the diagnosed TB patients
  • Vocational support
  • Additional nutritional supplements
• The minimum period of commitment for providing additional support to the TB patient shall be one year.

Indo-Pacific Economic Framework(IPEF)

GS Paper 2 & 3: Liberalization, Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests

Important for

Prelims exam: IPEF, FTA

Mains exam: Indo- Pacific and its significance

Why in news

The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry attended the first in-person Ministerial meeting of the India-Pacific Economic Forum (IPEF) in Los Angeles.

Recent development

• The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry attended the first in-person Ministerial meeting of the India-Pacific Economic Forum (IPEF) in Los Angeles.
• India has chosen to opt out from joining the trade pillar of Indo-Pacific Economic Framework’s (IPEF) for its legitimate concerns regarding the possibility of binding conditionalities linking the same to issues like environment and labour.
• India has chosen to opt out from joining the trade pillar of Indo-Pacific Economic Framework’s (IPEF).
  • 
    Concern raised:
• digital trade with data laws being formed up;
• linking environment and labour to trade and possible binding commitments of any nature vis-a-vis the benefits that India will receive as a developing economy.
• India has joined the ministerial declarations on three pillars related to supply chains, tax and anti corruption and clean energy.

What is IPEF

• The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) was launched by the President of the United States in Tokyo on May 23, 2022.
• The 14-members of IPEF include Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.
• The IPEF has four pillars:
• Trade:
  • It seeks to build high-standard, inclusive, free, and fair trade commitments
  • It will develop new and creative approaches in trade and technology policy that advance a broad set of objectives that fuels economic activity and investment, promotes sustainable and inclusive economic growth, and benefits workers and consumers.
  • Efforts also include cooperation in the digital economy.
• Supply chains:
  • The group is committed to improving transparency, diversity, security, and sustainability in our supply chains to make them more resilient and well-integrated.
  • It seeks to coordinate crisis response measures; expand cooperation to better prepare for and mitigate the effects of disruptions to better ensure business continuity.
  • It will improve logistical efficiency and support; and ensure access to key raw and processed materials, semiconductors, critical minerals, and clean energy technology.
• Clean energy, decarbonisation and infrastructure:
  • In line with the Paris Agreement goals and efforts to support the livelihood of peoples and workers, the plan is to accelerate the development and deployment of clean energy technologies to decarbonize economies and build resilience to climate impacts.
  • This involves deepening cooperation on technologies, on mobilizing finance, including concessional finance, and on seeking ways to improve competitiveness and enhance connectivity by supporting the development of sustainable and durable infrastructure and by providing technical assistance.
• Tax and anti-corruption:
  • Group is committed to promoting fair competition by enacting and enforcing effective and robust tax, anti-money laundering, and anti-bribery regimes in line with existing multilateral obligations, standards, and agreements to curb tax evasion and corruption in the Indo-Pacific region.
  • This involves sharing expertise and seeking ways to support capacity building necessary to advance accountable and transparent systems.

What India can gain from IPEF

• India joined the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework to make Indo-pacific an open, inclusive, interconnected and secure for sustainable growth of the region.
• It is also seen as a message to an aggressively expanding China that has been accused of unfair trade practices and economic coercion.
• India could explore and be transformed by the economic potential associated with the digital economy.
  • In early 2021, India signed an agreement with Japan and Australia for supply chain resilience. With the IPEF, this move will be further strengthened.
• India also has an ambitious target for “green economy” as reiterated at Paris in December 2015 and recently at COP-26 in Glasgow last year. Joining IPEF further strengthens this process.
• The emphasis in IPEF is on preparing for the economic crisis, strengthens Indian crisis management skills and this is expected to cushion the Indian economy.
• For a long time, India was denied access to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation grouping, which projected China. However, with China posing existential challenges to many countries, IPEF is seen as a robust and resilient alternative.

Competitiveness Roadmap for India@100

GS Paper 3: Mobilization of resources, Growth, Development and Employment

Important for

Mains exam: India’s growth roadmap

Why in news

The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister and the Institute of Competitiveness have released the Competitiveness Roadmap for India@100. It sets out the guidelines for India to become a $20 trillion economy in 25 years.

Why is India behind

Report pointed out a number of reason behind this, which includes:

• Millions of Indians enter the job market every year. However, job opportunities are largely available in the informal sector, which lack the scope to build human capital and enhance performance over time.
• A lower female labour force participation rate is also a drag on economic performance.
• Inequitable regional growth.
• Low investment levels in research and development, especially from corporates.
• A large unskilled labour force.
• Lack of a robust education system.

These are hurdles to achieving higher levels of competitiveness in India.

Key measure proposed in the roadmap

The report lays down a roadmap for India’s growth journey and sets new guiding principles. Which includes:

• It provides guidelines to states, ministries, and other stakeholders who are critical in the country’s growth story for setting sector-specific roadmaps for achieving targeted goals.
• It is based on the concept of productivity being the key driver of continued prosperity of nations — higher productivity levels will not only help firms produce more but will also enable individuals to partake in the value generated through their higher productivity.
• India needs to focus on creating competitive jobs for those outside the active labour market. Jobs that provide pathways to higher productivity enable individuals to earn their livelihoods and become self-reliant.
• Focus must be on policy implementation and sectoral growth.
  • Individual sectors in the Indian economy can contribute to job creation and growth aligned with the realities of the global economy.
• India should focus on creating competitive jobs as competitive jobs earn their wages in the marketplace, support employees’ livelihood, and provide opportunities for developing capabilities and productivity over time.
• For better female labour force participation, India needs to provide women with digital literacy, a flexible corporate ecosystem for women to manage unpaid care work and paid labour, societal and cultural changes and strong promotion of rural entrepreneurship.
• ‘4S’ guiding principles:The roadmap stresses on ‘4S’ guiding principles’- Social Progress, Shared, Sustainable, Solid.
  • This stresses the need for prosperity growth to be matched by ‘social progress’, to be ‘shared’ across all regions, to be environmentally ‘sustainable’, and to be ‘solid’ in the face of external shocks.

US Chips Act and Possible benefits for India

GS Paper 3: Effects of Liberalization on the economy, Changes in industrial policy

Important for

Mains exam: How India can benefit from change of industrial policy at international level

Why in news

The US Chips Act bars American companies in China from building ‘advanced tech’ factories.

How India can take benefit

• The ban on American chipmakers building advanced technology facilities in China if they have received federal funding under the CHIPS Act(Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors Act) could benefit countries such as India over the years.
• While the scheme aims to strengthen the US manufacturing base, experts believe that the $50 billion plus incentives from the US government may be utilised in the short term by the firms and then they will look to expand globally, and India would be a good choice.
  • By then, markets like India, too, will have evolved to a stage where these global firms will see benefit in setting up advanced semiconductor manufacturing in India

How India is preparing for chip manufacturing

• Tata group and Vedanta have expressed interest in setting up chip operations In India
• Government has also received interest from some global firms.
  • Executives of American chip companies such as LAM Research and Applied Materials are exploring greater collaboration with Indian companies.
  • Applied Materials is planning to invest $50 million in a new research and development (R&D) facility in India,
  • LAM Research is also planning to set up its second R&D facility in India.
• India has already introduced a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to attract global clients.

Challenges

• Semiconductor supply chain vendors in India do not have the necessary quality to match the global standards required for making the latest generation chips.
• Unavailability of affordable skilled labour and the overall scale of manufacturing could be a factor that semiconductor firms struggle to meet in the immediate future
• India currently does not have an ecosystem in place for advanced semiconductor manufacturing.
• It is also unlikely that any company will ever put all their eggs in one basket again, so India will likely not be the sole beneficiary of the US‘ new law.

So to attract large chunk of this shift India needs to prepare itself better

PCOS

GS Paper 3: Diseases

Important for

Prelims exam: PCOS

Mains exam: Special care for women’s health

Why in news

The month of September is recognized as International PCOS Awareness Month.

What is PCOS

• Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common hormonal disorder in women that is also the leading cause of female infertility.
• PCOS is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors.
• PCOS is characterised by three common characteristics:
  • irregular or absent periods,
  • excess androgens (elevated testosterone and androstenedione levels), and
  • multiple cystic areas on the ovaries.

How it forms

• In a healthy woman, an egg is released from her ovaries around the 15th day of her period, but this does not occur in a woman with PCOS.
• The egg becomes trapped in the ovary and fluid collects around it forming a blister-like structure called a cyst. Over time, many such cysts form, leading to PCOS.

Symptoms of PCOS

• Symptoms may include
  • infertility,
  • heavy periods and spotting between periods,
  • Pelvic pain during or between periods,
  • mood changes, weight gain, fatigue or low energy levels,
  • hair loss or male pattern baldness on the head,
  • acne, insomnia or poor sleep etc.
• Due to the wide variety of symptoms, most women are never officially diagnosed until they begin trying to conceive.

Causes of PCOS

• One of the biggest contributors to PCOS is obesity and the lifestyle prevalent in modern society.
• Stress and lifestyle habits are thought to be the main causes of PCOS, and stress throws the entire body into a state of disarray.
• In modern times junk food consumption is common, exercise is minimal, and stress levels are high. Even regular sleep deprivation contributes to the development of PCOS in women.
• Smoking, alcohol consumption, chronic stress and an unhealthy diet also play a significant role.

Prevalence of PCOS in India and other parts of the World

• The exact prevalence of PCOS is not known as the syndrome is not defined precisely.
• Prevalence of PCOS is highly variable ranging from 2.2% to 26% globally.
• In few Asian countries prevalence figures are ranging from 2% to 7.5% in China and 6.3% in Srilanka.
• There are few studies conducted in India.
  • Studies done in South India and Maharashtra, prevalence of PCOS were reported as 9.13% and 22.5% respectively.

Is it genetic?

PCOS sometimes runs in families. If any relatives, such as mother, sister or aunt, have PCOS, the risk of developing it is often increased. This suggests there may be a genetic link to PCOS, although specific genes associated with the condition have not yet been identified.

Treatment

• It is possible to cure the condition but it requires a level of awareness and honest communication with the doctor.
• The easiest way to balance the hormones and other problems arising out of it is by adopting healthy lifestyle choices.
  • Consuming a diet rich in proteins and cutting down on sugars and carbohydrates will also help.
  • A sound sleep will also help to recover faster.
• The foremost choice should be to accommodate yoga in the everyday routine.