Ease of Doing Business- 2020

The World Bank recently released its Ease of Doing Business Report, 2020. The indicator measures the performance of countries across 10 different dimensions in the 12-month period ending May 1, 2019.

• According to the report, New Zealand retained its 1^st position whereas Somalia was ranked at 190^th spot.
• India was placed at 63^rd position this time (2019) out of 190 countries marking an improvement of 14 places from its 77^th position in 2018.
  
  • India’s score improved from 67.23 in the previous year to 71.0 this year.
  • India for the third consecutive year was present in the list of 10 economies where the business climate has improved the most.
• The essential features of India's performance this year are:
  
  • India’s ranking improved basically on four parameters:
    
    • Starting a Business- India made starting a business easier by fully integrating multiple application forms into a general incorporation form,
    • Dealing with Construction Permits- For example, building a warehouse cost around 4% of the warehouse value as compared to 5.7% in the previous year,
    • Trading across Borders- with a single electronic platform- improved electronic submission methods for documents and upgrades to port infrastructure, import and export process became easier, and
    • Resolving Insolvency- Recovery rate under resolving insolvency has improved significantly from 26.5% to 71.6%. Also, the time taken for resolving insolvency has also come down significantly from 4.3 years to 1.6 years.
  • India continues to maintain its first position among South Asian countries. It was 6^th (in 2014).
  • The World Bank will now include Kolkata and Bengaluru, besides Delhi and Mumbai, for preparing ease of doing business report, in order to provide a holistic picture of the business environment of the country.

Ease of Doing Business Report

• The report was introduced in 2003 to provide an assessment of objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 190 economies on ten parameters affecting a business through its life cycle.
• The report measures the performance of countries across 10 different parameters namely-
  
  • Starting a Business,
  • Dealing with Construction permits,
  • Electricity availability,
  • Property registration,
  • Credit availability,
  • Protecting minority Investors,
  • Paying Taxes,
  • Trading across borders,
  • Contracts enforcement, and
  • Resolving Insolvency.
  • This time two more parameters were considered namely, employing workers and contracting with the government but these are not included in the score and rankings.
• It ranks countries on the basis of Distance to Frontier (DTF) score that highlights the gap of an economy with respect to the global best practice. For example, a score of 75 means an economy was 25 percentage points away from the frontier constructed from the best performances across all economies and across time.

Source: TH

Guidelines for Evaluation of Nanopharmaceuticals in India

Recently, the Government of India released “Guidelines for Evaluation of Nanopharmaceuticals in India”.

• There are no internationally accepted uniform guidelines for nano-pharmaceuticals. The usual consensus for evaluation of quality, safety and efficacy of nanotechnology-based products is to have a case-to-case approach.
• It takes into account the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of the nano-material used and the product, route of administration, the indication for which the product is intended to be used and other related aspects.

Nanopharmaceuticals

• Nanopharmaceuticals is defined as a pharmaceutical preparation containing nanomaterials intended for internal use or external application on a human for the purpose of therapeutics, diagnostics and health benefits.
• Nanomaterial is defined as material having a particle size in the range of 1 to 100 nm in at least one dimension.
• Nano-formulations are not entirely new drugs but medicines that have better quality because of the technology-led delivery mechanisms that are used to make its administration in the body more effective.

Nanopharmaceuticals Guidelines

• These guidelines have been developed in line with the provisions of Schedule Y of Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 as well as Second Schedule of the New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules, 2019 with specific requirements for nanopharmaceuticals.
• The guidelines include,
  
  • The nano-size range should be declared in the product specification.
    
    • The particles should be within the claimed nano-size range in all given testing conditions.
  • The detailed methods of the manufacturing process and the impact of nanomaterial waste disposal on the environment should also be declared.
  • The added advantage and possible disadvantage of nanopharmaceuticals in comparison to conventional/traditional drug/API should be clearly stated on the products.
    
    • Though Nanocarrier based targeted drug delivery and nanoformulations have higher efficacy, lower toxicity and are safer than the conventional drugs.
    • A Nanocarrier is a nanomaterial being used as a transport module for another substance like a drug.
  • The stability testing for Nanoformulations should focus on functionality, integrity, size range of nanopharmaceuticals.
  • It will cover nanopharmaceuticals in the form of finished formulation as well as Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) of a new molecule or an already approved molecule with altered nanoscale dimensions, properties.
    
    • It also covers the phenomenon associated with the application of nanotechnology intended to be used for treatment, in vivo diagnosis, mitigation, cure or prevention of diseases and disorders in humans.

Advantages of Guidelines

• The regulatory system for Nanoformulations is expected to be strengthened as the result of released guidelines.
  
  • Indian researchers and industry would be facilitated to undertake research in nanopharmaceuticals product development and commercialization.
• The guidelines will pave the way for significant benefits through such cutting edge technology and contribute to the mission of “Affordable Health Care for All”.

Source: PIB

Kartarpur Corridor

India and Pakistan have signed an agreement to operationalise the Kartarpur corridor. The agreement is valid initially for five years.

• Either party can terminate the agreement at any time by giving notice of one month to the other party of its intention to terminate this agreement.
• Also, the pact could be suspended in case of exigency or persistent violation of its provisions.
• The Pakistan side has agreed to make sufficient provision for langar and distribution of prasad in the Gurdwara premises.
• On Indian side, all the required infrastructure, including the highway and the passenger terminal building are near completion for timely inauguration of the corridor.
  
  • The corridor is expected to be inaugurated on 9^th November 2019.
  • It would remain open throughout the year.

Kartarpur Corridor

• The Kartarpur corridor connects the Darbar Sahib Gurdwara in Narowal district of Pakistan with the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district in India’s Punjab province.
• The agreement will facilitate visa-free movement of Indian pilgrims who would just need a permit to cross over to Pakistan.
• The corridor was built to commemorate 550^th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev, founder of Sikhism on 12^th November 2019.

Guru Nanak

• Guru Nanak Dev Jayanti is observed on the full-moon day in the month of Katak to celebrate the birth of Guru Nanak Dev (1469-1539).
• He advocated the 'Nirguna' form of bhakti. He rejected sacrifices, ritual baths, image worship, austerities and the scriptures of both Hindus and Muslims.
• He set up rules for congregational worship (sangat) involving collective recitation.
• He appointed one of his disciples, Angad, to succeed him as the preceptor (guru), and this practice was followed for nearly 200 years.
• The fifth preceptor, Guru Arjan, compiled Baba Guru Nanak’s hymns along with those of his four successors and also other religious poets, like Baba Farid, Ravidas (also known as Raidas) and Kabir, in the Adi Granth Sahib.
  
  • These hymns, called 'Gurbani', are composed in many languages.
• Kartarpur gurudwara is the revered shrine about 4km across the border where Guru Nanak Dev spent the last 18 years of his life.

Source: TH

Minimum Support Price

The Government has hiked the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Rabi crops for the marketing season 2020-21, after decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), headed by the Prime Minister.

The increase in MSP for Rabi Crops is in line with the principle of fixing the MSPs at a level of at least 1.5 times of the all India weighted average cost of production [CoP], which was announced in the Union Budget 2018-19.

Minimum Support Price

• The MSP is the rate at which the government buys grains from farmers.
• Reason behind the idea of MSP is to counter price volatility of agricultural commodities due to the factors like variation in their supply, lack of market integration and information asymmetry.

Fixation of MSP

• The MSP is fixed on the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).
• Factors taken into consideration for fixing MSP include:
  
  • Demand and supply;
  • Cost of production (A2 + FL method)
  • Price trends in the market, both domestic and international;
  • Inter-crop price parity;
  • Terms of trade between agriculture and non-agriculture;
  • A minimum of 50% as the margin over cost of production; and
  • Likely implications of MSP on consumers of that product.
• The Commission also makes visits to states for on-the-spot assessment of the various constraints that farmers face in marketing their produce, or even raising the productivity levels of their crops.
• Based on all these inputs, the Commission then finalizes its recommendations/reports, which are then submitted to the government.
• The government, in turn, circulates the CACP reports to state governments and concerned Central Ministries for their comments.
• After receiving the feed-back from them, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) of the Union government takes a final decision on the level of MSPs and other recommendations made by the CACP.
• Procurement: The Food Corporation of India (FCI), the nodal central agency of the Government of India, along with other State Agencies undertakes procurement of crops.

The CACP is an attached office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, formed in 1965. It is a statutory body that submits separate reports recommending prices for Kharif and Rabi seasons.

National Commission on Farmers: Swaminathan Committee

• On 18^th November, 2004, the Union government formed the National Commission on Farmers (NCF) with MS Swaminathan as its chairman.
  
  • The main aim of the committee was to come up with a sustainable farming system, make farm commodities cost-competitive and more profitable.
• It, in 2006, recommended that MSPs must be at least 50% more than the cost of production.
• It talked about the cost of farming at three levels:
  
  • A2: All the types of cash expenditure to generate the crop like seeds, manure, chemicals, labour costs, fuel costs and irrigation costs.
  • A2+FL: It includes A2 plus an imputed value of unpaid family labour.
  • C2: Under C2, the estimated land rent and the cost of interest on the money taken for farming are added to A2 and FL.

Rabi Crops

• Rabi crops are sown in winter from October to December and harvested in summer from April to June.
• Some of the important rabi crops are wheat, barley, peas, gram and mustard.
• Though, these crops are grown in large parts of India, states from the north and northwestern parts such as Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh are important for the production of wheat and other rabi crops.

Source: TH

Odisha’s Integrated Irrigation Project for Climate Resilient Agriculture

The Government of India, Government of Odisha and the World Bank on 24^th October 2019 signed a $165 million loan agreement for the Odisha’s Integrated Irrigation Project for Climate Resilient Agriculture.

About Project

• The project aims to support small landholding farmers in order to strengthen the resilience of their production systems against adverse climatic conditions by improving access to climate resilient seed varieties and production technologies.
• For increasing the income of the farmers, the project strives to diversify towards more climate-resilient crops and improve access to better water management and irrigation services.
  
  • The project will also provide marketing support to farmers who are able to generate a marketable surplus.
• The project will be implemented in rural areas that are vulnerable to droughts and are largely dependent on rainfed agriculture.
  
  • It is expected to benefit about 125,000 smallholder farmer households from 15 districts of Odisha.
• The project also aspires to support the rehabilitation of 532 water tanks thereby:
  
  • Promoting the productivity improvements at the farm level,
  • Supporting farmers to reduce the current emphasis on food grains (especially paddy- a water guzzler crop) and increase the share of high-value and more nutritious products like fruits and vegetables, and
  • Practising aquaculture in rehabilitated tanks so as to help farmers access affordable and quality fingerlings, and disseminate improved aquaculture practices and post-harvest management.
• This project is under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) of the government so as to achieve the sustainable agriculture-related targets of the SDGs by 2030.
  
  • There are 8 national missions that form the core of the NAPCC representing the multi-pronged, long term and integrated strategies for achieving key goals in climate change.

Need for Project

• Since 2009, the frequency of droughts in Odisha has increased from 1 in 5 years to 1 in 2 years.
• About 70% of the total cultivated area is prone to droughts as compared to 40% in the 1970s.
• In Odisha, agriculture is also a major source of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and is responsible for about 25% of the GHG emissions in the state.
• Such erratic and extreme weather are responsible for declining yields and falling incomes of the farmers.

Greenhouse Gases (GHG)

• These are the gases that absorb and emit radiant energy within the thermal infrared range.
• Primary GHGs are- water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone.
• GHGs create Greenhouse Effect which is the process by which radiation from a planet's atmosphere warms the planet's surface.

Way Forward

• The project is intended to be a game-changer for the State by creating a more resilient agricultural sector, enhancing food security, increasing farmers’ incomes and reducing the GHG footprint of the sector.

Source: PIB

World Polio Day

World Polio Day was established by Rotary International on 24^th October to celebrate the birth of Jonas Salk, who developed a vaccine against poliomyelitis.

• The establishment of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in 1988 reduced polio worldwide by 99%.
• World Polio Day (2019) marked a milestone in polio eradication as the independent Global Commission for the Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication (GCC) has declared Wild Polio Virus type 3 to be globally eradicated.
  
  • It follows the eradication of smallpox and wild poliovirus type 2.

Wild Polio Virus type 3

• There are three individual and immunologically distinct wild poliovirus strains: Wild Polio Virus type 1 (WPV1), Wild Polio Virus type 2 (WPV2) and Wild Polio Virus type 3 (WPV3).
• Symptomatically, all three strains are identical, in that they cause irreversible paralysis or even death.
• But there are genetic and virological differences, which make these three strains three separate viruses that must each be eradicated individually.
• WPV2 and WPV3 have been eradicated globally but WPV1 remains in circulation in just two countries namely, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Polio

• Polio is a crippling and potentially fatal viral infectious disease.
• There is no cure, but can be prevented through immunization.
• The strategy to eradicate polio is therefore based on preventing infection by immunizing every child until transmission stops.
• There are two types of vaccines to prevent infection.
  
  • OPV (Oral Polio Vaccine): It is given orally as a birth dose for institutional deliveries, then primary three doses at 6, 10 & 14 weeks and one booster dose at 16-24 months of age.
  • Injectable Polio Vaccine (IPV): It is introduced as an additional dose along with the 3rd dose of DPT under the universal immunization programme (UIP).
• India received polio-free certification by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2014.
  
  • Eradication of a disease refers to the complete and permanent worldwide reduction to zero new cases of an infectious disease through deliberate efforts. If a disease has been eradicated, no further control measures are required. For eg- smallpox has been eradicated.
  • However, elimination of a disease refers to reduction to zero (or a very low defined target rate) of new cases of an infectious disease in a defined geographical area. Elimination requires continued measures to prevent re-establishment of disease transmission. Yaws and Leprosy have been eliminated from India.

Source: TH

Thotlakonda Buddhist Monastery

Mahastupa of the Buddhist heritage site of Thotlakonda, which was reconstructed in 2016 by the State Archaeology department, collapsed recently.

• It is 2000 years old monastic complex with remnants of stupas, chaitya grihas and viharas atop Thotlakonda Hill, Andhra Pradesh.
  
  • The Buddhist monks arriving from places like China, Burma and many other countries used to stay at this site for months before finishing their learning.

Stupas: These are Buddhist commemorative monument usually housing sacred relics associated with the Buddha or other saintly persons.

Chaityas: A Chaitya was a rectangular prayer hall within a stupa placed in the centre, the purpose was prayer.

Viharas: Viharas were the residences of the monks.

Source:TOI

2000 Years Old Trade Centre Unearthed in Andhra Pradesh

Recently, the possible presence of maritime trade centre near the banks of the Swarnamukhi river in Andhra Pradesh around 2,000 years ago has been put forward by the Archaeological Survey of India.

Key Findings

• An excavation of the site has unearthed a huge settlement surrounded by a brick enclosure.
  
  • The size of bricks can be compared to those in the Satavahana/Ikshvaku period structures in the Krishna valley.
    
    • Thus, the site may date back to the 2^nd century to 1st century BCE
• The excavation of four-armed 2-meter tall sculpture of Vishnu belonging to the Pallava period (8^th Century CE), a series of broken terracotta pipes pointing towards a form of drainage make it appears to be a trade centre.
• Additionally, the southern coastal location and more such evidence of the trade, reinforces the possibility of the existence of a trade centre at the excavated site.

Source:TH