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Current Affairs News Analysis for UPSC | 26th Nov 2020
Today's Must Read Articles :National Medicinal Plants Board
HEADLINES:
Shripad Naik chairs e-event on two decades of the National Medicinal Plants Board
WHY IN NEWS:
National Medicinal Plant Board on 24th November, 2020 celebrated its Establishment Day.
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3: Medicine
ISSUE:
NATIONAL MEDICINAL PLANTS BOARD
OVERVIEW
- India is one of the richest countries in the world in terms of biodiversity, has 15 agro-climatic zones.
- Out of the 17000-18000 species of flowering plants, more than 7000 are estimated to have medicinal usage in folk.
- They all are documented systems of medicine like Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha & Homoeopathy (AYUSH System of Medicine).
- Medicinal plants are a major resource base for the traditional medicine & herbal industry .
- About 1178 species of medicinal plants are estimated to be in trade of which 242 species have annual consumption levels in excess of 100 metric tons/year.
- The domestic demand of medicinal plants has been estimated 1,95,000 MT for the year of 2014-2015.
- The export demand of medicinal plants has been estimated 1,34,500 MT during 2014-2015.
- The major increase is in export value; from ₹ 345.80 Crore in 2005-06 to ₹ 3211 Crore in 2014-15.
ABOUT NATIONAL MEDICINAL PLANTS BOARD
- In order to promote medicinal plants sector, Government of India set up National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB) on 24th November 2000.
- The primary mandate of NMPB is to develop an appropriate mechanism for coordination between various ministries/ departments/ organization.
- Also, implementation of support policies/programs for overall (conservation, cultivation, trade and export) growth of medicinal plants sector.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE BOARD
- NMBP focusses on in-situ & ex-situ conservation and augmenting local medicinal plants and aromatic species of medical significance.
- The NMPB also promote research & development, capacity building through trainings of Home/School herbal gardens.
- Development of monographs laying down standards of quality, safety and efficacy.
- Development of agro-techniques and credible institution a mechanism for certification of quality of raw drugs, seeds and planting material.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- Overall, NMPB’s main objective is the development of medicinal plants sector through developing a strong coordination between various ministries/ departments/ organization.
SOURCES: PIB | Current Affairs News Analysis for UPSC | 26th Nov 2020
UN : Sanitation and Hygiene Fund
HEADLINES:
Treat sanitation as public good: UN at launch of hygiene fund
WHY IN NEWS:
This is from DownToEarth !
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3: Sanitation
ISSUE:
SANITATION AND HYGIENE FUND
- The United Nations launched the Sanitation and Hygiene Fund to provide accelerated funding to countries with the heaviest burden of diseases
AIM
- It also aims to raise $2 billion over the next five years for these countries.
HOSTED BY
- The fund is hosted by the UN Office for Project Services, which provides technical advice and project implementation to the UN and its partners.
OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the Fund are:
- Expanding household sanitation
- Ensuring menstrual health and hygiene
- Providing sanitation and hygiene in schools and healthcare facilities
- Supporting innovative sanitation solutions
IASbhai WINDUP:
- The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has blown the lid off poor sanitation and hygiene practices.
- The key to keeping the virus at bay is hand-washing — a facility inaccessible to three billion people across the globe.
SOURCES: DownToEarth | Current Affairs News Analysis for UPSC | 26th Nov 2020
Antimicrobial Stewardship Programmes : WHO, OIE, FAO
HEADLINES:
New antimicrobial toolkit by WHO, OIE, FAO aims to fill data gaps
WHY IN NEWS:
Three organisations jointly released a report on international policy instruments regarding the use of antimicrobials in the human, animal and plant sectors recently.
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3: Antimicrobial Resistance
ISSUE:
TRIPARTITE AMR COUNTRY SELF-ASSESSMENT SURVEY (TrACSS)
REPORT TITLE
- Antimicrobial Stewardship Programmes : Middle-Income Countries
PUBLISHED BY
- The document has been prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and World Health Organization (WHO).
AIM
- It outlines areas where there are gaps and opportunities in the current international guidance and regulations.
- It also identifies the existing frameworks for the monitoring of implementation of these instruments.
MISSING STANDARDS
- The standards related to the human use of antimicrobials are distributed over a large variety of instruments.
- Most instruments are technical guidelines adopted by the WHO Secretariat or expert committees supported by it.
- Currently, no other international environmental standards exist governing the manufacture of pesticides.
- General instruments for pesticide use were available, specific guidance on the use of antimicrobial pesticides in plants was lacking.
- The instruments related to the environment are included throughout the life cycle.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- Efficient enforcement mechanisms and the necessary technical capacity were critical for such implementation.
- This needed to be coupled with appropriate monitoring of the implementation, by using tools such as the Tripartite AMR Country Self-assessment Survey (TrACSS) and those specifically available with the FAO or OIE.
SOURCES: DownToEarth | Current Affairs News Analysis for UPSC | 26th Nov 2020
MQ9B Sea Guardian unarmed drones
HEADLINES:
MQ9B Sea Guardian
WHY IN NEWS:
Two American MQ9B Sea Guardian unarmed drones have been inducted by the Indian Navy.
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3: Defence
ISSUE:
SOURCES : THE HINDU
MQ9B SEA GUARDIAN
- It is the maritime variant of the Predator MQ9 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).
- It has a maximum endurance of 40 hours and a maximum flying altitude of 40,000 feet.
It has a 360 maritime surveillance radar and an optional multimode maritime surface search radar.
APPLICATION
- It can be used in operations such as
- Anti-Surface Warfare,
- Anti-Submarine Warfare,
- Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief,
- Search and Rescue, Law Enforcement (Drug Trafficking, Illegal Immigration and Piracy), etc.
PROCUREMENT
- The Navy has for the first time inducted two surveillance drones through a lease agreement with an American firm.
- Drones were procured under the option for leasing military platforms introduced in the Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- The drones are meant for carrying out surveillance in the Indian Ocean Region and can be deployed on the China border if asked for and if needed.
- Already the Navy’s P8I Poseidon aircraft have been deployed in Ladakh.
- As part of its force restructuring to offset budgetary constraints, the Navy is looking to induce more unmanned solutions in future.
SOURCES: THE HINDU | Current Affairs News Analysis for UPSC | 26th Nov 2020
NIIF Infrastructure Debt Financing Platform
HEADLINES:
Cabinet approves Capital infusion into NIIF Infrastructure Debt Financing Platform comprising Aseem Infrastructure Finance Limited and NIIF Infrastructure Finance Limited
WHY IN NEWS:
The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval to the proposal for equity infusion by Government of Rs 6000 crores
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 2 : Devolution of Finances
ISSUE:
NATIONAL INVESTMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE FUND (NIIF)
NIIF comprising of Aseem Infrastructure Finance Limited (AIFL) and NIIF Infrastructure Finance Limited (NIIF-IFL), subject to the following conditions:
- That only Rs.2,000 crore would be allocated during the current year 2020-21.
- The proposed amount may be disbursed only if there is readiness and demand for debt raising.
- NIIF will take all necessary steps to use the equity investments from Domestic and Global pension funds and sovereign wealth funds expeditiously.
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY
- The strategy is AIFL will predominantly focus on under construction / greenfield / brownfield assets with less than one year of operations.
- NIIF Infrastructure Debt Financing Platform will have its own in-house appraisal system, which will enable faster deployment of funds.
- NIIF IFL (NBFC-IDF) will operate as a take-out vehicle for mature operating assets.
- It will help infrastructure investors in replacing high cost bank finance with cheaper IDF finance post-commissioning.
- Over the next 5 years ; NIIF can potentially support the construction of infrastructure projects worth ~ Rs.100,000 crore.
- The Platform needs to raise external long-term equity capital .
- NIIF will make strong efforts to use the equity investments by Government to catalyse equity investments by Domestic and Global Pension.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- NIIF Infrastructure Debt Financing Platform is expected to contribute nearly Rs 1 lakh crores in debt to the infrastructure sector over the next 5 years.
- This will act as a catalyst in attracting more investments into the infrastructure sector as envisaged in National Infrastructure Pipeline.
- This process will also help relieve exposure of banks to infrastructure projects and free up space for new green-field projects.
- Strengthening the IDF / take-out financing space in the infrastructure sector will support enhance liquidity of infrastructure assets and lower the risks.
SOURCES: PIB | Current Affairs News Analysis for UPSC | 26th Nov 2020
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