Styrene Gas Leak

Mains-GS-3-Technology

Styrene gas leaked from a chemical factory on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam.

What is styrene?

1. Styrene is an organic compound with the formula C8H8.  It is a derivative of benzene (C6H6).

2. It is stored in factories as a liquid, but evaporates easily, and has to be kept at temperatures under 20°C.

Where is styrene used?

1. Styrene is the main raw material for synthesis of polystyrene, or (C8H8)n.

2. Polystyrene is a versatile plastic that is used to make parts of various appliances such as refrigerators, micro-ovens, automotive parts, and parts of electronics such as computers and to manufacture disposable cups and in food packaging.

3. Styrene is also used as an intermediate to produce copolymers, polymers derived from one or more species of monomers such as styrene.

How does exposure to styrene gas affect humans?

1. Exposure to styrene gas affects the central nervous system.

2. Breathlessness, respiratory problems, irritation in eyes, indigestion, nausea, transient loss of consciousness, unsteady gait, giddiness are caused by exposure to it.

3. In people suffering from respiratory illness such as asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, these conditions may get exaggerated.

4. Those suffering from diabetes or hypertension may have anxiety disorders.

5. Mucous membrane is mainly affected by exposure to styrene gas.

6. In Visakhapatnam, the styrene gas leak caused acute breathlessness leading to the death of few due to asphyxiation. But as most people were exposed to the gas for a short duration, there may not be any long-term effects.

7. With long term exposure, there is a chance of developing leukaemia and headaches.

Why could it not be prevented?

1. Styrene has to be stored in gas tanks under 20°C to keep it stable.

2. The temperature has to be continuously monitored, and any exposure to light or heat may result in polymerisation.

3. Some gas accumulated at the ceiling of the storage tank and its temperature rose beyond the specified 20°C, and the styrene started vaporising and escaped. This is called auto-polymerization.

Which is the way forward?

1. Solatium payments and compensation for the victims and families

2. Access to the highest quality of health care for the victims.

3. The States have the authority under the Central government’s orders to exempt process industries.

4. Safety of industrial chemicals requires continuous watch, with no scope for waivers.

5. India needs to strengthen its approach to public and occupational safety.

6. Transparent oversight is needed to advance sustainable development by eliminating terrible mistakes.

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Chemical Disasters in India

Mains-GS-3-Disaster Management

The existing laws in India provide protection to victims of chemical disasters.

Laws after Bhopal tragedy

1. Bhopal Gas Leak (Processing of Claims) Act, 1985

a. It gives powers to the central government to secure the claims arising out of or connected with the Bhopal gas tragedy.

b. Under the provisions of this Act, claims are dealt with speedily and equitably.

2. The Environment Protection Act, 1986

 It gives powers to the central government to undertake measures for improving the environment and set standards and inspect industrial units.

a. Under this, the Centre has notified Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemicals Rules, 1989 and the Hazardous Wastes (Management, Handling and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2008 for regulating hazardous substances.

b. Violation of these regulations or failure to comply with standards would constitute an offence. The Act also has provisions against government officials found violating the law.

c. The accused are booked under Section 304A of the IPC, pertaining to causing death by negligence and with a provision of jail term of maximum two years.

3. Indian Penal Code

a. At the time of the Bhopal gas tragedy, the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was the only relevant law specifying criminal liability for such incidents.

b. The accused was initially charged in the case under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC.

c. The charges were later framed under Section 304A, dealing with death due to negligence and imposes a maximum punishment of two years and a fine.

4. The Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991

a. It is an insurance meant to provide relief to persons affected by accidents that occur while handling hazardous substances.

b. The Environment Relief Fund (ERF), a central fund under the Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991, was set up to provide immediate relief to victims of accidents in chemical industries.

5. The National Environment Appellate Authority Act, 1997

Under this, the National Environment Appellate Authority can hear appeals regarding the restriction of areas in which any industries, operations or processes are not be carried out or carried out subject to certain safeguards under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

6. National Green Tribunal, 2010

a. It provides for the establishment of a National Green Tribunal for effective and expeditious disposal of cases related to environmental protection and conservation of forests.

b. Any incident similar to the Bhopal gas tragedy will be tried in the National Green Tribunal and most likely under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

7. Civil Nuclear Liability Act, 2010

a. The 2010 Act deals with instituting civil liability for nuclear damage and granting prompt compensation to victims of a nuclear incident.

b. Civil nuclear law does not deal with criminal remedies.  The principle of strict liability was evolved by the Supreme Court in the 1987 Oleum Gas leak case to fix civil liability on companies and compensate the victims.

Potential risk in India

1. There are thousands of Major Accident Hazard (MAH) units spread across India in all zones of the country.

2. There are thousands of registered and hazardous factories and unorganized sectors dealing with numerous ranges of hazardous material posing serious and complex levels of disaster risks.

Source: The Hindu and Indian Express

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COVID-19 law

Mains- GS-2 Governance

1. The nationwide lockdown has been central to the government’s strategy to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

2. The lockdown exercise has caused unprecedented economic losses to the organized sector.

3. In the unorganized sector, there has been a complete breakdown with little or no legal recourse for those affected.

4. The lockdown has helped contain community spread of the disease, but a legal and legislative audit of this exercise has evaded scrutiny.

Present laws

1. NDMA 2005

a. The lockdown has been carried out by State governments and district authorities on the directions of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs under the Disaster Management Act of 2005.

b. Invoking Disaster Management Act has allowed the Union government to communicate seamlessly with the States.

c. This was intended to provide for the effective management of disasters and for other related matters.

d. Under the Act, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was set up under the leadership of the Prime Minister, and the National Executive Committee (NEA) chaired by the Home Secretary.

e. The NDMA and NEA directed the Union Ministries, State governments and authorities to take effective measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and laid out guidelines on the functioning of services and establishments during the lockdown.

2. Epidemic Diseases Act 1897

The State governments and authorities exercised powers under the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897 to issue further directions.

Challenges

1. The NDMA Act was not originally intended to address the threat of a pandemic.

2. The Epidemic Diseases Act reveals lack of requisite diligence and responsiveness of government authorities in providing novel and innovative policy solutions to address a 21st-century problem.

3. Any violation of the orders passed would be prosecutable under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code. This is a very ineffective and broad provision dealing with disobedience of an order issued by a public servant.

4. Proceedings under Section 188 can only be initiated by private complaint and not through a First Information Report.

5. Offences arising out of these guidelines and orders have a weak basis in terms of criminal jurisdiction thereby weakening the objectives of the lockdown.

UK and Singapore’s New Law

1. The U.K. enacted the Coronavirus Act, 2020, comprehensive legislation dealing with all issues like emergency registration of healthcare professionals to financial assistance to industries.

2. Singapore passed the Infectious Diseases Regulations, 2020, providing for the issuance of stay orders that can send ‘at-risk individuals’ to a government-specified accommodation facility.

3. Both of these laws set out unambiguous conditions and legally binding obligations.

Way forward

1. The Union government should consider promulgating ordinances.

2. These circumstances call out for legislative leadership, to assist and empower States to overcome COVID-19 and to revive their economic, education and public health sectors

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National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test

Prelims- Polity

1. The SC held that the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) is mandatory for admission to medical colleges run by religious and linguistic minority communities.

2. It also observed that admissions solely through NEET for graduate and postgraduate medical/dental courses do not violate any fundamental and religious rights of minorities.

3. NEET would apply for both aided and unaided medical colleges administered by minorities.

4. Bringing minority-run medical institutions uniformly under the ambit of NEET was regarded to be a violation of the fundamental right to occupation, trade and business.

5. The colleges also regarded imposing NEET would violate their fundamental rights of religious freedom, to manage their religious affairs, to administer their institutions.

SC observations

1. The rights of trade, business and occupation or religious rights do not come in the way of securing transparency and recognition of merits in the matter of admissions.

2. Regulating academics and imposing reasonable restrictions to ensure educational standards was in the national and public interest.

3. The right to freedom of trade or business is not absolute.

4. It is subject to reasonable restrictions in the interest of the students’ community to promote merit, recognition of excellence, and to curb the malpractices.

5. A uniform entrance test qualifies the test of proportionality and is reasonable.

6. NEET is intended to check several maladies that crept into medical education, to prevent capitation fee by admitting students lower in merit and to prevent exploitation, profiteering, and commercialization of education.

7. Uniform entrance exams would ensure improvement in future public health by encouraging merit in furtherance of the Directive Principles enshrined in the Constitution.

Source: The Hindu

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Internal displacement

Mains- GS-1 Society

1. ‘The Global Report on Internal Displacement (GRID 2020)’ by The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), claimed that nearly 5 million people were displaced in India in 2019. This is the highest in the world so far. 

2. Globally, around 33.4 million people faced new internal displacements because of conflicts and disasters in about 145 countries in 2019.

3. The displacements in India were prompted by increased hazard intensity, high population and social and economic vulnerability.

Monsoons and Cyclones

1. More than 2.6 million people suffered displacement due to the southwest monsoon. 2019 was the 7 warmest year since 1901 in India and its monsoon was the wettest in 25 years.

2. Eight tropical storms hit in 2019 fuelling further destruction.

3. The northwest monsoon along with cyclone Maha that hit Kerala and the Lakshadweep Islands resulted in displacement. This was followed by Cyclone Bulbul that hit Odisha and West Bengal, triggering 186,000 displacements.

4. In addition to displacement due to natural disasters, conflicts and violence also prompted the phenomenon.

5. Political and electoral violence, especially in Tripura and West Bengal, led to the displacement of more than 7,600 people.

6. Unrests and communal violence triggered displacement in the second half of the year.

7. Nearly three-quarters of the global displacements, accounting for 24.9 million of the total, were triggered by disasters in 2019. Out of these, about 95 percent took place due to weather hazards like storms and floods.

8. A majority of conflict displacements took place due to armed conflict; communal violence accounted for a significant portion of the global total of 8.5 million displacements.

9. Even within countries and territories, it tended to be concentrated.

10. Disaster displacement was recorded in low and high-income countries alike.

Regional distribution

1. Most of the disaster displacements were triggered by tropical storms and monsoon rains in South Asia and East Asia and Pacific.

2. Bangladesh, China, India and the Philippines each recorded more than 4 million displacements in 2019.

3. Conflict continued in countries such as Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Syria. Violence increased sharply in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

4. Natural disasters in Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen forced many people, already displaced by conflict, to flee for the second time.

5. Greater levels of political commitment in countries like Niger and Somalia improved the countries’ policy frameworks on internal displacement.

6. Others like Afghanistan, Iraq and the Philippines included displacement in their development plans and reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals.

Solutions

1. Strengthened capacity across humanitarian and development sectors manifested in better coordination and increased investment.

2. Multi-year funding in Haiti enabled a longer and more transparent planning framework, and the United Nations Peace Building Fund’s support for durable solutions in Somalia was channelled to local organisations.

3. Improvements in the quantity and quality of data available also enabled better reporting and analysis, which in turn informed more effective responses and risk mitigation measures.

4. The combination of official monitoring of disaster displacement in the Philippines with mobile phone tracking data and social media analysis helped improve planning for shelters, reconstruction and long term urban recovery.

About IDMC

1. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) is the world's definitive source of data and analysis on internal displacement.

2. Since its establishment in 1998 as part of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), it has offered a rigorous, independent and trusted service to the international community.

3. Their work supports policy and operational decisions that improve the lives of people living in internal displacement, or at risk of becoming displaced in the future.

Source: Down to Earth

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All about Hand Sanitizers

Prelims- Science & Technology

1. The active ingredient of a hand sanitizers is alcohol. A regular solution contains around 70% of alcohol.

2. The type of alcohol used can vary. Ethanol, present in most alcoholic drinks, is used in many hand sanitisers.

3. But the alcohol content in hand sanitizer is very high as compared to alcoholic beverages. Also, isopropanol or n-propanol are used in hand sanitisers.

Working

1. Bacteria and viruses have an outer coating, which is made of protein and lipids.

2. The alcohol molecule disrupts and eventually explodes this outer coat of bacteria and viruses. This kills the pathogen.

Soap vs Sanitiser

1.  Antibiotic-based soaps can also be used for cleaning hands but unlike alcohol-based solutions, they target a specific point of a pathogen's life cycle.

2. There is always a chance for the bacterium or virus to develop antibiotic-resistance because of the soap. But as the alcohol molecule destroys bacteria and viruses by rupturing their outer membrane, resistance is not a problem with alcohol-based hand sanitisers.

3. Bacteria and viruses cannot develop resistance to the effects of alcohol on their proteins and membranes.

Glycerol

1. Ethanol and isopropanol can dry the skin. To counter this effect, manufacturers add glycerol, a type of alcohol, in hand sanitisers.

2. Chemically, glycerol is also an alcohol, but it’s not added in solutions/disinfectants to kill germs. It is added to increase the thickness of the solution.

3. This makes it safer and easier to use. Some brands also add tocopherol, an alcohol rich in Vitamin E and is good for the skin.

Source: Down To Earth

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National Infrastructure Pipeline

Mains-GS-3-Economic Development, Prelims- Economy

1. The Task Force on National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) submitted its Final Report on NIP for FY 2019-25 to the Union Minister for Finance.

2. Union Finance Minister in the Budget speech 2019-20 announced that Rs. 100 lakh crore would be invested in infrastructure over the next five years.

About NIP

1. NIP is a first-of-its-kind, whole-of-government exercise to provide world-class infrastructure across the country and improve the quality of life for all citizens.

2. It aims to improve project preparation, attract investments (both domestic and foreign) into infrastructure and will be crucial for the target of becoming a $5 trillion economy by FY 2025.

3. The NIP has been made on a best effort basis by aggregating the information provided by various stakeholders including line ministries, departments, state governments and private sector across infrastructure sub-sectors identified in the Harmonised Master List of Infrastructure.

4. A bottom-up approach was adopted with all projects (Greenfield or Brownfield, Under Implementation or under conceptualisation) costing greater than Rs 100 crore per project were captured.

Final Report

1. The report projects total infrastructure investment of Rs 111 lakh crore during the period FY 2020-25 based on new additional/amended data provided by Central Ministries/State Governments.

2. Sectors such as energy (24%), roads (18%), urban (17%) and railways (12%) amount to around 71% of the projected infrastructure investments in India. The Centre (39%) and States (40%) are expected to have an almost equal share in implementing the NIP, followed by the private sector (21%).

3. It identifies and highlights recent infrastructure trends in India as well as global in all sectors of infrastructure.

4. It also captures sector progress, deficits and challenges. It identifies and highlights a set of reforms to scale up and propel infrastructure investments in various sectors throughout the country.

5. It has suggested ways and means of financing the NIP through deepening Corporate Bond markets, including those of Municipal Bonds, setting up Development Financial Institutions for the infrastructure sector, accelerating Monetisation of Infrastructure Assets, Land monetisation, etc.

6. The Task Force has recommended setting up of three Committees:

a. A Committee to monitor NIP progress and eliminate delays,

b. A Steering Committee in each Infrastructure ministry level for following up implementation and

c. A Steering Committee in DEA for raising financial resources for the NIP.

Database

1. The NIP project database would be hosted on India Investment Grid (IIG) to provide visibility to the NIP and help in its financing with prospective domestic and foreign investors able to access updated project level information.

2. Each line Ministry/State would further add new projects and update their respective project details at pre-defined time intervals for making updated data available to prospective investors.       

Source: PIB

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Afghanistan Talks

Mains- GS-2-International Relations

6+2+1

1. The United Nations Secretariat held a meeting of the “6+2+1” group on regional efforts to support peace in Afghanistan

2. This group includes six neighboring countries: China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, global players - United States and Russia, and Afghanistan.

 3. India was absent despite its historical and strategic ties with Afghanistan.

Previous engagements

1. In 2020, India was kept out of regional discussions on Afghanistan citing India has no boundary with Afghanistan.

2. But it could also be because India never announced its support for the U.S.-Taliban peace process.

3. In 2011, India signed the historic Strategic Partnership Agreement, which was Afghanistan’s first such agreement with any country.

India’s stand

1. India has resisted public engagement with the Taliban on peace talks.

2. India regards only an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned, and Afghan-controlled process as a principled one, which is not the current case in the reconciliation process.

3. The U.S.-Taliban peace deal will make the Taliban become more potent as the U.S. withdraws soldiers from Afganistan.

4. Taliban will gain more hold in the inter-Afghan process as the U.S. withdraws funding for the Afganistan government.

Challenges for India

1. India’s decision to rely on Afganistan has reduced its voice in the reconciliation process

2. It has weakened India’s position with other leaders of the divided democratic setup in Afganistan.

3. India’s presence inside Afghanistan built up since 2001, is being threatened by terror groups believed to be backed by Pakistan’s establishment.

India’s assistance

1. India helps in infrastructure projects, health care, education, trade and food security, and also in the liberal access to Afghans to study, train and work in India.

2. It includes more than $3 billion in projects, trade of about $1 billion, a $20 billion projected development expenditure of an alternate route through Chabahar

3. India also extends support to the Afghan National Army, bureaucrats, doctors and other professionals for training in India

4. It is involved in 3 major projects - the Afghan Parliament, the Zaranj-Delaram Highway, and the Afghanistan-India Friendship Dam (Salma dam)

5. Other small development projects (of schools, hospitals and water projects) have strengthened India’s position in the public of Afghanistan nationwide.

Way forward

1. India can use the United Nations’s call for a pause in conflicts during the novel coronavirus pandemic

2. India needs to appoint a special envoy to deal with its efforts in Afghanistan.

Source: The Hindu

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Oil Reserves

Mains-GS-3-Economic Development

The sharp fall in the price of oil is an opportunity to increase Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) stockpile and achieve energy security.

What is the current scenario?

Negative Oil prices

1. Oil prices continue to decline globally as global demands are too low.

2. For the first time, a negative price has been registered for a major global crude oil benchmark- West Texas Intermediate (WTI) sweet crude oil.

3. This signals the severe disruption of the global oil markets and points to few oil storages to stock the global excess.

India’s scenario

1. While Brent Crude Oil is India’s basket, WTI is not. But Brent Crude Oil has also traded at low price.

2. The economic consequences of COVID-19 are going to be drastic for India and the world.

3. Even as India suffers from a lockdown, the price of oil is a way for future recovery and reconstruction.

4. It is a positive development for India’s growth aspirations and a lack of self-sustaining oil production.

5. Reduced oil prices would result in surplus for the consumers and a fiscal bonus for the government through increased tax collections.

Why do we need SPR stockpile?

1. India should strengthen its energy security by buying oil and filling up Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR).

2. India was the third-largest consumer of energy in the world, as well as the third-largest importer of oil in 2018. India is particularly vulnerable to oil price fluctuations.

3. This reduction in oil prices offers an opportunity to fill up the reserves in an extremely cost-effective way.

Existing capacity

1. Currently, India maintains an emergency stockpile of oil reserves. Under the existing Strategic Petroleum Reserves programme, India has 87 days of reserves.

2. Out of this, refiners maintain 65 days of oil storage and the rest of the reserves are held in underground salt caverns maintained by Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL).

3. The existing and planned capacity for the underground reserves is 10 and 12 days of import cover for crude oil respectively.

Which are the issues?

1. Capacity does not directly translate into utilization as oil is an expensive commodity most days of the year. Of the existing 10 days of capacity, only about 50% is utilized.

2. Though most of the refineries holding stock are publicly-owned companies, the SPR arrangement between the oil refineries and the Union or state governments is not specified well.

3. Information on the breakdown of refineries holding SPR and form (crude or refined) or locations are not publicly available. This lack of transparency is furthered by the ambiguity over the mobilization process.

Where do we need to focus?

1. Introduce transparency and accountability in relation to the SPR.

2. The procedures, protocols and facts about Indian SPR storage require greater public and parliamentary scrutiny similar to other strategic reserves like foreign exchange.

3. As the SPR reserves are meant to be used in emergencies, it requires

a. Laying out of designated roles for different agencies for efficient SPR mobilization process to avoid redundancies.

b. Role and process clarity regarding SPR mobilization like the authority or agency to define an emergency and to order a mobilization.

4. India should look to diversify its SPR holdings. Diversification can be based on geographical location (storing oil either domestically or abroad), storage location (underground or overground) and product type (oil can be held in either crude or refined form).

a. Storage and transportation costs could be saved by diversifying geographically. For instance operationalize, modernize, and add to the oil tanking facilities at Trincomalee in Sri Lanka.

b. Enter into a strategic partnership with Oman (Ras Markaz) for oil storage that could also help India avoid the potential bottleneck of the straits of Hormuz.

c. Diversification could also be in the form of ownership — either publicly owned through ISPRL or by private oil companies, such as ADNOC of Abu Dhabi, that could fill up the SPR

when prices are low and take advantage of price arbitrage.

d. This could achieve a degree of price stability and reduce the cost for India to buy such large quantities of oil.

5. ISPRL should consider filling up the SPR reserves whenever the price of Brent crude oil falls below a certain price.

6. Buying crude on the forward market is also an option. But oil prices are in “contango” meaning contrary to normal times, future prices are higher than spot prices.

Source: The Hindu

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Arctic Ozone Layer

Prelims- Environment

1. The European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) announced that a hole in the Arctic ozone layer, believed to be the biggest reported, has closed.

2. It was because of a phenomenon called the polar vortex, and not because of reduced pollution levels due to Covid-19 lockdowns around the world.

3. The hole in the North Pole’s ozone layer had reached a maximum extension of around 1 million sq km.

Ozone layer

1. Ozone (chemically, a molecule of three oxygen atoms) is found mainly in the upper atmosphere- stratosphere, between 10 and 50 km from the earth’s surface.

2. Ozone is present in the atmosphere in rather low concentrations. Even at places with the thickest layer has not more than a few molecules of ozone for every million air molecules.

3. They perform a very important function of absorbing the harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun and eliminate a big threat to life forms on earth.

4. UV rays can cause skin cancer and other diseases and deformities in plants and animals.

Ozone holes

1. The ‘ozone hole’ refers to a region in the stratosphere where the concentration of ozone becomes extremely low in certain months.

2. These holes  are most commonly the depletion of ozone over Antarctica

3. These keep forming each year in the months of September, October and November, due to a set of special meteorological and chemical conditions that arise at the South Pole, and can reach sizes of around 20 to 25 million sq km.

3. Such holes are also spotted over the North Pole, but due to warmer temperatures than the South Pole, the depletions here are much smaller in size.

Current year

1. This year, the ozone depletion over the Arctic was much larger. The unusual atmospheric conditions, including freezing temperatures in the stratosphere, are believed to be responsible.

2. Cold temperatures (below -80°C), sunlight, wind fields and substances such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were responsible for the degradation of the Arctic ozone layer.

3. Arctic temperatures do not usually fall as low as in Antarctica. But powerful winds flowing around the North Pole trapped cold air within the polar vortex— a circling whirlpool of stratospheric winds.

3. By the end of the polar winter, the first sunlight over the North Pole initiated strong ozone depletion. But its size is still small compared to the one observed in the southern hemisphere.

4. The closing of the hole is because of the same polar vortex and not because of the lower pollution levels during the coronavirus lockdown.

Ozone recovery

1. As per the Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion data of 2018, the ozone layer in parts of the stratosphere has recovered at a rate of 1-3 percent per decade since 2000.

2. At these projected rates, the Northern Hemisphere and mid-latitude ozone is predicted to recover by around 2030, followed by the Southern Hemisphere around 2050, and polar regions by 2060.

Source: Indian Express

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Human Challenge Trials

Mains-GS-3-Technology

The human challenge trials involve intentionally infecting volunteers with the coronavirus. It is being promoted in order to speed up the process of preparing a vaccine.

How are vaccines usually developed?

1. In most regulatory regimes, vaccines take several years to develop, and their development typically proceeds through three phases of clinical trials.

2. In Phase 1, small groups of people receive the trial vaccine.

3. During Phase 2, the clinical study is expanded and the vaccine is given to people who have characteristics (such as age and physical health) similar to those for whom the new vaccine is intended.

4. In Phase 3, the vaccine is given to several thousand people and tested for efficacy and safety. During this phase, participants either receive the vaccine or a placebo.

5. The efficacy of the vaccine is determined by comparing the prevalence of infection in the group that was administered the vaccine with the one which received a placebo. The hypothesis that those in the vaccine group will be infected significantly less is thus tested.

What are human challenge trials?

1. Under human challenge trials, participants of both the vaccine and placebo group upon consent are deliberately exposed to the infection – “challenged” by the disease organism.

2. It could save time in developing a Covid-19 vaccine as researchers would not have to wait for participants to contract the infection under real-world conditions.

3. Controlled human challenge trials of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidates could accelerate the testing and potential rollout of efficacious vaccines.

4. Replacing conventional Phase 3 testing of vaccine candidates saves many months from the licensure process, making efficacious vaccines available more quickly.

5. Such testing would also require significantly less number of people than regular Phase 3 trials that require thousands of volunteers.

Why is it controversial?

1. Human challenge trials are usually carried out in developing medications for diseases that are considered less lethal and have been better understood by scientists over the years, such as malaria.

2. Such trials for Covid-19, a potentially deadly disease for even those who are less at risk is being questioned.

3. The World Health Organization (WHO) also had observed that Human challenge studies can appear to be in conflict with the guiding principle in medicine to do no harm.

Which are the ethical issues to be considered?

1. Historical examples of human exposure studies would be considered unethical by current standards.

2. It is essential that challenge studies be conducted within an ethical framework in which truly informed consent is given.

3. Human challenge studies should be undertaken with abundant forethought, caution, and oversight.

4. The value of the information to be gained should clearly justify the risks to human subjects.

5. Information to be gained should clearly justify the risks to human subjects.

Source: Indian Express

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Great Depression 1930

Mains-GS3-Economic Development, Mains-GS1- History of the World

1. The current COVID 19 outbreak is being compared with the Great Depression (1930) phenomenon.

2. This event is the devastating economic decline of the 1930s that shaped the world.

About the Great Depression

1. Depression is a sustained, long-term downturn in economic activity in one or more economies.

2.  It is a more severe economic downturn than a recession, which is a slowdown in economic activity throughout a normal business cycle.

3. The Great Depression was a major economic crisis that began in the United States in 1929 and went to have a worldwide impact until 1939.

4. It began on a day that is referred to as ‘Black Thursday’ as the New York Stock Exchange crashed.

5. The extent of the decline was due to deep-rooted factors such as

a) Fall in aggregate demand

b) Misplaced monetary policies

c) Unintended rise in inventory levels

6. Industrial production fell by 47% of the wholesale price index by 33% and real GDP by 30%.

7. It spread to other countries mainly due to the gold standard, which linked most of the world’s currencies by fixed exchange rates.

8. It caused extreme human suffering, huge unemployment, and many political upheavals that took place around the world.

9. It is believed to be the principal reason behind the rise of fascism and consequently the Second World War.

Impact on India

1. It had an important impact on India’s freedom struggle.

2. It made substantial sections of the peasantry rise in protest as there was a drastic fall in agricultural prices resulting in less income to the peasants.

3. A severe credit contraction occurred as colonial policymakers refused to devalue the rupee.

4. This unrest was articulated by members of the National Congress by launching the Civil Disobedience movement (1930).

5. There were ‘No Rent’ campaigns in many parts of the country and radical Kisan Sabhas were started in Bihar and eastern UP.

Source- Indian Express

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FRBM Act

Mains-GS3-Economic Development, Mains-GS2-Governance

1. Kerala has demanded the Central Government for flexibility under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act.

2. The demand is to ensure that the State’s finances are not adversely impacted in this financial year.

What is the FRBM Act?

1. The act was enacted in 2003 to make the Central government responsible for ensuring

a) Inter-generational equity in fiscal management

b) Long-term macro-economic stability.

2. It envisages the setting of limits on the Central government’s debt and deficits.

3. It mandates greater transparency in fiscal operations of the Central government and the conduct of fiscal policy in a medium-term framework.

4. It specifies the annual revenue and fiscal deficit goals over a three-year period.

a) Reduction in the fiscal deficit to 3% of GDP within a specified time frame. It has shifted from the initial goal of March 31, 2009, to March 31, 2021.

b) The 12th Finance Commission’s recommendations in 2004 linked debt relief to States with their enactment of similar laws to ensure that the States are financially prudent.

5. The States have enacted their own respective Financial Responsibility Legislation that sets the same 3% of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) cap on their annual budget deficit.

How does FRBM relaxation work?

1. It contains an ‘escape clause’ for providing flexibility under some emergencies.

2. Under Section 4(2) of the Act, the Centre can exceed the annual fiscal deficit target citing grounds such as

a) National security

b) War

c) National calamity

d) Collapse of agriculture

e) Structural reforms

f) The decline in real output growth of a quarter by at least 3% points below the average of the previous four quarters.

Why should the targets be relaxed?

1. The COVID 19 pandemic along with lockdown can be considered as a national calamity.

2. It has led to a period of inactivity in the country as well as losses in the economy.

3. So, suspending both the Centre’s and States’ fiscal deficit targets is needed.

4. It can allow both the Union government and States to increase expenditure to meet the extraordinary circumstances.

When has it been relaxed?

1. There have been several instances of the FRBM goals being reset.

2. The most significant FRBM deviation happened in 2008-09 in the wake of the global financial crisis.

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Women in a pandemic

Mains- GS-1 Society

1. While catastrophes affect people at large, the economical, sociological and psychological impact of it on women is significant.

2. Data indicate the need to address this during and after these catastrophic episodes.

When women were affected the most?

2004 Tsunami

1. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami affected the coastlines of countries in the region, including India with a fourth of people killed/listed missing being women.

2. This is because the traditional ‘caregiver’ role played by women makes them stay around their loved ones to keep them safe. Also, women lack many life skills such as swimming and climbing.

3. During tsunami recovery phases women face difficulties like abuse by men in the camps of aid organizations and government.

4. Gender-skewed tsunami deaths resulted in a disproportionate gender ratio where men largely outnumbered women.

5. Women also faced hygiene challenges in these camps due to inadequate sanitation facilities.

US Tornado

In the United States that has a high incidence of tornadoes, families headed by women are affected the most.

COVID-19 pandemic

1. According to World Health Organization data, around 70% of the world’s health workers are women, 79% of nurses are women.

2. Health workers, in general, are highly vulnerable and not ensuring their safety is a high risk that can severely impact the health system.

3. India has a million-plus accredited social health activist (ASHA) workers who are an integral part of its health system and work at ground level.

4. Incidents of attacks on ASHAs on COVID-19 duty are reported. Stringent action against these attacks is needed to ensure their professional safety.

Which ways do women get affected?

Unemployment

1. Women often are engaged in sector-specific employment which when impacted results in unemployment. Women are also engaged in post-calamity care, missing job opportunities.

2. An economic slowdown also leaves women with additional wage cuts, on a paradigm where pay disparity between genders is a norm.

3. In Kerala, after the floods in 2018-19, thousands were housed in relief camps. There was considerable added domestic work by women.

Household work

1. Traditional roleplay is still prevalent in most sections of Indian society and the equal division of household responsibilities among couples is still distant.

2. Women from all strata face substantial additional household work.

3. The fear of job loss and reduced income can create mental pressure on women, in turn affecting their physical well-being.

4. The lower income groups are already facing job losses and anxiety is leading to domestic tensions and violence against women.

5. A large number of daily wageworkers resort to alcohol consumption. And the ban on alcohol sales during the lockdown is contributing to domestic tensions, leading to women abuse.

6. According to the 2015-16 National Family Health Survey, around 30% of women in the age group 15 to 49 years face domestic violence.

7. As per a report, the National Commission for Women has received the highest complaints relating to crimes against women during lockdown related to domestic violence.

Depression

1. Hormone-induced depression among women also needs to be understood and acknowledged. Women are twice as likely to face depression compared to men.

2. Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) among re-productive age groups, pregnancy-related depressive conditions, postpartum depression (PPDs) among new mothers as well as premenopausal and menopausal symptoms are common, interfering in everyday life and relationships.

How to address this?

1. Assign ASHA workers to specifically address women’s welfare during this pandemic

2. Set up exclusive cells to quickly address domestic violence and women’s health-related issues, including men in conversations, and even online counselling for alcoholism in men.

3. Rope in non-governmental organisations, psychology students, teachers and volunteers and also use technology platforms that would help to speed up the action.

4. Develop a cult

Sure of including women’s safety in the planning phase irrespective of the nature of the crisis.

5. Gender parity needs to be a conscious act. In online counselling,  a well-trained and gender-inclusive team can handle such calls well.

Source: The Hindu

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Exchange Rate

Mains-GS-3-Economic Development, Prelims- Economy

1. The economic disruption due to the spread of the COVID-19 has adversely affected various aspects of the Indian economy.

2. Other than the growth rates of gross domestic product and gross value added, high-frequency data like sales of automobiles, etc. could also indicate the problems.

3. The exchange rate of the rupee is one such data on the state of the Indian economy’s competitiveness.

What is the currency exchange rate?

1. A currency’s exchange rate vis-a-vis another currency reflects the relative demand among the holders of the two currencies.

2. This demand depends on the relative demand for the goods and services of the two countries.

3. A stronger US dollar than the rupee shows the demand for dollars by those holding rupee is more than the demand for rupees by those holding dollars.

Trade-Weighted Indices

1. Stronger economies have stronger currencies. For instance, as the US economy is relatively stronger than India’s, one US dollar equals to around 76 rupees.

2. The rupee has been losing value (or depreciating/weakening) against the dollar over the past few months.

3. But as India trades with many other countries as well, the economy’s overall competitiveness will be based on rupee’s relation with currencies of all major trade partners.

Which measures are to be looked at?

1. RBI tabulates the rupee’s Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) in relation to the currencies of 36 trading partner countries. This is a weighted index as greater weight is given to countries with which India trades more.

2. A decrease in this index denotes depreciation in rupee’s value and an increase reflecting appreciation.

3. In NEER terms, the rupee has depreciated to its lowest level since November 2018. The steady loss of rupee’s value shows reduced competitiveness of the Indian economy since July 2019.

4. The recent dip was influenced by the net outflow of foreign portfolio investments from the Indian equity and debt markets.

How does inflation affect exchange rates?

1. Many factors affect the exchange rate between any two currencies ranging from the interest rates to political stability (less of either result in a weaker currency).

2. Inflation is one of the most important factors.

3. If the Indian inflation is 20% and the US inflation is zero, then in the second year, an Indian would need Rs 120 to buy the same item priced at $100, and the rupee’s exchange rate would depreciate to 1.20.

Where does REER stand?

1. Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER) is an improvement over the NEER as it also takes into account the domestic inflation in the various economies.

2. Even in REER terms, the rupee has depreciated and fallen to its lowest level since September 2019.

3. The difference between trends of NEER and REER was due to India’s domestic retail inflation being lower relative to the other 36 countries.

4. As domestic inflation started rising, the REER, too, started depreciating like the NEER.

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Disinfectant on Humans

Prelims- Science & Technology

The Health Ministry has issued a detailed advisory against spraying humans with disinfectants to prevent a rerun once labourers return to industries that qualify for relaxation.

What does the order say?

1. Spraying of individuals or groups is not recommended under any circumstances.

2. Spraying an individual or group with chemical disinfectants is physically and psychologically harmful.

3. Spraying the external part of the body of a person potentially exposed to the COVID-19 virus does not kill the virus that has entered the body.

4. Also spraying disinfectant is not scientifically proven even to effectively disinfect the outer clothing/body.

How is disinfection carried out?

1. Disinfectant refers to substances applied to inanimate objects owing to their strong chemical properties.

2. Disinfection for the SARS-CoV2 virus is usually done using a solution of sodium hypochlorite, commonly known as bleach, a harsh chemical.

3. Chemical disinfectants are recommended for cleaning and disinfection only of frequently touched areas/surfaces by those suspected or confirmed to have COVID-19.

4. As the disinfectant takes specific time to act on an area, the disinfection protocol advises for keeping any place that has been disinfected to be shut.

Why is it a problem?

1. Spraying disinfectant can be harmful.

2. The solution of sodium hypochlorite is unstable and quickly breaks down to release chlorine that can have several harmful effects.

3. Spraying of chlorine on individuals can lead to irritation of eyes and skin and potentially gastrointestinal effects such as nausea and vomiting.

4. Inhalation of sodium hypochlorite can lead to irritation of mucous membranes to the nose, throat, respiratory tract and may also cause bronchospasm.

5. Also, such measures may lead to a false sense of disinfection & safety and hamper public observance to hand washing and social distancing measures.

Source: Indian Express

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