The Hindu Newspaper Analysis 19 June 2023

The Hindu Newspaper Analysis for UPSC

The Hindu Newspaper Analysis 16 June 2023

• Imported Indian drugs are at the centre of a medical storm in Sri Lanka following cases of complications and fatalities, reportedly after patients were administered medicines sourced from India.
• On Friday, local media reported the death of a patient undergoing treatment at the Peradeniya Teaching Hospital, in Kandy district, after being given the Indian-manufactured anaesthetic Bupivacaine. The news sparked concern among local people, especially since the incident came less than two months after a pregnant woman was reported dead at the hospital, after being given an Indian anaesthetic drug.

 The Hindu Editorial Today

• Following the April incident, the Health Ministry suspended the use of that drug.
• Indian Pharmaceutical industry
• The Pharmacy of the World:
• The Indian Pharmaceutical industry is the third largest in the world by volume.
• The Indian Pharmaceutical Industry has been using its powers very responsibly.
• It has made a name for itself and India is being called “The Pharmacy of the World” in some circles.
• Export:
• India exported pharmaceuticals worth Rs 175,040 crore in the financial year 2021-22, including Bulk Drugs/Drug Intermediates. Also, India is one of the major producers of Active Pharma Ingredients (API) or bulk drugs in the world.
• India exported Bulk Drugs/Drug Intermediates worth Rs 33,320 crore in the financial year 2021-22.
• The Drugs and Cosmetics Act:
• The Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Rules 1945 have entrusted various responsibilities to central and state regulators for regulation of drugs and cosmetics.
• It provides the regulatory guidelines for issuing licenses to manufacture Ayurvedic, Siddha, Unani medicines.
• It is mandatory for the manufacturers to adhere to the prescribed requirements for licensing of manufacturing units & medicines including proof of safety & effectiveness, compliance with the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP).
• Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation(CDSCO):
• Prescribes standards and measures for ensuring the safety, efficacy and quality of drugs, cosmetics, diagnostics and devices in the country.
• Regulates the market authorization of new drugs and clinical trials standards.
• Supervises drug imports and approves licences to manufacture the above-mentioned products.
• CDSCO regulates export of drugs in India, any manufacturer with the certification from CDSCO can export drugs outside India.
• Drugs Controller General of India:
• DCGI is the head of department of the CDSCO of the Government of India responsible for approval of licences of specified categories of drugs such as blood and blood products, IV fluids, vaccines and sera in India.
• DCGI also sets standards for manufacturing, sales, import, and distribution of drugs in India

• As representatives of developing countries in the climate change front line, i.e., Bangladesh and the Maldives, and as leaders of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, a group of 58 of the world’s most climate vulnerable countries hosting 1.5 billion of the world’s poorest people, we know only too well the urgency of the climate challenge. We have endured climate-related economic losses of $500 billion in the last two decades alone.
• Many of our nations are also crippled by unsustainable debts, including debts which are becoming unpayable due to climate damages largely caused by emissions elsewhere.
• Climate Vulnerable Forum
• It is an international partnership of countries highly vulnerable to a warming planet. The forum serves as a South-South cooperation platform for participating governments to act together to deal with global climate change.

• The Forum first met in Maldives in November 2009.
• Other initiatives taken by CVF to deal with climate change:
• Vulnerable Twenty (V20) Group of Ministers of Finance of the Climate Vulnerable Forum is a dedicated cooperation initiative of economies systemically vulnerable to climate change.
• It was established on 08 October 2015 at Lima, Peru.
• It’s primary objective is to promote the mobilisation of climate finance.
• Survive Thrive #1.5C aims to promote actions to keep warming below 1.5°C and urges people to get involved and keep updated on limiting global warming to 1.5°C.

• Several studies warn that the Arabian Sea, thanks to the effects of global warming, is likely to be the fountainhead of many more severe cyclones.
• Frequent evacuation cannot be implemented as a permanent policy intervention and efforts must be made to ensure that coastal-regulation-zone norms that prescribe the kind of structures permissible at specific distances from the shoreline must be strictly implemented.
• The dwellings of rural, coastal inhabitants must be strengthened and natural bulwarks such as mangroves at wetlands must be buttressed for improved resilience.

• The Gandhi Peace Prize for 2021 will be conferred on Gita Press, Gorakhpur, one of the largest publishers of religious texts such as the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana and the Upanishads.
• The decision to confer the award on Gita Press was taken by a jury headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after due deliberations on Sunday in recognition of the publishing house’s “outstanding contribution towards social, economic and political transformation through non-violent and other Gandhian methods”, the Culture Ministry said in a statement.
• The annual Gandhi Peace Prize was instituted in 1995 on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The award carries an amount of ₹1 crore, a citation, a plaque and an exquisite handicraft or handloom item.
• The previous awardees include organisations such as the Indian Space Research Organisation, Ramakrishna Mission, Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari and Sulabh International, New Delhi.
• It has also been awarded to former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela, social worker Baba Amte, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, environmentalist Chandi Prasad Bhatt and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman of Bangladesh.
• Gita Press is one of the world’s largest publishers, having published 41.7 crore books in 14 languages, including 16.21 crore Bhagavad Gita. It completes 100 years of its establishment in 2023.

• Late in May this year, the Cyberspace Administration of China announced that the U.S. chip giant Micron, which had been under investigation by the Cybersecurity Review Office, failed to obtain a security clearance, and that its products posed a threat to national security.
• At the outset, the actions by Chinese authorities appear motivated by vengeance against the U.S.-led efforts to constrain China’s tech advancement, as has been widely reported in the Western media.
• By heckling American firms and restricting their access to the vast Chinese market, Beijing seeks to capitalise on the divergence that exists between the U.S. administration and the American business community over the former’s China policy.
• However, from India’s perspective, one cannot help but notice the outright contradiction that China’s discourse presents when it comes to its relationship with New Delhi.
• While Beijing insists on the need to hyphenate development with security, it calls on India to keep the border issue (security) at its proper place and not let it derail the overall relationship (economics and development) with China.

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