[CA] Indian President to cut his 30% salary

President, Mr. Ram Nath Kovind recently announced that he is to donate 30% of his salary to aid the Government of India in the fight against COVID-19. The Rashtrapti Bhavan will also follow set of restrictions under the instruction of the President to save money and aid the fight. This is being done to set an example to economize expenditure and save money to fight against COVID-19. Apart from the salary cut, domestic tours and programmes of the president will also be cut. This will help in social distancing restrictions and also will help to minimize expenditure. Also, the president will minimize his at home ceremonies by decreasing his guest lists, reducing food menu and also by using lesser flowers and decorative items. 

The Union Budget 2018 increased the salaries of president and vice president of the country. Currently, the salary of president of India is 5 lakhs per month (Earlier, it was Rs. 1.5 lakh per month). Also, the salary of the Vice - President was also increased from Rs. 1.10 lakh to Rs. 4 lakhs.

Article 59: The article says that the emoluments and allowances of the President of India shall not be reduced during his term of office. But in this case, the President is offering it as donation at his will and the salary is not being cut. The article also empowers the President to use his official residence without rent.

 

[CA/Econ] World Bank's Assistance to India

The Government of India and the World Bank signed a $750 million of $1 billion proposed for Accelerating India’s COVID-19 Social Protection Response Programme to support India’s efforts at providing social assistance to the poor and vulnerable households, severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This takes the total commitment from the Bank towards emergency COVID-19 response in India to $2 billion. A $1 billion support was announced last month towards immediate support to India’s health sector.

This new support will be funded in two phases – an immediate allocation of $750 million for fiscal year 2020 and a $250 million second tranche that will be made available for fiscal year 2021.

The first phase of the operation will be implemented countrywide through the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY). It will immediately help scale-up cash transfers and food benefits, using a core set of pre-existing national platforms and programmes such as the Public Distribution System (PDS) and Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT); provide robust social protection for essential workers involved in COVID-19 relief efforts; and benefit vulnerable groups, particularly migrants and informal workers, who face high risks of exclusion under the PMGKY.

In the second phase, the programme will deepen the social protection package, whereby additional cash and in-kind benefits based on local needs will be extended through state governments and portable social protection delivery systems.

Of the $1 billion commitment, an immediate allocation of $750 million for fiscal year 2020 of which $550 million will be financed by a credit from the International Development Association (IDA) – the World Bank’s concessionary lending arm and $200 million will be a loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), with a final maturity of 18.5 years including a grace period of five years. The remaining $250 million will be made available after June 30, 2020 and would be on standard IBRD terms. The programme will be implemented by the Ministry of Finance, Government of India.

[CA] Why men are more vulnerable to COVID - 19?

Initially there was a hypothesis that men might be more vulnerable to COVID-19 virus than women.  The ACE2 enzyme in the human body is the key factor that enables the COVID-19 to infect human cells. The study has found out that levels of ACE2 enzymes are more in men than in women.

·       The angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 lies in the outer surface of cells of lungs, heart, kidneys.

·       The primary function of the enzyme is to regulate the transport of amino acids (amino acids are formed from digestion of proteins).

·       The ACE2 enzymes act as main entry points for the COVID-19 virus.

·       There are hypothetical studies that say that reducing level of ACE2 enzyme could be a successful treatment for COVID-19.

·       The ACE inhibiting drugs are used to cure heart diseases. They also help in reducing blood pressure.

[CA] Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhyan

Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi announced an economic package called “Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhyan” to around Rs. 20 lakh crores for overcoming the damages caused by COVID - 19 pandemic. This package is about 10% of India's GDP.  This package will give a new impetus to the development journey of the country in 2020 and a new direction to the Self-reliant India campaign. In order to prove the resolve of a self-reliant India, Land, Labor, Liquidity and Laws all have been emphasized in this package.

Prime Minister also stressed the need for promoting local businesses and products and it was necessary for India to become an important part of the global supply chain.

Prime Minister said that, magnificent building of self-reliant India will stand on five Pillars.

5 Pillars announced by Prime Minister for Self – Reliant India
Economy	An economy that brings Quantum Jump rather than Incremental change.
Infrastructure	An infrastructure that became the identity of modern India.
System	A system that is driven by technology which can fulfill the dreams of the 21st century; a system not based on the policy of the past century.
Demography	Our Vibrant Demography is our strength in the world's largest democracy, our source of energy for self-reliant India.
Demand	The cycle of demand and supply chain in our economy, is the strength that needs to be harnessed to its full potential. In order to increase demand in the country and to meet this demand, every stake-holder in our supply chain needs to be empowered. We will strengthen our supply chain, our supply system built up with the smell of the soil and the sweat of our labourers.

[CA] Various Mission / Operations carried out by India in connection with COVID - 19

VARIOUS OPERATIONS / MISSION CARRIED OUT BY INDIA TO OTHER COUNTRIES IN CONNECTION WITH COVID – 19
#	Mission / Operation Name	Ships / Airlines Involved	Associated Countries	Purpose
1	Operation Samudra Setu	INS Jalashwa	Maldives (Male), Sri Lanka (Colombo) and Bandar Abbas (Iran)	To repatriate Indian Citizens from overseas through ships
		INS Magar
		INS Shardul
2	Mission Vande Bharat	Air India	Several Countries	To repatriate Indian Citizens from overseas through airline
3	Mission Sagar	INS Kesari	Maldives	600 tonnes of food items
			Madagascar	COVID related essential medicines including HCQ tablets
			Seychelles	COVID related essential medicines
			Comoros	COVID related essential medicines including HCQ tablets along with a medical assistance team
			Mauritius	COIVD related essential medicines & a special consignment of Ayurvedic medicines along with a Medical Assistance Team

 

[CA] COVID - 19 "Hotspots" in India

The government has decided to divide all districts across the country into hotspots, non-hotspots and green zones. The health and family welfare ministry has identified 170 hotspot districts, 207 non-hotspot districts reporting cases and 359 green zone districts not reporting any cases across the country.  These numbers will increase or decrease based on fresh cases of novel coronavirus infection.

This will help in managing the Covid-19 pandemic as well as partial opening up of economic activities during the extended period of the nationwide lockdown. This would help in management of hotspots and spread of pandemic.

The health ministry used two criteria to classify the districts as hotspots — the absolute number of cases and the speed of growth in cases.

The technical definition followed to classify the districts is any district reporting more than six cases would be classified as hotspot district or red zone. Any hotspot district with more than 15 cases would be treated as a district witnessing outbreak. Tamil Nadu has maximum number of districts (22) under “red zone” (Hotspots).

[CA] USA Vs World Health Organisation

US President, Mr. Donald Trump said that he has instructed his administration to halt funding to the World Health Organization over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic while his administration reviews its response to the global crisis. President said the WHO had "failed in its basic duty and it must be held accountable."

He said the group had promoted China's "disinformation" about the virus that likely led to a wider outbreak of the virus than otherwise would have occurred. The United States is the biggest overall donor to the Geneva-based WHO, contributing more than $400 million in 2019, roughly 15% of its budget.

The WHO has been appealing for more than $1 billion to fund operations against the pandemic. The agency needs more resources than ever as it leads the global response against the disease.

[CA] Operation SHIELD

[CA] GISAID

India has shared nine whole genome sequences of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) with the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID). All these have been shared by the Pune-based National Institute of Virology.  India became the fifth country in the world to sequence the genome of the novel Coronavirus, or Covid-19, and share its data with the international community. Genomic sequencing is a technique that allows us to read and interpret genetic information found within DNA or RNA. GISAID is a public platform started by the WHO in 2008 for countries to share genome sequences. Germany became the official host of the GISAID platform.

[CA] 400 mn people to enter poverty in India: ILO

International Labour Organization released its report, “COVID-19 and world of work”. According to the report, around 400 million people are to enter poverty in India. The United Nations Labour body, International Labour Organization has warned that the COVID - 19 is to wipe out 195 million full – time jobs. Globally, the virus is to cut 6.7% of working hours.

According to the report, around 2 billion people are working in informal sector worldwide. They are at great risks. The reductions of jobs are to be more in Arab countries and in Asia and Pacific. In Arab countries, around 5 million full time workers are expected to lose their jobs. In Pacific and Asia, around 125 million are to lose their jobs. In Americas and Africa the risk percentage of unemployment is 43% and 26% respectively.

The COVID-19 is to affect mainly tourism sector, businesses, manufacturing, retail and food services. Around 3.3 billion work forces are affected due to full time or part time workplace closures.

[CA] Hydroxychloroquine

India announced restrictions on export of Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) drug. India had imposed ban on export of HCQ drug to prevent the shortage of the drug in the country. The United States and 30 other countries including some of the SAARC countries have been pressuring India to remove the ban.

The United States lately has been forcing India upon its ban as the shortages in US has been increasing greatly. The United States is a major importer of HCQ and other drugs. The other countries that are demanding India to remove the export ban include Brazil, Germany, France, UK, Australia, Israel and Gulf countries. India considering their requests has put on restrictions to the export ban, meaning the ban has not been removed completely.

The Hydroxychloroquine drug is one of the four mega methods considered for trials to contain the spread of COVID-19.The drug is used in the US as a preventive measure. The drug is recommended to asymptomatic patients that are in close contact with the COVID-19 patients.

[CA] Isolation Vs Quarantine

The motive behind Isolation and Quarantine is similar. Both the practices are aimed at containing the spread of disease.

Isolation is a practice under which people who are sick or infected with contagious disease are kept away from healthy and uninfected people.

Quarantine is a practice that restricts the movement of people who may have come in contact with infected person or may have been exposed to contagious disease, but do not display any symptoms of the illness. The quarantine period reveals whether the individual become sick or not.

Quarantine	Isolation
Home confinement	Stay in a separate room
Stay maintaining distance from people (social distancing)	Procedure is majorly followed in hospitals and healthcare facilities
Restrictions on travel	Restrictions on movement inside and outside of an area may be a room
Restrictions on passage outside the quarantine area	Restriction on use of common household things such as drinking glasses, cups, dishes, utensils, clothes, towels, bedding, and others
Wearing a face mask is voluntary	Wearing a face mask is mandatory
Washing hands with soap or hand sanitizers	Washing hands with soap or hand sanitizers

[CA] Naveen Patnaik - Hero to Animals Award by PeTA

The Chief Minister of Odisha, Mr. Naveen Patnaik has been conferred with Hero to Animals Award by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India for feeding community animals in five municipal corporations and all 48 municipalities of Odisha during the COVID-19 lockdown. He has allocated Rs 54 lakhs from a relief fund for the same.

He has presented a framed certificate and a letter of appreciation from PETA India. It should be noted that the central government advisory body the Animal Welfare Board of India had urged state governments and union territories (UTs) to allow animal welfare volunteers to feed community animals. Also, Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries mandated veterinary services and animal shelters to function as normal and kept in the “essential services” list.

[CA] India's Unity in Fight against COVID - 19

Millions of people switched off non-essential lights and lit diyas (earthen lamps) and candles in their balconies and verandas yesterday (April 05, 2020) night following a call from Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi to "challenge the darkness spread by the coronavirus crisis".

President Mr. Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President Mr. Venkaiah Naidu and their respective families also lit lamps outside their homes, as did the Union Ministers.

The chief ministers of several states, including Kerala (Mr. Pinarayii Vijayan), Tamil Nadu (Mr. E Palaniswami), Uttar Pradesh (Mr. Yogi Adityanath), Bihar (Nitish Kumar), Uttarakhand (Mr. Trivendra Singh Rawat) and Telangana (Mr. K Chandrashekar Rao), also lit diyas, as did Lok Sabha Speaker Mr. Om Birla and former Andhra Chief Minister Mr. N Chandrababu.

The entire event led to #9MinutesForIndia emerging as one of the top trends on Twitter.

This was the second "collective display" to show unity in the fight against the virus requested by the Prime Minister since the lockdown started. He had earlier asked people to stand in balconies and clap, for five minutes at 5 pm to celebrate medical staff in the fight against the novel coronavirus.

[CA] Empowered Committee to speed up on COVID - 19 issues

Government of India has constituted a Science and Technology Empowered Committee to make speedy decisions on research and development of COVID-19. The Committee is to be chaired by Niti Aayog member Vinod Paul and K Vijay Raghavan. Mr. Raghavan is the principal scientific advisor to Government of India. The committee will coordinate with scientists, science agencies, regulatory bodies and industries.

The Committee has consented the institutes operating under Department of Science and Technology, Department of Biotechnology, Department of Atomic Energy, CSIR, DRDO and IIScs to prepare their labs towards research and testing of COVID-19.

The research of testing methodologies are to be stratified by the institutes based on the priorities set by ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research).

The medical institutes operating directly under the Central government have taken up the following researches:

·       Repurposing of drugs

·       Manufacturing ventilators and test kits

·       Models to predict medical equipment requirements, mathematical models to track the disease spread in the country.

[CA] UP Govt book patients under NSA for misbehaving in hospitals

The Uttar Pradesh government has said that six persons associated with the Tablighi Jamaat who have been accused of misbehaving with women staff at the district hospital in Ghaziabad will be charged under the National Security Act (NSA).

About National Security Act, 1980:

·       It allows preventive detention for months, if authorities are satisfied that a person is a threat to national security or law and order.

·       The person does not need to be charged during this period of detention.

·       The goal is to prevent the individual from committing a crime.

·       It was promulgated on September 23, 1980, during the Indira Gandhi government.