PIB Analysis : 1st and 2nd September 2022

PIB Analysis for UPSC CSE

1. Bulk Drug Park
2. Hall marking
3. Smart Solutions Challenge & Inclusive Cities Awards 2022
4. Facts for Prelims

1 . Bulk Drug Park

PIB Release – https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1856080

Context : The Department of Pharmaceuticals has conveyed ‘in-principle’ approval to the proposals of the three States Viz, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh under the Scheme for “Promotion of Bulk Drug Parks”, a key initiative to support the Bulk Drugs manufacturing in the country. 

Background

• The Indian Pharmaceutical industry is the 3^rd largest in the world by volume. India exported pharmaceuticals worth Rs. 1,75,040 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 financial year 2021-22.
• However, the country also imports various Bulk Drugs/ APIs for producing medicines from various countries. Most of the imports of the Bulk Drug/APIs being done in the country are because of economic considerations.
• The Government strives to minimize country’s dependence on imports and to give fillip to indigenous manufacturing. In order to make the country self-reliant in APIs and drug intermediates, the Department of Pharmaceuticals is implementing various schemes and one of the key interventions is the Scheme for Bulk Drug Parks.

About Bulk drug Parks

• The Scheme, with a financial outlay of Rs. 3,000 crores notified in 2020, provides for financial assistance to three States for establishing Bulk Drug Parks and aims to bring down the cost of manufacturing of bulk drugs by creation of world class common infrastructure facilities supported by the Central Governmentand thereby increase the competitiveness of the domestic bulk drug industry.
• The Bulk Drug Parks to be developed under the scheme will provide common infrastructure facilities at one place thereby creating a robust ecosystem for the Bulk Drug manufacturing in the country and also reducing the manufacturing cost significantly.
• This scheme is expected to encourage domestic manufacturing of bulk drugs to reduce import dependence and to establish a dominant position in the global market by providing easy access to standard testing & infrastructure facilities. This scheme will also help industry meet the standards of environment at a reduced cost through innovative methods of common waste management system and also to exploit the benefits arising due to optimization of resources and economies of scale.
• Under the scheme, proposals were received from 13 States. The Department was guided by an Advisory Committee under CEO, NITI Aayog in the appraisal of the proposals, based on the quantitative as well as qualitative methodology.
• The financial assistance to the proposed Bulk Drug Park in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh would be 70% of the project cost of common infrastructure facilities. In case of Himachal Pradesh, being Hilly States, financial assistance would be 90% of the project cost.Maximum assistance under the scheme for one Bulk Drug Park would be limited to Rs. 1000 crores.

Other interventions of the Department, in ensuring domestic manufacturing of the Bulk Drugs, include,

• Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for domestic manufacturing of KSMs/ Drug Intermediates (DIs) and APIs. Under this scheme, a total of 51 projects have been approved, out of which, 14 projects have already commissioned and started manufacturing of the drugs.
• PLI for Pharmaceuticals, provides for financial incentive to 55 selected applicants for manufacturing of identified products under three categories and eligible drugs under this scheme include APIs.

2 . Hall marking

PIB Release – https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1856042

Context : About 3.7 crore Jewellery articles have been hallmarked since 01^st  April 2022 till 31^st  July 2022 and  8.68 crore Jewellery articles were hallmarked in year 2021-2022 after the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) made hallmarking of Gold Jewellery  mandatory which came into force from 23^rd June, 2021. Number of BIS registered jewellers have increased from 43,153 on 01^st  July 2021 to 1,43,497 on 01^st  August 2022.

Background

• The BIS hallmark is a hallmarking system for gold as well as silver jewellery sold in India certifying the purity of the metal. It certifies that the piece of jewellery conforms to a set of standards laid by the Bureau of Indian Standards, the national standards organization of India
• Government of India took cognizance of the need for protecting consumers and decided to make Hallmarking of Gold jewellery and artefacts mandatory as Gold is too soft to withstand wear & tear, therefore, for jewellery making, gold is always alloyed with some other metal.
• The need for alloying of gold also makes public extremely vulnerable to excessive adulteration and detection of adulteration in gold is difficult without performing technical tests. The common consumer though well aware of such practices still has no option but to depend on the assurances given by traders.
• Under Hallmarking Scheme of BIS registration is granted to jewellers for selling hallmarked jewellery and recognition is given to Assaying and Hallmarking Centres for hallmarking jewellery based on purity observed during testing. Hallmarking provides consumers i.e, jewellery buyers third party assurance and satisfaction that they get right purity of gold (or silver).

The implementation of Mandatory Hallmarking was carried out in two phases :

1. First phase: 1^st phase of Mandatory Hallmarking was successfully implemented with effect from 23 June 2021 vide Hallmarking of Gold Jewellery and Gold Artefacts Order, 2022. In this phase, 3 grades of gold articles viz 14 carat (585 fineness), 18 carat (750 fineness) and 22 carat (916 fineness) were covered under mandatory hallmarking order. In this phase, the order was implemented in 256 districts having at least one Assaying and Hallmarking Centre.
2. Second phase: 2^nd phase of mandatory hallmarking was implemented from 01 June 2022 vide Hallmarking of Gold Jewellery and Gold Artefacts (Amendment) Order, 2022, dated 04 April 2022. The second phase of the mandatory hallmarking covers three additional caratages of gold jewellery/artefacts viz. 20 carat (833 fineness), 23 (958 fineness) and 24 carats (995 fineness) as mentioned in the Indian Standard IS 1417.
3. The second phase covers additional 32 districts under the mandatory hallmarking regime wherein an Assaying and Hallmarking Centre (AHC) has been setup post implementation of the first phase of the mandatory hallmarking order.

3 . Smart Solutions Challenge & Inclusive Cities Awards 2022

PIB Release – https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1856053
Context : The Minister for Housing & Urban Affairs & Petroleum and Natural Gas, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri presented Smart Solutions Challenge & Inclusive Cities Awards 2022, here today

About Smart Solutions and Inclusive Cities Awards 2022 

• Launched this April, the Smart Solutions and Inclusive Cities Awards 2022 was designed with the aim of promoting people-centric design and to foster novel home-grown technological innovations and solutions.
• Over 100 entries were received through an open call for applications, out of which the top 10 technology-based innovations were identified as winning solutions after an intensive round of screenings and shortlisting by an eminent 7-member jury panel. The top 10 technology-based solutions were awarded the Inclusive Cities Awards 2022;
• These awards are an initiative of the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) and the United Nations (UN) in India to address city-level accessibility and inclusion challenges faced by persons with disabilities (PwD), women and girls, and the elderly.

4 . Logistics Ease Across Different States (LEADS)” survey

Context : The Government of India has prioritised developing a robust and cost-efficient logistics ecosystem. To fulfil this vision, the logistics division of DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce & Industry undertakes an annual “Logistics Ease Across Different States (LEADS)” survey in all States/ UTs to assess and suggest various improvements in logistics sector of the country.

About LEADS Survey

• The LEADS survey assesses viewpoints of various users and stakeholders across value chain (Shippers, Terminal Infrastructure Service Providers, Logistics Service Providers, Transporters and Government agencies) to understand the ‘enabler’ and ‘impediments’ to logistics ecosystem in the country.
• The annual survey, processes the data received from stakeholders (perception data) and States/ UTs (objective data) and ranks logistics ecosystem of each State/ UT using a statistical model.
• In the annual LEADS Report for 2021, Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab held top three ranks among States respectively while Jammu Kashmir, Sikkim and Meghalaya were top three in North-eastern States and Himalayan UTs respectively.

LEADS Survey 2022

• The LEADS 2022 Survey was rolled out in April this year. More than 600 physical meetings were held facilitated by more than 20 National Associations and 75+ Regional Associations across the country. Their active participation has resulted in more than 6,000 responses being collected this year. The States/ UTs too actively participated and provided necessary data pertaining to the survey.
• The LEADS 2022 survey further propels the transformative approach by of PM-Gati Shakti. It identifies issues and bottlenecks which need immediate action and can help synergize supply chain.
• The National Master Plan which is being developed in association with BISAG-N now has 900+ GIS layers and 612 essential layers integrated by the States/UTs. The States/UT of Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Goa have been leading in the process of integration of essential data layers. Institutional mechanism for PM GatiShakti, all 36 States/UTs have formed State Logistics Coordination Committee (SLCC), 34 States/ UTs have formed Network Planning Group (NPG) and 35 States/ UTs have formed Technical Support Unit (TSU). 14 States/ UTs have also formed logistics policy of which 3 States/UTs are in draft stage.
• The LEADS 2022 survey, along with PM GatiShakti’s transformative approach, is to break the silos and improve the logistics efficiency of the country which will also reflect positively on international indices, such as Logistics Performance Index (LPI) conducted biennially by the World Bank.  
• The LEADS 2022 exercise is scheduled to be completed by the end of September 2022, which shall be followed by release of LEADS 2022 Report in October 2022.

5 . Facts for Prelims

Puli Thevar – https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1855886 –

• Puli Thevar was a Tamil Palaiyakkarar who ruled Nerkattumseval, situated in the Sankarankoil taluk, Tenkasi,formerly Tirunelveli Tamil Nadu.
• He is notable fighting against East India Company at 1759 – 1761 in India.
• Ondiveeran and Venni Kaladi were the generals of Thevar’s army, to fight against the East India company.
• He is known for the Polygars revolt against the British.

Mera Ration Mera Adhikar – https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1856118

• On the occasion of Aazadi ka Amrit Mahotsav(AKAM) and to facilitate the States/UTs in rightful targeting of benefit under NFSA, Secretary (DFPD) launched a web-based Common Registration Facility (Mera Ration Mera Adhikar) on 5^th August 2022 for 11 States/UTs i.e. Assam, Goa, Lakshadweep, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Tripura and Uttrakhand. This facility has been developed by the NIC and is accessible on https://nfsa.gov.in.

Special DMR grade Plates – https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1856121

• The country’s steelmaking giant, Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), a Maharatna PSU, has supplied the entire DMR grade specialty steel for the nation’s first indigenously built Aircraft Carrier INS Vikrant. 
• The steel supplied by SAIL for this indigenous project comprises of special DMR grade Plates. These DMR grade plates have been developed by SAIL in collaboration with Indian Navy and DMRL.
• The DMR plates of Grade 249 A were used for the hull and vessel interiors and Grade 249 B for the flight deck of this warship. The entire quantity of speciality steel, except for the bulb bars, has been supplied by SAIL’s integrated steel plants at Bhilai, Bokaro and Rourkela. This special grade steel, DMR plates, which has been used for the construction of INS Vikrant is an import substitute. 

INS Vikrant

• INS Vikrant is designed by Indian Navy’s in-house Warship Design Bureau (WDB) and built by Cochin Shipyard Limited, a Public Sector Shipyard under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways,  Vikrant has been built with with state of the art automation features and is the largest ship ever built in maritime history of India.
• The Indigenous Aircraft Carrier is named after her illustrious predecessor, India’s first Aircraft Carrier which had played a vital role in the 1971 war. It has a large number of indigenous equipment and machinery, involving major industrial houses in the country as well as over 100 MSMEs. With the commissioning of Vikrant, India will have two operational Aircraft Carriers, which will bolster the maritime security of the nation.
• During the event, the Prime Minister also unveiled the new Naval Ensign (Nishaan), doing away with the colonial past and befitting the rich Indian maritime heritage.

SPARSH

• SPARSH is the web-based system processing the pension claims and crediting the pension directly into the bank accounts of defence pensioners without any external intermediary.
• The Defence Accounts Department is the nodal implementing agency of Project SPARSH, integrating over 3000 pension initiating, sanctioning and disbursement agencies.
• It has brought pension services right at the door step of the veterans – from digital process of pensioner verification to real time tracking of grievance redressal.

Global Innovation Index

• The Global Innovation Index is an annual ranking of countries by their capacity for, and success in, innovation.
• It was started in 2007 by INSEAD and World Business, a British magazine.
• Until 2021 it was published by the World Intellectual Property Organization, in partnership with Cornell University, INSEAD, and other organisations and institution and based on both subjective and objective data derived from several sources, including the International Telecommunication Union, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum.