Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 20 August 2017

::National::

Driving down India’s National Highways could be a much safer experience

• Driving down India’s National Highways could be a much safer experience by the end of this year, with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) set to roll out an ‘incident management system’.
• Under this, ambulances will be stationed every 50 kilometres to be able to respond to any mishap within 15 minutes of it being reported on a national accident helpline.
• A greener drive is also likely for road users. Trucks running on CNG will be able to hit the highways without worrying about their fuel tank’s range.
• CNG fuel stations will come up with wayside amenities on highways as part of a proposal now under discussion between the Ministries of Road Transport and Highways, as well as Petroleum and Natural Gas.
• A larger four-bedded ambulance with medical recovery systems that can save lives within the ‘golden hour’ will be placed every 100 km in seven States to begin with: Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
• National Highways accounted for 35% of total deaths on Indian roads and 29% of the total number of persons injured in road accidents in 2015, as per official statistics.
• The NHAI plans to invite bids for running the ambulance service on highways from manufacturers of such specialised vehicles, hospitals and emergency response service providers, among others, by the end of this month.
• The NHAI has also mooted the inclusion of CNG fuel stations in the wayside amenities coming up along all highways.
• CNG-powered trucks or buses need a top-up after every 100 km, whereas CNG cars can travel up to 200 km before a refill is needed.

Centre for an urgent overhaul of inventory management of foodgrains

• The Centre is understood to be carrying out an urgent overhaul of inventory management of foodgrains to eliminate scenarios where it is compelled to allow exports from public stockholding of these items.
• The move is to allay the fears of some World Trade Organisation (WTO)-member nations that India could export surplus grains from food security stockpiles to markets overseas at subsidised prices and distort international trade.
• The development also assumes significance as it comes in the backdrop of increased efforts by India to ensure a permanent solution to the public stockholding issue at the WTO-level talks by this December.
• As per the WTO, public stockholding is a policy tool used by governments to purchase, stockpile and distribute food when needed.
• Incidentally, in July 2012, the Centre had approved the export of two million tonnes of wheat “for managing the over-flowing wheat stocks in the central pool.”
• The move was aimed at “disposing of the excess wheat stocks from the central pool to make space available for the forthcoming kharif crop of paddy and then wheat crop in the rabi Season,” the Centre had said then.
• Meanwhile, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Lok Sabha on July 31 that “India has a long-standing position on the need to prioritise the agreed mandate of the (WTO’s ongoing) Doha Round (negotiations).
• In particular, the Ministerial decision to find a permanent solution by December 2017 on public stockholding for food security purposes, which relates to protection of our food-grain procurement programme at Minimum Support Prices.

Banks have started insolvency proceeding against several defaulters

• Sending a strong signal to bank defaulters, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said they had to make sure that the debt was serviced.
• “I think one thing is very clear here that the old regime by which the creditor would get tired chasing the debtor to have some recovery is over,” Mr. Jaitley said at a seminar organised by the CII on insolvency and bankruptcy.
• Banks have started insolvency proceeding against several defaulters including the top 12 ones, following a direction from the RBI. These 12 constitute 25% of the system NPA and each of them has an exposure of Rs. 5,000 crores or more.
• The Minister said the new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016 was necessitated by the failure of the debt recovery tribunals to effectively perform their duty after the initial success.
• He said the government was taking special measures to strengthen the infrastructure of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
• He said it was important to stick to the timeline for resolving stress. “Speed really will help in effective implementation,” he added.

::International::

Venezuela praises India's stand on the ongoing disturbances

• The world would be a safer place if the U.S. emulates India’s policy of non-interference in the affairs of other countries, says Venezuelan Ambassador to India Augusto Montiel.
• Mr. Montiel observed that India had maintained an independent position on the ongoing disturbances in Venezuela and has avoided pressure from the U.S.
• In June, when the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. threatened to leave the U.N. Human Rights Council if it did not sanction Venezuela, India was one of the 57 countries that cosigned a statement of support for Venezuela.”
• Venezuela has been facing unrest since March when the government of president Nicolas Maduro faced protests from the Opposition following his attempts at constitutional reforms.
• The subsequent crisis has seen clashes almost every day. On August 17, clashes between government guards and convicts in a prison claimed 37 lives and drew strong comments from various members of the U.N.
• However, India has maintained a cautious position on the issue and is yet to criticise either of the parties in the crisis. The envoy said the Non-Aligned Movement, of which Venezuela is the current chair, have been supportive of the government of Mr. Maduro.
• The previous NAM summit was hosted last year in Venezuela where the Indian delegation was led by the then Vice-President, Hamid Ansari. He said the support of NAM will be visible in the U.N. session in September-October.
• Venezuela has been one of the main energy suppliers to India from the western hemisphere and there are obvious concerns that instability in the country could affect India’s energy needs.

::Business and Economy::

Indian-American doctor developed medicine for sepsis

• Each year globally, more than 600,000 infants die of sepsis, a condition of bacterial infection that spreads fast and leads to organ failure.
• But a therapy developed by a team led by an American professor of Indian origin, Pinaki Panigrahi, over the last 20 years and details of which were published in Nature this week could do wonders.
• The therapy has been found to reduce the risk of infection by 40% in trials and it can be inexpensive — less than one dollar for a course.
• The therapy is to feed the infant with good bacteria that will populate his/her gut and block harmful bacteria.
• The probiotic bacterial strain is aided with a non-absorbable sugar to enhance its ability to effectively colonise the gut — researchers call the probiotic-sugar combination a synbiotic.
• The oral therapy starts during day 2-4 of life, as a preventive measure, much like a vaccine.
• More than a quarter of neonatal deaths in India are due to sepsis, which is one of the two most common causes of neonatal deaths globally, according to a study published in the Lancet Global Health in 2016. In a significant number of cases, the infection probably begins in the gut.
• The probiotic study in neonates, largest in medical history, covered 4,556 babies, and stopped short of the initial plan to cover 8,000 of them.
• The indiscriminate use of wide-spectrum antibiotics is causing resistance to many drugs and a probiotic solution such as this could avert a health crisis in the making.
• The concept of consuming probiotics in the form of curd and the importance of gut health dates back to the originating days of Ayurveda that dates back to 6,000 BC.

Production of coconut-activated carbon has been hit due to GST

• Production of coconut-activated carbon, used for purification of water, edible oil and gas and in sectors such as healthcare and cosmetics, has been hit due to increasing raw material prices post the implementation of GST.
• Whole coconuts, coconut kernel and husk do not attract GST. However, 5% duty is levied on coconut shells. These shells are sold by farmers and vendors in the unorganised sector to charcoal producers.
• Charcoal is not covered under GST. It is the raw material used by activated carbon producers. Activated carbon attracts 18% GST. There are about 15 units in South India making activated carbon from coconut shells.
• According to data available with the Coconut Development Board, activated carbon is exported mainly to the U.S., the U.K. and South Korea. This increased to 40,132 tonnes worth Rs. 402 crore during the same period last year.
• In the case of supply of activated carbon to the domestic market, the buyers are able to take input credit of the GST paid. But, costs have gone up for exporters. The activated carbon industry is growing at 5% annually and exports at 10% to 15%.

Centre and RBI are working on a scheme to boost capital in public sector banks

• The Centre and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are working on a scheme to boost capital in public sector banks reeling under the pressure of bad loans. RBI Governor Urjit Patel emphasised time-bound resolution of stressed assets.
• “NPA resolution would necessitate a higher recapitalisation of these banks,” Mr. Patel said. “The Government and the RBI are in dialogue to prepare a set of measures to enable state-run banks to shore up the requisite capital in a time-bound manner,” he said.
• Mr. Patel said measures could include a combination of raising capital from the market, dilution of government holding, additional capital infusion by the government, mergers based on strategic decisions and sale of non-core assets.
• Observing that the ratio of gross non-performing assets in the banking system was 9.6% and that the stressed assets ratio was at 12%, as at the end of March, Mr. Patel said the persistently high ratio over the last few years was a matter of concern.
• He said 86.5% of GNPAs are accounted for by large borrowers that are defined as borrowers with aggregate exposure of Rs. 5 crore and above.
• RBI had recommended that banks initiate insolvency proceedings for 12 large defaulters, constituting 25% of the system’s NPAs. Lenders would have to take a haircut in the process, the RBI acknowledged.

::Science and Tech::

Scientific evidence of copper vessel’s antibacterial property

• There is an age-old practice of storing drinking water in copper vessels to rid the water of bacteria.
• Scientific evidence of copper vessel’s antibacterial property became available in March 2012 when a paper found that water stored in copper vessels for 16 hours killed pathogenic bacteria such as E. coli and cholera causing Vibrio cholerae O1, and Salmonella species.
• Now, researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru have developed a water-filter membrane with copper ions to make drinking water safe.
• Though copper oxide is an excellent antibacterial agent, it can be toxic if the concentration of copper in the water exceeds 1.3 ppm (WHO standard).
• So the researchers coated copper oxide with a biocompatible polymer for controlled release of copper ions. A porous gel-like structure of copper oxide coated with the polymer was used for coating the membrane. The polymer used for coating copper has anti-fouling property.
• The SMA polymer coated on the membrane, which gets partially hydrolysed when in contact with water, interacts with the outer membrane of the bacteria to produce disc shaped structures.
• This enzyme released from the bacteria cleaves the polymer coating found on copper oxide resulting in controlled release of copper ions from the membrane into water.
• But when water with very high concentration of bacteria (10,000 colony-forming units of bacteria per ml of water) was used, the amount of copper ions in water at the end of four hours was 1.6 ppm, which is more than the WHO limit.
• But the ability of copper ions to kill bacteria found in high concentration was four orders of magnitude higher at the end of four hours.
• These membranes with controlled release of copper ion may turn out to be a potential candidate for water purification applications with enhanced antibacterial and antifouling performances.

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