Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 04 July 2020

::NATIONAL::

To ensure sufficient availability of critical medical equipment for clinical management of COVID-19 in the country, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday that it had identified a list of critical medical equipment and had requested the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) to ensure its availability at affordable prices..
All the medical devices have been notified as drugs and have come under the regulatory regime of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013, with effect from April 1.
A stakeholders consultation with medical devices industry associations and civil society groups was held by the NPPA on July 1 wherein it was stressed that all the manufacturers and importers of critical medical equipment shall ensure sufficient availability of the same. “It has been reiterated that all the medical devices have come under price regulation accordingly, price increase of medical devices would be monitored,” the release said.
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The government has said that buyers' organisations will have to pay one percent interest per month on late payment to vendors for purchases made on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) platform.
Office of the Union Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman in a tweet said that in order to promote greater discipline and timeliness in payment to vendors, especially Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises- MSMEs, the government has issued an order to levy interest on late payment.
This will be applicable for all procurements made from 1st of October this year. For procurement made on GeM, buyers are mandated to make payments within 10 calendar days after generation of Consignee Receipt and Acceptance Certificate (CRAC) on the GeM. The Government has been repeatedly emphasising the need for prompt payment to vendors specially MSME vendors.
However, the interest amount will be deposited in an account maintained by GeM. This interest will not be paid to the vendor and will be kept by GeM in a separate account which will be used only for the education of sellers and buyers or other purposes related to GeM of public procurement with the prior approval of the Department of Expenditure.
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India and Bangladesh today signed an agreement for the formation of a 50:50 Joint Venture Company (JVC) for LPG business in Bangladesh.
The agreement was signed between the IOC Middle East FZE, Dubai, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and RR Holdings Ltd., Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, the holding company of Beximco LPG of Bangladesh. More from our Dhaka correspondent:
The new Joint venture company set up today takes further the ‘neighbourhood first’ policy of the government of India. The energy cooperation between India and Bangladesh has made big strides in the recent times.
The new Joint venture is another step in the same direction. The Joint Venture Company will help reduce the cost of import of LPG and make it more affordable for the consumers in Bangladesh.

US president Donald Trump has blamed Chinese aggression for the stand-off at the India-China border. Quoting Mr Trump, White House press secretary KayleighMcEnany said, China’s aggressive stance along the India-China border fits with a larger pattern of Chinese aggression in other parts of the world. She said, these actions only confirm the true nature of the Chinese Communist Party.
Mr Trump’s remarks come in the backdrop of Chinese actions both internally as well as across the Asian geopolitical theatre in the past few months.
In the past two months, China has passed a repressive national security legislation regarding Hong Kong, eroding its autonomy. Beijing has also stepped up its offensive in the South China Sea against countries such as Vietnam.
The White House statement reflected a shaper position that had been evolving in the US administration, especially by secretary of state Mike Pompeo. Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Pompeo offered full-throated support for the Indian ban on Chinese apps.

A vaccine for COVID-19 from India is unlikely to be ready for public use by August 15 but early data on whether it is safe and the proof of its working could be available by then, say clinicians involved with the trial.
The vaccine candidate, called Covaxin, has been developed by the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech India Ltd (BBIL) which got approvals from the Drug Controller General of India on June 29 for the phase-1 and phase-2 trials.
The trials are done on groups of people and are meant to test if the vaccine is safe on humans and produces protective antibodies. The potential vaccine in question is a SARS-CoV-2 strain sourced from the ICMR-National Institute of Virology.

Sri Lankan police on Friday dropped a match-fixing investigation into the 2011 World Cup final saying they found no evidence of Sri Lankan players letting India win. “We questioned two players and the chief selector and are satisfied with their explanation. The inquiry is now closed,” said a top police official.
The ICC on his part said there was no reason to doubt the integrity of the match, asserting that it had not been provided any evidence that would merit an investigation.