Daily News Simplified - DNS

06 08 20
Notes
THE HINDU
SL. NO. TOPICS
PAGE NO.

1 Centre formulating R&D policy to bolster drug discovery 15

2 Taking nuclear vulnerabilities seriously – Article 07

3 EWS quota challenge referred to Constitution Bench 10

4 Brus reject resettlement site offer 11

5 The urban migrant and the ‘ritual’ tug of home – Lead Article 06
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Title 1. Centre formulating R&D policy to bolster drug discovery (The Hindu - Pg 15)
Syllabus Prelims: General Science
Mains: GS Paper III – Science & Technology; GS Paper II – Social Issues – Health
Theme New R&D Policy on drug discovery
Highlights Context: The Indian Medical device Industry is a sunrise segment in healthcare space. The production of
medical Devices is a growing sector and its potential for growth is the highest among all sectors in the
healthcare market. It is presently valued at Rs. 50,000 crore and is expected to reach to Rs. 86,000
crores by 2021-22. However, India depends on imports up to an extent of 85% of total domestic demand
of medical devices.
Hence, in order to achieve self-sufficiency and become major exporter of medical devices, the Union
Cabinet has approved the following schemes in March 2020:
• Promotion of Medical Device Parks
• Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for promoting domestic manufacturing of medical
devices.

Present Status of Medical Device Industry in India

The Indian healthcare Industry was valued at over $ 100 billion in 2016 and is expected to reach $ 175
billion with CAGR of 20%.The medical device Industry was accorded the status of independent Industry
in 2014 when it was included as one of focus sectors of "Make in India Program".
The Indian Medical device Industry is highly fragmented. Currently, this sector is dominated by MNCs
and with 80-85% of demand met through imports. Approximately, around 30% of the domestically
manufactured devices are exported, in which consumables and disposables segment has the largest
share.

Problems faced by Medical Devices:

• Lack of favorable policy and regulatory framework
• Unlike Pharmaceuticals, manufacturing of medical devices is dependent on a mix of technologies
such as engineering, electronics, material science and IT. Hence, India has failed to emphasis on
domestic manufacturing of medical devices.
• Medical Device sector in India suffers on account of lack of adequate infrastructure, domestic
supply chain and logistics, high cost of finance, inadequate availability of quality power, limited
design capabilities and low focus on R&D and skill development, etc.

Promotion of Medical Devices Parks

Aim: The Scheme aims to promote Medical Device Parks in the country in partnership with the States.
Financial Assistance: A maximum grant-in-aid of Rs.100 crore per park will be provided to the States.
Implementation agency: Implemented by a state Implementing Agency (SIA)
Target: Provide financial assistance for Common Infrastructure Facilities for 4 Medical Device parks.

Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme

Aim: Boost domestic manufacturing by attracting large investments in medical device sector.
Incentives provided: Under the Scheme, incentive @ 5% of incremental sales over base year 2019-20
will be provided on the segments of medical devices identified under the Scheme.
Implementation agency: Project Management Agency (PMA) to be nominated by Department of
Pharmaceuticals.
Target: Provide assistance to about 25-30 manufacturers under the following categories of medical
devices: -
1. Cancer care/Radiotherapy medical devices,
2. Radiology & Imaging medical devices (both ionizing & non-ionizing radiation products) and
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Nuclear Imaging Devices,

3. Anesthetics & Cardio-Respiratory medical devices including Catheters of Cardiorespiratory
Category & Renal Care Medical Devices and
4. AII Implants including implantable electronic devices like Cochlear Implants and
Pacemakers

Benefits of the Schemes

• Boost domestic manufacturing and attract large investments in the medical device sector
• Setting up of Common Infrastructure Facilities in 4 Medical Device Parks is expected to reduce
manufacturing cost of medical devices.
• Generation of additional employment of 34,000 jobs over a period of five years.
• Substantial reduction in import of medical devices.

Personal Notes
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Title 2. Taking nuclear vulnerabilities seriously – Article (The Hindu - Pg 7)

Syllabus Prelims: Current events of international importance, General Science
Mains: GS Paper III – Security; GS Paper II – International Relations – Arms Race
Theme Nuclearisation and its probable future impact
Highlights Context: This article talks about the threats due to Nuclearisation of the world. It also elucidates the
vulnerabilities regarding current arguments in favour of the Nuclear arms. So in this discussion we will
understand: (Description)
o Two instances of use of Nuclear weapons so far (Prelims perspective)
o Current status of Nuclearisation across the globe
o Vulnerabilities regarding Nuclear weapons

Prelims Perspective
• There are only two instances of use of Nuclear weapons so far:
o On August 6, 1945 USA dropped a uranium gun-type bomb ("Little Boy") on Hiroshima.
o Three days later USA dropped a plutonium implosion bomb ("Fat Man") on Nagasaki.
• Impact
o Those two bombs killed over 2,00,000 people, some of them instantaneously, and
others within five months.
o Another 2,00,000 people or more who survived the bombings of these two cities, most
of them injured, have been called the hibakusha.
o Because of the long-lasting effects of radiation exposure as well as the mental trauma
they underwent, the plight of these survivors has been difficult.

While Hiroshima and Nagasaki have been the last two cities to be destroyed by nuclear weapons, we
cannot be sure that they will be the last.

So what is the current status of Nuclearisation across the globe?

• Countries:
o Since 1945, the United States, the Soviet Union/Russia, the United Kingdom, France,
China, Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea have armed themselves with nuclear
weapons that have much more destructive power in comparison to those that
destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
• Numbers:
o Over 1,26,000 nuclear weapons have been built since the beginning of the atomic age.
o Over 2,000 of them have been used in nuclear tests, above and below the ground, to
demonstrate their explosive power, causing grave and long-lasting damage to the
environment and public health.
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But this damage is nothing compared to what might happen if some of the existing weapons are used
against civilian populations. An appreciation of the scale of the potential damage and a realisation that
nuclear weapons could be launched at any moment against any target around the world should instil a
sense of vulnerability in all of us.

Vulnerabilities
• No real defence because of the speed and accuracy of delivery systems:
o There is no realistic way to protect ourselves against nuclear weapons, whether they
are used deliberately, inadvertently, or accidentally.
o The invention of ballistic missiles at the end of the 1950s, with their great speed of
delivery, has made it impossible to intercept nuclear weapons once they are launched.
o Neither fallout shelters nor ballistic missile defence systems have succeeded in negating
this vulnerability.
o Nuclear weapon states are targets of other nuclear weapon states, of course, but non-
nuclear weapon states are vulnerable as well.
• The problems of deterrence:
o People think that nuclear deterrence is enough to prevent its use:
The idea
• Nuclear weapons are so destructive that no country would use them,
because such use would invite retaliation in kind, and no political
leader would be willing to risk the possible death of millions of their
citizens.
What the supporters of this idea claim?
• Nuclear weapons do not just protect countries against use of nuclear
weapons by others, but even prevent war and promote stability.
o But, these claims are not correct:
Countries with nuclear weapons have in fact gone to war quite often, even
with other countries with nuclear weapons, albeit in a limited fashion or
through proxies.
• Cold war events
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• Conflicts between India and Pakistan, India and China.

• Crimea by Russia
To the contrary, nuclear threats have often lead to escalation, as was the case
during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
• The illusion of Controllability of nuclear weapons
o In the real world, it is not possible for planners to have complete control.
o However, the desire to believe in the perfect controllability and safety of nuclear
weapons creates overconfidence, which is dangerous.
o Overconfidence, as many scholars studying safety will testify, is more likely to lead to
accidents and possibly to the use of nuclear weapons.

In several historical instances, what prevented the use of nuclear weapons was not control practices but
either their failure or factors outside institutional control. The most famous of these cases is the 1962
Cuban Missile Crisis. There are likely many more cases during which the world came close to nuclear war
but because of the secrecy that surrounds nuclear weapons, we might never know.

Personal
Notes
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Title 3. EWS quota challenge referred to Constitution Bench (The Hindu Page 10)
Syllabus Prelims: Polity & Governance
Mains: GS Paper II - Polity & Governance
Theme EWS Criteria judicially challenged

Highlights Context: The Supreme Court has referred to a five-judge Bench the matter of reservation provided to
Economically Weaker Sections (EWS).
Grounds of Challenge
• The primary question for the Constitution Bench to decide is whether “economic
backwardness” can be the sole criterion for granting quota in government jobs and
educational institutions for those who would otherwise have to compete in the general
category.
• The other “substantial question of law” is whether grant of 10% reservation to economically
weaker sections of the society is unconstitutional and violates the 50% ceiling cap on quota
declared by the Supreme Court itself.

Centre’s View on granting 10 per cent reservation

• The Centre had argued that it was every State’s prerogative to provide 10 per cent economic
reservation in State government jobs and admissions in State-run education institutions.
• So, whether or not to provide reservation to the economically weaker section (EWS) of the
society for appointment in State government jobs and for admission to State government
educational institutions, as per provisions of the newly inserted Articles 15(6) and 16(6) of the
Constitution, is to be decided by the State government concerned

Constitution (One Hundred and Third Amendment) Act, 2019

• The reservation of 10% will be over and above the existing 50 per cent reservation enjoyed by
the members of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Classes. This will
take the total reservation to 60 per cent.
• The reservations intends to include such members who do not avail the benefits of
reservation, This includes members in the general category as well as members of the minority
communities including Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christian and other communities who do not
enjoy any kind of reservation.

Note* "Economically Weaker Sections" shall be notified by the State from time to time on the basis of
family income and other indicators of economic disadvantage.’

Ensuring fair opportunity

• The directive principles of State policy contained in Article 46 of the Constitution mentions
that the State shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the
weaker sections of the people, and, in particular, of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled
Tribes. But, economically weaker sections of citizens were not eligible for the benefit of
reservation.
• Thus, the proposed amendment aims to ensure that economically weaker sections of citizens
get a fair chance of receiving higher education and participation in employment in the services
of the State. This will also fulfill the mandate of Article 46.

Amendment in Article 15
• The Act inserts a new provision – Article 15(6), whereby
(a) State can make any special provision for the advancement of any “economically
weaker sections of citizens”
(b) State can make any special provision for the advancement of any “economically
weaker sections of citizens” relate to their admission to educational institutions
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including private educational institutions, whether aided or unaided by the State.

(c) However, such reservation will not apply to minority educational institutions.
(d) Reservation to such educational institutions would be in addition to the existing
reservations and subject to a maximum of 10 per cent.

Amendment in Article 16
• The Act amends Article 16 by inserting a new provision Article 16(6) where the state may
make any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any economically
weaker sections of citizens in addition to the existing reservation and subject to a maximum of
ten per cent.

Personal
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Title 4. Brus reject resettlement site offer (The Hindu Page 11)
Syllabus Prelims: Human Geography, Polity & Governance
Mains: GS Paper II: Social Issues – Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections
Theme Resettlement of Bru Refugees in Tripura

Highlights Context: Three organisations representing the Bru community displaced from Mizoram have rejected
the sites proposed by the Joint Movement Committee (JMC), an umbrella group of non-Brus in Tripura,
for their resettlement. Let us understand the issue of resettlement of Bru Refugees in Tripura.
The issue highlighted in the news
• The Mizoram Bru Displaced Peoples’ Forum, Mizoram Bru Displaced Peoples’ Coordination
Committee and Bru Displaced Welfare Committee have also trashed the demand for inclusion
of four JMC members in the monitoring team for the resettlement of the Brus.
• The JMC comprising the Bengali, Mizo, Buddhist Barua and other communities had on July 21
submitted a memorandum to the Tripura government specifying six places in Kanchanpur and
Panisagar subdivisions of North Tripura district for the resettlement of the Brus who fled
ethnic violence in Mizoram since 1997. The JMC also proposed settling 500 families at most in
these places.

About Bru Refugees

• The Brus are spread across Tripura, Mizoram and parts of southern Assam are the most
populous tribe in Tripura.
• Also known as Reangs in the state, they are ethnically different from the Mizos, with their own
distinct language and dialect and form one of the 21 scheduled tribes of Tripura. In Mizoram,
they are largely restricted to Mamit and Kolasib districts.
• Over two decades ago, they were targeted by the Young Mizo Association (YMA), Mizo Zirwlai
Pawl (MZP), and a few ethnic social organisations of Mizoram who demanded that the Bru be
excluded from electoral rolls in the state.
• In 1997, following ethnic tension, around 5,000 families comprising around 30,000 Bru-Reang
tribals were forced to flee Mizoram and seek shelter in Tripura. These people were housed in
temporary camps at Kanchanpur, in North Tripura.
• Since then, over 5,000 have returned to Mizoram in nine phases of repatriation, while 32,000
people from 5,400 families still live in six relief camps in North Tripura.
• Since 2010, Government of India has been making sustained efforts to permanently
rehabilitate these refugees. The Union government has been assisting the two State
governments for taking the care of the refugees. Till 2014, 1622 Bru-Reang families returned
to Mizoram in different batches.
• On 3rd July, 2018, an agreement was signed between the Union government, the two State
governments and representatives of Bru-Reang refugees, as a result of which the aid given to
these families was increased substantially.
• Subsequently, 328 families comprising of 1369 individuals returned to Mizoram under the
agreement. There had been a sustained demand of most Bru-Reang families that they may be
allowed to settle down in Tripura, considering their apprehensions about their security.
• In Tripura, they are recognised as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG).

Settlement of Bru Refugees in Tripura

• Under the new agreement, around 34,000 Bru refugees will be settled in Tripura and would be
given aid from the Centre to help with their rehabilitation and all round development, through
a package of around Rs 600 crores.
• These refugees will get all the rights that normal residents of the States get and they would
now be able to enjoy the benefits of social welfare schemes of Centre and State governments.
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• Under the new arrangement, each of the displaced families would be given 40x30 sq.ft.
residential plots, in addition to the aid under earlier agreement of a fixed deposit of Rs. 4
lakhs, Rs. 5,000 cash aid per month for 2 years, free ration for 2 years and Rs. 1.5 lakhs aid to
build their house. The government of Tripura would provide the land under this agreement.
• All cash assistance will be through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), and the state government will
expedite the opening of bank accounts and the issuance of Aadhaar, permanent residence
certificates, ST certificates, and voter identity cards to the beneficiaries.

How did the Agreement happen?

• In June 2018, Bru leaders signed an agreement in Delhi with the Centre and the two state
governments, providing for repatriation to Mizoram. Most residents of the camps, however,
rejected the “insufficient” terms of the agreement.
• Only 328 families returned to Mizoram, rendering the process redundant. The camp residents
said the package did not guarantee their safety in Mizoram, and that they feared a repeat of
the violence that had forced them to flee.
• On November 16, 2019, Pradyot Kishore Debbarma, scion of Tripura’s erstwhile royal family,
wrote to Home Minister Amit Shah seeking the resettlement of the Bru in the state which was
also supported by Chief Minister of Tripura.

When will the settlement take place?

• Physical verification to identify beneficiaries will be carried out within 15 days of the signing of
the deal. The land for resettlement will be identified within 60 days, and the land for allotment
will be identified within 150 days.
• The beneficiaries will get housing assistance, but the state government will build their homes
and hand over possession.
• They will be moved to resettlement locations in four clusters, paving the way for the closure of
the temporary camps within 180 days of the signing of the agreement.
• All dwelling houses will be constructed and payments completed within 270 days.

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Title 5. The urban migrant and the ‘ritual’ tug of home (The Hindu Page 16)
Syllabus Mains: GS Paper III: Economy, GS Paper II: Social Issue, Governance

Theme Migration during COVID-19

Highlights Context: The article focuses in the issue of Migration that happened during the lockdown in the
background of COVID-19 Pandemic. It is argued that the migration happened not because of the
economic crisis but because of the fear of dying alone and with nobody to perform the last rites.

So mainly the article provides arguments in favour of this hypothesis.

Unemployment is a part of life for urban migrant labourer

• The Indian labouring classes are much less rattled by joblessness

• It is because 93% of our economy is informal.

• the Industrial Disputes Act further encourages trend.
• It mandates employers to pay severance wages, and other benefits, only if workers are hired,
and on the rolls, continuously for over 248 days.
• This law has had the unintended consequence of making it attractive for management to
periodically hire and fire labour . As a result, only a minuscule minority stays employed for
long.

Industrial opportunity vs the family glue

• When faced with a threat the attraction towards family is stronger than the opportunity
provided by the industry to the migrant labourer.
• In Surat in 1979, when there was a widespread fear that a satellite was going to fall smack in
the city centre, causing untold deaths, a large number of migrants there left for their villages.
• Again, in Surat, in 1994, the plague scare prompted over 6,00,000 to leave their work
• In both these instances, jobs were not threatened, but there was this perceived fear of death.
• On the other hand, when demonetisation happened in 2016, only a few migrant workers left
because this distress was primarily economic, without a threat to life.
• During COVID 19 men without families went home because they did not want to die alone.
• So the argument is that unemployment does not send migrant workers to their villages
because their families there are in no position to help them financially.

Rituals and customs in different communities

• Among Muslims, washing of the body as well as the lowering of the shrouded corpse are
important aspects of death rituals and ought to be performed by the immediate family
• among Hindus, male blood kin alone can perform the pind daan and the ritual erasure of
debts, or (rin), of the dead relative.
• If these, and other rules, are not followed correctly, the soul of the dead person would keep
wandering

Why less number of Woman migrated

• Women form 55% of rural migrants to urban India
• But only few of them started moving back home during the lockdown.
• It was because arranged marriages have brought most of them to the city, not the job
prospect.
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• Thus women stay with their families in the urban areas and it is the single rural men who work
as migrant labourers who migrate during threats back to their villages.

When urban workers rush to their rural homes, it is because they fear a death where nobody prays for
them more than a life where nobody pays them.

Personal
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