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NEWS

The government of India is proposing National Policy for Medical Devices, 2022 to reduce India’s dependence on import of high-end medical devices

THE POLICY

WHAT IS IN PROPOSED?

• Incentivizing the export of medical devices and related technology projects through tax rebates and refunds
• Increasing government spending in “high-risk” projects in the medical devices sector
• Single-window clearance system for licensing medical devices
• Public-private partnerships to reduce the cost of healthcare, drive efficiency
• Aid quality improvements in medical devices manufactured in the country
• Enabling a pricing environment with no price control on newly developed innovation in the sector
• NPPA (National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority) shall be strengthened with adequate manpower of suitable expertise to provide effective price regulation balancing patient and industry needs and incorporating innovation and life cycle costs as factors in pricing regulation of medical devices

WHAT IS THE NEED?

• Nearly 80 per cent of the medical devices currently sold in the country are imported, particularly high-end devices
• Government aims to
  • Reduce India’s import dependence from 80 per cent to nearly 30 per cent in the next 10 years
  • Become one of the top five global manufacturing hubs for medical devices by 2047
• India’s medical devices sector has so far been regulated as per provisions under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act of 1940, and a specific policy on medical devices has been a long standing demand from the industry. There is a lack of regulatory teeth when it came to medical devices.
• Also aims to increase India’s per capita spend on medical devices. 

NEWS

National Vaccination/Immunisation Day is observed every year on March 16 to convey the significance of vaccination as well as its role in public health

DETAILS

WHY MARCH 16 - On this day in 1995 that the first dose of Oral Polio vaccine was given in India

IMPORTANCE OF VACCINATION

• Most effective method of preventing highly infectious diseases. According to the World Health Organisation, immunisation is a proven tool for controlling and eliminating life-threatening infectious diseases.
• Extensive immunity due to vaccination is mostly responsible for the world-wide eradication of small pox and the restraint of diseases like Polio, Measles and Tetanus from a large part of the world.
• It is estimated to avert between 2-3 million deaths every year.
• The benefits of immunisation are not limited to improvements in health and life expectancy but also have the social and economic impacts at both the community as well as national level.

2022 THEME -  ‘Vaccines Work for all’

ADDITIONAL INFO

• In 2014, Mission Indradhanush was launched under the Universal Immunization Program to better the health of mothers and children who are deprived of vaccination.
• Mission Indradhanush by the Government of India aims at achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of ending preventable child deaths by 2030.
• The world’s largest COVID-19 vaccination program has been launched in India with an aim of vaccinating the entire population against the COVID-19 pandemic.

NEWS

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed Microfinance Institutions(MFI) the freedom to set interest rates they charge borrowers

DETAILS

NEW DEFINITION OF A MICROFINANCE LOAN 

• Loan that indicate a collateral-free loan given to a household having annual income of up to Rs. 3 lakh
• Earlier limit - Rs.1.2 lakh for rural borrowers and Rs.2 lakh for urban borrowers

WHO ARE COVERED

• All Commercial Banks (excluding Payments Banks) and Urban Cooperative banks
• All Non-Banking Financial Companies including Microfinance Institutions and Housing Finance Companies

OTHER DETAILS

• Guidelines  will take effect on April 1
• Regulated Entities (REs) should put in place a board-approved policy regarding
  • pricing of microfinance loans
  • ceiling on interest rate
  • all other charges applicable to microfinance loans
  • disclose pricing-related information to a prospective borrower
  • change in interest rate or any other charge shall be informed to the borrower well in advance
• Can penalty be imposed - shall be applied on the overdue amount and not on the entire loan amount

What is a Microfinance Institution - Organization that offers financial services to low income populations. These services include microloans, micro savings and micro insurance

NEWS

As per RBI recent report, gross NPA have increased in MSME

DETAILS

WHAT IS A NON-PERFORMING ASSET

• Loans or advances that are in default or are in arrears on scheduled payments of principal or interest
• Debt is classified as non-performing, when the loan payments have not been made for a minimum period of 90 days

WHY - Sector is hit by Pandemic

WHAT HAS GOVERNMENT DONE

• Ministry of MSME launched the MSME Innovative Scheme (Incubation, Design and IPR) along with the MSME IDEA HACKATHON 2022
• RBI and the government introduced several measures including the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) which provided Rs 3 lakh crore of unsecured loans to MSMEs and businesses
• RBI also extended the scheme of one-time restructuring of loans to MSMEs without an asset classification downgrade and permitted bank lending to NBFCs

SOLAR POWER

Conversion of renewable energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV), indirectly using concentrated solar power, or a combination.

HOW IS SOLAR POWER GENERATED

 Photovoltaic electricity

• Solar panels are attached to an aluminium mounting system. Photovoltaic (PV) cells are made up of at least 2 semi-conductor layers – a positive charge, and a negative charge.
• As a PV cell exposed to sunlight, photons are reflected, pass right through, or absorbed by the solar cell. When enough photons are absorbed by the negative layer of the photovoltaic cell, electrons are freed from the negative semiconductor material. These freed electrons migrate to the positive layer creating a voltage differential.
• When the two layers are connected to an external load, the electrons flow through the circuit creating electricity.
• The power generated is direct current (DC), which is converted to alternate current (AC) with the use of inverters.

Solar-Thermal electricity

• It utilizes focused sunlight and converts it into high-temperature heat. That heat is then channeled through a conventional generator to produce electricity.
• Solar collectors capture and concentrate sunlight to heat a fluid which in turn generates electricity. There are several variations in the shape of the collectors. The most commonly used are parabolic troughs.
• A parabolic trough power plant use a curved, mirrored trough which reflects the direct solar radiation onto a glass tube containing a fluid and the fluid gets heated owing to the concentrated solar radiation and the hot steam generated is used to rotate the turbine to generate electricity. Commonly used fluids are synthetic oil, molten salt, and pressurized steam.
• The power generated is the direct current (DC) which is converted to alternate current (AC) with the use of inverters.

SOLAR POWER IN INDIA

• India lying in tropical belt has an advantage of receiving peak solar radiation for 300 days, amounting 2300-3,000 hours of sunshine equivalent to above 5,000 trillion kWh.
• India’s current installed solar power capacity, according to Central electricity authority, is 26025.97 MW which is 34% of total renewable energy sources i.e, 75055.92 MW till February 2019.
• India facing problems in fulfilling its energy demand, solar energy can play an important role in providing energy security.
• Debate of global warming and climate change is compelling the world to move from fossil based energy towards clean and green energy.
• With its pollution free nature, virtually inexhaustible supply and global distribution, solar energy is very attractive energy resource.
• India's Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC’s) commitment include 100 GW of solar power out of 175 GW renewable energy by 2022.
• Even as India continues down this impressive journey, there are some areas of concern to highlight. First, of the 50 GW installed solar capacity, an overwhelming 42 GW comes from ground-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, and only 6.48 GW comes from roof top solar (RTS); and 1.48 GW from off-grid solar PV.

WHY IS INDIA FALLING SHORT IN ROOF-TOP SOLAR INSTALLATIONS?

• Limited financing for residential consumers and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
• Lukewarm responses from electricity distribution companies (DISCOMS) to supporting net metering
• Governments, utilities, and banks will need to explore innovative financial mechanisms that bring down the cost of loans and reduce the risk of investment for lenders
• Increased awareness, and affordable finance for RTS projects could potentially ensure the spread of RTS
• Aggregating roof spaces could also help reduce overall costs of RTS installations and enable developing economies of scale.

WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES TO INDIA’S SOLAR POWER CAPACITY ADDITION?

Despite significant growth in the installed solar capacity, the contribution of solar energy to the country’s power generation has not grown at the same pace. In 2019-20, for instance, solar power contributed only 3.6% (50 billion units) of India’s total power generation of 1390 BU.

The utility-scale solar PV sector continues to face challenges like land costs, high T&D losses and other inefficiencies, and grid integration challenges. There have also been conflicts with local communities and biodiversity protection norms. Also, while India has achieved record low tariffs for solar power generation in the utility-scale segment, this has not translated into cheaper power for end-consumers.

WHAT’S THE STATE OF INDIA’S DOMESTIC SOLAR MODULE MANUFACTURING CAPACITY?

• Domestic manufacturing capacities in the solar sector do not match up to the present potential demand for solar power in the country
• Crisil’s report on the subject highlights that as on March 31, 2021, India had 3 GW capacity for solar cell production and 8 GW for solar panel production capacity. Moreover, backward integration in the solar value chain is absent as India has no capacity for manufacturing solar wafers and polysilicon
• In 2021-22, India imported nearly $76.62 billion worth solar cells and modules from China alone, accounting for 78.6% of India’s total imports that year.
• Low manufacturing capacities, coupled with cheaper imports from China have rendered Indian products uncompetitive in the domestic market. This situation can, however, be corrected if India embraces a circular economy model for solar systems. This would allow solar PV waste to be recycled and reused in the solar PV supply chain
• By the end of 2030, India will likely produce nearly 34,600 metric tonnes of solar PV waste. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) estimates that the global value of recoverable materials from solar PV waste could exceed $15 billion.
• India could look at developing appropriate guidelines around Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), which means holding manufacturers accountable for the entire life cycle of solar PV products and creating standards for waste recycling. This could give domestic manufacturers a competitive edge and go a long way in addressing waste management and supply side constraints.

WHAT ARE THE KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM INDIA’S SOLAR STORY?

India has grown from strength to strength in overcoming barriers to achieve the 50 GW milestone in Feb 2022. The destination is clear, and the journey is progressing. As India attempts to deal with some of the shortcomings identified above, India’s solar story will continue to provide important lessons for other developing countries that are looking to transition to clean energy.

In addition to an impressive domestic track record, through the International Solar Alliance (ISA) established by India and France at COP-21 in 2015, there is a global platform to bring countries together to facilitate collaboration on issues such as mobilising investments, capacity building, program support and advocacy and analytics on solar energy. Technology sharing and finance could also become important aspects of ISA in the future, allowing a meaningful cooperation between countries in the solar energy sector.

NEWS

India and Japan held the sixth joint meeting of the India-Japan Act East Forum (AEF) recently

DETAILS

WHAT HAPPEN AT THE MEET

• Both sides reviewed the progress of ongoing projects in various areas including hydropower, connectivity, forest management, skill development, water supply and sewerage, Japanese language education
• Exchanged views on possible new areas of cooperation

ABOUT AEF

• Established under India’s “Act East Policy” and Japan’s vision for a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific,”
• Provides a platform for India and Japan to collaborate in the North-Eastern region.
• Established in September 2017
• Objective - identify specific projects for the economic modernization of India’s North-East region, such as connectivity, developmental infrastructure, industrial linkages, and people-to-people contacts through tourism, culture, and sports-related activities.

ACT EAST POLICY

• Launched in November 2014 at the East Asia Summit in Myanmar
• Focus on economic and security integration and mainly focuses on areas like South East Asia and East Asia

LOOK EAST POLICY

• Launched by the former Prime Minister  P.V. Narasimha Rao in the year 1991
• Aim of shifting the India’s trading focus from the west and neighbours to the South East Asian countries
• Discontinued in 2014 with the enactment of Act east policy

NEWS

Every year, 15 March is celebrated as World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD)

DETAILS

WHY MARCH 15 -  It marks the date in 1962 President John F Kennedy first outlined the definition of Consumer Rights

SIGNIFICANCE

• Opportunity to promote the basic rights of all consumers, for demanding that those rights are respected and protected,
• Protesting the market abuses and social injustices which undermine them.

2022 THEME: Fair Digital Finance

OTHER DETAILS

• First observed on 15 March 1983
• Consumers International (CI), which was founded in 1960 organises WCRD
• Consumer Rights Day — India December 24th. On this day the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 had received the assent of the President.

CONSUMER RIGHTS IN INDIA

• Right to Safety- Before buying, a consumer can insist on the quality and guarantee of the goods. They should ideally purchase a certified product like ISI or AGMARK.
• Right to Choose- Consumer should have the right to choose from a variety of goods and in a competitive price
• Right to be informed- The buyers should be informed with all the necessary details of the product, make her/him act wise, and change the buying decision.
• Right to Consumer Education- Consumer should be aware of his/her rights and avoid exploitation. Ignorance can cost them more.
• Right to be heard- This means the consumer will get due attention to express their grievances at a suitable forum.
• Right to seek compensation- The defines that the consumer has the right to seek redress against unfair and cruel practices or exploitation of the consumer.

Consumer Responsibilities

• Responsibility to be aware – A consumer has to be mindful of the safety and quality of products and services before purchasing.
• Responsibility to think independently– Consumer should be well concerned about what they want and need and therefore make independent choices.
• Responsibility to speak out- Buyer should be fearless to speak out their grievances and tell traders what they exactly want
• Responsibility to complain- It’s consumer responsibility to express and file a complaint about their dissatisfaction with goods or services in a sincere and fair manner.
• Responsibility to be an Ethical Consumer- They should be fair and not engage themselves with any deceptive practice.