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[Yojana Archive] Reinventing Teachers’ Education
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Context
- The National Education Policy’s stated goal is to reinstate teachers as the most respected members of our society.
Evolution of Teacher Education

(a) Colonial Period
- The current style of schooling and teaching emerged during the British rule in India.
- This system focused on a behaviourist paradigm where education was concerned with preparing students to be disciplined, English-speaking clerks, to submissively execute the tasks of the British administration.
- It prepared teachers too as mechanics mainly concerned with classroom teaching.
(b) Post-independence
- There has been a slow paradigm shift in the system of teacher education in India, with the successful introduction of National Curriculum Framework (NCF)-2005, National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education (NCFTE) 2009, and Right to Education Act (RTE), 2009.
- The Justice Verma Commission in 2012 also stressed upon the need to improve the quality of pre-service and in-service teacher education.
- In 2014, the erstwhile Ministry of Human and Resource Development (MHRD) restructured its B Ed. programme by doubling the duration of the programme to two years.
- The new teacher education curriculum, designed by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) introduced several changes in the curriculum.
Need for reinventing Teacher Education
- In order to develop 21st-century skills like critical thinking – it is important for educators to develop skills like analysis, evaluation skills.
- There is a need to imbibe skills amongst students like communication, creativity, critical thinking and collaboration which we value as 21st-century skills.
- Students now do not rely solely on textbook information for their learning and they are far more aware.
- So, the educator here needs to go beyond the textbook.
- Educators need to command more respect by bringing in more professionalism in the way they deal with students and parents, control and manage the classroom environment.
Challenges to Teachers’ Education
- Poor training: The present system of training and recruitment is churning ill-equipped and poorly trained teachers.
- Lack of regulations: Mushrooming of colleges providing B Ed courses with no proper regulatory oversight.
- Directionlessness: Teacher Education Institutions have been working in isolation from rest of the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).
- Non-retention of Youth: There has been no system to ensure only motivated and meritorious individuals select teaching as a profession.
Teacher Education Post NEP- 2020
- Recognising the power of teacher, NEP 2020 has put in place systemic reforms that would help teaching emerge as an attractive profession of choice for bright and talented young minds.
- It has put in place different interventions like:
- Integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP)
- National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST)
- National Mission for Mentoring (NMM)
- At least 50 hours of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for every teacher in a year
- Eligibility requirement: The four-year Integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP), a dual-major holistic bachelor’s degree programme offering B.A., B.Ed/B. Sc., B. Ed., and B.Com. B.Ed, will be the minimum entry requirement for teachers.
Key features
- Multi-disciplinary approach: All stand-alone Teacher Education Institutes (TEIs) will be required to transform to multidisciplinary institutions by 2030.
- Professional Standards: The roll out of National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST) is a continuum in teacher education so far as it would cover expectations for the role of teacher at different levels of expertise/experience at different stages of his/her career, and the competencies required for that stage.
- Mentoring: National Mission for Mentoring (NMM) for schools will be operationalized by NCTE by creating a large pool of outstanding senior/retired faculty as potential mentors for mentees (school teachers, Principals, teacher educators, etc.)
- Focus on continuous learning: NEP, 2020 envisages each teacher to undergo at least 50 hours of CPD per year.
- NISHHA: NCERT has initiated the NISHTHA (National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement) integrated training programme. It is an online programme for different stages of school education– Teachers, Head Teachers/Principals, and other stakeholders in Educational Management and Administration.
Conclusion
- The multipronged approach adopted by NEP, 2020 is likely to revitalise the teacher education, allow bright students to opt for ITEP as a matter of choice rather than by chance.
- Interventions like NPST, NMM, CPD, etc. contribute to qualitative changes in teachers’ pedagogic transaction.
- Dr APJ Abdul Kalam had said “Enlightened citizenship has three components: education with value system, religion transforming into spiritual force, and creating economic prosperity through development”.
- We repose faith in our teachers to become torch-bearers for the young generation and shape India’s development and sustained progress in the right direction.
March 24, 2022
Indian Legislative Service
Context

The appointment of Dr. P.P.K. Ramacharyulu as the Secretary-General of the Upper House by M. Venkaiah Naidu, Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, on September 1, 2021, was news that drew much attention. Ramacharyulu was the first-ever Rajya Sabha secretariat staff who rose to become the Secretary-General of the Upper House.

Responsibilities and role of Secretaries-General of both the Houses
- Secretaries-General of both the Houses are mandated with many parliamentary and administrative responsibilities.
- Privileges: The Secretary-General also enjoys certain privileges such as freedom from arrest, immunity from criminal proceedings, and any obstruction and breach of their rights would amount to contempt of the House.
Principle of secretariate independent of executive government
- Article 98 of the Constitution provides the scope of separate secretariats for the two Houses of Parliament.
- The principle, hence, laid in the Article is that the secretariats should be independent of the executive government.
Issues with appointing civil servant
- A separate secretariat marks a feature of a functioning parliamentary democracy.
- Against the principle of independence: Serving civil servants or those who are retired come with long-held baggage and the clout of their past career.
- When civil servants are hired to the post of Secretary-General, this not only dishonours the purpose of ensuring the independence of the Secretariat but also leads to a conflict of interests.
- Against the principle of separation of power: It breaches the principle of separation of power.
- The officials mandated with exercising one area of power may not expect to exercise the others.
- Lack of expertise: One of the prerequisites that demand the post of the Secretary-General is unfailing knowledge and vast experience of parliamentary procedures, practices and precedents.
- Most of the civil servants lack precisely this aspect of expertise.
Way forward: All-India service
- There are thousands of legislative bodies in India, ranging from the panchayat, block panchayat, zila parishad, municipal corporations to State legislatures and Union Parliament at the national level.
- Despite these mammoth law-making bodies, they lack their own common public recruiting and training agency at the national level.
- Ensuring competent and robust legislative institutions demands having qualified and well-trained staff in place.
- The growth of modern government and expansion of governmental activities require a matching development and laborious legislative exercise.
- Creating a common all-India service cadre — an Indian Legislative Service — is a must.
- The Rajya Sabha can, under Article 312, pass a resolution to this effect.
- In the United Kingdom, the Clerk of the House of Commons has always been appointed from the legislative staff pool created to serve Parliament.
- It is high time that India adapts and adopts such democratic institutional practices.
Conclusion

A common service can build a combined and experienced legislative staff cadre, enabling them to serve from across local bodies to Union Parliament.

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March 23, 2022
Unable to Score Geography Questions Correctly in your Prelims Mock Test Series? || Then, Attend This Free Live Webinar By CD Mentor Purnima Ma’am|| How to Change Your Preparation Approach for Geography in the Last 60 Days?|| Limited Slots Available, Register Now

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Aspirants who generally have no problem with subjects like History, Polity, Art and Culture and Current Affairs, falter when it comes to Geography. This is because, Geography is a technical subject and one gets confused on what to read and what to give a miss.

It’s quite amusing but the reality is that there are more facts you might have to remember for geography than, maybe history or polity. This could range from water-bodies, ports, straits, important physical features, natural resources etc.

Barring a year or two, the number of geography questions that appeared in prelims have averaged in the range of 12-25. Scoring well in this area is important for those who are in the 80-90s range in their test series.

Free Open to All, Webinar by CD Geography Mentor Purnima Ma’am

REGISTER FOR PRELIMS FREE LIVE WEBINAR BY PURNIMA MA’AM

We understood the UPSC aspirants need of preparing for Geography in a less time consuming manner while understanding the relevant information for the exam.

That’s why on Thursday we are coming up with a free live webinar by Purnima Ma’am who will give all aspirants the right guidance on how to study for this subject for Prelims 2022. The webinar will be truly focused on Geography for Prelims 2022. By the end of the webinar, students will gain confidence and interest to open their atlas and textbooks and study the subject all over again.

Purnima Ma’am has completed BA in Geography from Miranda House and MA in Geography from Jawaharlal Nehru University. She is currently pursuing PhD in Geography on Net-JRF scholarship.

What Will You Learn From This Free Live Webinar?

1. Which NCERT books to cover? Purnima Ma’am will explain the chapters to read for Geography prelims in NCERT 6-12th books.
2. Topic wise importance for UPSC Prelims 2022. From Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Fundamentals of Human Geography, India, People and Economy.
3. What are the online sources to refer for topics not covered in NCERT? Purnima Ma’am will highlight the specific and limited literature which is available online for free.
4. Live demonstration of Previous Year Question Papers. The direct questions that from NCERT textbooks from Prelims 2016-2021.
5. How to do weekly revision for maps? Everything from straits, ports, geographic location that will be covered.
6. Current affair topics of 5 years for Indian and World Geography. How to do a final revision on these topics?
7. How to allocate time for Geography Revision on a daily basis if that’s the reason you are scoring less?
8. Certain Mnemonics to remember important facts in Geography. Popular memory techniques used by toppers to ace Geography.

Webinar Details

Start from where you are, use what you have and still score well in Geography prelims for UPSC-CSE 2022! Clear your doubts with Purnima Ma’am in the upcoming session.

Date: 24th March, 2022

Time: 7 PM

REGISTER FOR PRELIMS FREE LIVE WEBINAR BY PURNIMA MA’AM

March 23, 2022
A blow to equitable access to essential medicines
Context

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in October 2020, India and South Africa had tabled a proposal seeking a temporary waiver on COVID-19 related products from the TRIPS. Nearly 18 months later, 164 members of the WTO could not find common ground on the “waiver proposal”.

How will the waiver help?
- The application and enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPRs) are affecting the timely provisioning of affordable medical products to patients.
- Therefore, India and South Africa argued that therefore, argued that “rapid scaling up of manufacturing globally” was “an obvious crucial solution to address the timely availability and affordability of medical products to all countries in need”, and for doing so, IPRs must be waived for at least three years.
The EU solution
- The EU had proposed in a submission in June 2021 that “[c]ompulsory licences are a perfectly legitimate tool that governments may wish to use in the context of a pandemic”.
- India and South Africa, the movers of the “waiver proposal”, are among the four countries that found a “compromise outcome”.
- Only vaccines are included: The solution is a severely truncated version of the “waiver proposal” in terms of product coverage, as only vaccines are included.
- Generally, patent laws, including that of India’s, allow for the grant of compulsory licences if patent holders charge high prices on the proprietary medicines in exercise of their monopoly rights.
- Moreover, such licences can usually be granted if efforts in obtaining voluntary licences from the patent holders have failed.
- The EU proposal states there that in case of a medical urgency, as is the case now, this condition will be waived.
- The proposal also provides that WTO members would be able to issue compulsory licences even if they do not currently have the provisions to issue them under their national patent laws.
- Compulsory licences can even be granted using executive orders, emergency decrees, and judicial or administrative orders.
Issues with the EU solution

1] Eligible member criteria
- The waiver solution can be used only by an “eligible member”, defined as a “developing country member” of the WTO that “had exported less than 10 percent of world exports of COVID-19 vaccine doses in 2021”.
- This means that Bangladesh, which is still a least developed country, but has a growing pharmaceutical industry, is also excluded.
- Restricting China: The eligibility condition seems to have been introduced to limit China’s expansion in the global vaccine market.
- No concern for India: At the current juncture, India does not have to be concerned with the export restriction clause, as its share in global exports of vaccines was 2.4% as on January 31.
2] Export restrictions in the form of eligibility criteria
- While introducing the above-mentioned export restriction, the solution proposes to waive the obligation under Article 31(f) of the TRIPS Agreement.
- Article 31(f) provides that the compulsory licences issued by any WTO member must be used “predominantly for the supply of the domestic market”.
- But while they have proposed removal of Article 31(f), solution includes a more stringent export restriction in the form of the eligibility criteria mentioned above.
3] Further conditions
- The proposed condition of listing all patents covered under the compulsory licences is not a requirement under the TRIPS Agreement.
- Similarly, there is no obligation to notify the details of licensee, the quantity and export destination under the TRIPS provisions.
- But the EU proposal text proposes mandatory notification.
4] Transfer of know-how is not ensured
- According to the EU, when compulsory licences are granted, the “patent holder receives adequate remuneration”, but “[t]ransfer of know-how is not ensured”.
- This demerit of compulsory licences would make it difficult to scale up production of COVID-19 vaccines, medicines, and medical devices in the developing world, thus constraining their availability at affordable prices.
Conclusion

It must be said that by accepting the “compromise outcome”, India and South Africa could jeopardise their high moral ground. Consequently, the global community would lose an important opportunity to ensure that vaccines and medicines are accessible to all.

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March 23, 2022
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March 23, 2022
Make trade deals for Make in India
Context

It will be a good idea to look at the intent, reality, and other ramifications of India’s trade agreements, especially in regard to goods.

Why PTAs matters
- Amongst the existing Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs), the most commonly used by exporters and importers, are the agreements with the ASEAN region, South Korea, Japan, and South Asian countries.
- It is noteworthy that India has significant trade deficits with three of the aforementioned regions.
- Another factor to note is that three of these regions have significant manufacturing capacity and investment in their own territories.
- Thus, India’s ongoing initiatives in trade agreements must consider whether such deals strengthen imports into India or incentivize investment.
- This is all the more important as the Centre has laid out schemes like Phased Manufacturing Programs (PMPs) and Production Linked Incentives (PLIs) to encourage investment in Make in India.
How existing trade agreements affect Phased Manufacturing Programs(PMP)
- How does it work? Under the PMP, calibrated reductions in customs duty rates on inputs and intermediate goods have been provided along with higher duty rates on finished products.
- However, considering that many of the finished products are covered by zero duty rates under existing trade agreements with some regions or countries, manufacturers with existing facilities in such countries may not have a compelling reason to move manufacturing to India.
- Similar benefits exist under other agreements and may inhibit the uptake of the PMPs by multinational manufacturing entities.
Production Linked Incentives and trade agreements
- Under PLIs, based on a threshold level of capital investment and incremental production, subsidies are to be given to approved applicants.
- Such schemes cover 15 product categories as of now.
- In some cases, the attraction of incentives could score over the benefits of importing goods under low or nil rates of duty under PTAs.
Suggestions:
- The PLIs could become even more attractive if it is combined with certain pre-existing special governmental schemes that reduce costs and conserve cash flow.
- While the application window for most of the PLI schemes has closed, a few may be extended and depending on the success of current schemes, more could follow.
- Improving trade governance: PTAs are governed by written agreements between nation states or groups of nation states and domestic laws of the signatories.
- Contrary to a violation of a multilateral or plurilateral agreement entered into under the aegis of the WTO, enforcement mechanisms external to the parties, do not exist for PTAs.
- The committed benefits could be allowed or disallowed by customs rules (for example the CAROTAR in India) and customs officials, conditional upon certifications and validations.
- Mechanisms exist in the FTAs themselves to solve such matters, but in a situation where entities of different sizes and economic power attempt to resolve such issues, the resolutions may not be acceptable to all parties.
- Better governance mechanisms are needed.
Conclusion

It is expected that a holistic view, keeping in mind the government’s schemes on investment and trade governance, would inform future negotiations as well as a review of existing trade agreements of India.

Source:

https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/make-trade-deals-for-make-in-india/2457320/

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Back2Basics: CAROTAR 2020
- CAROTAR 2020 (“Rules”) aims to add to the existing operational certification procedures which are prescribed under different trade agreements such as Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), Preferential Trade Agreement, Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement and Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.
- The Customs (Administration of Rules of Origin under Trade Agreements) Rules, 2020 (CAROTAR, 2020), was notified on 21st August 2020 by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs.
March 23, 2022
Why ICJ order on Ukraine matters
Context

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ordered Russia to immediately suspend its military operations in Ukraine. In short, to end the war instantly.

Breach of the Genocide Convention
- Ukraine moved the ICJ against Russia accusing it of falsely claiming that Ukrainians are committing genocide in their territory and using this untruthful premise to start an illegal war.
- This, Ukraine believes, breaches its rights under the Genocide Convention — a treaty that is binding to both Russia and Ukraine.
- This decision was rendered by the ICJ in response to Ukraine’s application for indication of provisional measures under Article 41 of the ICJ Statute.
- Provisional measures under the ICJ Statute are the international equivalent of an interim injunction that can be provided by the court to preserve the rights of the parties pending a final decision on the merits of the case.
Three reasons cited by the ICJ

1] ICJ’s jurisdiction in the case
- Since 2014, Russia has been repeatedly accusing Ukraine of committing genocide in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
- Just before the military invasion, Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned ending the genocide in Ukraine as the reason to use force.
- Ukraine vehemently rejects this charge.
- Prima facie, this shows the existence of a “dispute” under Article IX of the Genocide Convention — the compromissory clause that bestows jurisdiction on the ICJ.
- Self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter: Russia contended that its formal basis for use of force against Ukraine was its right to self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter (a patently illegal argument, but this issue is not before the ICJ).
- The court held that it had prima facie jurisdiction in the case because the subject matter fell under the Genocide Convention.
2] Preservation of rights claimed by the parties
- Ukraine argues that it has a right under the Genocide Convention not to be falsely accused of genocide and rely on this wrong pretext to use force against its territorial integrity.
- The ICJ held that the objective of indicating provisional measures is the preservation of the rights claimed by the parties, pending the decision on merits.
- Since the current proceedings were only for provisional measures, the ICJ did not decide definitively whether Ukraine has such a right under the Genocide Convention.
- Nonetheless, the ICJ found Ukraine’s right plausible, which is adequate for the current purposes.
- While the court did not decide on whether Russia has breached the Genocide Convention, as this is a question of merits, it did express doubt over whether a country can unilaterally use force against another country for punishing or preventing an alleged act of genocide.
3] Risk of irreparable harm to Ukraine’s rights
- The ICJ held that if it does not indicate provisional measures, that is, order cessation of military action, there is a real and imminent risk of irreparable harm to Ukraine’s rights.
- This is because of the magnitude of destruction that the ongoing war has caused.
Significance of the order
- ICJ’s decision is binding on Russia and constitutes part of its international legal obligations.
- However, the remedy for not complying with ICJ rulings lies with the UN Security Council, which has Russia as a permanent member.
- But just because authoritarian populist leaders like Vladimir Putin don’t care for international law does not diminish its significance.
Conclusion

The weight of global opinion against Russia on its egregious abuse of international law is mounting with each passing day. Russia can keep ignoring this only at grave peril to itself.

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March 23, 2022
23rd March 2022| Daily Answer Writing Enhancement(AWE)
Topics for Today’s questions:

GS-1 Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone. etc., geographical features and their location-changes in critical geographical features (including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.

GS-2 Civil Service

GS-3 Intellectual Property Rights

GS-4 Probity in Governance

Question 1)

Q.1 Explain how natural greenhouse effect helps in maintaining Earth’s heat budget. What are the possible implications of rising concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in atmosphere on Earth’s heat budget? (15 Marks)

Question 2)

Q.2 What is the rationale behind having a mandatory ‘cooling-off’ period for retired civil servants? In light of numerous instances of violation of this provision, do you think there is a need to have a relook at Civil Services Conduct Rules? (10 Marks)

Question 3)

Q.3 What were the objectives of seeking a temporary waiver on Covid treatment-related products from certain obligations under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)? How waiver is different from compulsory licencing proposed by the European Union? (10 Marks)

Question 4)

Q.4 Transparency in government organisations is an essential pre-condition for good governance. Elucidate. (10 Marks)

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1. Daily 4 questions from General studies 1, 2, 3, and 4 will be provided to you.
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4. Upload the scanned answer in the comment section of the same question.
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March 23, 2022
Unable to Score Geography Questions Correctly in your Prelims Mock Test Series? || Then, Attend This Free Live Webinar By CD Mentor Purnima Ma’am|| How to Change Your Preparation Approach for Geography in the Last 60 Days?|| Limited Slots Available, Register Now

register for prelims free live webinar by purnima ma’am

Aspirants who generally have no problem with subjects like History, Polity, Art and Culture and Current Affairs, falter when it comes to Geography. This is because, Geography is a technical subject and one gets confused on what to read and what to give a miss.

It’s quite amusing but the reality is that there are more facts you might have to remember for geography than, maybe history or polity. This could range from water-bodies, ports, straits, important physical features, natural resources etc.

Barring a year or two, the number of geography questions that appeared in prelims have averaged in the range of 12-25. Scoring well in this area is important for those who are in the 80-90s range in their test series.

Free Open to All, Webinar by CD Geography Mentor Purnima Ma’am

REGISTER FOR PRELIMS FREE LIVE WEBINAR BY PURNIMA MA’AM

We understood the UPSC aspirants need of preparing for Geography in a less time consuming manner while understanding the relevant information for the exam.

That’s why on Thursday we are coming up with a free live webinar by Purnima Ma’am who will give all aspirants the right guidance on how to study for this subject for Prelims 2022. The webinar will be truly focused on Geography for Prelims 2022. By the end of the webinar, students will gain confidence and interest to open their atlas and textbooks and study the subject all over again.

Purnima Ma’am has completed BA in Geography from Miranda House and MA in Geography from Jawaharlal Nehru University. She is currently pursuing PhD in Geography on Net-JRF scholarship.

What Will You Learn From This Free Live Webinar?

1. Which NCERT books to cover? Purnima Ma’am will explain the chapters to read for Geography prelims in NCERT 6-12th books.
2. Topic wise importance for UPSC Prelims 2022. From Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Fundamentals of Human Geography, India, People and Economy.
3. What are the online sources to refer for topics not covered in NCERT? Purnima Ma’am will highlight the specific and limited literature which is available online for free.
4. Live demonstration of Previous Year Question Papers. The direct questions that from NCERT textbooks from Prelims 2016-2021.
5. How to do weekly revision for maps? Everything from straits, ports, geographic location that will be covered.
6. Current affair topics of 5 years for Indian and World Geography. How to do a final revision on these topics?
7. How to allocate time for Geography Revision on a daily basis if that’s the reason you are scoring less?
8. Certain Mnemonics to remember important facts in Geography. Popular memory techniques used by toppers to ace Geography.

Webinar Details

Start from where you are, use what you have and still score well in Geography prelims for UPSC-CSE 2022! Clear your doubts with Purnima Ma’am in the upcoming session.

Date: 24th March, 2022

Time: 7 PM

REGISTER FOR PRELIMS FREE LIVE WEBINAR BY PURNIMA MA’AM

March 23, 2022
Why the Russia-Ukraine crisis may lead to a shortage in Semiconductors?
The global supply of semiconductors is now being threatened once again by the Ukraine crisis on account of supply of two key raw materials — neon and palladium — that are at a risk of being constrained.

What are Semiconductors?
- A semiconductor sits between a conductor and an insulator and is commonly used in the development of electronic chips, computing components, and devices.
- It’s generally created using silicon, germanium, and other pure elements.
- Semiconductors are created by adding impurities to the element.
Why are neon and palladium important for chipmaking?

(a) Neon
- Neon gas is used in the photolithography process that is the most common method for fabricating integrated circuits.
- Specifically, the neon gas is used in the laser machines that carve the integrated circuits.
- But for use of neon gas in the semiconductor industry, the gas has to reach 99.99% purity levels — which makes it a rarity.
- More than half of semiconductor-grade neon comes from Ukrainian companies Incas and Cryoin.
(b) Palladium
- It is used for multiple purposes in semiconductor and electronic manufacturing.
- It is used to coat electrodes that help control flow of electricity.
- It is also used in plating of microprocessors and printed circuit boards — which is an essential process of chip making.
- Russia accounts for nearly half the global supplies of palladium and the multiple trade sanctions on Moscow threaten to constrain the availability of the element.
Why was there a shortage in semiconductors?
- The trigger point was the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns across the world that forced chip-making facilities to shut in countries like Japan, South Korea, China and the US.
- A key feature in a chip shortage is that it almost always causes cascading effects, given that the first one creates pent-up demand that becomes the cause for the follow-up famine.
How is the Russia-Ukraine crisis protracting this shortage?
- Palladium and neon are two resources that are key to the production of semiconductor chips.
- Russia supplies over 40 per cent of world’s palladium and Ukraine produces 70 per cent of neon.
How long will the semiconductor shortage last?
- The answer to that question is a function of two variables:
1. Existing stockpiles of these raw materials with chip manufacturers
2. Time for which the crisis in Ukraine prevails
- If a deal is not brokered in the coming months, expect the chip shortage to get worse and for industries highly dependent on them to be similarly affected.
- This means significant risks are ahead for many automakers, electronic device manufacturers, phone makers, and many other sectors that are increasingly reliant on chips for their products to work.
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March 23, 2022

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