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Type: Explained

  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-United States

    Amid concerns in India and Brazil, the unused vaccine stockpile in US

    Explained | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Not much

    Mains level: Paper 2- Vaccine inequality

    Issue of diverting the vaccine stock to India

    • Epidemiologists to industry leaders are urging the Biden administration to release the reserve to countries like India and Brazil, given the assertion that the doses won’t be used in the US.
    • According to Brown University School of Public Health Ashish Jha, the US is “sitting on 35-40 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine Americans will never use”.
    • In early April, US chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci said the US will likely not need the AstraZeneca shot. 
    • The AstraZeneca vaccine has not been granted Emergency Use Authorization by the US Federal Drug Administration (FDA).
    • With documented cases of blood clots in younger women in Europe correlated with the vaccine, FDA authorisation may be further delayed.

    What has the US said in response

    • Co-ordinator of the US Covid-19 taskforce that the Quad partnership and team is providing assistance across government to the country.
    •  He also stated that as their confidence around our supply increases, we will explore the option of exporting the vaccines.

    Vaccine inequality

    • According to Bloomberg’s Vaccine Tracker, highest-income countries are vaccinating at a pace 25 times faster than the lowest ones.
    • The US has 22.9% of the world’s vaccines but only 4.3% of the world’s population.
    • China has 21.9% and 18.2% respectively, and India 13.8% and 17.7%, according to the tracker.
    • Almost half of all vaccines have gone to 16% of the world’s population.
    • The Washington Post reported that the world’s poorest 92 countries may not be able to vaccinate even 60% of their population for another three years.
    • India has vaccinated 8% per cent of the population with one dose and 1% with two. Brazil has vaccinated less than 12% with one.

    Impact on vaccination in African nations

    • India’s stalled vaccine exports have domino effects on the rollouts in African nations and other developing countries, as Serum’s productions were fuelling efforts globally before India’s second wave.

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  • Zoonotic Diseases: Medical Sciences Involved & Preventive Measures

    Understanding infections after Covid-19 vaccination

    Explained | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: How vaccine works

    Mains level: Paper 2- Breakthrough infections

    Breakthrough infections

    • There have been several cases of Covid-19 vaccinated people, even those who have received both doses, testing positive for the virus.
    • Such cases are referred to as “breakthrough” infections, indicating that the virus has been able to break through the defences created by the vaccine.
    • Such cases have led to some doubts being expressed about the effectiveness of the vaccine, and contributed to the already prevailing vaccine hesitancy. 
    • However, vaccines protect not against the infection, but against moderate or severe disease and hospitalisation.
    •  It typically takes about two weeks for the body to build immunity after being vaccinated.
    • So, the chances of a person falling sick during this period are as high — or as low — as the chances for any person who has not been vaccinated.
    •  Also, those in the priority list of vaccination, such as healthcare workers and frontline workers, have been prone to getting infected due to prolonged occupational exposure to the virus

    Full protection not possible

    • It is very well understood that no vaccine offers 100% protection from any disease.
    • However, according to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) in the United States, vaccinated people are much less likely to get sick, but it is never entirely ruled out.
    • Then there is the emergence of new variants of the virus.
    • Some variants of the virus are able to evade the human immune response, and therefore have a greater chance to break through the defences created through the vaccine.

    Breakthrough cases in India

    • Among 10.03 crore people who had taken only the first dose of Covishield vaccina, 17,145 had got infected.
    • That translates into a 0.02% prevalence.
    • Among the 1.57 crore people who received the second dose as well, 5,014, or about 0.03%, had got infected later.
    • About 1.1 crore doses of Covaxin have been administered until now.
    • Of the 93.56 lakh who took only the first dose, so far 4,208 have got the infection.
    • That is about 0.04% of the total.
    • Among the 17.37 lakh who have taken the second shot, only 695 had been infected, again 0.04%.

    Challenges

    • “Given the scope of the pandemic, there’s a huge amount of virus in the world right now, meaning a huge opportunity for mutations to develop and spread.
    • That is going to be a challenge for the developers of vaccines.

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  • Zoonotic Diseases: Medical Sciences Involved & Preventive Measures

    How & why of oxygen therapy

    Explained | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Epithelial cell

    Mains level: Paper 2-Oxygen requirement in covid patients

    How Covid-19 leads to shortness of breath?

    • Shortness of breath occurs because of the way Covid-19 affects the patient’s respiratory system.
    • When a person inhales, the tiny air sacs in the lungs — alveoli — expand to capture this oxygen, which is then transferred to blood vessels and transported through the rest of the body.
    • Respiratory epithelial cells line the respiratory tract.
    • Their primary function is to protect the airway tract from pathogens and infections, and also facilitate gas exchange.
    • And the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus can infect these epithelial cells.
    • To fight such infection, the body’s immune system releases cells that trigger inflammation.
    • When this inflammatory immune response continues, it impedes the regular transfer of oxygen in the lungs.
    • Simultaneously, fluids too build up.
    • Both these factors combined make it difficult to breathe.
    •  Low levels of oxygen triggered by Covid-19 are inflammatory markers, which include elevated white blood cell counts and neutrophil counts.

    Does a patient always show Covid symptoms when their oxygen levels drop?

    • No.
    • According to the FAQs on Covid-19 from AIIMS e-ICUS, sudden deaths have been reported at presentation to the emergency department, as well as in hospital.
    • AIIMS has said that the reasons that have been proposed include a sudden cardiac event, preceding “silent hypoxia” that went unnoticed, or due to a thrombotic complication such as pulmonary thromboembolism.
    • In silent hypoxia, patients have extremely low blood oxygen levels, yet do not show signs of breathlessness.

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  • Parliament – Sessions, Procedures, Motions, Committees etc

    President’s address in Parliament

    Explained | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Indian Constitution – historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: President’s address

    Mains level: Significance of Presidential address

    Many Opposition parties announced their decision to boycott the President’s address to the joint sitting of Parliament at the start of the Budget session in solidarity with the farmers protesting against the three farm laws.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. The President’s address is one of the most solemn occasions in the Parliamentary calendar. Discuss. Highlight its importance in Parliamentary Democracy.

    President’s address

    • The Constitution gives the President the power to address either House or a joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament.
    • Article 87 provides two special occasions on which the President addresses a joint sitting. The first is to address the opening session of a new legislature after a general election.
    • The second is to address the first sitting of Parliament each year. A session of a new or continuing legislature cannot begin without fulfilling this requirement.
    • When the Constitution came into force, the President was required to address each session of Parliament.

    In the UK, the history of the monarch addressing the Parliament goes back to the 16th century.  In the US, President Gorge Washington addressed Congress for the first time in 1790.

    History & precedent

    • In India, the practice of the President addressing Parliament can be traced back to the Government of India Act of 1919.
    • This law gave the Governor-General the right of addressing the Legislative Assembly and the Council of State.
    • The law did not have a provision for a joint address but the Governor-General did address the Assembly and the Council together on multiple occasions.
    • There was no address by him to the Constituent Assembly (Legislative) from 1947 to 1950.
    • And after the Constitution came into force, President Rajendra Prasad addressed members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha for the first time on January 31, 1950.

    By the govt, about the govt

    • The President’s speech essentially highlights the government’s policy priorities and plans for the upcoming year. The address provides a broad framework of the government’s agenda and direction.
    • There is no set format for the President’s speech. The Constitution states that the President shall “inform Parliament of the cause of the summons”.

    How it is done in India?

    • The speech that the President reads is the viewpoint of the government and is written by it.
    • Usually, in December, the PM’s Office asks the various ministries to start sending in their inputs for the speech.
    • A message also goes out from the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs asking ministries to send information about any legislative proposals that need to be included in the President’s address.
    • All this information is aggregated and shaped into a speech, which is then sent to the President. The government uses the President’s address to make policy and legislative announcements.

    Assembly debates on the matter

    • During the making of the Constitution, Prof K T Shah wanted the President’s address to be more specific.
    • He suggested that the language be changed to specify that the President shall inform Parliament “on the general state of the Union including financial proposals, and other particular issues of policy he deems suitable for such address”.
    • His amendment was inspired by the US Constitution, according to which the President gives to Congress information on the State of the Union, and recommend measures as he shall judge necessary.
    • But Shah’s amendment was rejected by the Constituent Assembly.
    • The address of the President follows a general structure in which it highlights the government’s accomplishments from the previous year and sets the broad governance agenda for the coming year.

    Notable addresses till date

    • In 1985 President Giani Zail Singh announced that PM Rajiv Gandhi’s government intended to introduce a new national education policy and the anti-defection law.
    • In 1996, PM Vajpayee’s 13-day government announced its intention of giving statehood to Uttaranchal and Vananchal (Jharkhand) and 33 percent reservation to women in legislatures.
    • During his second stint in 1999, Vajpayee’s government mooted the idea of a fixed term for Lok Sabha and State Vidhan Sabhas.
    • After the devastating tsunami of 2004, PM Manmohan Singh’s government used the President’s Address to announce the creation of a national law for disaster management.

    Procedure & tradition

    • In the days following the President’s address, a motion is moved in the two Houses thanking the President for his address.
    • This is an occasion for MPs in the two Houses to have a broad debate on governance in the country.
    • The PM replies to the motion of thanks in both Houses and responds to the issues raised by MPs.
    • The motion is then put to vote and MPs can express their disagreement by moving amendments to the motion.

    Role of the opposition

    • Opposition MPs have been successful in getting amendments passed to the motion of thanks in Rajya Sabha on five occasions (1980, 1989, 2001, 2015, 2016).
    • They have been less successful in Lok Sabha. For example in 2018, Lok Sabha MPs tabled 845 amendments of which 375 were moved and negated.

    Significance of the address

    • The President’s address is one of the most solemn occasions in the Parliamentary calendar.
    • It is the only occasion in the year when the entire Parliament, i.e. the President, Lok Sabha, and Rajya Sabha come together.
    • The event is associated with ceremony and protocol.
    • The Lok Sabha Secretariat prepares extensively for this annual event.
    • In the past, it used to get 150 yards of red baize cloth from the President’s house for the ceremonial procession.

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  • Economic Indicators and Various Reports On It- GDP, FD, EODB, WIR etc

    Comparison between India- Bangladesh per capita GDP

    ExplainedIOCR | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Issues relating growth and development, employment

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: GDP, GNP, GVA etc.

    Mains level: India's GDP related issues

    In IMF’s latest Economic Outlook, Bangladesh has overtaken India in GDP per capita. This has caught everyone’s attention.

    Do you know?

    • In the 2019 edition of Transparency International’s rankings, Bangladesh ranks a low 146 out of 198 countries (India is at 80th rank; a lower rank is worse off).
    • In the latest gender parity rankings, out of 154 countries mapped for it, Bangladesh is in the top 50 while India languishes at 112.

    Bangladesh surpasses India

    • Typically, countries are compared on the basis of GDP growth rate, or on absolute GDP.
    • For the most part since Independence, on both these counts, India’s economy has been better than Bangladesh’s.
    • This can be seen from Charts 1 and 2 that map GDP growth rates and absolute GDP — India’s economy has mostly been over 10 times the size of Bangladesh, and grown faster every year.
    • However, per capita income also involves another variable — the overall population — and is arrived at by dividing the total GDP by the total population.

    What made India lag behind?

    There are three reasons why India’s per capita income has fallen below Bangladesh this year:

    • The first thing to note is that Bangladesh’s economy has been clocking rapid GDP growth rates since 2004.
    • Secondly, over the same 15-year period, India’s population grew faster (around 21%) than Bangladesh’s population (just under 18%).
    • Lastly, the most immediate factor was the relative impact of Covid-19 on the two economies in 2020. While India’s GDP is set to reduce by 10%, Bangladesh’s is expected to grow by almost 4%.

    How has Bangladesh managed to grow so fast and so robustly?

    • Freshly start: In the initial years of its independence with Pakistan, Bangladesh struggled to grow fast. However, moving away from Pakistan also gave the country a chance to start afresh on its economic and political identity.
    • Diverse labour participation: As such, its labour laws were not as stringent and its economy increasingly involved women in its labour force. This can be seen in higher female participation in the labour force.
    • Textile boom: A key driver of growth was the garment industry where women workers gave Bangladesh the edge to corner the global export markets from which China retreated.
    • Less dependence on Agriculture: It also helps that the structure of Bangladesh’s economy is such that its GDP is led by the industrial sector, followed by the services sector. Both of these sectors create a lot of jobs and are more remunerative than agriculture.
    • Better social capital: Bangladesh improved a lot on several social and political metrics such as health, sanitation, financial inclusion, and women’s political representation.

    Retaining the lead

    • The IMF’s projections show that India is likely to grow faster next year and in all likelihood again surge ahead.
    • But, given Bangladesh’s lower population growth and faster economic growth, India and Bangladesh are likely to be neck and neck for the foreseeable future in terms of per capita income.

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  • Nobel and other Prizes

    Explained: Auction theory

    Explained | Economics | Mains Paper 3: issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Auction Theory, Nobel Prizes

    Mains level: Auction theory and its utility

    This year, the Nobel Prize for Economics was awarded to Paul R Milgrom and Robert B Wilson for “improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats”.

    Do you remember the 2G spectrum scam, Coalgate scam etc. that rocked the nation? Can you relate this auction theory for bidding public assets to private entities?

    What is Auction?

    • Essentially, it is about how auctions lead to the discovery of the price of a commodity.
    • Auction theory studies how auctions are designed, what rules govern them, how bidders behave and what outcomes are achieved.
    • When one thinks of auctions, one typically imagines the auction of a bankrupt person’s property to pay off his creditors.
    • Indeed, this is the oldest form of auction. This simple design of such an auction — the highest open bidder getting the property (or the commodity in question) — is intuitively appealing as well.

    Evolving definitions of auction

    • Over time, and especially over the last three decades, more and more goods and services have been brought under auction.
    • The nature of these commodities differs sharply. For instance, a bankrupt person’s property is starkly different from the spectrum for radio or telecom use.
    • Similarly, carbon dioxide emission credits are quite different from the spot market for buying electricity, which, in turn, is quite different from choosing which company should get the right to collect the local garbage.
    • In other words, no one auction design fits all types of commodities or seller.

    The Auction Theory

    Three key variables need to be understood before we move to actual propositions.

    (1) Rules of the auction

    • Imagine participating in an auction. Your bidding behaviour is likely to differ if the rules stipulate open bids as against closed/sealed bids.
    • The same applies to single bids versus multiple bids, or whether bids are made one after another or everyone bids at the same time.

    (2) Commodity or service

    • The second variable is the commodity or service being put up for auction. In essence, the question is how each bidder values an item.
    • This is not always easy to ascertain. In terms of telecom spectrum, it might be easier to peg the right value for each bidder because most bidders are likely to put the spectrum to the same use.
    • This is called the “common” value of an object.

    (3) Uncertainty

    • The third variable is uncertainty.
    • For instance, which bidder has what information about the object, or even the value another bidder associates with the object.

    The theory

    • Wilson developed the theory for auctions of objects with a common value — a value which is uncertain beforehand but, in the end, is the same for everyone”.
    • Wilson showed what the “winner’s curse” is in an auction and how it affects bidding.
    • As shown in the illustration, it is possible to overbid — $50 when the real value is closer to $25. In doing so, one wins the auction but loses out in reality.
    • Milgrom “formulated a more general theory of auctions that not only allows common values but also private values that vary from bidder to bidder”.
    • He analysed the bidding strategies in a number of well-known auction formats, demonstrating that a format will give the seller higher expected revenue when bidders learn more about each other’s estimated values.

    Significance of Auction theory

    • Throughout history, countries have tried to allocate resources in various ways.
    • Some have tried to do it through political markets, but this has often led to biased outcomes. For Ex: The rationing of essential goods worked in State-controlled economies. People who were close to the bureaucracy and the political class came out ahead of others.
    • Lotteries are another way to allocate resources, but they do not ensure that scarce resources are allocated to people who value it the most.
    • Auctions, for a good reason, have been the most common tool for thousands of years used by societies to allocate scarce resources.
    • When potential buyers compete to purchase goods in an auction, it helps sellers discover those buyers who value the goods the most.
    • Further, selling goods to the highest bidder also helps the seller maximise his or her revenues. So, both buyers and sellers benefit from auctions.
    • Whether it is the auction of spectrum waves or the sale of fruits and vegetables, auctions are at the core of allocation of scarce resources in a market economy.

    What are the criticisms levelled against auctions and what are the economists contribution?

    1.Issue of Winner’s Curse

    • The most common one is that auctions can lead buyers to overpay for resources whose value is uncertain to them.
    • This criticism, popularly known as the ‘winner’s curse’, is based on a study that showed how buyers who overpaid for U.S. oil leases in the 1970s earned low returns. Dr. Wilson was the first to study this matter.
    • The rational bidders may decide to underpay for resources in order to avoid the ‘winner’s curse’, and Dr. Wilson argued that sellers can get better bids for their goods if they share more information about it with potential buyers

    2.Auction formats

    • Economists traditionally working on auction theory believed that all auctions are the same when it comes to the revenues that they managed to bring in for sellers. The auction format, in other words, did not matter.
    • This is known as the ‘revenue equivalence theorem’.
    • But Dr. Milgrom showed that the auction format can actually have a huge impact on the revenues earned by sellers.
    • The most famous case of an auction gone wrong for the seller was the spectrum auction in New Zealand in 1990.
    • In what is called a ‘Vickrey auction’, where the winner of the auction is mandated to pay only the second-best bid, a company that bid NZ$1,00,000 eventually paid just NZ$6 and another that bid NZ$70,00,000 only paid NZ$5,000.
    • In particular, Dr. Milgrom showed how Dutch auctions, in which the auctioneer lowers the price of the product until a buyer bids for it, can help sellers earn more revenues than English auctions.
    • In the case of English auctions, the price rises based on higher bids submitted by competing buyers. But as soon as some of the bidders drop out of the auction as the price rises, the remaining bidders become more cautious about bidding higher prices.

    Conclusion

    • The contributions of Dr. Milgrom and Dr. Wilson have helped governments and private companies design their auctions better.
    • This has, in turn, helped in the better allocation of scarce resources and offered more incentives for sellers to produce complex goods.

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  • Right To Privacy

    Narco Test and the Issue of Consent

    Explained | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Indian Constitution – historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Narcoanalysis, Polygraph Test

    Mains level: Not Much

    Involuntary administration of narco or lie detector tests is an “intrusion” into a person’s “mental privacy,” a Supreme Court judgment of 2010 has held.

    Try this question:

    Q.What are the ethical issues associated with the Lie-detection tests?

    Various Lie detector tests

    (1) Polygraph Test

    • A polygraph test is based on the assumption that physiological responses that are triggered when a person is lying are different from what they would be otherwise.
    • Instruments like cardio-cuffs or sensitive electrodes are attached to the person, and variables such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, change in sweat gland activity, blood flow, etc., are measured as questions are put to them.
    • A numerical value is assigned to each response to conclude whether the person is telling the truth, is deceiving, or is uncertain.

    (2) Narcoanalysis

    • Narcoanalysis, by contrast, involves the injection of a drug, sodium pentothal, which induces a hypnotic or sedated state.
    • In such a state, the subject’s imagination is neutralized, and they are expected to divulge information that is true.
    • The drug, referred to as “truth serum” in this context, was used in larger doses as anaesthesia during surgery and is said to have been used during World War II for intelligence operations.

    Why these tests are so (in)famous?

    • Investigating agencies seek to employ these tests in the investigation, and are sometimes seen as being a “softer alternative” to torture or “third degree” to extract the truth from suspects.
    • These tests put into consideration the international norms on human rights, the right to a fair trial, and the right against self-incrimination under Article 20(3) of the Constitution.

    Legal status in India

    • In ‘Selvi & Ors vs State of Karnataka & Anr’ (2010), a Supreme Court Bench comprising CJI ruled that no lie detector tests should be administered “except on the basis of the consent of the accused”.
    • Those who volunteer must have access to a lawyer, and have the physical, emotional, and legal implications of the test explained to them by police and the lawyer, the Bench said.
    • It said that the ‘Guidelines for the Administration of Polygraph Test on an Accused’ published by the National Human Rights Commission in 2000, must be strictly followed.
    • The subject’s consent should be recorded before a judicial magistrate, the court said.

    What was the latest Judgement?

    • Involuntary administration of narco or lie detector tests is an “intrusion” into a person’s “mental privacy,” a Supreme Court judgment of 2010 has held.
    • The consequences of such tests on “individuals from weaker sections of society who are unaware of their fundamental rights and unable to afford legal advice” can be devastating.
    • It may involve future abuse, harassment and surveillance, even leakage of the video material to the Press for a “trial by media.”
    • Such tests are an affront to human dignity and liberty and have long-lasting effects.
    • “An individual’s decision to make a statement is the product of a private choice and there should be no scope for any other individual to interfere with such autonomy,” the apex court had held.

    Legal status of its outcome

    • The results of the tests cannot be considered to be “confessions”, because those in a drugged-induced state cannot exercise a choice in answering questions that are put to them.
    • However, any information or material subsequently discovered with the help of such a voluntarily-taken test can be admitted as evidence, the court said.
    • Thus, if an accused reveals the location of a murder weapon in the course of the test, and police later find the weapon at that location, the statement of the accused will not be evidence, but the weapon will be.

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  • Climate Change Impact on India and World – International Reports, Key Observations, etc.

    China’S Climate Commitment

    Explained | | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Net Zero

    Mains level: Climate change commitments

    Context- Speaking at the UN General Assembly, Chinese President Xi Jinping made two promises that came as a welcome surprise to climate change watchers.

    What has China announced ?

    • First, Xi said, China would become carbon net-zero by the year 2060.
      • Net-zero is a state in which a country’s emissions are compensated by absorptions and removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
      • Absorption can be increased by creating more carbon sinks such as forests, while removal involves application of technologies such as carbon capture and storage.
    • Second, the Chinese President announced a small but important change in China’s already committed target for letting its emissions “peak”, from “by 2030” to “before 2030”.
      • That means China would not allow its greenhouse gas emissions to grow beyond that point.
      • Xi did not specify how soon “before 2030” means, but even this much is being seen as a very positive move from the world’s largest emitter.

    How significant is China’s commitment?

    • China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases. It accounts for almost 30% of global emissions, more than the combined emissions in the United States, the European Union and India, the three next biggest emitters.
    • Getting China to commit itself to a net-zero target is a big breakthrough, especially since countries have been reluctant to pledge themselves to such long term commitments.
    • So far, the European Union was the only big emitter to have committed itself to a net-zero emission status by 2050.

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  • Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

    CBD Oil

    Explained | | Mains Paper 3: Health & Education

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: NA

    Mains level: Research and development is medical science

    Context- Earlier this week, late actor Irrfan Khan’s wife Sutapa Sikdar made an appeal to legalise CBD oil in India for its potential to treat cancer. Her appeal followed the criticism of actor Rhea Chakrabaorty after it was reported that she had administered CBD oil, used as a pain reliever for some, to Sushant Singh Rajput when he was alive.

    About CBD oil ?

    • CBD oil is an extract from the cannabis plant. The two main active substances in it are cannabidiol or CBD and delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.
    • The high that is caused by the consumption of cannabis is due to THC. CBD, however, does not cause a “high” or any form of intoxication.
    • CBD oil is made by extracting CBD from the cannabis plant, then diluting it with a carrier oil like coconut or hemp seed oil.
    • Cannabidiol can reduce pain and anxiety. It also reduces psychotic symptoms associated with conditions such as schizophrenia as well as epilepsy.
    • There is not enough robust scientific evidence to prove that CBD oil can safely and effectively treat cancer.
    • CBD oil manufactured under a license issued by the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 can be legally used. However, the use of cannabis as a medicine is not much prevalent in India.

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  • Modern Indian History-Events and Personalities

    Who was Kanaklata Barua ?

    ExplainedPrelims Only | | Mains Paper 1: Role Of Women & Women Organization

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Kanaklata Barua

    Mains level: Role of women in Indian National Movement

    A Fast Patrol Vessel (FPV) named ICGS Kanaklata Barua was commissioned in the Indian Coast Guard on Wednesday, in Kolkata. It is named after a teenage freedom fighter who was shot dead in Assam during the Quit India Movement.

    Who was Kanaklata Barua ?

    • One of the youngest martyrs of the Quit India Movement, Kanaklata Barua has iconic status in Assam. Barua.
    • Then 17, led the Mukti Bahini, a procession of freedom fighters to unfurl the Tricolour at Gohpur police station on September 20, 1942. When police did not let them move forward, an altercation led to firing, killing Barua at the head of the procession.
    • She had joined the Mrityu Bahini [a kind of a suicide squad] just two days before the incident. The squad strictly admitted members aged 18 and above but Kanaklata was an exception. She wanted to lead the procession and after much persuasion she was allowed to.
    •  Even as Barua fell to bullets, she did not let go of the flag. She did not want it to touch the ground. Another woman volunteer behind her — Mukunda Kakoty — came and held the flag, and she, too, was shot.

      How important is her legacy ?

    •  1940’s was a time where you saw a lot of women coming to the fore, leading processions, patriotic fervour was at its peak — and Kanaklata was a product of this time.
    • There are schools named after her, there are two statues, there is a ship. While we see her as an icon now, people in her village hated her then — she was a rebel, who questioned patriarchy.

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