💥UPSC 2026, 2027, 2028 UAP Mentorship (March Batch) + Access XFactor Notes & Microthemes PDF
Talk to mentor

Civilsdaily

Login

Type: Prelims Only

  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-Maldives

    Operation Sanjeevani

    Prelims Only | 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: Operation Sanjeevani

    Mains level: India-Maldives Relations

    An Indian Air Force (IAF) C-130J transport aircraft o delivered 6.2 tonne of essential medicines and hospital consumables to Maldives under Operation Sanjeevani.

    Operation Sanjeevani

    • At the request of the govt. of Maldives, the IAF aircraft activated Operation Sanjeevani and lifted these medicines from airports in New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Madurai before flying to the Maldives.
    • Among other things, these medicines include influenza vaccines, anti-viral drugs such as lopinavir and ritonavir — which have been used to treat patients with COVID-19 in other countries.
    • The flights are being operated on commercial basis following demands from pharmaceutical companies and their intermediaries and will carry cargo on inbound as well as outbound flights.
    • The cargo operations will help the airline earn some revenue at a time there is a ban on passenger flights and the entire fleet is grounded.

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024

    Attend Now

  • Health Sector – UHC, National Health Policy, Family Planning, Health Insurance, etc.

    BCG vaccine

    Prelims Only | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: BCG Vaccine

    Mains level: Coronovirus and the hunt for its vaccine

    According to a  US-based research, a combination of reduced morbidity and mortality could make the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination a “game-changer” in the fight against novel coronavirus.

    What is BCG Vaccine?

    • Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine is a vaccine primarily used against tuberculosis (TB).
    • In countries where TB or leprosy is common, one dose is recommended in healthy babies as close to the time of birth as possible.
    • In areas where tuberculosis is not common, only children at high risk are typically immunized, while suspected cases of tuberculosis are individually tested for and treated.

    How can TB vaccine help fight COVID-19?

    • The BCG vaccine contains a live but weakened strain of tuberculosis bacteria that provokes the body to develop antibodies to attack TB bacteria.
    • This is called an adaptive immune response, because the body develops a defense against a specific disease-causing microorganism, or pathogen, after encountering it.
    • Most vaccines create an adaptive immune response to a single pathogen.
    • Unlike other vaccines, the BCG vaccine may also boost the innate immune system, first-line defenses that keep a variety of pathogens from entering the body or from establishing an infection.

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024

    Attend Now

  • Industrial Sector Updates – Industrial Policy, Ease of Doing Business, etc.

    [pib] CCI Green Channel Route

    PIBPrelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Effects Of Liberalization On The Economy, Changes In Industrial Policy and their effects on Industrial Growth

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: CCI Green Channel

    Mains level: Not Much

    The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has received a request for merger of a company following green channel combination route.

    What is a Green Channel Route?

    • In a bid to facilitate mergers and acquisitions (combination) in the country, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has taken inspiration from the customs department and established a ‘green channel’.
    • Every Combination above a certain threshold, seeking to be sanctioned has to necessarily pass the CCI scanner in order to be approved.
    • The CCI characterizes the ‘green channel’ as an automatic system of approval for Combinations wherein the Combination is deemed to be approved upon filing the notice in the format prescribed.
    • The ‘green channel automatic approval upon notification route’ is a right step by CCI towards the propaganda of ease of doing business in India.

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024

    Attend Now

  • RBI Notifications

    Counter-cyclical Capital Buffers (CCyB)

    Prelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Countercyclical Capital Buffers (CCyB)

    Mains level: Various minimum capital requirements measures

    The RBI has announced that banks need not activate countercyclical capital buffers (CCyB) amid slowdown due to COVID-19 outbreak.

    What is Countercyclical Capital Buffer (CCyB)?

    • A capital buffer is a mandatory capital that financial institutions are required to hold in addition to other minimum capital requirements.
    • CCyB is the capital to be kept by a bank to meet business cycle related risks. It is aimed to protect the banking sector against losses from changes in economic conditions.
    • Banks may face difficulties in phases like recession when the loan amount doesn’t return.
    • To meet such situations, banks should have own additional capital. This is an important theme of the Basel III norms.

    CCyB framework in India

    • The framework on CCyB was put in place by the RBI in terms of guidelines issued in 2015 wherein it was advised that the CCyB would be activated as and when the circumstances warranted.
    • The framework envisages the credit-to-GDP gap as the main indicator, which is used in conjunction with other supplementary indicators.
    • It requires banks to build up a buffer of capital in good times, which may be used to maintain flow of credit to the real sector in difficult times.
    • The buffer was also meant to restrict the banking sector from indiscriminate lending in the periods of excess credit growth, which have often been associated with the building up of system-wide risk.

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024

    Attend Now

  • RBI Notifications

    Ways and Means Advances (WMA)

    Prelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: WMA

    Mains level: Tools for countering cash-flow mismatches

     

    The RBI has raised the Ways and Means Advances, or WMA, limit by 30% for all States and UTs to enable them to tide over the crisis caused by COVID-19 outbreak.

    What are Ways and Means Advances?

    • The RBI gives temporary loan facilities to the centre and state governments as a banker to the government.  This temporary loan facility is called WMA.
    • It is a mechanism to provide to States to help them tide over temporary mismatches in the cash flow of their receipts and payments.
    • It was introduced on April 1, 1997, after putting an end to the four-decade-old system of adhoc (temporary) Treasury Bills to finance the Central Government deficit.
    • Under Section 17(5) of RBI Act, 1934, the RBI provides Ways and Means Advances (WMA) to the central and State/UT governments.

    How is WMA availed?

    • This facility can be availed by the government if it needs immediate cash from the RBI.
    • The WMA is to be vacated after 90 days.
    • The interest rate for WMA is currently charged at the repo rate.
    • The limits for WMA are mutually decided by the RBI and the Government of India.

    Types of WMA

    There are two types of WMA — (1) Normal and  (2) Special :

    • Special WMA or Special Drawing Facility is provided against the collateral of the government securities held by the state.
    • After the state has exhausted the limit of SDF, it gets normal WMA. The interest rate for SDF is one percentage point less than the repo rate.
    • The number of loans under normal WMA is based on a three-year average of actual revenue and capital expenditure of the state.

    Back2Basics

    How the govt. meets temporary cash needs?

    The fund deficit or cash-flow mismatches of the Government are largely managed through:

    1. Issuance of Treasury Bills
    2. Getting temporary loans from the RBI called Ways and Means Advances (WMA) and
    3. Issuance of Cash Management Bills (CMBs)
    • Treasury Bills are short term (up to one year) borrowing instruments of the Government of India which enable investors to park their short term surplus funds while reducing their market risk.
    • CMBs are short term bills issued by the central government to meet its immediate cash needs. The bills are issued by the RBI on behalf of the government having a maturity of less than 90 days.

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024

    Attend Now

  • Pharma Sector – Drug Pricing, NPPA, FDC, Generics, etc.

    Price Monitoring and Resource Unit (PMRU)

    Prelims Only | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Price Monitoring and Research Unit (PMRU)

    Mains level: Drug prices monotoring mechanisms in India

    The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has set up price monitoring and resource unit (PMRU) in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir. With this J&K has become the 12th State/UT where the PMRU has been set up.

    Price Monitoring and Research Unit (PMRU)

    • It is a registered society set up for drug price monitoring.
    • PMRUs have already been set up by the drug price regulator NPPA in 11 states such as Kerala, Odisha, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Nagaland, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Mizoram.

    Its composition

    • The State Health Secretary would be the Chairman of the society and the Drugs Controller would be its member secretary.
    • Its members include a State government representative, representatives of private pharmaceutical companies, and those from consumer rights protection fora.
    • The society would also have an executive committee headed by the Drugs Controller.

    Terms of reference

    PMRU offers technical help to the State Drug Controllers and the NPPA to:

    • Monitor notified prices of medicines
    • Detect violation of the provisions of the DPCO
    • Look at price compliance
    • Collect test samples of medicines, and
    • Collect and compile market-based data of scheduled as well as non-scheduled formulations.

    Why need PMRU?

    • Pharma companies have been accused of overcharging prices of drugs in the scheduled category fixed by the DPCO and those outside its ambit too.
    • The suggestion to set up PMRUs was made against the backdrop of the lack of a field-level link between the NPPA and the State Drugs Controllers and State Drug Inspectors to monitor drug prices.

    Expected outcomes

    • The NPPA had fixed the prices of around 1,000 drugs and the unit would track if buyers were being overcharged.
    • It would also check if pharma companies were hiking the prices of non-scheduled drugs by more than 10% a year.
    • It will check if there is any shortage of essential medicines.

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024

    Attend Now

  • RBI Notifications

    Fully Accessible Route (FAR)

    Prelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Effects Of Liberalization On The Economy, Changes In Industrial Policy and their effects on Industrial Growth

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Voluntary Retention Route (VRR), Fully Accessible Route (FAR)

    Mains level: Not Much

    The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has introduced a separate channel, namely ‘Fully Accessible Route’ (FAR), to enable non-residents to invest in specified government bonds with effect from April 1.

    Fully Accessible Route (FAR)

    • The move follows the Union Budget announcement that certain specified categories of government bonds would be opened fully for non-resident investors without any restrictions.
    • Under FAR, eligible investors can invest in specified government securities without being subject to any investment ceilings.
    • This scheme shall operate along with the two existing routes, viz., the Medium Term Framework (MTF) and the Voluntary Retention Route (VRR).

    Benefits

    • This will substantially ease access of non-residents to Indian government securities markets and facilitate inclusion in global bond indices.
    • This would facilitate inflow of stable foreign investment in government bonds.

    Back2Basics

    Voluntary Retention Route (VRR)

    1. RBI had announced a separate scheme called VRR to encourage Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) to undertake long-term investments in Indian debt markets.
    2. Under this scheme, FPIs have been given greater operational flexibility in terms of instrument choices besides exemptions from certain regulatory requirements.
    3. The details are as under:
    • The aggregate investment limit shall be ₹ 40,000 crores for VRR-Govt and ₹ 35,000 crores for VRR-Corp.
    • The minimum retention period shall be three years. During this period, FPIs shall maintain a minimum of 75% of the allocated amount in India.
    • Investment limits shall be available on tap for investments and shall be allotted by Clearing Corporation of India Ltd. (CCIL) on ‘first come first served’ basis.

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024

    Attend Now

  • Zoonotic Diseases: Medical Sciences Involved & Preventive Measures

    Sodium Hypochlorite as Coronavirus disinfectant

    Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Achievements Of Indians In S&T

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Sodium hypochlorite, Bleaching Powder

    Mains level: Coronovirus outbreak and its mitigation

    In Uttar Pradesh, migrant workers travelling to their home states, or their belongings, were sprayed with a disinfectant, apparently to sanitise them.  The chemical in the spray was a sodium hypochlorite solution.

    Sodium hypochlorite

    • Sodium hypochlorite is commonly used as a bleaching agent, and also to sanitise swimming pools.
    • As a common bleaching agent, sodium hypochlorite is used for a variety of cleaning and disinfecting purposes.
    • It releases chlorine, which is a disinfectant. Large quantities of chlorine can be harmful.
    • The concentration of the chemical in the solution varies according to the purpose it is meant for.
    • A normal household bleach usually is a 2-10% sodium hypochlorite solution.
    • At a much lower 0.25-0.5%, this chemical is used to treat skin wounds like cuts or scrapes. An even weaker solution (0.05%) is sometimes used as a handwash.

    Note: The common bleaching powder is chemically referred to as Calcium hypochlorite and not Sodium hypochlorite.

    Is the chemical safe?

    • Sodium hypochlorite is corrosive and is meant largely to clean hard surfaces.
    • It is not recommended to be used on human beings, certainly not as a spray or shower. Even a 0.05% solution could be very harmful for the eyes.
    • A 1% solution can cause damage to the skin of anyone who comes in contact with it.
    • If it gets inside the body, it can cause serious harm to lungs.

    Does the chemical get rid of the novel coronavirus?

    • The WHO recommends homemade bleach solutions of about 2-10% concentration to clean hard surfaces to clear them of any presence of the novel coronavirus.
    • Cleaning hard surfaces with this solution can disinfect them not just from novel coronavirus but also help prevent flu, food born illnesses, and more.

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024

    Attend Now

  • RBI Notifications

    Moratorium Option for payment of installments

    Prelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Moratorium Option

    Mains level: Not Much

    The RBI has permitted banks to allow moratorium of three months on payment of instalments in respect of all loans including home, car and personal loan among others.

    What exactly this moratorium means?

    • Both the loan principal and interest are covered under the moratorium. This applies to all loans outstanding on March 1.
    • We must note that this is a postponement, not a waiver.
    • RBI’s wordings clearly say that the tenor for term loans across the board may be shifted by three months. This essentially means the loan will end 3 months later than was originally slated.
    • Essentially, it means that payees won’t be treated as a defaulter even if you don’t pay your EMI till May 2020, and your CIBIL score won’t be affected.
    • This moratorium period will not come free, and since the interest will continue to accrue on the outstanding portion of the loan during the moratorium period, it may increase the customers’ burden significantly.

    The installments include:

    1. principal and/or interest components;
    2. bullet repayments;
    3. Equated Monthly installments;
    4. credit card dues

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024

    Attend Now

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

    Earth Hour

    Prelims Only | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 1: Important Geophysical Phenomena

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Earth Hour

    Mains level: Climate activism

    The Earth Hour, observed annually on the last Saturday of March, was recently celebrated.

    Earth Hour

    • Earth Hour is a worldwide movement organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
    • It is held annually encouraging individuals, communities, and businesses to turn off non-essential electric lights, for one hour, from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. on a specific day towards the end of March as a symbol of commitment to the planet.
    • It was started as a lights-off event in Sydney, Australia, in 2007.

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024

    Attend Now