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The Nobel Prize in chemistry for 2022 is being awarded to Carolyn R. Bertozzi, Morten Meldal and K. Barry Sharpless for developing “an ingenious tool for building molecule”, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in Stockholm.
The Nobel laureautesare being awarded for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry, the academy said.
Professor Carolyn Bertozzi of Stanford University, has taken click chemistry to a new dimension and started utilising it in living organisms. Her bioorthogonal reactions take place without disrupting the normal chemistry of the cell.
Barry Sharpless and Morten Meldal have laid the foundation for a functional form of chemistry – click chemistry – in which molecular building blocks snap together quickly and efficiently.
While American Professor Sharpless works in Scripps Research, Mr. Meldal is a Professor at University of Copenhagen.
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2022 is about making difficult processes easier. Click chemistry and bioorthogonal reactions have taken chemistry into the era of functionalism.
Click chemistry is utilised in the development of pharmaceuticals, for mapping DNA and creating materials that are more fit for purpose. Using bioorthogonal reactions, researchers have improved the targeting of cancer pharmaceuticals.
Last year the prize was awarded to scientists Benjamin List and David WC MacMillan for finding an ingenious and environmentally cleaner way to build molecules that the Nobel panel said is “already benefiting humankind greatly.
The Nobel Prize announcements kicked off on Monday with Swedish scientist Svante Paabo receiving the award in medicine for unlocking secrets of Neanderthal DNA that provided key insights into our immune system.
Three scientists jointly won the prize in physics on Tuesday. Frenchman Alain Aspect, American John F Clauser and Austrian Anton Zeilinger had shown that tiny particles can retain a connection with each other even when separated, a phenomenon known as quantum entanglement, that can be used for specialised computing and to encrypt information.
The prizes carry a cash award of 10 million Swedish kronor (nearly $900,000) and will be handed out on December 10.
The money comes from a bequest left by the prize’s creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel in 1895.
‘Pitch on poll promises’ cost not linked to freebie debate’ (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 2, Polity & Governance)
The Election Commission of India’s (EC) proposal that political parties disclose the financial ramifications of promises in their manifestos was not linked to the recent debate on freebies, but was aimed at improving the implementation of existing guidelines.
The EC had written to the heads of recognised national and State parties to seek their views on its proposal that parties provide details of the cost and impact of promises they make during polls.
While the Model Code of Conduct guidelines already require parties to explain the rationale behind their promises, the declarations did not provide adequate information.
Instead, the EC proposed a format for the parties to declare the information, including the extent of coverage of a promise, the cost to the exchequer, the ways in which it would be paid for and the implications for the State or Union government’s finances.
In addition, the EC proforma would also include details of the State or Union government’s receipts and expenditure that would be filled out by the Chief Secretary or Union Finance Secretary.
A day after the EC wrote its letter, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) hit out against it, terming it an “unwarranted move”, in a statement.
The EC had recently declined to be a part of a committee to examine the issue of freebies as proposed by the Supreme Court, which was hearing a Public Interest Litigation seeking regulation of freebies announced by parties.
In July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that “ revadi culture” or offering freebies was dangerous for the development of the country had stoked debate.
The Election Commission had, in an affidavit to the Supreme Court in April, stated that the Commission cannot regulate policy decisions of political parties and that it would be an overreach of its powers.
It is surprising that the Election Commission has now taken a contrary stand. Is this due to pressure being exercised by the executive.
Reacting to the development, Rajya Sabha MP KapilSibal said in a tweet on Wednesday that the EC may need a Model Code of Conduct (MCC) itself.
Telangana CM launches new party, makes foray into national politics (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 2, Polity & Governance)
Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao today launched his Bharat RashtraSamiti (BRS), renaming the existing Telangana RashtraSamiti founded by him, marking his foray into national politics.
The launch of the new party was announced by him at the appointed time - 1.19 PM - after the general body meeting of TRS adopted a resolution. Mr. Rao moved a one line resolution and later read out the full text of the objective when the meeting gave its approval by a round of applause.
Mr. Rao said the party was renamed with a view to expand its activities nationwide. Former Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and president of ViduthalaiChiruthaigalKatchiThol. Thirumavalavan greeted M.r Rao as soon as the announcement was made. Both of them had arrived here previous night. Leaders of farmers organisations from various States were also present.
Sources said Mr. Rao told the meeting that politics had become recreation for several parties in the country. But, it was a task for him to fulfil. He regretted that the plight of farmers was pathetic. Therefore, the BRS will march ahead with welfare of farmers as its main agenda.
It was unfortunate that Telangana continued to depend on processed food imported from abroad despite having immense food security. Maharashtra and Karnataka will be the priority States for BRS to improve the lot of farmers. “Let us work for the welfare of farmers in the two States first”.
Mr. Rao also said many people questioned him for restricting the programmes of TRS government to Telangana when he toured several parts of the country, sources added.
Mr. Kumaraswamy appreciated the programmes of the State government and wanted them to be replicated throughout the country. He described Mr. Rao as a visionary and wished success of BRS.
A letter with the resolution signed by 283 participants of the general body meeting and the amended constitution of the party incorporating the name change was addressed to the Election Commission on the occasion.
Two Ayurveda doctors booked under UAPA (Page no. 3)
(GS Paper 2, Polity & Governance)
Two Ayurveda doctors, both senior citizens, were arrested from north-east Delhi's KhajooriKhas and Chand Bagh areas on Wednesday afternoon and booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for allegedly planning and conspiring against the country.
According to the police, the two accused — Israr Ali Khan, 61, and Mohd. Samoon, 70, — were members of the now banned Popular Front of India (PFI) and were allegedly involved in “delivering hate speeches and propagating anti-national activities”.
They were booked at the KhajooriKhas police station for criminal conspiracy, promoting enmity among different groups and under various sections of UAPA.
The arrests were soon after the two accused came out on bail this week following their arrest on September 27 as part of multiple raids carried out across the country on PFI leaders and members.
While Mr. Israr practised at his clinic, also a diagnostic centre, near his house in KhajooriKhas, Mr. Samoon worked as a medical officer with the Central government till 2008, following which he applied for voluntary retirement.
Their family members, requesting anonymity, told The Hindu that the two doctors have been "framed" in false cases in an "unnecessary act of targeting".
Attending to patients inside the clinic situated in a narrow lane, Mr. Israr’s 30-year-old son, a homeopathy doctor, said his father recently became the State president of the State Democratic Party of India, an organisation widely thought to be the political wing of the PFI.
Apart from his medical work, Mr. Israr was only involved in gathering and providing relief funds to victims of natural disasters, said his son.
“I don’t know on what basis they have arrested my father as he has never been a part of any illegal activity in his life, let alone plan a conspiracy against the country.
As part of the SDPI, he has always been involved in relief activities and even during the pandemic, he provided financial assistance to those in need.
Editorial
Gubernatorial procrastination is unreasonable (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, Indian Polity)
A Bill passed by the State Assembly becomes law only after it is assented to by the Governor. The Governor being a part of the State legislature, the process of law making is complete only when he signs it, signifying his assent. In all democratic countries, similar provision exists in their constitutions.
It may look a bit strange that the law-making body does not have the final say in the process of law making and the Bill it passes gets transformed into law only when the Governor assents to it. Thus, the Governor’s assent becomes the most crucial act in the whole law-making process.
But the Governor’s assent has, of late, become a controversial issue in at least two States — Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In Tamil Nadu, the Governor forwarded the Bill for exemption from the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) to the President after considerable delay.
In Kerala the situation has become a bit curious with the Governor publicly announcing that he would not give assent to the Lokayukta Amendment Bill and the Kerala University Amendment Bill.
Such actions by Governors throw the legislative programmes of governments out of gear because of the uncertainty surrounding the assent.
Therefore, the question of whether a Governor is permitted by the Constitution to cause uncertainty in the matter of giving assent to the Bills passed by State legislatures assumes great importance.
Article 200 of the Constitution provides certain options for the Governor to exercise when a Bill reaches him from the Assembly.
He may give assent or he can send it back to the Assembly requesting it to reconsider some provisions of the Bill, or the Bill itself. In this case, if the Assembly passes the Bill without making any change and sends it back to the Governor, he will have to give assent to it.
This provision contained in Article 200 (proviso) unambiguously affirms the primacy of the legislature in the legislative exercise. The third option is to reserve the Bill for the consideration of the President.
The provision concerned makes it clear that a Bill can be reserved for the consideration of the President only if the Governor forms an opinion that the Bill would endanger the position of the High Court by whittling away its powers. The Constitution does not mention any other type of Bill which is required to be reserved for the consideration of the President.
Calamity-prone — urban India’s worrying storyline (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Disaster Management)
The recent floods in Bengaluru have paralysed the city’s tech spine. The point has been driven home with viral images of some of the city’s most influential people being rescued by tractor and lavish villas under water.
Unfortunately, pictures of adverse weather phenomena bringing a city to its knees are becoming increasingly common in India, with the urban authorities concerned finding themselves woefully unprepared every time a new disaster hits.
Similar scenes have played out in Delhi (2013, 2021), Mumbai (2005, 2017), Chennai (2015, 2021), and Hyderabad (2020), leaving behind extensive losses to property and life.
In terms of damages, Mumbai reportedly lost ₹14,000 crore between 2005 and 2015 while the figure for Chennai was an estimated ₹15,000 crore in 2015 alone.
Added to this are the social and human costs, which almost always disproportionately affect the poorer sections of society as they tend to live in the more environmentally vulnerable areas.
Even in the case of Bengaluru, while the media primarily focused on the disruption caused to the Information Technology industry, several informal settlements were also destroyed.
These events are usually met with a slew of knee-jerk reactions and politically motivated accusations. More often than not, river/drain cleanup measures, anti-encroachment drives, and stormwater network projects are proposed by the administrators concerned to appease the public and the media.
A ₹900 crore project was announced in November 2021 by the Karnataka government after flooding in Bengaluru last year.
Now, after the recent floods, the municipality has ordered an anti-encroachment drive. While these measures are not unhelpful, they are at best piecemeal solutions to systemic problems stemming from a lack of climate consciousness in the planning process.
Unfortunately, the dearth of climate mitigation measures in urban planning and the uncontrolled urban sprawl only make the next calamity more likely.
Bengaluru has not had a master plan to control its development since 2015 and is unlikely to get a new one before 2025. Across India, 65% of urban settlements do not have a master plan. Where these exist, they usually do not address issues of environmental protection or talk of climate change mitigation.
Exhuming new light (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
The Nobel Prize for Medicine this year will be awarded to Svante Pääbo, a Swedish geneticist and a director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.
Science being of an increasingly collaborative and competitive nature, recent trends in Nobel Prizes suggest that there are usually multiple winners for every prize.
It is a tribute to the originality and revolutionary implications of Pääbo’s research that in a world perennially reshaped by advances in biology, he has been chosen as the lone winner of the Medicine or Physiology Prize this year — something not witnessed since 2016.
Pääbo, 67, has quietly instigated a Copernican revolution. Much like the latter placed the sun at the centre and demoted the earth to another circumscribed, perambulatory planet, Pääbo brought Neanderthals — believed to be among the many human-like species and losers of the evolutionary race — to the centre on the question of human evolution.
Thanks to his work, it is now known that Europeans and Asians carry anywhere between 1%-4% of Neanderthal DNA.
Thus, a large fraction of humanity will be influenced in terms of propensity to disease and adaptability to conditions by a species that evolved, like humans, in Africa, but 1,00,000 years earlier.
Pääbo demonstrated this by pioneering and perfecting techniques to extract DNA from fossil remains, a herculean task as they contain too little and are easily contaminated.
By building on these methods, Pääbo and his colleagues eventually published the first Neanderthal genome sequence in 2010. To put that in perspective, the first complete sequence of the human genome was only completed in 2003. Comparative analyses with the human genome demonstrated that the most recent common ancestor of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens lived around 8,00,000 years ago; that both species frequently lived in proximity and interbred to an extent that the Neanderthal genetic stamp lives on.
In 2008, a 40,000-year-old fragment from a finger bone yielded DNA that, in Pääbo’s lab, turned out to be from an entirely new species of hominin called Denisova.
This was the first time that a new species had been discovered based on DNA analysis. Further analysis showed that it too had interbred with humans and 6% of human genomes in parts of South East Asia are of Denisovan ancestry.
Neutrality, abstention (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s telephone call with Ukrainian President VolodymyrZelenskyy on Tuesday was a significant marker in the continuing war in Ukraine.
While Mr. Modi has often spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin and also met him last month, his conversations with Mr. Zelenskyy thus far were restricted to the period when the Government was involved in the evacuation of about 20,000 Indian students.
The phone call came a few weeks after the Putin meeting, and Mr. Zelenskyy joined western leaders in complimenting Mr. Modi for his “now is not the time for war” comment.
In turn, Mr. Modi told Mr. Zelenskyy that there is no military solution to the conflict. They also spoke a week after India chose to abstain from voting against Russia for conducting referendums and annexing Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, although neither leader referred to it.
They also discussed the critical importance of nuclear safety, particularly the Zaporizhzhiaplant, that has been of much concern for the IAEA, which is involved in brokering talks between Ukraine and Russia to enforce a nuclear protective zone around it.
The plant, under Russian control, and in Oblast province where Mr. Putin recently declared “annexation”, is near the scene of fighting.
The MEA said that Mr. Modi “underlined that endangerment of nuclear facilities could have... catastrophic consequences for public health and environment”, although he did not clarify which side the peril was posed from.
Finally, Mr. Modi expressed “India’s readiness to contribute to any peace efforts”, to which Mr. Zelenskyy responded that he would not conduct any negotiations with the “current President of the Russian Federation”.
Over the past seven months, the war and western sanctions have had a dramatic impact on global security, food, fuel and energy supplies, and it is important to keep the lines of communication open, as Mr. Modi has done, with Mr. Putin and Mr. Zelenskyy. India has an established record in global peacemaking.
However, New Delhi can only play that part if it also sets out its position more clearly, and links it to its actions on the global stage.
Opinion
Women’s choice: a threat to Iranian state (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 1/4, Society, Ethics, Integrity & Aptitude)
In the propagation of the myth of all-round vulnerability of women lies the strength of the Iranian state. It helps perpetuate a dominant male order with control over women’s bodies, their attire, speech and movement.
The slightest sign of digression, let alone defiance, as in the case of MahsaAmini who was arrested by morality police for dress code violation, is considered a challenge to age-old male hegemony.
Of course, it helps to cloak such a lopsided gender discourse under the blanket of religion. That has been the way through centuries across civilisations. Men order, women acquiesce.
If in India right-wing politicians are trying to deprive girls the freedom to wear hijab to school, the situation is diametrically different in Iran.
The men, through the authority of the state, are seeking to keep women under wraps from head to toe, depriving them of their right to choose.
Amini’s crime was to upset the male hegemony, a supremacy so delicate it could be ripped apart with the mere act of improper wearing or casting off hijab.
It is worth recalling that Prophet Muhammed did not even punish those who failed to turn up for Friday prayers. Why penalise a small misdemeanour by a young lady?
The Quran through Surah Nur and Ahzaab provides a general guideline about social conduct and clothes permissible to be worn by both the sexes.
Unlike the case of adultery, the book talks of no punitive measures for violation of the dress code, leaving it to the discretion of the Almighty.
Further, the Quran explicitly forbids compulsion in religion through select verses of Surah Yasin and Kafirun. What is happening in Iran is a case of state trying to play God.
This strictness of the state in imposing dress code through morality police is not a mystery. At a time when Iranian women are beginning to speak up, particularly about gender discrimination in matters of dress code — a woman taken into detention by morality police is provided a lesson in hijab, then released, as a rule only to a male relative — the authorities wanted to make an example out of Amini.
UP experiment to breed Gir lions fails (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Species In News)
Lucknow, Oct. 5: It has been officially acknowledged that the Gir lions breeding experiment started by the Uttar Pradesh government at the Chandraprabha sanctuary near Varanasi has failed.
Not a single lion appears to exist in the 64.75 square km area of the sanctuary. A spokesman of the Forest Department said here to-day that he guessed the lions might have been poisoned or killed by villagers to save their cattle.
One of the lions might have escaped the adjoining forest area of Bihar. The spokesman said the State government was now thinking of creating another sanctuary at some other suitable place in the State to repeat the experiment.
A committee of experts appointed by the State government to probe the causes of failure of the Chandraprabha experiment had suggested that the Gir lion breeding experiment should not be repeated in the same area.
The Chandraprabha sanctuary was created in 1956 to multiply the dwindling species of Gir lions. A lion and two lionesses were requisitioned from the then Saurashtra Government and released in the sanctuary.
The spokesman claimed that the population of Gir lions in the sanctuary rose to 11 by 1965-66. But nothing was heard about them thereafter till recently when it was found that there was hardly any lion in the sanctuary.
He explained that mass grazing by cattle and lack of water probably forced the wildlife to shift to other areas resulting in the dearth of prey for the lions.
Finding no prey, the lions jumped the barbed wire fencing and killed cattle in nearby villages. The government, he said, had been paying compensation to the owner for each such kill. However, the payments were stopped when villagers started misusing the facility.
Explainer
The criterion for SC status (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Indian Polity)
The story so far: The Supreme Court of India has sought the most recent position of the Union government on a batch of petitions challenging the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order of 1950, which allows only members of Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist religions to be recognised as SCs.
When enacted, the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order of 1950, initially provided for recognising only Hindus as SCs, to address the social disability arising out of the practice of untouchability.
The Order was amended in 1956 to include Dalits who had converted to Sikhism and once more in 1990 to include Dalits who had converted to Buddhism.
Both amendments were aided by the reports of the Kaka Kalelkar Commission in 1955 and the High Powered Panel (HPP) on Minorities, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in 1983 respectively.
On the other hand, the Union government in 2019 rejected the possibility of including Dalit Christians as members of SCs, rooting the exclusion on an Imperial Order of 1936 of the then colonial government, which had first classified a list of the Depressed Classes and specifically excluded “Indian Christians” from it.
Ever since the amendment to include Sikhs as SCs in 1956, the Office of the Registrar General of India (RGI) has been reluctant in expanding the ambit of the Order beyond members of Hinduism or Sikhism.
Responding to the Ministry of Home Affairs’s (MHA) 1978 request for an opinion on the inclusion of Dalit Buddhists and Christians, the RGI had cautioned the government that SC status is meant for communities suffering from social disabilities arising out of the practice of untouchability, which it noted was prevalent in Hindu and Sikh communities.
It also noted that such a move would significantly swell the population of SCs across the country. However, the amendment to include Buddhist converts as SCs was passed in 1990, which at the time did not require the approval of the RGI — a mandate introduced in the rules for inclusion framed in 1999.
In 2001, when the RGI again opined against including Dalit Christians and Muslims as SCs, it referred to its 1978 note and added that like Dalit Buddhists, Dalits who converted to Islam or Christianity belonged to different sets of caste groups and not just one, as a result of which they cannot be categorised as a “single ethnic group”, which is required by Clause (2) of Article 341 for inclusion.
What is the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code? (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Indian Economy)
Speaking at the sixth anniversary of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) on October 1, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the country could not afford to lose the “sheen” of its insolvency law, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).
“We must be conscious that we can’t afford IBC to lose its sheen, especially when the Prime Minister is looking at the next 25 years of India (to emerge as a developed country by 2047).
We must do whatever it takes to keep IBC as sparkling as it was when it was introduced in 2016,” the Minister said, at a time when IBC numbers have shown long delays in cases and banks having taken deep haircuts on their outstanding claims.
Addressing the issue of haircuts— the debt that banks forgo— she said it was unacceptable that banks should take a hefty haircut on loans that go through the resolution process, adding that a 95% haircut could not possibly be the “best resolution” the IBC had to offer, even if some companies came in such a bad state that only ‘junk value’ could be derived.
In a growing economy like India, a healthy credit flow and generation of new capital are essential, and when a company or business turns insolvent or “sick”, it begins to default on its loans.
In order for credit to not get stuck in the system or turn into bad loans, it is important that banks or creditors are able to recover as much as possible from the defaulter and as quickly as they can.
The business can either get a chance, if still viable, to start afresh with new owners, or its assets can be liquidated or sold off in a timely manner. This way fresh credit can be pumped into the system and the value degeneration of assets can be minimised.
In 2016, at a time when India’s Non-Performing Assets and debt defaults were piling up, and older loan recovery mechanisms such as the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act (SARFAESI), LokAdalats, and Debt Recovery Tribunals were seen to be performing badly, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) code was introduced to overhaul the corporate distress resolution regime in India and consolidate previously available laws to create a time-bound mechanism with a creditor-in-control model as opposed to the debtor-in-possession system.
Text and context
The impossible trinity: how the free movement of capital comes with a cost (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Indian Economy)
The impossible trinity, or the trilemma, refers to the idea that an economy cannot pursue independent monetary policy, maintain a fixed exchange rate, and allow the free flow of capital across its borders at the same time.
According to economists, any economy can choose to pursue only two out of the three policy options noted above simultaneously in the long-run.
The idea was proposed independently by Canadian economist Robert Mundell and British economist Marcus Fleming in the early 1960s.
Practically speaking, in today’s world in which capital is largely free to move across borders with ease, the choice before policymakers is between maintaining a fixed exchange rate and pursuing independent monetary policy.
If policymakers choose to peg or maintain the value of their currency at a certain level against a foreign currency, this decision will limit the kind of monetary policy they can adopt in the long-run.
This is because the decision to peg the exchange value of the currency can tie down the hands of central bankers when it comes to their domestic monetary policy stance.
For example, if a country’s policymakers want their currency to appreciate, or become stronger, against foreign currencies, they cannot achieve this goal and maintain the external strength of the currency over a considerable period of time without adopting a tight domestic monetary policy stance which will weaken domestic demand.
This is because loose monetary policy will put pressure on the country’s currency to depreciate in value. Thus, policymakers will have to choose between maintaining the strength of their currency and upholding nominal demand in the domestic economy which is heavily influenced by monetary policy.
On the other hand, if policymakers of a country choose to pursue independent monetary policy, they may not be able to maintain the foreign exchange value of their currency at a desired peg.
This is because the kind of monetary policy adopted by an economy’s central bank invariably influences the exchange value of its currency against foreign currencies.
For example, if a country’s central bank adopts easy monetary policy with the aim of boosting domestic demand, this will naturally cause the value of its currency to depreciate against foreign currencies if foreign central banks adopt tighter monetary policy.
News
‘Caves of Bandhavgarh not Buddhist’ (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 1, Salient aspects of Art Forms)
The Archaeological Survey of India recently announced its findings on exploration in the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve of Madhya Pradesh.
The ASI said it documented second century Buddhist caves and eighth and ninth century Hindu temples in the region. Sculptures depicting the 10 avatars of Vishnu were described.
In a statement on September 29, Ashoka University had said that “the work of NayanjotLahiri, Professor of History precedes the claims of ASI as evidenced in a peer-reviewed publication appeared in Current Science”. Prof.Lahiri elaborates on the findings.
A better way to put it is to explain the significance of the ancient and medieval relics. The caves are not Buddhist. One only has to compare them with early rock-cut monasteries in India to realise that if these were made for the Buddhist monastic community, there should be memorial stupas and carvings that have an overtly Buddhist character.
We documented 81 caves, 50 of which had been mentioned by N.P. Chakravarti in his pioneering publication in 1955-56 — the same one which mentioned names like Mathura and Kausambi figuring in the inscriptions that are there.
The significance of the caves is that they are the first dwellings systematically created in this part of the forest in the second century BCE.
What our work revealed is that they are on the north side of the Bandhavgarh hill and several smaller hills in its vicinity there. There are caves near the Chakradhara meadow, on the hill ridges and near the plateau.
These were caves created mainly by men of commerce and craftspeople, and very occasionally by kings. One epigraph describes the cave as a sarthikalata or cave for caravan people.
The creators also made tanks near the caves and one cave was described as a vayamasala or gymnasium. This is mentioned by Chakravarti.
If you look at the website of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Archaeological Research, it would be evident that we have a long-term project on forests, and exploring Bandhavgarh stems from that interest.
The archaeology of historical India has usually been visualised through explorations and excavations of ancient cities and farming settlements, within the overarching presence of states and empires.
Forests and wilderness counteract the enclosed spaces of those urban and rural worlds but rarely figure in such accounts, except in passing when the expanding agricultural terrain is described in relation to forest lands being domesticated or when lines of communication, some of which pass through forested tracts, are delineated.
‘Indian firm’s cough syrups may be tied to 66 deaths in Gambia’ (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 4, Ethics, Integrity & Aptitude)
The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a medical product alert over four cough and cold syrups made by Maiden Pharmaceuticals in India, warning that they could be linked to acute kidney injuries and deaths of 66 children in The Gambia.
According to reports, the global health body said it was conducting further investigation with the company and regulatory authorities in India.
Laboratory analysis of samples of each of the four products confirms that they contain unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol as contaminants," the WHO said and warned that while the contested products had so far been found in the West African nation, the same could have been distributed to other countries.
A senior Health Ministry official confirmed that the WHO on September 29 informed the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) that it was providing technical assistance and advice to The Gambia where children were suspected to have died, and a significant contributing factor was suspected to be the use of medicines which may have been contaminated with diethylene glycol or ethylene glycol (this has been confirmed in some of the samples by further analysis conducted by the WHO).
Urgent investigation in the matter had been taken up by the drug regulator with the State regulatory authorities immediately after receiving communication from the WHO based on the available information.
The official added that while all required steps would be taken in the matter, “as a robust National Regulatory Authority, WHO has been requested to share at the earliest with Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) the report on establishment of causal relation to death with the medical products in question, photographs of labels/ products etc. which is awaited.
The drug regulator took up the matter immediately with the concerned State Regulatory Authority under whose jurisdiction the drug manufacturing unit is located.
Further, a detailed investigation was launched to ascertain the facts/ details in the matter in collaboration with the State Drugs Controller, Haryana (the concerned State Drug Control Authority).
From the preliminary inquiry, it has been found that Maiden Pharmaceutical Ltd., Sonepat, Haryana is a manufacturer licensed by the State Drug Controller for the products under reference, and holds manufacturing permission for these products. The company has manufactured and exported these products only to The Gambia so far.
World
White House calls OPEC Plus supply cut move ‘shortsighted’ (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 2, International Organization)
Reacting to the oil cartel OPEC’s (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) decision to cut production, the White House said U.S. President Joe Biden was “disappointed”, calling the decision “shortsighted”.
At a time when maintaining a global supply of energy is of paramount importance, this decision will have the most negative impact on lower- and middle-income countries that are already reeling from elevated energy prices,” U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and National Economic Council Director Brian Deese said via a statement released shortly after OPEC Plus – a group led by Saudi Arabia (and including Russia and other oil exporters in the ‘Plus’ or expanded version) - announced its decision, in Vienna, to cut production by 2 million barrels per day or about 2% of global supply.
The statement said the President would consult with the U.S. Congress on mechanisms available to reduce OPEC’s control of energy prices.
The cut in Opec Plus production creates upward pressure on oil prices which have fallen to about $90 per barrel from about $120 per barrel in early June.
It also works to undermine curbs on the price that Russian oil can fetch on the market. Last month, the Group of Seven (G7) economically advanced countries had agreed in principle to implement a price cap on Russian oil in order to limit the revenues Moscow can earn to fund its continuing invasion of Ukraine.
India has not committed to joining the G7 Russian oil price cap. Citing national interest reasons, India had defended its move to buy Russian oil at discounted prices despite pressure not to do so from the U.S. and others. A price cap would work at the upper end of the price spectrum, while India has been buying discounted oil.
We are a $2,000 per capita economy. The price of oil is breaking our back. This is our big concern,” External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had said in Washington last week, standing beside U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a joint press appearance.
The U.S. has had a “positive dialogue” with India and China on the G7 price cap, U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for economic policy, Ben Harris, said in London on Wednesday, as per a Reuters report.
Business
Centre raises credit limit under ECLGS for airlines to 100% of debt up to ?1,500 cr. (Page no. 18)
(GS Paper 2, Economy)
The Ministry of Finance has enhanced the credit limit available to airlines under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS), making them eligible for a sum equivalent to 100% of their outstanding debt, up to ₹1,500 crore.
Earlier, airlines were eligible to borrow up to 50% of their credit outstanding up to ₹400 crore. This is the second time the government has liberalised the scheme for the aviation sector.
The scheme introduced for medium and small enterprises during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic was extended till March 2023 and its guarantee cover expanded by ₹50,000 crore to ₹5 lakh crore.
SpiceJet, which has raised more than ₹300 crore under the scheme and is looking at several options to raise more funds, welcomed the government’s decision. “This will provide a tremendous boost for airlines. I request the government once again for its support for including Aviation Turbine Fuel under GST, which would be a game changer for the entire sector,” the airline’s chairman and managing director Ajay Singh said in a statement.
Given the volatility in foreign exchange rates, high fuel prices and the recessionary fears in some of the key economies of the world, the aviation sector continues to remain under extreme pressure.
The earlier decision to extend the ECLGS to March 2023 along with the latest announcement for liberalisation of the same would go a long way to restore the financial stability of the airlines.