13 Dec 2020 CNA:- Download PDF Here
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A. GS 1 Related SOCIAL ISSUES 1. Not in favour of imposing family planning, government tells Supreme Court B. GS 2 Related INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 1. Western Sahara on the edge after Israel-Morocco deal C. GS 3 Related ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY 1. India set to exceed climate targets D. GS 4 Related E. Editorials HEALTH 1. Emergency use of COVID-19 vaccines INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 1. Shifting the Rohingya to Bhashan Char F. Tidbits 1. Israel and Bhutan establish diplomatic ties G. Prelims Facts H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions
A. GS 1 Related
1. Not in favour of imposing family planning, government tells Supreme Court
Context:
- A petition was filed in the Supreme Court (SC) by an advocate stating the need for a population control law.
- The petition highlighted the banes of population explosion, it further went on to state that without a population controlling legislation, the dream of Healthy India, Prosperous India, Clean India, Crime-free India won’t be a reality.
Details:
- Government’s response
- The government made the SC know that it had no plans of imposing mandatory family planning measures.
- The government stated that pressurizing couples to have a specific number of children is not part of their plans to limit population explosion.
- Voluntary nature
- India’s family planning exercises so far have been based on voluntary actions of the individuals, as against the ‘One child policy’ of China, which has been slightly relaxed now.
- India’s programme has placed autonomy of the couples at the centre of the policy, allowing the couples to have a say in the size of the family they wish to have.
- India is also a party to the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, which categorically decries coercion as a means to family planning.
- What do the statistics say?
- The census statistics of 2001-2011 give a sense of optimism, it happened to be the first decade in the last 100 years that added less population from the decade preceding it.
- The particular decade witnessed the sharpest decline in the decadal growth rate of the Indian population in 100 years.
- The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) which refers to the number of children that would be born per woman (or per 1,000 women) if she/they were to pass through the childbearing years bearing children according to a current schedule of age-specific fertility rates has been declining.
- The NFHS survey – 4 is only 1.8, indicating that couples do not want to have more than 2 offsprings.
B. GS 2 Related
Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. Western Sahara on the edge after Israel-Morocco deal
Background:
Western Sahara is a sparsely-populated area of mostly desert situated on the northwest coast of Africa.
A former Spanish colony, it was annexed by Morocco in 1975. Since then it has been the subject of a long-running territorial dispute between Morocco and its indigenous Saharawi people, led by the Polisario Front.
Context:
- Morocco joined the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan as the fourth Arab country to normalize ties with Israel.
- As part of the Israel-Morocco deal, the Trump administration agreed to recognise Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
Details:
- Western Sahara is a vast, arid region in northwest Africa. It is known for its mineral riches: home to vast reserves of phosphate, a key ingredient in the manufacturing of synthetic fertilizers.
- It has also lucrative fish resources and is believed to have off-shore oil.
Geography of the region
- Western Sahara is spread across Mauritania, Algeria and Morocco and has a long Atlantic coast
History
- The conflict rose to post the withdrawal of colonial Spain from the region in 1975, leaving Mauritania, Morocco and the Polisario Front in an entrenched conflict over its sovereignty. The region is home to Sahrawi tribe.
- The Polisario Front declared the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic(SADR) in Western Sahara. SADR has been recognized by several African countries.
- The Polisario Front (The Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro) politico-military organization striving to end Moroccan control of the former Spanish territory of Western Sahara, in northwestern Africa, and win independence for that region.
- The Polisario Front is composed largely of the indigenous nomadic inhabitants of the Western Sahara region, the Sahrawis.
- In 1974, the ICJ, while recognising Morocco and Mauritania’s historical ties to the area, also stated that those ties, which are central to Morocco’s sovereignty claim, did not amount to ownership over the territory.
- The Polisario Front, which represents the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic from exile in Tindouf, Algeria, made peace with Mauritania in 1979.
- Upon signing a peace treaty with Polisario, Mauritania ended its military involvement in the Western Sahara region.
- But pockets of fighting with Morocco continued until 1991 when the two parties reached an agreement which called for a referendum to be held while preserving the status quo of the time and the implementation of an UN-backed buffer zone.
- The referendum, however, hasn’t materialised owing to several disagreements over the list of people to take part in the referendum.
Present scenario
- After the 1991 agreement, Morocco controlled the majority of Western Sahara, a vast swath of desert on Africa’s Atlantic coast, which stretches little more than the size of Great Britain.
- Among the areas under Rabat’s control are the region’s phosphate deposits and its fishing waters.
- Moroccan troops have built a huge sand wall called Berm, spanning from the coast bordering Atlantic ocean to the Moroccon mountains.
- The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic(SADR) is operating largely from the eastern flank of Western Sahara.
Nature of impact of the deal
- The status quo in Western Sahara is not expected to change in the light of normalization of relations between Morocco and Israel.
- The clinching factor here is the recognition that Morocco has secured from the US.
- Morocco went on the offensive a month ago in the UN-controlled buffer zone and this led to stoking tensions and inviting Polisario to retaliate.
- US decision of backing Morocco has attracted criticism from several quarters, beginning from one of their allies in the region Algeria and Russia too condemned such a decision and called the decision as violative of international law.
C. GS 3 Related
Category: ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY
1. India set to exceed climate targets
Background:
- The INDCs will largely determine whether the world achieves an ambitious 2015 agreement and is put on a path toward a low-carbon, climate-resilient future.
- India has submitted its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
- India’s INDCs are:
- To reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 per cent by 2030 from 2005 level.
- To achieve about 40 per cent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030, with the help of the transfer of technology and low-cost international finance, including from Green Climate Fund.
- To create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.
Context:
- Indian Prime Minister at the Climate Action Summit has announced that India is set to surpass the climate targets.
Details:
- This year’s Climate Action Summit marked the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement.
- The 190 countries as per the agreement committed to taking actions to restrict global temperature rising by around 2 degrees celsius.
- Prime Minister’s address.
- India has done well in going about meeting its climate targets.
- The Prime Minister (PM) went on record to state that India has
- Shrunk its emission intensity by 21% since the year 2005.
- Installed solar capacity had increased to 36 gigawatts in 2020.
- India’s renewable energy capacity is currently listed in the fourth position globally and is expected to reach an astonishing 175 GW by 2022.
- India belongs to a select club of countries that have increased the forest cover.
- Future goals
- The PM outlined a more ambitious outlook by stating that India would be aiming to achieve an energy capacity of 450 GW by the end of 2030.
- While India highlighted the goals it was committed to and the targets that have been achieved, it stopped short of announcing new goals
Conclusion
- India has taken up active steps to achieve climate change targets, India has through its efforts showed to that world that climate change efforts cannot be just academic pass time but it has to be concrete actions on the ground.
- India has also been active in institution building concerning climate change. It took a lead role in establishing the International Solar Alliance and the Coalition for Disaster Relief.
D. GS 4 Related
Nothing here for today!!!
E. Editorials
1. Emergency use of COVID-19 vaccines
Context:
Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) is responsible for approval of licenses of specified categories of drugs such as blood and blood products, I. V. Fluids, Vaccine and Sera.
Details:
- Clinical trials
- A typical process of approving new drugs or vaccines involves putting them through a series of processes, usually referred to as clinical trials.
- This means that a prospective drug has to be tested for animals and only then it can be tested in larger groups of people in case of a vaccine, or patients in case of a novel drug.
- The clinical trials in phases 1,2,3 are done to ascertain the new vaccine/drug’s safety, efficacy.
- The promoters have to submit data from the trials to the regulator to convince and assure that the drug can progress to the next stage.
- This process of a drug or vaccine to be commercially approved generally takes around a few years.
- Emergency Use Authorization(EUA)
- Under exceptional circumstances such as
- It is a ‘Rare Disease’
- Massive disease outbreak
- No proven vaccine or drug available.
- Evidence of a drug or vaccine that is tested in a country and has yielded desired results.
- A country neither has the financial resources nor the personnel to conduct solid clinical trials to a drug/vaccine that has undergone a through clinical trials in another country.
- The above-mentioned circumstances allow health regulators to issue accelerated approvals under EUA.
- Under exceptional circumstances such as
- Indian scenario concerning EUA
- There is no explicit mention of EUA in India, however, there is a provision under the New Drugs and Clinical Trials,2019.
- New Drugs and Clinical Trials,2019 mentions an ‘accelerated approval process’, depending on the severity, urgency, lack of alternatives.
- In the event of above-mentioned grounds, the regulator can overrule the need to have local clinical trials if the drug has been approved elsewhere.
- In the case of a new drug, the medical benefits of the drug is evaluated based on the first two phases of testing. The more cumbersome, time-consuming phase-3 data can be deferred.
- The following provisions allowed the pharma companies and the vaccine firms to offer drugs such as Hydroxychloroquine, Remdesivir and Faviperavir to COVID-19 patients, even though there was little evidence to show they were effective against the virus.
- Drug Controller General of India’s reasoning behind seeking more data from Bharath Biotech and the Serum.
- Bharat Biotech
- Its move to secure clearance without having submitted from the phase-3 trials has been surprising.
- It has in return chose to rely on the phase1 and phase 2 safety and immunogenicity data
- The Serum
- It submitted interim safety and immunogenicity data of the Oxford vaccine from phase 2 and phase 3 clinical trials held in India and other countries.
- The safety data of the Indian trial was submitted only until mid-November. There are questions over the data submitted because, the phase-3 trials began on September 21, and since the second dose is administered with a time interval of 28 days and the median follow-up after the second dose would have been for just a few weeks.
- Therefore, with a lack of satisfaction on behalf of the drug regulator, the DCGI has asked for immunogenicity data from the U.K trial.
Way ahead
-
- It is the responsibility of both the drug manufacturers and the regulators to ensure that the vaccine is fail-proof, if both the actors do their duty without compromising on anything, then the world will soon have the first COVID-19 vaccine that is efficient and safe.
- The pandemic doesn’t give the luxury to the regulators to approve a drug/vaccine without proper clinical trials.
- Any events of adverse reactions can be counterproductive, it can lead to loss of faith in the eyes of the people and can lead to ‘Vaccine hesitancy’- Vaccine hesitancy’- Refers to delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccines despite availability of vaccine services owing to many reasons, one of them being doubts over the safety of the vaccine.
Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. Shifting the Rohingya to Bhashan Char
Context:
- The Bangladesh government’s move to relocate Rohingyas to the newly built facility at Bhashan Char island has attracted widespread attention.
- There are reports that UN human rights investigator has issued a request to the Government of Bangladesh to permit a safety assessment of the Bhashan Char.
Details:
- There have been questions over the relocation of the Rohingya refugees and their safety of the refugees on the island.
Bhashan Char
- Bhashan Char is a 13,000 acre expanse land, it will be more accurate to refer to it as a mudflat than as an island.
- The mudflat is formed by the accumulation of silt where the river Meghna meets the Bay of Bengal carrying rich alluvial deposits.
- Located near the mouth of the river Meghna where it flows into the Bay of Bengal, Bhasan Char surfaced only in 2006 from the sediment deposited by the river.
- ‘Char’ refers to shifting landmass, it is a recurrent feature of rivers Meghna and Padma.
Relocation
- There have been critics who were unhappy with the move to relocate Rohingyas into Bhashan Char islands without adequate planning and necessary infrastructure.
- There have been reports that the consent for relocation was not considered
- The Government of Bangladesh has in the last couple of years gone about constructing roads and building telecommunication infrastructure on the island.
- Residential units have been built after taking precautionary measures such as building it four feet above the ground to prevent the housing facilities from being inundated by tidal waves and withstand the impact of such waves.
Why relocate?
- Rohingya refugees who fled Myanmar in 2017 have been made to live in refugee camps near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.
- These refugee camps lie in the Kutupalong region, a region that is heavily forested and known for wildlife populations of elephants, tigers and other animals.
- Safety and better living conditions in the Bhashan Char islands are the reasons given by Bangladesh for relocating the Rohingya refugees.
Human Right agencies concerns
- Amnesty International has called for the dropping of the relocation plan as the UN hasn’t yet declared the site to be safe for relocation.
- The consent of the refugees before the relocation process was not considered.
F. Tidbits
1. Israel and Bhutan establish diplomatic ties
What is in news?
- Ambassadors of Israel and Bhutan met in New Delhi and established formal diplomatic ties.
- There was a sustained diplomatic activity between the two in recent times and now the relation took the shape of official diplomatic status between the two.
- Cooperation in agricultural training, development studies between the two meant that there was a smooth transition in establishing diplomatic ties.
- Bhutan has been very shy in establishing ties with other countries, this can be inferred from the fact it has no ties with any permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
- The number of countries recognizing Israel and establishing diplomatic ties have been increasing.
G. Prelims Facts
Nothing here for today!!!
H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions
Q1. Which of the following Indian state/s share a physical border with Myanmar and Bangladesh?
- Nagaland
- Mizoram
- Manipur
- Tripura
Select the correct answer.
- 1 and 2.
- 2 only
- 3 only
- 1 and 4
CHECK ANSWERS:-
Answer: b
Q2. Which among the following belong to Snow Leopard range countries.
- Russia
- Mongolia
- India
- Iran
- Kyrgyzstan
Select the correct answer.
- 1,3 and 4.
- 2,3 and 4.
- 1,2,3 and 5.
- 1,2,3,4,5.
CHECK ANSWERS:-
Answer: c
Explanation
The elusive snow leopard inhabits parts of 12 countries:
Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
Q3. Sahrawi tribe is associated with which of the following countries?
- Botswana
- Kenya
- Mauritania
- Democratic Republic of Congo
CHECK ANSWERS:-
Answer: c
Explanation:
- Sahrawi tribe are people living in the western part of the Sahara desert.
- It includes Western Sahara, southern Morocco, much of Mauritania and the extreme southwest of Algeria.
Q4. Consider the following statements about Climate Action Summit.
- The key focus of the summit is to accelerate the actions to implement the Rio declaration.
- ActNow is the United Nations campaign for individual action on climate change and sustainability.
Which of the following statement/s is true?
- 1 only.
- 2 only.
- Both 1 and 2.
- Neither 1 and 2.
CHECK ANSWERS:-
Answer: b
Explanation:
- The key focus of the summit is to accelerate the actions to implement the Paris agreement.
- The ActNow campaign was launched at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 24) in December 2018
I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions
- “Indian population growth statistics are showing a healthy trend towards stabilizing”, in the light of the above statement discuss the Government initiatives to control population growth. (15 marks, 250 words; Social Issues)
- Explain the regional consequences in Africa due to the US-brokered Morocco-Israel deal. (10 marks, 150 words; International Relations)
Read the previous CNA here.
13 Dec 2020 CNA:- Download PDF Here
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