9th June 2021
BRICS Joint Statement on Strengthening and Reforming the Multilateral System
Recently, the Foreign Ministers of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS)have called for reforming and re-invigorating multilateral fora to strengthen their ability to tackle twenty-first century challenges.
- The BRICS countries have laid out a list of changes that would make these institutions examples of effective and representative multilateralism.
- The ministers stressed upon the need to have effective multilateralism as essential tool for ensuring successful governance of matters of everyday life.
- The BRICS ministers stressed the need to promote initiatives aimed at ensuring timely, affordable, and equitable access to, as well as the distribution of diagnostics, therapeutics, medicines and vaccines, and essential health products and technologies.
- The Ministers reaffirmed the need to use all relevant measures during the pandemic to make covid-19 vaccines available to all.
- They reiterated the need for sharing of vaccine doses, transfer of technology, development of local production capacities and supply chains for medical products.
- They called for exercise of due restraint in the implementation of measures that could hinder the flow of vaccines, health products and essential inputs.
BRICS Joint Statement on Strengthening and Reforming the Multilateral System
- It should make instruments of global governance more inclusive, representative and participatory to facilitate greater and more meaningful participation of developing and least developed countries.
- It should be based on inclusive consultation and collaboration for the benefit of all, while respecting sovereign independence, equality, mutual legitimate interests and concerns to make the multilateral organizations more responsive, effective, transparent and credible.
- It should make multilateral organizations more responsive, effective, transparent, democratic, objective, action-oriented, solution-oriented and credible, so as to promote cooperation in building international relations.
- It should be based on the norms and principles of international law, and the spirit of mutual respect, justice, equality, mutual beneficial cooperation and realities of the contemporary world.
- It should use innovative and inclusive solutions, including digital and technological tools to promote sustainable development and facilitate affordable and equitable access to global public goods for all.
- It should strengthen capacities of individual States and international organizations to better respond to new and emerging, traditional and non-traditional challenges, including those emanating from terrorism, money laundering, cyber-realm, infodemic and fake news.
- It should promote international and regional peace and security, social and economic development, and preserve nature's balance with people-centered international cooperation at its core.
Why BRICS nations are keen on multilateral social security framework?
- The representatives of BRICS nations have expressed willingness to have a multilateral social security framework in order to safeguard workers' rights.
- The Social Security Agreement will help the international workers to port their benefit to their home countries thereby preventing loss of their hard earned money.
- It would help international workers to avoid double contributions in a cluster of such nations.
Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings (WUR)
Recently, the London-based Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) released the QS World University Rankings for 2021.
Global Findings
- The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is the top university for the 10th consecutive year.
- The University of Oxford has risen to second rank for the first time since 2006, while Stanford University and the University of Cambridge share third spot.
- Singapore’s National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University,and China’s Tsinghua University and Peking University, are the only Asian universities in the global top 20.
Performance of top 3 Indian Universities under QS World University Rankings for 2021
- IIT-Bombay, IIT-Delhi and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru have remained in top 200 universities around the world.
- India’s tally in the top 200 universities hasn’t shown any change for the fifth straight year.
- It stated that no other Indian institution has been able to break into the top 200 since 2017.
- IIT-Bombay continues to be India’s best higher education institution for the fourth consecutive year, holding 177th position although it fell five places over the last year.
- IIT-Delhi comes next, rising from 193 to 185 over the last 12 months, overtaking IISc, which ranks 186th.
- The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore has got a perfect score of 100 out of 100 for the citations per faculty (CPF) metric.
Performance of other Indian Universities under QS World University Rankings for 2021
- While 22 Indian universities are featured among the top 1,000 this time, there were 21 in QS WUR 2021, 23 in 2020, 24 in 2019, and 20 in 2018.
- Among the 22 Indian institutions in the top 1,000, four (IIT-Bombay, IISc, IIT Roorkee and OP Jindal Global University) have fallen in rank over the past 12 months.
- Seven institutes (IIT-Delhi, IIT-Madras, IIT-Kanpur, IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Guwahati, IIT-Hyderabad and Savitribai Phule Pune University) have risen in position.
- Five institutions i.e. IIT-Madras, IIT-Kanpur, IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Guwahati and Savitribai Phule Pune University, have achieved their best rank across five years in the latest edition of the rankings.
- Four universities have made their debut in the rankings and entered the 1,000 club and they are Jawaharlal Nehru University (561-570), Pondicherry University (801-100), IIT Bhubaneswar (701-750) and Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (801-100).
- Aligarh Muslim University, Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham are no longer among the top 1,000, having dropped from the 801-1,000 band to 1,001-1,200.
QS World University Rankings
- It is an annual ranking of world universities by Quacquarelli Symonds Limited.
- It is the only international ranking to have received International Ranking Expert Group (IREG) approval.
- Its first publication was in 2004 in collaboration with Times Higher Education (THE) but its first independent publishing was in 2010.
- It is viewed as one of the three most-widely read university rankings in the world, along with Academic Ranking of World Universities and Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
Operation Pangea XIV on fake medicine
Recently, more than 1.10 lakh web links, including websites and online marketplaces, have been taken down under Operation Pangea XIV of INTERPOL.
Operation Pangea XIV
- It was coordinated by Interpol alongwith Central Bureau of Investigation that is the nodal body for the Interpol in the country.
- It is supported by the Pharmaceutical Security Institute, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime/World Customs Organization’s Container Control Programme andEuropol.
- It was launched against the sale of fake and illicit medicines and medical products.
- It involved the police, customs and health regulatory authorities of 92 countries.
- It resulted in 1.13 lakh web links being closed down or removed which is the largest since the first “Operation Pangea” conducted in 2008.
- It showed that criminals are continuing to cash in on the demand for personal protection and hygiene products generated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Operation Pangea XIV was needed
- The fake and unauthorized COVID-19 testing kits accounted for more than half of all medical devices seized during the week of action.
- In Italy, authorities recovered more than 500,000 fake surgical masks as well as 35 industrial machines used for production and packaging.
- The criminals were quick to target the new customers as the pandemic forced more people to move their lives online.
- The online sale of illicit medicines continues to pose a threat to public safety, which is why operations such as Pangea remain vital in combating this global health scourge.
Operation Pangea
- It is a global operation which targets the online sale of counterfeit and illicit medicines and medical device.
- The participating agencies carry out coordinated operational activities against illegal websites in order to identify the criminal networks behind the trafficking.
- The main aims are to remove illicit pharmaceutical products from circulation and raise awareness of the risks associated with buying medicines from unregulated websites.
- It has removed more than 105 million units (pills, ampoules, sachets, bottles and so on) from circulation and made more than 3,000 arrests since its launch in 2008.
Other Pharmaceutical Crime Operations
Operation Rainfall
- It disrupts the trafficking in pharmaceuticals and medical devices in Asia.
- Seven countries took part in the operation in 2018 i.e. Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines and Vietnam.
Qanoon
- It is a multi-year initiative targeting illicit medicines and medical products in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
- It collects and shares information in order to identify transnational issues, support investigations and dismantle criminal networks.
- The countries participating in the initiative are Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and United Arab Emirates.
Heera
- It is a regional initiative that targets the trafficking of pharmaceutical products in West Africa.
- The countries involved are Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo.
Fastly Internet Outage
Recently, several big websites around the world went down for about half an hour because of a major issue with the content delivery network (CDN) of American cloud computing services provider ‘Fastly’.
Fastly
- It is a cloud computing services provider, which offers CDN, edge computing, cloud storage services.
- It operates on content delivery network or CDN.
- Its tech is designed to counter common causes of online outages, such as distributed denial-of-service attacks which overwhelm a website with a sudden wave of traffic.
Content Delivery Network (CDN)
- It refers to a geographically distributed group of servers that work together to provide fast delivery of Internet content.
- They are networks of servers and data centers distributed around the world that allow for the transfer of assets needed for loading internet content.
- They house content close to the telecom service providers’ networks.
- The platforms such as Netflix, Facebook, Amazon (ones with large quantities of data held in global libraries) host their geographically relevant content closer to where that content is to be consumed.
- It ensures the end customer is able to access the content faster.
- It aims to help protect websites against traffic spikes, distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks, etc.
Significance of content delivery network (CDN)
- It offers an easy way to increase the speed of a website while also lowering the latency.
- It is essential for the fast, efficient and secure delivery of content to users around the world.
- It is uniquely positioned to help businesses overcome the diverse challenges of media delivery.
New Drug for Alzheimer’s Disease
Recently, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved new drug ‘Aduhelm’ (aducanumab) for Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer’s disease
- Dementia is an umbrella term for a range of conditions that involve a loss of cognitive functioning.
- Alzheimer’s dementia is the most common type and involves plaques and tangles forming in the brain.
- It is an accelerated ageing of certain neurons in the brain that are concerned with storage and processing of memory.
- Forgetfulness and memory problems are often early symptoms.
- After prolonged illness, patients tend to become confused, may lose their way around familiar places, and have difficulties with planning and completing simple tasks.
- It is the accumulation of the debris caused by the breakdown of neurons in the brain, leading to plaque formation.
Statistics on Alzheimer’s disease
- According to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates for 2017, dementia affects approximately 50 million people worldwide.
- In India, it is estimated that 5.3 million people (1 in 27) above the age of 60 have dementia in 2020.
- It is projected to rise to 7.6 million by 2030.
Aduhelm (aducanumab)
- It is a monoclonal antibody that is designed to reduce the presence of amyloid beta, a protein that forms plaques in the brain.
- It aims at altering the course of the disease by slowing the deterioration of brain function.
- The drug is to be given as a monthly intravenous infusion.
Efficacy of Aduhelm (aducanumab)
- The drug was tested in patients at the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s before the disease had a major impact in their ability to care for themselves.
- It was not tested in people who had progressed to moderate dementia i.e. a state in which the patients lose the ability to care for and feed themselves.
- It is a novel drug that is designed to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s and not a cure.
Surakshit Hum Surakshit Tum Abhiyaan
Recently, NITI Aayog has launched Surakshit Hum Surakshit Tum Abhiyaan.
Surakshit Hum Surakshit Tum Abhiyaan
- It is joint initiative of NITI Aayog and Piramal Foundation.
- It is launched in 112 Aspirational Districts to assist district administrations in providing home-care support to Covid-19 patients.
- It is being part of a special initiative called Aspirational Districts Collaborative.
- Under the Aspirational Districts Collaborative, local leaders, civil societies and volunteers work with district administrations to address emerging problemsacross key focus areas of the Aspirational Districts Programme.
- It will be led by district magistrates in partnership with over 1000 local NGOs.
- It will enlist and train over 1 lakh volunteers to connect with patients through inbound/outbound calls.
- The volunteers will be trained to support 20 affected families each by educating caretakers to follow Covid protocols, provide psycho-social support and timely updates about patients to the administration.
Significance of Surakshit Hum Surakshit Tum Abhiyaan
- It is a significant initiative that responds to immediate needs.
- It will provide long-term support to India’s poorest communities in the Aspirational Districts by addressing the lasting impact of Covid-19.
- It is expected to play a key role in district preparedness for managing nearly 70% of Covid cases at home, reducing pressure on the health system, and stemming the spread of fear amongst the people.
- It will undertake capacity building of citizens for correct usage of Oxygen concentrators that have been supplied to these districts.
- It will mobilize local volunteers to provide home-care support to those affected, based on the guidelines of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Awareness Campaign on Single Use Plastics
Recently, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has launched the awareness campaign on single use plastics.
- The Environment Minister emphasized that Government of India has already banned import of plastic waste in the country.
- The MoEFCC for the first time brought out Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, for handling plastic waste in an environmentally sound manner.
- Under the rules plastic carry bags below 50 microns have been banned.
- The Ministry has issued a draft notification in 2021 for amending the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, with respect to prohibiting identified 12 single use plastic items.
Awareness Campaign on Single Use Plastics
- It is launched by MoEFCC in collaboration with GIZ, UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
- It will comprise of four on-line regional events and a social media campaign to spread the message of mitigation plastic pollution to wider audience.
- The regional events will include interactive sessions on various themes related single use plastics and plastic waste management.
- It would cover wide range of stakeholders from local bodies, pollution control boards, industry, civil society organizations and citizens.
- It will help finding suitable alternatives to single-use plastics (SUPs) and identify new ways of plastic waste management.
- The campaign will have a series of events on:
- Reducing plastic waste generation;
- Recognising the need of effective plastic waste management;
- Increasing the awareness of suitable alternatives;
- Sustainable consumption and production; and
- Extended producer responsibility (EPR)
Need for Awareness Campaign on Single Use Plastics
- The awareness generation on plastic waste management and reduction in use of single use plastic items is vital in bringing about behavioural change.
- It will reiterate government’s commitment to phase out identified single use plastic items which have low utility and high adverse environmental impact.
- India needs to take all steps to ensure that the country becomes free of single-use plastic by 2022 as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
What is India Plastic Challenge Hackathon 2021?
- It is a unique competition calling upon start-ups /entrepreneurs and students of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).
- It aims to develop innovative solutions to mitigate plastic pollution and develop alternatives to single use plastics.
- It will deliberate on plastic waste management, its collection and what new products can be made out of it.
Single Use Plastics (SUPs)
- The SUPs are disposable plastics meant for use-and-throw.
- They comprise polythene bags, plastic drinking bottles, plastic bottle caps, food wrappers, plastic sachets, plastic wrappers, straws, stirrers and Styrofoam cups or plates.
- They slowly and gradually break down into smaller pieces of plastic known as microplastics.
- They are commonly used for plastic packaging and include items intended to be used only once before they are thrown away or recycled.
National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA)
Recently, the National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) has set up a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) to provide NFRA with inputs from the perspective of various key stakeholders.
Key Highlights
- The TAC has undertaken a consultative exercise to review NFRA’s engagement with its stakeholders.
- The committee has recommended formation of advisory/consulting groups, institution of fellowship programmes, publication of NFRA’s Inspection Policy, and building up of NFRA’s Regulatory Capacity.
- The NFRA considers it appropriate to seek the comments and suggestions of stakeholders on the TAC recommendations along with NFRA’s preliminary views/proposed actions thereon.
National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA)
- It was established by the Central Government in October 2018 with the fundamental objective of driving systemic change in the Indian Financial Reporting System for PIEs.
- It has been constituted under section 132 of the Companies Act, 2013.
Functions and Duties of NFRA
- Recommend accounting and auditing policies and standards to be adopted by companies for approval by the Central Government;
- Monitor and enforce compliance with accounting standards and auditing standards;
- Oversee the quality of service of the professions associated with ensuring compliance with such standards and suggest measures for improvement in the quality of service;
- Perform such other functions and duties as may be necessary or incidental to the aforesaid functions and duties.
Companies and Bodies Corporate Governed by NFRA
- Companies whose securities are listed on any stock exchange in India or outside India;
- Unlisted public companies having paid-up capital of not less than rupees five hundred crores or having annual turnover of not less than rupees one thousand crores or having, in aggregate, outstanding loans, debentures and deposits of not less than rupees five hundred crores;
- Insurance companies, banking companies, companies engaged in the generation or supply of electricity, companies governed by any special Act for the time being in force or bodies corporate incorporated by an Act;
- Any body corporate or company or person, or any class of bodies corporate or companies or persons, on a reference made to the Authority by the Central Government in public interest; and
- A body corporate incorporated or registered outside India, which is a subsidiary or associate company of any company or body corporate incorporated or registered in India
Composition of the NFRA
- The Companies Act requires the NFRA to have a chairperson who will be appointed by the Central Government and a maximum of 15 members.
- The appointment of such chairperson and members are subject to the following qualifications:
- They should be having an expertise in accountancy, auditing, finance or law;
- They are required to make a declaration to the Central Government that there is no conflict of interest or lack of independence in their appointment; and
- All the members including the chairperson who are in full-time employment should not be associated with any audit firm (including related consultancy firms) during their term of office and 2 years after their term.
Powers of NFRA
- To investigate the matters of professional or other misconduct committed by a prescribed class of CA firms or CAs;
- The same powers as a Civil Court under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1908, in respect of a suit involving the following matters:
- Discovery and production of books of account and other documents, at such place and time as may be specified by the NFRA;
- Summoning and enforcing the attendance of persons and examining them under oath;
- Inspection of any books, registers, and other documents of any person at any place; and
- Issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses or documents
Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of NFRA
- It was set up in 2020 under Rule 15 of the NFRA Rules, 2018 in order to adequately reflect and express the views and concerns of the users of corporate financial statement.
- Its objective is to obtain relevant input that will assist NFRA in effective performance of its functions, and to advice on matters related to accounting and auditing standards.
- The functions of TAC are:
- Aid and advise the executive body of NFRA on issues relating to the drafts of accounting and auditing standards;
- Advise on improvements to the processes followed by the executive body, especially relating to Audit Quality Reviews (AQRs);
- Provide inputs from the perspectives of users, preparers and auditors of financial statements; and
- Advise on development of measures of audit quality.
India Post Payments Bank (IPPB)
Recently, the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) and Mahindra Rural Housing Finance Limited have announced a strategic partnership for cash management solutions.
Key Highlights
- The IPPB will be offering cash management and collection services to MRHFL through its access points and postal service providers.
- The MRHFL customers will be able to repay their monthly or quarterly loan instalments with the cash management service.
- It is a significant partnership in the financial services sector, and is aimed at customer inclusivity by both the partners.
- The IPPB with its robust network and technology platform can help corporates to manage their receivables safely, securely and seamlessly.
India Post Payment Bank
- The India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) was setup under the Department of Post, Ministry of Communication.
- The IPPB was launched as a pilot project in 2017 in Ranchi (Jharkhand) and Raipur (Chhattisgarh) with the objective of being present across India by the FY 2018-2019.
- The 100% equity of the IPPB is owned by Government of India.
Importance of India Post Payment Bank
- The IPPB aims to provide every household in India an access to efficient banking services and enable them to become financially secure and empowered.
- It is a unique bank in the sense that its focus is on providing doorstep banking services to its customers, even in the remotest areas of the nation.
- The IPPB presents banking with a difference which aims to provide simple, inclusive, convenient and efficient banking system to the nation.
- The IPPB’s economic and premium technology setup for payment and settlementsprovides the masses with affordable solutions delivered to the last mile.
- The IPPB offers best in industry compensation and benefits that include comprehensive medical coverage for your family, leased accommodation, bouquet of allowances and necessary reimbursement as per scale.
Services provided by India Post Payment Bank
- The IPPB will offer a range of products such as savings and current accounts, money transfer, direct benefit transfer, bill and utility payments, enterprise and merchant payments.
- The customers will be able to access all products and services across various channels including over-the-counter services, micro ATM, mobile banking app, text messages, phone calls.
- The payments bank will also provide access to third-party financial services such asinsurance, mutual funds, pension, credit products and forex.
How India Post Payments Bank different from traditional banks?
- A payments bank is a differentiated bank, offering a limited range of products.
- The payment banks can accept deposits of up to ₹ 1 lakh per customer.
- Unlike traditional banks, the payment banks cannot issue loans and credit cards.
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