What’s in today’s article?

• Why in news?
• The pharmaceutical industry in India
• What are the notable achievements of the pharmaceutical industry in India?
• The pharmaceutical industry in India - Industry scenario
• Support extended by the govt to he pharmaceutical industry in India
• News Summary: 40 pharma PLI projects launched
• Key highlights of the speech delivered Union Health Minister

Why in news?

• Union govt has inaugurated 27 greenfield bulk drug park projects and 13 greenfield manufacturing plants for medical devices.
  • These forty greenfield projects were inaugurated under the PLI schemes for manufacturing bulk drugs and medical devices.
    • A bulk drug, also known as an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), is the chemical substance responsible for the therapeutic effects of a pharmaceutical product.
    • i.e., it is the primary ingredient in a medication that produces the intended medical effect.

The pharmaceutical industry in India: Notable achievements

• The Indian pharmaceutical industry, often referred to as ‘the pharmacy of the world’, contributes immensely to global public health and promoting universal healthcare access.
• India ranks 3rd worldwide for production by volume and 14th by value.
• India is the largest provider of generic medicines globally, occupying a 20% share in global supply by volume.
  • The pharmaceutical industry in India offers 60,000 generic brands across 60 therapeutic categories.
• It is the leading vaccine manufacturer globally with 60% of the world’s vaccines comes from India.

Industry scenario

• Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
  • 100% FDI in the Pharmaceutical sector is allowed under the automatic route for greenfield pharmaceuticals.
  • 100% FDI in the pharmaceutical sector is allowed in brownfield pharmaceuticals; wherein 74% is allowed under the automatic route and thereafter through the government approval route.
• Market Size
  • The pharmaceutical industry in India is valued at $50 bn in 2022-23 and exports accounting for 50% of the production.
    • It is expected to reach $65 bn by 2024 and to $130 bn by 2030.
• Export
  • India is a major exporter of Pharmaceuticals, with over 200+ countries served by Indian pharma exports.
  • India supplies over 50% of Africa’s requirement for generics, ~40% of generic demand in the US and ~25% of all medicine in the UK.
  • For the period 2021-22, export of drugs and pharma products stood at $24.6 bn compared to $24.44 bn as of 2020-21.
  • The Indian pharma industry witnessed exponential growth of 103% during 2014-22 from $11.6 bn to $24.6 bn.

Support extended by the govt

• PLI scheme
  • PLI for Pharmaceuticals:
    • The scheme was launched with an outlay of INR 15,000 Cr until FY 2027-28.
    • The aim is to boost India’s manufacturing capabilities by increasing investment and production in the sector and contributing to product diversification to high-value goods.
  • PLI for Promoting Domestic Manufacturing of Medical Devices
    • The scheme, with an outlay of INR 3420 Cr till FY 2027-28, is being provided for the creation of common testing and laboratory facilities/centres in four Medical Device Parks.
• Vision Pharma 2047
  • Make India a global leader in the manufacturing of affordable, innovative & quality pharmaceuticals & medical devices for the goal of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam
  • Vishwaguru in innovation & Research for delivering health care products to future generations in a sustainable manner, introducing natural products
  • Medical Devices to be an integral part of global supply chains for raw materials, components, spare parts, assemblies/subassemblies, etc.
  • Digitisation and technology upgradation in the delivery of services & products under Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana
• National Pharmaceutical Policy (2023)
  • The policy is being drafted to serve as a comprehensive framework to address the challenges faced by Indian Pharmaceutical industries.
  • The draft policy encompasses five key pillars:
    • Fostering Global Pharmaceutical Leadership, Promoting Self-Reliance, Advancing Health Equity and accessibility, Enhancing Regulatory Efficiency in the Indian Pharmaceutical Sector and Attracting investments.
• Scheme for Strengthening of Pharmaceuticals Industry (2022)
  • The scheme, launched with a total financial outlay of INR 500 Cr until FY 2025-26 to:
    • strengthen the existing pharmaceutical clusters’ capacity by creating common facilities;
    • facilitate MSMEs of a proven track record to meet regulatory standards; and
    • facilitate growth and development of Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices Sectors.
• Scheme for Promotion of Bulk Drug Parks (2020)
  • The scheme boosts domestic manufacturing of identified KSMs, Drug Intermediates and APIs by attracting large investments in the sector.
  • Financial assistance, up to INR 1000 Cr, will be provided for the creation of common infrastructure facilities in three Bulk Drug Parks selected in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh.

News Summary: 40 pharma PLI projects launched

• Forty greenfield projects under the PLI schemes for manufacturing bulk drugs and medical devices were inaugurated by the government.
• This included 27 greenfield bulk drug projects and 13 manufacturing plants for medical devices.

Key highlights of the speech delivered Union Health Minister

• Highlighted importance of PLI scheme in Pharma
  • The PLI scheme’s success has reduced India’s dependence on imports for medicines, API and medical devices.
  • Instead of importing goods worth Rs 75,000 crore, the country will now be exporting drugs and products worth Rs 75,000 crore.
    • The department of pharmaceuticals is implementing three PLI schemes — pharmaceuticals, bulk drugs and medical devices.
    • For the PLI scheme for pharmaceuticals, the government has approved 55 applicants with an incentive outlay of Rs 15,000 crore.
    • As many as 138 products from 26 PLI applicants have been approved for greenfield manufacturing of medical devices with an outlay of Rs 3,420 crore.
    • The bulk drugs PLI includes manufacturing 41 bulk drugs with a total outlay of Rs 6,940 crore.
• Revival of drug manufacturing
  • He cited the example of Penicillin G, which India had stopped making for the last 30 years after large-scale dumping led to plants shutting down.
  • Penicillin G will now be made in the country, with the plant expected to be operational in June 2024.

Q1) What is Penicillin G?

Penicillin G, also known as benzylpenicillin, is an antibiotic used to treat and prevent bacterial infections. It's a narrow-spectrum antibiotic that works by killing bacteria that cause infections.

Q2) What are bulk drugs or APIs?

 A bulk drug, also called an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), is the key ingredient of a drug or medicine, which lends it the desired therapeutic effect or produces the intended pharmacological activity. For example, paracetamol is a bulk drug, which acts against pain. It is mixed with binding agents or solvents to prepare the finished pharmaceutical product, ie a paracetamol tablet, capsule or syrup, which is consumed by the patient.

Source: 40 harma PLI projects launched | PIB | Invest India | Economic Times

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in news?
• Demand for Greater Tipraland
• What is Greater Tipraland?
• How did the demand originate?
• News Summary: Centre signs pact to address Tripura's indigenous issues
• Key highlights of the agreement

Why in news?

• A tripartite agreement between TIPRA Motha and the governments of Tripura and India was signed to bring a lasting solution to the problems of the state's indigenous people.
  • The Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance is popularly known as Tipra Motha.
  • It is a regional political party in Tripura, led by Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barma.
  • The Tipra Motha’s demands include:
    • a Greater Tipraland;
    • more powers for the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC);
    • Roman script to be declared as the official script for the indigenous Kokborok language.
    • Kokborok is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by the Tripuri people in Tripura and neighboring areas of Bangladesh.
• The pact seeks to resolve all issues faced by Tripura's indigenous people regarding history, land and political rights, economic development, identity, culture and language.
  • This pact is eleventh in the series of agreements signed in the current term of the govt to make North-East region free of insurgency, violence and disputes.

Demand for Greater Tipraland

• Greater Tipraland is the core ideological demand of the TIPRA Motha.
• The objective is to carve out a new State for the 19 indigenous tribes of Tripura under Articles 2 and 3 of the constitution.
  • Article 2 - Parliament may by law admit into the Union, or establish, new States on such terms and conditions as it thinks fit.
  • Article 3 comes into play in the case of formation of new States and alteration of areas, boundaries or names of existing States by the Parliament.
• Regional extent of the proposed State
  • The demand seeks to include every tribal person living in indigenous area or village outside the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) under the proposed model.
  • However, the idea doesn’t restrict to simply the Tripura tribal council areas.
    • It extends to include ‘Tiprasa’ of Tripuris spread across different states of India like Assam, Mizoram etc.
    • It also includes those living in Bandarban, Chittagong, Khagrachari and other bordering areas of neighbouring Bangladesh.

How did the demand originate?

• Apprehension of the indigenous communities
  • The demand mainly stems from the anxiety of the indigenous communities in connection with the change in the demographics of the state, which has reduced them to a minority.
  • It happened due to the huge influx of refugees from East Pakistan. The flood of refugees led to bitter differences.
    • From 63.77 per cent in 1881, the population of the tribals in Tripura was down to 31.80 per cent by 2011.
  • The indigenous people have not only been reduced to a minority, but have also been dislodged from land reserved for them
• Ethnic conflict and insurgency
  • Later, ethnic conflict and insurgency gripped the state, which shares a nearly 860-km long boundary with Bangladesh.
    • The conflict between the tribals and the non-tribals escalated in 1980 and took the shape of armed insurgency.
    • The demand for autonomous regions or separate statehood during this time metamorphosed to sovereignty and independence.
    • However, after a political truce was reached between the State and the rebel groups, the demand for statehood was revived.
• Rise of Ethnic-Politics
  • There has been a revival of ethnic nationalism in Tripura by the newly formed political party.
  • It is trying to unite people from both tribal and non-tribal behind ethnic identity since 2019.
  • This party claims that a separate state could alone alleviate problems faced by Tripuri tribes.
• Alleged discrimination faced by Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC)
  • The TTADC receives two percent of the State budget while it has 40% of the State’s population.
    • TTADC was formed under the sixth schedule of the Constitution in 1985.
    • Its aim is to ensure development and secure the rights and cultural heritage of the tribal communities.
    • It has legislative and executive powers and covers nearly two-third of the state’s geographical area.
  • It also highlights the unfulfilled demands of revising National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Tripura.

News Summary: Centre signs pact to address Tripura's indigenous issues

• A tripartite agreement aimed at making Tripura dispute-free by resolving all issues concerning its indigenous people, was co-signed by the Centre, Tripura govt and The Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA).

Key highlights of the agreement

• Amicably resolve all issues of indigenous people of Tripura
  • It was agreed to amicably resolve all issues of indigenous people of Tripura relating to history, land and political rights, economic development, identity, culture and language.
• Joint working group
  • It was agreed to constitute a joint working group/ committee to work out and implement the mutually agreed points on all the above-mentioned issues in a time-bound manner to ensure an honourable solution.
• Ensure peace in the region by refraining from protests
  • All stakeholders shall refrain from resorting to any form of protest/ agitation, starting from the day of signing of the agreement.

Q1) What is Kokborok language?

Kokborok is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by the Borok people in Tripura, India and neighboring areas of Bangladesh. The term "kokborok" is made up of the words "kok" which means "verbal" and "borok" which means "people" or "human".

Q2) What is Article 2 of the Indian Constitution?

Article 2 of the Indian Constitution allows Parliament to establish or admit new states into the Union. The article also covers the terms and conditions for establishing new states, and the regulations for admitting new states into the union.

Source: Centre signs pact with Tripura govt, Tipra Motha for tribal rights | Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council | Times of India | Outlook India

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Why in the News?
• About Generative Artificial Intelligence
• How Does Generative AI Work?
• Common Generative AI Applications
• News Summary
• Role/Influence of GenAI on Elections in 2024

Why in the News?

• The Central government issued an advisory to all intermediaries and generative AI platforms using artificial intelligence (AI) models, software or algorithms.
• As per the advisory, all the above-mentioned entities to seek permission from the government and label their platforms as “under testing” before making them available to the public.

About Generative Artificial Intelligence

• Generative AI refers to deep-learning models that can take raw data and “learn” to generate statistically probable outputs when prompted.
• Generative AI is powered by foundation models (large AI models) that can multi-task and perform out-of-the-box tasks, including summarization, Q&A, classification, and more.
• With minimal training required, foundation models can be adapted for targeted use cases with very little example data.

How Does Generative AI Work?

• Generative AI works by using a Machine Learning model to learn the patterns and relationships in a dataset of human-created content.
• It then uses the learned patterns to generate new content.
• The most common way to train a generative AI model is to use supervised learning - the model is given a set of human-created content and corresponding labels.
• It then learns to generate content that is similar to the human-created content and labeled with the same labels.

Common Generative AI Applications

• Generative AI processes vast content, creating insights and answers via text, images, and user-friendly formats. Generative AI can be used to:
  • Improve customer interactions through enhanced chat and search experiences,
  • Explore vast amounts of unstructured data through conversational interfaces and summarizations,
  • Assist with repetitive tasks like replying to requests for proposals, localizing marketing content in five languages, and checking customer contracts for compliance, and more.

News Summary

• All artificial intelligence (AI) models, large-language models (LLMs), software using generative AI or any algorithms that are currently being tested, must seek “explicit permission of the government of India” before being deployed for users on the Indian internet.
• The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued a late-night advisory on March 1, a first-of-its-kind globally.
• It asked all platforms to ensure that their computer resources do not permit any bias or discrimination or threaten the integrity of the electoral process by the use of AI, generative AI, LLMs or any such other algorithm.
• The government advisory comes days after a social media post on X claimed that Google’s AI model Gemini was biased when asked if Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a “fascist”.
• The user claimed that Google’s AI GPT model Gemini was “downright malicious” for giving responses to questions which sought to know whether some prominent global leaders were “fascist”.
• Google later said it was working to fix the issues and was temporarily stopping Gemini from generating images as well.

Role/Influence of GenAI on Elections in 2024

• 2024 will see high-stakes elections in over 50 countries, including India, the US, the UK, Indonesia, Russia, Taiwan, and South Africa.
• Like in previous elections, one of the biggest challenges voters will face will be the prevalence of fake news, especially as AI technology makes it easier to create and disseminate.
• The World Economic Forum 2024 Global Risk Report ranked AI-derived misinformation and its potential for societal polarization as one of its top 10 risks over the next two years.
• People with very little technical expertise are capable of using generative AI tools to disseminate fake text, images, videos, and audio across a large digital base in multiple different languages.
• In addition to spreading propaganda using a small data set, AI is capable of creating deep-fakes and generating voice-cloned audio, presenting significant challenges for governments and organisations across the world.
• Through its mastery of language, AI can form intimate relationships with people, using that intimacy to personalize messages and influence worldviews.
• In India, AI is also being used by politicians to reach out to more people, especially in rural areas.
  • For example, a real-time AI-powered tool was used to translate Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech from Hindi to Tamil during an event in Uttar Pradesh in December 2023.
• As with any new technology, there is a question of how AI can be used and misused.
• Many respond to the prospect with alarm, while others see its potential as a positive force.

Q1) What is LLM in simple terms?

A large language model (LLM) is a type of artificial intelligence (AI) program that can recognize and generate text, among other tasks. LLMs are trained on huge sets of data — hence the name "large." LLMs are built on machine learning: specifically, a type of neural network called a transformer model.

Q2) What do you mean by Machine Learning?

Machine learning is a branch of artificial intelligence (AI) and computer science which focuses on the use of data and algorithms to imitate the way that humans learn, gradually improving its accuracy.

Source: Govt nod, user consent must for GenAI models | IE 

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Why in News?
• What is Cooperative Banking?
• The Urban Cooperative Banks in India
• About the NUCFDC
• Significance of the NUCFDC

Why in News?

• The Union Cooperation Minister inaugurated an umbrella organisation for urban cooperative banks (UCB) - the National Urban Cooperative Finance and Development Corporation Limited (NUCFDC).

What is Cooperative Banking?

• Meaning: In order to support the financial needs of a community such as a village or a specific community, people come together to pool resources and provide banking services such as loans, savings accounts, etc.
• Working:
  • Membership: Individuals or businesses who meet specific eligibility criteria can become members by purchasing shares or making an initial deposit
  • Democratic Governance: Every member has equal voting rights regardless of the number of shares they hold.
    • Members elect a board of directors among themselves to oversee the bank’s operations and make key decisions.
• Structure:
  • They are regulated by both the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the respective state governments. They (like the PACS) registered under the Co-operative Societies Act.
  • 

The Urban Cooperative Banks in India

• At present, there are over 1,500 scheduled and non-scheduled Urban Cooperative Banks in India with a total number of branches exceeding 11,000.
• The banks have a deposit size of over Rs 5.33 lakh crore, and total lending of more than Rs 3.33 lakh crore.
• The Urban Cooperative Banks in the country have reduced their Net NPA rate to 2.10% and there is a need for further improvement.
• Many of these banks have constraints related to technology platforms, and difficulties in offering modern banking services.

About the NUCFDC

• The NUCFDC has received Certificate of Registration (CoR) from the RBI to operate as a Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC) and serve as the umbrella organisation for the urban cooperative banking sector.
• In addition to this, it will be allowed to operate as a Self-Regulatory Organisation (SRO) for the sector.
• The NUCFDC aims to raise capital, with plans to reach a capital base of Rs.300 crores.
  • It intends to utilise this capital to support Urban Cooperative Banks and develop a shared technology platform to improve service offerings and reduce costs.
• Besides offering liquidity and capital support, the umbrella organisation would set up a technology platform that can be shared by all UCBs, enabling them to widen their range of services at a relatively lower cost.
  • It can also offer fund management and other consultancy services.
• The umbrella organisation will provide various facilities to small banks, facilitate dialogue between banks and regulators, and work on improving communication.

Significance of the NUCFDC

• If India wants to become the world's third-largest economy, economic development should be inclusive and comprehensive.
  • If India wants to move forward with this concept, the goal should be to establish Urban Cooperative Banks in every city.
• The NUCFDC is another milestone in achieving the goal of ‘Sahakar se Samriddhi’ to make ‘Aatma Nirbhar’ Bharat, as it aims to modernise and strengthen the UCBs in India.
• This umbrella organisation is a security shield for small banks, which will increase the confidence of depositors.

Q1) What are Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS)?

PACS are financial cooperatives, which are typically organised by farmers and other agricultural professionals to provide credit and other services to farmers. They are regulated by the RBI and registered under the Co-operative Societies Act.

Q2) What are the limitations of Cooperative Banks?

Despite the various advantages of these banks, there are certain limitations such as inadequate coverage, inefficient societies, problem of overdues, regional Disparities, etc.

Source: Amit Shah launches umbrella organisation for urban cooperative banks | PIB | RazorPay