General Studies – II
Health
1) The central and state government must find innovative solutions to help people with rare diseases. Discuss (200 Words)
Refer - The Hindu
General Studies – III
Economy
2) The aspiration of the new foreign trade policy is expected to boost the economic growth effectively. Analyse(200 Words)
Refer - The Hindu
3) Do you think that the policy rate hike aloe can control the inflation in the Indian Economy? Comment (200 Words)
Refer - Business Line
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 2 years
KEY POINTS
· A classic exposition of this principle is the Centre’s announcement providing full exemption from basic customs duty for all drugs and food imported for treatment of rare diseases listed under the National Policy for Rare Diseases (and anti-cancer drug Pembrolizumab).
· In order to avail this exemption, the individual importer must produce a certificate from specified authorities.
· Medicines generally attract basic customs duty of 10%, while some categories of lifesaving drugs/vaccines get concessions or exemptions.
· Rare diseases are a group of diseases that occur infrequently in the community and as such patients are disadvantaged by the lack of volumes that usually spur pharmacological companies into producing life-saving medicines.
· While rare diseases are defined by their infrequent occurrence in the population, the sheer number of diseases (estimated between 7,000-8,000 conditions.
· When the NPRD was released, it underlined the magnitude, and specified that demands could only be considered in the context of the available scarce resources that would have to be used judiciously.
· While striking a note for the goal of affordable health care, the government must ensure that its directions are followed in full, besides staying the course to innovate solutions for this category of patients.
KEY POINTS
· With the government currently estimating exports to have crossed $760 billion in the fiscal year just ended on March 31, the policy projects a near tripling in outbound shipments of goods and services over the course of seven years.
· And when one compares this growth goal with the 75% expansion achieved over the last seven years since 2016, the magnitude of the aspiration suggests vaulting ambition.
· To be sure, the last three years have been unprecedented, with first the COVID-19 pandemic and then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupting global trade momentum.
· Still, the last three years, when India put its trade policy reset on hold, also provided policymakers a unique opportunity to take a fresh approach to delineating the contours of its trade policy goals.
· In the key sector of apparel and clothing, for instance, the facility of self-declaration has now been offered across the board to all exporters.
· A one-time amnesty has also been offered, giving exporters more time to avail of both the AA and EPCG schemes.
· Still, with global trade largely becalmed and the services sector facing headwinds of uncertainty in the key western markets.
· FTP falls short in offering more substantive and sectorally targeted measures as well as a well-defined road map to meet the 2030 export target.
KEY POINTS
· Inflation numbers for the first two months of 2023 have once again crossed the 6 per cent barrier of the RBI. Food and core inflation remained stubbornly high in February, above 6 per cent.
· According to internal research conducted by RBI, inflation exceeding 6 per cent would have adverse effects on India’s growth. It would negatively impact the financial savings and investment climate.
· This reduces the difference between interest rates in the US and India, which triggers a set of chain reactions, including capital outflow, rupee depreciation, depletion of forex reserve, and current account deficit.
· After adopting the flexible inflation targeting (FIT) framework, India’s average inflation declined notably compared to previous periods.
· CPI inflation, which is targeted in the framework, and WPI inflation were low and stable.
· Inflation targeting, therefore, does not offer a complete solution to the inflation problem of developing countries like India prone to high exposure to supply shocks.
· The April MPC would consider an interest rate hike by more than 25 bps as inflation has gone beyond the projected level this quarter.
· The central bank, to achieve its long-term goal of stable inflation and growth, would have to look at different instruments to reduce the impact of supply shock-induced inflation volatility.
