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THE POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. THE ELECTION COMMISSION RESTRICTIONS ON CASH DONATIONS TO POLITICAL PARTIES

THE CONTEXT: Recently, the Chief Election Commissioner has written to the Union Law Ministry to limit anonymous political donations. He has provided several recommendations reduce election funding via black money.

THE EXPLANATION:

• Disclose donations above Rs.2,000: Under the current rules, political parties are required to disclose all donations above Rs.20,000 through their contribution report. The EC recommends disclosure of all donations above Rs.2,000.
• Capping Cash Donations: The EC also found that while donations reported by some political parties were nil, their audit accounts statement revealed that they received large amount of money via cash, below the threshold of Rs.20,000. It recommended capping cash donations at 20 per cent or at maximum of Rs.20 crore of the total funds received by a party, whichever is less.
• Mandatory digital/cheque transactions: EC called for mandating digital transaction or account payee cheque transfers for all expenses above Rs.2,000 to a single entity/person.
• Separate account for election finances: While maintaining separate bank account for poll expenditure is already part of the instruction, the EC wants this to become part of Rule 89 of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961. This would require the candidate to maintain a separate account for recipient and payments related to elections. This has to be disclosed to the EC as an account of election expenditure.
• Transparency in foreign donations: The EC also sought electoral reforms so that no foreign donations can penetrate into the political funding as speculated under the Representation of the People (RP) Act, 1951 and the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 2010. Currently, there lacks a mechanism segregating foreign donations at the initial stages and the current format of the contribution report is not capable of gaining this information.

About Election Commission of India

The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body established to conduct and regulate elections in India. Article 324 of the Constitution provides the EC to power to organize the elections to parliament, state legislatures, and offices of president and vice president.

2. THE DRAFT INDIAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS BILL, 2022

THE CONTEXT: Draft Indian Telecommunications Bill, 2022 was unveiled recently by the Department of Telecommunications for stakeholders’ comments.

THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DRAFT BILL:

• The objective of the draft bill is to consolidate and make changes to existing laws for the development, expansion and operation of telecommunication services, telecom networks and infrastructure in India.
• It merges three Acts that govern the Indian telecom sector. They are Indian Telegraph Act 1885, Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act 1933, and The Telegraph Wires, (Unlawful Protection) Act 1950.
• The draft bill proposes to include over-the-top (OTT) communication services like WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram under the definition of telecommunication services.
• This means that OTT communication services will be subjected to rules followed by telecom operators, which forces operators to incur high costs of licensing and spectrum. Currently, OTT players are providing free services due to the lack of this provision.
• The draft bill also amends the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act to dilute TRAI’s function to being just recommendatory body. Currently, the telecom department is mandated to seek TRAI’s recommendation before issuing a license to a service provider. The Bill also removes legal provision requiring TRAI to request the government to provide necessary information or document to make this recommendation.
• The draft bill also proposes that the Central Government can gain control of the spectrum assigned to a telecom entity that is going through bankruptcy or insolvency. Currently, there is no specifications on whether the spectrum owned by a defaulting operator belongs to the Central Government or if the banks can take control of it.
• The draft bill provides the Central Government the power to postpone, convert into equity, write off or grant relief to any licensee under extraordinary circumstances like financial stress, consumer interest and maintaining competition etc.
• It also proposes to replace the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) with the Telecommunication Development Fund (TDF). The USOF is a fund generated by charging 5 per cent Universal Service Levy upon all telecom fund operators on their Adjusted Gross Revenue. This fund has been used for providing rural connectivity. The purpose of the TDF seeks to expand the scope of USOF to include undeserved urban regions, research and development, skill development etc.

 THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS

3. EXPORT PROMOTION COUNCIL (EPC) FOR MEDICAL DEVICES

THE CONTEXT: The Indian Government has decided to set up a separate Export Promotion Council (EPC) for Medical Devices.

THE EXPLANATION:

• The new EPC would have headquarters in Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA), Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh and regional offices in Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad.
• An initial funding of Rs.3 crore will be provided by the government for setting up the headquarters at the upcoming Medical Devices Park Common Facility Centre (CFC).
• The regional office in Andhra Pradesh will be set up by 2023 and the one in Telangana will be set up by 2025.
• It will come under the aegis of the Department of Pharmaceuticals, which is a part of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• It will be overseen by a committee of administration, which will have both nominated and elected members from the government and medical devices industry.
• The EPC will help in the promotion of export of medical devices at the global market through various initiatives that ensure their promotion.
• These initiatives may include conducting international trade fairs, buyer-seller meets etc., which are in line with the foreign trade policy of India.
• The EPC will also be involved in organizing awareness campaigns about the assistance provided for the MSME exports by various government schemes.
• It will also help ensure coordination among ministries to boost export and investment in the sector.
• The new policy would increase export and investment potential of over around Rs.80,000 crore for the manufacturing of medical devices for the international market.
• It will also make India one of the top five most preferred supplier base of medical devices.
• India had exported Rs 23,766 crore worth of medical devices in FY22. This is an increase from the previous year’s figure of Rs 19,736 crore.

India’s medical devices market

Indian medical devices market is the fourth largest in Asia. It is among the top 20 markets in the world. About 80 per cent of the market are dominated by imported medical devices, significantly affecting profits of many small-scale manufacturers of medical devices in the country.

4. NEW FRAMEWORK FOR SOCIAL STOCK EXCHANGE

THE CONTEXT: The SEBI has unveiled a framework for the SSE, which was notified in July 2022.

THE EXPLANATION:

• Under the new rules, the Social Stock Exchange (SSE) will be a separate segment from existing stock exchanges.
• Social enterprises eligible to participate in the SSE must be not-for-profit organizations and for-profit social enterprises having social intent and impact as their primary goal.
• These enterprises must focus on eligible social objectives for the development and welfare of undeserved and less privileged populations or regions.
• The new framework specifies the minimum requirements of the not-for-profit organizations (NPOs) for registering with the bourse as well as the disclosure requirements.
• The NPOs must disclose funds raised through the issuance of zero-coupon zero-principal instruments.
• The Listed NPOs are mandated to submit a statement of utilization of funds to the SSE within 45 days from the end of quarter.
• Social enterprises raising funds using SSEs are also required to provide Annual Impact Report within 90 days from the end of financial year.
• This report must highlight the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the social impact created by the NPOs. If possible, it must also capture the impact generated by the project or solutions for which funds were raised on SSE.

THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

5. WHAT IS MEANT BY VIRTUAL AUTOPSY?

THE CONTEXT: Recently, a renowned comedian post-mortem was conducted using a novel technique called virtual autopsy.

THE EXPLANATION:

Virtual autopsy is a virtual alternative to a traditional autopsy, conducted with scanning and imaging technology. In a virtual autopsy, doctors use radiation to examine the innards to reach a conclusion about the cause of death. A CT scan or an MRI machine could be used, in the same way that they are used to scan a living human’s body.

Advantages of a virtual autopsy:

1. Virtual autopsy is a non invasive technique where non-intrusive human autopsies are performed by using a CT Scanner to obtain a detailed view of the body.
2. Virtual Autopsy creates digital and permanent records of the body, making it easier for pathologists and clinicians to communicate with each other.
3. Real samples are hard to transport and share, while the digital image of the body can be shared electronically among medical professionals and experts and can be stored for future retrieval and re-examination.
4. Doctors can conduct a Virtual Autopsy remotely. This means that hospitals centres with CT scanners can take advantage of Virtual Autopsy even though they may not have an in-house pathologist.

Disadvantages of a Virtual autopsy:

1. Virtual autopsy is expensive and include high equipment and technology costs.
2. Virtual autopsy need skills and training to deduce from the autopsy results. Lack of experience is a disadvantage.
3. Virtual autopsy is a lengthy procedure which include taking CT scan and MRI with result may take 2-3 days to come, while traditional autopsy take less time.
4. Virtual autopsy is new and is not fully accurate and thus may lead to false diagnosis and judgements.
5. Merging data from multiple techniques will always result in some loss of precision. A reliance on imagery alone may lead to omissions.

However, it does away with the ethical disadvantages of the conventional autopsy as many cultures and traditions do not accept mutilation of body for the sake of autopsy. AIIMS Delhi is the only institute doing virtual autopsy in Southeast Asia for the past two years.

THE GOVERNMENT SCHEMES/ INITIATIVES IN THE NEWS

6. THE DRAFT NOTIFICATION ON INDIAN NUTRITION RATING: FSSAI

THE CONTEXT: The FSSAI has recently issued a draft notification on Indian Nutrition Rating (INR) modelled on the health star-rating system.

THE EXPLANATION:

• The draft notification issued by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) makes changes to the Safety and Standards (Labelling & Display) Regulations, 2020.
• It requires packaged food to display the prescribed format of INR by assigning a rating from ½ star (least healthy) to 5 starts (healthiest).
• The star rating must be displayed close to the name or brand name of the product on the front of the pack.
• Several food products like milk, milk-based products, egg-based deserts, infant formula, vegetable oil and fat, fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables, fresh and frozen meat, fish, salads, sandwich spreads and alcoholic beverages are exempted from this rule.
• Carbonated beverages without any energy or sugar are also exempted from this system.
• The star rating system is opposed by public health experts as it gives false positive connotation and make it difficult to identify harmful products.

• Instead, they recommend the inclusion of warning labels like an octagonal “stop” symbol that has proven to minimise sales of unhealthy food and beverage products. This system is used in Chile to reformulate the products and remove large amounts of sugar and salt.

About FSSAI

The FSSAI comes under the aegis of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. This statutory body is responsible for regulating the food industry and setting standards for ensuring food safety. It is responsible for providing licence to food businesses, developing safe food practices, testing, capacity building etc.