The Hindu Editorial Analysis | 11th January ’21

Table of Contents

Felled by fire

Bhandara District General Hospital – Fire incident
10 infants charred to death
Reminder: SAFETY NORMS
Reports – poorly trained staff failed
2020 – Vijayawada and Ahmedabad COVID-19 facilities

Journal of Clinical Anesthesia

Site of fires – ICUs, neonatal ICUs and operating rooms
High concentration of oxygen in a confined space
Motors and electrical units – ignition
Plastics – fuel
Rigorous safety standards for all new infrastructure
The Centre should also create a public platform for insights gained from inquiries into hospital fires to be shared.
Regular safety and evacuation drills

Gearing up

India – biggest vaccination programme

Covishield by the Serum Institute of India, Pune
Covaxin by Bharat Biotech Ltd

More doses of Covishield available at present than Covaxin (5:1)
PM Modi said – from January 16 – doctors, nurses and sanitation workers will be inoculated
Covaxin – has been approved without establishing its efficacy, namely, the extent to which vaccination protects from COVID-19.
Experts say, cases are declining in India, so there is no need to rush up with Covaxin.
said that Covaxin will be used as a BACKUP, if required
Volunteers in Bhopal have complained that there was no follow ups when some of them developed some symptoms
REMEMBER: a vaccine that evokes distrust is self-defeating

Bucking the trend | Pioneer

2020 was financially challenging for many
But the story is different for world’s wealthiest
Elon Musk became world’s wealthiest person
Tesla’s share price went up – Democrat-controlled US Senate would usher in a new green agenda and introduce tax credits for EVs
Many other billionaires saw their net worth rise, too.
Zhong Shanshan (Chinese billionaire) – founded and chairs Nongfu Spring – value soared by $62.6 billion in 2020
Colin Huang (Chinese billionaire) – added $33 billion to his net worth, bringing it to nearly $53 billion
In near future we will see more “green billionaires” emerging
Musk wants to spend half his money to “help (solve) problems on Earth & half to help establish a self-sustaining city on Mars to ensure the continuation of life (of all species) in case Earth gets hit by a meteor…or WW3 happens & we destroy ourselves”.

The front seat in electric mobility

Electric vehicles are sustainable and profitable in the long term
Reducing dependence on crude oil will save the government money, reduce carbon emissions, and build domestic energy independence.
India’s foreign policy – our energy security dependence will shift from West Asia to Latin America
India imported 228.6 MT of crude oil worth $120 billion in 2018–19, which made it the third-largest oil importer in the world in terms of value.
‘Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles’ and its updated (Fame 2)
$1.3 billion in incentives for electric buses, three-wheelers and four-wheelers to be used for commercial purposes till 2022
Earmarked another $135 million for charging stations
NITI Aayog proposed – $4.6 billion subsidy for battery makers
30% electric vehicles plying the roads by 2030
Manufacturing unit in Gujarat to venture into the production of lithium-ion batteries and electrodes
Resource-rich Latin America – lithium reserves
Argentina – Chile – Bolivia : 80% of the explored lithium of the world

In 2019, India’s National Aluminum Company (NALCO), Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL) and Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd (MECL) formally signed a joint venture agreement to form Khanij Bidesh India Limited (KABIL) to scout for strategic mineral assets like lithium and cobalt abroad for commercial use and for supplying to meet the domestic requirement for battery manufacturers.
At present, India’s lithium-ion battery demand is fulfilled by imports from China, Vietnam, and Hong Kong.
Lithium imports have tripled from $384 mn to $1.2 bn.
Lithium is also used as a drug to treat bipolar disorder
Currently, India’s biggest trading partners in Latin America are Brazil, Mexico, and Venezuela, and majority of trade is concentrated on crude oil which includes 14%-20% of India’s total crude oil imports.

Planning an exit out of the easy money regime

RBI embarked on an extraordinary expansionary policy to manage the financial pressures unleashed by COVID-19.
RBI slashed policy interest rates aggressively, flooded the market with an unprecedented amount of liquidity and instituted a slew of measures for targeted assistance to especially distressed sectors.
The RBI must be planning for a non-disruptive exit out of the easy money regime.
Indeed, one of the big lessons of the global financial crisis is that any missteps on the exit path by way of commission, omission, or importantly communication, can be costly in macroeconomic terms.
So what are the challenges that the RBI will confront on the way out?
Biggest Challenge: restraining inflation and supporting the recovery.
Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) review in early December – Inflation remained above the RBI’s target band for the past several months, and according to the RBI’s own estimates, is expected to remain above the band for the next several months.
The MPC expects inflation to soften on its own in the weeks ahead as supply chains, disrupted by the lockdown, normalise, and the bumper winter crop comes into the market.
There is the risk that persistent high inflation expectations would result in food inflation getting more generalised.
Core inflation could firm up because of rising input prices.
‘Excessive margins’, among the factors cited by the MPC as one of the causes of high inflation, may not disappear if firms, regaining pricing power amid demand recovery, raise prices to mend their balance sheets.
Recovery is still fragile
large industries are okay, MSMEs and informal sector are bleeding
Second challenge will be to withdraw the ‘excess’ liquidity in good time
Banks are depositing trillions of rupees everyday with RBI
The lesson from the taper tantrums clearly is that the RBI will have to manage its communication as carefully as it does the liquidity withdrawal.
The RBI is confronted with a classic case of ‘the impossible trinity’ — of keeping doors open for capital flows while simultaneously maintaining a stable exchange rate and restraining inflation.

News

Govt preparing for COVID-19 vaccine roll-out, holds meeting with states, UTs on CoWIN software
PM Modi to virtually interact with all Chief Ministers today on vaccine roll-out
Country’s COVID-19 recovery rate reaches 96.42 pc
Animal Husbandry department issues advisory to Bird Flu affected States to avoid further spread of disease
Education Ministry issues guidelines for identification, admission and continued education of migrant children
Prakash Javadekar extends his best wishes to citizens on the occasion of World Hindi Day (10-January)
PM Modi to address valedictory function of 2nd National Youth Parliament Festival on Tuesday
Govt notifies rules for facilitating renewal of International driving licence while travelling abroad
Over 1,200 crore rupees to be spent for safe movement of wildlife on National Highway
Brazil seeks two million doses of Covishield vaccine from India on priority basis
Indonesia plane crash tragedy: Prime Minister Narendra Modi expresses grief – Black boxes of crashed Indonesian airplane located
The Government today said that more than 70 lakh paddy farmers have been benefited from current Kharif Marketing Season Procurement Operations with Minimum Support Price, MSP value of over one lakh crore rupees.
The Agriculture Ministry said, the government continues to procure Kharif crops at its Minimum Support Price from farmers as per its existing MSP schemes.
Around 532 lakh tonnes of paddy have been procured from 20 states including Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh and
The Government through its nodal agencies has also procured over two lakh 83 thousand tonnes of Moong, Urad, Groundnut Pods and Soyabean benefitting more than one lakh 51 thousand farmers.