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CurrentAffairswww.jagranjosh.com

( April 2017 )

iAS | BANKiNG | SSC| NDA/CDS| AND OTHEr COMpETiTiVE EXAMS

What Next?25 years of India-Israel ties:

Film Censorship in

NeW INdIa assuraNCe exam 2017: PraCtICe PaPer

India

drug Price Control

Ace Bank Exams

Top Online Course forRBI, SBI & IBPS Exams

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Curren Affairs eBook] April, 2017

www.jagranjosh.com | Preface 4

PREFACE

The Current Affairs April-2017 eBook covers the current events that happened in the month of March. Current Affairs is a crucial component of any competitive exams including IAS|PCS, SSC, Banking and MBA.

The Current Affairs play the bigger role in many competitive and government exams. It

holds the power of making or breaking your chance of success. Therefore, the candidates should cover the Current Affairs thoroughly and smartly.

However, there are huge numbers of student who are often confused about how to

prepare the current affairs section of the different competitive exams. To clear such doubts and confusion, Jagranjosh.com has come up with eBook concept.

We at jagranjosh.com work tirelessly to create this magazine and bring it to you with a

great sense of gratitude every month. We always strive for excellence and therefore, our research team continuously endeavour to give you the best material.

The Current Affairs April-2017 eBook is divided into different section keeping in mind

the need of various exams. The sections covered namely are International, National, Economy, Ecology and Environment, Science & Technology, Corporate, Sports, States News Makers and few others.

Every news item in each section is arranged date wise with the most recent news

being covered first and so on. Highlights of the issue are- 25 years of India-Israel ties: What’s next?, Drug price control, Film censorship in India, ISRO: What does the launch of 104 satellites signify for India.

Presentation of the given current affairs has been planned meticulously. It has been

planned in such a way that it remains in the minds of readers for a longer duration. Wherever necessary each news item is presented along with a background and analysis so as to help candidates contemplate all the important current events at the time of exam in an effective way.

Copyright ©Jagranjosh.com All rights reserved. No part or the whole of this eBook may be copied, reproduced, stored in retrieval system or transmitted and/or cited anywhere in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the written permission of the copyright owner. If any misconduct comes in knowledge or brought in notice, strict action will be taken. Disclaimer Readers are requested to verify/cross-check up to their satisfaction themselves about the advertisements, advertorials, and external contents. If any miss-happening, ill result, mass depletion or any similar incident occurs due to any information cited or referenced in this e-book, Editor, Director/s, employees of Jagranjosh.com can’t be held liable/responsible in any matter whatsoever. No responsibilities lie as well in case of the advertisements, advertorials, and external contents.

April, 2017 [Curren Affairs eBook]

5 INDEX | www.jagranjosh.com

INDEX cover story ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 8

National | India ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 19

Economy .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 68

Report | Survey ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 92

Corporate ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 106

Committees | Commissions ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 112

Defence | Security ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 119

Environment | Ecology ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................135

Science | Technology............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 159

International ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 175

Summit | Conference............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 215

Art & Culture ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 220

Awards | Honours ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 229

Sports .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................248

Person Appointed .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 275

Person Died....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 295

States ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 302

Day | Week | Year ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 322

State Budgets 2017-18 ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................339

Person Resigned ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 362

Exam Boosters............................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 364

Quizzes .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 377

New India Assurance Prelims 2017: Practice Set-1 .......................................................................................................................... 382

Sarkari Naukri ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 409

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L=50,000

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B = A (1 + r/n)NT - P

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PI/4 = 1/1 - 1/3 + 1/5 - 1/7 + ...

(n 0)B0 + (n 1)B1 + (n 2)B2

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PI/4 = 1/1 - 1/3 + 1/5 - 1/7 + ...

1. |–a| = |a|

2. |a| ≥ 0

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www.jagranjosh.com | cover story 8

COVER STORY

Drug Price Control in India

The right to health is not mentioned in Indian Constitution but health remains a very important aspect of human life. The

supreme court of India held in one of its decisions on the scope of article 21 which states “Right to life” covers “the Right to good health”.

In recent years, the government has taken steps to control the prices of drugs and

medical tools in India so that the medical benefits could be provided to all at affordable prices.

Here, we have briefed the history of drug price control in India, the recent steps taken by the government for drug price reduction and its impacts on people and industry.

Brief History of Drug Price Control in India

The Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) is issued under Section 3 of Essential Commodities Act, 1955. It is aim is to ensure that essential drugs are available to all at affordable prices. The first time, the Drug Price Control Order was put in place after the Sino-Indian war of 1962 because pharmaceutical companies started to profiteer and it became necessary in public interest to cap drug prices. Over the years, it has been modified five times. The Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) 1995 was introduced in India which covered 74 bulk

drugs and their formulations. The consequences were not quite as hoped because the producers of many drugs shifted their manufacturing to some other countries. The result was half the products were discontinued after their producers exited. Indian production of something as important as penicillin shifted to China.

In 1997, the government established National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority

(NPPA) which was entrusted with the task of enforcement of provisions of DPCO, fixation/revision of prices of pharma products and monitoring of prices of controlled and decontrolled drugs.

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy-2012 was set up on 07.12.2012. The salient

features of NPPP-2012 are the regulation of prices of drugs is on the basis of essentiality of drugs as specified under National List of Essential Medicines, (NLEM)-2011, regulating the


9 cover story | www.jagranjosh.com

prices of formulations only and fixing the ceiling price of formulations through Market-Based Pricing (MBP).

The new policy of DPCO was introduced in 2013. DPCO 2013 increased India’s National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) from 74 to 799 formulations. Since its introduction, no new investments have been witnessed. There has been a shift towards non-controlled products. As a consequence, new introductions of drugs and the average number of incumbent brands and new introductions of drugs in the DPCO 2013 list has reduced compared to the non-DPCO 2013 list. In 2015, the health ministry revised its National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), 2011 to include 376 drugs in the new NLEM 2015 list. A total

of 106 medicines were added, and 70 medicines have been deleted to finalize the new list.

Recent steps taken by the government to control Drug Prices in India

1. Reduction in the prices of medicines

In September 2016, drug price regulator National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) reduced the prices of around 33 essential medicines, which brought down their retail prices by 30-50%. The medicines include antibiotics and drugs used to treat ulcerative colitis, anti-allergics used for common cold and cough, arthritis, gastro- esophageal reflux disease (Gerd), psoriasis, and tuberculosis.

The purpose of this move is to cut down the prices of commonly used drugs for critical

diseases by expanding the span of price regulation to cover new drugs. Earlier (NPPA) issued a notification which said the ceiling prices of 18 more drugs in its 36th meeting held on 14th September 2016. Total drugs under price control now 467 in NLEM, 2015.”

The government currently fixes the prices of essential drugs based on the simple average of all medicines in a particular therapeutic segment, having sales of more than 1 percent. NPPA released another notification which said NPPA has fixed/revised ceiling prices of 55 scheduled formulations of Schedule-I under Drugs (Price Control) Amendment Order,2016 and retail price of 29 formulations under DPCO, 2013 in related Notification

/order dated 23.12.2016.

The medicines which are not under price control, manufacturers are allowed to

increase their maximum retail price by 10 per cent annually. The calculation for essential drugs is done on the basis of the simple average of all medicines in a particular therapeutic segment with sales of more than 1 percent. Despite getting pressure from domestic generic drug manufacturers, NPPA has been consistently working on lowering and revising prices of NLEM in a phased manner. So far, NPPA has revised prices of 330 out of 799 formulations.

2. Reduction in the prices of coronary stents

In July 2016, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare entailed coronary stents in the

National List of Essential Medicines, 2015 (NLEM, 2015). Afterward, on December 21, 2016, the Department of Pharmaceuticals included coronary stents at number 31 of Schedule I of



the Drug Prices Control Order, 2013. This inclusion effectively gave it the status of a “scheduled formulation” as defined in the Drug Price Control Order 2013.

On 13 February 2017, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) issued an order which capped the price of coronary stents up to 40 per cent lower than their existing market prices. It has ended a long-winded saga that started with the inclusion of these devices in the National List of Essential Medicines in July 2016.

The notification has categorized stents into two types. One is bare metal stents (BMS)

and second is drug-eluting stents. A stent is a tube-shaped device. It is inserted into a

blocked blood vessel, which helps in clearing the blockage, sometimes through physical means but often through the drugs, it gives out at a slow rate.

The price cap for bare metal stents is Rs 7,260. And the price cap for a drug-eluting stent is Rs 29,600. This price cap amounts to 40 percent lower than the existing prices with the range currently at Rs 25,000-Rs 1,50,000. Industry sources say that 35 per cent of the stent products are available at the lower end of the spectrum.

The notification does not give any provision on whether a stent is branded or

unbranded, manufactured locally or abroad. But the notification has made it clear that so long as it is being sold in the country, no stent can cost more than Rs 29,600 though there is room for the addition of VAT, local taxes etc.

The notification clearly states the fact that a stent will have to be put in by a hospital set-up and the product is usually billed by institutions rather than the people selling them. The notification also says that institutions such as nursing homes, hospitals, and clinics performing cardiac procedures using coronary stents will have to comply with the price ceilings.

Impacts on the Industry

Industry estimates suggest that the total pharmaceutical market in India is worth $50

billion. It is likely to grow many times in the future because of the huge burden of diabetes and hypertension in the Indian population. The core committee that analyzed the pros and

cons of bringing coronary stents under price control in its report to the government last year mentioned the high incidence of coronary artery disease (CAD) in India describing it as a “major public health problem”. That is why stents were ruled to be “essential” for public health, a criterion that is key to the price control principle.

The industry has been unhappy with the inclusion of stents under the price cap. A lot of dire predictions claiming patient’s being deprived of the latest technological advancements have come out from the industry.

But many health activists have welcomed the move. Activists said we strongly support

the use of Paragraph 19 of the DPCO to set right the balance in favor of the public interest.

Impacts on People



According to some research medical expenditure takes almost 60 percent of the

income of an individual. This tells the sad story of health in India and why the people are people on a scale of health, food, and shelter. And India is relatively a poor country. So the reduction in the prices of life-saving drugs, and medical equipment would always be a welcome step among the people of India.

-x-x-x-x-

Film Censorship in India

What Central Board of Film certification actually is?

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory body formed under the Cinematograph Act 1952. It is a statutory body under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The Cinematograph Act manufactures a regime of pre-censorship which is, in technical terms, called a regime of “prior restraint”.

The main responsibility of the board is to ensure

that any content of any film does not fall into any of the categories of “reasonable

restrictions upon free speech”. These restrictions are mentioned under Article 19(2) of the Constitution. Article 19(2) of the constitution consists of a set of abstract phrases such as defamation”, “decency or morality, “public order”, and so on.

The CBFC has certain guidelines which have been changed from time to time. At present, these guidelines check (among other things) mainly three things:

1. Words or visuals which promote obscurantist, communal, anti-national, and anti-

scientific attitudes are not presented in the movie.

2. The double meaning words which obviously cater to baser instincts are not allowed.

3. It also checks that whether any part of the movie does not offend human

sensibilities by depravity, vulgarity, or obscenity.

Any film can be exhibited in the country publicly only after they have been duly certified by this organization.

How CBFC functions?

The central government appoints a Chairman and the non-official members who constitute the Board. Headquarter of the board is located in Mumbai. The CBFC has nine regional offices which include Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore Chennai, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram, New Delhi, Guwahati and Cuttack. The advisory panels assist the

regional offices in the examination of the films. The members of the advisory panels belong to different walks of life. These members are nominated by the Central government for tenure of two years.



There are 25 members and 60 advisory panel members in the board from across India.

All these members are appointed by the Information & Broadcasting Ministry. The CEO is mainly responsible for administrative functions, and regional officers are responsible for the examining committees that certify films.

The relevant regional officer receives an application for certification, and then he appoints an Examining Committee. In the case of short films, the examining committee consists of a member of an examining officer and the advisory panel, one of whom must be a woman. For general films, the committee consists of an examining officer and four members of the advisory panel and. Two members of the committee must be women.

If the applicant isn’t satisfied with the list of changes and the certification he or she

can apply to the Revising Committee for a review. The revising committee has the chairperson, a mix of the Board and the Advisory, and up to nine committee members. Any member who was part of the committee who viewed the film is not included in the revising committee.

A similar process is adopted at this stage too, and the chairman has the final say on the matter. In case of further dissatisfaction with the certification, the matter goes to an independent Appellate Tribunal. The members of Appellate Tribunal are appointed by Information and

Broadcast ministry for a term of three years. Any further dispute goes to court.

The Certification Process

The certification process is based on the Cinematograph Act, 1952, the guidelines

issued by the Central government u/s 5 (B) and the Cinematograph (certification) Rules, 1983.

The primary function of the body is to assign each film to one of the four categories –

U – Unrestricted public exhibition

A- Restricted to adults

UA –Unrestricted public exhibition (a word of caution is mentioned for parents that

Parental discretion required for children below 12 years)

S – Restricted to any special class of people (for example, Teachers, Doctors)

The goal of the CBFC is to ascertain that healthy entertainment is provided to the

general public of the country. The certification process is usually kept very transparent. Any film, be it Indian or Foreign, must get certified by the CBFC before being screened in India.

Reasons of Film Controversies

The roots of many controversies pertaining to the CBFC are the 19-point guidelines

formulated by the Information and Broadcast Ministry in 1978 which were amended in 1991. These guidelines are followed by tan advisory panel member, who views films and



certifies them. These guidelines suggest cuts or certifying films. Here are some examples of such guidelines which become a reason for controversy when it comes to censor and certify the films.

1. Rule 2(vi) a, says that “scenes tending to justify, encourage, or glamorize consumption of tobacco or smoking are not shown.” How this statement is used by the viewing panel is completely subjective.

The Centre had ordered CBFC to make it mandatory for filmmakers to show a

disclaimer during smoking scenes. Anurag Kashyap, a film director challenged this rule as “arbitrary, illegal, and unconstitutional”. He lost the battle in the High Court.

2. Guideline 2(vii) states that “human sensibilities are not offended by obscenity, vulgarity, or depravity” makes an impactful combination with guideline 2(viii) which states that “such dual meaning words which directly cater to baser instincts are not allowed.

Guideline 2(ix) states that scenes which denigrate or degrade women in any manner

are not presented and all these scenes would be applicable to the cuss words list. The application of this guideline has created many controversies the recent one is Udata Punjab.

3. Similarly, the clutch of guidelines that censor words or scenes or words that

question national integrity and sovereignty, endanger or jeopardize the security of the state, could impact friendly relations with foreign states, or endanger public order, are not allowed.

An example of it are cuts in documentary filmmaker Pankaj Butalia’s film “The

Textures of Loss” which examines the impact of two decades of violent insurgency on Kashmiri people.

The Government’s Attempt to Solve the Film Controversies in India:

There is no paucity of committees that have examined issues and problems pertaining

to certification of films in India. In 1969, the Khosla Committee report had suggested the necessity of doing away with the hegemony of the Centre over the Censor Board.

Recently, the government has made two major half-hearted attempts to salve the problems by appointing commissions to review the process of censorship. In this direction, the government formed the Mukul Mudgal Committee in 2013. But its report was found inadequate and eventually consigned to the dustbin.

Then expectations shifted to the recently-formed Shyam Benegal Committee (2016)

on film censorship. Many eminent film personalities were on the Benegal committee and there was hope that at least, this time, the issue would be solved with the seriousness it

deserved. But the final report released by the committee has shunned most of the expectations. The main themes of the report have indicated that from now on the focus will be on



certification and not censorship. And the numbers of members of the CBFC will be reduced from 25 to 9.

It also increased the categories of certification by two i.e. one for adults and one for minors. The combination of political appointments in committees and the politics of state ensure that films are censored and not certified.

Way Forward

The Benegal Committee could look at recommendations made in the past for clues to the future, Perhaps the Benegal Committee could recommend doing away with the

Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s powers to appoint members to the censor board. It may help in keeping political influence away from the process of certifying and censoring the films. The restrictive norms on creative freedom have loosened over the decade. And in a democratic setup, the freedom of speech and expression symbolize the right of individuality. Since creative freedom is not an unbridled right, the need of the hour is to review the intent and the motive behind such norms. It is important that the ministry of broadcasting and information provides a white paper with the detailed processes of a voluntary rating system and its implementation written on it.

And, in case, the CBFC declines to clear films and advises cuts on the basis of section

5B(1), which filmmakers think are not just and appropriate, they can always challenge the decision in the court.

-x-x-x-x-

ISRO: What Does The Launch Of 104 Satellites Signify?

Launch of 104 Satellites

On 15 February 2017, India Space Research

Organization created a history by launching 104 satellites on a single Polar Satellite Launch

Vehicle (PSLV) mission. ISRO’ launch of 104 satellites on a single Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) mission kept the space community breathless and astonished. The whole flight of the PSLV-C37 rocket took nearly 29 minutes.

It is just four minutes longer than a regular PSLV that carries one or two satellites.

Before this, the highest number of satellites was 37 which were launched in a single mission into space, in June 2014 by a Russian DNEPR rocket.

The PSLV became operational in 1993, and it was its 39th mission. PSLV-C37 was used for this mission that delivered a payload of 1,378 kg into space in its 38th consecutive



successful flight. The greatest degree of difficulty in the mission has been attributed to the synchronous release of the satellite payload from the final stage of the PSLV rocket.

The description of the satellites which were launched is given below:

Indian Satellites

Apart from 101 foreign satellites, there were three indigenous satellites which are

ISRO’s earth observation Cartosat-2 satellite (714 kg) and its two “technology demonstration” nano- satellites (INS-1 and 2). All other satellites were commercial launches for international customers, through agreements with ISRO’s commercial arm Antrix

Corporation.

Foreign Satellites

There were 101 foreign satellites launched by PSLV on this mission. Among them, 96

were from the USA. Out of these, 88 satellites are from the start-up, Planet Labs, a San Francisco-based earth imaging company. And one satellite is from the Netherlands, Switzerland, Israel, Kazakhstan and the UAE each.

Except eight of the satellites launched today were meant for commercial applications and belonged to private companies. Among those companies, none of which are Indian. In Indian laws, privately-operated satellites are still not allowed to offer commercial

applications in India. This mission is likely to change this situation now.

Similar Experiments in recent past

ISRO also holds the record for launching the most number of satellites in one mission

between 2008 and 2013. ISRO launched 10 satellites in April 2008 on board PSLV C9. This number was overtaken by NASA with the launch of 29 satellites on the Minotaur 1 rocket, in November 2013. After this, this record was broken by the Russian space agency Roscosmos State Corporation’s DNEPR rocket in November 2013 and June 2014. It launched 33 and 37 satellites respectively.

Earlier, the highest number of satellites launched on a single mission by ISRO was 20 satellites in June 2016. Here, PSLV C34 was used for this mission.

An ISRO statement said “after separation, the two solar arrays of the Cartosat-2 series

satellite were deployed automatically and ISRO’s Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) at Bangalore took over the control of the satellite”.

This is the fourth satellite which was launched in ISRO’s Cartosat-2 series. The satellite will be useful for mapping rural and urban regions, management of road networks, water distribution, regulation of coastal land use, and other several other purposes.

ISRO’s two Nano -satellites (INS-1 and 2) are taking instruments from its and

Laboratory for Electro -Optics Systems (LEOS) and Space Applications Centre (SAC) for experiments.

Current Affairs April 2017 eBook

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