- Green Steel Policy –
- TheSteel Ministry is developing a comprehensive green steel policy, encompassing the manufacturing process, required skill set, and funding support, as part of a complete decarbonization strategy.
- Green steel is the eco-friendly production of steel with lower greenhouse gas emissions, possibly reducing costs and enhancing quality compared to traditional methods.
- The steel manufacturing process, involving blast furnaces, basic oxygen furnaces, and electric arc furnaces, is a major global source of carbon emissions, primarily due to the high coal and coke consumption in blast furnace operations.
- India’s domestic steel sector contributes 12% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, with an emission intensity of 2.55 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of crude steel, higher than the global average of 1.9 tonnes of CO2.
- Recently, a terror attack at Moscow’s Crocus City Hall claimed over 137 lives, reigniting concerns about the resurgence of the Islamic State (IS) –
- Experts believe the attack was likely carried out by IS Khorasan (IS-K), the group’s Afghanistan-Pakistan branch.
- IS-K, the Afghanistan-based arm of the IS, has been responsible for recent attacks, including the twin bombings in Kerman, Iran.
- Established in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province in 2015, IS-K comprises Central Asian militants and has gained prominence since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021.
- IS-K targets Afghanistan’s Shia minorityand seeks to recruit radicalised youths from Central Asia and Afghanistan’s Tajik and Uzbek minorities.
- IS-K utilises anti-Russian and anti-Iranian propaganda to recruit among Central Asians, Afghans, and Pakistanis.
- The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has hiked the price of essential medicines including painkillers, antibiotics and anti-infectives –
- NPPA was set up under the Department of Pharmaceuticals is an independent regulatory agency that controls the prices of pharmaceutical drugs in India.
- Essential medicines are those that satisfy the priority healthcare needs of the majority of the population.
- The essential medicines list needs to be country specific addressing the disease burden of the nation and the commonly used medicines at primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare levels.
- The first country in the world to compose its EML was Tanzania in 1970.
- In India, The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare prepared the first National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) in 1996. Subsequently, the list has been revised.
- Drug Price Control Order, 2013 was issued by the Department of Pharmaceuticals under Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers for fixing the ceiling price of medicines included in NLEM.