18 September 2024, The Indian Express
Steady growth in west, south states; decline in Bengal: EAC-PM report
Page no- 1
GS3- Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development
- While western and southern states “performed notably better” than the rest of the country in over six decades from 1960-61 to 2023-24, with Maharashtra and Gujarat consistently showing strong economic performance, West Bengal recorded a “continuous decline”, a working paper by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) released Tuesday showed.
- Five southern states — Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu — accounted for over 30 per cent of India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2023-24, but West Bengal saw its share shrink from the third-largest of 10.5 per cent in 1960-61 to only 5.6 per cent in 2023-24, the paper titled ‘Relative Economic Performance of Indian States: 1960-61 to 2023-24’ stated.
HIV drugs: Indian Patent Office to hear plea against US firm
Page no- 8
GS3- Issues relating to intellectual property rights
- The Indian Patent Office is set to hear the objections of Sankalp Rehabilitation Trust against the patent claims filed by US-based pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences on HIV drug lenacapavir.
- Administered twice a year, this injectable drug has garnered attention for its potential in HIV prevention after multiple clinical trials demonstrated superior efficacy to standard oral preventative medicines known as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). According to UNAIDS, this new HIV drug “can offer hope of ending AIDS if all have access”.
COP29 in Azerbaijan: Focus to be on climate finance agreement
Page no- 8
GS3- Environment conservation
- While countries are still struggling to come to an agreement over the quantum of finance that developed nations must mobilise in the coming years to fight climate change, Azerbaijan, the host of this year’s climate conference, has decided to launch a new fund to finance climate action in the developing world.
- The Climate Finance Action Fund (CFAF) would seek “voluntary” contributions from fossil-fuel producing countries and companies, with Azerbaijan, itself a petroleum economy, making the initial contribution. It is not clear how much money this new fund is hoping to raise.
Joe Biden’s India Story
Page no- 11
GS2- India and its bilateral relations
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meetings on Saturday with President Joe Biden at Wilmington — a two-hour drive south from New York — will celebrate the significant gains in the India-US partnership over the last four years. The Wilmington discussions will also continue translating some of the declared big ideas for India-US strategic cooperation on high technology, defence, and regional security into concrete outcomes.
- That Wilmington, Delaware, is Biden’s hometown adds a personal dimension to the proceedings of the summit of the Quadrilateral forum and the US President’s bilateral meetings with partners from Australia, India, and Japan. President Biden and his advisers have invested significant amounts of political and bureaucratic capital in making the Quad a credible new forum in Asia. Biden’s term has also seen the intensification of bilateral strategic cooperation with all three Quad partners.
Waiting for Fed rate cut, the key question is how much
Page no- 12
GS2- Effect of policies of developed countries on India’s interests
- The highly anticipated two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the United States Federal Reserve that begins on Tuesday (September 17) is expected to end with the announcement of a rate cut, the first by the American central bank since March 2020.
- But the size of the cut represents a “weighty decision”. The probability of a 50 basis-point cut has gained strength in market predictions over the week leading up to the Fed meeting, while the odds of a 25 basis-point cut seem to have ebbed slightly.
Low-cost diabetes drug can slow ageing in male monkeys: Study
Page no- 12
Prelims Syllabus- Science Current Affairs
- Metformin, an inexpensive diabetes drug, slows ageing in male monkeys, particularly in their brain, according to a new study. The finding raises the possibility that the medication could one day be used to delay ageing in humans.
- The study, ‘Metformin decelerates aging clock in male monkeys’, was published in the journal Cell on September 12. It was carried out by a team of 43 researchers based at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, and other universities.
Nature of J&K Assembly
Page no- 12
GS2- Parliament and State legislatures—structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these
- The first phase of polling for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly will take place on Wednesday. Given that this is the first election since 2019 when the constitutional compact of Jammu and Kashmir was altered by the abrogation of Article 370, the new Legislative Assembly will be substantially different from earlier Assemblies.
- The constitutional changes of August 2019 took away the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir — thus, the new Assembly will be for a Union Territory (UT), not a state. What powers will the new Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir have?
Goods exports decline by 9% in Aug; trade deficit widens to $30 bn
Page no- 13
GS3- Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development
- Amid weak demand in Western countries, India’s goods trade gap widened sharply to $30 billion in August in the wake of a 9 per cent decline in exports and a 3 per cent increase in imports, which has pushed up the trade deficit to a nine month high, data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday showed.
- While goods exports in August this year totalled $34.71 billion compared to $38.28 billion in August 2023, goods imports stood at $64.36 billion compared to $62.30 billion in August last year. This has pushed the goods trade deficit to $30 billion, highest in ten months.
