Prelim Bits 02-08-2018

State Energy Efficiency Preparedness Index (SEEPI)

• The 1st edition of the SEEPI was recently released jointly by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) and NITI Aayog.
• The index accessed state policies and programmes aimed at improving energy efficiency in five key sectors.
• The sectors are buildings, industries, municipalities, transportation, agriculture and electricity distribution.
• The criteria taken into account includes,
  • Sector-wise energy consumption,
  • Energy saving potential
  • States’ influence in implementing energy efficiency
• It has classified states in to four categories - front runner, achiever, contender and aspirant, based upon their efforts towards energy efficiency.
• Kerala topped the list followed by Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. These states are categorized as front runners.
• Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Haryana have been categorised in the second best category of ‘achiever’ states.

Commercial Courts Bill

• The Lok Sabha has passed the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2018.
• It will designate some courts as commercial courts for speedy disposal of commercial disputes.
• It allows adjudication of commercial disputes with a value of at least Rs. 3 lakh. Previously the value was Rs. 1 crore.
• It allows state governments to establish commercial courts at the district level in the following territories where high courts have ordinary original civil jurisdiction
• In areas where High courts do not have original jurisdiction, it allows state governments to set up Commercial appellate courts to consider appeals from commercial courts below the level of a district judge.
• The above amendments were aimed at improving the ease of doing business in India.
• It is also argued that the transfer of all commercial disputes above Rs. 3 lakh may overburden the commercial courts and defeat the objective with which they were established. 

Tagline for Geographical Indicators

• Ministry of Commerce and Industry has recently launched a logo and tagline for Geographical Indications (GI).
• It is to increase awareness about intellectual property rights (IPRs) in the country.
• A GI product is primarily an agricultural, natural or a manufactured product (handicraft and industrial goods) originating from a definite geographical territory.
• It is a community right rather than individual or company.
• It is protected under Geographical indications of goods (registration and protection) act, 1999.
• GI for a product is valid for 10 years and it can be renewed for any time.
• It is managed by Cell for IPR promotion and Management (CIPAM) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• At the International level, GI is governed by WTO's Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
• Tamil Nadu is the first among the states in India with regard to the number of GI tags for its products, while Uttar Pradesh comes second.
• The first product in India to be accorded with GI tag was Darjeeling tea in the year 2004-05.
• Some of the recently accorded GIs are,

1. Hand-crafted stone sculptures of Mamallapuram;
2. Rasgulla of West Bengal;
3. Pochampally Ikat of Telangana;
4. Gobindobhog Rice of West Bengal;
5. Etikoppaka Toys of Andhra Pradesh; and
6. Chakshesang Shawl of Nagaland.

Polio

• Recently,  28 children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) were paralyzed by the circulating vaccine-derived polio virus Type 2 (cVDPV).
• WHO termed the health risk at national level to be very high and the risk of international spread to be high.
• Immunisation using Oral Polio Vaccination (OPV) reduced the outbreak caused by wild polio virus by 99.9% since 1988.
• OPV contains weakened but live polio virus, which can cause paralytic polio.
• The vaccine-virus is excreted by immunized children, it can move from one person to another.
• On the one hand, a vaccinated person protects unvaccinated people she comes in contact with by spreading immunity through faeces.
• But on the other, such circulation allows the virus to stick around and mutate to a more virulent form, raising the spectre of vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV).
• VDPV, like imported wild polio, can cause outbreaks in under-immunised population.
• It is for this reason that the eradication of polio worldwide requires OPV to be stopped and replaced with the Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV).
• IPV is an injectable form of polio vaccine administered alone or in combination with other vaccines including the OPV (oral polio vaccine).
• IPV does not cause VDPV but protects children equally well against polio.

Agricultural Scientists' Recruitment Board (ASRB)

• Union Cabinet has recently approved the proposal of restructuring of ASRB.
• ASRB is an independent recruitment agency to various scientific positions in Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), the premier agency for agricultural research and education in the country.
• After the recent restructuring, the budget head ASRB would be delinked from ICAR and be attached with Department of Agricultural Research & Education (DARE).
• It will now be a 4-member body and have its own cadre of administrative staff.
• It will be done to ensure the autonomy and efficient functioning of the institutions.

Source: The Hindu, PIB, BusinessLine