Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman participated in the 2nd Extraordinary G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting under the Saudi Arabian Presidency today, to discuss the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy and coordinate efforts in response to this global challenge.

Finance Minister appreciated the Saudi Presidency for organizing these meetings which provide opportunity to all G20 members to not only share their individual experiences but also to work in better coordination.

G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors during the 1st Extraordinary Virtual G20 FMCBG Meeting held on March 23, 2020 had decided to meet virtually on a regular basis to continue discussions on the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic, including its impact on markets and economic conditions and take further actions to support the economy during and after this phase. This meeting was held to follow up on discussion of the 1st virtual meeting as well as to discuss the follow-up in line with the statement made by G20 Leaders during the G20 Virtual Leaders Summit held on March 26, 2020. During the summit, the Leaders had tasked G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors to deliver a G20 Action Plan in Response to COVID-19, in close cooperation with relevant international organizations (IOs).

Smt Sitaraman supported the proposed G20 Action Plan and emphasized that such an exercise would provide an opportunity for immense cross learning and critical insights. Referring to the G20 Leaders statement, regarding regulatory and supervisory measures, she emphasised the importance of ensuring that the financial system continues to support and quickly revive the economy

Finance Minister made specific interventions on reviewing and enhancing the IMF toolkit and further expanding the swap line network. She suggested that IMF can develop innovative and ingenious methods to meet COVID-19 related financing requirements given that policy space is severely constrained in most countries in these unprecedented circumstances.

On the issue of swap arrangements, Smt. Sitharaman encouraged IMF to use its existing resources to create a non-stigmatised short-term liquidity swap facility which could be rapidly deployed as and when needed by the countries. She also emphasized upon the need to allow flexibility for countries to engage in new lines of bilateral swap arrangements as per requirements.

During her intervention, Smt. Sitharaman also briefly shared with her G20 counterparts the efforts being made by Government of India to deal with COVID-19 crisis, including the recently announced relief package of INR 1.7 Trillion for the poor, the emergency health fund of INR 150 Billion, along with several other monetary, fiscal and regulatory measures taken to address the economic and social concerns of those most impacted by the crisis.

As part of India’s war against COVID-19, the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India has launched “Lifeline Udan” flights for movement of medical and essential supplies across the country and beyond. Under rhis initiative, 62 Lifeline Udan flights have been operated during the five day period from 26th to 30th March 2020, transporting over 15.4 tons of essential medical supplies. 45 out of the 62 flights have been operated by Air India and Alliance Air.

The carriers involved in Lifeline Udan operations include Air India, Alliance Air, Indian Air Force (IAF) and Pawan Hans. Support is being provided by Airports Authority of India (AAI), AAICLAS (cargo and logistics subsidiary of AAI), AI Airports Services (AIASL), PPP airports and private ground handling entities. Private carriers like IndiGo, Spicejet and Blue Dart are operating medical cargo flights on a commercial basis.The flights are being coordinated by a control room set up at Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) under the direct supervision of the MoCA leadership.The Lifeline Udan cargo includes COVID-19 related reagents, enzymes, medical equipment, testing kits, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), masks, gloves and other accessories required by Corona Warriors across the country.

What do these schemes entail? These schemes incentivise compliance and reduce compliance burden during the unprecedented public health situation caused by COVID-19.

The schemes provide a one-time waiver of additional filing fees for delayed filings by the companies or LLPs with the Registrar of Companies during the currency of the Schemes, i.e. during the period starting from 1stApril, 2020 and ending on 30th September, 2020.

They also significantly reduce the related financial burden on them, especially for those with long standing defaults, thereby giving them an opportunity to make a “fresh start”.

Both the Schemes also contain provision for giving immunity from penal proceedings, including against imposition of penalties for late submissions. They also provide additional time for filing appeals before the concerned Regional Directors against imposition of penalties, if already imposed.

What is a LLP? A Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) is a partnership in which some or all partners have limited liability. It therefore exhibits elements of partnerships and corporations.

In an LLP, one partner is not responsible or liable for another partner’s misconduct or negligence.

Salient features of an LLP: An LLP is a body corporate and legal entity separate from its partners. It has perpetual succession.

Being the separate legislation (i.e. LLP Act, 2008), the provisions of Indian Partnership Act, 1932 are not applicable to an LLP and it is regulated by the contractual agreement between the partners. Every Limited Liability Partnership shall use the words “Limited Liability Partnership” or its acronym “LLP” as the last words of its name.

Composition: Every LLP shall have at least two designated partners being individuals, at least one of them being resident in India and all the partners shall be the agent of the Limited Liability Partnership but not of other partners. Need for and significance LLP:

LLP format is an alternative corporate business vehicle that provides the benefits of limited liability of a company but allows its members the flexibility of organizing their internal management on the basis of a mutually arrived agreement, as is the case in a partnership firm.

This format would be quite useful for small and medium enterprises in general and for the enterprises in services sector in particular. Internationally, LLPs are the preferred vehicle of business particularly for service industry or for activities involving professionals.

While the causes of AES are still researched, the association with hypoglycaemia and litchi fruit has drawn attention.

About AES: Acute encephalitis syndrome is a basket term used for referring to hospitals, children with clinical neurological manifestation that includes mental confusion, disorientation, convulsion, delirium, or coma.

Meningitis caused by virus or bacteria, encephalitis (mostly Japanese encephalitis) caused by virus, encephalopathy, cerebral malaria, and scrub typhus caused by bacteria are collectively called acute encephalitis syndrome.

The disease most commonly affects children and young adults and can lead to considerable morbidity and mortality.

Symptoms: It is characterized as acute-onset of fever and a change in mental status (mental confusion, disorientation, delirium, or coma) and/or new-onset of seizures in a person of any age at any time of the year.

Cause of the disease: Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) is considered a very complex disease as it can be caused by various agents including bacteria, fungi, virus and many other agents.

Viruses are the main causative agents in AES cases, although other sources such as bacteria, fungus, parasites, spirochetes, chemicals, toxins and non-infectious agents have also been reported over the past few decades.

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is the major cause of AES in India (ranging from 5%-35%). Nipah virus, Zika virus are also found as causative agents for AES.

How is it related to litchi fruits? How it affects? In India, AES outbreaks in north and eastern India have been linked to children eating unripe litchi fruit on empty stomachs.

Unripe fruit contain the toxins hypoglycin A and methylenecyclopropylglycine (MCPG), which cause vomiting if ingested in large quantities. Hypoglycin A is a naturally occurring amino acid found in the unripened litchi that causes severe vomiting (Jamaican vomiting sickness), while MCPG is a poisonous compound found in litchi seeds.

Why it affects undernourished children? Blood glucose falls sharply causing severe brain malfunction (encephalopathy), leading to seizures and coma, and death in many cases. This is because under-nourished children lack sufficient glucose reserve in the form of glycogen and the production of glucose from non-carbohydrate source is blocked midway leading to low blood sugar level. This causes serious brain function derangement and seizures.

Measures needed: Increase access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation facilities. Improve nutritional status of children at risk of JE/AES. Preparative measures to be in place before the possible outbreaks. Vector control.

Better awareness generation among children, parents through Anganwadi workers, ANMs etc.

What is the ‘rapid test’ for Coronavirus? A rapid test is conducted to determine whether there has been any kind of recent viral infection in a person’s body.

When a pathogen enters a human body, specific antibodies are released as a response to the virus.

A rapid test can detect the presence of such antibodies in blood, serum or plasma samples quickly, indicating a viral infection. Rapid testing is conducted usually to check for community transmission of a virus during an epidemic.

According to the health department, it is a simple test that can be done with a person’s blood sample and will give out results within 10-30 minutes. It is also a low-cost test.

What does Kerala’s health department plan to do? Rapid tests can be used to conduct screening within the community and identify those with suspected infection, put them under observation and if required, subject them to the PCR test for coronavirus confirmation.

Kerala plans to acquire as many rapid antibody kits as possible from ICMR-NiV and begin to use them, especially on those under quarantine in areas like Kasaragod district which has reported 80 of the 181 active cases. The situation in Kasaragod is critical than in other districts and has been met with stricter lockdown measures by the administration.

The product is named “Scitech Airon”. It is a Negative Ion Generator. The technology has been developed under the NIDHI PRAYAS program initiated by the Department of Science and Technology (DST).

How it works? The Scitech Airon ionizer machine generates negatively charged ions at approximately hundred million per 8 seconds (10 ions per sec).

The negative ions generated by the ionizer form clusters around microparticles such as airborne mould, corona or influenza viruses, mite allergens, bacteria, pollens, dust and so on and render them inactive through a chemical reaction by creating highly reactive OH groups called hydroxyl radicals and H O which are highly reactive and known as atmospheric detergents.

The detergent property generated by the ion generator helps in the breakdown of the outer protein of the allergens, viruses, and bacteria, which helps in controlling airborne diseases.

It increases the body’s resistance to infections and harmful environmental factors. This resistance could be helpful for the next 20-30 days outside the ion atmosphere.

It also decomposes gaseous pollutants like Carbon Monoxide (1000 times more harmful than Carbon dioxide), Nitrogen dioxide, and Volatile Organic Compounds.

Significance of the technology: It helps to control the virus, bacteria, and other fungal infections in a closed environment and could help purify the air and disinfect areas around COVID-19 positive cases and suspects. Hence it could ensure the wellbeing of the staff, doctors, and nurses who are working round the clock in quarantine facilities by enhancing their disease-resistance power and ability to fight the virus.

What is NIDHI program? Department of Science & Technology has launched a NIDHI program (National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations) under which programmes for setting up of incubators, seed fund, accelerators and ‘Proof of concept’ grant for innovators and entrepreneurs have been launched.

Under NIDHI, PRAYAS (Promoting and Accelerating Young and Aspiring innovators & Startups) programme has been initiated in which established Technology Business Incubators (TBI) are supported with PRAYAS grant to support innovators and entrepreneurs with grants for ‘Proof of Concept’ and developing prototypes.

A maximum grant of Rs. 220 lakh is given to a TBI for establishing a PRAYAS Centre which includes Rs.100 lakh for PRAYAS SHALA, Rs. 20 lakh for operational cost of PRAYAS Centre and maximum of Rs. 10 lakh to one innovator for developing prototype. Funding for ten innovators is given to the TBI in a year.

What is Earth Hour? Dating back to 2007, Earth Hour is an annual event organized by the World Wildlife Fund that promotes conservation and sustainable energy. During this time, civilians are encouraged to switch off their lights for one hour to help reduce the effect of global warming and raise awareness for climate change and wildlife conservation.

Background: It was famously started as a lights-off event in Sydney, Australia in 2007. Since then it has grown to engage more than 7000 cities and towns worldwide. Today, Earth Hour engages a massive mainstream community on a broad range of environmental issues. The one-hour event continues to remain the key driver of the now larger movement.

What’s the difference between Earth Hour and Earth Day? Whereas Earth Hour stands as a climate change initiative where people reduce their electricity usage, Earth Day (April 22) celebrates our natural environment by inspiring people to plant trees, recycle regularly and keep the planet tidy.

Why do we need earth hour? Global warming and climate change have dominated the scientific discourse in the past more than one decade. With ever rising population of the world, the climate change has put the humankind at a great risk along with other species.

Global warming, rising levels of pollution due to ever increasing industrialisation, declining forest cover and rising sea levels are some of the dangers that drastically affect the workings of life on the earth.

Though the largest polluters are big industries, the WWF tries to make the masses more and more aware about the impending dangers of adverse climate so that they could put pressure on the respective governments to frame environment-friendly policies and laws.

With Earth Hour, the WWF aims to engage people across the globe to adopt more sustainable lifestyle. Turning off lights for an hour is just an annual reminder that if the world does not mend its ways, it will be heading to a dark age, literally.

Conservation reserves and community reserves in India are terms denoting protected areas of India which typically act as buffer zones to or connectors and migration corridors between established national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserved and protected forests of India.

Such areas are designated as conservation areas if they are uninhabited and completely owned by the Government of India but used for subsistence by communities and community areas if part of the lands are privately owned.

These protected area categories were first introduced in the Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act of 2002 − the amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.

These categories were added because of reduced protection in and around existing or proposed protected areas due to private ownership of land, and land use.

Context: Sections 269 & 270 IPC invoked are being invoked against persons who malignantly do any act which is likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life.

Sections 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) come under Chapter XIV of the IPC.

While Section 269 provides for a jail term of six months and/or fine, Section 270 provides for a jail term of two years and/or fine.

In Section 270, the word ‘malignantly’ indicates a deliberate intention on the part of the accused.