January 2021 The Hindu Analysis 16th - Lukmaan IAS

The   Hindu Analysis 16th

      January 2021)

Important articles
                                   For Prelims                                         The Hindu Page No.
1. After U.S., Russia pulls out of Open Skies treaty (IR)                                       13

2. Nepal raises Kalapani boundary issue with India (IR)                                         10
3. ‘In a crisis, scientists and regulatory authorities have to be innovative’                   10
(COVID-19)
4. DCGI nod for Phase 3 trial of Sputnik V (COVID-19)                                           10
5. World’s largest vaccination programme begins today (COVID-19)                                 1

LUKMAAN IAS                                                   DAILY THE HINDU NEWSPAPER ANALYSIS (JANUARY 16, 2021)

Key points:
• Russia announced on Friday it was pulling out of the Open Skies treaty, saying that the pact, which allows unarmed surveillance flights over
   member countries, had been seriously compromised by the withdrawal of the United States.
• The United States left the Open Skies arms control and verification treaty in November 2020, accusing Russia of violating it, something
   Moscow denied.
• Arms control tensions have been rising between Moscow and Washington and New START, their last remaining major nuclear arms control
   treaty, is set to expire in February, 2021. Mr. Biden has said he’s keen to renew it but it remains unclear for how long.

Open skies treaty 1992:
• The Treaty on Open Skies establishes a program of unarmed aerial surveillance flights over the entire territory of its participants.
• The treaty is designed to enhance mutual understanding and confidence by giving all participants, regardless of size, a direct role in gathering
  information about military forces and activities of concern to them.
• It was signed on 24 March 1992 and entered into force on January 1, 2002.
• Members- 34
• The Open Skies Consultative Commission is the implementing body for the Treaty on Open Skies. It comprises representatives from each
  state party to the treaty and meets monthly at the Vienna headquarters of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
• This treaty is not related to civil-aviation open skies agreements.

 LUKMAAN IAS                                                                    DAILY THE HINDU NEWSPAPER ANALYSIS (JANUARY 16, 2021)

Key points:
• Nepal has raised the Kalapani boundary dispute with India
    during the Joint Commission meeting, visiting Foreign Minister
    Pradeep Kumar Gyawali said.
• The Minister said that the Indo-Nepal boundary dispute existed
    in “two segments” and Kathmandu wished to find a solution to
    the matter urgently. (two segments - Susta and Kalapani)          About Limpiyadhura-Kalapani-Lipulekh dispute:
• Mr. Gyawali also took up Nepal’s requirement for vaccines to fight   • The boundary between India and Nepal is largely an outcome of Treaty of Sugauli,
    the COVID-19 pandemic as Kathmandu has approved Serum                which was signed in December 1815 and ratified in March 1816.
    Institute of India’s (SII) Covishield vaccine.                    • It was signed between the East India Company and the Kingdom of Nepal
• This is the first time that the Foreign Minister of Nepal has        • As per the Article V of the Sugauli Treaty, ‘west of the Kali river’ belongs to India.
    presented the dispute on the boundary front from the Indian       • The treaty fails to mention the source of Kali (Sharda/Mahakali) river which has
    capital since the issue erupted in November 2019 prompting           become the bone of contention between the two countries. It has led to competing
    Nepal to unveil a new political map that showed the Kalapani-        claims over Kalapani territory between India and Nepal.
    Lipulekh-Limpiyadhura region of Pithoragarh district as part of   • Nepal claims that the source of Kali river lies at Limpiyadhura, hence the Kalapani
    the country’s sovereign territory.                                   and Lipulekh in the east of Kali river belongs to Nepal.
• The statement from Nepal said that both the teams “discussed        • Since the Indo-China war of 1962, Kalapani s controlled by India’s Indo- Tibetan
    the review of the Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1950”. It is        Border Police.
    understood that the review has been recommended by the            • Strategic significance: Tri-juncture between India, Nepal and China
    Eminent Persons Group (EPG) constituted by Mr. Modi and Mr. Oli   • Geo-economic and cultural significance: Pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar, Border
    in 2016.                                                             trade with China at Lipulekh

 LUKMAAN IAS                                                                        DAILY THE HINDU NEWSPAPER ANALYSIS (JANUARY 16, 2021)

Key points:
Basics of clinical trials:
1. Phase-I trials primarily test a vaccine for its safety.
2. Phase-II trials test it for its immunogenicity while additional safety data is also obtained.
3. In Phase-III, we give vaccines to one group and placebo to another and examine if the number of infections in the group to which placebo was given are
      significantly higher than the group vaccinated. This number should be significantly higher for us to know that the vaccine is protecting against the possibility of
      acquisition of the virus.
• A vaccine is scrutinised on three critical parameters: the first is safety; the second, if it gives rise to adequate immune response (its immunogenicity), and the
     third, how long the immune system memorises the infection (the durability of the vaccine effect).
Various stages of vaccine development:
1. A vaccine is tested first in small animals such as mice, hamsters, and rabbits with a focus on efficacy and, particularly, potential toxicity.
2. Following encouraging results, vaccines are then tested in larger animals such as rhesus monkeys as certain human diseases are mimicked in them.
3. The vaccine, under scrutiny, is given to one group of animals which is then exposed to the virus, and a second group is exposed to the virus without being
      administered the vaccine.
• Some of the viruses, such as influenza, have evolved mechanisms to evade recognition by immune memory. Slight change in viral structural proteins, known as
     drifts, is one of these mechanisms, which cause local epidemics by avoiding recognition of the progeny virus by the poorly efficient immune system.
Is there a provision to approve a vaccine before it completes its Phase-III trial?
• On March 19, 2019 (much before COVID-19 hit the world), a provision was added to the new drugs and clinical trial rules in India for drug approval process.
• Under this provision, in situations where there is a threat to life or danger of disability due to a disease and where we do not have a better treatment
     alternative, Phase-II clinical trial results, if remarkable, could help in facilitating an accelerated approval of a drug, which is yet undergoing a trial and yet
     unregistered.

 LUKMAAN IAS                                                                                 DAILY THE HINDU NEWSPAPER ANALYSIS (JANUARY 16, 2021)

Key points:
• Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories has received the approval of the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to conduct Phase-III
  clinical trial for Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, Sputnik V, in the country.
• The Phase-III trial will be conducted on 1,500 subjects as part of the randomised, double blind, parallel group, placebo
  controlled study in India, said the firm, which has its headquarters in Hyderabad.
• Dr. Reddy’s and Russian Direct Investment Fund had announced a partnership in September on clinical trials for Sputnik
  V and its distribution rights in India.

 LUKMAAN IAS                                                         DAILY THE HINDU NEWSPAPER ANALYSIS (JANUARY 16, 2021)

Key points:
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the first phase of the
  nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive at 10.30 a.m. on 16th January
  2021, during a videoconference.
• The world’s largest vaccination programme will begin at a total of
  3,006 session sites across all the States and the Union Territories,
  which will be connected virtually throughout the exercise. Nearly 100
  beneficiaries will receive the vaccine at each of the session sites on
  16th January.
• A dedicated 24x7 call centre - 1075 - has been set up to address
  queries related to the pandemic and the vaccine roll-out.
• Healthcare workers, both in the government and private sectors,
  including Integrated Child Development Services workers, will
  receive the vaccine in the first phase.

 LUKMAAN IAS                                                        DAILY THE HINDU NEWSPAPER ANALYSIS (JANUARY 16, 2021)

Thank You

LUKMAAN IAS         DAILY THE HINDU NEWSPAPER ANALYSIS (JANUARY 16, 2021)