26 April 2023

• Health: India's National Medical Devices Policy 2023 was approved by the Union Cabinet, aiming to grow the domestic medical devices sector to $50 billion by 2030.
• Environment: A peer-reviewed study linked rising sea levels to accelerating ice sheet loss from Greenland and Antarctica.
• Security: Left Wing Extremism violence has fallen 77 per cent since 2010, with Maoist-affected districts reduced from 96 to 45.
• Culture: Thirunelly Temple in Kerala's Wayanad district and its ecological significance were highlighted in discussions about sacred grove conservation.
• Economy: India's merchandise exports in April-March 2022-23 reached $447 billion, maintaining the highest annual export level in history.

GS area: Economy (Manufacturing, Health), Governance

The Union Cabinet approved the National Medical Devices Policy 2023, the country's first dedicated policy for this high-potential sector.

• Current state: India imports approximately 80 per cent of its medical device requirements. The domestic industry is valued at about $11 billion but is fragmented and largely dependent on imports for high-tech devices.
• The target: Grow the domestic medical devices industry to $50 billion by 2030, and increase India's global market share from 1.5 per cent to 10-12 per cent.
• Components of the policy:
  • A dedicated Medical Devices Parks programme with Plug and Play infrastructure in states.
  • Financial incentives including Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme extension for medical devices.
  • A strengthened regulatory framework under CDSCO (Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation).
  • Mandatory harmonisation with international standards (ISO, CE marking equivalents).
• CDSCO: The national regulatory body for medical devices in India, under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. It classifies devices into four risk classes (A, B, C, D) and grants marketing authorisation.
• PLI for medical devices: A Production Linked Incentive scheme for medical devices was already operational, targeting CT scans, MRI machines, linear accelerators and other high-value equipment.
• Why this matters for UPSC: India's healthcare system depends heavily on imported diagnostic and treatment equipment. The policy connects to Atmanirbhar Bharat goals, healthcare access costs and the Make in India programme.

Static linkage: Manufacturing policy, healthcare, Atmanirbhar Bharat.

GS area: Environment (Climate change, Oceans)

A peer-reviewed study published in Nature Climate Change quantified the acceleration in sea level rise driven by melting ice sheets.

• Rate acceleration: The rate of global mean sea level rise doubled from approximately 2.3 mm per year in the 1993-2002 decade to 4.6 mm per year in the 2013-2022 decade.
• Two drivers: Thermal expansion (oceans absorb heat and expand) accounts for about 40 per cent of current rise. Ice mass loss from Greenland (22 per cent) and Antarctica (West Antarctic Ice Sheet, 20 per cent) accounts for the rest.
• India's vulnerable coastline: India has 7,517 km of coastline and about 250 million coastal residents. Major delta systems (Ganga-Brahmaputra, Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery) and low-lying coastal cities (Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Kochi) are at risk.
• Sundarbans: Sagar Island and several Sundarbans islands have already been submerged in recent decades. The Sundarbans mangrove ecosystem provides storm surge protection for Bengal and Bangladesh but is itself vulnerable to salinity intrusion.
• Lohachara Island: The first inhabited Indian island recorded as submerged due to sea level rise (in the Sundarbans). Its population was displaced to Sagar Island.
• IPCC AR6 projection: If emissions continue on current trajectories, mean sea level could rise by 0.63 to 1.01 metres by 2100, with low-likelihood but high-impact scenarios of over 2 metres.
• Adaptation tools: Coastal protection includes mangrove restoration, hard sea walls, managed retreat (planned relocation of communities) and nature-based solutions.

Static linkage: Climate change, coastal geography, disaster management.

GS area: Security (Internal security, LWE)

The Ministry of Home Affairs reported that Left Wing Extremism (LWE) violence had declined by 77 per cent between 2010 and 2022.

• Key metrics: LWE-affected districts fell from 96 in 2010 to 45 in 2022. The "most affected" category was further reduced to 25 districts. Violence incidents fell from around 2,200 per year to under 510.
• Most affected states: Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha remain the main theatres of LWE activity. Chhattisgarh's Bastar region (comprising seven districts) accounts for the majority of incidents.
• SAMADHAN strategy: The government's doctrine for LWE: Smart Leadership, Aggressive Strategy, Motivation and Training, Actionable Intelligence, Dashboard-Based Key Performance Indicators, Harnessing Technology, Action Plan for Each Theatre, No Access to Financing. Launched in 2017.
• ASPIRE: A programme for elimination of LWE providing integrated economic development in LWE-affected areas: roads, connectivity, telecoms, banking and skill development.
• Aspirational Districts: Many LWE-affected districts were also included in the Aspirational Districts Programme, which provides focused development resources under NITI Aayog monitoring.
• The tribal dimension: LWE persists in areas where tribal communities face land alienation, inadequate forest rights implementation and displacement from development projects. Addressing these structural causes is central to long-term resolution.
• Maoist ideology: The Communist Party of India (Maoist), the main LWE organisation, follows the Naxalbari doctrine (peasant armed struggle from rural areas surrounding urban areas). The movement originated from Naxalbari, West Bengal in 1967.

Static linkage: Internal security, tribal welfare, LWE policy.

GS area: Environment (Biodiversity, Traditional knowledge)

Thirunelly Temple in Wayanad, Kerala, associated with the Brahmagiri sacred grove, illustrates how traditional religious practices have conserved biodiversity for centuries.

• What sacred groves are: Patches of forest preserved by local communities on religious grounds. Entry is restricted, hunting forbidden and felling banned. They are found across India under different names.
• Names across India: Dev vans (Uttarakhand, HP), Devara kadu (Karnataka), Orans (Rajasthan), Sarna (Jharkhand, tribal communities), Kovil kadu (Tamil Nadu), Devarakadu (Western Ghats).
• Biodiversity significance: Sacred groves often harbour species absent from surrounding landscapes. They act as refugia (refuges) that retain genetic diversity and from which surrounding areas can be recolonised after disturbance.
• Threat: Commercialisation, encroachment and weakening of traditional community governance. In some cases, conversion of sacred groves to formal forest department control has disrupted community stewardship.
• Policy recognition: The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has recognised sacred groves as community-conserved areas. The Biological Diversity Act 2002 protects traditional knowledge and encourages documentation through Biodiversity Management Committees.
• Wayanad context: Wayanad district is part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO biosphere reserve. The region has significant Adivasi communities (Kurumba, Kattunayaka, Paniyas) with traditional forest governance systems.

Static linkage: Biodiversity conservation, traditional knowledge, environment law.

GS area: Economy (Trade, External sector)

India's merchandise exports for FY 2022-23 reached $447 billion, the highest annual export figure in India's history.

• Previous record: $421.9 billion in FY 2021-22. FY 2022-23 crossed $447 billion despite global headwinds.
• Top export categories: Engineering goods (around $107 billion), petroleum products ($78 billion), gems and jewellery ($38 billion), chemicals ($29 billion), pharmaceuticals ($25 billion).
• Services exports separately: India's services exports in FY 2022-23 were approximately $322 billion, bringing total goods and services exports close to $770 billion.
• Target: The government had set a $2 trillion total exports (goods + services) target for 2030 under the FTP 2023 framework.
• Concentration risk: India's merchandise exports are heavily dependent on petroleum product re-exports (refined Russian crude), which are vulnerable to global oil price changes and sanctions policy.
• DGFT: The Directorate General of Foreign Trade, under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, administers India's export incentive schemes including MEIS (phased out), RODTEP (Remission of Duties and Taxes on Export Products) and SEIS.

Static linkage: India's external trade, export policy, FTP 2023.