25 November 2023

• Governance: Paul Lynch won the 2023 Booker Prize for his novel "Prophet Song," set in a near-future authoritarian Ireland, published at a time when global democratic backsliding was a dominant policy concern.
• Science: Casgevy, a CRISPR-Cas9 gene therapy for sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia, received regulatory approval in the United Kingdom.
• International Relations: Taiwan opened its third representative office in India, located in Mumbai, as bilateral economic ties deepened.
• Governance: CERT-In was listed under Section 24 of the RTI Act as an organisation exempt from disclosing information, in view of its intelligence and security functions.
• Science: India's Department of Pharmaceuticals approved generic drugs for four rare diseases at prices approximately 100 times lower than branded versions.

GS area: Social Justice (Culture, Arts)

Irish writer Paul Lynch won the 2023 Booker Prize for "Prophet Song." The novel depicts a near-future Ireland where democratic institutions collapse and a single family struggles to survive under authoritarian rule.

• Booker Prize profile: awarded annually for the best novel written in English and published in the UK or Ireland. Open to all nationalities (since 2014). Prize: GBP 50,000.
• Previous notable winners: Salman Rushdie (Midnight's Children, 1981), Arundhati Roy (The God of Small Things, 1997), Kiran Desai (The Inheritance of Loss, 2006).
• Thematic relevance to UPSC: democratic backsliding, authoritarianism, and the fragility of liberal institutions are standard international affairs and polity themes.
• 2023 context: the novel reflects global concerns about the rise of majoritarian politics and erosion of rule of law across multiple democracies.

Static linkage: Social Justice (Culture), Polity (Democratic Values).

GS area: Science and Technology (Biotechnology, Health)

The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approved Casgevy (exagamglogene autotemcel), a gene therapy developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics, for sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia. It is the world's first approved CRISPR-Cas9 therapy.

• CRISPR-Cas9 mechanism: Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. The Cas9 protein is a "molecular scissors" enzyme. It is directed to a specific DNA sequence by a guide RNA and cuts the double helix. The cell's repair mechanisms fix the cut, either disrupting a gene or introducing a new sequence.
• How Casgevy works: patients' stem cells are harvested from bone marrow, the defective gene is edited outside the body to reactivate the fetal haemoglobin gene (BCL11A), and the edited cells are reinfused. The therapy restores functional haemoglobin production.
• Price: approximately USD 2 million per patient, making it one of the world's most expensive therapies.
• Nobel Prize connection: Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing CRISPR-Cas9.
• India's burden: India has the world's largest population of sickle cell and thalassemia patients. Sickle Cell Disease Mission was launched in 2023.

Static linkage: Science and Technology (Biotechnology, Health).

GS area: International Relations

Taiwan opened its third representative office in India, located in Mumbai. Taiwan already had offices in New Delhi (1995) and Chennai (2012).

• India-Taiwan relations: India and Taiwan do not have formal diplomatic relations as India follows the One China Policy. Unofficial ties are managed through representative offices.
• One China Policy: India has not formally recognised Taiwan's sovereignty. However, economic ties have grown substantially.
• Trade: India-Taiwan trade exceeded USD 7 billion in 2022. Taiwan is a major source of semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
• Geopolitical context: as India-China relations remained strained post-Galwan, India cautiously deepened economic engagement with Taiwan without altering its formal policy stance.
• TSMC and semiconductors: Taiwan produces over 60 per cent of the world's semiconductors and over 90 per cent of the most advanced chips. India's India Semiconductor Mission aims to attract chip manufacturing to India.

Static linkage: International Relations (India-Taiwan, India-China, Economy).

GS area: Governance (Polity, Cybersecurity)

The government included CERT-In (the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team) under the Second Schedule to the Right to Information Act 2005, making it exempt from disclosing information under Section 24.

• CERT-In profile: the nodal agency for cybersecurity incidents in India, established under Section 70B of the Information Technology Act 2000. Issues advisories, coordinates incident response, and maintains vulnerability databases.
• RTI Section 24: exempts intelligence and security organisations listed in the Second Schedule from RTI disclosure obligations, except for information concerning allegations of corruption or human rights violations.
• Other exempt organisations: RAW, Intelligence Bureau, NTRO (National Technical Research Organisation), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, among others.
• Debate: critics argue CERT-In is a technical body, not an intelligence organisation, and the exemption reduces accountability for cybersecurity governance decisions.

Static linkage: Polity (Governance, Right to Information), Science and Technology (Cybersecurity).

GS area: Governance (Health, Science and Technology)

India's Department of Pharmaceuticals announced approval of generic versions of four rare-disease drugs, reducing prices by approximately 100 times compared to branded versions.

• Context: rare diseases (prevalence below 1 in 5,000 persons) affect approximately 450 million people worldwide. Most lack affordable treatment.
• National Policy for Rare Diseases 2021: introduced financial assistance of Rs 50 lakh per patient per year for rare diseases requiring lifelong therapies, funded jointly by centre and states.
• Orphan drugs problem: pharmaceutical companies have little commercial incentive to develop drugs for rare diseases because the patient population is small. Governments worldwide use incentives such as longer patent exclusivity (USA's Orphan Drug Act 1983) or direct subsidies.
• Generic drugs: once a patent expires, any manufacturer can produce the active pharmaceutical ingredient and market it as a generic at a fraction of the brand price.

Static linkage: Governance (Health), Science and Technology (Pharmaceuticals).

GS area: Social Justice (Governance, Judiciary)

Research published in November 2023 revealed that only 10 women had served as Supreme Court judges since India's first woman SC judge Justice Fathima Beevi was appointed in 1989. As of late 2023, only 3 of the 33 active Supreme Court judges were women.

• Historical representation: first woman SC judge: Justice Fathima Beevi (1989). First woman Chief Justice of a High Court: Justice Leila Seth (Himachal Pradesh HC, 1991). First woman to head the National Commission for Women: Jayanti Patnaik (1992).
• Global comparison: the US Supreme Court (9 judges) has 3 women. The UK Supreme Court (12 justices) has 2 women. Canada's Supreme Court (9 judges) has 5 women.
• Why representation matters: judiciary interprets law affecting women's rights. Diverse benches bring wider perspectives to constitutional and family law questions.
• District judiciary: women constitute approximately 30 per cent of district court judges, substantially better than the Supreme Court level.

Static linkage: Social Justice (Women, Governance, Judiciary).

• International Sugar Organisation (ISO): India was elected Chair of the International Sugar Organisation for 2024. The ISO was founded in 1968 and has 88 member countries. It is the principal intergovernmental body for sugar policy coordination. India is the world's largest producer and consumer of sugar.
• New Zealand smoking ban revoked: New Zealand's new government under PM Christopher Luxon announced the revocation of the groundbreaking Tobacco Bill 2022, which would have banned tobacco sales to everyone born after 2009, creating a permanent smoke-free generation. Revenue from tobacco tax and opposition from small businesses were cited.