20 March 2024

• Science: The SAKHI app for Gaganyaan and the indigenous sickle cell drug (at 1 per cent of global price) highlighted India's science-society interface.
• Defence: Tiger Triumph-24, a bilateral tri-service exercise with the United States, concluded, practising humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations.
• Economy: The ILO's recommendation on domestic workers prompted a fresh look at India's 5 million domestic workers, mostly women, excluded from most labour protections.
• Environment: Similipal Tiger Reserve's poppy cultivation discovery fed into the broader discussion of encroachment in protected areas.

GS area: Defence, International Relations

Tiger Triumph-24 is an India-US bilateral tri-service exercise focused on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR). Key details:

• Forces involved: Indian Navy, Army and Air Force alongside United States Naval Forces, Army and Air Force.
• Purpose: joint planning and operations for disaster response, including search and rescue, medical aid and logistics coordination.
• HADR significance: India and the US have developed HADR cooperation frameworks after joint operations following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and subsequent disasters.

Other India-US military exercises for reference:

Static linkage: Defence (military exercises), International Relations (India-US).

GS area: Society (labour), Economy

The International Labour Organization issued fresh recommendations on extending social protection to domestic workers. India-specific data:

• Number: approximately 5 million domestic workers in India, of whom around 3 million are women.
• Contracts: most have no formal contract and therefore no legal basis for grievance.
• ILO Convention 189 (2011): the Domestic Workers Convention provides the international standard. India has not ratified it.

Indian legal framework for domestic workers:

• Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2013: applies to domestic workers.
• Code on Wages 2019: covers domestic workers for minimum wage purposes in principle.
• Code on Social Security 2020: defines unorganised workers but implementation has not started; the rules have not been notified.

The fundamental gap is enforcement: labour inspectors rarely enter private homes.

Static linkage: Society (labour, gender), economy.

GS area: Health, Science and Technology

Ketamine emerged in health policy discussion after international reports of its use in psychiatry. Key facts for prelims:

• Classification: dissociative anaesthetic with hallucinogenic properties.
• Development: originally developed as an animal anaesthetic in the 1960s; FDA-approved for human use.
• Medical uses: general anaesthesia, especially in field conditions; emerging use for treatment-resistant depression (as nasal spray, FDA-approved 2019).
• Mechanism: blocks NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptors in the brain, affecting pain perception and mood.
• India's regulation: listed as a psychotropic substance under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985. Medical use is permitted; recreational use is illegal.

Static linkage: Health (pharmaceuticals), polity (NDPS Act).

GS area: Defence, International Relations

Lamitiye 2024 was a joint military exercise between the Indian Army and the Seychelles Defence Forces. Key facts:

• Location: Seychelles.
• Purpose: joint training in counter-terrorism, jungle warfare and humanitarian assistance.
• Seychelles geography: an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, north of Madagascar. Population approximately 100,600. Capital: Victoria.

India-Seychelles ties align with India's SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) framework for Indian Ocean security. India has provided patrol vessels, aircraft and training to the Seychelles Defence Forces.

Static linkage: Defence (military exercises), International Relations (Indian Ocean).

• World Poverty Clock (2024): less than 3 per cent of India's population lives in extreme poverty (USD 2.15 per day). Extreme poverty fell from 4.69 crore in 2022 to 3.44 crore in 2024. Multidimensional poverty: 11.28 per cent in 2022-23 down from 29.17 per cent in 2013-14.
• NITI Aayog AI principles: India's Responsible AI framework has seven key principles: safety, reliability, privacy, inclusivity, transparency, accountability and non-maleficence. Published in 2021 as part of the National Strategy for AI implementation.
• Bureau of Energy Efficiency: established 2002 under the Energy Conservation Act 2001. Headquarters: New Delhi. Publishes the State Energy Efficiency Index annually. Manages the BEE star rating scheme for appliances.