For the 13th day in an unbroken string, India has maintained its steady trend of clocking less than 10 lakh active cases.

For the 13th day in an unbroken string, India has maintained its steady trend of clocking less than 10 lakh active cases.

Oct 4 update

The number of active cases today is 9,37,625. This is 7371 cases less than yesterday.

Despite the extended weekend, India has posted high daily testing numbers over Thurday-Friday-Saturday with 10,97,947, 11,32,675 and 11,42,131 tests respectively.

There has been an exponential rise in India’s daily testing capacities. More than 15 lakhs tests can be conducted every day.

An average of 11.5 lakh tests were done on a daily basis during the past ten days.

From merely one in Janauary 2020, India’s total tests have crossed 7.89 crore so far. There has been a commensurate dip in the Positivity Rate. With progressively falling Positivity Rate, testing has worked as a highly effective tool to limit the spread of COVID-19 infection.

Very high levels of testing lead to early identification, prompt isolation & effective treatment of COVID-19 cases. These have eventually resulted in a sustained low Fatality Rate.

 

India’s steady trend of posting high level of daily recoveries also continues with 82,260 recoveries registered in the last 24 hours in the country. In contrast, 75,829 new cases have been reported. The new recoveries have exceeded the new cases in the recent days.

India’s total recoveries have crossed 55 lakh (55,09,966) today. Higher number of single day recoveries is reflected in the continuous increase in the national recovery rate, which is at present 84.13%.

75.44% of the newly recovered cases are recorded in 10 States/UTs.

Being the leading State with highest number of active cases, Maharashtra has also contributed the highest number to the newly recovered cases followed by Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

 

10 States/UTs account for 77.11% of the active cases in the country. As on date, the percent contribution of active cases to the positive caseload of the country has reduced to only 14.32%.

78% of the new cases are concentrated in ten States/UTs. Maharashtra contributed more than 14,000 to the new cases. Karnataka and Kerala reported 9886 and 7834 new cases, respectively.

Less than a 1000 deaths (940) have been registered in the last 24 hours.

80.53% of new reported fatalities are from 10 States and UTs. 29.57% of deaths reported yesterday are from Maharashtra with 278 deaths followed by Karnataka with 100 deaths. Maharashtra’s contribution to death toll has been on a decline.

Oct 3

The last 10 lakh recoveries added in just 12 days

In a landmark achievement, India has sustained the steady trend of active cases being lower than the 10 lakh mark for 11 days in an unbroken chain.

The number of active cases today is 9,42,217.

With a very high number of COVID patients recovering every single day, India’s steady trend of posting high level of daily recoveries also continues.78,877 recoveries have been registered in the last 24 hours in the country. This has resulted in continuous increase in the national recovery rate, which is currently pegged at 83.70%.

India’s total recoveries are 53,52,078 today. The last 10 lakh recoveries were added in just 12 days. With this, India continues to maintain its global position of being the country with maximum number of recovered COVID patients in the world.

76.62% of the active cases are in 10 States/UTs.

As on date, the active cases contribute only 14.74% to the positive caseload of the country. Maharashtra is leading the States’ tally with more than 2.5 lakh cases. Karnataka follows with more than 1 lakh cases.

14 States & UTs in the country have less than 5,000 active cases.

 

 

A total of 81,484 new confirmed cases have been reported in the last 24 hours in the country.

78.07% of the new cases are concentrated in ten States/UTs. Maharashtra contributed more than 16,000 to the new cases. Karnataka has contributed around 10,000 cases and Kerala follows with more than 8,000.

10 States/UTs account for 72% of the newly recovered cases.

Maharashtra has the highest number of newly recovered cases followed by Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

 

 

1,095 deaths have been registered in the country in the past 24 hours.

83.37% of these are reported from 10 States and UTs.

36% of deaths reported yesterday are from Maharashtra with 394 deaths, followed by Karnataka with 130 deaths.

 

Lockdown teaches poor tribals to sell their products on Amazon, Flipkart and other e-commerce platforms

Before March, if someone said poor, uneducated, illiterate people in the remotest part of India's tribal area would sell their products online using Amazon, and Flipkart, he would have been called daydreamer.

But lockdown has taught poor tribals, which no school would ever teach them--the e-Commerce platform, or how to sell their products online instantly. Thanks to TRIFED (the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India), who took special incentive, financed the poor tribals in distress and sold their stock online.

Their first target is to clear their stock to the tune of Rs 100 crore which is lying unused through private e-commerce companies and through GeM (Government e-Marketplace). The results were 'amazing to many'. If the senior officers of the TRIFED are to be believed, e-commerce platforms are giving a good response to tribal products.

Initially, the TRIFED had given financial assistance to the tribals who were facing a tough time due to no-selling of their products during the lockdown and subsequent market slump. It also put their products on e-commerce platforms and offered a substantial discount to promote the products and clear the piled up stocks. The results were amazing for the poor tribals, who otherwise had no option to sell their product in the present scenario.

The TRIFED has further prepared a long term strategy to effectively promote tribal products online. “At a time when all aspects of life have moved online, TRIFED has embarked on an all-encompassing digitisation drive to only promote tribal commerce and also map and link its village-based tribal producers and artisans to national and international markets by setting up state of art e- platforms benchmarked to international standards,” said a senior officer of the TRIFED.

It is also in the process of digitising all the information related to the forest dwellers associated with the ‘Van Dhan Yojana’, village haats and their warehouses. This digitization effort wherein all tribal clusters are identified and mapped using GIS technology would help bring benefits to these people under the “Atmanirbhar Abhiyanclarion”.

 The recently announced  ‘Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP) has also helped the poor tribals during the lockdown. The Development of Value Chain for MFP’ Scheme has also emerged as a beacon of change and has impacted the tribal ecosystem as never before, the TRIFED said.

The new scheme was Conceptualised and implemented by TRIFED in association with State Government Agencies across 21 states of the country. It has injected more than Rs 3000 crores directly in the tribal economy since April 2020.

Meanwhile, the Centre had also increased the MSP of MFP by almost 90% and included 23 new items in the MFPs lists. The ongoing procurement of MFPs under the MSP for MFP Scheme in 16 States has hit a record-breaking high with the procurement touching Rs 1000 crores, and another Rs 2000 crores by trade over and above the MSP.

Among the States, Chhattisgarh has taken the lead by procuring 46654 Metric tonnes of Minor Forest Produces (MFP) worth a Rs 105.96 crores. Odisha and Telangana follow with a procurement of  14188 MTs of MFPs worth Rs 30.01 crores and 5323 MTs of MFPs worth Rs 2.35 crores respectively.

The Van Dhan Vikas Kendras scheme (a scheme to promote Tribal Start-ups) has also emerged as a source of employment generation for tribal gatherers and forest dwellers and the home-bound tribal artisan, the Ministry said.

1205 Tribal Enterprises spread across 18500 SHGs (Small Help Groups) have also been established to provide employment opportunities to 3.6 lakh tribal gatherers. The scheme ensures that the proceeds from the sales of these value-added products go to the tribals directly. The value-added products benefit largely from the packaging and marketing that these tribal enterprises provide. Manipur and Nagaland have emerged as examples of States where these start-ups have bloomed.

 

Besides, 77 Van Dhan Kendras have been established in the State of Manipur for value addition and processing of forest produces. TRIFED is now planning the convergence of the Van Dhan Yojana with the MSP for MFP Scheme in the next phase of its activities. Together, these two initiatives offer a comprehensive development package for tribals promoting employment and incomes and entrepreneurship.

Systems and processes are being put in place across the country so that the procurement of MFPs become a round-the-year operation and double the present reach to over Rs 6000 crore and and benefit 25 lakhs tribal gatherer families, the Ministry said.

To bolster the scale-up and prepare for additional activities, the establishment of 3000 VDVKs involving 9 lakh tribal beneficiaries in the FY 2020-21 is being targeted. 44 Van Dhan Vikas Kendras that will benefit approximately 14000 tribals were launched in Mizoram on July 14, 2020, by Shri. C. Lalrinsanga, Minister of Department of Cooperation, Government of Mizoram in the presence of Shri Pravir Krishna, Managing Director, TRIFED and Shri JP Agarwal, Department of Cooperation, Government of Mizoram and other officials. Activities in these VDVKs such as training of supervisors and surveyors have also commenced at full speed in the past week.

To bring more exposure to the empanelled tribal artisans and to bring their skill sets and products to international standards, TRIFED is also collaborating with renowned designers such as Ruma Devi and Rina Dhaka to train the tribal artisans.

In her own show, The Designer and The Muse, currently airing on News X, Rina Dhaka is promoting tribal handicrafts and products through a series of interviews. The first interview with Gauhar Khan was telecast on July 17, 2020 while the second one with Pooja Batra is on air on July 24, 2020.

With the successful implementation of these initiatives and many more upcoming ones, TRIFED is working towards the complete transformation of tribal lives and livelihoods across the country through by reinvigorating the flagging economic condition of the affected artisans and gatherers.

Ends.

India to make Bulk Drug and High-end Medical Device Parks, to beat China and become self-reliant in drug and medical-equipment sector.

Domestic Pharmaceutical and medical equipment sector to get a boost? 

In a move to promote domestic production of critical API and High-end Medical devices, Modi Government on Monday announced setting up of three bulk drug and Medical Device parks and special incentives scheme to bulk drug manufacturers in the country. The total outlay of the incentives is around Rs 10,360 crores.

The idea behind the entire exercise is to make India cost-wise competitive in manufacturing of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) and high-end medical devices. Presently most of the API and medical devices are imported from China. This is despite the fact that India is a leading manufacturer of generic medicines in the world. In another scheme, the government has announced incentives of Rs 6940 crores to companies involved in domestic production of 53 bulk drugs. The government would give financial incentives to a maximum of 136 manufacturers selected under the scheme spread in over six years, the Ministry said. 

These schemes would make India not only self-reliant but make it capable of catering to the global demand for the selected bulk drugs and medical devices. “This is also a golden opportunity for the investors since incentivisation to industry and world-class infrastructure support would help in bringing down the cost of production significantly. These schemes along with the liberal FDI policy in these sectors and an effective corporate tax rate of about 17% would give a competitive edge to India in the selected products vis-à-vis other economies,” said Union Minister for Chemical and Fertilizer D V Sadananda Gowda while announcing the incentive schemes.

He said the Union Government would give a maximum 90% grant in aid states, which would be qualified for setting up the of the Park. While 90% grant in aid would be given to North Eastern and other hilly states, 70% grant would be given to other states, the Minister with a maximum cap of Rs 1,000 crore for each Park. The states have been asked to submit its report within 60 days, centre would take a final decision in another 30 days after the reports are submitted.

In another Production linked incentive schemes for manufacturing High-end Medical devices, the government intends to boost domestic manufacturing of medical devices in four target segments by giving financial incentives on sale to a maximum number of 28 selected applicants for a period of five years. Centre would give a financial incentive of 5 % of the sales of domestically manufactured medical devices

Government has set four target segments for medical devices, mainly Cancer care and   Radiotherapy medical devices,  Radiology and Imaging medical devices (both ionizing and non-ionizing   radiation products), Nuclear Imaging devices, Anesthetics and Cardio-Respiratory medical devices including catheters of Cardio Respiratory Category and Renal Care medical devices and aII Implant devices, the Minister said.

The Minister said India is often referred to as ‘the pharmacy of the world’ and it proved itself the world when it continued to export critical life-saving medicines during ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. But it is also a fact that despite these achievements, India is critically dependent on imports for basic raw materials, viz. Bulk Drugs (Key Starting Materials (KSMs)/ Drug Intermediates (DIs) and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs)) that are used to produce some of the essential medicines. Similarly, in the medical devices sector, our country is dependent on imports for 86% of its requirements of medical devices. 

He said the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes for promoting domestic manufacturing of KSMs, DIs and APIs and medical devices would go a long way to boost domestic manufacturing of 53 bulk drugs, on which India is critically dependent on imports. 

The list of 41 products contained in the scheme guidelines will enable domestic production of 53 bulk drugs. Financial incentives will be given to a maximum of 136 manufacturers selected under the scheme as a fixed percentage of their domestic sales of these 41 products manufactured locally with the required level of domestic value addition. 

The incentives would be subject to annual ceilings communicated in the approval letter. The incentives would be given for a period of 6 years. In the case of fermentation-based products, the rate of incentive is 20% for the first four years, 15% for the fifth year and 5% for the sixth year.

In the case of chemically synthesised products, the rate of incentive is 10% for all six years. The selected manufacturers shall have to complete committed investment above a threshold investment mandated for each product and achieve a prescribed minimum installed capacity before they are eligible to receive incentives. Threshold investment is Rs 400 crore for four fermentation-based products and Rs 50 crore for ten fermentation-based products. Similarly, threshold investment is Rs 50 crore for four chemically synthesised products, and Rs 20 crore for 23 chemically synthesised products. Minimum installed capacity to be achieved for each of the 41 products is prescribed in the guidelines. The incentives for fermentation-based products would be available from FY 2023-24 i.e. after a two year gestation period during which the selected applicant has to complete the committed investment and install the committed capacity. 

For chemically synthesised products the incentives would be available from FY 2022-23 i.e. after a gestation period of one year during which the selected applicant has to make the committed investment and install the committed capacity. Any company, partnership firm, proprietorship firm or an LLP registered in India and possessing a minimum net worth (including group companies) of 30% of the proposed investment is eligible to apply for incentives under the scheme. An applicant can apply for any number of products. 

The applicants will be selected on the basis of transparent composite evaluation criteria which include the annual production capacity committed by the applicant and the sale price of the product quoted by the applicant. Applicants quoting low sale price and higher production capacity will get higher marks in the evaluation.

The guidelines are available on the website of the Department of Pharmaceuticals. The salient features of the four schemes are:

The scheme is open for applications for a period of120 days from the date of issuance of guidelines and the approval will be given to the selected applicants within 90 days from the closure of the application window. Applications will be received only through an online portal. The total financial outlay of the scheme is Rs. 6,940 crore.

Scheme for promotion of Bulk Drug Parks: The scheme envisages the creation of 3 bulk drug parks in the country. The grant-in-aid will be 90% of the project cost in case of North-East and hilly States and 70% in the case of other States. Maximum grant-in-aid for one bulk drug park is limited to Rs.1000 crore. 

States will be selected through a challenging method. The States interested in setting up the parks will have to ensure assured 24*7 supply of electricity and water to the bulk drug units located in the park and offer competitive land lease rates to bulk drug units in the park. The location of the proposed park from environmental angle and logistics angle would be taken into account while selecting the States. 

The ease of doing business ranking of the state, incentive policies of the State applicable to the bulk drug industry, availability of technical manpower in the state, availability of pharmaceutical/chemical clusters in the state will also be factored in while selecting the States. The interested States will be scored and ranked on evaluation criteria, given in the guidelines, which captures the above parameters. The States getting top 3 ranks will be selected. The States have to submit their proposal within 60 days of the date of issuance of the guidelines. Selection will be done and in-principle approval will be given to three selected States within 30 days of the last date of submission of proposals.

 Thereafter, the 3 selected States will have to submit a Detailed Project Report (DPR) within 180 days of the in-principle approval based on which final approval will be given. The grant-in-aid will be released in four instalments. First three instalments will be 30% each and the last will be 10% of the grant-in-aid. The selected States will have to complete the parkas per the approved DPR within two years of the date of release of the first instalment of grant-in-aid. It is envisaged to have a single-window system in these parks for all regulatory approvals under one roof. The creation of a centre of excellence is also envisaged to enable an ecosystem for Research and Development. The total financial outlay of the scheme is Rs. 3,000 crore.

Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for promoting domestic manufacturing of Medical Devices: The scheme intends to boost domestic manufacturing of medical devices in four target segments by giving financial incentives on sales to a maximum number of 28 selected applicants for a period of 5 years. A financial incentive will be given at a rate of 5% of the sales of domestically manufactured medical devices. The incentives would be subject to annual ceilings communicated in the approval letter the incentives would be available from FY 2021-22. Four target segments are:-

Cancer care / Radiotherapy medical devices

Radiology & Imaging medical devices (both ionizing & non-ionizing   radiation products) and Nuclear Imaging devices

Anaesthetics & Cardio-Respiratory medical devices including catheters of Cardio-Respiratory Category & Renal Care medical devices

AII Implants including implantable electronic devices

Any company registered in India and possessing a minimum net worth ( including group companies) of Rs.18 crore (30% of threshold investment of the first year) is eligible to apply for incentives under the scheme. The applicant can apply for multiple products within one target segment as well as multiple target segments. The selected applicants shall have to complete a threshold investment prescribed for each year and achieve a minimum prescribed sale for that year for them to be eligible to receive incentives. The application window is 120 days from the date of issuance of guidelines and the approval thereafter to the selected applicants will be accorded within 60 days from the date of closure of the application window. The applications will be received only through an online portal. The total financial outlay of the scheme is Rs.3,420 crore.

Ends. 

Modi government's 3 pronged strategy to cut Fertilizer import bill to the tune of Rs 52,000 crores by 2023

Government is making all efforts for 'ease of doing business' in the fertilizer sector to make India self-reliance in fertilizer production by 2023 said Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers D V Sadananda Gowda on September 13. The move if successful would save more than Rs 52,000 crore foreign exchange, spent on importing fertilizers. 

India is working on a three-pronged strategy.

(1) To increase indigenous production of fertilizers.

(2) To encourage farmers to opt for organic and organic farming.

(3) To ask farmers not to use more than the required fertilizers.

To Increase Production

Government is Planing to make an investment of Rs 40,000 crores to set up new units to reduce import dependency. "Further to promote indigenous industries, we are converting all fertilizer companies to gas-based technology. Recently we have revived four urea plants (Ramagundam, Sindhri, Barouni and Gorkhpur) in India. By 2023 we should become self –sufficient in the production of Fertilizers," The Minister said

In the fiscal year 2017-18, India had imported nearly 59 Lakh tones of fertilizer to the tune of around USD 1300 Million. In the fiscal year, the total urea import was to the tune of USD 2100 million for importing about 84 MT of fertilizers. Though the fertilizers import has been continuously reducing for the past few years, the government wants to cut its maximum import Bill in the coming few years to make India self-reliant. He said new Fertilizer units being set up with an investment of 40,000 crore rupees

To encourage farmers to opt for organic and organic farming

Government is encouraging the production of organic and Nano fertilizers in the country. It is Promoting and subsidizing it as organic and nano fertilizers are 25-30 per cent cheaper. It would also give 18 to 35 per cent higher yield and keep the soil in good health. Other than improving soil health, it would also reduce the production cost of the farmers.

In a move to promote Nano fertilizers, IFFCO has distributed free nano fertilizers to 12,000 farmers and agriculture universities across the country. It has received positive feedback from farmers, He Minister said.

To ask farmers not to use more than the required fertilizers

Another area of action for the Ministry is to ask farmers not to use extra fertilizers as it spoils soil health and pollute underground water. In this direction, the Government has already made soil health cards of farmers to tell them which fertilizers they should use. This would reduce the usage of fertilizers by 10 to 20 %.  The Minister urged farmers to use Urea judiciously as excessive use of Urea may spoil the soil health. He advised farmers to use fertilizers according to their soil health cards.

He said the government is committed to making India Atmanirbhar (self-reliant) in true sense. Government has further started using coastal shipping as an additional mode of transportation. For this, the policy for reimbursement of freight subsidy for distribution of subsidized fertilizers through coastal shipping or through inland waterways was announced on last year.

He said in the last fiscal year, 1.14 Lakh metric tonnes of fertilizers have been moved through coastal shipping. On the cost fixation rules for urea units, the Union Government has removed the ambiguities in the Modified NPS (New Pricing Scheme)-III.  This will facilitate smooth implementation of Modified NPS-III and would give an Additional Fixed Cost of Rs.350/MT to 30 Urea units.

 

Another grant of special compensation of Rs. 150/MT to Urea units would be given to more than 30 years old fertilizer units and converted to gas. This move would incentivize these units to remain viable for sustained production. It will also facilitate continued operations of the urea units resulting in the sustained and regular supply of Urea to the farmers, the Minister said.

Fertilizer Situation in India

India today is the third-largest producer of nitrogenous fertilizers in the world only behind China and USA. At present, there are 30 large size units in the country producing urea (as on date 29 are functioning) 21 units produce DAP and complex fertilizers, 5 units produce low analysis straight nitrogenous fertilizers. Besides, there are about 80 small and medium scale units in operation producing single super phosphate (SSP). The total installed capacity of fertilizer production, which was 119.60 LMT of nitrogen and 53.60 LMT of phosphate as on 31.03.2004, has marginally increased to 120.61 LMT of nitrogen and 56.59 LMT of phosphate as on 31.03.2011.

Fertilizer Requirement in India and its forecast.

 

According to the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, agriculture production in the country has increased despite the decreasing are under cultivation. The production of rice has reached 110.15 million metric ton in 2017 and wheat production has reached 98.38 million metric ton from 104.41 million metric ton of rice and 92.29 million metric ton of wheat in 2016. Various Initiatives of Government of India, such as Initiative for pulses by providing subsidy fo quality seeds produced, cluster frontline demonstrations through KVKs and so on are also being undertaken under National Food Securit Mission (NFSM) for increasing the production and the productivity of pulses in the country.

ends 

India invents a cost-effective alternate of COVID-19 medicine Favipiravir, developed by CSIR to be launched soon

Indian premier research Institute, CSIR, has developed a cost-effective process of developing Favipiravir drug in India using locally chemicals to synthesize this Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API). It has transferred the technology to a private company Cipla, which would start its mass-scale production soon.

The off-patent anti-viral drug Favipiravir, originally discovered by Fuji, Japan has shown promise in clinical trials for the treatment of Covid-19 patients, especially the mild and the moderate patients.

The indigenous production of the drug would not only reduce its production but would also make it available in large number in the market. Presently there is an availability problem of the drug and it is also very costly.

Commenting on the development, Director CSIR-IICR, Dr S Chandrashekhar said that the technology provided by CSIR-IICT is very efficient and makes it affordable and allows Cipla to make large quantities of the product within a short span of time.

DG-CSIR, Dr Shekhar C Mande further observed that CSIR is working with industry in developing quick solutions and products for mitigation of Covid-19 and this partnership with Cipla is an example of how CSIR is committed to bringing repurposed drugs on a fast track. 

Cipla has scaled up the process in their manufacturing facility and approached DCGI for permission to launch the product in India. Given that DCGI has given restricted emergency use for Favipiravir in the country, Cipla is now all set to launch the product to help patients suffering from Covid-19, said a senior officer of the Science and Technology. 

About Favipiravir

Favipiravir is an oral antiviral approved for the treatment of influenza in Japan. It selectively inhibits RNA polymerase, which is necessary for viral replication. Japan has commenced with a phase 3 clinical trial. In the United States, a phase 2 trial will enrol approximately 50 patients with COVID-19, in collaboration with Brigham and Women's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the University of Massachusetts Medical School. In India, a phase 3 trial combining 2 antiviral agents, favipiravir and umifenovir, started in May 2020.

Ends.

 

Another blow to China, India makes 'country of origin' marking must on all consumer products, says the New Consumer Protection Act effective from July 20. Tough road for Chinese products as it can not be sold without 'Made in China' Marking.

The New Consumer Protection Act, which comes into effect from July 20, 2020, is likely to hit those selling Chinese products without mentioning the country of Origin. Considering the anger against Chine, it would be very difficult to pitch for 'Make in China' product even if it is cheaper. People would rather prefer to go for other products even if it costs more to their pocket.

The New Consumer Protection Act has further made life difficult for e-commerce companies. Now the e-commerce platforms have to acknowledge the receipt of any consumer complaint within forty-eight hours and redress it one month from the date of receipt under this Act. It also has provisions to curb 'unfair practices' normally done by e-commerce companies.

In another provision, the Act has introduced the concept of product liability. According to which the product manufacturer, product service provider and product seller will have to pay any claim or compensation.

In another relief to Consumers, the new act gives freedom to consumers to file complaints electronically and can claim jurisdiction over the place of his residence. The new concept has also introduced videoconferencing for hearing and deemed admissibility of complaints if the question of admissibility is not decided within the specified period of 21 days.

Announcing the enactment of the new Act, Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 empowers consumers, simplifies consumer dispute adjudication process and introduces the concept of product liability.

The new Act would give consumers more control over the quality of goods and services being provided to them by corporations. The Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on July 8, 2019, by the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ram Vilas Paswan. Later it was passed on July 30, 2019, by the Lok Sabha and later cleated by Rajya Sabha on August 6, 2019.

The Act would further empower consumers, help them in protecting their rights through its various notified Rules and provisions including Consumer Protection Councils, Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions, Mediation, Product Liability and punishment for manufacture or sale of products containing adulterant, spurious goods said Ram Vilas Paswan through a video conference here on Monday.

He said the Act includes establishment of the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) to promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumers.  The CCPA would be empowered to conduct investigations into violations of consumer rights and institute complaints / prosecution.

The CCPA would have authority to recall unsafe goods and services. It can order the discontinuance of unfair trade practices and misleading advertisements. The CCPA would also impose penalties on manufacturers, endorsers, publishers of misleading advertisements.

The Minister said the rules for the prevention of unfair trade practice by e-commerce platforms will also be covered under this Act. The gazette notification for establishment of the Central Consumer Protection Authority and rules for the prevention of unfair trade practice in e-commerce is under publication.

As per the new Act, every e-commerce entity is required to provide information relating to return, refund, exchange, warranty and guarantee, delivery and shipment, modes of payment, grievance redressal the mechanism, payment methods, the security of payment methods, charge-back options.

Besides, the product has to have  ‘country of origin’ marking which are necessary for enabling the consumer to make an informed decision at the pre-purchase stage on its platform.  He said that e-commerce platforms have to acknowledge the receipt of any consumer complaint within forty-eight hours and redress the complaint within one month from the date of receipt under this Act.

The New Act has introduced the concept of product liability and brings within its scope, the product manufacturer, product service provider and product seller, for any claim for compensation.

Minister said the new Act also simplified the consumer dispute adjudication process in the consumer commissions, which include, among others, empowerment of the State and District Commissions to review their own orders.

The new Act would enable a consumer to file complaints electronically and file complaints in consumer Commissions that have jurisdiction over the place of his residence, videoconferencing for hearing and deemed admissibility of complaints if the question of admissibility is not decided within the specified period of 21 days.

In the act there is also a provision for an Alternate Dispute Resolution mechanism of Mediation, This will simplify the adjudication process.  A complaint would be referred by a Consumer Commission for mediation, wherever scope for early settlement exists and parties agree for it. Mediation would be held in the Mediation Cells to be established under the aegis of the Consumer Commissions.  There will be no appeal against settlement through mediation.

The Minister said as per the Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission Rules, there will be no fee for filing cases up to Rs. 5 lakh. There are provisions for filing complaints electronically, credit of amount due to unidentifiable consumers to the Consumer Welfare Fund (CWF).  The State Commissions will furnish information to Central Government on a quarterly basis on vacancies, disposal, the pendency of cases and other matters. 

Under this new Act, besides general rules, there are Central Consumer Protection Council Rules, Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission Rules, Appointment of President & Members in State/District Commission Rules, Mediation Rules, Model Rules and E-Commerce Rules and Consumer Commission Procedure Regulations, Mediation Regulations and Administrative control over State Commission & District Commission Regulations.

The Council, which has a three-year tenure, will have Minister-in-charge of consumer affairs from two States from each region- North, South, East, West, and NER. There is also provision for having working groups from amongst the members for specific tasks.

While in the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 there was a single-point access to justice, the new Act included many amendments to provide protection to buyers not only from traditional sellers but also from the new e-commerce retailers/platforms.

Ends.

the writer is Vijay Thakur, Special Representative, the Statesman.

A Tale of two Lockdowns: see how two US cities Philadelphia and St Louis dealt with 1918 flue pandemic. It may also explains why the death rate in India is much less than most of the developed nations.

There have been much hue and cry on what was the benefit of early Lockdown in India, was it unnecessary? Could it have been avoided? Here is a documentary analysis on the benefits of early lockdown that may also explain why India reported less death rate than the world average or than that of developed nations which have better health facilities.

It is interesting to see how two US cities Philadelphia and St Louis handled the world’s worst known recorded pandemic to the word, 1918 flu also known as Spanish flu. It infected about 50 crore people (one-third of the world’s population that time) and killed between 1.7 crore to 5 crore people worldwide.

 

Philadelphia:

It Reported first death of Spanish flue on September 14, 1918 it took no measures for the first 20 days--by but that time it had already 400 daily deaths per million. On October 3, the state announced Lockdown, social distancing, closed schools and churches. But it had lost the battle against Spanish flue which continue to spread exponentially. Within a fortnight death rate reached its peak and reported nearly 2600 deaths per million on October 17-18. After this, it generated herd immunity and reduced substantially and in another on month death rate dropped to almost zero. The flue remained active for two and a half months.

St Louis

It reported its first death on October 4, within 3-4 days, it announced lockdown, asked for social distancing, closed school and churches, and the results were very positive. The death rate in St. Louis never crossed 700 daily death per million—this death rate was almost four times less than Philadelphia. Though the flue remained active for almost three months in St. Louis and curve flattened. A delay in lockdown by nearly 20 days in Philadelphia increased death rate by four times.

Observations:

By delaying lockdown by mere 10-12 days increased the peak death rate by almost four times (2600 deaths per million in Philadelphia, and 700 deaths per million in St Louis). Though it is difficult to say that the lockdown was the only reason… there were many reasons, St Louis (spread in 158 square Km) was less populated density wise, and

Philadelphia had more populated and spread in 367 Square Kms, but still the fact remains that the peak death rate tended to be lower in places that acted early, whereas those that waited a week or more saw higher spikes.

Early lockdown avoid unnecessary stress on Health Infrastructure, less death spike means doctors would get time to handle the cases. Similarly, the earlier cities acted, the lower their total death counts in general. Keeping peaks low likely kept health care systems from getting totally overwhelmed, and therefore enabled them to provide better care to each patient.

But then this is not the end of the story:

St Louis lifted the restrictions early considering that the worst has gone, but they were wrong, the virus hit back with the second wave.

"St. Louis and Denver city in the USA lifted the restrictions early thinking the danger was over. But the flu often rushed back as soon as interventions were lifted. Both cities saw spikes in cases after they lifted their bans. None of the cities that kept their bans in place saw the second wave. In some cases Third-wave as well," observes Popular Science magazine (an American quarterly magazine science magazine for the common man),  in its article "What the 1918 flu pandemic can teach us about COVID-19".

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In the Indian context:

India had announced its first Lockdown on March 23, when there were nearly daily reporting of 300. On March 223 the world was reporting about 41,000 cases a day and nearly 2200 deaths a day. The lockdown continued till the first week of June--perhaps the longest lockdown for a country with 138 crore population.

In the first week of June, Unlockdown process began. Then the daily deaths were less than 300 and 10,000 new cases every day. Whereas the world was reporting more than 1.14 lakh cases a day, and daily death of about 4300 people.

The daily death figure and reporting of new cases did not stop increasing despite the longest lockdown. Yet the situation is not as bad as we reported in Italy, Spain, UK or USA. It is managing with its dilapidated health infrastructure though not as efficiently as developed nations are doing, 

 Today the daily death toll has reached 600, and daily new cases to 40,000. The situation is still bad and the only silver lining is the better recovering rate and decreasing death toll.

Did Early Lockdown help India?:  

Yes, without any second doubt. 

Look at the death per million in developed cases USA 433/ Million; Spain and UK more than 600/ million; Italy 580/ million; Germany 109 per million. World over average death rate per million is 78.

Considering the fact that India only reports 20 death per million, one can say India’s position is much better than the world. Reasons could be Early lockdown, immunity, awareness, and late entering of Covid-19 the virus in India.

Did India perform better than other countries? 

Certainly not.

Well, we must question the way our government imposed the Lockdown in a hurry without any roadmap and proper discussion with states and health experts.

It could have been more effective and less painful to casual migratory labourers. The worst part of the Lockdown was suffering of poor migratory people who had no place to live, nowhere to go, and hardly anything to eat. It was a blunder of the Modi Government and it would pay its price in the coming elections.

The SOPs (standard operating procedures) was not clearly defined, officers working on the ground zero were mostly confused due to vague instructions from centre and State.

We should also question why effective measures were not taken at International Airports and on strict early checking (After Mid January, February and March) of people visiting India. Probably our policymakers fail to judge the veracity of the pandemic?

Lastly and most importantly, Centre and state governments did not take advantage of Lockdown to prepare itself for the possible increase in COVID-19 cases. Our health system and its COVID-19 preparations are still worse than some developing countries forget the developed nations.

Write is Vijay Thakur, Special Representative, The Statesman, who has covered health, Energy, Agriculture, and Internal security during the past 30 years.