Today's Headlines

Today's Headlines - 31 May 2023

IPEF Agreement on supply chain cooperation

GS Paper - 2 (International Relations)

The 14 partner countries of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF)including India, have successfully concluded negotiations for an international supply chain agreement, India’s Ministry of Commerce announced. The announcement primarily had to do with the Supply Chains pillar.

What is the IPEF?

  1. The IPEF, launched by the US and 12 other countries in May 2022, is a grouping that comprises more than 40 per cent of global GDP.
  2. The member countries currently include Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and the USA.
  3. The member countries have, since the inception of the IPEF, been trying to nail down an international agreement on a wide variety of issues or ‘pillars’, which include TradeSupply ChainsClean Economy, and Fair EconomyIndia is the only partner out of the 14 nations that is not a part of the Trade pillar.

IPEF supply chain agreement

  1. Under the proposed agreement, the IPEF partners will seek to set up a framework to better understand supply chain risks — something that has come to the fore in a post-COVID world–and also support member countries in “identification and monitoring of its own critical sectors and key goods”.
  2. The IPEF partners would also improve crisis coordination and response to supply chain disruptions, something that was a huge issue for economies around the world in 2020 and 2021 as they locked down to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
  3. The proposed agreement would “facilitate cooperationmobilise investments and promote regulatory transparency in sectors and goods critical to national security, public health and safety, or the prevention of significant or widespread economic disruptions, according to the US Department of Commerce press statement cited earlier.
  4. To support these efforts, the proposed agreement would create three new IPEF supply chain bodies to assist partner countries on supply chain issues.
  5. The three bodies are the IPEF Supply Chain Council, the IPEF Supply Chain Crisis Response Network, and the IPEF Labor Rights Advisory Board.
  6. The IPEF Supply Chain Council, as the name suggests, will be tasked with setting up a way for partner countries to collaborate on sector-specific action plans for critical sectors and key goods to help enhance the resilience of supply chains.
  7. As a part of the IPEF Supply Chain Crisis Network, the second body created under IPEF, the partner countries agreed to, “establish an emergency communications channel,” to help enable a faster response, which could minimise the negative effects of supply chain disruptions to an economy.
  8. The agreement, when finalised and signed, would also see the setting up of a new advisory board, which consists of government, worker and employer representatives to promote labour rightssustainable trade and investment, and facilitate opportunities for investment in businesses that respect labour rights.

Other pillars of the IPEF

  1. Under the Clean Economy pillar, interested IPEF partners are introducing a regional hydrogen initiative to, “encourage widespread deployment of low-carbon and renewable hydrogen and its derivatives in the region”.
  2. India would like the Pillar focus to be centred on action-oriented elements, such as mobilisation of low cost long tenure climate finance and enhanced access to clean energy technologies.
  3. On the progress under Fair Economy pillar, a press statement by the U.S. Department of Commerce highlighted the progress towards an agreement that would strengthen the implementation of anti-corruption and tax measures to, boost commerce, trade and investment among the partner countries.

 

Foucault’s Pendulum in the new Parliament

GS Paper - 2 (Polity)

Suspended from the ceiling of the Central Foyer of India’s new Parliament building, inaugurated on 29 May 2023, is a Foucault pendulum that all but touches the floor as it rotates on its axis. The pendulum hangs from a skylight at the top of the Constitution Hall, and signifies the “integration of the idea of India with the idea of the cosmos”.

Who created it?

  1. Created by the National Council of Science Museum (NCSM) in Kolkata, the pendulum is being dubbed as the largest such piece in India, 22 metre in height, and weighing a staggering 36 kg.
  2. On the ground, a circular installation has been created to allow the pendulum’s movement, with a short grill around it, allowing the visitors to stand around.
  3. At the latitude of the Parliamentit takes 49 hours, 59 minutes, and 18 seconds for the pendulum to complete one rotation, as per the details displayed at the installation.
  4. This Foucault’s Pendulum is not something new … the first one was installed in 1991 at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) in Pune.

What is a Foucault’s pendulum?

  1. The original Foucault’s pendulum, named after 19th century French scientist Leon Foucault, is a simple experiment to demonstrate the earth’s rotation.
  2. When Foucault carried out this experiment for the public in 1851, it was the first direct visual evidence of the fact that the earth rotates on its axis.
  3. The experimental set-up involves a heavy object hung from a height with a stringfree to swing in any direction. Once set in to-and-fro motion, the pendulum is seen to change its orientation slowly over time.
  4. For example, if the initial motion imparted to it was in the north-south direction, after a few hours it could be seen moving in the east-west direction.
  5. Actually, it is not the pendulum that changes its plane of motion, but the ground beneath it. Observers standing on the ground do not notice the earth’s rotation, because they too are rotating with the earth, but can notice the change in orientation of the pendulum.
  6. Foucault’s pendulum is a standard fixture in many science museums across the world, meant to be an educational tool for children to learn about the rotation of the earth.
  7. Till quite recently, the Earth’s spherical shape, and its rotation on the axis, were not intuitively accepted by most people. That is why experiments like Foucault’s pendulum also represent the spirit of scientific inquiry and scientific temper.

 

Stiff Person Syndrome

GS Paper - 3 (Health and Diseases)

Renowned singer Celine Dion has officially announced the cancellation of her highly anticipated world tour, citing her health condition as the primary reason. The singer revealed that she has been diagnosed with Stiff Person Syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that affects a minute portion of the population.

What is Stiff Person Syndrome?

  1. Stiff Person Syndrome, affecting only one to two individuals per million, is a rare autoimmune neurological disorder.
  2. The underlying cause of this disease has been identified as an antibody called glutamic acid decarboxylase or GAD65.
  3. This autoimmune condition leads to muscle spasms, increasing stiffness over time and causing significant pain.
  4. Although there is currently no known cure for Stiff Person Syndrome, milder cases can be managed through continuous medication.
  5. Moreover, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke notes that this is more common in females, affecting twice as many females as males.
  6. It is often associated with autoimmune diseases like type-I diabetesthyroiditisvitiligo, and pernicious anemia.
  7. The exact cause of SPS is not fully understood, but research suggests it results from an abnormal autoimmune response in the brain and spinal cord.