Daily Current Affairs (MCQ's) | 24-03-2023

Q1. Bedaquiline drug recently seen in news is for treatment of

a. Cancer

b. COVID-19

c. Tuberculosis

d. AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome)

Answer (c)

Explanation:

India Rejects J&J’s Attempt To Extend Patent On TB Drug

• In a victory for patients fighting for wider access to the crucial anti- tuberculosis drug Bedaquiline, the Indian Patent Office on Thursday rejected U.S. pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson’s attempt to extend its monopoly on manufacturing the drug in India beyond July 2023.

• J&J’s primary patents on Bedaquiline expire in July, paving the way for generic drug manufacturers such as Lupin and Macleods, among others, to produce Bedaquiline, thus ensuring cheaper and wider access to the drug. Currently, Bedaquiline tablets are priced at $400 per six-month treatment course.

• Bedaquiline is a crucial drug in the treatment of multidrug resistant TB patients for whom the first-line drug treatment has stopped working.

Q2. Consider the following statements

1. The ‘evergreening’ is a strategy to extend the life of patents about to expire by making multiple claims in its applications for patent extensions.

2. Evergreening is allowed in India for benefit of generic medicines market

Which of the above statements is/are incorrect?

a. 1 only

b. 2 only

c. Both 1 and 2

d. Neither 1 nor 2

Answer (b)

Explanation:

Evergreening Attempts

Patents that are evergreened are one sort of patent that is essential in the pharmaceutical sector. Patents that are evergreened have a lifespan of more than 20 years.

Patents are a set of exclusive rights granted to the inventor/producer by the government. The patents will grant permission for a set period of time in exchange for the creation’s wide publication. The whole patent rights prevent others from preparing, utilizing, selling, or publishing the patented creation without approval.

Explaining the Evergreening of Patents:-

As the name implies, ever-greening a patent is a corporate, legal, business, and technological technique for extending the term of a granted patent in a jurisdiction that is about to expire in order to keep revenues by obtaining new patents.

In general, the evergreening of patents is not a formal idea in patent law. Rather, this is a societal concept that is used to refer to a variety of things. Patent holders use regulatory procedures and legislation to enhance diligent possession powers in this process. Patents that are evergreen mean that you can benefit from them for a longer period of time.

In simple terms, patent evergreening refers to the continuing extension of patent rights. It also refers to the process of obtaining many patents for the same item. By accumulating patents on superior versions of existing products, these patents cover many aspects of a single product.

Patents that are evergreened are typical in pharmaceutical patents. The most important approach used by global medication companies is drug patent evergreening. According to reports from 2014, the global pharmaceutical industry is worth more than 1 trillion dollars. It has been used by US businesses since 1983, and by Canadian provinces since 1993. The evergreening of patents means securing wealth from high sales volume for a long time.

For decades, India has refused to accept widespread secondary patenting or evergreening of international drug manufacturer patents under Section 3(d) of the Indian Patents Act of 1970. Altering pharmaceuticals to extend their copyright period and revenue is known as evergreening patents. By forbidding evergreening, India is not only assisting local copycat medication manufacturers but is also assisting thousands of people that can afford the steeply modified medicines.

Q3. Consider the following statements

1. A lawmaker stands immediately disqualified on attracting a sentence of two years or more unless the conviction is stayed by a higher court

2. Defamation is covered under IPC section 124A

Which of the above statements is/are incorrect?

a. 1 only

b. 2 only

c. Both 1 and 2

d. Neither 1 nor 2

Answer (b)

Explanation:

Rahul Gets Two-Year Jail Term In Defamation Case

• A Surat court convicted former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi in a criminal defamation case and awarded him a two-year jail term over his “why all thieves have Modi surname” comment.

• Mr. Gandhi had last appeared before the Surat court regarding the case, filed under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 499 and 500 (dealing with defamation), in October 2021 to record his statement.

Lok Sabha Membership:

• Thursday’s developments have put a question mark over Mr. Gandhi’s Lok Sabha membership from Wayanad.

• In the landmark 2013 Lily Thomas v Union of India judgment, the Supreme Court had clearly spelt out that a lawmaker stands immediately disqualified on attracting a sentence of two years or more unless the conviction is stayed by a higher court.

Q4. Consider the following statements

1. A plantation sequesters more carbon than a natural forest

2. Natural sal forest provides more ecosystem services in terms of biodiversity, local livelihoods and hydrological services compared to a plantation.

Which of the above statements is/are incorrect?

a. 1 only

b. 2 only

c. Both 1 and 2

d. Neither 1 nor 2

Answer (a)

Explanation:

Why is India’s CAMPA at odds with the new IPCC report?

• A report released as a part of the Synthesis Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a U.N. expert body, states that not degrading existing ecosystems in the first place will do more to lower the impact of the climate crisis than restoring ecosystems that have been destroyed — a finding that speaks to an increasingly contested policy in India that has allowed forests in one part of the country to be cut down and ‘replaced’ with those elsewhere.

Why Is Afforestation Contested?

• India has committed to adding “an additional (cumulative) carbon sink of 2.5-3 GtCO2e through additional forest and tree cover by 2030”, as part of its climate commitments to the U.N.

• Afforestation is also codified in the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), a body chaired by the Environment Minister.

• When forest land is diverted to non-forest use, such as building a dam or a mine, that land can no longer provide its historical ecosystem services nor host biodiversity.

• According to the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, the project proponent that wishes to divert the land must identify land elsewhere to afforest, and pay for the land value and the afforestation exercise. That land will, thereafter, be stewarded by the forest department.

Why does CAMPA matter?

• The money paid sits in a fund overseen by the CAMPA. As of 2019, the fund had ₹47,000 crore.

• The CAMPA has come under fire for facilitating the destruction of natural ecosystems in exchange for forests to be set up in faraway places.

Why Do Natural Ecosystems Matter?

• Research has found that nature ecosystems sequester more carbon.

• Creating single-species plantations in, say, Haryana does not really come close to a natural sal forest lost to a development project in, say, Central Indian forests in terms of biodiversity, local livelihoods, hydrological services, and sequestered carbon.

How Do Ecosystems Compare To Renewable Energy?

• The IPCC report also found that the sole option (among those evaluated) with more mitigating potential than “reducing conversion of natural ecosystems” was solar power and that the third-highest was wind.

• But many solar parks in India have triggered conflicts with people living nearby because they limit land-use and increase local water consumption.

• A 2018 study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution also found that wind farms in the Western Ghats had reduced the “abundance and activity of predatory birds, which consequently increased the density of lizards”.

Q5. Consider the following statements

1. The disqualification case of a member of parliament (MP) will be decided by the President in consultation with the Election Commission in certain cases

2. In a disqualification case of a member of parliament, on appeal if the conviction is suspended then the disqualification will also remain suspended.

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

a. 1 only

b. 2 only

c. Both 1 and 2

d. Neither 1 nor 2

Answer (c)

Explanation:

Differing Views Emerge On MP Disqualification

• Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s conviction and sentencing in a 2019 defamation case by a court in Gujarat has put a question mark over his continuation as a Lok Sabha MP.

• According to the Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People (RP) Act, 1951, which guides the disqualification of a legislator, the moment a Member of Parliament is convicted of any offence and sentenced for at least two years, she or he attracts disqualification.

• The disqualification is directly linked to the quantum of sentence and since the Surat court has suspended Mr. Gandhi’s sentence for 30 days, the disqualification process is also on hold for the same period.

Lily Thomas case

• However, according to former Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quereshi, since the court has suspended the sentence and not the conviction, the disqualification according to the RP Act and its interpretation by the Supreme Court in the Lily Thomas case is automatic.

• In 2013, the court in the Lily Thomas case had struck down Section 8(4) of the RP Act that gave a convicted lawmaker the power to remain in office on the grounds that appeals have been filed within three months of conviction.

• The disqualification, however, would be formalised only when the Lok Sabha Secretariat issues a notification saying that the seat has fallen vacant and subsequently the Election Commission (EC) orders elections to the seat again.

• Experts also quote the Supreme Court judgement in the 2018 Lok Prahari case, which said, on appeal if the conviction is suspended then the disqualification will also remain suspended.

• Another option which is available for the MP is approaching the President. Says Mr. Achary, as per Article 103 of the Constitution, the disqualification case of an MP will be decided by the President in consultation with the Election Commission.