India -Sweden: Flourishing Partnership

• This year marks 75 years of bilateral relations between India and Sweden, and it is an occasion to celebrate. Bilateral trade has reached unprecedented levels in the past year, with Swedish companies making significant strides in the Indian market. The latest Indian administration has shown a keen interest in augmenting and broadening the partnership between the two countries.

The Past and Present: Bilateral Relations between India and Sweden

• Sweden and India have come a long way in the past 100 years.
• From limited contacts to a flourishing partnership, both countries have developed national wealth through industry and manufacturing. Swedish companies have been key drivers in both domains, and through their work, Sweden and India have found friends in one another.
• In 2023, Sweden is celebrating the anniversaries of Ericsson, SKF, Alfa Laval, and Volvo, notable Swedish companies in India.

Celebrating 75 Years of Friendship

• Record bilateral trade: India and Sweden celebrated a record year for bilateral trade in 2022, with Swedish companies experiencing strong growth in India.
• Flourishing partnership: Both countries are committed to expanding their partnership and collaborating in innovation, green transition, energy, health, industry policy and more.

Emphasizing the Importance of Industry and Manufacturing

• Key sectors: Industry and manufacturing are key to building long-term economic growth, and Sweden and India have identified these sectors as key areas of collaboration.
• Swedish companies have been key drivers: An active industry policy necessitates partnerships and taking bold steps, and Swedish companies have been key drivers in industry and manufacturing in India for several decades.

Prioritizing Green and Sustainable Practices

• Commitment to green supply chain: The future belongs to green and sustainable practices, and both Sweden and India are committed to socially and environmentally sustainable practices throughout the entire supply chain.
• Green transition and digitalisation: There is a clear commitment to this vision from governments and businesses alike, with a focus on digitalisation, the green transition, and the industry of the future.

Way ahead: Opportunities for Even Closer Ties

• There are opportunities for even closer ties between India and Sweden, including a Free Trade Agreement between the EU and India.
• The European Union presidency offers a chance to explore this possibility, which would have a positive impact on economic and industrial exchange, particularly in cities like Pune where Swedish companies have a strong presence.

Conclusion

• The partnership between India and Sweden has come a long way in the past 75 years. Both nations have identified industry and manufacturing as key to building long-term economic growth, and there is a need to deepen work towards socially and environmentally sustainable practices.

 

India recorded death by H3N2 virus

India has recorded deaths of two people, one each in Karnataka and Haryana, due to the Influenza A subtype H3N2 virus, the government said on 10 March 2023. It added that around 90 cases of this virus have been reported across the country.

What is the H3N2 virus?

1. Influenza viruses, which cause the infectious disease known as flu, are of four different types: A, B, C and D. Influenza A is further classified into different subtypes and one of them is the H3N2.
2. According to the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), H3N2 caused the 1968 flu pandemic that led to the death of around one million people globally and about 100,000 in the US.
3. A 2020 study, published in the journal Nature Communications, found that the strains of the virus have dramatically evolved in the past five decades as people born in the late 1960s and 1970s got infected by it as children.

What are the symptoms of H3N2?

1. Its symptoms are similar to that of any other flu. They include cough, fever, body ache and headache, sore throat, a runny or stuffy nose and extreme fatigue. Nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea have been seen in very few cases.
2. According to the Indian Medical Association (IMA), an infection caused by H3N2 generally lasts for five to seven days and the fever starts going away after three days. However, the coughing can persist for up to three weeks.

Which age group is more vulnerable?

1. As per the IMA, this virus usually preys on individuals below the age of 15 years or above 50 years of age. Children and those with co-morbidities like asthma, diabetes, heart disease, weakened immune systems and neurological or neurodevelopmental conditions are at a higher risk.

How to prevent it from spreading?

1. Self-hygiene is the best way to thwart the spread of H3N2. Washing hands before eating or touching your face, nose or mouth, carrying pocket sanitiser, and avoiding people already infected with the virus or any other seasonal flu are some of the steps one can take to make sure they don’t fall sick due to the H3N2 infection.
2. Moreover, a healthy diet that includes plenty of fruits and vegetables can also play a significant role in improving immunity.

Audio-Visual Co-Production Agreement

India and Australia have signed an audio-visual co-production agreement under which private, quasi-government or governmental agencies of the two countries enter into contracts to produce films together. “The government has so far entered into 15 such agreements with various countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Canada”.

What

• An audio-visual co-production, made in accordance with the agreement, will be entitled to claim all the benefits extended in both the countries.
• “The respective contributions of the producers of the two countries may vary from 20% to 80% of the final total cost of co-produced work”.
• A third country can also participate in the co-production as multilateral project, subject to the specific conditions and limits laid down in the laws and regulations in force, between the party countries.
• For all qualifying projects, the international film production company can claim a payable clash incentive of up to 30% on qualifying expenditure in India, subject to a maximum of ₹2 crore.
• In case of foreign film shootings in India, an additional 5% bonus up to a maximum of ₹50 lakh as additional reimbursement will be granted for employing 15% or more manpower in India. This apart, the State governments also extend various benefits.
• The Ministry plans to make incentives applications completely online through the revamped Film Facilitation Office (FFO) website.
• “Also, single window platforms for filming are being set up in coordination with various State governments and bodies like the Railway, the Archeological Survey of India, etc., to simplify the procedures.
• ‘Invest India’ has now been engaged to run the office of FFO”.

Government amends KYC to add non-profit organisations, ‘politically exposed persons’

The Finance Ministry has amended the Prevention of Money Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules for widening the scope of Know your Customer (KYC) norms to include Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), non-profit organisations (NPOs) and those dealing in virtual digital assets (VDA) as reporting entities.20 hours ago

Who are Politically Exposed Persons (PEP)?

• According to the modified PML Rules, the Finance Ministry has defined PEPs as-

1. Individuals who have been entrusted with prominent public functions by a foreign country
2. Includes heads of states or governments, senior politicians, senior government or judicial or military officers, senior executives of state-owned corporations, and important political party officials.
3. Banks and financial institutions must maintain records of financial transactions of PEPs and share them with the Enforcement Directorate as and when sought.

Other key changes introduced

Recording of financial transactions of NPOs/NGOs

• The financial institutions must register the details of their NGO clients on the Darpan portal of the Niti Aayog.
• They are required to maintain the record for five years after the business relationship between a client and a reporting entity has ended or the account has been closed, whichever is later.

Tightening of the definition of beneficial owners

• The amendment to the PMLA rules includes the tightening of the definition of beneficial owners under the anti-money laundering law.
• As per the amendments, any individual or group holding 10 per cent ownership in the client of a ‘reporting entity’ will now be considered a beneficial owner against the ownership threshold of 25 per cent applicable earlier.
• The reporting entities include banks and financial institutions, firms engaged in real estate and jewellery sectors, intermediaries in casinos and crypto or virtual digital assets.

Collection of information from clients

• Reporting entities such as banks and crypto platforms are mandated to collect information from their clients under the anti-money laundering law.
• So far, these entities were required to maintain KYC details or records of documents evidencing the identity of their clients, as well as account files and business correspondence relating to clients.
• They will now have to also collect the details of the registered office address and principal place of business of their clients.
• Additionally, they are required to maintain a record of all transactions, including the record of all cash transactions of more than Rs 10 lakh.

Why such move?

• FATF assessment: The amendments assume significance ahead of India’s proposed FATF assessment, which is expected to be undertaken later this year.
• Risk-management: In one of its 40 recommendations, FATF recommends that financial institutions have risk-management systems to identify domestic and international PEPs.
• Remove ambiguities: The broader objective is to bring in legal uniformity and remove ambiguities before the FATF assessment.

ISRO releases Landslide Atlas of India

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently released the Landslide Atlas of India to identify landslide hotspots in the country.

What are Landslides?

• Landslides are natural disasters that occur in mountainous terrains where soil, rock, geology, and slope conditions are conducive.
• A landslide is the sudden movement of rock, boulders, earth, or debris down a slope.
• They can be triggered by natural causes such as heavy rainfall, earthquakes, snowmelting, and undercutting of slopes due to flooding.
• They are extremely hazardous, posing a threat to human and animal lives, damaging property, roads, and bridges, disrupting communication lines, and snapping power lines.
• Landslides are broadly classified based on the type of materials involved, the type of movement of the material, and the type of flow of the material.

Why do they occur?

• Landslides are natural disasters that occur mainly in mountainous terrains due to conducive conditions of soil, rock, geology, and slope.
• Heavy rainfall, earthquakes, snow-melting, and undercutting of slopes due to flooding can trigger landslides.
• Anthropogenic activities such as excavation, cutting of hills and trees, excessive infrastructure development, and overgrazing by cattle can also cause landslides.

Factors contributing

• The main factors that influence landslides include lithology, geological structures like faults, hill slopes, drainage, geomorphology, land use and land cover, soil texture and depth, and weathering of rocks.
• Rainfall variability pattern is the single biggest cause for landslides in India, with the Himalayas and the Western Ghats remaining highly vulnerable.

India’s vulnerability to landslides

• India is considered among the top five landslide-prone countries globally, where at least one death per 100 sq. km is reported in a year due to a landslide event.
• Approximately 12.6% of the country’s geographical land area (0.42 million sq km) is prone to landslides, with 66.5% of landslides reported from the North-western Himalayas, 18.8% from the North-eastern Himalayas, and 14.7% from the Western Ghats.

Risks in specific states         

• Mizoram recorded the highest number of landslide events in the past 25 years, with 12,385 events, of which 8,926 were recorded in 2017 alone.
• Nagaland and Manipur also reported a high number of landslide events during the 2017 monsoon season.
• Uttarakhand and Kerala reported the highest number of landslides, with Uttarakhand experiencing 11,219 events since 1998, and Kerala making inhabitants significantly vulnerable to fatalities, despite fewer events.

Classification and Mapping of Landslides

• Landslides are broadly classified based on the type of materials involved, type of movement, type of flow of the material, and whether they spread laterally.
• The Landslide Atlas of India maps landslides mainly based on events and seasons.
• The National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) used a landslide database created from 1998 to 2022 using aerial and high-resolution satellite images.