Relevance IN - Prelims (about the essential commodities act and its provisions)
What's the NEWS

• Following reports of shortage and irrational pricing of hand sanitisers and masks, the central government on Friday (March 13) declared these items "essential commodities" until the end of June.

• The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has notified an Order under the Essential Commodities Act to declare these items as Essential Commodities up to 30th June, 2020 by amending the Schedule of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955."
• The Essential Commodities Act provides, "in the interest of the general public, for the control of the production, supply and distribution of, and trade and commerce, in certain commodities
• The law, which was passed in 1955 to essentially protect consumers from unreasonable and exploitative increases in prices of commodities in times of shortage
• Under the Act, the government can also fix the maximum retail price (MRP) of any packaged product that it declares an "essential commodity".

• The Act defines an "essential commodity" as simply "a commodity specified in the Schedule".
• The Act empowers the central government to add new commodities to the list of Essential Commodities as and when the need arises, and to remove them from the list once the crisis is over or the situation improves.
• Over the years, a long list of items have been designated as essential commodities, including various drugs, fertilisers, cereals, pulses, sugar, edible oils, petroleum and petroleum products, and certain crops.
• The purpose of designating any commodity as "essential" is to prevent profiteering at a time of extraordinary demand.
• Violators are, therefore, termed as illegal hoarders or black-marketeers who can be prosecuted. Besides penalties, the violation may lead to imprisonment for a maximum period of seven years.
• Agencies of state governments and Union Territory administrations are empowered to conduct raids to catch violators.
• The government can confiscate excess stock hoarded by retailers/traders/manufacturers, and either auction it or sell it through fair-price shops.

• Many coronavirus patients have died of sepsis - when the body's immune system goes into overdrive.

• Sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by the body's immune system overreacting in response to an infection.
• This overactive, toxic response can lead to tissue damage, multiple organ failure and death.
• Despite the high incidence of sepsis, knowledge about sepsis prevention and early detection is significantly low

• Viruses, bacteria, fungi or parasites - sepsis can be triggered by a variety of pathogens. The causes of sepsis are usually pneumonia, wound infections, urinary tract infections or infections in the abdominal cavity.
• In addition to the known seasonal influenza viruses, other viruses that are highly infectious, such as coronaviruses, Ebola and yellow fever viruses, dengue, swine flu or bird flu viruses can also cause sepsis.

• The World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the coronavirus outbreak could now be characterised as a "pandemic".
• The declaration came as the coronavirus cases are sharply increasing around the world.

• According to the WHO, a pandemic is the worldwide spread of a new disease.
• The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention defines a pandemic as "an epidemic that has spread over several countries or continents, usually affecting a large number of people.
• The term pandemic is associated with the geographic spread and not any characteristic changes in the infection itself.
• The WHO no longer has a category for declaring a pandemic, except for influenza. The novel coronavirus is not the flu.
• Declaring the disease a pandemic won't mean the WHO gets more funds or more powers to fight it.
• The declaration is a formal announcement that the WHO assesses the impact of COVID 19 to have reached a new level.
• A pandemic is when a disease rapidly starts spreading across the world and is no longer restricted to a community or region.
• The world has seen a number of pandemics in the past involving diseases such as plague, influenza, yellow fever and others.

• Epidemic comparatively affects fewer number of people and is confined to a certain region.
• An outbreak is usually the first stages of an epidemic.
• An epidemic affects a region or a country and starts infecting a large part of the population.
• The ebola spread was an epidemic that affected western Africa and resulted in the deaths of thousands over some years.
• The SARS outbreak in China was also an epidemic that killed over 800 people.
• The WHO declared a public health emergency of international concern, its "highest level of alarm", on January 30 when there were fewer than 100 cases of COVID-19 outside China.

• The Centre has invoked a 123-year-old Epidemic Diseases Act, which has been historically used to contain the spread of various diseases -- swine flu, cholera, malaria and dengue.

• Epidemic Disease Act was introduced by the British in 1897 to tackle the epidemic of bubonic plague that broke out in the then state of Bombay.
• It has been decided that all States/Union Territories should be advised to invoke provisions of Section 2 of the Epidemic Disease Act, 1897 so that all advisories being issued from time to time by the Ministry/State/UTs are enforceable
• Section 2 of the Act empowers state governments/UTs to take special measures and formulate regulations to contain any outbreak.
• Section 3 provides penalties for disobeying any regulation or order made under the Act. These are according to section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant).
• Section 4 gives legal protection to the implementing officers acting under the Act.

Social Issues
Conference on Empowering Women Entrepreneurs

Relevance IN - Prelims (about the objective of the conference + about MSME Sambandh +Udyam Sakhi Portal) + Mains (GS II Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

What's the NEWS

• The inaugural session of ‘Conference on Empowering Women Entrepreneurs' has been addressed by the Union Minister for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME)
• The three-day conference has been organised by the Ministry of MSME in collaboration with various industry associations like Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry's Ladies Organisation (FICCI-FLO), Confederation Indian Industries (CII) and India SME Forum.
• Steps taken by the government to increase the number of women entrepreneurs and empowering women entrepreneurs in the country.
• There are around 80 lakh women entrepreneurs in the MSME sector and there has been an increase of about 38% in enterprises under Prime Minister's Employment Generation Program (PMEGP) being established by women entrepreneurs in last 5 years.
• Central Ministries & PSUs are procuring 25% from MSMEs and it has been directed that 4% of purchases should be from SC/ST entrepreneurs and 3 % from women entrepreneurs.
• Female entrepreneurs are being given a 25% subsidy in urban areas while 35% subsidy is being given in rural areas.
• The work on a marketing website to sell honey products in the global market is in progress. Women are also being given ‘solar charkhas'.

MSME Sambandh

• In order to make the Public Procurement Policy more effective, a Public Procurement Portal "MSME SAMBANDH" was launched in 2017
• The Portal tracks the procurement made by CPSEs from MSEs including SC-ST MSEs on a quarterly basis and contains the necessary information relating to the requirement of CPSEs in terms of items required, quantity, specifications, last purchase price etc.
• Therefore, the portal helps in effective monitoring while also enabling MSEs to build their capacities and participate in Public Procurement market.

Udyam Sakhi Portal
Udyam Sakhi is the project which is designed to give women entrepreneurship the right information to go for self-employment on one single portal. This portal is meant for female entrepreneurs.


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