Relevance In - Prelims ( about SCO + about CSTO + about CIS) + Mains ( GS II - India and its neighbourhood- relations. Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests
What's the NEWS

• The Defence Minister of India addresses the Combined Meeting of Defence Ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Member States in Moscow
• Defence Minister is on an official visit to Moscow from September 3-5 at the invitation of Defence Minister of Russian Federation General Sergei Shoigu.

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)

• It is a Russia-led military alliance of seven former Soviet states that was created in 2002.
• The CSTO's purpose is to ensure the collective defence of any member that faces external aggression.
• It has been described by political scientists as the Eurasian counterpart of NATO, which has 29 member states, while the CSTO has just six.
• Current CSTO members are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation and Tajikistan.
• Afghanistan and Serbia hold observer status in the CSTO.
• The organization uses a rotating presidency system in which the state leading the CSTO changes every year.
• CSTO is an observer organization at the United Nations General Assembly.

• The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organisation formed in 1991
• The Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991 leading to the foundation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
• The founding states of the CIS include Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.
• The remaining republics of the Soviet Union joined the Commonwealth of Independent States after signing the Alma-Ata Protocol.
• It composed of (12 states) - Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine.
• The aim of the organisation is to facilitate and strengthen cooperation among its member states in the political, economic, ecological, humanitarian, cultural, and other fields.

International Organisations
India to host summit of SCO council of heads of government
Relevance In - Prelims ( about SCO + RATS) + Mains ( GS II - India and its neighbourhood- relations. Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests
What's the NEWS

• India will host a summit of the council of heads of government of the SCO on November 30 with a focus on contributing to the trade and economic agenda of the influential grouping
• India's chairmanship of the SCO council of heads of government during 2020 culminating in the summit in India on November 30

• India has been focusing on expanding its cooperation with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), an eight-nation regional grouping that represents around 42 per cent of the world's population and 20 per cent of the global GDP.
• India, which was an observer at the SCO since 2005 and became its full member in 2017, has been strongly pushing for connectivity projects like the International North-South Transport Corridor to gain access to resource-rich central Asian countries.
• The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) provides a springboard for India to reconnect to the extended neighbourhood of Eurasian countries.

• Extended Neighbourhood' has been variously defined in geographical terms.
• It includes countries sharing land and maritime borders whose list goes beyond the geographical description of South Asia
• Apart from Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh, countries sharing land and maritime borders with India are China, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Maldives.
• One could include in this category countries in the Indian Ocean Region, on the East African seaboard, in the Gulf Region, Afghanistan, in the Central Asian Region as well as countries in south-east Asia.
• At present, the Central Asian region is considered to be the part of India's "extended neighborhood." Modern Central Asia consists of five nations: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. All five nations became independent after the collapse of the USSR in 1991.
• The primary goal behind the Connect Central Asia policy is to re-connect with the region which has a long shared history with India.
• The "Connect Central Asia Policy" (CCAP) was unvield at the first meeting of the India-Central Asia Dialogue, a Track II initiative, held from June 12-13, 2012 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan to fast-track India's relations with the Central Asian states,

Know! about SCO

• SCO is a eight-member economic and security bloc and India and Pakistan were admitted as full members back in 2017.
• It is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation founded in 2001 with its secretariat based in Beijing, China.
• The founding members of this grouping include China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
• The grouping has been having multilateral drills and has developed Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS).

Know! about Regional Anti Terror Structure ( RATS )

• RATS, established in 2004, is a permanent organ of the SCO which serves to promote cooperation of member states against the three evils of terrorism, separatism and extremism. It is headquartered in Tashkent.
• India has been a permanent SCO member for two years now(from 2017
• The SCO members hold joint anti-terrorism exercise "Sary-Arka-Antiterror 2019."
• SCO Members - India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan

Defence
Indra Navy - 20

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the biennial bilateral maritime exercise -INDRA) + Mains ( GS II bilateral relations)
What's the NEWS

• The 11th edition of exercise INDRA NAVY, a biennial bilateral maritime exercise between Indian Navy and Russian Navy is scheduled in the Bay of Bengal from 04 to 05 September 2020.

Know! about INDRA NAVY

• Initiated in 2003, Ex INDRA NAVY epitomises the long-term strategic relationship between the two Navies.
• This exercise has matured over the years with increase in scope, complexity of operations, and level of participation.
• The primary aim of exercise INDRA NAVY-20 is to further consolidate inter-operability built up by the two Navies over the years and also to enhance understanding and procedures for multi-faceted maritime operations.
• The scope of this edition includes wide-ranging and diverse activities across the spectrum of maritime operations.
• INDRA NAVY-20 would be undertaken in a ‘non-contact, at sea only' format due to COVID-19 restrictions
• The Indian Navy will be represented by guided missile destroyer Ranvijay, indigenous frigate Sahyadriand fleet tanker Shakti, along with their integral helicopters.
• Sahyadri has been presently redeployed to provide assistance to MT New Diamond, which has caught fire off the coast of Sri Lanka.
• The last edition of the exercise was conducted off Visakhapatnam in December 2018.

Health
Nutraceutical-immunity boosting products under PMBJP for sale through Janaushadhi Kendras

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about PMBJP + about Janaushadhi Kendras)
What's the NEWS

• Union Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers launched immunity boosting products under Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Priyojana (PMBJP) for sale through Janaushadhi Kendras across country.

• Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP) is a campaign launched by the Department of Pharmaceuticals to provide quality medicines at affordable prices to the masses.
• PMBJP stores have been set up to provide generic drugs, which are available at lesser prices but are equivalent in quality and efficacy as expensive branded drugs.
• It was launched by the Department of Pharmaceuticals in November 2008 under the name Jan Aushadi Campaign.
• Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India (BPPI) is the implementation agency for PMBJP.

About Jan Aushadhi Store (JAS)

• In addition to medicines and surgical items supplied by BPPI, Jan Aushadhi stores also sell allied medical products commonly sold in chemist shopsso as to improve the viability of running the Jan Aushadhi store.
• BPPI (Bureau of Pharma Public Sector Undertakings of India) has been established under the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Govt. of India, with the support of all the CPSUs for co-coordinating procurement, supply and marketing of generic drugs through the Jan Aushadhi Stores.
• Janaushadhi Sugam Mobile App provides citizens the assistance to locate nearby Janaushadhi kendra

• State Governments or any organization / reputed NGOs / Trusts / Private hospitals / Charitable institutions / Doctors / Unemployed pharmacist/ individual entrepreneurs are eligible to apply for new Jan Aushadhi stores.
• The applicants shall have to employ one B Pharma / D Pharma degree holder as Pharmacist in their proposed store.

• It has been established on the 1st of December 2008 comprising all the Pharma CPSUs under the Department of Pharmaceuticals.
• The Bureau will bring about effective collaboration and cooperation in furthering the working and resources of these organizations.
• It co-ordinate marketing of the generic drugs through the Jan Aushadhi stores.
• It co-ordinate supply of medicines in the State from their own plants, other Pharma PSUs of Central & State Governments and Private Sector.

Prelims Factoids
THE World University Ranking 2021

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Times Higher Education (THE) World University Ranking (WUR) 2021 highlights)
What's the NEWS

• India records its highest ever number of universities to qualify for the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Ranking (WUR) 2021.
• A total of 63 universities from India qualified for the ranking, however, none could make it to the top 300.

• Among Indian institutions, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc in Bengaluru) and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Ropar, are the two in the world's top 400.
• In the last edition of the World University Rankings, India had three.
• IIT Indore was the other institute, which finds itself in the 401-500 bracket this year. After these three, India has 15 universities in the 600-800 bracket.
• This year's rankings are interesting as, for the first time, India's top seven IITs have boycotted THE voicing concerns about its transparency.
• THE has assessed performance of 1527 higher education institutes from 93 countries or regions on several parameters including teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and international outlook.
• UK's University of Oxford retains top spot for the fifth consecutive year
• In Asia, China's Tsinghua University was adjudged best in the continent with an overall rank of 20.

• The institutes were assessed on several parameters such as research, knowledge, international outlook, transfer and teaching.
• Out of these parameters of the World University Rankings, Indian university are generally placed low in terms of international outlook and citation impact of research papers.

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