PIB 1st May 2021

REMDESIVIR

Focus: GS II- Health, Prelims

Why in news?

The Government of India has started importing the vital drug Remdesivir from other countries to ease out the shortage of Remdesivir in the country.

About Remdesivir:

• Remdesivir was originally developed to treat Ebola.
• The drug is now being tested for treating COVID-19.
• It is produced by Gilead Life Sciences.
• Seven Indian companies are producing injection Remdesivir under a voluntary licensing agreement with Gilead Sciences of the U.S.
• As per the National Clinical Management Protocol for COVID-19 of the Central government, Remdesivir is listed as an Investigational Therapy (i.e. where informed and shared decision-making is essential).
• Remdesivir and chloroquine effectively inhibit the recently emerged novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in vitro.
• Chloroquine is a “widely used” anti-malarial and autoimmune disease medicine that has recently come to light as a potential antiviral drug.

INDEX OF EIGHT CORE INDUSTRIES FOR MARCH 2021

 Focus: GS III-Indian Economy

About Index of Eight Core Industries:

• The Eight Core Industries comprise 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

Index of Industrial Production (IIP):

• The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is an index that shows the growth rates in different industry groups of the economy in a fixed period of time.
• It is compiled and published monthly by the Central Statistical Organization (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI).
• The Central Statistics Office (CSO) revised the base year of the all-India Index of Industrial Production (IIP) from 2004-05 to 2011-12 on 12 May 2017.
• IIP is a composite indicator that measures the growth rate of industry groups classified under broad sectors, namely, Mining, Manufacturing, and Electricity.
• Use-based sectors, namely Basic Goods, Capital Goods, and Intermediate Goods.

Released by: The Office of the Economic Adviser, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade releases the Index of Eight Core Sector Industries.

Base year: 2011-12

• Coal- 10.33 percent,  declined by 21.9 per cent in March, 2021 over March, 2020. 
• Crude Oil- 8.98per cent, declined by 3.1 per cent in March, 2021 over March, 2020.
• Natural Gas- 6.88per cent, increased by 12.3 per cent in March, 2021 over March, 2020.
• Petroleum Refinery Products- 28.04per cent, declined by 0.7 per cent in March, 2021 over March, 2020.
• Fertilizers-2.63 per cent, declined by 5.0 per cent in March, 2021 over March, 2020.
• Steel- 17.92per cent,  increased by 23.0 per cent in March, 2021 over March, 2020.
• Cement-5.37per cent, increased by 32.5 per cent in March, 2021 over March, 2020.
• Electricity- 19.85per cent,  increased by 21.6 per cent in March, 2021 over March, 2020.

Below image attached Eight Core Industries based on their weightage.

Significance of IIP:

• IIP is the only measure on the physical volume of production.
• It is used by government agencies including the Ministry of Finance, the Reserve Bank of India, etc., for policy-making purposes.
• IIP remains extremely relevant for the calculation of the quarterly and advance GDP estimates.