THE COMPLETE ANALYSIS, The Hindu ( Sunday, April 18, 2021)

ECONOMY

1.     Copyright war (Pg. 11)

What is the News?

The US Supreme Court ruled in favour of Google, stating that reimplementing an API by copying its declarations is legally fair use under US copyright law. The apex court said that the decision applies even (or especially) for building a competitive service.

Reason of the court fight:

The legal battle argued the use of copyrights on developer codes, deciding whether developers can reimplement an API or not.

Background of the news:

·        Oracle had alleged a copyright infringement on about 12,000 lines of code Google copied from the Java API developed by Sun Microsystems. Since Oracle acquired the latter in 2010, it argued that Google owed it, to the amount of $9 billion, for using the code to build Android.

·        Oracle had hence sued Google over its use of the code. In the past two instances, Oracle had won the case on the grounds that the code in question was copyrightable. On the other hand, Google argued that its use of the code was meant for fair use and therefore not subject to copyright liability.

·        Over the decade of legal proceedings, the case gathered steam as it would eventually define the interoperability and openness of developer codes. What had now become a landmark dispute would shape the way the open web would be evolved and further worked upon.

What is API?

API or application programming interface is a bridge between two applications that help carry out a request by transferring packets of data. Every time you interact with an app like Facebook, you use an API that sends your request to the servers and then retrieves the information to your device.

What is Fair Use?

·        Fair use is a doctrine in the law of the United States that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder.

·        Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to balance the interests of copyright holders with the public interest in the wider distribution and use of creative works by allowing as a defense to copyright infringement claims certain limited uses that might otherwise be considered infringement.

What is the Implication of this judgement?

It was held by the apex court of the U.S. that Google’s copying of the Java SE API, which included only those lines of code that were needed to allow programmers to put their accrued talents to work in a new and transformative program, was a fair use of that material as a matter of law.

To determine whether Google’s limited copying of the API here constitutes fair use, the Court examines the four guiding factors set forth in the Copyright Act’s fair use provision:

o   the purpose and character of the use;

o   the nature of the copyrighted work;

o    the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole;

o   and the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The Court has recognized that some factors may prove more important in some contexts than in others.

2.     PLI scheme for ACs, LED lights to exclude ‘mere assembly’ (Pg. 13)

What is the News?

The department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) has notified the PLI scheme for ACs and LED lights and said that selection of companies to avail the incentives would be done to support manufacturing of components which are not made in India presently.

It said that mere assembly of finished goods would not be incentivised and companies investing in basic/core components would get a higher priority.

What is PLI Scheme?

·        In order to boost domestic manufacturing and cut down on import bills, the central government in March this year introduced a scheme that aims to give companies incentives on incremental sales from products manufactured in domestic units.

·        Apart from inviting foreign companies to set shop in India, the scheme also aims to encourage local companies to set up or expand existing manufacturing units.

·        So far, the scheme has been rolled out for mobile and allied equipment as well as pharmaceutical ingredients and medical devices manufacturing. These sectors are labour intensive and are likely, and the hope is that they would create new jobs for the ballooning employable workforce of India.

Need of PLI Scheme in India
Objective: for Enhancing India’s Manufacturing Capabilities and Enhancing Exports .Atmanirbhar Bharat

The PLI scheme across these 10 key specific sectors will make Indian manufacturers

ü  globally competitive,

ü  attract investment in the areas of core competency and cutting-edge technology;

ü  ensure efficiencies;

ü  create economies of scale;

ü  enhance exports and

ü  make India an integral part of the global supply chain.

The department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT)

The Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) was renamed as the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) in 2019.  The idea behind the rechristening of the DIPP is to include internal trade in its ambit.

Role & Functions of DPIIT:

Established in 1995, DIPP was mandated with the overall industrial policy formulation and execution, whereas the individual ministries take care of the specific industries’ production, distribution, development, and planning aspects. 

From the regulation and administration of the industrial sector, the role of the Department has been transformed into facilitating investment and technology flows and monitoring industrial development in the liberalized environment.

• Industrial Policies

• Formulating and implementing Industrial Policy in India introduced by the Government. Formulating and implementing strategies necessary for developing industries in compliance with development and National objectives.
• Monitoring the industrial growth, in general, and performance of industries specifically assigned to it, in particular, including advice on all industrial and technical matters.
• Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
• Formulating, promoting, and facilitating policies of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
• Encouraging collaborators at an enterprise level and formulating policy parameters for Foreign Technology.
• Intellectual Property Rights
• Formulating policies related to Intellectual Property Rights.
• These policies are related to the following fields:

• Industrial Designs
• Patents and Trademarks
• Geographical Indications of Goods
• Administrating the rules and regulations made under the Administration of Industries Act of 1951.
• Promoting industrial development of industrially backward areas and the North Eastern Region including International Co-operation for industrial partnerships and
• Promotion of productivity, quality, and technical cooperation.

3.     Pharma exports grew 18.7% in FY21

·        India’s pharmaceutical exports grew 18.7% to $24.44 billion in the financial year ended March 31, spurred by strong demand for the country’s generic drugs.

·        Notably, this performance came amid global contraction and the global pharma market shrinking by 1-2% in 2020.

·        Drug formulations and biologicals remained the second-largest commodity exported by India.

·        The record growth was due to a surge in demand for made-in-India generics, owing to their quality and affordability.

ENVIRONMENT

1.     Bustard poaching in Pakistan shocks activists (Pg.06)

What is the News?

The recent shooting of two Great Indian Bustards (GIBs) in Pakistan’s Cholistan desert.

Background:

Great Indian Bustard:

• The Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps) is found on the Indian subcontinent.
• The great Indian bustard bird is among the heaviest of the flying birds.  It is also the largest land bird in its native range.
• It is the State bird of Rajasthan.
  
  

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

1.     Can Covaxin booster dose prolong protection?

What is the News?

The booster dose will be given six months after the second dose, the company is to follow up the participants for at least six months.

Background:

Two vaccines that have been granted emergency use authorization by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO)in India are Covishield® (AstraZeneca's vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India) and Covaxin® (manufactured by Bharat Biotech Limited).

2.     The story of 220-million-year-old rat-like creatures via microfossils

What is the News?

The Tiki Formation in Madhya Pradesh, considered a treasure trove of vertebrate fossils, has now yielded a new species and two genera of cynodonts.

Details:

• The researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, who studied about 10 teeth samples collected from Tihki, Madhya Pradesh, have announced the finding of a new species, naming it Rewaconodon indicus.
• The team has also identified two new genera under the cynodot species. The first was named Inditherium floris and the second was named Tikiodon cromptoni.

Cynotonts:

The cynodonts are a clade of therapsids that first appeared in the Late Permian, and extensively diversified after the Permian–Triassic extinction event. Cynodonts had a wide variety of lifestyles, including carnivory and herbivory

Tihki, Madhya Pradesh on Map:

3.     ARIES facility will host the support centre for Aditya-L1

What is the News?

The ARIES facility (short for Aryabhata Research Institute for observational Sciences), situated near Nainital, will provide the ground support centre to monitor and coordinate the work on the various payloads of the Aditya-L1 mission.

Significance:

• ARIES plans to allow every interested individual to be able to perform scientific analysis of the data procured by the Aditya-L1 mission.

• Researchers who may not even be associated with core Aditya-L1 team will be able to book a specific payload to conduct observations for a particular time. This will enable every researcher in India perform analysis over scientific data obtained from Aditya-L1.
• The Aditya-L1 Support Centre (ASC) will also provide training through regular workshops for the guest users.
• The collaboration with ARIES will not only expand the visibility of Aditya-L1 within India, it will also ensure the reach of Aditya-L1 reaches beyond India at the international level.

Mission objective:

• The Indian programme Aditya-L1 aims to study the Sun and the region between the Sun and the Earth. It is due to be launched in 2022.
• Initially Aditya-1 was meant to observe only the solar corona