1) Haemophilia: Haemophilia and Health Collective of North (HHCN) proposed new guidelines for treatment of Persons with Haemophilia (PwH) in India.
- Haemophilia is a bleeding disorder in which the blood does not clot properly.
- It is usually inherited with an X-linked recessive inheritance pattern.
- It is caused by mutation in one of the genes that provides instructions for making clotting factor proteins needed to form a blood clot.
- These genes are located on the X chromosome.
- Acquired haemophilia is a separate non-inherited condition
2) Inverted Duty Structure (IDS): Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry submitted a list of items to Ministry of Finance to address IDS.
- IDS refers to a tax structure where taxation on imports of inputs is at higher rates than finished products.
- Free Trade Agreement pacts signed by India with its partner countries is one of the reasons for IDS.
- Impact of IDS
- IDS go against the ‘Make in India’ initiative as it encourages import of finished products.
- Adversely impacts the export competitiveness.
- IDS may also result in reduced tax revenue as domestic production declines
3) De-registration of political parties: Delhi High Court rejected a PIL to de-register political parties registered with names having religious, caste, ethnic, and linguistic connotations.
- Political Parties in India are registered with Election Commission of India (ECI) under Section 29A of Representation of People Act (RPA), 1951.
- However, RPA 1951 does not provide any mechanism to deregister political parties.
- Law Commission (255th and 170th reports) on electoral reforms have recommended granting ECI power to deregister a party in cases of non-compliance.
4) Asymmetric federalism: In recent judgement, Supreme Court held that Article 370 was a feature of asymmetric federalism and not sovereignty.
- Federalism is a system of government in which power is divided between a central authority and various constituent units of the country.
- Asymmetric federalism is understood to mean federalism based on unequal powers and relationships in political, administrative and fiscal arrangements spheres between the units constituting a federation.
- India is said to be Asymmetric federal as there are special provisions applicable to some States/ regions e.g. north eastern states.
