Covishield and Covaxin approved for emergency use as COVID vaccines

• The Central Drugs and Standards Committee (CDSCO) formally approved the COVID-19 vaccines by Bharat Biotech and the Serum Institute of India (SII).
• This allows the vaccines — Covishield by SII and based on the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, and Covaxin by Bharat Biotech — to be offered to healthcare workers and frontline workers in India.
• The Health Ministry had said that 3 crore such personnel, considered at the highest risk for COVID-19, would be given the vaccine for free.
• Neither Covishield nor Covaxin has completed the crucial Phase-3 trial, under which a vaccine candidate is administered to volunteers at multiple locations across the country.
• Both approvals accorded are for “restricted use in emergency situation” and in the case of Bharat Biotech, the approval wording notes that it is in “...public interest as an abundant precaution, in clinical trial mode, to have more options for vaccinations, especially in case of infection by mutant strains”. These conditions were not specified.

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO)

• CDSCO under Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is the National Regulatory Authority (NRA) of India.
• Functions: Under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, CDSCO is responsible for approval of New Drugs, Conduct of Clinical Trials, laying down the standards for Drugs, control over the quality of imported Drugs in the country and coordination of the activities of State Drug Control Organizations by providing expert advice.
• CDSCO along with state regulators, is jointly responsible for grant of licenses of certain specialized categories of critical Drugs such as blood and blood products, I. V. Fluids, Vaccine and Sera.

Income Tax Dept. to crack down on GST fraud

• Tightening the noose around fraudsters rigging the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, the government has roped in the Income Tax Department to tap illicit incomes as part of a crackdown against 7,000 fraud companies, identified using data analytics tools.
• Any income traceable to the use of fake bills and other GST frauds shall be considered concealed income and attract severe penalties so that direct tax collections may also get a leg-up while better compliance pushed GST collections to a record high of Rs. 1.15 lakh crore in December 2020.
• For a fiscally strapped government, scrambling to arrest the economy’s recessionary decline, the GST collections in the last month of 2020, of over Rs. 1.15-lakh crore, come as welcome tidings.
• With revenue receipts at just 40% of the Budget target in the first eight months of 2020-21, the government would hope that December’s indirect tax inflow, the highest since the indirect tax regime’s launch in July 2017, shall sustain over the last quarter of the year. GST inflows have now stayed above Rs. 1-lakh crore for three months in a row, averaging Rs.1.05-lakh crore through October and November, before the December spike.

• After two quarters of a sharp shrinkage in the economy following the COVID-19 lockdown last March, this also infuses hope that the third quarter might see India’s headline growth rate resurfacing from subterranean depths.
• The Finance Ministry has stressed that the 12% year-on-year buoyancy in GST’s December kitty, the highest growth rate recorded in 21 months, reflects ‘rapid post-pandemic economic recovery’, bolstered by improvements in compliance following a recent crackdown on indirect tax evaders.
• It is important to discern how much of an impact stricter oversight and better compliance had on these revenues so as to distil what came from normal economic activity in November, which is what December revenues largely account for.
• Moreover, November included the fag end of India’s festive season so the numbers may moderate in the months to come, even though growth rates may stay high due to a low base effect as it gets close to a year after the lockdown.
• But new GST rules, effective January 1, are expected to tighten GST compliance further so that part of the revenue booster should persist. Second, the GST on imports grew a robust 27% in November, even though overall merchandise imports contracted 13.33%.
• With December recording a 7.6% surge in imports, growing for the first time since February 2020, GST on imports should rise further in the coming month.
• Similarly, car sales surged for the fifth month in a row in December, which should not only boost the GST receipts in January but also bring in precious compensation cess.
• Whatever trajectory revenues take from here, pain points persist and some key niggling issues seem to be aggravating further. Core sectors recorded yet another contraction in November, with cement and steel slipping back after a minor uptick.
• New investments in the October to December 2020 quarter declined a whopping 88% from a year ago, as per the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).
• Employment levels declined significantly in October, followed by almost 35 lakh job losses in November and continue to deteriorate through December, CMIE reckons. The Centre needs to address some of these challenges — in the coming Union Budget or outside — to recover lost ground faster.

FSSAI and Nutrition

• The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has capped the number of trans fatty acids (TFA) in oils and fats to 3% for 2021 and 2% by 2022 from the current permissible limit of 5% through an amendment to the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restriction on Sales) Regulations.
• The FSSAI notified the amendment on December 29, more than a year after it issued a draft on the subject for consultation with stakeholders.
• The revised regulation applies to edible refined oils, vanaspati (partially hydrogenated oils), margarine, bakery shortenings and other mediums of cooking such as vegetable fat spreads and mixed fat spreads.
• Transfats are associated with an increased risk of heart attacks and death from coronary heart disease.
• According to the World Health Organization, approximately 5.4 lakh deaths take place each year globally because of the intake of industrially produced trans fatty acids.
• The WHO has also called for the global elimination of transfats by 2023.
• “The FSSAI rule comes at the time of a pandemic where the burden of non-communicable diseases has risen. Cardiovascular diseases, along with diabetes, are proving fatal for COVID-19 patients,” says Ashim Sanyal, chief operating officer of Consumer VOICE, adding that the regulation must not be restricted to oils and fats, but must apply to all foods. “It is hoped that the FSSAI will address this as well before January 2022 to eliminate chemical trans fatty acids from the Indian platter.”
• While the regulation comes into effect immediately, industry players were made to take a pledge back in 2018 that they would comply with the WHO’s call for action to reduce TFA by 3% by 2021 allowing them three years to comply with the latest norm.
• It was in 2011 that India first passed a regulation that set a TFA limit of 10% in oils and fats, which was further reduced to 5% in 2015.

About Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)

• FSSAI has been established under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
• Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is the administrative Ministry for the implementation of FSSAI. Chairperson is appointed by Govt of India and is the rank of Secretary. But FSSAI is not under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, it has an independent charge. Pawan Kumar Agrawal is the Chairperson.
• FSSAI to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption.
• Functions of FSSAI under FSS Act, 2006
  1. Framing of Regulations: to lay down the Standards and guidelines in relation to articles of food.
  2. Laying down mechanisms and guidelines for accreditation of certification bodies, laboratories.
  3. Provide scientific advice and technical support to Center and State.
  4. Collect and collate data regarding food consumption. Promote general awareness.
  5. Create an information network across India so that the public, consumers, Panchayats etc. receive credible information.
  6. Provide training programmes, and contribute to the development of international technical standards for food, sanitary and phytosanitary measures.
• Highlights of FSS Rules, 2011
  1. It provides for the Food Safety Appellate Tribunal for adjudication of food safety cases.
  2. It covers licensing and registration, Packaging and Labelling of Food Businesses, Food Product Standards and Food Additives Regulation.
  3. It prohibits and restricts on sale or approval of Non-Specified Food and Food Ingredients (harmful).
  4. It also provides rules on Organic Food and regulates Food advertising.

Recent Initiatives of FSSAI

Food Safety and Standards (Safe Food and Healthy Diets for School Children) Regulations, 2019

1. Malnourishment accounts for ~ 7 lakh deaths (68%) in children under 5 years in 2017.
2. It proposed ban on sale, ads of junk foods in schools.
3. HFSS foods (High in Fats, Salts and Sugar) cannot be sold to children in school canteens, mess premises, hostel kitchens or within 50 m of the school campus.
4. Schools should adopt a comprehensive programme for promoting healthy diets among children.
5. Focus on “Eat Right School” focusing on local and seasonal food and no food wastage.
6. Encourage children to have a balanced diet as per National Institute of Nutrition guidelines.
7. Food companies are prohibited to use their logos, brand names and product names on books and other educational material, as well as on school property like buildings, buses and fields.
8. FSSAI recommends the use of a combination of whole grains, milk, eggs, and millet; it also listed a set of guidelines for the selection of food products in schools.
9. It is a combination of healthy food and regular physical activity that will go a long way in bringing up healthier children.
10. Challenge would be in enforcement. The onus of healthy eating should come from home and then school.

National Milk Sample Safety Quality Survey by FSSAI

• 37.7% of processed milk samples unsafe from > 1100 cities/ towns. It finds most adulteration in Telangana followed by MP and Kerala.
• Contaminants like Aflatoxin M1, antibiotics and pesticides were found. About Aflatoxin M1
• Aflatoxin comes in the milk through feed and fodder that are currently not regulated in India and it is for the 1st time that such a detailed survey of Aflatoxin in milk has been done in India.
• Aflatoxin M1 was more widely present in processed milk samples than in raw milk. Aflatoxin M1 is possibly carcinogenic to humans.
• Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Kerala were top 3 states where Aflatoxin residue was found the most.
• It is a public health concern, especially in infants and young children. Hence focus on proper storage of food harvest in warm and humid conditions and on facilities to test for aflatoxin M1.
• India is the World’s largest producer of milk. The total production in 2017-18 was 176.35 million tonnes.

Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA)

• Center for Science and Environment (CSE) tested salt, fat, trans-fat and carbohydrates in junk foods.
• The aim was to find out the level of these products in actual servings/ packets of these foods.
• To calculate how unsafe the foods tested were CSE relied on RDA - a daily ceiling on the amount of salt, fat, carbs and transfats.
• RDA is based on scientific consensus agreed upon by WHO and the National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad.
• It says that ideally, an adult should consume maximum of 5 gm salt, 60 gm fat, 300 gm carbs and 2.2 gm transfat. A snack should ideally have < 0.5 gm of salt and 6 gm of fat.
• CSE said all the popular snacks and fast foods should display a 'Red Octagon' warning symbol used in Chile and Peru.
• FSSAI set up a committee in 2013. It recommended that a packet should have clear information on calories, sugar, fat, saturated fats and salt.
• In 2018, FSS (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2018 recommended that salt must be declared as sodium chloride and that those ingredients which breached the RDA should be marked in 'red'.
• B. Sesikeran Committee recommendations led to a new draft FSS Regulations, 2019 which replaced Sodium Chloride with salt, total fat with saturated fat and total sugar with added sugar. CSE says this and dilutes the information on health harm posed by packaged foods.
• Industry fears that the norms are unscientific and that instead they should be advised on a healthy diet, exercise and consuming appropriate amount of food.
• To brand packaged food in different colours sends out the message that they are 'toxic' and this would be counterproductive to the larger aim of having a regulated but viable packaged food industry and people being educated about their food choices.
• In Chile, they have Black Hexagon and in Europe, some have front-of-pack labelling. CSE says proposed labelling regulations and too many colour codes will confuse people, especially because India has a vast non-English speaking population.

Other initiatives

• FSSAI has operationalized regulations on fortification of food articles and also introduces the + F Logo for fortified foods (used in MDM and ICDS schemes).
• It has undertaken the 'Safe and Nutritious Food (SNF)' initiative to promote awareness of consumption of safe and nutritious food.

• FSSAI has tied up with Amazon's Alexa to tell the kids and youth to 'eat right'.
• FSSAI asks the industry to reduce the level of unsafe food to < 1% over next 4 years.

Nendran Banana grit or granules

• Scientists at the CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST) at Pappanamcode in Kerala have come up with a new product, banana grit or granules, developed from raw Nendran bananas.
• Billed as an ideal ingredient for a healthy diet, banana grit can be used for making a wide range of dishes, according to the NIIST.
• The product resembles ‘Rava’ and broken wheat.
• “The concept was introduced to utilise the presence of resistant starch in bananas, which is reported to improve gut health. Hence, the dishes prepared with banana grit and its byproduct, banana powder, incline to the new focus on gut health, which the scientific community is widely discussing how to maintain health and well-being,” the NIIST said.
• Generally consumed ripe, Nendran banana also finds use in typical Kerala dishes such as avial and thoran. The granules can be used for making up, or they can be mixed with banana powder for porridge, with milk or coconut milk for use as a health drink. The banana powder can be used for making cakes and bread, along with refined wheat flour.
• Developing new uses for Nendran also comes as a boon to farmers who have often been struggling against falling prices, according to the scientists.

Malayalam poet-lyricist Anil Panachooran passed away

• Poet and lyricist Anil Panachooran were 55. A lawyer by profession, Panachooran came into the limelight in 2007 with the much-appreciated songs in Arabikkadha, including ‘Chora Veena Mannil...’ and ‘Thirike Njan...’. ‘Chora Veena Mannil...’, sung with revolutionary fervour by the poet himself, is played regularly at Left cultural events.
• Then came the song ‘Vyathyasthanam oru barber...’ from Kadha Parayumbol, a humourous song that topped the hit charts for a long time. His song ‘Jimikki Kammal...’ from Velipadinte Pusthakam, with its catchy yet simple lyrics inspired from old folk songs, had gone viral, spawning several dance videos across the globe.
• Even before his arrival in films, he had attained popularity among the poetry aficionados in the State with poems such as ‘Anaadhan’, written in the 1990s.
• Panachooran was working on his first directorial Kaadu when the end came.