India to be the manufacturing hub for E-vehicles in next 5 years

• Union Minister for Road Transport& Highways and MSMEs Shri Nitin Gadkari has expressed confidence that in the next five years, India will become a manufacturing hub for electric vehicles.
• He said, the Government is trying to extend best possible concessions to this sector, and has lowered the GST on electrical vehicles to 12 per cent.
• Addressing a webinar on ‘India's Electric Vehicle Roadmap post-COVID-19’ today, the Minister said, he was aware of the issues facing the EV sector, but was also sure of the things to change as the sales volumes increase.
• The world is no more interested in doing business with China, which is a very good opportunity for Indian industry to pick up the shift in business.
• With petroleum fuel being available in limited quantity, the world has to look for alternate and cheap sources of power.
• Electric and bio fuels stand a good chance for adoption.
• He also indicated towards the ensuing vehicle scrapping policy, and commented that it will give a fillip to auto manufacturing sector.
• The Minister recalled the London model of public transport, where private and public investment is working well.
• He said, adopting similar approach will be beneficial for both the poor commuters and the civic administration.
• He indicated towards working on a pilot project for developing an electric highway on the upcoming Delhi-Mumbai Green Corridor.

NavRakshak

An enterprise of DSIR, Ministry of Science and Technology, Govt. of India, NRDC Licenses NavRakshak PPE Suit Manufacturing Know-how to Five MSMEs Developed by Indian Navy

• National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) has licensed the manufacturing know-how of a PPE Suit named as NavRakshak to five MSMEs to meet the ongoing country-wide demand for quality PPE kits.
• These five manufacturers put together are planning to mass produce more than 10 million PPEs per year.
• The manufacturing know-how of NavRakshak PPE has been developed at the Innovation Cell of the Institute of Naval Medicine, INHS Asvini Hospital (Mumbai) of the Indian Navy from where the name ‘NavRakshak’ is derived.
• The PPE has been tested and certified at the INMAS, DRDO which is one of the nine NABL accredited labs authorised by Ministry of Textile currently in India for PPE prototype sample testing as per the prevailing ISO standards and Ministry of Health & Family Welfare/Ministry of Textile guidelines and has been found to meet the synthetic blood penetration resistance criteria for both the fabric, suit, and seam.

Advantages of NavRakshak

• It is cost-effective as it does not require any major capital investment and can be adopted even by gown manufacturing units using basic stitching expertise.
• The technology and quality of fabric is so superior that there is no need of sealing around the seam of the PPE suit, thus eliminating the need of importing costly sealing machines and tapes.
• The PPE fabric even does not require any lamination with polymer or plastic-like film.
• This enables the PPE to permeate heat and moisture from the skin of the user.
• It gives protection but does not compromise on comfort.
• This uniqueness of the PPE makes it way different from the existing PPEs which are being used during the ongoing COVID pandemic.
• The PPE suit is available in single-ply as well as double-ply versions as per the need of the end-use conditions.
• It also comes with a headgear; face mask and shoe cover up to the mid-thigh level.
• NavRakshak has been designed by a Naval doctor incorporating personal experience in using the PPE for the comfort and protection of the doctors.
• The enhanced breathability factor in the PPE suit makes it an attractive proposition to be used by frontline health workers who are required to wear these suits for long hours and face extreme discomfort while working.
• Since the concept of using uncoated, unlaminated or untapped PPE has been provided for the first time and using such PPE was not practised at all, there was a need to protect the IP rights of this innovation.
• A patent application has been filed for the NavRakshak PPE by the inventors through NRDC.
• This technology can resolve many issues at one go.
• It makes manufacturing easy without requiring big capital investment.
• It does not require coating and taping-related equipment.
• Therefore, foreign imports and costly machines are not required.
• It gives protection as well as comfort to the user.
• Above all, it gives self-sustainability to the country.

Umifenovir

Context

• CSIR constituent lab CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute(CDRI) Lucknow, has received permission for carrying out Phase III randomised, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled trial of the efficacy, safety and tolerability of antiviral drug Umifenovir.

Umifenovir

• This drug has a good safety profile and acts by preventing the entry of viruses into human cells and also by priming the immune system.
• Umifenovir is mainly used for the treatment of influenza and is available in China and Russia, and has recently come into prominence due to its potential use for Covid19 patients.
• To evaluate its efficacy in Indian patients, CSIR-CDRI has taken up a clinical trial.
• Further, it has developed the process technology for Umifenovir in record time and licensed the economical process technology for manufacturing and marketing the drug to M/s. Medizest Pharmaceuticals Private Ltd. Goa, has already received a test license from DCGI.
• All the raw materials for the drug are indigenously available and if the clinical trial is successful, Umifenovir can be a safe, efficacious, affordable drug against COVID-19 and can be part of the National Program against COVID-19.
• Prof. Kundu also added that this drug has the potential for prophylactic use(intended to prevent disease.)

PBC Complex

SERB-supported study shows that collapse of the respiratory center in the brain may cause the breakdown of COVID-19 patients

• The team of researchers at CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB), Kolkata has explored the neuro-invasive potential of SARS-CoV-2 and suggested that the virus may infect respiratory centre of the brain and attention should be focused on the respiratory centre of the central nervous system to search for mortality due to COVID 19.
• The paper published in ACS Chemical Neuroscience and supported by the Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB), a Statutory Body of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), implies that the SARS-CoV-2 virus might enter the human brain through the nose and reaches the olfactory bulb of the brain.
• From there, the SARS-CoV-2 virus might infect the PreBötzinger complex (PBC), the primary centre of the brain that controls respiratory rhythm generation.
• This explains that the collapse of the respiratory centre in the brain may be responsible for the breakdown of COVID-19 patients.
• Although, the lung is one of the most infected organs, several other organs, including the brain, are also affected.
• This is the first report that highlights that SARS-CoV-2 may target the PBC of the brainstem that controls respiration and causes respiratory collapse of COVID-19 patients.
• The scientists have suggested that cerebrospinal fluid of COVID-19 patients and postmortem brain of deceased patients should be assessed to better understand the route of SARS-CoV-2 entry and its spread to respiratory center of brain.

PreBötzinger complex

• PreBötzinger complex functions as the primary respiratory oscillator and it has been proposed as a centre of respiration.
• It has been earlier shown that disruption of PBC causes lethality due to respiratory failure, suggesting its central role in respiratory rhythm generation.
• It is possible that SARS-CoV-2 may shut down the respiratory centre, and in turn, breathe by infecting and destroying the PBC of the brainstem.
• Although this underline hypothesis needs to be validated for SARS-CoV-2, another recent study from a group of scientists at King’s College London, UK highlighted the loss of smell was one of the main symptoms of COVID-19 patients, hinting at the involvement of the same route through which SARS-CoV-2 may enter the brain.
• SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV not only share high levels of DNA sequence similarity, but both of them also exploit the same angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor, through which the virus enters in target cells.
• Due to this, it was anticipated that the mechanism through which SARS-CoV infected the host cell could also be the same for SARS-CoV-2. 

Way ahead

• The study highlights that it is important to not only screen the COVID-19 patients for neurological symptoms but also further segregate when the symptom appears.
• The researchers have pointed out that while at present, the brain is not considered the site of the primary or secondary reason for the death of COVID-19, attention needs to be focused on the respiratory centre of the CNS.
• Postmortem the brain of COVID-19 patients could be assessed to know the route of entry and affected areas including a detailed assessment of the respiratory centre of the brain.

I-Lab

• The Minister for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Health & Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan inaugurated and flagged off India’s first I-Lab (Infectious disease diagnostic lab) for Covid testing in rural and inaccessible areas of India.     
• Expressing his happiness to launch the I-Lab, an infectious disease diagnostic laboratory- a mobile testing facility, Dr Harsh Vardhan dedicated this facility to providing Covid testing access to rural India.
• This mobile testing facility will be deployed through the DBT testing hubs to remote regions of the country for Covid testing.
• DBT is scaling-up testing for Covid by reorienting premiere laboratories as Covid testing centres in a hub and spoke model.
• There are now over 20 hubs in the country with 100 testing laboratories and these have tested more than 2,60,000 samples.
• This has been possible through the DBT-AMTZ COVID Command Consortia (COVID Medtech Manufacturing Development] Consortia) to cope up with the current situation in the country and move progressively towards a stage of self-sufficiency.
• The I-lab will be deployed through these hubs into remote and interior place.
• Today there are 953 testing laboratories in all corners of the country.
• Dr. Renu Swarup said on the occasion that through the concerted efforts of Indian scientists, the country has achieved a capacity of producing nearly 5 lakh testing kits per day, exceeding the target of having one lakh test kits by May 31, 2020.
• She pointed out that this I-Lab has been created in a record time of 8 days by the Andhra Pradesh Med-tech Zone team with the support of DBT under the National Biopharma Mission being implemented by the Public Sector BIRAC.
• She highlighted that the unit has a biosafety facility and is capable of performing RT-PCR as well as ELISA tests.

DBT-AMTZ COMManD

• The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science & Technology along with Andhra Pradesh Med-tech Zone (AMTZ) has initiated the DBT-AMTZ COMManD [COVID Medtech Manufacturing Development] Consortia to address the shortage of critical healthcare technologies in India and move progressively towards a stage of self-sufficiency.
• Under this Consortia, India’s first I- lab (infectious disease diagnostic lab) has been built at AMTZ in a record time of 8 days from the date of receipt of the Automotive Chassis, from Bharat Benz.
• This is a mobile diagnostic unit with a biosafety facility.
• The I- lab is a BSL-2 facility with on-site ELISA, RT-PCR, Biochemistry analysers.
• It can run 50 RT-PCR reactions and about 200 ELISA in a day.
• Double set of Machines can help increase the capacity to about 500 per day in 8 hours shift
• It can be deployed in remote areas and can be lifted from Automotive Chassis and can be put on goods train for sending to any location in the country.
• The BSL -2 Lab is as per NABL specifications and is being attached to DBT’s certified Testing centres.

• AMTZ is Asia's first medical equipment manufacturing ecosystem, uniquely dedicated for Medtech and supported by various Ministries.

INFECTIOUS DISEASE DIAGNOSTIC LABORATORY (I-LAB)

• To promote last mile access of testing to rural India, DBT under the Covid-Command strategy has supported the building of mobile testing labs through AMTZ.
• The unique feature of these mobile testing labs is their utility in diagnosing other infectious diseases beyond the Covid period

Specifications

• Automotive Chassis, Diagnostic Equipment, Clean Room, BSL-2 lab, bio-safety cabinets
• 25 Tests (RT-PCR) per I-Lab per Day
• 300 ELISA tests/day
• Additional tests for other diseases for TB, HIV etc. are to be costed as per CGHS rates.

Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan

• The government of India has decided to launch a massive rural public works scheme ‘Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan’to empower and provide livelihood opportunities to the returnee migrant workers and rural citizens.
• PM Modi will launch this Abhiyaan on 20th June 2020.
• The Abhiyaan will be launched from Village – Telihar, Khagaria District of Bihar.
• The villages across 116 districts in the six States will join this programme through the Common Service Centres and Krishi Vigyan Kendras, maintaining the norms of social distancing in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
• This campaign of 125 days, which will work in mission mode, will involve intensified and focused implementation of 25 different types of work to provide employment to the migrant workers on one hand and create infrastructure in the rural regions of the country on the other hand, with a resource envelope of Rs. 50,000 crores.
• A total of 116 Districts with more than 25,000 returnee migrant workers across six States, namely Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Odisha have been chosen for the campaign which includes 27 Aspirational Districts.
• These districts are estimated to cover about 2/3 of such migrant workers.
• The Abhiyaan will be a coordinated effort between 12 different Ministries/Departments, namely, Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Road Transport & Highways, Mines, Drinking Water & Sanitation, Environment, Railways, Petroleum & Natural Gas, New & Renewable Energy, Border Roads, Telecom and Agriculture.