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■ Global Innovation Index : • India ranked 46th in Global Innovation Index 2021. • India has moved up two spots from 48th (GII 2020) to 46th (GII 2021). • The Global Innovation Index is published by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in partnership with the Portulans Institute, with support of corporate network partners, such as the Confederation of Indian Industry, Brazilian National Confederation of Industry, Ecopetrol Group (Colombia), and the Turkish Exporters Assembly. • Switzerland ranked 1st in the Index and followed by Sweden, U.S., and U.K, Republic of Korea. • The index ranks countries based on roughly 80 indicators which are based on the following parameters: Institutions, Human capital and research, Infrastructure, Credit, Investment, Linkages, Creation, Absorption and Diffusion of knowledge and Creative outputs. • Many scientific departments like the Department of Atomic Energy, the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Biotechnology and the Department of Space have played a vital role in enriching the ‘National Innovation Ecosystem’ in India. □ India's performance : • India has been constantly making progress on the innovation index from 2015 when it was ranked 81st on the list. In 2020, India entered the top 50 on the list. • The index ranks world economies according to their innovation capabilities and consists of roughly 80 indicators grouped into innovation inputs and outputs. • Innovation inputs : Institutions; Human capital and research; Infrastructure; Market sophistication; Business sophistication. • Innovation outputs : Knowledge and technology outputs; Creative outputs. • India performs better in innovation outputs than innovation inputs in 2021. • This year India ranks 57th in innovation inputs, the same as last year but higher than 2019. • As for innovation outputs, India ranks 45th. This position is the same as last year but higher than 2019. • India ranks 2nd among the 34 lower middle-income group economies. • India ranks 1st among the 10 economies in Central and Southern Asia. • The government attributed the country’s improved performance to the departments of atomic energy, science and technology, biotechnology and space. • The India Innovation Index has been developed by NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog on the lines of the GII.

📰 News : COVID-19 vaccine export to resume. • India will resume the export of COVID-19 vaccines under ‘Vaccine Maitri’ in order to fulfill the commitment towards COVAX, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced on Monday. • The surplus supply of vaccines would be used to fulfill India’s commitment towards the world for the collective fight against the virus. • The Ministry said the vaccination exercise as a tool to protect the most vulnerable population groups in the country from COVID-19 continues to be regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level. □ About Vaccine Maitri : • Vaccine Maitri (Vaccine Friendship) initiative was launched by the Government of India in January 2021. • It is a humanitarian initiative undertaken by India to provide made-in-India COVID-19 vaccines to other countries around the world. • Bangladesh has received the most COVID-19 doses under the Vaccine Maitri programme till now. • However, ​​the initiative was stopped in April 2021 due to India facing a severe shortage of covid vaccines amid a surging second wave. • India’s vaccine diplomacy is in line with our motto ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ which means “the world is one family”. It also serves as an effective tool and instrument of Indian soft power and influence. □ About COVAX Program : • It is led by the vaccine alliance GAVI, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) in partnership with UNICEF, vaccine manufacturers and the World Bank.  • Its objective is to ensure equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines globally, COVAX is being called the largest vaccine procurement and supply operation in history. • Under the program, over 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines are expected to be delivered by the end of 2021. • Oxford-AstraZeneca was the first vaccine manufacturer to sign up under the programme. • Ghana was the first country to receive coronavirus vaccines under the COVAX program. • The funding is partly coming from high and middle-income countries that will also receive a share of the vaccines produced for COVAX.  • The program will vaccinate roughly 20 percent of the population in the 92 Advance Market Commitment (AMC) countries, which include middle and lower-income nations that cannot afford to pay for COVID-19 vaccines.  • This means countries with a Gross National Income (GNI) per capita of less than US $4000 and some other countries are eligible under the World Bank International Development Association (IDA).

■ First Carnatic war (1746 – 1748) : • In the 18th century, three Carnatic Wars were fought between various Indian rulers and British and French East India Company on either side. • These wars resulted in establishment of political supremacy of British East India Company. • The French company was reduced in the areas around Pondicherry only. • Commercial and maritime rivalry between France and England was the primary reason behind these wars. • The entire south India was divided into minor Rajas, Nawabs and petty chieftains who fought with each other for supremacy. • British and French took opposite sides to support these rivals and increase their own dominance. • Carnatic was the name given by the Europeans to the Coromandel coast and its hinterland. □ Causes of the war : • France and Britain were on opposite sides of the camp at the War of Austrian Succession that had broken out in Europe in 1740. • A contest was inevitable between French and British East India Company forces in India also. • The war began with British Fleet arrived on Coromandel Coast and they started capturing the French Ships. • The French Governor Dupleix requested the Nawab of Arcot Anwaruddin Khan for interference but Nawab did not respond.  • French asked backup forces from Mauritius. When these forces came, they attacked British, captured Madras and imprisoned the British Company servants including Robert Clive. • To recapture Madras from French, Nawab of Arcot sent troops to Fort St George but the forces of Nawab were defeated by French, which were very less in number but excellent in warfare. • During the negotiations about fate of Madras, Clive along with some other slipped out of prison and they moved to Fort St. David (the British post at Cuddalore). • Further forces of British arrived and saved Cuddalore from French. □ Results of the war : • The war ended in 1748 with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle also called Treaty of Aachen. • Madras was given back to the English in exchange for Louisburg in North America to France.

📰 News : Anti-tank missile completes all trials. • The helicopter-launched Nag Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM), Helina, being developed indigenously, has completed all trials and the process for issuing of Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) by the Army has started, said Dr. Sachin Sood, Project Director of Helina and Dhruvastra at the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) Hyderabad, a laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). • The cost estimate is yet to be done, each missile is expected to cost under ₹1 crore and initially around 500 missiles and 40 launchers will be required, he says. • Helina is a third generation fire and forget class ATGM mounted on an indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) and has a minimum range of 500 m and a maximum range of 7 km.  • All issues with the minimum range have been sorted out and the integration with other weapons on the platform is over. • The Air Force had asked for feasibility of integrating the Helina on the soon-to-be inducted Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), Dr. Sood said this would be done and would bring in economies of scale in the production of the missile. □ About Helena & Dhruvastra : • The Helina and Dhruvastra are third generation, Lock-on-Before-Launch (LOBL) fire and forget ATGMs that can engage targets both in direct hit mode as well as top attack mode. • The system has all-weather day-and-night capability and can defeat battle tanks with conventional armour as well as with explosive reactive armour. • It is one of the most-advanced anti-tank weapons in the world. • On the difference between Nag ATGM of the Army and Helina, which is air-launched, Dr. Sood said they had different firing mechanisms as the latter had increased range. “It is a fire and forget missile. Once the Electro-Optic (EO) system of ALH identifies the target, it automatically hands over target to the missile. It is lock-on before launch,” he explained. • Parallelly, an Air Force version Dhruvastra was also under development for which some trials had already been conducted. It would have an Air to Ground role other than anti-tank role.

■ World’s First ‘Five-Country Biosphere Reserve : • Recently, Mura-Drava-Danube (MDD) was declared as the world’s first ‘five-country biosphere reserve’ by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). • The biosphere reserve covers 700 kilometres of the Mura, Drava and Danube rivers and stretches across Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Serbia. • The total area of the reserve is a million hectares - in the so-called ‘Amazon of Europe’, which is now the largest riverine protected area in Europe. • The biosphere “represented an important contribution to the European Green Deal (climate action plan) and contributed to the implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy in the Mura-Drava-Danube region.” • The strategy’s aim is to revitalise 25,000 km of rivers and protect 30% of the European Union’s land area by 2030. • Mura-Drava-Danube area is one of the richest in Europe in terms of species diversity. • The reserve is home to floodplain forests, gravel and sand banks, river islands, oxbows and meadows. • The area is home to the highest density in Europe of breeding pairs of white-tailed eagle and endangered species such as the little tern, black stork, otters, beavers and sturgeons. • It is also an important annual resting and feeding place for more than 250,000 migratory birds, according to WWF. □ About Biosphere Reserve : • Biosphere Reserve (BR) is an international designation by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for representative parts of natural and cultural landscapes extending over large areas of terrestrial or coastal/marine ecosystems or a combination of both. • Biosphere Reserves tries to balance economic and social development and maintenance of associated cultural values along with the preservation of nature. • Biosphere Reserves are thus special environments for both people and nature and are living examples of how human beings and nature can co-exist while respecting each others’ needs.

■ Shoonya campaign : • Recently, NITI Aayog and Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and RMI India have launched the Shoonya Campaign. • RMI is an independent nonprofit organization founded in 1982. • Shoonya campaign is an initiative to work with consumers and industry in order to promote pollution-free delivery vehicles. • This campaign was launched with the aim of accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in urban delivery segment and raise consumer awareness regarding the benefits of pollution-free delivery. • An online tracking platform will share the campaign’s impact through data such as vehicle kilometers electrified, carbon savings, criteria pollutant savings and other benefits from clean delivery vehicles. • As part of the campaign, a corporate branding and certification programme is being launched to recognise and promote the industry’s efforts towards transitioning to EVs for final-mile deliveries.  • Urban freight vehicles account for 10 percent of freight transportation related CO2 emissions in India, and these emissions are expected to grow by 114 percent by 2030.

■ Bad Bank : • In May 2020, the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), a body representing major Indian banks submitted a proposal to the RBI and Government to set up a national Bad Bank. • A ‘Bad bank’ is a bank that buys the bad loans of other lenders and financial institutions to help clear their balance sheets. The bad bank then resolves these bad assets over a period of time. When the banks are freed of the NPA burden, they can take a more positive look at the new loans. • Technically, a bad bank is similar to Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC) or an Asset Management Company (AMC) that takes over the bad loans of commercial banks, manages them and finally recovers the money over a period of time. • The bad bank is not involved in lending and taking deposits, but helps commercial banks clean up their balance sheets and resolve bad loans. • The takeover of bad loans is normally below the book value of the loan and the bad bank tries to recover as much as possible subsequently. • US-based Mellon Bank created the first bad bank in 1988, after which the concept has been implemented in other countries including Sweden, Finland, France and Germany. • Countries like the UK, the US, Spain, Malaysia, France, Finland, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Sweden have successfully experimented with bad asset resolution through a bad bank.  □ When does a loan turn 'bad'? • The banking sector is the backbone of the economy as it provides credit to fund different economic activities. Sometimes these loans turn into bad loans. Bad loans, also called as non-performing assets (NPA’s) are those loans made by a bank on which the borrower has not made interest or principal repayments on time. • These bad loans negatively impact a bank’s balance sheet. • Thus, several leading economists feel “bad bank” could be a good idea to free the banks from the mounting burden of the NPAs. □ Benefits : • If there are no takers for the assets, then it makes sense to let domain experts deal with toxic assets till these can be sold. The regular bank after transferring its toxic assets to the bad bank can focus on its long term core operations without worrying about those toxic assets. • Cleaning up of the balance sheet of the regular bank by transferring the toxic assets to the bad bank will have a positive impact about the regular bank in the eyes of the credit rating agencies, investors, lenders, borrowers and depositors. • Transfer of Toxic Assets would enable the banks to involve itself in profitable/growth oriented business activities. • The bad bank, which is created as a specialized agency to deal with toxic assets, hires specialized personnel to manage those assets. This helps in the speedy disposal of those assets with minimum loss in the most efficient manner. □ Problems associated with Bad banks : • If banks become aware that there will always be a bad bank to takeover and manage their toxic assets, then banks will tend to be less careful while granting loans. • The regular bank usually transfers the toxic assets to the bad bank at a discounted value. This lowers the market value of similar assets held by other banks. This forces the other banks to liquidate similar assets at lower prices thereby starting a vicious cycle which pushes prices below their fundamentals. This is known as fire sale externality. • Creating Bad Bank is like shifting the problem from one head to other without addressing the structural and fundamental issues of NPA. • Huge costs are involved in the creation and running of bad banks, transfer of toxic assets from the regular bank to the bad bank, restructuring the toxic assets, eventual disposal of the toxic assets etc. Many of these costs can be avoided, if the toxic assets are left with the regular bank itself. • Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan had opposed the idea of setting up a bad bank in which banks hold a majority stake. “I just saw this (bad bank idea) as shifting loans from one government pocket (the public sector banks) to another (the bad bank) and did not see how it would improve matters.