G-20

Prime Minister attends seventh G-20 summit at Los Gabos, Mexico.

What is G-20:

• It is a group of finance ministers and central bank governors of 20 major economies.
• With the economic crises of 1990s a global conclave was started was started in 1999 featuring finance ministers and central bank governors of emerging economies. The idea was to include the so far isolated developing economies in global economic discussions.
• Till 2008 this group met annually to shape global financial system.
• But the recession of 2008 similar to great economic depression 1929 sounded alarm bells.
• Result was the birth of G-20, a biennial summit till 2011  November, now meets annually.

 Objectives:

• Policy coordination between members to achieve global economic stability and sustained growth.
• Promote financial regulation and prevent future financial crises.
• Create a new financial architecture.
• Reforms in multilateral financial institutions like IMF and World Bank.

Actions:

      G-20 has organised its activities under two focus areas:

•  The Finance Track: (The finance Ministers and central bank governors of all member nations meet )
• Focuses on financial and economic issues; these include providing solutions to the current economic problems, economic stabilization and structural reforms, increasing international coordination for crisis prevention, correction of external, fiscal and financial imbalances, providing resources to increase global liquidity, and strengthening the international financial system.  
• Current Focus:
• Framework for strong, sustained growth (group co chaired by Canada and India).
• Financial regulation including consumer protection.
• Financial Inclusion.
• Disaster risk management.
• Climate finance study.
• The Sherpa track:( Personal representatives of Heads of state and Heads of government meet)
• Focuses on political, non-financial issues, such as: employment, agriculture, energy, the fight against corruption and development, among others. The Sherpas carry out important planning, negotiation and implementation tasks throughout the entire process.
• Current Focus:
• Energy efficiency, Green growth.
• Food security.
• Structural reforms contain recession.
• Fight against climate change.
• Prevent protectionist measures.
• Transparency, anti corruption measures.

Members:

• 20 members- 19 nations with European Union.
• Members- Australia, Canada,Saudi Arabia, United States, India, South Africa, Turkey, Russia, China, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Italy, France,United Kingdom, Argentina.
• Leadership- Rotating chair based on regional grouping, involving past, present, future chair-called The Troika.

2012 summit- Relevance:

• Indian Prime Minister has given a strong message towards the European union for landing themselves at such a critical position  and expecting even poor nations to lend out helping hand.
• India has promised to give $10 billion to IMFs $430 billion firewall fund to bailout euro zone countries, in the light that Europe is a big trading partner to India, which India cannot standby and see to suffer.
• The Prime minister has asked them to combine their austerity measures along with efforts to growth, as austerity alone in a period of recession cannot work on.
• India has played a major role on placing the demand for investing heavily in infrastructure sector in  developing nations to be included in the preamble of g-20.
• India has also given a push to hasten the reforms in multilateral institutions like IMF, World bank from 2013.

Basics:

Recession:

• There are no agreed official concrete definitions, differences between Recession and Depression. Yet most agreeable one:
• Recession refers to drop in  national GDP, fall in county's productivity continuously for two quarters of a year.
• It is a less severe form when productivity, spending falls, unemployment rises.
• 2007 period is usually stated a period of recession, literally as Economic Meltdown.

Depression:

• Fall in country's GDP continuously for 1 year is a depression, with the amount of fall exceeding 10%.
• It is a severe case of economic reversal, with high rates of unemployment, productivity falls.
• Example Great depression of 1930s in US.

Reforms in Multilateral Institutions:

• Mainly targeted towards quota, voting powers in international institutions like IMF, World bank to make them more representative of emerging markets and the developing world.
• For example in IMF each member country is allocated a quota in accordance with the size of its economy, the larger the economy the larger is its quota.
• The significance of the quota is that it determines the voting power of the nation in the grouping, also determines the amount it can borrow as loans from the institution.
• The quotas are reviewed every five years, but the international community feels the formula deciding the allocation of quotas have become outdated want the quotas to be representative of dynamic emerging markets, a greater say for developing countries in institutional decisions.
• India has been leading these arguments pushing to hasten the process of quota reforms. 

Dengue- The Breakbone Fever

Dengue fever claims 29  lives in Tamilnadu. Chief minister to take measures to control the disease on war footing. Southern districts affected most. people advised to take precautionary measures, not to store water etc., 

All about Dengue:

Defn:

• Infectious tropical disease.
• Causative agent - Viral Disease, caused by a RNA virus.
• Transmitter - Aedes Mosquito.
• Target Victim - Humans(sometimes animals).

Cycle:

     Infected Person ------------->Mosquito------------>Healthy Human

Virus:

• Caused by the Dengue Virus, having four different serotypes: DEN1,DEN 2, DEN 3, DEN 4.
• Of these the asian varieties DEN 2, DEN 3 have high genetic variability and are associated with many secondary infections along with dengue. 

Mosquito:

• The mosquito is infected when it bytes an affected person, the virus first infects the gut and then spreads to the salivary gland.
• Incubation period around 8-12 days after which the mosquito spreads the disease to humans through  bite, usually done by female Aedes mosquito.
• Species causing infection: Aedes albopictus, Aedes polynesiensis, Aedes scutellaris complex.

Humans:

• After infection, circulates in blood for 2-7 days when fever develops.
• Infection in humans has three phases:
• Febrile phase: fever, rashes occur at this stage.
• Critical phase: Fluid accumulation in chest and abdomen, Hemorrhage in gastro intestinal tract.
• Recovery phase: Resorption of leaked blood in to the stream, sometimes reduced conciousness, seizures may occur.
• Infection by one serotype provides lifelong immunity to that serotype, but reduced immunity to other species.

Symptoms:

• Common Flu-like symptoms.
• High fever 40 C/ 104 F .
• Headache
• Pain behind Eyes.
• Nausea, Vomiting, 
• Swollen glands, Muscle and Joint Pain
• Rashes.

Severe cases:

• Plasma leaking
• Fluid accumulation
• Respiratory Distress.
• Severe bleeding.
• Organ Impairment.

Treatment:

• No specific vaccine available.
• Prevention only way:
• For vector(mosquito control) - Integrated Vector Management, avoid water collection, contamination etc.
• fever control drugs like paracetemol can be used
• Aspirin, Ibuprofen not advisable may increase bleeding.

Basics:

What is Serotype:

• Serotypes are distinctions within species of bacteria, virus, immune cells.
• Human immune cells are differentiating between self and foreign cells only based on this serotype matching.
• These are associated with the surface antigens.
• These cells play a vital role in organ transplants. When serotype match does not occur between donors and receivers, organ rejection occurs when the incoming organ is considered alien and is attacked by receiver's immune cells.

What are RNA viruses:

              These are viruses that have Ribonucleic acid as their genetic materials. As RNA polymerases lack proof reading ability of DNA polymerases, it is difficult to design Vaccines for these viruses. Also they have high mutation rates, and show high genetic variability adapting to drugs quickly.

                 Retro viruses are also having high mutation rates similar to RNA viruses and have RNA as their genetic materials but show DNA genetic materials once in to hosts. They convert their RNA in to DNA using an enzyme called Reverse Transcriptase. Then integrate this DNA to host Genome using integrase enzyme, to replicate as a part of host genome.