Today's Headlines - 03 August 2023
UIDAI is using AI to tackle payment frauds
GS Paper - 3 (ITC)
As more frauds related to the Aadhaar-enabled Payment System (AePS) come to the fore, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), has turned to artificial intelligence-based systems in a bid to limit the cases — this includes developing technologies around fingerprinting and facial recognition. The UIDAI has rolled out an in-house Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning technology-based Finger Minutiae Record – Finger Image Record (FMR-FIR) modality which is able to check the liveness of a fingerprint to detect the use of cloned fingerprint during the authentication process.
How does the Aadhaar fingerprint technology work?
The technology was rolled out in February this year and uses a combination of both finger minutiae and finger image to check the liveness of the fingerprint captured.
The measure was implemented after instances of people creating fake fingerprints using silicone to syphon off money from unsuspecting individuals’ bank accounts were reported.
The problem gets compounded on account of the fact that a large part of the AePS user base is in rural areas.
In effect, the AI-based technology is able to identify whether the fingerprint is from a real, or ‘live’ finger, or a cloned one.
Payment frauds on the rise
According to the Home Ministry, in the financial year 2020-21, 2.62 lakhs financial crimes, such as money laundering, bribery, corruption and different kinds of frauds, were reported. The number jumped to 6.94 lakhs in 2022, a report, released by the Standing Committee on Finance — headed by BJP MP Jayant Sinha — said.
Citing data it received from the supervised entities of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the committee noted that payment-related frauds are on the rise in India – In FY21, the volume of such frauds was a little over 700,000, which by FY23, increased to close to 20 million.
According to the information submitted to it by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), in the year 2022, out of 6,94,424 complaints related to financial frauds only in 2.6 per cent of cases an FIR was registered.
The details shared with Parliament revealed that between November 2021 and March 2023, more than 2,000 complaints related to AePS were received by the offices of the RBI’s ombudsman.
#upsc #news #headline #UIDAI #payment #frauds #ITC #adhaar #system #FMR #FIR #machine #work #syphon #rural #areas #RBI #reserve #bank #india #ombudsman #cases #financial #bribery #corruption #silicone #cloned #I4C #indian #cyber #crime #coordination #tackle
UIDAI is using AI to tackle payment frauds
GS Paper - 3 (ITC)
As more frauds related to the Aadhaar-enabled Payment System (AePS) come to the fore, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), has turned to artificial intelligence-based systems in a bid to limit the cases — this includes developing technologies around fingerprinting and facial recognition. The UIDAI has rolled out an in-house Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning technology-based Finger Minutiae Record – Finger Image Record (FMR-FIR) modality which is able to check the liveness of a fingerprint to detect the use of cloned fingerprint during the authentication process.
How does the Aadhaar fingerprint technology work?
The technology was rolled out in February this year and uses a combination of both finger minutiae and finger image to check the liveness of the fingerprint captured.
The measure was implemented after instances of people creating fake fingerprints using silicone to syphon off money from unsuspecting individuals’ bank accounts were reported.
The problem gets compounded on account of the fact that a large part of the AePS user base is in rural areas.
In effect, the AI-based technology is able to identify whether the fingerprint is from a real, or ‘live’ finger, or a cloned one.
Payment frauds on the rise
According to the Home Ministry, in the financial year 2020-21, 2.62 lakhs financial crimes, such as money laundering, bribery, corruption and different kinds of frauds, were reported. The number jumped to 6.94 lakhs in 2022, a report, released by the Standing Committee on Finance — headed by BJP MP Jayant Sinha — said.
Citing data it received from the supervised entities of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the committee noted that payment-related frauds are on the rise in India – In FY21, the volume of such frauds was a little over 700,000, which by FY23, increased to close to 20 million.
According to the information submitted to it by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), in the year 2022, out of 6,94,424 complaints related to financial frauds only in 2.6 per cent of cases an FIR was registered.
The details shared with Parliament revealed that between November 2021 and March 2023, more than 2,000 complaints related to AePS were received by the offices of the RBI’s ombudsman.
#upsc #news #headline #UIDAI #payment #frauds #ITC #adhaar #system #FMR #FIR #machine #work #syphon #rural #areas #RBI #reserve #bank #india #ombudsman #cases #financial #bribery #corruption #silicone #cloned #I4C #indian #cyber #crime #coordination #tackle
Today's Headlines - 16 August 2023
Rule to prescribe generic drugs
GS Paper - 3 (Health and Diseases)
After the National Medical Commission notified new guidelines on professional conduct recently, doctors have been protesting one of the stipulations — using generic names of medicines on the prescription instead of a particular brand name. The Indian Medical Association, the largest body of doctors in the country, said in a statement this was akin to “running trains without tracks.”
What do the guidelines say?
The guidelines say that doctors can only write the generic names of the medicine on the prescription.
For example, a doctor will have to prescribe paracetamol for fever, instead of Dolo or Calpol Every RMP should prescribe drugs using generic names written legibly, the guidelines say.
This practice can only be relaxed for medicines with narrow therapeutic index (drugs where a small difference in dosage may lead to adverse outcomes), biosimilars (a different version of biologic products that are manufactured in living systems), and “similar other exceptional cases.”
The guideline says that generic medicines, on average, are 30% to 80% cheaper than the branded versions, and are hence likely to bring down healthcare costs.
What does it mean for you?
The new guidelines do not allow doctors to write a specific brand, which means that you will get whichever medicine with the relevant active ingredient your pharmacist stocks.
If a pharmacy does not have a generic version of a medicine — which drug stores usually do not stock because of very low profit margins — the responsibility to substitute it with a branded medicine will shift to the pharmacist instead of the doctor. This will promote brands that have good profit margins, irrespective of how good they are.
Additionally, doctors say it will also take away their choice of prescribing the medicine they think is the best for a patient.
Taken in the context of the quality of generics varying across companies, this could result in ineffective treatment.
What are the issues with generic medicines?
Doctors, drug manufacturers, and the government all agree that there is much to be done when it comes to the quality of generic medicines in the country.
While the doctors in the IMA statement said that only 0.1% medicines are tested for quality checks, manufacturers said it is not possible for the government to test every batch, but following good manufacturing practices to the T can assure quality by design.
Many have also questioned the tests that a company needs to do to get approval. Until a few years ago, it was not mandatory for companies making generics to carry out bio-equivalence or stability studies.
Bioequivalence studies are done to show that the generic drug elicits the same response as a branded version.
Stability studies are done to see how the quality of the drug varies over a period under specific environmental conditions.
Experts from the pharmaceutical sector admit that there are drugs still in the market that never underwent these studies.
Data from the Union health ministry shows that around 3% of all medicines tested over the last three years — including generics, branded generics, and branded medicines — were found to be not of standard quality.
#upsc #news #headline #rule #prescribe #generic #drugs #health #diseases #national #medical #commission #medicines #indian #doctors #tracks #trains #indian #guidelines #paracetamol #RMP #Biosimilars #index #therapeutic #cases #healthcare #pharmacist #version
Rule to prescribe generic drugs
GS Paper - 3 (Health and Diseases)
After the National Medical Commission notified new guidelines on professional conduct recently, doctors have been protesting one of the stipulations — using generic names of medicines on the prescription instead of a particular brand name. The Indian Medical Association, the largest body of doctors in the country, said in a statement this was akin to “running trains without tracks.”
What do the guidelines say?
The guidelines say that doctors can only write the generic names of the medicine on the prescription.
For example, a doctor will have to prescribe paracetamol for fever, instead of Dolo or Calpol Every RMP should prescribe drugs using generic names written legibly, the guidelines say.
This practice can only be relaxed for medicines with narrow therapeutic index (drugs where a small difference in dosage may lead to adverse outcomes), biosimilars (a different version of biologic products that are manufactured in living systems), and “similar other exceptional cases.”
The guideline says that generic medicines, on average, are 30% to 80% cheaper than the branded versions, and are hence likely to bring down healthcare costs.
What does it mean for you?
The new guidelines do not allow doctors to write a specific brand, which means that you will get whichever medicine with the relevant active ingredient your pharmacist stocks.
If a pharmacy does not have a generic version of a medicine — which drug stores usually do not stock because of very low profit margins — the responsibility to substitute it with a branded medicine will shift to the pharmacist instead of the doctor. This will promote brands that have good profit margins, irrespective of how good they are.
Additionally, doctors say it will also take away their choice of prescribing the medicine they think is the best for a patient.
Taken in the context of the quality of generics varying across companies, this could result in ineffective treatment.
What are the issues with generic medicines?
Doctors, drug manufacturers, and the government all agree that there is much to be done when it comes to the quality of generic medicines in the country.
While the doctors in the IMA statement said that only 0.1% medicines are tested for quality checks, manufacturers said it is not possible for the government to test every batch, but following good manufacturing practices to the T can assure quality by design.
Many have also questioned the tests that a company needs to do to get approval. Until a few years ago, it was not mandatory for companies making generics to carry out bio-equivalence or stability studies.
Bioequivalence studies are done to show that the generic drug elicits the same response as a branded version.
Stability studies are done to see how the quality of the drug varies over a period under specific environmental conditions.
Experts from the pharmaceutical sector admit that there are drugs still in the market that never underwent these studies.
Data from the Union health ministry shows that around 3% of all medicines tested over the last three years — including generics, branded generics, and branded medicines — were found to be not of standard quality.
#upsc #news #headline #rule #prescribe #generic #drugs #health #diseases #national #medical #commission #medicines #indian #doctors #tracks #trains #indian #guidelines #paracetamol #RMP #Biosimilars #index #therapeutic #cases #healthcare #pharmacist #version