Banking, Financial and Economic Awareness of 24 November 2019

1. NSSO releases report on ‘Drinking water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Housing Conditions in India’

• According to the report, 48.6% of the rural households and 57.5% of urban households have access to the principal source of drinking water.
• 12.4% of rural households and 9.1% of urban households did not have sufficient access to the principal source of drinking water.
• 96% of the rural and 63.8% of the urban households had their own residential houses.
• Less than half of the rural households and about 86.6% of the urban areas use LPG for cooking.
• About half of the rural households and 75% of the urban households have sufficient access to the bathroom.

2. Coca-Cola's products to be sold in fully recycled plastic bottles in Sweden.

• Coca-Cola's will be selling its products in fully recycled plastic bottles in Sweden.
• According to Coca-Cola AB and local bottles Coca-Cols European Plaster's Plc, the move will reduce the use of new plastic by 3,500 tonnes annually.
• A worldwide audit conducted by Green Peace named Coca-Cola as the top global Plastic polluter.
• Coca-Cola Company:
  • An American company, known for its flagship product Coca-Cola that was invented in 1886 by John Stith Pemberton.
  • CEO-James Quincey
  • Founded - 1892.

3. Survey on 'Household Social Consumption related to Health during July 2017 - July 2018' released

• The survey was conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO) as part of 75^th round of National Sample Survey.
• According to the survey, private hospitals account for around 55% of the in-patient cases, while the share for public hospitals is only 42%.
• Only 14% of the rural and 19% of the urban population are covered under health insurance, depicting low health insurance coverage in the country.
• National Statistical Office (NSO) is headed by Director General and works under the aegis of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

4. Govt. seeks inputs from various stakeholders on the regulation of medicine and medical devices price

• The officials of the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) and the Department of Pharmaceuticals have asked various stakeholders, including medical device and chemist associations, civil society, etc. for their views on capping the margins on drugs and medical devices across the supply chain.
• NPPA decided to cap trade margins of 42 non-scheduled cancer drugs. These drugs cannot be marked up above 42% of the price at which these were purchased from the manufacturer.
• National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA):
  • It is a regulatory body formed in 1997.
  • It controls the prices of medicines in India.
  • It is an attached office of the Department of Pharmaceuticals.