(The Gist of Science Reporter) Holi Colours And Their Toxic Effects On Human Body [MARCH-2019]

Holi colours and their toxic effects on human body

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(The Gist of PIB) Vice President concludes his visit to Paraguay and Costa Rica [MARCH-2019]

Vice President concludes his visit to Paraguay and Costa Rica

• Vice President of India visited two countries Costa Rica and Paraguay.
• Paraguay and Costa Rica are important partners of India in Latin American and Caribbean region respectively.

India-Paraguay Political

• Diplomatic relations between India and Paraguay were established in 1961.
• During the visit, it was decided to strengthen the relations even more.
• Paraguay has also condemned the terror attack on Indian security forces in Pulwama.

Economic

• Bilateral trade between India and Paraguay has been growing.
• It was $40 million ten years ago and today it stands close to $375 million.
• During the visit, it was decided that efforts will be made to diversify and expand the trade basket.
• Discussion on India’s engagement in MERCOSUR also took place during the visit.

Cooperation & People-2-People Contact

• New areas for collaboration were identified between the two countries like renewable energy, health, ICT, space, biotechnology, railways, and tourism-related infrastructure.
• To build people to people contacts there was a discussion on how to make travel easier between two countries.

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(The Gist of PIB) India Energy Modelling Forum [MARCH-2019]

India Energy Modelling Forum

• The NITI Aayog and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) organized the first workshop on development of the India Energy Modelling Forum (IEMF), which has been envisaged as a pan-stakeholder platform for debating ideas, scenario-planning & discussing the India’s energy future.

Vital highlights

• The two-day workshop, being held with the support of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), was organized under the Sustainable Growth Pillar of the India-U.S. Strategic Energy Partnership.
• The IEMF seeks to provide a platform for leading experts and policy makers to study important energy and environmental issues and ensure induction of modelling and analysis in informed decision making process.
• The Forum aims to improve cooperation and coordination between modeling teams, the Government of India, knowledge partners and think-tanks, build capacity of Indian institutions, and identify issues for joint modeling activities and future areas of research.
• The workshop featured eight expert sessions which saw discussions around the various aspects of setting up an Indiacentric energy modelling platform.

Highlights of the discussion

• Discussions on energy modelling in India and the world explored how energy modelling can play an important role in decision-making.
• The panelists particularly laid focus on bridging the rural-urban divide and factoring in energy pressures from the informal economy within models.
• There was a need expressed to ensure that holistic perspective of energy consumption and ground realities must be inducted to produce practical and feasible energy models, converging land and water use patterns within energy models.
• Deliberations included a spotlight on how the impact of the evolving character of India’s cities, industries and especially the transport sector should be included in the any India-centric models.
• The shift towards electric mobility, an increasing emphasis on mainstreaming of renewable energy options and overarching environmental concerns were also stated as key factors for determining India’s energy future.
• The session featuring representatives of key central government ministries laid special emphasis on ensuring social, environmental and economic costs of energy production and consumption are accurately calculated to future-proof decision making and policy planning.
• The workshop included extensive discussions about the framework of an India Energy Modelling Forum and its institutional, coordination and funding mechanisms.

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(The Gist of PIB) UNNATEE (UNlocking NATional Energy Efficiency Potential) [MARCH-2019]

UNNATEE (UNlocking NATional Energy Efficiency Potential)

• Ministry of Power, Government of India expanded its ambitious Standards & Labelling (Star Rating) program for Energy Efficient for Appliances to cover the Microwave Ovens and Washing Machines (with revised parameters) in the country.

Aim of this initiatives

• The Star Labelling Programs has been formulated by Bureau of Energy Efficiency.
• The program will now include these two appliances for grant of Star Rating in terms of their energy performance.
• Initially, the program for above two appliances will be implemented on a voluntary basis and will be valid up to 31st December 2020.
• This initiative will promote advancement of technology and energy efficiency in Microwaves Ovens which is becoming a popular household gadget.
• As regard to the launch of revised program for Washing Machines, he commended BEEs efforts to revise the criteria for inclusion of water efficiency in addition to energy performance for grant of Star Rating.
• It will estimated savings of over 3.0 Billion Units of electricity at consume-end through adoption of Star Rated Microwave Ovens and Washing Machines by 2030.
• This would be equivalent to Green House Gases (GHG) reduction of 2.4 Million-ton of CO2 by the year 2030 through these initiatives.
• The size of Indian Microwave Oven market stood at 1.21 million units in year FY 2017-18 and is projected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of around 2%.
• Whereas, the size of Indian Washing Machine market stood at 6.1 million units in year FY 2017-18 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of around 8% fuelled by a growth in urbanization.
• Therefore, it is important to optimize energy performance of Microwave Ovens and Washing Machines.
• This will create awareness amongst the domestic consumers to encourage transition towards energy efficient microwave ovens and Washing machines.

Unlocking NATional Energy Efficiency potential (UNNATEE):

• Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has developed a national strategy document for accelerating energy efficiency in India.
• The strategy document titled UNNATEE (Unlocking NATional Energy Efficiency potential) describes a plain framework and implementation strategy to establish a clear linkage between energy supply-demand scenarios and energy efficiency opportunities.
• The document offers a comprehensive roadmap to address India’s environmental and climate change mitigation action through energy efficiency measures.
• The document has now been released for larger public consultation and seeking comments/ valuable inputs from all the stakeholders.
• This exercise is first of its kind, clearly delineating the energy efficiency targets for the respective demand sectors upto the state levels.
• Developing India’s blueprint of effective energy efficiency strategy is a leap towards stimulating energy efficiency ecosystem and enabling reduction of the pressure on demand. PwC India has assisted BEE in executing this assignment.
• This document has been prepared after extensive discussion with various departments, organisations and authorities.

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(The Gist of PIB) Dictionary of Martyrs of India’s Freedom Struggle (1857-1947) [MARCH-2019]

Dictionary of Martyrs of India’s Freedom Struggle (1857-1947)

• The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today released the Dictionary of Martyrs of India’s Freedom Struggle, at an event in Lok Kalyan Marg, New Delhi.
• Speaking on the occasion, he said this five-volume dictionary contains an account of the martyrs from India’s First War of Independence in 1857, to India’s Independence in 1947.
• He said that this includes the martyrs of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the non-cooperation movement, the Quit India Movement, and those soldiers of the Azad Hind Fauj, who attained martyrdom, among many others.
• He said that this was the first attempt at compiling the names of martyrs on this scale. He appreciated all those involved with the compilation, and the effort behind it.

Key highlights

• The Prime Minister asserted that a nation that does not honour and remember those who created, or are an important part, of its history, often does not have a secure future.
• In that sense, he added that this effort, is not just a way to cherish the past, but is also a way to secure the future.
• He said that youth should especially be made aware of this effort.
• The Prime Minister said that the effort of the Union Government is to nurture and recall the brave deeds of the heroes of our freedom struggle.
• He said this has a positive influence on the future generations, and inspires them to think of “India First.”
• The Prime Minister said that India, so far, did not have a war memorial since independence. He said that recently, he dedicated the NationalWar Memorial, or Rashtriya Samar Smaarak, to the nation.
• Similarly, he said the National Police Memorial has also been built.
• He also mentioned the world’s tallest statue, the Statue of Unity, in honour of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
• He said that in memory of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and the Azad Hind Fauj, the Kranti Mandir has been established at Red Fort.
• He said museums are also being built to commemorate the brave deeds of the Adivasi heroes who were part of our freedom struggle.

Background

• The project for compilation of “Dictionary of Martyrs” of India’s Freedom Struggle was commissioned by the Ministry of Culture, to the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) to commemorate the 150th anniversary of uprising of 1857.
• In this dictionary a martyr has been defined as a person who died or who was killed in action or in detention, or was awarded capital punishment while participating in the national movement for emancipation of India.
• It includes ex-INA or ex-military personnel who died fighting the British.
• It includes the martyrs of 1857 Uprising, Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (1919), NonCooperation Movement (1920-22), Civil Disobedience Movement (1930-34), Quit India Movement (1942-44), Revolutionary Movements (1915-34), Kisan Movements, Tribal Movements, Agitation for Responsible Government in the Princely States (Prajamandal), Indian National Army (INA, 1943-45), Royal Indian Navy Upsurge (RIN, 1946), etc. Information of about 13,500 martyrs has been recorded in these volumes.

The publication has been brought out in five volumes (zone wise) as given below:

• "Dictionary of Martyrs: India's Freedom Struggle (1857-1947)", Volume 1, Parts I & II. In this volume, more than 4400 martyrs of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh have been listed.
• "Dictionary of Martyrs: India's Freedom Struggle (1857-1947)", Volume 2, Parts I & II. In this volume more than 3500 martyrs of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Jammu & Kashmir have been listed.
• "Dictionary of Martyrs: India's Freedom Struggle (1857-1947)", Volume 3. The number of martyrs covered in this volume is more than 1400. This volume covers the martyrs of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Sindh.
• "Dictionary of Martyrs: India's Freedom Struggle (1857-1947)", Volume
• 4. The numbers of martyrs covered in this volume is more than 3300. This volume covers the martyrs of Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura.
• "Dictionary of Martyrs: India's Freedom Struggle (1857-1947)", Volume 5. The number of martyrs covered in this volume is more than 1450. This volume covers the martyrs of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

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Optimal delivery or mere optics in Bodo peace deal? (Mint)

Mains Paper 3: Security
Prelims level: Bodo peace deal
Mains level: Security challenges and their management in border areas; linkages of organized crime with terrorism

Context:

• The Bodo peace deal poses tricky questions for India in general and far-eastern India in particular.
• The deal was announced on 27 January in New Delhi in an attempt to bring closure to a conflict in the homelands of the Bodo people—or Boro, as they call themselves—in Assam.
• A formal surrender-and-integrate ceremony is intended for later this week.

Background:

• Four factions of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), along with an influential Bodo students’ organization and a Bodo civilian pressure group, signed the peace agreement with the central and Assam governments.
• Among other concessions, the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts, the name given to Kokrajhar, Baksa, Chirang and Udalguri, the four contiguous districts bordering Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh, will now be known as Bodoland Territorial Region.
• The changed nuance from districts to region is significant as it acknowledges a Bodo homeland within the state of Assam, without separating from Assam.
• This is dialled down from earlier rebel demands for a breakaway state and later suggestions for Union territory status.

Major challenges towards uprotted Bodo rebellion:

• Indeed, it could also affect the ongoing Naga peace process, leading Naga rebels to demand territorial and administrative autonomy in Naga homelands in Manipur, which will trigger a firestorm of politics, and ethnic tension between the Nagas and the Meitei, the largest ethnic group in Manipur whose language, culture and history dominate the state.
• There is already an inherent vulnerability to the Bodo peace deal even without the overhang of ceding territory.
• This is rooted in the birth of the Bodo rebellion, which began in the 1980s not on account of slights from India, but administrative and development apathy of the state of Assam, and a feeling that Bodo, the people, the language, the identity, were subsumed by the Assamese and migrants.
• The initial demand for Bodoland, which grew out of a students’ movement (in much the same way, ironically, as a movement led by students in Assam that later birthed armed rebellion by the United Liberation Front of Asom), came even earlier, in the early 1970s.

Way ahead:

• This vulnerability extends to other parts of Assam and far-eastern India and indeed any geography in India that either has active conflict, or has neutralized conflict with military or policing dominance and now hopes to seed positivity with governance and development.
• How much independence will Bodoland Territorial Council, which is now nominally responsible for administration and development, and which has purse-strings and political-strings tied to Dispur, Assam’s capital, be accorded?
• The Kokrajhar-based council has elections due for its next five-year term. Elections were last held in April 2015.
• The Bodoland People’s Front, the civilian avatar of the Bodoland Liberation Tigers that signed a peace deal in 2003, a deal which led to both the birth of the council and continuing rebellion by factions of NDFB, is in majority in the council.

Conclusion:

• True autonomy, true peace, and true development are always worth more than the paper on which they are promised.

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Our expectations could mutate in response to the coronavirus (Mint)

Mains Paper 2: Health
Prelims level: Novel Coronaviruses
Mains level: Viral outbreak worldwide due to manmade disasters

Context:

• In December 2019, an outbreak of viral pneumonia of unknown etiology emerged in Wuhan, a city in the central Chinese province of Hubei.
• A few weeks later, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Chinese health authorities announced the discovery of a novel coronavirus, known now as 2019-nCoV, as being responsible for the pneumonia.

Vulnerability:

• The outbreak led to an unprecedented escalation and an equally unprecedented response.
• The two most important questions asked in a fast-evolving pandemic of this nature are:
• How deadly is the disease, and;
• Can it be contained?
• The latest available figures suggest that the death toll in China is 304 and 14,411 have been infected.
• The current fatality rate estimate of 2% is unstable and is likely to fall as more cases are detected.

Measures taken by the countries:

• The attempt at containment started late, but has never been attempted in the fashion that China has gone about it.
• Belatedly, on 23 January, China locked down Wuhan and 12 other cities, quarantining 52 million people in one sweeping action.
• This is the first known case in modern history of any country locking down an entire large city. Confirmed cases have since been reported from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Australia and the US.
• India reported its first case from Kerala of a medical student from Wuhan University, followed by two more.
• Singapore and the US have now banned foreign nationals who have recently been in China from entering the country.
• Russia, Canada, the UK and India have begun evacuating citizens from Hubei province.

Outbreak epidemic in the past:

• The two outbreaks in recent memory that can shed light on the effectiveness of containment are the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak, which spread from China and was contained in nine months, and the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, which began in Mexico and spread globally.
• The case fatality for the H1N1 flu eventually turned out to be 0.1% and for SARS, 10%.
• The one distinguishing feature of the new coronavirus appears to be that it can be transmitted even when patients are asymptomatic, making detection of febrile cases at checkpoints an inadequate method of containment.

Novel Coronaviruses:

• Coronaviruses (CoVs) are characterized by club-like spikes that project from their surface, an unusually large RNA genome and a unique replication strategy.
• CoVs cause a variety of diseases in mammals and birds, ranging from enteritis in hoofed animals to potentially lethal human respiratory infections.
• The 2019-nCov genome was sequenced in China.
• It suggests that the original host of this coronavirus was a bat reservoir, though it is unclear whether there was an intermediate host.
• The uniformity of the sequenced genome suggests that the virus has entered human hosts very recently. Chinese health authorities were the first to post the full genome of the 2019-nCoV in public international databases.
• Subsequently, several other countries, including the US and France, have sequenced the RNA of the 2019-nCoV as well.
• These sequences and their similarity to the initial samples from China suggest a single, recent emergence from an animal reservoir.
• Testing for 2010-nCoV requires a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test (RT-PCR) which converts RNA into DNA, making study and comparison easier.
• There are no vaccines yet for this virus, but promising paths have been identified, borrowed from the SARS related vaccines.
• Development of an effective vaccine may only come after the 2019-nCoV is contained, but it may still be useful if there were to be a subsequent outbreak. The frequency of future outbreaks is only likely to increase because of climate change, global travel and fast mutating viruses.

Challenges to India’s health system:

• For India, this global health emergency should serve as an eye-opener. Only time will tell if the lockdown of Wuhan was an effective or draconian measure.
• If it turns out to be a useful tool to prevent the spread of a deadly virus, India will need to develop the framework and capacity to implement such a drastic measure.
• Our municipalities are hopelessly under-equipped to implement strict isolation and containment strategies.
• We will need to develop the capacity to build large facilities for housing patients in isolation wards.
• This will require India to accelerate the use of construction methods like pre-cast technology.
• The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has been proactive in updating its protocol related to the 2019-nCov and has clear instructions for reporting and assay preparation.
• Samples in India need to be sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune.
• While the public health and epidemic escalation framework appears capable of handling a small number of cases well, it is not clear how it will stand up to large number of cases in a specific geographic region.

Way ahead:

• Even though there is some criticism of China for having initially reacted slowly, once the Chinese authorities began to move in January, they have proceeded with dramatic purpose and tremendous speed.
• In some ways, China is setting the standard for a public health response that may become a necessary way of life in the 21st century.
• India must use this as a guidepost to greater preparedness.

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Govt yet to shed ‘charity approach’ towards persons with disabilities (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2: Social Justice
Prelims level: Accessible India Campaign
Mains level: Welfare schemes for the vulnerable sections of the society

Context:

• The aspirations of persons with disabilities in Union Budget 2020 were once again shattered with the Finance Minister announcing a meagre amount of Rs 9500 crore for senior citizens and persons with disabilities.
• The charity approach toward persons with disabilities can be still seen with them featuring under the care group of the development agenda and not under the aspirational group.
• This in itself sets persons with disabilities a step backwards in the line of inclusion.

Background:

• The official documents still continue to refer to the 1995 Persons with Disabilities Act for detailing their statutory obligations concerning persons with disabilities.
• The faulty policy-making blatantly ignores the newly enacted Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 and diverges from the social approach towards disability adopted under the new Act.
• The budget allocates around Rs 251 crore towards the implementation of the 1995 Act, which only covered seven disabilities, and not 21 as mentioned under the new Act.
• A National Fund has been constituted to secure finances towards proper implementation of the Act of 2016, but the lack of budgetary allocations around it have rendered it meaningless.

What is the Accessible India Campaign?

• The Accessible India Campaign (AIC) which is one of the flagship programmes for accessibility does not find any mention in the Budget.
• Although the AIC was successful more on the level of creating a noise around accessibility, its vision was not translated on the ground due to lack of accountability framework and transparency.
• While hopes were pinned on its better implementation, lack of a financial framework has made it defunct.

Key concern:

• India has the largest concentration of persons with disabilities who face multiple vulnerabilities and deprivations as the majority population continue to live in poverty.
• Accounting for the additional costs of disability increases poverty at both the extensive and intensive margin as the poverty rate amongst households with disabled member’s increases from 18 per cent to 34 per cent.
• Poor households with disabled members fall seven per cent below the poverty line on average when the cost of disability is ignored. Accounting for the same can reduce this to three per cent.
• Accessibility to the physical, social, economic and cultural environment, to health and education and to information and communication is important in enabling persons with disabilities to fully enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms.
• Research and promotion of universal design in products and services is important to ensure accessibility requirements of persons with disabilities.
• And the budget document reveals that no allocation of funds has been made for research on disability-related technology and products and neither for establishment of colleges for hearing impaired.
• The National Institute for Inclusive and Universal Design has seen a mere allocation of Rs 1 lakh.
• The Rehabilitation Council of India, which is responsible for creating experts to work with persons with disabilities. has seen a token increment of Rs 5.50 crore from that of Rs 5 crore from last year.

Proper allocation of funds and simplifying tax benefits:

• Proper funds should be allocated for the implementation of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
• GST should be completely removed on goods used by persons with disabilities as it imposes high cost on products.
• The income tax ceiling for people with disabilities and those with dependents with disabilities should be increased to Rs 5 lakh.
• Increase in 80U exemption from Rs 75,000 for people with less than 75% disabilities and Rs 1,25,000 for people with over 75% disabilities to Rs 1,50,000 and Rs 3,00,000 respectively.
• Increase in deduction on 80D from Rs 50,000 per dependent to Rs 1,00,000 per dependent.
• A database of taxpayers availing 80U deductions must be maintained. This will throw light on the number of taxpayers who have a Disability.
• A deduction of up to Rs 40,000 is allowed for the treatment of specified ailments such as thalassemia. This should be increased to the actual expenses or at least Rs 1 lakh (For example, a thalassemia major patient can spend up to Rs 1-2 Lakh pa).

The list must be updated to align with the RPWD Act and ailments such as multiple sclerosis must be also recognised for such exemptions.

Conclusion:

• ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’ can only be a reality when the government realises that “sab” includes people with different disabilities at different stages of their lives and their ‘vikas’ becomes imperative to the overall health of the Indian economy.

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What Brexit means for the EU and its partners (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: International
Prelims level: Brexit
Mains level: Various international organizations and their aftermath challenges disputes

Context:

• On January 31, 2020, the United Kingdom left the European Union.

A structured exit:

• This is largely thanks to the Withdrawal Agreement that we negotiated with the U.K., which enabled us to secure “an orderly Brexit”.
• One that, at least for now, minimises disruption for our citizens, businesses, public administrations, as well as for our international partners.
• Under this agreement, the EU and the U.K. agreed on a transition period, until the end of 2020 at least, during which the U.K. will continue to participate in the EU’s Customs Union and in the Single Market, and to apply EU law, even if it is no longer a Member State.
• During this period, the U.K. will also continue to abide by the international agreements of the EU, as we made clear in a note verbale to our international partners.

Element of continuity:

• By leaving the Union, the U.K. automatically, mechanically, legally, leaves hundreds of international agreements concluded by or on behalf of the Union, to the benefit of its Member States, on topics as different as trade, aviation, fisheries or civil nuclear cooperation.
• We now have to build a new partnership between the EU and the U.K.
• That work will start in a few weeks as soon as the EU 27 Member States have approved the negotiating mandate proposed by the European Commission.
• To setting out our terms and ambitions for achieving the closest possible partnership with a country which will remain our ally, our partner and our friend.

Shared and deep links:

• The EU and the U.K. are bound by history, by geography, culture, shared values and principles and a strong belief in rules-based multilateralism.
• Our future partnership will reflect these links and shared beliefs.
• We want to go well beyond trade and keep working together on security and defence, areas where the U.K. has experiences and assets that are best used as part of a common effort.
• In a world of big challenges and change, of turmoil and transition, we must consult each other and cooperate, bilaterally and in key regional and global fora, such as the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or the G20.

Challenges ahead:

• It is perhaps a cliché but the basic truth is that today’s global challenges — from climate change, to cybercrime, terrorism or inequality — require collective responses.
• The more the U.K. is able to work in lockstep with the EU and together with partners around the world, the greater our chances of addressing these challenges effectively.
• At the very core of the EU project is the idea that we are stronger together; that pooling our resources and initiatives is the best way of achieving common goals.
• Brexit does not change this, and we will continue to take this project forward as 27.
• Together, the 27 Member States will continue to form a single market of 450 million citizens and more than 20 million businesses.

Conclusion:

• The European Union will continue to be a partner you can trust.
• A steadfast defender of rules-based multilateralism, working with our partners to make the world more secure and fair.

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Camel in the tent: On shortage of doctors (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Health
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Key challenges for the government to implement PPP model in healthcare system

Context:

• Centre pushes to attach medical colleges to existing district hospitals in the public-private partnership (PPP) mode, to ostensibly address the shortage of doctors in the country.

Background:

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in the Union Budget speech, introduced the proposal and stated that those States that fully allow the facilities of the hospital to the medical college and wish to provide land at a concession would be eligible for viability gap funding.
• Several details are already available in the public domain, as part of the plan, first proposed by NITI Aayog.

Key challenges for the government to implement PPP model:

• It argues that it is practically not possible for Central and State governments to bridge the gaps in medical education with their limited resources and finances, necessitating the formation of a PPP model, “combining the strengths of both sectors”.
• This would augment the number of medical seats available and moderate the costs of medical education.
• Experts have argued that the NITI Aayog has not given sufficient play to the role of the district hospital as the pivot of primary health care in every State.
• Allowing private parties to “operate and maintain the district hospital and provide healthcare services” could seriously dent public health services.
• It is problematic that the NITI Aayog envisages the creation of “free” patients versus others, because this will create a new category of have-nots.
• A working draft of the concessionaire agreement indicates that the private firm “can demand, collect and appropriate hospital charges from patients”.
• There is understandable opposition to the scheme in States such as Tamil Nadu that have a robust public health-care system, and a medical college in nearly every district.
• These States are naturally loath to turning over a key unit in their health-care network, which is running reasonably efficiently, to the private sector motivated by profit rather than public interest.

Way ahead:

• Ultimately, eternal vigil will be the price of going for this new mode.
• Creating quality medical professionals for the country should definitely be on any government’s to-do list, destabilising people’s access to affordable public health services, will be disastrous.
• Viability gap funding is provided for projects that the government does not find commercially viable because of long gestation periods, and relatively minor revenue flows, and involves PPP, but this instant situation calls for pause: Health fits square in the State’s welfare role.
• The government must consider raising health-care spending beyond the usual under 2% of GDP, and ensure more resources are available to provide free, quality health care to all.

Conclusion:

• It does stay on its path of giving the private sector some control over district hospitals, it will do well to be wary of the camel in the tent.

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(The Gist of PIB) AL-NAGAH III 2019 [MARCH-2019]

AL-NAGAH III 2019

• Exercise Al Nagah III is the bilateral joint exercise between India and Oman.
• The third in the series of the joint exercise will be be held from 12 to 25 March 2019 at Jabal Al Akhdar Mountains in Oman.

Vital highlights

• The exercise will see both the armies exchanging expertise and experience in tactics, weapon handling and firing, with an aim to enhance interoperability in counter terrorist operations in semi urban mountainous terrain.
• Exercise Al Nagah III follows the first two joint exercises that were held in Oman in January 2015 and India in March 2017 respectively.

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(The Gist of PIB) Government launches National Rural Economic Transformation Project [MARCH-2019]

Government launches National Rural Economic Transformation Project

• The World Bank and the Government of India signed here today in New Delhi a $250 Million Agreement for the National Rural Economic Transformation Project (NRETP) which will help women in rural households shift to a new generation of economic initiatives by developing viable enterprise for farm and non-farm products.

Objectives

• A Key Focus of the Project will be to promote women-owned and women-led farm and non-farm enterprises across value chains;
• It enable them to build businesses that help them access finance, markets and networks; and generate employment.
• The National Rural Economic Transformation Project (NRETP) is an additional financing to the $500 million National Rural Livelihoods Project (NRLP) approved by the World Bank in July 2011.
• The NRLP which is currently being implemented across 13 states, 162 districts and 575 blocks, has so far mobilized more than 8.8 million women from poor rural households into 750,000 selfhelp groups (SHGs).
• These SHGs have been further federated into 48,700 Village Organizations and 2900 Cluster/Gram Panchayat-level Federations.
• While these 13 states will continue to be supported under the new project signed today, 125 new districts will be added from within these states.
• Since its launch in 2011, the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) has mobilized 50 million poor rural women into self-help groups and their higher-level federations.
• These groups have leveraged nearly $30 billion from commercial banks.

Initiatives supported by NERTP

• The NERTP will support enterprise development programs for rural poor women and youth by creating a platform to access finance including start-up financing options to build their individual and/or collectively owned and managed enterprises.
• The other key component of the project includes developing financial products using digital financial services to help small producer collectives scale-up and engage with the market.
• It will also support youth skills development, in coordination with the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana.
• Peer to peer learning across States and across communities was a successful strategy under the NRLP and will also continue to be used in this project.
• The Project will continue to give technical assistance, skills building and investment support to strengthen women-owned and women-led producer collectives diversify into high value farm and non-farm commodities such as commercial crops and livestock products, and fisheries.
• The $250 Million Loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), has a 5-year grace period, and a final maturity of 20 years.

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(The Gist of PIB) BOLD - QIT Project [MARCH-2019]

BOLD - QIT Project

• The Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh will inaugurate the project BOLD-QIT (Border Electronically Dominated QRT Interception Technique) under CIBMS (Comprehensive Integrated Border Management system) on India-Bangladesh border in Dhubri District of Assam tomorrow.

Significance

• Border Security Force is responsible for safeguarding of 4,096 Km long International Border with Bangladesh.
• At various places, it is not possible to erect Border Fence due to the geographical barriers.
• The 61 Kms of Border area in District Dhubri, Assam where River Brahmaputra enters intoBangladesh is consisting of vast char lands and innumerable river channels thus making border guarding in this area, a daunting task especially during rainy season.

Key highlights

• To overcome this problem, in the year 2017, Ministry of Home Affairs decided to go for technological solution besides the physical presence of manpower of BSF.
• In Jan, 2018, Information and Technology Wing of BSF undertook the project BOLD-QIT (Border Electronically Dominated QRT Interception Technique) and completed it in record time with the technical support of various manufacturers and suppliers.
• BOLD-QIT is the project to install technical systems under the Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS), which enables BSF to equip IndoBangla borders with different kind of sensors in unfenced riverine area of Brahmaputra and its tributaries.
• The entire span of River Brahmaputra has been covered with data network generated by Microwave communication, OFC Cables, DMR Communication, day and night surveillance Cameras and intrusion detection system.
• These modern gadgets provide feeds to BSF Control Rooms on the Border and enable BSF Quick Reaction Teams to thwart any possibility of Illegal Cross Border Crossing/ Crimes.
• The implementation of this project will not only help BSF to curb all type of cross border crimes but also provide respite to the troops from round the clock human surveillance.

Study Material for UPSC General Studies Pre Cum Mains

(The Gist of PIB) 7th Guinness Book of World Record [MARCH-2019]

7th Guinness Book of World Record

• Recently the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has created “7th Guinness Book of World Record”.

Key highlights

• The record was created for implanting ‘Modern Artificial Limbs (Legs)’ on 260 Divyangjans within eight hours.
• It can be noted that the DEPwD has already created Six World Records in other categories.
• This was announced by the Union Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment on the occasion of National Conference on “Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme (DDRS)”.
• The Conference was organised by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
• The objective of the conference was to sensitize the stakeholders of the scheme i.e. Programme Implementing Agencies (PIAs), District level officers & State Government officers.
• Recently the second edition of the Indian Sign Language dictionary was launched by Indian Sign Language Research and training Center ( ISLRTC) for the hearing impaired Divyangjans.

Study Material for UPSC General Studies Pre Cum Mains

(The Gist of PIB) Cabinet approves Petroleum Ministry joining of IEA Bioenergy TCP [MARCH-2019]

Cabinet approves Petroleum Ministry joining of IEA Bioenergy TCP

• The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, was apprised about Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India joining IEA Bioenergy TCP as its 25th member on 25th January, 2019.
• The other members are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Commission.

About the IEA framework

• International Energy Agency's Technology Collaboration Programme on Bioenergy (IEA Bioenergy TCP) is an international platform for co-operation among countries with the aim of improving cooperation and information exchange between countries that have national programmes in bioenergy research, development and deployment.
• IEA Bioenergy TCP works under the framework of International Energy Agency (IEA) to which India has "Association" status since 30th March, 2017.

Key highlights

• The primary goal of joining IEA Bioenergy TCP by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPand NG) is to facilitate the market introduction of advanced biofuels with an aim to bring down emissions and reduce crude imports.
• IEA Bioenergy TCP also provides a platform for international collaboration and information exchange in bioenergy research, technology development, demonstration, and policy analysis with a focus on overcoming the environmental, institutional, technological, social, 'and market barriers to the near-and long-term deployment of bioenergy technologies.
• The R and D work in IEA Bioenergy TCP is carried out carried out within well-defined 3- years programmes called "Tasks".
• Each year the progress of the Tasks is evaluated and scrutinized and each 3 years the content of the Tasks is reformulated and new Tasks can be initiated.
• Technical persons from Public sector Oil Marketing companies will also be contributor in the Tasks participated by MoP and NG.

Benefits from this participation

• The benefits of participation in IEA Bioenergy TCP are shared costs and pooled technical resources.
• The duplication of efforts is avoided and national Research and Development capabilities are strengthened.
• There is an information exchange about best practices, network of researchers and linking research with practical implementation.
• Engagement with International Agencies will also apprise the Ministry of the developments taking place Worldwide in Biofuel sector, provide opportunity of personal interaction with innovators/ Researchers and help in bringing suitable policy ecosystem.
• In addition, after becoming member, India can participate in other related Tasks focussing on Biogas, Solid waste Management, Biorefining etc.
• Which could be participated by relevant Ministries/ Departments/ Organizations of the Country.

Study Material for UPSC General Studies Pre Cum Mains

(The Gist of PIB) Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019 [MARCH-2019]

Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019

• The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the proposal of Jammu & Kashmir Government to issue "The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment)Ordinance, 2019' by the President of India.
• It provides for amendments in the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act, 2004 to bringing persons residing in the areas adjoining International Border within the ambit of reservation at par with persons living in areas adjoining Actual Line of Control (ALoC).

Impact

• Once the Ordinance is issued, it would pave the way would pave the way for bringing persons residing in the areas adjoining International Border within the ambit of Reservation at par with persons living in areas adjoining Actual Line of Control.

Background

• 10% reservation for economically weaker sections made applicable in J&K also. This would pave the way for reserving State Government jobs to the youth of J&K who are from economically weaker sections belonging to any religion or caste.
• It may be recalled that 10% reservation to economically weaker sections was introduced in rest of the country through the 103rd Constitution Amendment in January 2019.
• This will be in addition to such reservation available in Govt. of India jobs also.
• Benefit of promotion to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, which include Gujjars and Bakarwals amongst others, has also been made applicable to the State of J&K.
• After a long wait of 24 years, the 77th Constitutional Amendment of 1995 has now been applied to the State of J&K.
• People living near the International Border have been bought at par with those living near the Line of Control for reservation in State Government jobs by amending the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act, 2004 through an Ordinance.
• Earlier, the provision of 3% reservation was available only for youth living within 6 kms. Of LoC in J&K. Now, this provision will be applicable for people living near the international border also. This has been a long-pending demand of the population living near the international border, as they have been facing the brunt of cross border firing in J&K.

About The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act, 2004

• The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act, 2004 and Rules there under namely The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Rules, 2005 provide for vertical reservation in direct recruitment, promotions and admission in different professional courses to various categories viz.
• Scheduled  All About UPSC Exams Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (Residents of Backward Area (RBA), Residents of Areas adjoining Actual Line of Control (ALoC) and Weak and Underprivileged Classes (Social Castes) along with horizontal reservation to the Ex-Serviceman and Physically Challenged Persons.
• However, the reservation benefits are not extended to the persons residing in the areas adjoining International Border.
• Due to continuous cross border tensions, persons living alongside International Border suffer from socio-economic and educational backwardness.
• Shelling from across the border often compels these residents to move to safer places and is adversely impacting their education as Educational Institutions remain closed for long periods.
• Hence, it was felt justifiable to extend the reservation benefits to persons residing in the areas adjoining International Border on the similar lines of the persons living in areas adjoining Actual Line of Control (ALoC).

Study Material for UPSC General Studies Pre Cum Mains

An unequal future (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2: Social Justice
Prelims level: The Periodic Labour Force Survey
Mains level: Highlights of the Oxfam report

Context:

• Oxfam releasing its Annual Inequality Report ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos in January.
• This report captures staggering increases in global wealth inequality over the years.
• This year, the report established that the richest 1 per cent in the world have more than double the wealth of 6.9 billion people combined.
• Within this 1 per cent, the world’s billionaires, just 2,135 people, have more wealth than that of the bottom 4.6 billion combined.

Key outcomes of the report:

• India has earned notoriety for its rampant inequality that seems to grow exponentially each year.
• Nine of India’s billionaires own as much wealth as the bottom 50 per cent of the country’s populace and that it would take the average female domestic worker 22,277 years to earn the annual pay-out to India’s top tech CEO.

Burden of inequality continues to be borne by India’s women:

• They continue to be tasked with bearing the burden of care work, and spend — on average, 352 minutes a day for this purpose. In contrast, men put in only 51.8.
• As the report argues, increasing spending on social welfare could drastically reduce this burden.
• India continues...............................................

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Way forward:

• Growing wealth inequality is also symptomatic of the rise of an entrenched rentier class which looks to leverage their fixed assets in the form of land and property to extract the greatest possible rents from tenants and leases.
• For our millennial professionals, this means that cities continue to grow unaffordable, and prospects of actually purchasing a home early in their career turns from optimistic to bleak.
• With a 2019 study by the Reserve Bank confirming that housing affordability has significantly deteriorated over the last four years, it is unsurprising how millennials now choose to rent rather than bear the increasingly unaffordable burden of high EMIs.

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A workmanlike account (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 3: Economy
Prelims level: Union Budget 2020-21
Mains level: Budget and its allocation of resources

Context:

• Targeting policy instruments and actions for achieving specific economic objectives has long been an accepted tenet of macro-economic and financial policy interventions. One lens for evaluating the Union Budget for 2020-21 is to use this framework.
• The present economic slowdown is the result of multiple, complex, interlocking reasons, and it will not be easy to crack this mesh open.

Fiscal arithmetic of the Budget:

• One request from analysts across the board was to present a realistic assessment of the present economic conditions and projections for future growth prospects.
• To a large extent, the Budget has done this, giving a much clearer picture of the off-balance sheet borrowings, which add to the government’s debt and its obligations to pay.
• This will enhance credibility among the investor community while taking decisions on committing capital for India’s future.
• The nominal growth projected for 2020-21 at 10 per cent is feasible, with a stretch, given the expected rise in inflation, which will add around 4 per cent to a projected 6 per cent real growth.
• The revenue projections are more aggressive, assuming a buoyancy which can be attributed in large measure to checking evasion using data analytics.
• The worry is that the growth projections for the two remaining months of this fiscal year, 2019-20, are quite aggressive, and undershooting these will, in turn, make the targets for FY21 even more difficult.

Sources can boost revenue:

• The major boost to revenues is expected from disinvestment and privatisation of central public sector enterprises, together with asset monetisation (selling of various road, rail, land, logistics and other projects which the government has undertaken over the years).
• The target is up sharply to Rs 2.25 lakh crore. This initiative has been one of the core focus areas of the government, and even though politically difficult, has to be lauded — even more for the effects of increasing efficiency in operations and restricting the losses to the public balance sheet.
• Disinvestment revenues are likely to be augmented with higher dividend receipts, including, from higher profits of the Reserve Bank of India.
• Spending, which depends on revenue collection, has also been optimally allocated, with capital expenditure budgeted to increase faster than revenue.
• However, capital expenditure is still a much smaller fraction of total expenditure compared to the committed revenue spending on interest payments, salaries and pensions and subsidies.

Three aspects of the current slowdown:

• The multiple engines of growth have synchronously decelerated — consumption, investment, exports and sporadically, government spending — compared to earlier ones when one or some of these drivers were still functioning.
• This is more a demand-led .............................................

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Chllenges for policymakers:

• To devising stimulus measures is whether this deceleration in growth is more cyclical than structural in nature.
• If it is the former, an aggressive use of monetary and fiscal counter-cyclical policy could yield the desired result.
• f not, then the wait is likely to be longer and will involve more sector specific de-bottlenecking initiatives.
• While there is certainly a cyclical component in the manufacturing segment — the proximate source of the slowdown — there are signs of deeper structural constraints.

Way ahead:

• Overlaid on these structural impediments is a sharp weakening of consumer, investor and corporate confidence, the result of multiple causes, the prominent among them being the uncertainty on employment as well as the disproportionate enforcement actions.
• The signature theme ..............................

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Conclusion:

• Implementation, as always, will be key to achieving the $5-trillion goal.
• The arena for the next set of reforms and actions for sustained growth is at the state level: Agriculture, land, electricity, and even labour.
• The Budget acknowledges this. A federal approach to tackling the slowdown, in a coordinated fashion, will probably be the most effective.

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Falling short of aspirations (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3: Economy
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Rural development allocation

Context:

• There were many expectations from the Union Budget 2020: that it would reverse the falling growth rate, reduce unemployment and rekindle the animal spirits needed to revive private investment.

Skill development allocation:

• The Finance Minister has allocated a paltry ₹3,000 crore for skill development. Skilling will require massive investment and concerted efforts.
• The Budget could have given tax incentives to companies to provide internships and on-site vocational training to unemployed youth. The country cannot afford to let the world’s largest workforce waste this way.
• The government remains very determined to present itself as being fiscally prudent. Total expenditure is slated to go up marginally to 13.5% GDP from 13.2% of GDP for the current fiscal (revised estimates).
• The fiscal deficit is pegged at 3.5% of GDP. Going by the experience with the current fiscal, the deficit level is not paramount concern for the market.
• Due to the ‘slippage in tax collections this fiscal year combined with stepped up government expenditure, market borrowings by the government have gone up as much as 15%’.
• Still, yields on government securities have not gone up significantly. Neither inflation nor the current account deficit have set alarm bells ringing, as feared by the government.

On flagship welfare schemes:

• The Budget falls well short of expectations when it comes to boosting demand. Budgetary allocations for the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) are disappointing.
• The MGNREGA is allocated ..............................................

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Improving transport infrastructure:

• The allocation of ₹1.7 lakh crore for transportation infrastructure is also a welcome step. But a lot will depend on whether the money actually gets invested or remains unspent as it has happened in the current fiscal year.
• If the public investment infrastructure actually materialises, it will lend credence to the government’s stated commitment to revive the investment cycle — to spur job-creating growth.
• To pull in private investment, the public funding should be front-loaded in under-implementation projects. Small irrigation and rural road projects are also relatively easy to complete and deliver immense benefits to several sectors.

Getting private investment:

• The Budget’s main growth plank is the hope for a deluge of private infrastructure investment through public-private partnership (PPP) and external sovereign wealth funds that have been given 100% tax exceptions in the Budget.
• But private investment depends on the cost of capital along with the certainty of returns.
• Many projects have been mired in contractual disputes with government departments and various regulatory hurdles.
• All these factors make infrastructure investment unnecessarily risky and render these projects unattractive for investors.

Bonds and startups:

• The fundamental problem of infrastructure finance is the asset-liability mismatch which can be addressed only by developing a vibrant ‘corporate bond market.
• However, the focus of the ..............................................

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Trade Receivables Discounting System:

• Another welcome feature is the scheme to allow the non-banking financial companies into the Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS).
• An ecosystem that aims to facilitate the financing and settling of trade-related transactions of small entities with corporate and other buyers, including government departments and public sector undertakings.
• To reduce the compliance burden on small retailers, traders and shopkeepers who comprise the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) sector, the threshold for audit of the accounts has been increased from ₹1 crore to ₹5 crore for those entities that carry out less than 5% of their business transactions in cash.
• It is also good that the Finance Minister has extended the window for restructuring of loans for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises till March 31, 2021.

Way ahead:

• However, for many products produced by these enterprises, the tax rates are higher for inputs than the final goods.
• In addition, many SMEs ....................................

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Conclusion:

• Everything considered, the future of the economy will turn on whether the government walks the talk in terms of public investment and the promises made to different sections of society including the taxpayer and companies.
• When it comes to reviving private sentiments, actions will speak much louder than the budgetary promises.

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Cognisant of constraints: On 15th Finance Commission’s interim report (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3: Economy
Prelims level: 15th Finance Commission
Mains level: Highlights the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission

Context:

• The interim report of the 15th Finance Commission, tabled in Parliament has largely preserved the devolution mathematics of its predecessor, belying concerns of a sizeable cut in States’ share.

Recommendation highlights:

• The commission has recommended a one percentage point reduction in the vertical split of the divisible pool of tax revenues accruing to States to 41%.
• This follows the reorganisation of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
• While the former ........................................

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Demographic performance:

• A crucial new parameter, demographic performance, has been added to the mix.
• Having been mandated to adopt the population data from the 2011 Census, the commission has incorporated the additional criterion to ensure that States that have done well on demographic management are not unfairly disadvantaged.
• And since the norm also indirectly evaluates performance on the human capital outcomes of education and health, it has been assigned a weight of 12.5%.
• This should address the concerns voiced by several States over the switch to the 2011 Census from the 1971 data.

Reduction is share of taxes:

• Among the States, with the exception of Tamil Nadu, all the other four southern States see a reduction in the recommended share of taxes for the year 2020-21.
• It suggested devolution to Odisha and Uttar Pradesh have also shrunk in percentage terms.
• Crucially, the ............................................

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Way forward:

• However, the increase in the percentage of outcome-tied funds to 50%, from 10%, could prove vexing to the last mile providers of basic services in India’s federal and highly fragmented structure of governance.
• The commission has also been justifiably critical of the Union and State governments’ tendency to finance spending through off-budget borrowings and via parastatals.
• It has done well to ask that such extra-budgetary liabilities be clearly earmarked and eliminated in a time-bound manner.

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