Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- India's health worker brain drain
The article highlights the issue of shortage of healthcare workers in India even as it exports its healthcare workers to other countries.
India as an exporter of healthcare workers
- For several decades, India has been a major exporter of healthcare workers to developed nations particularly to the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Europe and other English-speaking countries.
- As per OECD data, around 69,000 Indian trained doctors worked in the UK, US, Canada and Australia in 2017.
- In these four countries, 56,000 Indian-trained nurses were working in the same year.
- There is also large-scale migration of health workers to the GCC countries but there is a lack of credible data on the stock of such workers in these nations.
- There is no real-time data on high-skilled migration from India as in the case of low-skilled and semi-skilled migration.
Shortage of nurses and doctors
- The migration of healthcare workers is part of the reason for the shortage in nurses and doctors.
- If we look at the figures for countries where we export our healthcare workers, we see just how big the difference is between the sending and the receiving countries.
- As per government reports, India has 1.7 nurses per 1,000 population and a doctor to patient ratio of 1:1,404.
- This is well below the WHO norm of 3 nurses per 1,000 population and a doctor to patient ratio of 1:1,100.
- But, this does not convey the entire problem.
- The distribution of doctors and nurses is heavily skewed against some regions.
- Moreover, there is high concentration in some urban pockets.
Factors driving migration
- There are strong pull factors associated with the migration of healthcare workers, in terms of higher pay and better opportunities in the destination countries.
- However, there are strong push factors that often drive these workers to migrate abroad.
- The low wages in private sector outfits along with reduced opportunities in the public sector plays a big role in them seeking employment opportunities outside the country.
- The lack of government investment in healthcare and delayed appointments to public health institutions act as a catalyst for such migration.
Measures to check brain drain and issues with it
- Over the years, the government has taken measures to check the brain drain of healthcare workers with little or no success.
- In 2014, it stopped issuing No Objection to Return to India (NORI) certificates to doctors migrating to the US.
- The NORI certificate is a US government requirement for doctors who migrate to America on a J1 visa and seek to extend their stay beyond three years.
- The non-issuance of the NORI would ensure that the doctors will have to return to India at the end of the three-year period.
- The government has included nurses in the Emigration Check Required (ECR) category.
- This move was taken to bring about transparency in nursing recruitment and reduce the exploitation of nurses in the destination countries.
- The government’s policies to check brain drain are restrictive in nature and do not give us a real long-term solution to the problem.
Way forward
- We require systematic changes that could range from increased investment in health infrastructure, ensuring decent pay to workers and building an overall environment to motivate them to stay in the country.
- The government should focus on framing policies that promote circular migration and return migration — policies that incentivise healthcare workers to return home after the completion of their training or studies.
- It could also work towards framing bilateral agreements that could help shape a policy of “brain-share” between the sending and receiving countries.
- The 2020 Human Development Report shows that India has five hospital beds per 10,000 people — one of the lowest in the world.
- Increased investment in healthcare, especially in the public sector, is thus the need of the hour.
- This would, in turn, increase employment opportunities for health workers.
Consider the question “What are the factors driving the migration of healthcare workers from India? Suggest the measure to stem their migration.”
Conclusion
India needs systematic changes that could range from increased investment in health infrastructure, ensuring decent pay to health workers and building an overall environment that could prove to be beneficial for them and motivate them to stay in the country.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- China's wolf warrior foreign policy and its implications for India's neighbours
The article explains the implications of China’s assertive foreign policy for India’s neighbours.
Chinese warning to Bangladesh
- The Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh warned Bangladesh against joining the Quad and added that it will risk “significant damage” to its relationship with Beijing if it warms up to the Quad.
- This came as a surprise as China was warning Bangladesh against joining a club that has no plans to invite new members, let alone Bangladesh.
- China always used tough language when it came to issues of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
- The aggressive style now covers a much broader range of issues.
- Beijing is conscious that Bangladesh’s impressive economic performance in recent years as well as its location at the top of the Bay of Bengal littoral lends a new strategic salience to Bangladesh.
- China notes India’s growing diplomatic investment in developing a strategic partnership with Bangladesh.
- China is also not blind to the emerging interest in US and Japan to expand cooperation with Dhaka.
- Bangladesh, which supports China’s Belt and Road Initiative, is open to similar infrastructure cooperation with the US, Japan and India.
China’s wolf worrier diplomacy
- The new wolf warrior diplomacy confronts head-on any criticism of China in the public sphere.
- India has been at the receiving end of this policy for a while — especially during the recent crises of Doklam and Ladakh.
- But India’s South Asian neighbours, all of whom enjoy good relations with China, are only now getting a taste of Beijing’s new diplomatic medicine.
- Chinese Ambassador’s public remarks about the Quad were about telling Bangladesh to resist any Indo-Pacific temptation.
- Pre-emption is very much part of Beijing’s strategic culture.
What such assertive diplomacy mean for South Asia
- Delhi has learnt after long that too much diplomatic interference in the Subcontinent has tended to undermine the pursuit of India’s regional objectives.
- China, as the world’s newest superpower, probably bets that its substantive leverages — including economic, diplomatic, and military — will limit the costs while deterring smaller nations from crossing the markers that it lays down.
- South Asian elites have always seethed at India meddling in their internal affairs; they have held up China’s non-interventionist policy as a welcome alternative.
- The controversy in Bangladesh over China’s remark on joining Quad should help update their past images of Beijing
- India is now more circumspect than before about interventions in the region.
- It recognises that avoiding knee-jerk interventions is a sensible policy.
- Our neighbours have always complained about India’s inefficiency in implementing economic projects and contrasted this with China’s speed and purposefulness.
- But they are also discovering the flip side of Chinese economic efficiency — the capacity to set and implement terms of cooperation that are not always in favour of the host nation.
- All the regimes in the region have had access to different sections of the Indian elite and some capacity to shape the discourse on neighbourhood policies.
- They have no political recourse at all in China’s closed political system.
Consider the question “As Beijing becomes ever more assertive in South Asia, the costs of relying on China are likely to become more apparent to South Asia’s smaller nations. Comment.”
Conclusion
Until now, Chinese support against India seemed free of cost. As Beijing becomes ever more assertive in South Asia, the costs of relying on China are likely to become more apparent.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Factors driving engagement among West Asian countries
The article highlights the unprecedented engagement among the countries of West Asia even among the rivals and explains its significance.
New diplomatic engagements in West Asia
- Recently, there have been interactions between senior Saudi and Iranian officials, the first since diplomatic ties were broken in January 2016.
- Following the removal of the diplomatic and economic blockade on Qatar that was imposed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, Doha has made efforts to mend ties with both Saudi Arabia and Egypt, in tandem with similar initiatives of its doctrinal and political ally, Turkey.
- On May 5, Turkey and Egypt had their first diplomatic meeting in Cairo after they had broken diplomatic ties in 2013.
- The two countries, on opposite sides on almost all regional issues, are now exploring how to address their differences.
Driving force behind these engagements
- The driving force behind these unprecedented engagements is the advent of the Biden administration at the helm of politics in the United States.
- He has taken a tough line on Saudi Arabia, scrutinising its human rights record and opposition to the war in Yemen.
- Besides concerns in West Asian capitals, the broader message is that the U.S. is now likely to be less engaged with the region’s quarrels.
- These signals of new U.S. policies have occurred even as the novel coronavirus pandemic is devastating West Asia.
- Finally, one major factor is the recognition that the ongoing regional conflicts, in Syria, Yemen and Libya, despite the massive death and destruction, have yielded no military outcome and now demand fresh diplomatic approaches.
Long way to go in resolving differences
- Egypt remains uneasy about Turkey’s ties with the Brotherhood and its regional ambitions.
- Saudi Arabia has similar concerns about Turkey’s doctrinal affiliations and its relations with Iran.
- There are difficulties in reshaping Saudi-Iran relations as well.
- Iran may ease the pressure on the kingdom in Yemen and gradually yield ground in Iraq.
- However, Syria will test their diplomatic skills as they explore how to accommodate their competing strategic interests in that devastated country.
Historic period for West Asian diplomacy
- This is truly a historic period for West Asian diplomacy.
- The major states are displaying unprecedented self-confidence in pursuing initiatives without the involvement of western powers that have dominated regional affairs for at least a couple of centuries.
- This has left a pervasive sense of insecurity across West Asia and made the countries dependent on western alliances to ensure their interests.
- This has left a pervasive sense of insecurity across West Asia and made the countries dependent on western alliances to ensure their interests.
Role for India
- Given that regional contentions are inter-connected, third-party facilitators will be needed to promote mutual confidence and prepare the ground for a comprehensive regional security arrangement.
- This will bring together regional and external states with a stake in West Asia security.
- This arrangement will have provisions for participating states to uphold regional peace and promote mutually beneficial cooperation in energy, economic and logistical connectivity areas.
- Given its close ties with all the regional states, India is well-placed to build an association of like-minded states — Japan, Russia, South Korea — to shape and pursue such an initiative for West Asian peace.
Conclusion
These new diplomatic engagements with erstwhile rivals could in time overturn existing regional alignments and possibly end ongoing conflicts.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: TRIPS
Mains level: Paper 3- TRIPS waiver and India's stand
The article highlights the variance in India’s stand on intellectual property rights waiver for Covid related drugs on the international level and domestic level.
Removing the IPR barrier
- When the pandemic hit the globe, India and South Africa piloted the proposal to waive key provisions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement on COVID-19 vaccines, drugs, therapeutics, and related technologies.
- The core idea is that IPRs such as patents should not become barriers in scaling up production of medical products essential to combat COVID-19.
- The TRIPS waiver proposal, now backed by the U.S. would give immunity to member countries from a legal challenge at the WTO if their domestic IPR laws suspend or do not enforce IP protection on COVID-19 medical products.
- Member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are under an obligation to ensure that their domestic intellectual property rights (IPR) laws conform to the requirements of the TRIPS agreement.
No use of compulsory licencing in India
- The existing flexibilities under the Patents Act of 1970, such as compulsory licences, which are consistent with the TRIPS agreement, can be used to increase the supply of COVID-19 medical products.
- However, despite the nudging by the judiciary and others, the government inexplicably hasn’t made use of compulsory licences in the pandemic.
- While issuing compulsory licences for COVID-19 vaccines in the absence of technology transfer is easier said than done, they can be used to augment the supply of drugs and other therapeutics.
- For instance, there are demands that compulsory licences be issued for drugs such as Remdesivir to augment supply.
- Natco, an Indian pharmaceutical company, has requested a compulsory licence under Section 92 of the Patents Act for Baricitinib, a COVID-19 drug.
- This is ironic because India has historically played a leading role in mainstreaming TRIPS flexibilities like the compulsory licence at the WTO.
- The Central government, in an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, states that the main constraint in boosting the production of drugs like Remdesivir is the unavailability of raw materials and essential inputs.
- The affidavit further states, “it is presumptuous to assume that the patent holder will not agree to more voluntary licences”.
Issues with the government’s stand
- If that is the real bottleneck, and not IPR-related legal hurdles, why is India pushing for a TRIPS waiver at the WTO?
- The first step in advocating for the removal of IPR-related impediments at the WTO is to make use of the existing lawful means.
- Therefore, the government’s stand before the Supreme Court is not only contradictory with India’s position at the WTO but also severely undermines it.
Way forward
- To make its TRIPS waiver stand convincing, the government needs to make aggressive use of Sections 92 and 100 of the Patents Act to license all patents necessary to make COVID-19 medical products.
- The government should not only transfer Covaxin’s technology to domestic pharmaceutical companies, to boost national supplies, but also offer it to foreign corporations.
- By unlocking its vaccine technical know-how to the world, India would demonstrate its resolve to walk the talk on the TRIPS waiver.
Conclusion
India must take a consistent stand on IPRs on COVID-19 medical products internationally and domestically.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Unemployment issues in India
The State of Working India (SWI) 2021 has documented the impact of one year of Covid-19 in India, on jobs, incomes, inequality, and poverty.
Highlights of the SWI 2021
- The SWI 2021 showed that the pandemic had forced people out of their formal jobs into casual work, and led to a severe decline in incomes.
- There is a sudden increase in poverty over the past year.
- Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi, contributed disproportionately to job losses.
- Unsurprisingly, these are also the states that suffered the maximum Covid caseload.
Labour Participation Rate (LPR) is the ratio of the labour force to the population greater than 15 years of age. It is defined as the section of working population in the age group of 16-64 in the economy currently employed or seeking employment.
Worsened with COVID
- It pointed to an ailment of the Indian economy that has not only been a longstanding one but also one that has gotten worse over the past few years even without the help of Covid.
- Agriculture, mines, manufacturing, real estate and construction, financial services, non-financial services, and public administrative services sectors account for 99% of total employment in India.
- The number of people employed in the manufacturing sector of the economy has come down from 51 million to 27 million — that is, almost halving in the space of just four years!
- For instance, the number of people employed in agriculture is going up.
- Equally disheartening is that employment in non-financial services (such as providing education and entertainment industry etc.) has fallen sharply.
Why are these trends worrisome?
- It is important to understand that traditionally Indian policymakers have been of the view that the manufacturing sector is our best hope to soak up the surplus-labour otherwise employed in agriculture.
- Manufacturing is well suited because it can make use of the millions of poorly educated Indian youth, unlike the services sector, which often requires better education and skill levels.
- For the longest time, India has struggled to get its manufacturing industries to create a growing bank of jobs.
- But, and this is what the CMIE data shows, what is happening in the past 4-5 years is that far from soaking up excess labour from other sectors of the economy, manufacturing is actually letting go of workers.
Return to Agriculture
- India has seen a hike in the number of people “employed” in agriculture over the past year.
- This is nothing but disguised unemployment.
- Essentially, labourers and workers are returning to their rural homes in the absence of jobs either in manufacturing or services.
Why is Indian manufacturing failing to create jobs?
- On the face of it, every past government has come out with a policy to boost manufacturing jobs. But still, the situation is getting worse.
- There are different ways to look at this question.
- One is to look at why manufacturing has struggled to create as many jobs in the past
- The second is to look at the specific reasons why manufacturing has been bleeding jobs, instead of creating them, since 2016-17.
Let’s tackle the historical question first.
- If one looks at any of the sectors in the economy — agriculture, industry, services — starting a manufacturing unit requires the highest amount of fixed investment upfront (relative to the output that may be generated later).
- In other words, it is a big commitment on the part of an entrepreneur to put up a huge amount of money without necessarily knowing how it will all pan out.
- What has traditionally made this truly risky is the highly extractive nature of governments.
- In simpler terms, far too often governments have been corrupt, with officials and politicians extracting bribes.
Less focus on manufacturing goods
- As regards the demand for manufacturing goods, experts point out that Indians have always consumed relatively less of manufacturing goods and relatively more of food and services.
There are two possible reasons for this.
- One, most Indians are quite poor and hence most of the income is spent on food.
- Two, repairs and maintenance are a very high part of our consumption choice.
- In other words, when Indians buy a manufactured product — say a refrigerator — they tend to use it for much longer than in developed countries.
Core of the problem
- The trouble lies with policymakers repeatedly neglecting the labour-intensive industries.
- Since the second five year plan, the P C Mahalanobis strategy was to gain self-reliance by investing in capital intensive industries so that India does not have to import machines etc. from other countries.
- The hope was that the demand from Indian consumers will make the domestic industry viable.
- But Indian domestic demand was quite anaemic due to poverty levels.
Other policy lacunas
- As against the capital intensive industries, which were involved in making heavy machines, the labour-intensive ones (such as leather, handicrafts, textiles etc.) were reserved for the small-scale industry framework.
- But while the labour-intensive manufacturing firms could not match the capital-intensive firms in terms of GDP value or growth of output, they did have a distinct advantage of creating more jobs.
- But, by treating them as small-scale industries, policies held back their growth.
- Moreover, India did not push for integrating its labour-intensive manufacturing in the global supply chains by aggressively following exports.
- Instead, the idea was to substitute imports in the name of self-reliance.
What has happened since 2016-17?
- Things have become worse over the past five odd years despite the Indian government unveiling its ambitious Make in India (MII) initiative and the latest Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.
- For one India is repeating the same mistakes with MII and PLI schemes.
- They are again aimed more at capital intensive manufacturing, not labour intensive ones.
- Moreover, India is reverting to the protectionist approach, aimed at self-reliance, yet again in recent years.
- Further, much like in the past, this time, too, the domestic demand is weak for aggressively boosting labour-intensive industries aimed at capturing the export markets.
Conclusion
- The growing rift in the fortunes of informal and formal manufacturing could be the reason why India is seeing such a massive decline in manufacturing jobs.
- The government has tried its level best to push for greater formalization but it has often been accused of not understanding the nature and functioning of India’s informal economy.
Way forward
- For the same level of employment, formality is good.
- But if there is a trade-off between formality and employment generation, choosing formality may not be so beneficial. And this trade-off appears to be quite sharp in India.
- Indian manufacturing is still at best hope for creating new jobs and soaking up excess unskilled labour through better infrastructure and easier regulatory support — to create millions of new jobs.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Convalescent Plasma Therapy
Mains level: Not Much
The use of convalescent plasma has been dropped from the recommended treatment guidelines for COVID-19, according to an advisory from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Q.What is convalescent plasma therapy and what are the issues involved in its adoption?
Convalescent Plasma Therapy
- The therapy seeks to make use of the antibodies developed in the recovered patient against the coronavirus.
- The whole blood or plasma from such people is taken, and the plasma is then injected into critically ill patients so that the antibodies are transferred and boost their fight against the virus.
- A COVID-19 patient usually develops primary immunity against the virus in 10-14 days.
- Therefore, if the plasma is injected at an early stage, it can possibly help fight the virus and prevent severe illness.
How often has it been used in the past?
- This therapy is no new wonder. It has been used several times.
- The US used plasma of recovered patients to treat patients of Spanish flu (1918-1920).
- In 2014, the WHO released guidelines to treat Ebola patients with convalescent whole blood and plasma.
- In 2015, plasma was used for treating MERS patients.
How is it done?
- The process to infuse plasma in a patient can be completed quickly.
- It only requires standard blood collection practices and extraction of plasma.
- If whole blood is donated (350-450 ml), a blood fractionation process is used to separate the plasma.
- Otherwise, a special machine called aphaeresis machine can be used to extract the plasma directly from the donor.
- While blood is indeed extracted from the donor, the aphaeresis machine separates and extracts the plasma using a plasma kit, and the remaining blood components are returned into the donor’s body.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Leang Sakapao Caves
Mains level: Not Much
Researchers have reported that Pleistocene-era rock paintings dating back to 45,000-20,000 years ago in cave sites in southern Sulawesi, on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, are weathering at an alarming rate.
Have you ever found the mention of ‘Altamira Caves’ in your NCERTs?
Leang Sakapao Caves
- This cave art of Sulawesi is much older than the prehistoric cave art of Europe.
- The artwork in the area includes what is believed to be the world’s oldest hand stencil (almost 40,000 years ago), created by pressing the hand on a cave wall and spraying wet red-mulberry pigments over it.
- A nearby cave features the world’s oldest depiction of an animal, a warty pig painted on the wall 45,500 years ago.
Impact of climate change
- The artwork made with pigments was decaying due to a process known as haloclasty, which is triggered by the growth of salt crystals due to repeated changes in temperature and humidity.
- This is caused by alternating wet and dry weather in the region.
- Indonesia has also experienced several natural disasters in recent years, which have quickened the process of deterioration.
Note:
Mark all islands of the Indonesian Archipelago in your Atlas.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Farzad B Gas Field
Mains level: Not Much
Iran gave the Farzad B gas field to a domestic gas producer in a setback move to India.
Farzad B Gas Field
- Farzad-B is an off-shore natural gas field 20 kilometres off Farsi Island in Iran.
- The gas field was discovered in 2008 by a consortium of three Indian companies, led by the state-owned ONGC Videsh with a 40% stake; the other companies were Indian Oil Corporation (40%) and Oil India (20%).
Deal soured after US sanctions
- Negotiations between the consortium and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to develop the gas field stalled due to secondary sanctions against Iran by the US and the European Union in the early 2010s.
- Following the lifting of sanctions after the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was signed in July 2015 the consortium was close to an agreement to invest $US5 billion to develop the gas field.
- After the United States withdrawal from the JCPOA in May 2018, and the reinstatement of U.S. sanctions against Iran, the negotiations between the consortium and NIOC broke down.
Consider the question “Balancing the contrasts has been the basis of India’s relations with Iran. Comment.”
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 311 of the Indian Constitution
Mains level: Read the attached story
A suspended Maharashtra police officer was dismissed from service by Mumbai Police Commissioner under Article 311 (2) (b) of the Indian Constitution without a departmental enquiry.
What is Article 311?
- Article 311 says that no government employee either of an all India service or a state government shall be dismissed or removed by an authority subordinate to the owner that appointed him/her.
- Section 2 of the article says that no civil servant shall be dismissed or removed or reduced in rank except after an inquiry in which s/he has been informed of the charges and given a reasonable opportunity of being heard in respect of those charges.
Various safeguards under Art. 311
- Article 311 is meant to act as a safeguard for civil servants that give them a chance to respond to the charges in an enquiry so that he/she is not arbitrarily dismissed from service.
- The article also provides exceptions to these safeguards under subclause 2 provision b.
- It states “when an authority empowered to dismiss or remove a person or to reduce him in rank is satisfied that for some reason, to be recorded by that authority in writing, it is not reasonably practicable to hold such enquiry”.
What is the process of a departmental enquiry?
- In a departmental enquiry, after an enquiry officer is appointed, the civil servant is given a formal chargesheet of the charges.
- The civil servant can represent himself/herself or choose to have a lawyer.
- Witnesses can be called during the departmental enquiry following which the enquiry officer can prepare a report and submit it to the government for further action.
Are there other exceptions where a person can be dismissed without departmental enquiry?
- As per Article 311 subclause 2 provision a, if a government employee is convicted in a criminal case, he can be dismissed without DE.
- Apart from this, under 311 (2) (c), a government employee can be dismissed when the President or the Governor, as the case may be, is satisfied in the interest of the security of the state.
Can the dismissal under section 311 (2) be challenged by the government employee?
- Yes, the government employee dismissed under these provisions can approach either tribunal like the state administrative tribunal or the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) or the Courts.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Tropical cyclones
Mains level: Frequent landfalls of tropical cyclones in India
Cyclone Tauktae (pronounced Tau-Te), classified as a very severe cyclonic storm (VSCS) and developed in the Arabian Sea, is wreaking havoc all across the Indian Coast.
Don’t you think?
In recent years, strong cyclones have been developing in the Arabian Sea more frequently than earlier.
Cyclone Tauktae
- Tauktae is a currently active and strengthening tropical cyclone threatening the state of Gujarat in India and impacting the states Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra.
- It is the fourth cyclone in consecutive years to have developed in the Arabian Sea, that too in the pre-monsoon period (April to June).
- All these cyclones since 2018 have been categorised as either ‘Severe Cyclone’ or above.
- Once Tauktae makes its landfall, three of these will have hit either the Gujarat or Maharashtra coast.
- After Cyclone Mekanu in 2018, which struck Oman, Cyclone Vayu in 2019 struck Gujarat, followed by Cyclone Nisarga in 2020 that struck Maharashtra.
What is aiding such rapid intensification?
- Any tropical cyclone requires energy to stay alive.
- This energy is typically obtained from the warm water and humid air over the tropical ocean.
- Currently, seawater up to depths of 50 metres has been very warm, supplying ample energy to enable the intensification of Cyclone Tauktae.
- The more the heat released through condensation of water vapour, the steeper the drop in pressure.
- A low-pressure system undergoes multiple stages of intensification to form cyclones.
Not a rare phenomenon
- Typically, tropical cyclones in the North Indian Ocean region (the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea) develop during the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon (October to December) periods.
- May-June and October-November are known to produce cyclones of severe intensity that affect the Indian coasts.
Is the Arabian Sea becoming cyclone-friendly?
- Annually, five cyclones on average form in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea combined.
- Of these, four developments in the Bay of Bengal, which is warmer than the Arabian Sea.
- In the Arabian Sea, cyclones typically develop over the Lakshadweep area and largely traverse westwards, or away from India’s west coast.
- However, in recent years, meteorologists have observed that the Arabian Sea, too, has been warming. This is a phenomenon associated with global warming.
Back2Basics: Tropical Cyclone
- A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure centre, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rains.
- Depending on its location and strength, a tropical cyclone is referred to by different names, including hurricane, typhoon, tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression, or simply cyclone.
- A hurricane is a tropical cyclone that occurs in the Atlantic Ocean and the northeastern Pacific Ocean, and a typhoon occurs in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.
- In the south Pacific or the Indian Ocean, comparable storms are referred to simply as “tropical cyclones” or “severe cyclonic storms”.
Also read:
[Burning Issue] Tropical Cyclones and India
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Tianwen 1 and various Mars missions
Mains level: Mars mission worldwide and their success
China landed a spacecraft on Mars carrying its first Mars rover in a big boost to its space ambitions.
UPSC may ask an MCQ asking: Which of the following is/are the space missions related to Mars? It may throw up 4-5 options (which we all get confused at after few months) like Cassini , InSight , Messanger, Voyager etc.
Tianwen-1 Mission
- The mission is named after the ancient Chinese poem ‘Questions to Heaven’, the Tianwen-1.
- It is an all-in-one orbiter; lander and rover will search the Martian surface for water, ice, investigate soil characteristics, and study the atmosphere, among completing other objectives.
- It will be the first to place ground-penetrating radar on the Martian surface, which will be able to study local geology, as well as rock, ice, and dirt distribution.
- The lander descended successfully onto the surface of the red planet carrying a rover named Zhurong, named after a god of fire for a planet known in Chinese as the planet of fire.
- Only the Soviet Union and the United States had previously carried out a successful landing on Mars.
Back2Basics: Various missions on Mars
- The USSR in 1971 became the first country to carry out a Mars landing– its ‘Mars 3’ lander being able to transmit data for 20 seconds from the Martian surface before failing.
- The country made it’s second and Mars landing two years later in 1973.
- The second country to reach Mars’s surface, the US, holds the record for the most number of Mars landings.
- Since 1976, it has achieved 8 successful Mars landings, the latest being the ‘InSight’ in 2019 (launched in 2018).
- India and the European Space Agency have been able to place their spacecraft in Mars’s orbit.
- India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) or ‘Mangalyaan’ was able to do so in September 2014, almost a year after its launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh.
- The Chinese mission now is expected to take off around the same time when NASA is launching its own Mars mission– the ambitious ‘Perseverance’ which aims to collect Martian samples and bring them back.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mucormycosis
Mains level: Post covid hazards
Hospitals across the country have started to report a number of cases of Mucormycosis, an invasive fungal infection affecting patients who have recently recovered from COVID-19.
What is Mucormycosis?
- Mucormycosis is an aggressive and invasive fungal infection caused by a group of moulds called micromycetes.
- It can affect various organs but is currently manifesting as invasive rhino-orbito-cerebral disease, crawling through the sinus and working its way to the brain, affecting the ear, nose, throat, and mouth.
- While it is not contagious, it can cause a lot of damage internally and can be fatal if not detected early.
- It is an old disease; perhaps new and concerning is the sudden increase in the invasive form of the sinus variant, which involves the orbit, and at times the brain, leading to blindness, stroke or death.
What causes the disease?
- Diabetes mellitus is the most common underlying cause, followed by haematological malignancies and solid-organ transplants.
- Diabetes mellitus was reported in 54% to 76% of cases, according to a report.
- What seems to be triggering Mucormycosis in patients post COVID-19 is indiscriminate use of a high dose of steroids in COVID-19 patients, sometimes even in minimally symptomatic patients.
- This leads to spikes in the sugar level among diabetics, which, in turn, renders them vulnerable.
Symptoms
- The symptoms to watch out for are a stuffy nose, bloody, blackish, or brown discharge from the nose etc.
- Other symptoms include blackish discolouration of the skin, swelling or numbness around the cheek, one-sided facial pain, toothache or jaw pain, drooping of the eyelids or eyelid swelling, double vision, redness of eyes, and sudden decrease in vision.
Treatment
- The mainline of treatment is an anti-fungal drug called amphotericin B, which is given over an extended period of time under the strict observation of a physician.
- Rational use of steroids is necessary, and constant monitoring of sugar levels and resorting to insulin use to control these levels if required is essential.
- Surgery to remove the fungus growth might also be warranted.
Preventive measures
- It is important to keep blood sugar levels under control and ensure that appropriate calibration of oral drugs or insulin is done from time to time.
- Further, recognising the symptoms and seeking treatment early if there are two or three symptoms at a time is key.
- Like most illnesses, if detected early, Mucormycosis can be cured.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: 2DG
Mains level: COVID-19 Treatment
Defence Minister has released the first batch of the indigenously developed anti-Covid-19 drug, 2-deoxy-D-glucose or ‘2-DG’.
What is the news?
- The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had cleared the formulation on May 1 for emergency use as an adjunct therapy in moderate to severe Covid-19 patients.
What is 2-DG?
- 2-DG has been developed by the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), New Delhi, a lab of the DRDO in collaboration with Hyderabad-based pharma company Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL).
- The 2-DG anti-Covid drug is expected to reduce dependence on medical oxygen in Covid-19 infected patients.
- The pseudo glucose molecule in the drug stops the virus in the tracts.
- Hence, it has been prescribed for Coronavirus infected patients requiring critical medical oxygen.
How does it work?
- Clinical trial data show that the molecule helps in faster recovery of patients hospitalized with Covid-19, and reduces their dependence on supplemental oxygen.
- The drug accumulates in virus-infected cells, and prevents the growth of the virus by stopping viral synthesis and energy production.
- Its selective accumulation in virally-infected cells makes this drug unique.
Advantages
- 2-DG being a generic molecule and an analogue of glucose, it can be easily produced and made available in large quantities.
- The drug is available in powder form in a sachet, and can be taken orally after dissolving in water.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Disproportionate burden of pandemic on women
The article highlights the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on women and suggests measures to soften the impact.
Widening gender employment gap
- Even prior to 2020, the gender employment gap was large.
- Only 18% of working-age women were employed as compared to 75% of men.
- Reasons include a lack of good jobs, restrictive social norms, and the burden of household work.
- The nationwide lockdown hit women much harder than men.
- Data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt. Ltd. show that 61% of male workers were unaffected during the lockdown while only 19% of women experienced this kind of security.
- Men who did lose work were able to regain it, even if it was at the cost of increased precarity or lower earnings, because they had the option of moving into fallback employment arrangements.
- Even as new entrants to the workforce, women workers had poorer options compared to men.
- Women were more likely to enter as daily wage workers while men found avenues for self-employment.
- So, not only did women enter into more precarious work, it was also likely to be at very low earnings compared to men.
Growing domestic work
- With schools closed and almost everyone limited to the confines of their homes, household responsibilities increased for women.
- The India Working Survey 2020 found that among employed men, the number of hours spent on paid work remained more or less unchanged after the pandemic.
- But for women, the number of hours spent in domestic work increased manifold.
- This increase in hours came without any accompanying relief in the hours spent on paid work.
Way forward
- The following measures are needed now:
- The National Employment Policy, currently in the works, should systematically address the constraints around the participation of the women’s workforce.
- Expansion of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and the introduction of an urban employment guarantee targeted to women as soon as the most severe forms of mobility restrictions are lifted.
- There is a need for coordinated efforts by States to facilitate the employment of women while also addressing immediate needs through the setting up of community kitchens, the opening of schools and anganwadi centres, and engagement with self-help groups for the production of personal protective equipment kits.
- Further, a COVID-19 hardship allowance of at least ₹5,000 per month for six months should be announced for 2.5 million accredited social health activists and Anganwadi workers, most of whom are women.
- The pandemic has shown the necessity of adequate public investment in social infrastructure.
- The time is right to imagine a bold universal basic services programme that not only fills existing vacancies in the social sector but also expands public investments in health, education, child and elderly care, and so on, to be prepared for future shocks.
Consider the question “Examine the impact of the pandemic on women. Suggest the measures to mitigate the impact.”
Conclusion
As the country meets the challenge of the second wave of the pandemic, it is crucial to learn lessons from the first wave to chart the policy path ahead.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Inflation
Mains level: Paper 3- Role of RBI in taming inflation
The article highlights the need for the RBI to focus on inflation instead of pursuing elusive growth.
Is inflation at a level to be concerned about?
- Due to the devastation caused by the pandemic, MPC kept its stance to ‘look through’ the sustained rise in prices through much of last year.
- The release of the consumer-price inflation number for April 2021 (4.3%) might seem to validate their decision.
- But there are many reasons why the MPC should be concerned.
- To start with, the April print carries little validity since the base for comparison (April 2020) has been rubbished by RBI in the past on the grounds that it relates to the first month of the lockdown.
Inflation comes down but after causing devastation
- Through a combination of the base effect (high level of inflation in the previous comparable period), belated but inevitable monetary policy action and a fall in demand that more than offsets the disruption in supply, inflation will come down.
- However, before inflation comes down, it brings untold misery to the public at large.
- In a country where close to 20% of the population lives below the poverty line and food is a major item of their consumption basket, any rise in inflation, especially food inflation, hurts the poor disproportionately.
- Add to that the distress caused by job losses on account of the pandemic, and this time round, the pain is likely to be magnified many times over.
What is causing inflation?
- Monetary policy acts with long and indeterminate lags.
- Far from spurring credit offtake through low interest rates excess liquidity has spilled over into price pressures in India.
- Wholesale price inflation at 7.4% (March 2021) was the highest in 8 years, while it would be naïve to take any solace from the latest consumer price index number.
- The RBI needs to be appreciated for doing its bit to keep the wheels of our economy moving during the pandemic.
- However, its failure to shift gear in the face of mounting evidence of inflation cannot be neglected.
- When inflation was breaching the upper end of RBI’s target band for months on end, the message should have been clear.
US recovery and its impact on Indian economy
- Globally, commodity prices are already on the rise.
- Not without reason, it would seem, as borne out by 12 May’s inflation print of 4.2%, America’s highest in 12 years
- Part of the reason is the excessive easing of US monetary and fiscal policies.
- Rising US inflation has huge implications for countries like India that are at the receiving end of US policies.
- As the US economy recovers, the dollar strengthens and US interest rates rise, the rupee is bound to weaken in response, adding to inflationary pressures here.
Consider the question “What are the factors stoking inflation in the pandemic? How far the monetary policies pursued by the central bank is responsible for it?”
Conclusion
When the MPC meets next in early June, it must re-order its priorities. Instead of chasing elusive growth, it must revert to its swadharma, own dharma, and focus instead on inflation.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Tribunals
Mains level: Paper 2- Need for the National Tribunals Commissions
Context
- The Centre has abolished several appellate tribunals and authorities and transferred their jurisdiction to other existing judicial bodies through the Tribunals Reforms (Rationalisation and Conditions of Service) Ordinance 2021.
Issues with the abolitions of tribunals
- The Ordinance has met with sharp criticism for not bypassing the usual legislative process.
- Several tribunals such as the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal were abolished without any stakeholder consultation.
- Despite the Supreme Court’s direction in Rojer Mathew v. South Indian Bank (2019), no judicial impact assessment was conducted prior to abolishing the tribunals through this Ordinance.
- While the Ordinance has incorporated the suggestions made in Madras Bar Association v. Union of India (2020) on the composition of a search-cum-selection committee.
- But it has disregarded the court’s direction in Madras Bar Association v. Union of India (2020) for fixing a five-year term.
No NCT constituted
- Further, the Centre is yet to constitute a National Tribunals Commission (NTC), an independent umbrella body to supervise the functioning of tribunals, appointment of and disciplinary proceedings against members, and to take care of administrative and infrastructural needs of the tribunals.
- The idea of an NTC was first mooted in L. Chandra Kumar v. Union of India (1997).
- Developing an independent oversight body for accountable governance requires a legal framework that protects its independence and impartiality.
- Therefore, the NTC must be established vide a constitutional amendment or be backed by a statute that guarantees it functional, operational and financial independence.
- As the Finance Ministry has been vested with the responsibility for tribunals until the NTC is constituted, it should come up with a transition plan.
Advantages of NTC
- The NTC would ideally take on some duties relating to administration and oversight.
- It could set performance standards for the efficiency of tribunals and their own administrative processes.
- It could function as an independent recruitment body to develop and operationalise the procedure for disciplinary proceedings and appointment of tribunal members.
- Giving the NTC the authority to set members’ salaries, allowances, and other service conditions, subject to regulations, would help maintain tribunals’ independence.
Consider the question “What are the issues with Tribunals Reforms (Rationalisation and Conditions of Service) Ordinance 2021? How the constitution of the National Tribunals Commission would help to improve the role played by tribunals?”
Conclusion
The way to reform the tribunal system is to look at solutions from a systemic perspective supported by evidence. Establishing the NTC will definitely entail a radical restructuring of the present tribunals system.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.
Mains level: Paper 2- Dealing with orphaned children
The article highlights the need to be aware of the legal provisions while helping a orphan child.
Helping orphaned children
- Social media is flooded with requests to adopt children who have lost their parents in the pandemic.
- However, before handing over an orphan child to any agency, family or person, it is important to be aware of the laws.
- If an orphan child is kept by someone without lawful authority, he or she may land themselves in trouble.
- According to the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956, the father, and in his absence the mother, is the natural guardian.
- Not even a close relative can look after the child without authorisation.
What are the options to help
- First option is any individual who finds an orphan child or even any child who needs care and protection under the circumstances, should immediately call the toll free Childline number 1098.
- It is an emergency phone outreach service managed by the Women and Child Development department’s nodal agency, the Childline India Foundation.
- The second option is to intimate the district protection officer concerned whose contact details can be found on the National Tracking System for Missing and Vulnerable Children portal.
- The third alternative is to approach the nearest police station or its child welfare police officer who is specially trained to exclusively deal with children.
- jOne can always dial the Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) which is a pan-India single number (112) based emergency response system for citizens in emergencies and seek the necessary help.
- The non-reporting of such children is also a punishable offence under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (JJA).
Procedure after a child reaches outreach agency
- Once an orphan child is recovered by the outreach agency, it is the duty of the said agency to produce the child within 24 hours before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) of the district.
- The CWC, after an inquiry, decides whether to send the child to a children’s home or a fit facility or fit person.
- If the child is below six years, he or she shall be placed in a specialised adoption agency.
- The State thus takes care of all such children who are in need of care and protection, till they turn 18 years.
- In Sampurna Behrua vs Union of India (2018), the Supreme Court of India directed States and Union Territories to ensure that all child care institutions are registered.
Procedure for adoption
- Once a child is declared legally free for adoption by the CWC, adoption can be done either by Indian prospective adoptive parents or non-resident Indians or foreigners, in that order.
- Another important feature of the JJA is that it is secular in nature and simple in procedure.
- While the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 is religion specific but also relatively cumbersome in procedure.
- Second, the procedure of adoption is totally transparent and its progress can be monitored from the portal of the statutory body, the Central Adoption Resource Authority.
Directives to the police
- The Supreme Court in Bachpan Bachao Andolan vs Union of India directed all Directors General of Police, in May 2013, to register a first information report as a case of trafficking or abduction in every case of a missing child.
- At least one police officer not below the rank of assistant sub-inspector in each police station is mandatorily required to undergo training to deal with children in conflict with the law and in need of care and protection.
- They are not required to wear a uniform and need to be child-friendly.
- Similarly, each district is supposed to have its special juvenile police unit, headed by an officer not below the rank of a Deputy Superintendent of Police.
- The Supreme Court in Re: Exploitation of children in Orphanages in the State of Tamil Nadu (2017) inter alia, specifically asked the National Police Academy, Hyderabad and police training academies in every State to prepare training courses on the JJA and provide regular training to police officers in terms of sensitisation.
- The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) recently wrote to the Chief Secretaries of all States and Union Territories on the issue of children orphaned due to COVID-19.
Conclusion
Following the Covid surge and subsequent increase in request for adoption of children, the laws and procedure for the protection of children must be noted.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Red-eared slider
Mains level: Paper 3- Native Indian turtles face threat from red-eared slider
About red-eared slider
- The red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) derives its name from red stripes around the part where its ears would be and from its ability to slide quickly off any surface into the water.
- Native to the U.S. and northern Mexico, this turtle is an extremely popular pet due to its small size, easy maintenance, and relatively low cost.
Reports about threat
- Between August 2018 and June 2019, a team of herpetologists from NGO Help Earth published the finding in ‘Reptiles & Amphibians’, journal of the U.S.-based International Reptile Conservation Foundation in August 2020.
- But the alarm was raised experts from Mizoram University’s Department of Zoology published another report in the same journal in April this year.
How is it a threat?
- They grow fast and virtually leaves nothing for the native species to eat.
- People who keep it as pets become sensitive about turtle conservation but endanger the local ecosystem, probably unknowingly, by releasing them in natural water bodies after they outgrow an aquarium, tank or pool at home.
- Much like the Burmese python that went to the U.S. as a pet to damage the South Florida Everglades ecosystem, the red-eared slider has already affected States such as Karnataka and Gujarat, where it has been found in 33 natural water bodies.
- Preventing this invasive species from overtaking the Brahmaputra and other river ecosystems in the Northeast is crucial because the Northeast is home to more than 72% of the turtle and tortoise species in the country, all of them very rare.
Way forward
- Although the red-eared slider is traded legally, the time has come for the government to come up with regulations against keeping invasive as pets.
- There is a need to create awareness among pet traders for maintaining a database of red-eared slider buyers.
- They can be contacted to hand over the turtles to the repository insulated from any wetland or natural water body.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Iron Dome
Mains level: Paper 3- Iron Dome rocket defence system
Context
- Amid the Israel-Palestine conflict, the night sky over Israel has been ablaze with interceptor missiles from Iron Dome shooting down the incoming rockets in the sky.
What is Iron Dome?
- Iron Dome is a multi-mission system capable of intercepting rockets, artillery, mortars and Precision Guided Munitions as well as aircraft, helicopters and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) over short ranges of up to 70 km.
- It is an all-weather system and can engage multiple targets simultaneously and can be deployed over land and sea.
- Iron Dome is jointly manufactured by Rafael Advanced Systems and has been in service with Israeli Air Force since 2011.
- The radar system was developed by Elta.
Working of Iron Dome
- An Iron Dome battery consists of a battle management control unit, a detection and tracking radar and a firing unit of three vertical launchers, with 20 interceptor missiles each.
- The interceptor missile uses a proximity fuse to detonate the target warhead in the air.
- One of the system’s important advantages is its ability to identify the anticipated point of impact of the threatening rocket, to calculate whether it will fall in a built-up area or not, and to decide on this basis whether or not to engage it.
- This prevents unnecessary interception of rockets that will fall in open areas and thus not cause damage, the paper states.
- The system has intercepted thousands of rockets so far and, according to Rafael Advanced Systems, its success rate is over 90%.
Limitations of the system
- The system can see limitations when it is overwhelmed with a barrage of projectiles.
- The system has a ‘saturation point’.
- It is capable of engaging a certain number of targets at the same time, and no more.
- One of the possible limitations is the system’s inability to cope with very short range threats as estimates put the Iron Dome’s minimum interception range at 5-7 kilometres.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Standing Committees and their functions
Mains level: Paper 2- No virtual meetings of Standing Committees
Confidential nature of meeting not possible in virtual meetings
- Days after the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha wrote to Chairman to allow virtual meetings of parliamentary standing committees, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat has turned down his plea.
- Requests to allow virtual meetings of the standing committees were turned down last year as well by Rajya Sabha Chairman and Lok Sabha Speaker.
- The request was turned down on grounds that virtual meetings would violate the confidential nature of such meetings and that any change to the norms require approval by Parliament.
Matter referred to Committee on Rules
- The letter by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat points out that the Chairman and Speaker had decided last year, during the first wave of the pandemic, to refer the issue of allowing virtual meetings of parliamentary panels to the Committee on Rules in both Houses.
- The Committee on Rules, however, did not take up the matter for discussion since Committees started physical meetings as the lockdown restrictions gradually eased in the second half of last year.
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