Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CRZ norms, Blue flag certification
Mains level: Blue Flag Certification
The MoEFCC has relaxed Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules that restrict construction near beaches to help States construct infrastructure and enable them to receive ‘Blue Flag’ certification.
Why such move?
- The Blue Flag certification, however, requires beaches to create certain infrastructure — portable toilet blocks, grey water treatment plants, a solar power plant, seating facilities, CCTV surveillance and the like.
- However, India’s CRZ laws don’t allow the construction of such infrastructure on beaches and islands.
- The new order allows for some constructions subject to maintaining a minimum distance of 10 meters from HTL (High Tide Line).
Blue Flag certification
- The ‘Blue Flag’ beach is an ‘eco-tourism model’ and marks out beaches as providing tourists and beachgoers clean and hygienic bathing water, facilities/amenities, a safe and healthy environment, and sustainable development of the area.
- The certification is accorded by the Denmark-based Foundation for Environment Education.
- It started in France in 1985 and has been implemented in Europe since 1987, and in areas outside Europe since 2001, when South Africa joined.
- It has 33 stringent criteria under four major heads for the beaches, that is, (i) Environmental Education and Information (ii) Bathing Water Quality (iii) Environment Management and Conservation and (iv) Safety and Services.
Blue Flag beaches
- Japan and South Korea are the only countries in south and southeastern Asia to have Blue Flag beaches.
- Spain tops the list with 566 such beaches; Greece and France follow with 515 and 395 Blue Flag beaches, respectively.
In India
- Last year, the Ministry selected 13 beaches in India to vie for the certificate.
- The earmarked beaches are — Ghoghala beach (Diu), Shivrajpur beach (Gujarat), Bhogave beach (Maharashtra), Padubidri and Kasarkod beaches (Karnataka), Kappad beach (Kerala), Kovalam beach (Tamil Nadu), Eden beach (Puducherry), Rushikonda beach (Andhra Pradesh), Miramar beach (Goa), Golden beach (Odisha), Radhanagar beach (Andaman & Nicobar Islands) and Bangaram beach (Lakshadweep).
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Taal Volcano
Mains level: Volcanism and its impact
In the Philippines, a volcano called Taal on the island of Luzon; 50 km from Manila has recently erupted.
Taal Volcano
- Taal is classified as a “complex” volcano. Taal has 47 craters and four maars (a broad shallow crater).
- It is situated at the boundaries of two tectonic plates — the Philippines Sea Plate and the Eurasian plate — it is particularly susceptible to earthquakes and volcanism.
- A complex volcano, also called a compound volcano, is defined as one that consists of a complex of two or more vents, or a volcano that has an associated volcanic dome, either in its crater or on its flanks.
- Examples include Vesuvius, besides Taal.
- The Taal volcano does not rise from the ground as a distinct, singular dome but consists of multiple stratovolcanoes (volcanoes susceptible to explosive eruptions), conical hills and craters of all shapes and sizes.
Threats posed
- Taal’s closeness to Manila puts lives at stake. Manila is a few tens of kilometres away with a population of over 10 million.
- The volcano is currently at alert level 4, which means that a “hazardous eruption” could be imminent within a few hours to a few days.
- Hazardous eruptions are characterised by intense unrest, continuing seismic swarms and low-frequency earthquakes.
Earlier records of eruption
- Taal has erupted more than 30 times in the last few centuries. Its last eruption was on October 3, 1977.
- An eruption in 1965 was considered particularly catastrophic, marked by the falling of rock fragments and ashfall.
- Before that, there was a “very violent” eruption in 1911 from the main crater. The 1911 eruption lasted for three days, while one in 1754 lasted for seven months.
- Because it is a complex volcano with various features, the kinds of eruption too have been varied. An eruption can send lava flowing through the ground, or cause a threat through ash in the air.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 3- Economic reform-sudden or persistent and incremental, sustainable.
Context
Rather than big bang measures or a stealthy agenda, India can count on small but significant improvements.
Reforms only in crisis or by stealth
- The accepted conventional wisdom is that economic reforms in India happen only in a crisis or by stealth.
- Reforms in the crisis
- Reforms of 1991 : The big example of the former are the 1991 reforms.
- In 1991 the country faced a huge foreign exchange crisis, resulting partly from the fiscal profligacy of the previous decade.
- 1999 telecom sector reforms: Another example is from 1999 when the telecom sector was in near bankruptcy, and that crisis led to the shift away from fixed fee for spectrum to revenue sharing.
- The situation of no other choice: In both cases, there was considerable opposition to those reforms, but they were pushed through because the crisis left no other choice.
- Reform by stealth: Other than a crisis, more often than not, it has been economic reform by stealth.
- In the form of executive orders: These reforms are often in the form of an executive decision rather than legislation. Following are the examples of it-
- Expansion of the list under licence: The expansion of the list of items under the Open General Licence for imports, which is a reform of protectionism, or the reduction in the set of industries reserved for small-scale businesses.
- Electoral bond introduction: A more recent example of stealth reform was the insertion of an electoral bond scheme in the Finance Bill of 2018.
- Advantages of going stealth: Reform by stealth offers the advantage of going in either direction.
- In 2013, faced with a potential currency crisis, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) quietly retracted the limits on the liberalized remittance scheme (LRS).
- Problem with stealth reforms: Stealth reforms are introduced stealthily but when they do not yield the desired result they are rolled back unpredictably, increasing uncertainty in policies of the government.
Persistent, encompassing, creative incrementalism in reforms
- The Economic Survey of 2015 pretty much ruled out Big Bang reforms in India, calling instead for “persistent, encompassing, creative incrementalism” on them.
- This is the right mantra.
- What incrementalism means: It implies continuity, not slowness, a sustainable speed that gives reforms predictability and stability. Following are its examples of it-
- Reform in food subsidy: Example of incrementalism could be reforms that are being carried out in food subsidies.
- First: Reduce the leakages of the subsidy to non-farmers.
- Thus, when procurement is done, payments go directly to their Aadhaar-linked accounts.
- This will lead to non-farmers getting eliminated,
- Second-Pay subsidy only to the poor: It will lead to subsidy savings, allowing us to limit the subsidy only to poor farmers.
- Sovereign gold bond scheme: The use of paper gold greatly reduces imports of the physical metal and outgoes of foreign exchange.
- The sale of these bonds is being expanded, and they would eventually be everywhere, even at post offices.
- Aggregate licence by RBI: The next example is from a new category called account aggregators licensed by RBI.
- It allows users’ control over the digital data trail that their transactions generate, and they can monetize it or use it to enhance their creditworthiness.
- This is an incremental reform with huge ramifications.
Conclusion
- The reforms cited above are incremental, not a big bang, persistent but not slow, open and not by stealth, and finally, imaginative too, since they respond to real needs.
- Effective reforms are those that are done brick by brick, the boring measures that chip away at everything that constrains high, inclusive and sustainable growth.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2- India's foreign relation with 'Middle Power' countries-Prospects and opportunities.
Context:
As the world is moving from an era of predictability to an era of unpredictability led by the US and China, a new Middle Power coalition is the need of an hour.
The “Rising India” narrative and challenges
- The narrative was scripted over the two post-Cold War decades, 1991 to 2011.
- Narrative of plural secular democracy: It was based on the improving performance of the economy and India’s political ability to deal with many longstanding diplomatic challenges within a paradigm of realism.
- Three successive prime ministers – scripted the narrative of India rising as a plural, secular democracy, as opposed to China’s rise within an authoritarian system.
- Opening of new vistas: India’s improving economic performance had opened up new vistas for cooperation with major powers and neighbours.
- New challenges to the narrative: Now the economy’s subdued performance and domestic political issues have created new challenges for Indian foreign policy.
- The new approach to relations with India adopted by both President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping has created a more challenging external environment.
Relations with the US
- New demands from the US: Each time New Delhi has tried to meet a US demand, Washington DC has come up with new demands.
- US-China dispute resolution and effects for India: Any resolution of US differences with China, can only reduce whatever little bargaining clout India has.
- Complaint at WTO: The US has, in fact, actively lodged complaints against India at the World Trade Organisation.
- Geopolitical effects for India: On the geopolitical side, US intervention in West Asia has always imposed an additional economic burden on India.
Relations with China
- Consistent policy: There has been continuity and consistency in India-China policy over the past two decades, with some ups and downs.
- Effects of power difference with China: As the bilateral power differential widens, China has little incentive or compulsion to be accommodative of Indian concerns, much less the interests.
- China never fails to remind India of the growing power differential between the two.
- Building strength to deal with China: In dealing with China, India will have to, paraphrasing Deng Xiaoping, “build its strength and bide its time.
Russia’s focus
- It will remain focused on Eurasian geopolitics.
- It will also be concerned with the geo-economics of energy.
- Implications for India: Both these factors define Russia’s relations with China, and increasingly, with Pakistan, posing a challenge for India.
Way forward in the relations with Pakistan
- The government’s Pakistan policy has run its course.
- It yielded some short-term results thanks to Pakistan’s efforts not to get “black-listed” by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
- But the rest of the world is doing business with Pakistan, lending billions in aid.
- The global community may increasingly accept future pleas from Pakistan that terror attacks in India are home-grown.
- related to the situation in Kashmir or concerns about the welfare of Muslims, unless incontrovertible evidence to the contrary is offered.
- The need for a new Pakistan policy: Backchannel talks should be resumed and visas should be given liberally to Pakistani intellectuals, media and entertainers to improve cross-border perceptions as a first step towards improving relations.
The Middle Powers and opportunities for India
- What are the middle powers? It is a mix of developed and developing economies, some friends of the US and other friends of China.
- It is an amorphous group but can emerge into a grouping of the like-minded in a world of uncertainty capable of taming both the US and China.
- A new Middle Powers coalition may be the need of the year.
- Which countries can be part of it? Germany, France, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, Vietnam and perhaps South Korea. One could include Russia, Nigeria and South Africa also in this group.
- Stakes involved but no influence: Like India, these countries have a stake in what the US and China do, but little influence over either.
- What India can do? These countries which constitute the part of the Middle Powers should engage the attention of India’s external affairs minister.
Disruptive policies not an option
- Adoption of disruptive approach: There is a view among some policy analysts that India too can adopt a “disruptive” approach as a clever tactic in foreign affairs.
- Disruption is not an end in itself. It has to be a means to an end.
- Powerful nations can afford disruption as tactics.
- Unchanged strategic elements: The strategic elements defining Indian foreign policy in the post-Cold War era have not changed.
- Not an option: India cannot risk such tactics without measuring the risk they pose to strategy.
Conclusion
With the changing geopolitical atmosphere particularly with respect to the US and Chiana, India needs to adopt a suitable approach to its foreign policy especially involving the Middle Powers.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2- Events in the Middle East, especially involving Iran and its implications for India.
Context
In the aftermath of recent events, Iran needs a new compact to deal with the domestic crisis and also a framework to deal with the US.
The threat of “regime change” in Iran
- The US policy-The temptation for a policy of “regime change” in Iran has never disappeared from the US policy towards Iran.
- The policy is based on the hope that mounting external pressure and deepening internal dissent will combine to produce a “regime collapse” in Tehran.
- US President has often insisted that he is not seeking to overthrow the clerical regime in Tehran led by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
- The Us demands were an end to the nuclear and missile programmes, stop supporting terror in the region and end the interference in the internal affairs of its Arab neighbours.
- Iran’s success in fending off these threats: Iran has been successful so far in fending off these external and internal challenges.
- Iran has put down repeated mass uprisings and neutered attempts from within the elite to reform the system.
De-escalation of the tension after the war-like situation
- Fear of escalation: The widespread assessment after the killing of Soleimani was that Iran would inevitably escalate the confrontation.
- Tehran set up a token retaliation for domestic political consumption and quickly called for de-escalation.
- The message of peace from the US: Trump also told the Iranian leaders that America “is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it”.
The shooting of a passenger jet and the aftermath
- The shooting of the jet:
- The Ukrainian passenger jet was shot-down near Tehran killing all 176 passengers and crew on-board.
- It included 82 Iranian nationals and many Canadian citizens of Iranian origin
- After initial denial, Tehran was forced to accept responsibility for shooting down the plane.
- The aftermath of the shooting of the plane
- Protests: Soon after the confession, protests broke out against the government.
- Demand for accountability: Iranians are angry at the attempt of the government to cover up initially and are demanding full accountability.
The general discontent of the people against the government
- The latest round of protests must be seen as a continuation of those that have raged since the end of 2017.
- Reasons for the discontent: Economic grievances, frustration with widespread corruption, demands for liberalising the restrictions on women and political opposition to the regime are the reasons.
- Discontent against external adventures: There was also strong criticism of the government’s costly external adventures in the Middle East amidst the deteriorating economic conditions.
- There is little love for the Revolutionary Guards, the principal face of state oppression.
- External pressure: As the regime cracks down on the protests against the airliner shooting, the external pressures against Iran are only likely to mount.
Available option and their dangers
- As sanctions squeeze the Iranian economy, the costs of regional overreach become apparent, and internal protests become persistent, Khamenei has few good options.
- The option of the new political compact: Offering a new political compact to the people of Iran or a new framework to deal with the Arab neighbours and the US would seem reasonable goals.
- But they involve considerable risk for the regime.
- The option of pragmatism: All revolutionary regimes come to a point when they need to replace ideological fervour with pragmatism.
- But the change from ideological fervour to pragmatism is also the time of the greatest vulnerability for the regime.
Conclusion
India as a friend of Iran will surely begin to debate if privately, the implications of the deepening regime crisis in Iran.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Police Commissionerate System
Mains level: Read the attached story
The UP Cabinet has approved the Commissionerate system of policing for state capital Lucknow, and Noida.
The Police Commissionerate System
- The system gives more responsibilities, including magisterial powers, to IPS officers of Inspector General of Police (IG) rank posted as commissioners.
- Under the 7th Schedule of the Constitution, ‘Police’ is under the State list, meaning individual states typically legislate and exercise control over this subject.
- In the arrangement in force at the district level, a ‘dual system’ of control exists, in which the Superintendent of Police (SP) has to work with the District Magistrate (DM) for supervising police administration.
- At the metropolitan level, many states have replaced the dual system with the commissionerate system, as it is supposed to allow for faster decision-making to solve complex urban-centric issues.
Additional powers to Police
- In this system, the Commissioner of Police (CP) is the head of a unified police command structure, is responsible for the force in the city, and is accountable to the state government.
- The office also has magisterial powers, including those related to regulation, control, and licensing.
- The CP is drawn from the Deputy Inspector General rank or above, and is assisted by Special/Joint/Additional/Deputy Commissioners.
Where is the system in force?
- Previously, only four cities had the system: Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai.
- However, with rapid urbanisation, states felt an increasing need to replicate the system in more places.
- The sixth National Police Commission report, which was released in 1983, recommended the introduction of a police Commissionerate system in cities with a population of 5 lakh and above, as well as in places having special conditions.
- Over the years, it has been extended to numerous cities, including Delhi, Pune, Bangalore and Ahmedabad. By January 2016, 53 cities had this system, a PRS study said.
- Depending on its success, the policing system may gradually be implemented in other districts as well.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Raisina Dialogue
Mains level: Raisina Dialogue and its impact on India's global profile
India`s annual global conference on geopolitics and geo-economics, Raisina Dialogue 2020 has began with the participation of over 100 countries.
Raisina Dialogue
- The Raisina Dialogue is a multilateral conference committed to addressing the most challenging issues facing the global community.
- It is jointly organised by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Observer Research Foundation.
- Every year, global leaders in policy, business, media and civil society are hosted in New Delhi to discuss cooperation on a wide range of pertinent international policy matters.
- The Dialogue is structured as a multi-stakeholder, cross-sectoral discussion, involving heads of state, cabinet ministers and local government officials, as well as major private sector executives, members of the media and academics.
This years’ agenda
- The fifth edition of the Dialogue 2020 has been India`s contribution to global efforts to discover solutions, identify opportunities and provide stability to a century that has witnessed an eventful two decades.
- This year`s Dialogue titled `Navigating the Alpha Century` is structured as a multi-stakeholder, cross-sectoral discussion, involving heads of states, cabinet ministers and local government officials as well as major private sector executives, members of the media and academics.
Significance of the dialogue
- The Raisina Dialogue has acquired an enviable global profile uniting the best strategic thinkers of the world.
- The synergies and collaborations in the Raisina Dialogue represent India`s deliberative ethos, as well as its international credibility and convening power.
- The Dialogue has grown along with India`s diplomatic profile and will set the tone for its intensive diplomatic engagement this year.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Various keywords mentioned
Mains level: Urbanization in India
The Economist has put Malappuram at the top of the “Top ten fastest-growing cities” in the world.
Anomalies in the data
- The total fertility rate (TFR, the number of children a woman is likely to have in the childbearing age of 15-49) in Kerala is 1.8 as per NITI Aayog data from 2016 — below the replacement rate of 2.1.
- Another Kerala city, Thrissur, is No. 13, and the capital Thiruvananthapuram is No. 33 on the UN list.
- Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu — which has an even lower TFR of 1.6 — is No. 30.
- Surat in Gujarat (TFR of 2.2) is No. 27. There is no representation on the list from high population growth states like Bihar and UP.
What does “fastest growing” refer to? How is a “city” defined?
- The list based on data from the UN Population Division refers to “urban agglomerations” (UA), which are extended areas built around an existing town along with its outgrowths — typically villages or other residential areas or universities, ports, etc., on the outskirts of the town.
- The Census defines a UA as “a continuous urban spread consisting of a town and its adjoining urban outgrowths or two or more physically contiguous towns together”.
- The NCT of Delhi is a UA that includes the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) areas, as well as 107 “Census towns” — erstwhile surrounding villages where more than 75% of the population is now engaged in non-agricultural pursuits.
A pace of urbanization
- The Economist has listed the rate at which the populations of the UAs are expected to increase between 2015 and 2020.
- Since data on India and many other countries were not available for 2015 (the last Census in India was in 2011), the UN report used projections of UAs’ populations — estimates based on past population growth data.
- The rate of growth between 2015 and 2020 thus calculated provides a measure of the pace of urbanisation.
How does urban population grow?
- Urban populations can grow when the birth rate exceeds the death rate when workers migrate to the city in search of jobs; when more areas get included within the boundaries of the city; or when existing rural areas are reclassified as urban.
- The low fertility rate in Kerala means the increase in the population of Malappuram and other cities is not because women are having more children; rather it is because more villages are being transformed into towns, and city borders are expanding.
- According to the Census definition, an urban area is either a census town (CT) or a statutory town (ST). An ST is any place with a municipal corporation, municipal council, or cantonment board.
- A CT can be a village with “urban characteristics” — a population more than 5,000, population density more than 400 people per sq km, and with more than 75% of the population not engaged in agriculture for their livelihood.
- When a village becomes a CT, its population is included in the urban population of the district.
Could migration have caused the increase?
- Migration can either increase or decrease the population of a town.
- Kerala sees both emigration — migration from the state to other places — and immigration — the migration of workers to the state.
- Also the remittances that emigrants send allow the residents of villages to move away from agriculture, which changes the status of a village to census town.
Why these cities are growing so fast?
- These cities are seeing rapid urbanisation, and the main reason is the inclusion of new areas in the UA’s limits.
- In 2001, there were two municipal corporations within the UA of Malappuram. In 2011, the number of municipal corporations had doubled to four, and an additional 37 CTs were included within Malappuram.
- The population of the UA (excluding the residents of the outgrowths) increased almost 10 times in the same period — from 1,70,409 to 16,99,060 — obviously because of the inclusion of existing urban areas in the town.
- Similarly, Kollam UA grew from one municipal corporation in 2001 to 23 CTs, one municipal corporation, and one municipal council in 2011.
- Its population increased by 130%, even though the population of the original ST of Kollam actually decreased by 4%.
Why is this not seen elsewhere in India?
- In Kerala, urbanisation is driven by a move away from agriculture, which leads to a change in a village’s Census classification status.
- This is evident from the large number of CTs that were included in the UAs of the state since the last Census. On the other hand, except Delhi, the more populous cities in the North had fewer CTs in 2011.
- While the pace of urbanisation has been slower in the North, some unnaturally high increases in the population can be expected after the 2021 Census — because in some cases, villages on the peripheries were brought within the administrative boundaries of the cities.
Is it good for the economy?
- Urbanisation leads to the growth of cities, which are sites of infrastructure like universities, hospitals, and public transport facilities.
- There are more opportunities for the youth, which is why they attract young people and entrepreneurs.
- In India, people moving to cities leave behind (to some extent) caste and class divisions that dominate life in the villages, and can hope to climb up the social ladder.
- However, unplanned urbanisation can be “exclusionary”, making it difficult for migrants to live there given the high cost.
- Unregulated housing, lack of reliable public transport, and longer commutes within these towns puts a strain on the meagre resources of migrants.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NEON
Mains level: Applications of AI
NEONs are being called the world’s first artificial humans. They look and behave like real humans, and could develop memories and emotions — though from behind a 4K display.
NEON
- Star Labs is headed by India-born scientist Pranav Mistry who underlines that what was showcased at CES was the product of just four months’ work.
- The company says NEONs are computationally created virtual humans — the word derives from NEO (new) + humaN.
- For now, the virtual humans can show emotions when manually controlled by their creators.
- But the idea is for NEONs to become intelligent enough to be fully autonomous, showing emotions, learning skills, creating memories, and being intelligent on their own.
- Star Labs thinks they can be “friends, collaborators, and companions”, but all that is a few years away.
How does it work?
There are two core technologies behind his virtual humans.
- First, there is the proprietary CORE R3 technology that drives the “reality, real time and responsiveness” behind NEONs.
- It is the front-end reality engine that is able to give you that real expression.
- The company claims CORE R3 “leapfrogs in the domains of Behavioral Neural Networks, Evolutionary Generative Intelligence and Computational Reality”, and is “extensively trained” on how humans look, behave and interact.
- But in the end, it is like a rendition engine, converting the mathematical models to look like actual humans.
- The next stage will be SPECTRA, which will complement CORE R3 with the “spectrum of intelligence, learning, emotions and memory”.
- But SPECTRA is still in development, and is not expected before NEONWORLD 2020 later this year.
How could NEONs be used?
- NEONs are the interface for technologies and services.
- They could answer queries at a bank, welcome you at a restaurant, or read out the breaking news on television at an unearthly hour.
- This form of virtual assistance would be more effective, for example, while teaching languages, as NEONs will be capable of understanding and sympathizing.
How are they different from Virtual Assistants?
- Virtual Assistants now learn from all the data they are plugged into. NEONs will be limited to what they know and learn.
- Their leaning could potentially be limited to the person they are catering to, and maybe her friends — but not the entire Internet.
- They will not be an interface for you to request a song, rather they will be a friend to speak to and share experiences with.
- Currently, its developer doesn’t want NEONs to have collective memory, or to share data among themselves.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Types of NBFC.
Mains level: Paper 3- NBFC crisis.
Context
While India was trying to deal with the problems arising out of the large NPA accumulated by the commercial banks, the Indian financial sector was dealt with another blow in the form of the NBFC crisis.
Effects of IL&FS and DHFL collapse:
- Balance sheets affected: The collapse of these two big entities affected the balance sheets of banks and mutual fund companies.
- Credit crunch: It also resulted in a credit crunch that dampened demand and pushed a slowing economy towards recession.
- Tarnished image of NBFCs: Being leaders in the industry, their failure has tarnished the image of the NBFC sector as a whole.
Types of NBFCs and their numbers
- Total number: As of September 2019 there were a total 9,642 NBFCs in India.
- Deposit-taking NBFC (NBFCs-D): Only 82 of India’s NBFCs were deposit-taking institutions (NBFCs-D) permitted to mobilise and hold deposits.
- Non-deposit taking NBFCs (NBFCs-ND): The rest of the NBFCs which are not deposit-taking, are categorised as non-deposit taking NBFCs.
- They did not have access to the savings of ordinary households.
- For this reason, the majority of these institutions were not considered to be entities that needed strict regulation
- Systematically important (NBFCs-ND-SI): Of a large number of non-deposit taking NBFCs (NBFCs-ND), only 274 were identified as being systematically important (NBFCs-ND-SI), by virtue of having an asset size of ₹500 crores or more.
Significance of NBFCs as expressed by assets holdings
- A significant player in the financial markets: As at the end of March 2019, these two sets-NBFCs-D and NBFC-ND-SI- held assets that amounted to almost a fifth of that held by the scheduled commercial banks.
- This made them significant players in the web of credit, as well as large enough as a group to affect the health of the financial sector.
- Non-deposit taking NBFCs must rely on resources garnered from the “market,” including the banking system, besides the market for bonds, debentures, and short-term paper.
- Extension of financial entities: Individual investors would only be marginally involved in direct investment in these instruments.
- So, the NBFCs are essentially extensions of the activity of other financial entities such as banks, insurance companies, and mutual funds.
Concentrated lending by NBFCs
- Industry getting lion’s share: Industry accounted for the biggest chunk of lending, amounting to 57% of gross advances in September 2019.
- Much of this lending to industry went to the infrastructural sector.
- At second place-retail sector: A second major target for lending by the NBFCs was the retail sector, with retail loans accounting for 20% of gross advances.
- Within the retail sector, vehicle/auto loans accounted for as much as 44% of loans.
What went wrong?
- Diversification by commercial banks: Following a surge in capital flows into India which began in 2004, banks were flush with liquidity.
- Under pressure to lend and invest to cover the costs of capital and intermediation and earn a profit, banks were looking for new areas into which they could move
- Increase in retail lending by banks: The pressure resulted in a significant increase in retail lending, with lending for housing, automobiles and consumer durables.
- There was also a substantial increase in lending to the infrastructural sector and commercial real estate.
- Why NBFCs flourished even in the face of competition by banks? What the growth of the NBFCs indicates is that banks were unable to exhaust the liquidity at their disposal.
- Banks were also unable to satisfy the potential for lending to these sectors, providing a space for NBFCs to flourish.
- The willingness of NBFCs suited the banks: The willingness of the NBFCs to enter these areas suited the banks in two ways.
- First, it permitted the banks to use their liquidity even when they themselves were stretched and could not discover, scrutinise and monitor new borrowers.
- Banks could lend to the NBFCs, which could then take on the tasks associated with expanding the universe of borrowers to match the increased access to liquid funds.
- The second was that it helped the banks to move risks out of their own books.
- Short term lending to NBFCs, and long-term lending by NBFCs: Banks accepts short term deposits, so there is limit in their ability to lend that short term deposits as a long term debt.
- On the other hand, these were the sectors to which additional credit could be easily pushed.
- Lending to NBFCs that in turn lent to these sectors, appeared to be a solution to the problem.
- Bank lending to the NBFCs was short term, and the latter used these short-term funds to provide long-maturity loans
- NBFCs expected that they would be able to roll over much of these loans so that they were not capital short.
- Role of rating agencies: What they needed for the purpose were ratings that ranked their instruments as safe.
- The ratings companies were more than willing to provide such ranks.
- The two risks involved in this model: The NBFC-credit build-up was an edifice that was burdened with two kinds of risks.
- First risk: A possible default on the part of borrowers.
- The probability of which only increases as the universe of borrowers is expanded rapidly to exhaust the liquidity at hand.
- The second risk: The second was the possibility that developments in the banking sector and other segments of the financial sector would reduce the appetite of these investors for the debentures, bonds and commercial paper issued by the NBFCs
- Since the NBFCs banked on being able to roll-over short-term debt to sustain long-term lending.
- A slowdown in or halt to the flow of funds would lead to a liquidity crunch that can damage the balance sheet of these institutions.
- Which of the two risks is involved in the present crisis? The crisis that affected the NBFCs was a result of both kinds of setbacks.
- First setback: Loans to areas like infrastructure, commercial real estate and housing went bad.
- Second setback: With the non-performing assets problem in the commercial banking sector curtailing their access to bank lending.
- Why the problem turned systemic? Given the importance of ratings and “image” in ensuring access to capital, some firms with the requisite image were able to mobilise large sums of capital and expand their business.
- When entities like that go bust, the response of lenders and investors to the event tends to be drastic, with systemic effects on the sector as a whole.
Conclusion
The episode was a shadow banking crisis that has had far-reaching consequences for the economy as a whole. Therefore, its high time that measures are taken to avoid the occurrence of such a crisis in the future.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2-Federal system.
Context
The government-imposed deadline of October 31 for concluding talks with Naga groups has passed. And nothing concrete has come out of the Framework Agreement signed in 2015.
Events so far
- Framework Agreement with Naga rebel leader Thuingaleng Muivah was signed in 2015.
- The agreement expresses an intent to work towards the final agreement.
- The progress on the said agreement has stalled since then.
- Problem with the Framework Agreement: It was signed only with Muivah’s leading faction, National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah), or NSCN (I-M).
- Exclusion of major players: The agreement excluded half a dozen more groups, besides Naga citizenry in Nagaland and contiguous Naga homelands in the neighbouring states of Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, and Assam.
- This weakened the process.
Efforts made by the government
- Appointment of an interlocutor: The government-appointed R.N. Ravi as the government’s interlocutor. That move signalled the seriousness from the government’s side.
- Reach out toward the other players: The government reached out to Nagas across the board.
- The government reached out to other rebel factions, much to the irritation of NSCN (I-M), and began peace talks with them in end-2017.
- A breakaway faction of I-M’s arch enemies, NSCN’s Khaplang, joined the process in 2019.
- Government-led outreach attempted to bring on board non-Naga people in Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, and Assam.
What is offered in the process and related issues
- Disarmament, rehabilitation, and assimilation: A talks with I-M spelt out disarmament, rehabilitation, and assimilation of cadres and leaders through induction in paramilitary forces and political structures
- Expanded legislature: An expanded legislature in Nagaland, for inducting the rebels and more legislative representation and relative autonomy in Naga homelands outside Nagaland.
- Disagreement over flang and the separate state-constitution: Other Naga rebel groups agreed to what was offered by the government.
- I-M remained intransigent over the dual use of a Naga flag alongside the Indian flag, and its constitution—
- This I-M-scripted constitution is regressive, offers far less than what Nagas enjoy under Indian constitutional provisions, and effectively proposes Muivah as the overarching figure of Naga politics, development and destiny.
- Unacceptance by the other groups: This is evidently unacceptable to numerous Nagas—let alone non-Nagas—for whom Muivah, a Tangkhul Naga from Manipur’s Ukhrul region, remains a divisive figure.
Conclusion
There is a need to reconcile the difference between the different groups and reach a proposed agreement as soon as possible for the welfare of the communities and the region as a whole.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2- Indian Constitution's approach to secularism.
Context
While extending the scope and extent of the freedom of religion, the SC would face the difficult question of balancing it with the other provisions and rights enshrined in the Constitution.
What the 9-Judge bench will deliberate on?
- The establishment of the Bench emanated out of an order of reference made on review petitions filed against the Sabarimala judgment.
- The scope and extent of religious liberty: It will answer a series of wide-ranging questions and expound the scope and extent of the Constitution’s religious liberty clauses.
- It will also deliberate on cases including the practice of female genital mutilation and the rights of Parsi women to enter fire temples.
The question of balance
- Within the Constitution of India, there are two impulses that may, at times, come into conflict with one another.
- First impulse-Religious freedom: India is a pluralist and diverse nation, where groups and communities — whether religious or cultural — have always played an important role in society.
- Religious freedom: Following up on this impulse, the Constitution recognises both the freedom of religion as an individual right (Article 25), as well as the right of religious denominations to manage their own affairs in matters of religion (Article 26).
- The second impulse-Protection of an individual: The second impulse, recognises that while the community can be a source of solidarity at the best of times, it can also be a terrain of oppression and exclusion.
- So, both Articles 25 and 26 are subject to public order, morality, and health.
- Article 25 is also subject to other fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution, and to the state’s power to bring in social reform laws.
Finding the middle ground
- The middle ground involves respecting and balancing the following-
- The autonomy of communities: It involves respecting the autonomy of cultural and religious communities.
- Individual rights: It involves ensuring that individual rights are not entirely sacrificed at the altar of the community.
- Essential practice doctrine: Over the years, the Supreme Court has found the middle ground by carving out a jurisprudence that virtually allows it to sit in theological judgments.
- What is constitutionally protected? It recognising that it is only those practices that are “essential” to religion that enjoys constitutional protection.
- Any other ritual is seen as secular and amenable to the state’s interference.
- This doctrine was used to rule, in 2004, that the performance of the Tandava dance was not an essential tenet of the religious faith of the Ananda Margis.
- The SC said that the “essential religious practices” test is indeed the only way it can reconcile the two impulses.
Anti-exclusion principle
- What are the options with the SC?
- Continue with the “essential practice” doctrine: One option before the nine-judge Bench would simply be to affirm existing jurisprudence, as it stands.
- Anti-exclusion principle: The second option would be to ask whether the effect of the disputed religious practice is to cause harm to individual rights.
- The enquiry, thus, is not whether the practice is truly religious, but whether its effect is to subordinate, exclude, or otherwise send a signal that one set of members is entitled to lesser respect and concern than others.
- In Sabrimala case — both the concurring opinion of Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and the dissenting opinion of Justice Indu Malhotra agreed that this ought to be the test.
- Protection of dissenters
- Top-down nature: Many religious communities, norms, and practices are shaped and imposed from above, by community leaders, and then enforced with the force of social sanction.
- Dissenters are then faced with an impossible choice: Either comply with discriminatory practices or make a painful exit from the community.
- Judicial intervention: It is here that the Constitution can help by ensuring that the oppressed and excluded among communities can call upon the Court for aid.
Conclusion
- The nine-judge Bench will face a difficult and delicate task of constitutional interpretation. Much will ride upon its decision: the rights of women in particular and of many other vulnerable groups in general.
- Also will depend on its decision the constitutional vision of ensuring a life of dignity and equality to all, both in the public sphere and in the sphere of community.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Doctrine of ‘Presumption of Constitutionality’
Mains level: Read the attached story
Recently the Supreme Court declined urgent hearing on a plea seeking to declare the CAA as constitutional and said that there was already a “presumption of constitutionality” to a law passed by Parliament. CJI has said that the court’s role was to examine the validity, and not declare a law constitutional.
Doctrine of Presumption of Constitutionality
- The term ‘presumption of constitutionality’ is a legal principle that is used by courts during statutory interpretation — the process by which courts interpret and apply a law passed by the legislature, such as Parliament.
- In the 1992 Supreme Court case ‘ML Kamra v New India Assurance’, Justice K Ramaswamy said: “The court ought not to interpret the statutory provisions, unless compelled by their language, in such a manner as would involve its unconstitutionality.
- The legislature of the rule making authority is presumed to enact a law which does not contravene or violate the constitutional provisions.
- Therefore, there is a presumption in favour of constitutionality of a legislation or statutory rule unless ex facie it violates the fundamental rights guaranteed under Part III of the Constitution.
- If the provisions of a law or the rule is construed in such a way as would make it consistent with the Constitution and another interpretation would render the provision or the rule unconstitutional, the Court would lean in favour of the former construction. ” (“ex facie” meaning ‘on the face’)
When does this apply?
- It is a cardinal principle of construction that the Statute and the Rule or the Regulation must be held to be constitutionally valid unless and until it is established they violate any specific provision of the Constitution.
- Further it is the duty of the Court to harmoniously construe different provisions of any Act or Rule or Regulation, if possible, and to sustain the same rather than striking down the provisions out right.
- The presumption is not absolute, however, and does not stand when there is a gross violation of the Constitution.
Limitations to the doctrine
- A three-judge Bench in ‘NDMC v State of Punjab’ (1996) spoke of the limitations to the doctrine.
- The Bench observed that the Doctrine is not one of infinite application; it has recognised limitations.
- The Court has consistently followed a policy of not putting an unnatural and forced meaning on the words that have been used by the legislature in the search for an interpretation which would save the statutory provisions.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Right to Property
Mains level: Read the attached story
The right to property is a human right, the Supreme Court has recently ruled.
What did the court say?
- A citizen’s right to own private property is a human right. The state cannot take possession of it without following due procedure and authority of law, the Supreme Court has held in a recent judgment.
- The state cannot trespass into the private property of a citizen and then claim ownership of the land in the name of ‘adverse possession’.
- Grabbing private land and then claiming it as its own makes the state an encroacher.
- Article 300A required the state to follow due procedure and authority of law to deprive a person of his or her private property, the Supreme Court reminded the government.
Adverse possession
- A welfare state cannot be permitted to take the plea of adverse possession, which allows a trespasser i.e. a person guilty of a tort, or even a crime, to gain legal title over such property for over 12 years.
- The State cannot be permitted to perfect its title over the land by invoking the doctrine of adverse possession to grab the property of its own citizens.
Back2Basics
Right to Property
- The Constitution of India originally provided for the right to property under Articles 19 and 31.
- Article 19 guaranteed to all citizens the right to acquire, hold and dispose of property.
- Article 31 provided that “no person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law.” It also provided that compensation would be paid to a person whose property has been taken for public purposes.
- The 44th Amendment of 1978 removed the right to property from the list of fundamental rights.
- A new provision, Article 300-A, was added to the constitution, which provided that “no person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law”.
What if one is deprived of his/her properties?
- Thus, if a legislator makes a law depriving a person of his property, there would be no obligation on the part of the state to pay anything as compensation.
- The aggrieved person shall have no right to move the court under Article 32.
- Thus, the right to property is no longer a fundamental right, though it is still a constitutional right. If the government appears to have acted unfairly, the action can be challenged in a court of law by aggrieved citizens.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Artemis Mission
Mains level: Manned mission on Moon
NASA wants to send the first woman and the next man to the Moon by the year 2024, which it plans on doing through the Artemis lunar exploration program. An Indian American astronaut named Raja Chari is set to accompany the crew in this mission.
Artemis Mission
- In 2011, NASA began the ARTEMIS (Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence, and Electrodynamics of the Moon’s Interaction with the Sun) mission using a pair of repurposed spacecraft and in 2012 the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft studied the Moon’s gravity.
- For the program, NASA’s new rocket called the Space Launch System (SLS) will send astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft a quarter of a million miles away from Earth to the lunar orbit.
- The astronauts going for the Artemis program will wear newly designed spacesuits, called Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit, or xEMU.
- These spacesuits feature advanced mobility and communications and interchangeable parts that can be configured for spacewalks in microgravity or on a planetary surface.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Major species found in Kaziranga NP
Mains level: NA
Kaziranga, home of the world’s most one-horned rhinos, has 96 species of wetland birds — one of the highest for wildlife preserves in India.
Kaziranga National Park
- It is a protected area in the northeast state of Assam.
- Spread across the floodplains of the Brahmaputra River, its forests, wetlands and grasslands are home to tigers, elephants and the world’s largest population of Indian one-horned rhinoceroses.
- Much of the focus of conservation efforts in Kaziranga are focused on the ‘big four’ species— rhino, elephant, Royal Bengal tiger and Asiatic water buffalo.
- The 2018 census had yielded 2,413 rhinos and approximately 1,100 elephants.
- The tiger census of 2014 said Kaziranga had an estimated 103 tigers, the third highest population of the striped cat in India after Jim Corbett National Park (215) in Uttarakhand and Bandipur National Park (120) in Karnataka.
- Kaziranga is also home to nine of the 14 species of primates found in the Indian subcontinent.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Kolkata Port
Mains level: Ports in India
PM Modi has renamed the Kolkata Port Trust after Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, at an event to mark its 150th anniversary.
History of Kolkata’s port
- In the early 16th century, the Portuguese first used the present location of the port to anchor their ships, since they found the upper reaches of the Hooghly river beyond Kolkata, unsafe for navigation.
- Job Charnock, an employee and administrator of the East India Company, is believed to have founded a trading post at the site in 1690.
- Since the area was situated on the river with jungle on three sides, it was considered safe from enemy invasion.
- After the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1833, this port was used to ship lakhs of Indians as ‘indentured labourers’ to far-flung territories throughout the Empire.
- During World War II, the port was bombed by Japanese forces.
Its administration
- As Kolkata grew in size and importance, merchants in the city demanded the setting up of a port trust in 1863.
- The colonial government formed a River Trust in 1866, but it soon failed, and administration was again taken up by the government.
- Finally, in 1870, the Calcutta Port Act (Act V of 1870) was passed, creating the offices of Calcutta Port Commissioners.
- In 1869 and 1870, eight jetties were built on the Strand. A wet dock was set up at Khidirpur in 1892. The Khidirpur Dock II was completed in 1902.
- As cargo traffic at the port grew, so did the requirement of more kerosene, leading to the building of a petroleum wharf at Budge Budge in 1896.
- In 1925, the Garden Reach jetty was added to accommodate greater cargo traffic. A new dock, named King George’s Dock, was commissioned in 1928 (it was renamed Netaji Subhash Dock in 1973).
- In 1975, the Commissioners of the port ceased to control it after the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963, came into force.
Significance
- After Independence, the Kolkata Port lost its preeminent position in cargo traffic to ports at Mumbai, Kandla, Chennai, and Visakhapatnam.
- The Kolkata port is the only riverine port on R. Hooghly in the country, situated 203 km from the sea.
- The Farakka Barrage, built in 1975, reduced some of the port’s woes as Ganga waters were diverted into the Bhagirathi-Hooghly system.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Swami Vivekananda
Mains level: Swami Vivekananda and his philosophy
January 12 is the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, the famous spiritual leader and intellectual from the late 19th century. In his honour, the government of India in 1984 declared his birthday as National Youth Day.
Swami Vivekananda early life
- Vivekananda was born in Kolkata on January 12, 1863, as Narendra Nath Datta.
- From an early age, he nurtured an interest in Western philosophy, history, and theology, and went on to meet the religious leader Ramakrishna Paramhansa, who later became his Guru.
- He remained devoted to Ramakrishna until the latter’s death in 1886.
- In 1893, he took the name ‘Vivekananda’ after Maharaja Ajit Singh of the Khetri State requested him to do so, changing from ‘Sachidananda’ that he used before.
- After Ramakrishna’s death, Vivekananda toured across India, and set after educating the masses about ways to improve their economic condition as well as imparting spiritual knowledge.
The Chicago address
- Vivekananda is especially remembered around the world for his speech at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago in 1893.
- The speech covered topics including universal acceptance, tolerance and religion, and got him a standing ovation.
- He began delivering lectures at various places in the US and UK, and became popular as the ‘messenger of Indian wisdom to the Western world’.
Return to India
- After coming back to India, he formed the Ramakrishna Mission in 1897 “to set in motion a machinery which will bring noblest ideas to the doorstep of even the poorest and the meanest.”
- In 1899, he established the Belur Math, which became his permanent abode.
His legacy
- Through his speeches and lectures, Vivekananda worked to disseminate his religious thought.
- He preached ‘neo-Vedanta’, an interpretation of Hinduism through a Western lens, and believed in combining spirituality with material progress.
- ‘Raja Yoga’, ‘Jnana Yoga’, ‘Karma Yoga’ are some of the books he wrote.
- An important religious reformer in India, Swami Vivekananda is known to have introduced the Hindu philosophies of Yoga and Vedanta to the West.
- Subhas Chandra Bose had called Vivekananda the “maker of modern India.”
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Violations of human rights.
Context
The human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir following the dilution of Article 370 and the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) have brought renewed international focus on India’s human rights practice.
Evolution of the modern Human Rights
- Classical approach: Countries made agreements on the premise that a sovereign state had the exclusive right to take any action it thought fit to deal with its nationals.
- No recognition of individuals’ rights: Classic international law governed the conduct between states and did not recognise the rights of individuals.
- The classical notion was challenged in the 19th century.
- Modern Human Rights: Slavery Convention adopted by the League of Nations prohibiting the slave trade heralded the first human rights treaty.
- It was based on the principle of dignity of a human being.
- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Adopted in 1948 by the United Nations, was the first comprehensive international human rights document.
- The weakening of Unrestricted sovereignty: The evolution of international human rights law is also about the gradual weakening of the concept of unrestricted sovereignty.
India and Human Rights
- Unwarranted international scrutiny: The Indian government’s response to its human rights practice has always been that international scrutiny is unwarranted.
- Why India claims so?: Since the country is the largest democracy in the world with an independent judiciary, free media, and an active civil society no international scrutiny is required.
- Indian has always assured the international community that the judiciary (the SC) would provide adequate remedies to victims of human rights violations.
- These claims sound less credible after the recent developments in J&K and the passage of the CAA.
- Human rights and Discriminatory nature of CAA: Non–discrimination is a fundamental principle of human rights.
- The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that CAA is fundamentally discriminatory in nature”.
Role of Civil Society and Media
- Media’s questionable role: Responding to international concerns the Indian government also refers to the role of free media and civil society in protecting human rights.
- However, the media’s role in J and K and after CAA is questionable.
- Weakened Civil Society: The government has imposed various curbs on it since 2014.
- It has become difficult for it to receive foreign contribution.
- Use of FRCA: Since 2014, the government has canceled the registration of about 14,000 NGOs under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
Conclusion
- It is possible for the Indian government, due to its diplomatic clout, to avoid robust intervention by the UN Human Rights Council and other UN human rights mechanisms.
- But it would be difficult to avoid scrutiny by the international community. So, the government must take steps to allay international concerns and avoid situations where it is seen as a violator of human rights.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Dengue vaccine
Mains level: Paper 2-Dealing with Dengue, stategies, suggestion, and holistic approach.
Context
The advent of a new tetravalent vaccine against the dengue virus has thrown new light into the evidence-based management of dengue.
Why the holistic approach is needed
- Apart from promoting the use of the vaccine, gaining control over dengue will also require a holistic approach that has to include within its ambit vector control and proper case management.
- Tetravalent vaccine: The vaccine is tetravalent i.e. it provides protection against all the four types of dengue viruses.
- The vaccine confers about 80% protection to children vaccinated between 4 and 16 years of age without any major side effects.
- Climatic factors: It is essentially a tropical disease that occurs in the countries around the Equator; hot weather and intermittent rainfall favour the sustenance of Aedes aegypti.
- Aedes eggs can remain dormant for more than a year and will hatch once they come in contact with water.
- Risk factors: Urbanisation, poor town planning, and improper sanitation are the major risk factors for the multiplication of such mosquitoes.
- Aedes eggs can remain dormant for more than a year and will hatch once they come in contact with water.
- Aedes mosquitoes cannot fly beyond a hundred meters. Hence, keeping the ambiance clean can help prevent their breeding.
- Further, these mosquitoes bite during the daytime, so keeping the windows shut in the day hours is also useful.
What needs to be done?
- Source reduction activities: Activities like preventing water stagnation and using chemical larvicides and adulticides.
- These chemicals need to be applied in periodic cycles to kill the larvae that remain even after the first spray.
- Dealing with the manpower shortage: The number of skilled workers available for such measures is low; many posts in government departments remain vacant despite there being a dire public health need.
- Due to this deficiency of manpower, active surveillance is not being done in India, says the National Vector Borne Disease Control Program.
- Ending the Under-reporting: Dengue cases are often under-reported due to political reasons and also to avoid spreading panic among the common people. Under-reporting needs to be dealt with.
- Increasing coordination: There is a lack of coordination between the local bodies and health departments in the delivery of public health measures.
- A comprehensive mechanism is required to address these issues.
- Need for epidemiological measures: Any communicable disease needs the epidemiological approach. Singapore uses one successful model of mapping and analysing data on dengue, using Geographical Information System (GIS).
- The use of GIS involves mapping the streets with dengue cases for vector densities.
- Emphasis on the WHO guidelines: Fluid management in the body is the cornerstone in the management of severe diseases like dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome.
- According to the guidelines, coagulation abnormalities are not due to a reduction in the number of platelets alone.
- This is why the WHO recommends fresh whole blood or packed cell transfusion in the event of bleeding.
- Caution in using alternative medicine drugs: Modern medicine is not against any complementary medicine; when such a medicine is approved after rigorous testing.
- However, in the absence of evidence, the efficacy of such medicines remains in the realm of belief instead of science.
- So, medicines like Nilavembu kudineer and papaya leaf extract are only belief based.
Conclusion
The communicable nature of Dengue and its asymptomatic nature requires the holistic approach to successfully tackle the disease.
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