Sep-16SI Flashcards
Sep-16SI-Index
4.1. Global Ranking of Indian Institute
4.2. Higher Education Finance Agency (HEFA)
4.3. The Draft National Medical Commission Bill, 2016
4.4. United Nations High Panel Report on Access to
Medicines
4.5. New Health Index
4.6. India Declared Free from Bird Flu
4.7. Marrakesh Treaty comes into Force
4.8. Mission Parivar Vikas
4.9. Maternal Health
4.10. Household Toilet Coverage-Swachh Bharat Mission
4.11. Custodial Deaths and Reforms in Jail
4.12. The Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction
Bill, 2016
4.13. Aarambh Initiative
4.1. GLOBAL RANKING OF INDIAN INSTITUTE
Why in News
The global ranking of prestigious Indian institutes have gone
down with Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore, along
with six top-ranked Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs),
dropped in the latest QS World University Rankings 2016-17.
QS World University Rankings is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). Previously known as THE-QS World University Rankings.
Solutions
Need an infusion of fresh ideas and teaching mechanisms to
create a new educational infrastructure that not just delivers
knowledge, but also encourages new thinking and boosts the
spirit of innovation in the new generation.
Need to adopt to create a global culture to have world-class educational institutions, borrow ideas in pedagogy from the best institutions around the world and move from a top-down mode of education to a more organic culture of learning.
Need educational institutions that not only create skilled human resource but also boosts indigenous research and development, power the country’s intellectual and entrepreneurial leadership, and instill scientific thinking among the masses.
Need institutions that can become a major draw for international students to help obtain the twin purposes of earning foreign reserve and spreading the country’s soft power.
BOX–Factors responsible for decline in ranking India’s relatively low numbers of PhD-qualified researchers, which has an impact on the research productivity and impact of India’s universities.
Nine of India’s universities also fall for faculty/student ratio.
Lack of innovation and new ideas in institutions
Absence of world class teaching institutions
Old curriculum and less practical work in engineering colleges etc.
4.2. HIGHER EDUCATION FINANCE AGENCY (HEFA)
Why in news?
The Union Cabinet has approved the creation of the Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) to give a major push for creation of high quality infrastructure in premier educational institutions.
Later on instead of the Rs2,000 crore equity portion that the cabinet approved earlier, with Rs1,000 crore coming from the government, HEFA will now have Rs1,050- 1,100 crore of equity that will be used to raise funds from the markets for lending to educational institutions.
Potential equity partners in HEFA balked at infusing Rs1,000 crore into the vehicle, given that it’s expected to be a low-margin business, prompting the government to set its sights lower. About HEFA
It will be jointly promoted by the identified Promoter and the
Ministry of Human Resource Development.
It would be formed as a SPV within a PSU Bank/ Government-
owned-NBFC (Promoter). It would leverage the equity to
raise up to Rs. 20,000 crore for funding projects for
infrastructure and development of world class Labs in
IITs/IIMs/NITs and such other institutions.
It would also mobilise CSR funds from PSUs/Corporates, which would in turn be released for promoting research and innovation in these institutions on grant basis.
It would finance the civil and lab infrastructure projects through a 10-year loan.
The principal portion of the loan will be repaid through the ‘internal accruals’ (earned through the fee receipts, research earnings etc) of the institutions. The Government would service the interest portion through the regular Plan assistance. For joining as members, the Institution should agree to escrow a specific amount from their internal accruals to HEFA for a period of 10 years. This secured future flows would be securitised by the HEFA for mobilising the funds from the market.
All the Centrally Funded Higher Educational Institutions would be eligible for joining as members of the HEFA. Significance
HEFA marks the beginning of a market-linked education financing structure in India and a departure from the traditional grant-based system of funding higher educational institutions.
The agency is expected to ease pressure on the government, which currently is the sole funder of such institutions.
HEFA will instill accountability in higher educational institutions. As the institutes need to pay back, a market force-driven fee structure is required. But for charging more fees, it needs to provide better facility, better infrastructure for which they need to borrow. The cycle will instill accountability.
It would provide the much needed funds to boost research oriented infrastructure.
Box–Concerns
Since the institutions will borrow money and return it, they have to be revenue-surplus, which may make a fee hike the first possibility. This will be detrimental for students coming from poor economic backgrounds.
4.3. THE DRAFT NATIONAL MEDICAL COMMISSION BILL, 2016
Why in news?
In March 2016, a parliamentary committee
report delivered a scathing indictment of the
Medical Council of India’s (MCI) functioning
following which NITI Aayog was given task of
drafting a bill for revamping MCI.
Key features of the bill
The Bill does away with elected members to
different bodies.
Medical Advisory Council: The Council shall
serve as the primary platform through which
the states would put forward their views
and concerns before the National Medical
Commission (NMC).
National Medical Commission (NMC)
The commission shall assess the changing requirements of the health care scenario, human resources for health, health care infrastructure and develop a road map for meeting these requirements.
It shall frame requisite policies for the governance of Medical Education.
It shall provide overarching policy coordination among the Boards with due regard to their autonomy.
Commission shall exercise Appellate Authority with respect to decisions of the UGMEB, PGMEB and MARB.
Under-Graduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB): UGMEB will determine and prescribe standards and oversee all aspects of medical education at undergraduate level
Post-Graduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB): PGMEB will determine and prescribe standards and oversee all aspects of medical education at the postgraduate and super-speciality levels.
Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB)
MARB shall determine the process of Assessment and Rating of Medical Educational Institutions as per the standards laid down by the UGMEB or PGMEB
It shall levy monetary and other such penalties on Institutions which fail to maintain the minimum essential standards.
Board for Medical Registration (BMR)
The BMR shall maintain a live National Register of all licensed medical practitioners to be known as the National Register.
BMR shall prescribe the standards of professional conduct and frame a Code of Ethics for medical practitioners.
The bill provides for a uniform National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to under-graduate medical education under the purview of National Medical Commission.
The bill aims to create the National Medical Commission Fund for meeting the salaries, allowances and other remuneration of the Chairman and Members of the Commission, Boards, officers and other employees of the Commission and the Boards.
Box–Focus of the bill: The bill aims to create a world-class medical education system that
Ensures adequate supply of high quality medical professionals at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
Encourages medical professionals to incorporate the latest medical research in their work and to contribute to such research.
Provides for objective periodic assessments of medical institutions.
Facilitates the maintenance of a medical register for India and enforces high ethical standards in all aspects of medical services.
is flexible so as to adapt to the changing needs of a transforming nation
4.4. UNITED NATIONS HIGH PANEL REPORT ON ACCESS TO MEDICINES
Why in News?
The UN released its High-Level Panel report on Access to Medicines showing concerns over non-accessibility of medicines due to high prices.
Highlights of the Report
The report has urged governments to
“Urgently” increase their current levels of investment in health technology innovation.
De-link drug prices from R&D costs.
To globally prioritise research on disease whose needs are unmet such as growing emergence of infectious diseases like Ebola and Zika.
The panel has recommended making the drug prices transparent both to the consumers and governments.
The report calls for human rights to be placed above intellectual property rights so that all countries are able to use flexibilities granted under TRIPS to access affordable medicines.
The report has also lashed out powerful nations on threatening weaker countries from overriding drug patents under TRIPS flexibilities.
4.5. NEW HEALTH INDEX
Why in news?
The first global analysis that assesses countries on sustainable development goal (SDG) health performance was launched at a special event at the UN General Assembly recently and published online in The Lancet.
The scores ranked countries which nations are closest to achieving the targets. How the ranking was done?
The study was carried out by an international collaboration on the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) which analyzed each country’s progress towards achieving health-related SDG
targets by creating an overall SDG Index score.
By using data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factors (GBD) study between 1990 and 2015, the current status of 33 of the 47 health-related indicators were estimated.
To enable easier comparison, a health-related SDG index was created with a rating of 0-100 that combines these 33 health-related indicators to measure progress for 188 countries between 1990 and 2015. India’s performance
It has ranked India at 143 in a list of 188 countries with a score of 42/100. India is six places ahead of Pakistan and way behind countries like Sri Lanka (79), China (92), even war-torn Syria (117) and Iraq (128).
India’s score in few health-related indicators is as follows
Malaria: India registered only 10 points.
Under-five mortality: India has a score of 39 on this front.
On safe hygiene practices, India has 8 on the scale of 0-100.
India’s highest score has been 93 on the ‘war’ indicator front that assesses age-standardised death rate due to collective violence and legal intervention, per 100,000 populations.
—Fig—
4.6. INDIA DECLARED FREE FROM BIRD FLU
Why in news
India has declared itself free from the highly contagious avian influenza or bird flu.
Bird flu (avian influenza) is a disease caused by strains of influenza virus that primarily affects birds.
Causes
Bird flu is caused by strains of the influenza virus that have evolved to be specially adapted to enter avian cells. There are three main types of influenza: A, B, and C.
The virus that causes bird flu is influenza A type with eight RNA strands that make up its genome.
Influenza viruses are further classified by analyzing two proteins on the surface of the virus. The proteins are called hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N).
There are many different types of hemagglutinin and neuraminidase proteins. For example, the recent pathogenic bird flu virus has type 5 hemagglutinin and type 1 neuraminidase. Thus, it is named “H5N1” influenza A virus.
4.7. MARRAKESH TREATY COMES INTO FORCE
Why in News?
On Sep 29th, Marrakesh Treaty came into force, after 22 countries ratified the treaty adopted in 2013 by members of World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
What is Marrakesh Treaty?
Marrakesh Treaty or Marrakesh VIP Treaty is formally known as Marrakesh treaty to facilitate Access to Published works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons with Print Disabilities.
It is also called “Books for Blind” treaty.
Highlights of the treaty:
The treaty allows for copyright exceptions to help for the creation, export and import, sharing, translation of the books in any format for accessible versions of copyrighted books and other works for the people with impaired visibility.
The treaty is expected to alleviate the “book famine” experienced by 300 million people suffering from such disability, according to WHO.
Implementation of Treaty
World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), a United Nations Organisation based in Geneva, administers the Marrakesh Treaty and leads an alliance of private and public partners known as the Accessible Books Consortium (ABC).
The ABC has established a free centralized electronic database of accessible books produced by libraries for the blind around the world. It is a library-to-library service.
India and Marrakesh Treaty
India was the first country to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty back in July 2014 and has set an example for other countries to follow.
India has 63 million visually impaired people, of whom about 8 million are blind, according to WHO.
India has begun implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty through a multi-stakeholder approach, which includes collaboration among key players such as government ministries, local champions like the DAISY Forum of India, and the private sector.
In line with Marrakesh treaty, India launched Accessible India Campaign (Sugama Bharat Abhiyan) and has set up Sugamya Pustakalaya, which has 2,00,000 volumes.
(Note: It is not to be confused with Marrakesh Agreement signed at the end of Uruguay round of discussions for establishing WTO.)
4.8. MISSION PARIVAR VIKAS
Why in News?
Health Ministry to launch “Mission Parivar Vikas” for improved family planning services.
It was launched in 145 high-focus districts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand and Assam.
Objective
To accelerate access to high quality family planning choices based on information, reliable services and supplies within a rights-based framework.
Factors that affect population growth
Low socio-economic development: For example, Uttar
Pradesh has a literacy rate of 56%, records an average of four children per couple. In contrast, in Kerala almost every person is literate, records an average of two children per couple.
Infant mortality: Empirical correlations suggest that high IMR leads to greater desire for children. In 1961, the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) was 115. The current all India average is much lower at 57. However, in most developed countries this figure is less than 5.
Early marriage: Nationwide almost 43% of married women aged 20-24 were married before the age of 18.
Use of contraceptives: According to NFHS III (2005-06), only 56% of currently married women use some method of family planning in India. A majority of them (37%) have adopted permanent methods like sterilization.
Other socio-economic factors: The desire for larger families particularly preference for a male child also leads to higher birth rates.
It is estimated that preference for a male child and high infant mortality together account for 20% of the total births in the country.
Box–
Why these districts chosen?
These 145 districts have been identified based on total fertility rate and service delivery for immediate, special and accelerated efforts to reach the replacement level fertility goals of 2.1 by 2025.
4.9. MATERNAL HEALTH
Why in News
The latest Lancet series on maternal health reveals that
nearly one quarter of babies worldwide are still delivered in
the absence of a skilled birth attendant.
one-third of the total maternal deaths in 2015 happened in
two countries: India and Nigeria Reasons for High MMR in India
Institutional delivery: Institutional delivery rates in rural and
urban areas were 28.9% and 67.5% respectively as per NFHS-
III in 2005-06.
Women not getting Antenatal Care: More than one out of every three women (34%) in India did not receive an ante-natal check- up for births in the three years preceding the survey. Only 7% received antenatal checkup in third trimester.
Postnatal care is grossly deficient.
Teenage pregnancy and their risk of dying: Despite the Child Marriage Restraint Act (1978), 34 percent of all women are married below the legal minimum age of marriage (ie 18 years); Girls aged 15-19 are twice as likely to die from child birth as women in their twenties; those under age 15 are five times as likely to die.
Women lack awareness of the importance of pregnancy care and delivery/taking place in a healthcarefacility (poor health education).
Women’s lack of decision- making power within the family (gender bias).
Lack of awareness of location of health services (poor health awareness).
Cost: direct fees as well as the cost of transportation, drugs and supplies (poverty).
The poor quality of services, including poor treatment by health providers also makes some women reluctant to use services.
Solutions
An improved, accountable health care system at primary level is essential for decreasing maternal mortality to the desired level.
Make the antenatal, intra-natal and postnatal services available to women, located close to them. For this, linking hospitals by an emergency transport and good referral system of network is needed.
Ensure delivery by skilled attendant nurses or doctors.
Peripheral/ Village level interventions specifically directed towards major causes of maternal deaths are required.
Box–Maternal deaths in India 45,000 mothers (15 per cent) died during pregnancy or childbirth in India while Nigeria shouldered the maximum burden of 58,000 (19 per cent)maternal deaths. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) India’s MMR, which was 560 in 1990, reduced to 178 in 2010-2012. However, as per the MDG mandate, India needs to reduce its MMR further down to 103.
4.10. HOUSEHOLD TOILET COVERAGE-SWACHH BHARAT MISSION
Important Details of the Survey
For purposes of assessing performance, the Swachh Bharat Mission considers both individual household latrine coverage and ODF.
The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation conducts the Survey
ODF is defined as “the termination of faecal-oral transmission, defined by no visible faeces found in the environment/village and every household as well as public/community institution using safe technology option for disposal of faeces.
Key Findings
Sikkim (100%) and Himachal Pradesh (55.95%) have the maximum percentage of villages that are ‘Open Defecation Free’ (ODF).
The total number of districts declared ODF in the country stand at 23.
Three cities in Karnataka — coastal Mangaluru, Udupi and Mysuru — have been declared “open defecation free”
Mysuru tops the list of “clean cities” for two consecutive years.
A recent survey of 476 cities had also declared Mangaluru the third cleanest in India.
4.11. CUSTODIAL DEATHS AND REFORMS IN JAIL
Why in news?
A writ petitions in SC was filed against the use of torture as an instrument of “human degradation” by State authorities.
Magnitude of the problem
In 2014, there were five deaths every day, so 35 deaths in a typical week. In the same period, the death rate inside prisons rose by 42 per cent.
Ninety per cent of these deaths were recorded as ‘natural’ and ‘others’, but what constitutes ‘natural’ and ‘others’ in a custodial set-up is questionable.
From 1995 to 2014, 999 suicides were reported inside Indian prisons. Tamil Nadu alone has seen 141 of them.
Solutions
Accountability: The only way to thwart what goes on in these institutions is to make them accountable.
Surveillance: Supreme Court last year ordered to install CCTV cameras in all the prisons in the country.
Monitoring: Prison monitors are mandated to regularly visit jails, listen to prisoners’ grievances, identify areas of concern, and seek resolution. These visitors include magistrates and judges, State human rights institutions, and non-official visitors drawn from society.
Psychological: Providing counselling to inmates is crucial for them to deal with the ordeal they undergo in custody.
Registering and reporting cases: File FIR and report all cases of custodial death to the NHRC within 24 hours of their occurrence.
Guidelines: NHRC has repeatedly issued guidelines to prevent and respond to custodial deaths. It is time for the State governments to start taking these guidelines seriously.
—Fig—
4.12. THE CIVIL ASPECTS OF INTERNATIONAL CHILD ABDUCTION BILL, 2016
Why in news?
Union ministry of women and child development (WCD) has drafted the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction Bill, 2016, that once approved will facilitate prompt return of any child under 16 who has been “wrongfully removed to or retained in other state which is not his/her habitual residence.”
The bill will provide an enabling legislation to implement
the provision of the Hague convention.
Features of the bill
The draft mandates setting up the Central Authority who
shall be an officer of the Central Government not below the
rank of Joint Secretary to the Government of India.
Applications can be made to the Central Authority for
assistance in securing the return of such child.
The central authority would have the power to decide all
the cases in this matter.
The Central Authority shall while inquiring into any matter
referred to have all the powers of a civil court.
The Central Authority may apply to the High Court (First
strike principle) within whose territorial jurisdiction the
child is physically present or was last known to be present for an order directing the return of such child.
The central authority may exchange information relating to any such child, with the appropriate authorities of a Contracting State.
The Central Authority shall submit an annual report to the Central Government through the Ministry of WCD.
Way forward
The bill can be further improved on the lines of other countries and their experience. In the US and Europe, inter-parental child abduction is a serious offence where the accused parent can go to jail on charges of abduction.
The bill is a right step in direction towards ending the trauma for children facing this issue. It should be discussed and debated and made into a law as soon as possible.
Box–About Hague convention
The Hague Convention seeks “to protect to protect children internationally from the harmful effects of their wrongful removal or retention and to establish procedures to ensure their prompt return to the State of their habitual residence, as well as to secure protection for the rights of access.”
Ninety-four states are party to the Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
India is not a signatory to the Hague Convention. A country has to have a domestic law in place before it can become a signatory.
4.13. AARAMBH INITIATIVE
Why in news?
It is the country’s first-ever hotline to curb sexual abuse of children through the Internet and to remove child pornographic content online unveiled.
About initiative
Aim: To eliminate the scourge of online child pornography and further the cause of child protection in online spaces.
It is a network of organizations and individuals working on child protection in the country, has collaborated with the U.K.-based Internet Watch Foundation (IWF).
The hotline in India will be hosted on aarambhindia.org and will enable users to report child sexual abuse images and videos in a safe and anonymous environment.
It is a simple, accessible form (available in Hindi & English) that any informed user who stumbles across sexually explicit imagery of a child on the public internet can use to report the content. Latter it will be started in other languages.
