current bulletin - january 2020 social issues · 4/5/2020 · abhiyan and anaemia-mukt bharat. the...

CURRENT BULLETIN - JANUARY 2020

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SOCIAL ISSUESOdishatribals still suffering fromhunger, malnutrition

Context: Right to Food Campaign, a platform of

social activists, said poor implementationof government welfare programmes wasmarginalisingtribals further in backwardpockets of Odisha.

Background: In the wake of malnutrition deaths of

infants of the Juanga tribe at Nagada villagein Jajpur district of Odisha in 2016, the Rightto Food Campaign activists started visitingvillages inhabited by particularly vulnera-ble tribal groups in different parts Odisha.

Findings of RTF: PaudiBhuyan tribes in four villages (Kiri,

Keta, Kundula and Kunu) under Bonaisubdivision of Sundargarh districts weresuffering from hunger and malnutrition.

Integrated Child Development Serviceprogramme, one of the most importantfood security programmes, was found non-existent in PaudiBhuyan tribal villages.

Under the Mahatma Gandhi National RuralEmployment Guarantee Act, 21 tribals ofthese villages had worked in a roadconstruction work in 2014, but they had notgot their payments

Juanga tribe: Juangas are one of the particularly

vulnerable tribal groups (PVTG). The Juangas believe that in ancient times,

their tribe emerged from earth on the hillsof Gonasika in nearby Kendujhar districtfrom where the river Baitarani originates.

Juangas don’t believe in gods or deitiesand only worship Basumati or MotherEarth.

Early marriage is a common practice amongJuangas, leading to complications amongchildren born out of young parents.

PaudiBhuyan tribes: PaudiBhuyan, a tribe within Particularly

Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), live inthe forested mountains of Odisha. Theyare also found in Bihar, West Bengal andAssam.

They are major section of the historicallyfamous Bhuinya tribe.

They live in hills and mountain forests(hence PaudiBhuyanare also called HillBhuyan) and are geographical isolatedtribe.

They are shifting cultivators and supplem-ent this primary occupation by collectionof non-timber forest produces

Education aided with SATCOM inRajasthan

Context: The government in Rajasthan is

using Satellite Communication [SATCOM]


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Technology in a big way to enhance thelearning outcome in educationalinstitutions.

Objective: This move is intented to generate

awareness about social welfare schemesand providing quality education to thefive aspirational districts selected by NITIAayog in the State.

Facilties provided: The Science & Technology Department is

providing the facility of Receive OnlyTerminals (ROT) and Satellite InteractiveTerminals (SIT) for getting the services ofsubject experts in the government schoolsand colleges. It is aimed to propagatevarious schemes in the remote areas withno Internet connectivity.

ROT will facilitate students especiallystudying English and Science in thegovernment educational institutions toconnect with subject expert in order to getgood grades in Board exams.

The technique would be used duringthe first phase in approximately 2,000institutions in departments of education,higher education, social welfare, minoritywelfare, woman and child developmentand tribal area development.

The facility will also be provided to all the134 model schools, Kasturba Gandhi Girls’

Schools, Social Welfare Department’shostels, children’s homes and students ofa government college in each district.

The institutions with the shortage ofteachers will especially benefit from thegeostationary satellite uplinking facilities.

The Haj pilgrims, who were earlierrequired to come to Jaipur for training,would be trained at the district levelthrough ROT and SIT installed in thegovernment colleges.

Second edition of Eat Right MelaContext: Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare

inaugurated the second edition of the ‘EatRight Mela’ in Delhi.

On the sidelines, the Union Health Ministerhas launched NetSCoFAN, a network ofresearch & academic institutions workingin the area of food & nutrition.

The Union Minister also launched ‘ThePURPLE Book’ which is a handbook on dietsfor diseases.

Eat Right Mela:

The Eat Right Mela is an initiative of FoodSafety and Standards Authority ofIndia (FSSAI), an autonomous bodyestablished under the Ministry of Health& Family Welfare, Government of India.

The aim is to engage and enable citizensto improve their health and well-being bymaking the right food choices and reducingdiseases burden in the country.


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The Movement is an effort to bringtogether the flagship programmes of thegovernment, like Poshan Abhiyan,Ayushman Bharat, Swachh BharatAbhiyan and Anaemia-Mukt Bharat.

The first Eat Right Mela was launched inNew Delhi in December, 2018.

Eat Right Initiative:

Eat Right Initiative is a multi-sectoraleffort of government with primary focuson reducing the daily intake – of salt, sugar,fat and phasing-out trans-fats from dietsand promoting healthier food options.

It is built on two broad pillars of Eat Healthyand Eat Safe.

On World Food Day 2019, Union Ministerof Health launched Food Safety Mitra(FSM) scheme for strengthening andscaling up ‘Eat Right India’ movement. Healso launched ‘Eat Right Jacket’ and ‘EatRight Jhola’.

Objective: To increase demand for healthier food, Set standards in schools, promote healthy

eating habits, Have appropriate nutrition labelling and

restriction on marketing to childrenthrough a suitable regulation,

Have higher taxation for unhealthyfood through differential GST rates,

Ensure availability of healthier food optionsthrough appropriate menu labelling,

Redesign choices available with increasedavailability and prominent display ofhealthier options,

Encourage food processing industry toformulate their food products by reducingunhealthy ingredients.

Significance: The movement is significant as there is a

need to increase awareness on preventivehealth for all regarding increasing diseasesburden like hypertension, diabetes, canceretc.

To address Obesity and Life stylediseases which is apparently the result ofexcessive consumption of junk food,wrong choices of food, overeating and lackof exercise.

It also aims to reduce increasing burdenof non-communicable diseases likehypertension, diabetes, and under-nourishment resulting in infirmities suchas wasting and stunting and wide-spread deficiencies in vitamins andminerals.

What is NetSCoFAN? It would comprise of eight groups of

institutions working in different areas viz.biological, chemical, nutrition &labelling,food of animal origin, food of plant origin,water & beverages, food testing, and safer& sustainable packaging.

FSSAI has identified eight NodalInstitutions who would develop a ‘ReadyReckoner’ that will have inventory of allresearch work, experts and institutionsand would carry out and facilitateresearch, survey and related activities.

It would identify research gaps inrespective areas and collect, collate anddevelop database on food safety issues forrisk assessment activities.


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Coronavirus: a new virus identified byChinese researchers

Context: A new type of virus called ‘coronavirus’ has

been identified by Chinese researcherswhich is responsible for a new pneumonia– like many illness that had swept Wuhancity leaving 29 people dead.

What is Coronavirus?

According to World Health Organization(WHO), coronaviruses are a family ofviruses that cause illness ranging from thecommon cold to more severe diseases suchas Middle East respiratory syndrome(MERS) and Severe Acute RespiratorySyndrome (SARS).

A coronavirus has many ”regularlyarranged” protrusions on its surface,because of which the entire virus particlelooks like an emperor’s crown, hence thename “coronavirus”.

It can affect mammals including humans,pigs, cattle, cats, dogs, martens, camels,hedgehogs and some birds.

SARS was believed to have beentransmitted from civet cats to humanswhile MERS travelled from a type of camelto humans.

So far, there are four known disease-causing coronaviruses, among which thebest known are the SARS corona virus andthe Middle East Respiratory Syndrome(MERS) coronavirus, both of which cancause severe respiratory diseases.

A novel coronavirus, identified by Chineseauthorities is currently named 2019-nCoV,is a new strain that had not been previouslyidentified in humans.


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Symptoms of infection caused byCoronavirus: Respiratory symptoms, fever, cough,

shortness of breath and breathingdifficulties.

In more severe cases, it can lead topneumonia, severe acute respiratorysyndrome, kidney failure and even death.

Reports say the incubation period of thecoronavirus remains unknown, but othersources.

Integrated Road Accident DatabaseContext: The government has launched a central

accident database management systemthat will help in analysing causes of roadcrashes and in devising safety interven-tions to reduce such accidents in thecountry.

Key Features: Integrated Road Accident Database (IRAD),

has been developed by the IndianInstitute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) andwill be implemented by the NationalInformatics Centre.

The project costs 258 crore and is beingsupported by the World Bank.

The system will be first implemented onpilot basis in the six states with highestfatalities from road crashes- Karnataka,Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan,Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.

Working: The IRAD mobile application will enable

police personnel to enter details about aroad accident, along with photos andvideos, following which a unique ID willbe created for the incident.

Subsequently, an engineer from the PublicWorks Department or the local body willreceive an alert on his mobile device. Heor she will then visit the accident site,

examine it, and feed the required details,such as the road design.

Data thus collected will be analysed by ateam at IIT-M, which will then suggest ifcorrective measures in road design needto be taken.

Road users will also be able to upload dataon road accidents on a separate mobileapplication, which is expected to go livefrom April 1.

Road accidents in India: The Report on road accidents in India in

2018 stated that the accidents claimed over1.5 lakh lives in the country in 2018, withover-speeding of vehicles being thebiggest reason for casualties.

Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh remainaccounted for the highest number of roadaccidents and death on account of roadaccidents respectively in 2018

According to the World RoadStatistics,India recorded the highestnumber of road accident deaths across 199countries in 2018 followed by China andthe US.


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Maharashtra, Gujarat lag behind incompensation for sewer deaths

Context: According to National Commission for

SafaiKaramcharis (NCSK) out of 926 deathsinside sewers in the country (1993 – Dec2019), families of 172 victims were yet toreceive compensation with Gujarat (48)and Maharashtra (32) having the highestnumber of cases where the amount wasnot paid or the payment wasunconfirmed.

What is the issue? States that were found lagging behind in

the rehabilitation of manual scavengerswere asked to comply soon by themonitoring committee (chaired by Minsterof Social Justice) which is meant to reviewthe implementat ion of Prohibition ofEmployment as Manual Scavengers andtheir Rehabilitation Act, 2013.

Most of the sewer death cases since 1993,when the NCSK was established,compensation to the families of thevictims had been paid.

Tamil Nadu, which had the highest numberof such deaths, had paid compensation inall but seven of the 234 cases.

Gujarat was yet to pay or confirm paymentin 48 of the 162 sewer deaths recorded inthe State, and in 31 of those cases, the legalheir could not be traced, the data showed.

Practice continues: According to the NCSK, a total of 53,598

people, of which 29,923 were in UttarPradesh alone, had been identified asengaged in manual scavenging aftersurveys in 2013 and 2018.

One-time cash assistance had beendisbursed in 35,397 cases, with UttarPradesh accounting for 19,385 such people.

Capital subsidy and skill developmenttraining had been provided to 1,007 and7,383 of the identified manual scavengers,respectively, the data showed.

Steps taken by the Government: Prohibition of Employment as Manual

Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act,2013 has been passed.

As per the provisions of the Act, DistrictVigilance Committees had been constitutedin 21 States/Union Territories, StateMonitoring Committees in 26, and StateCommissions for SafaiKaramcharis in eight.

About National Commission for SafaiKa-ramcharis (NCSK):


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NCSK was established in 1994 to deal withthe grievances of persons engaged inmanual scavenging.

It has a sanctioned strength of fourmembers and a chairperson.

It is statutory bodyestablished underNational Commission for SafaiKaramcharisAct, 1993.

It aims to promote and safeguard theinterests and rights of SafaiKaramcharis.

Its mandate is to study, evaluate andmonitor the implementation of variousschemes for SafaiKaramcharis as anautonomous organisation.

WHO endorses indigenous moleculardiagnostic tool for TB

Context: The World Health Organisation has

endorsed TrueNat, an indigenousmolecular diagnostic tool for tuberculosis(TB) diagnosis. The disease remains a threatto public health and is the top infectiouscause of death globally.

About Tuberculosis (TB):

Caused by bacteria (Mycobacteriumtuberculosis) that most often affect thelungs.

It is curable and preventable. Spread from person to person through the

air. (TB cough, sneeze or spit, propel theTB germs into the air.)

Mostly affects adults in their mostproductive years.

Over 95% of cases and deaths are indeveloping countries.

TB was one of the top 10 causes of deathworldwide in 2018.

Key facts on TB: In 2018, an estimated 10 million people

developed TB and 1.5 million died of itwhile at least a million children become illwith it every year.

Also about 5,00,000 new cases of multidrug2 and rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis(MDR/RR-TB) are estimated to emergeannually but only one in three cases wasreported by countries to have beendiagnosed and treated in 2018.

What is MDR/RR-TB? Multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR–

TB) is a form of tuberculosis (TB) infectioncaused by bacteria that are resistant totreatment with at least two of the mostpowerful first-line anti-TB medications(drugs), isoniazid and rifampin.

RR means rifampicin resistant TB. Peoplewith RR TB are resistant to rifampicin. Theymay or may not have resistance to otherdrugs.

Xpert MTB/RIF: The Xpert MTB/RIF assay is a new test that

is revolutionizing tuberculosis (TB) controlby contributing to the rapid diagnosis ofTB disease and drug resistance.

Global Health Challenges released bythe World Health Organisation

Context: The World Health Organisation has

released top 13 urgent health challengesfacing the world over the next decade.


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According to WHO, countries investheavily in protecting their people fromterrorist attacks, but not against the attackof a virus, which could be far more deadly,and far more damaging economically andsocially. A pandemic could bringeconomies and nations to their knees.

The challenges are:

1. Elevating health in the climate debate: The world’s climate crisis has major health

implications, with air pollution alonekilling an estimated seven million peopleannually, while it causes more extremeweather events, exacerbates malnutritionand fuels the spread of infectious diseasessuch as malaria.

2. Delivering health in conflict and crisis In 2019, most disease outbreaks requiring

the highest level of WHO responseoccurred in countries with protractedconflict.

There is continuation of a disturbing trendin which health workers and facilities aretargeted.

3. Making health care fairer Persistent and growing socio-economic

gaps result in major discrepancies in thequality of people’s health. There is an 18-year difference between the lifeexpectancy of people in low- and high-income countries, as well as significantdifferences in life expectancies amongpeople living within the same countriesand cities.

4. Expanding access to medicines About one-third of the world’s people lack

access to medicines, vaccines, diagnostictools and other essential health products.Limited access to these products fuel drugresistance and threaten people’s lives andhealth.

5. Stopping infectious diseases Infectious diseases like HIV, tuberculosis,

viral hepatitis, malaria, neglected tropicaldiseases and sexually-transmittedinfections will kill an estimated 4 millionpeople in 2020, most of them poor.

6. Preparing for epidemics An airborne and highly infectious virus

pandemic is inevitable. The countriesaround the world continue to spend moreon responding to these emergencies thanpreparing for them.

This leaves countries unprepared for whenanother pandemic strikes and potentiallythreatens the lives of millions of people.

7. Protecting people from dangerousproducts

Nearly one-third of today’s global diseaseburden is attributed to a lack of food,unsafe food, and unhealthy diets.

Further, there’s been an increase intobacco and e-cigarette use in mostcountries, raising additional healthconcerns.

8. Underinvestment in Health Workers Chronic under - investment in the

education and employment of health


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workers, coupled with a failure to ensuredecent pay, has led to health workershortages all over the world. Thisjeopardizes health and social care servicesand sustainable health systems.

An additional 18 million health workers,including nine million nurses andmidwives, will be needed across the worldby 2030.

Keeping adolescents’ safe More than 1 million adolescents aged 10-

19 years die every year due to road injury,HIV, suicide, lower respiratory infections,and interpersonal violence.

A number of factors including harmfulalcohol use, unprotected sex, and lack ofphysical activity, increase the risks of thesetypes of death.

10. Earning public trust Public health is compromised by the

uncontrolled dissemination of misinfor-mation in social media, as well as throughan erosion of trust in public institutions.

11. Harnessing new technologies Genome editing, synthetic biology and

digital health technologies such as artificialintelligence can solve many problems, butalso raise new questions and challengesfor monitoring and regulation.

Without a deeper understanding of theirethical and social implications, these newtechnologies could harm the people theyare intended to help.

12. Protecting the medicines that protect us Anti-microbial resistance (AMR) has the

potential to undo decades of medicaladvancements and has increased due to anumber of factors, including limited accessto quality and low-cost medications,unregulated prescription and use ofantibiotics and poor infection preventioncontrol.

13. Keeping health care clean Roughly one in four health facilities

globally lack basic water services. The lackof these basics in health facilities leads topoor-quality care and an increased chanceof infection for patients and healthworkers.

All the challenges in the above listdemand support from all the relevantsectors and not the health sector alone.Governments, communities, andinternational agencies must work togetherto achieve these critical goals.

India ranked 117th on Women Businessand the Law (WBL) 2020 Index

Context: India placed 117th among 190 countries on

the Women Business and the Law (WBL)2020 Index to measure economicempowerment of women, released byWorld Bank on January 14, 2020.

Highlights of the Index India gained 4% year-on-year on its score

on the World Bank study of women,business and law (WBL) 2020 and scored74.4 on out of 100, a par with Benin andGambia but way below least developedcountries like Rwanda and Lesotho.

India overtook Maldives to command thehighest WBL score in the South Asian regionin 2020.


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Among the BRICS countries India’s score isonly second to the last. With a score of 88.1points, South Africa tops the WBL index,followed by Brazil at 81.9 points. Even asChina scored 1.2 points higher than Indiain the WBL index, its absolute scoredropped marginally over the previousyear.

The global average was 75.2 which is aslight increase from 73.9 in the previousindex released in 2017.

The study tracked “how laws affect womenat different stages in their working livesand focusing on those laws applicable inthe main business city”.

The Index is based on the countries’

formal laws and regulations that have abearing on women’s economicparticipation, covering eight areas (eg.parenthood, equality of pay). A survey wasconducted between June 2017 andSeptember 2019.

Only eight economies scored a perfect100 — Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France,Iceland, Latvia, Luxembourg, and Sweden.

The study finds that over time, reformsincreasing women’s equality ofopportunity contribute to more successfuleconomies, higher female labour forceparticipation and better developmentoutcomes.

About the Women, Business and Law (WBL)index:

WBL is a World Bank Groupproject collecting unique data on the lawsand regulations that restrict women’seconomic opportunities.

The World Bank study analyses laws andregulations affecting women’s economicopportunity in 190 economies across theeight indicators – mobility, workplace, pay,marriage, parenthood, entrepreneurship,assets and pension.

It is committed to informing research andpolicy discussions about the state ofwomen’s economic opportunities andempowerment.

Women, Business and the Law 2020 is thesixth in a series of studies that analyze laws


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and regulations affecting women’seconomic opportunity in 190 economies.It tracks how the law affects women atvarious stages in their lives, from the basicsof transportation to the challenges ofstarting a job and getting a pension.

The indicators are used to build evidenceof the relationship between legal genderequality and women’s entrepreneurshipand employment.

Global Social Mobility Index 2020Context: India has been ranked very low at 76th

place out of 82 countries on a new SocialMobility Index compiled by the WorldEconomic Forum, while Denmark hastopped the charts.

Highlights of the reportIndia Specific India ranked 76th out of 82 economies.

It ranks 41st in lifelong learning and 53rdin working conditions.

The Areas of improvement for Indiainclude social protection (76th) and fairwage distribution (79th).

India among the five countries that standto gain the most from a better socialmobility score that seeks to measure

parameters necessary for creating societieswhere every person has the same.

Global Scenario

The Nordic nations hold the top five spots,led by Denmark in the first place (scoring85 points), followed by Norway, Finlandand Sweden (all above 83 points) andIceland (82 points). Rounding out the top10 are the Netherlands (6th), Switzerland(7th), Austria (8th), Belgium (9th) andLuxembourg (10th).

While the five economies with the mostto gain from boosting social mobility areChina, the United States, India, Japan andGermany.

Among the world’s large emergingeconomies, the Russian Federation is themost socially mobile of the BRICS grouping,ranking 39th, with a score of 64 points. Nextis China (45th), followed by Brazil (60th),India (76th) and South Africa (77th).

Increasing social mobility by 10 percentwould benefit social cohesion and boostthe world’s economies by nearly 5 percentby 2030.

The most socially mobile societies in theworld are all European.

The report also makes a powerful case forstakeholder capitalism.


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It calls for a new financing model for socialmobility: Improving tax progressivity onpersonal income, policies that addresswealth concentration and broadlyrebalancing the sources of taxation cansupport the social mobility agenda.

What is social mobility? Social mobility is the movement of

individuals, families, households, or othercategories of people within or betweensocial strata in a society.

It is a change in social status relative toone’s current social location within a givensociety.

In absolute terms, it is the ability of a childto experience a better l ife than theirparents.

On the other hand, relative social mobilityis an assessment of the impact of socio-economic background on an individual’soutcomes in life.

It can be measured against a number ofoutcomes ranging from health toeducational achievement and income.

Is economic growth guarantee to socialmobility? No, the economic growth can lift entire

populations upward in terms of absoluteincome, but an individual’s status in societyrelative to others remains the same.

Significance of Social Mobility Social mobility levels can help to

understand both

1. the speed – that is, how long it takes forindividuals at the bottom of the scale tocatch up with those at the top.

2. the intensity – how many steps it takes foran individual to move up the ladder in agiven period – of social mobility.

The index considers what a country can doholistically to foster relative social mobilityfor all citizens, which is markedly differentfrom other methodologies.

The Global Social Mobility Index focuseson drivers of relative social mobilityinstead of outcomes. It looks at policies,practices and institutions. This allows it toenable effective comparisons throughoutregions and generations.

It uses 10 pillars, which in turn are brokendown into five determinants of socialmobility – health, education, technologyaccess, work opportunities, workingconditions and fair wages and finally, socialprotection and inclusive institutions.

Rising global economic divide: OxfamContext: A recent report published by Oxfam, the

international non-profit organisationfocussed on the alleviation of globalpoverty, has highlighted the dividebetween rich and poor in India.

Title of the report: ‘Time to Care: Unpaidand Underpaid Care Work and the GlobalInequality Crisis’.

Highlights of the Report: The world’s richest 1% have more than

twice as much wealth as 6.9 billion people. From 2011 to 2017, average wages in G7

countries grew 3%, while dividends towealthy shareholders increased by 31%.

Extreme poverty rates are 4% higher forwomen than men.

The gap rises to 22% during women’s peakproductive and reproductive ages due tochildcare responsibilities.


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42% of working age women are outsidethe paid labour force, compared with 6%of men, due to unpaid care responsi-bilities.

80% of the estimated 67 million domesticworkers worldwide are women.

An estimated 90% of domestic workershave no access to social security such asmaternity protection and benefits.

Women do 12.5 billion hours of unpaid carework every day, equivalent to 1.5 billionpeople working 8 hours a day with noremuneration.

India-specific facts: The report stated that India’s richest 1%

hold more than four times the wealth heldby the 953 million who make up for thebottom 70% of the country’s population.

The combined total wealth of 63 Indianbillionaires is higher than the total UnionBudget of India for the fiscal year 2018-19which was at Rs 24,42,200 crore.

Concerns raised by the report: Economic inequality is out of control and

has created a great divide in the world. Thisgreat divide is based on a flawed and sexisteconomic system which has accumulatedvast wealth and power into the hands of arich few. And they are also exploiting thelabour of women and girls, andsystematically violating their rights.

Comeback of Polio diseaseContext: The cases of comeback of polio has

alarmed the countries throughout theglobe, which require a high level ofpreparedness for preventing the polioinflux, especially from countries where itis not eradicated.

What is polio? Polio (also known as poliomyelitis) is

a highly contagious disease caused by avirus that attacks the nervous system.Children younger than 5 years old are morelikely to contract the virus than any othergroup.

Polio is transmitted through contaminatedwater or food, or contact with an infectedperson.

There are three variants of the polio virus,numbered 1 to 3.

For a country to be declared polio-free, wild transmission of all three kindshas to be stopped.

For eradication, cases of both wild andvaccine-derived polio infection to bereduced to zero.

Polio is still persistent in Afghanistan,Pakistan, and Nigeria.

Comeback of Polio: The United States Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention (CDC) published alist of Asian countries where poliooutbreaks have been reported.

These are Afghanistan, Myanmar, China,Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Papua NewGuinea and the Philippines. Except forAfghanistan and Pakistan, all thesecountries are new entrants into the list.

India’s Status: The last case due to wild poliovirus in the

country was detected on January 13, 2011.


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In January 2014, India was declared polio-free after three years on zero cases, anachievement that is widely believed tohave been spurred by the successful pulsepolio campaign.

Pulse Polio Abhiyan: India launched the Pulse Polio

immunisationprogramme in 1995, after aresolution for a global initiative of polioeradication was adopted by the WorldHealth Assembly (WHA) in 1988.

Ever since India is running an oralimmunisation drive by providing oral poliovaccine (OPV) which has a weakenedpoliovirus in children aged 0-5 years.

Since, some years India has introduced theinjectable polio vaccine in the UniversalImmunisationProgramme. This was toreduce chances of vaccine-derived polioinfection, which continues to happen inthe country.

What is vaccine-derived polio? Oral polio vaccine (OPV) contains

an attenuated (weakened) vaccine-virus,activating an immune response in thebody.

When a child is immunized with OPV, theweakened vaccine-virus replicates in theintestine for a limited period, therebydeveloping immunity by building upantibodies.

In very rare instances, the vaccine-viruscan genetically change into a form thatbehaves more like the wild or naturallyoccurring virus.

This means it can be spread more easily topeople who are unvaccinated against polioand who come in contact with it and hencecan paralyse humans– this is what is knownas a circulating vaccine-derivedpoliovirus (cVDPV).

NISHTHA initiativeContext: Union Minister for Human Resources

Development (MHRD) said the centralgovernment will bring about major reformsto revamp the education sector of Jammuand Kashmir.

Announcements: The National Initiative for School Heads &

Teachers’ Holistic Advancement, NISHTHA,was inaugurated in Srinagar recently,besides an e-inauguration of 45 projectsunder the education sector at a cost of 180crore rupees was done.

The projects include Indian Institute ofManagement (IIM) Srinagar, 25 SmartModel Schools, and Sheikh-ul-Alam Chairat Centre for Sheikh-ul-Alam Studies(Markaz-i Noor) and Laboratory Block (PEB)at University of Kashmir, besidesGovernment College of Engineering,Safapora and Government Degree College,Zakura.

The Smart Model Schools project is aimedat transforming government schools onmodern lines.

NISHTHA: National Initiative for School Heads’ and

Teachers’ Holistic Advancement is aninitiative to build capacities of teachers andschool principals at the elementary stage.


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The initiative is an Integrated TeacherTraining Programme of the Department ofSchool Education and Literacy, MHRD aspart of its National Mission to improvelearning outcomes at the Elementarylevel under the Centrally SponsoredScheme of SamagraShiksha during 2019-20.

Objective: To train 672 Key Resource Persons (KRPs)

and State Resources Persons, besidestraining 86,769 Teachers and Head Teachersat elementary level, to bring educationalsector reforms.

Coverage: Capacity building and training of

all teachers and Heads of Schools at theelementary level in all Governmentschools, faculty members of State Councilsof Educational Research and Training(SCERTs), District Institutes of Educationand Training (DIETs) as well as BlockResource Coordinators and ClusterResource Coordinators in all States and UTs.

Expected outcomes: Improvement in learning outcomes of the

students. Creation of an enabling and enriching

inclusive classroom environment Teachers become alert and responsive to

the social, emotional and psychologicalneeds of students as first level counsellors.

Teachers are trained to use Art aspedagogy leading to increased creativityand innovation among students.

Teachers are trained to develop and


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strengthen personal-social qualities ofstudents for their holistic development.

Creation of healthy and safe schoolenvironment.

Integration of ICT in teaching learning andassessment.

Developing stress free School BasedAssessment focused on development oflearning competencies.

Teachers adopt Activity Based Learningand move away from rote learning tocompetency based learning.

Teachers and School heads become awareof new initiatives in school education.

Transformation of the Heads of Schoolsinto providing academic andadministrative leadership for the schoolsfor fostering new initiatives.

INDIA COMMENCES WORLD’S LARGESTEVER VACCINATION PROGRAMME TOCONTROL FMD & BRUCELLOSIS IN 2019

Context The Government has launched a new

scheme National Animal Disease Control Programme for FMD and Brucellosis witha financial outlay of Rs. 13,343.00 crore forfive years (2019-20 to 2023-24) byvaccinating 100% cattle, buffalo, sheep,goat and pig population for FMD and 100%bovine female calves of 4-8 months of agefor brucellosis to prevent loss of Rs. 50,000crore to the Government exchequer andalso to increase the economic output offarmers.

Background The mission mode approach for

eradication of these diseases is the biggest step any country of the world has evertaken either for human or animal vaccination programme to control anydisease.

This programme combined with providingunique PashuAadhar to 535 million animals(Cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat, and pig).

About the nationwide artificial inseminationprogramme Nationwide Artificial Insemination

Programme for 20,000 bovine per districtfor 600 districts in the country was recentlylaunched by the Government in September, 2019 which is one of thelargest such programmes with 100% central assistance for undertaking breedimprovement.

In future, this will be expanded across allthe breedable bovine population of 600districts so that India achieves 70% AIcoverage.

Under NAIP, more than 11 lakhs AI has beendone as on 31.12.2019.

About Quality Milk Programme DAHD launched Quality Milk Programme

on 24.07.2019 with the objectives to achieve Global (Codex) standards fordomestic consumption of milk and ensuring traceability & increasing share ofmilk and milk products in world exports.

In the first phase of the programme during2019-20, approval has been granted forstrengthening of 231 dairy plants under“National Programme for DairyDevelopment” scheme to equip them todetect adulterants in mi lk (Urea,maltodextrin, ammonium sulphate,detergent, sugar, neutralisers etc.).

FTIR technology based Milk Analyser (foraccurate detection and estimation of milk


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composition and adulterants) to 139 dairyplants of 30,000 litre capacities and aboveand 92 Dairy Plants below 30,000 litrescapacity with Electronic Milk Analyser withadulteration testing equipment.

In addition one each of State Centrallaboratory for 18 States has been approved.

The total cost of the project was Rs.271.64crore. Out of this, an amount of Rs.128.56crore has been released to States as firstinstallment during 2019-20.

Once implemented in June 2020, all thecooperative dairy plants of the country willbe able to supply Quality Milk tested onall microbiological, chemical and physicalparameters to their consumers.

current bulletin - january 2020 social issues · 4/5/2020 · abhiyan and anaemia-mukt bharat. the...

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