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  • Tomato Flu cases found in India

    With cases of tomato flu reported from at least four states — Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, and Odisha — the Union Health Ministry has issued a set of guidelines on prevention, testing, and treatment of the infection.

    Researchers believe that it is a different clinical presentation of hand-foot-and mouth disease (HFMD) caused by a group of enteroviruses (viruses transmitted through the intestine).

    What is Tomato Flu?

    • Tomato flu or tomato fever is characterized by fever, joint pain, and red, tomato-like rashes usually seen in children below the age of five years.
    • This is accompanied by other symptoms of viral fevers such as diarrhoea, dehydration, nausea and vomiting, and fatigue.
    • This was thought to be an aftereffect of dengue and chikungunya that is commonly seen in Kerala.
    • However, researchers now believe that it is HFMD caused by enteroviruses like Coxsackievirus A-6 and A-16.

    Is it very uncommon?

    • Tomato flu could be an after-effect of chikungunya or dengue fever in children rather than a viral infection.
    • It could also be a new variant of the viral hand, foot, and mouth disease, a common infectious disease targeting mostly children aged 1–5 years and immunocompromised adults.
    • HFMD is not a new infection, we have read about it in our textbooks. It is reported from time to time across the country, but it is not very common.

    Why is the infection spreading now?

    • There actually are more cases or because we are more vigilant about viral infections and testing after Covid-19.
    • Since the disease is self-limiting, doctors do not usually test for it.
    • There are so many viral infections in children, but we cannot — and there is no need to — test for each and every one of it.

    Which pathogen is causing it now? And how is the clinical presentation different?

    • The current HFMD cases are mainly caused by Coxsackievirus A-6 and A-16.
    • Another pathogen — Enterovirus71 — that also causes the disease is not very prevalent now, according to her.
    • This is good because the pathogen was known to lead to severe neurologic symptoms, including fatal encephalitis (brain inflammation).
    • In almost all cases, say 99.9% cases, the disease is self-limiting.
    • But, in a small number of cases it can lead to CNS (central nervous system) complications.

    Is there a treatment for the infection?

    • There is no specific treatment or vaccine available for the disease.
    • Those with the infection are treated symptomatically, such as prescription of paracetamol for fever.

    How can the infection be prevented?

    • As it happens mainly in children, the Centre’s advisory focuses on preventions in these age groups.
    • As per the advisory, anyone suspected to have the infection should remain in isolation for five to seven days after the onset of the symptoms.
    • It states that children must be educated about the infection and asked not to hug or touch other children with fever or rashes.
    • The children should be encouraged to maintain hygiene, stop thumb or finger sucking, and use a handkerchief for a running nose, the advisory states.

     

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  • Data diplomacy

    Context

    • The government has withdrawn the Personal Data Protection Bill from Parliament after several amendments were proposed by the Joint-Parliamentary Committee.

    Definition of data

    • Data is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted.

    What is Data Protection?

    • Data protection refers to policies and procedures seeking to minimise intrusion into the privacy of an individual caused by collection and usage of their personal data.

    What is data localisation?

    • Data localization or data residency law requires data about a nation’s citizens or residents to be collected, processed, and/or stored inside the country, often before being transferred internationally.

    What is Data Governance?

    • Data governance is a collection of processes, roles, policies, standards, and metrics that ensure the effective and efficient use of information in enabling an organization to achieve its goals. Data governance defines who can take what action, upon what data, in what situations, using what methods.

    Interesting facts

    • Over 90% of all the data in the world was created in the past 2 years;
    • The total amount of data being captured and stored by industry doubles every 1.2 years;
    • If you burned all of the data created in just one day onto DVDs, you could stack them on top of each other and reach the moon – twice.

    Data sovereignty of India

    • Definition: India has placed itself at the heart of the battle, its foreign policy vision fuelled by the principle of ‘data sovereignty’—a broad notion that supports the assertion of sovereign writ over data generated by citizens within a country’s physical boundaries.
    • Issues: The ideal of “data sovereignty”, and global attempts to leverage it, has come under heavy criticism from various stakeholders who are of the view that the concept violates the principle of “free and open internet”. They also argue that “data sovereignty” hampers innovation and economic growth, and is a ruse for authoritarian digital governance.

    India’s Data Diplomacy: Three Pillars

    • Pillar 1: India’s data for India’s development

    The flagship ‘Digital India’ programme clearly views data as the cornerstone of India’s socioeconomic future—one where the government leverages the Indian citizen’s data for the benefit of the people themselves, and not solely for profit-making.

    • Pillar 2: Cross-border data flows and digital trade

    In keeping with its foreign policy tradition of actively shaping debates on global trade rules, India has been an active participant in the ongoing contestation on regulating cross-border data flows.

    • Pillar 3: Securitising the economic

    The final pillar of India’s data diplomacy has been predicated ostensibly on safeguarding its citizens’ data from external threats.

    Why data is important?

    • Improve People’s Lives: Data will help you to improve quality of life for people you support: Improving quality is first and foremost among the reasons why organizations should be using data.
    • Make Informed Decisions: Data = Knowledge. Good data provides indisputable evidence, while anecdotal evidence, assumptions, or abstract observation might lead to wasted resources due to taking action based on an incorrect conclusion.
    • Stop Molehills from Turning into Mountains: Data allows you to monitor the health of important systems in your organization: By utilizing data for quality monitoring, organizations are able to respond to challenges before they become full-blown crisis.
    • Get The Results You Want: Data allows organizations to measure the effectiveness of a given strategy: When strategies are put into place to overcome a challenge, collecting data will allow you to determine how well your solution is performing, and whether or not your approach needs to be tweaked or changed over the long-term.

    Conclusion

    • The fulcrum of India’s data diplomacy should be predicated on the rule of law and the genuine protection of fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution. A commitment to the rule of law and accountability for all actors sets India apart from present adversaries like China and offers an opportunity to burnish its reputation globally.

    Mains question

    Q.Data is considered as new gold across the globe in this context analyse data sovereignty along with status of data diplomacy of India.

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  • Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC): the Digital Rupee

    Reports have said the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) digital rupee — the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) — may be introduced in phases beginning with wholesale businesses in the current financial year.

    What is Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)?

    • CBDC is a central bank issued digital currency which is backed by some kind of assets in the form of either gold, currency reserves, bonds and other assets, recognised by the central banks as a monetary asset.
    • The present concept of CBDCs was directly inspired by Bitcoin, but a CBDC is different from virtual currency and cryptocurrency.
    • Cryptocurrencies are not issued by a state and lack the legal tender status declared by the government.

    What is Currency chest?

    Currency in India is managed by Currency chest. Currency chest is a place where the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stocks the money meant for banks and ATMs. These chests are usually situated on the premises of different banks but administrated by the RBI.

    Why India needs a digital rupee?

    • Online transactions: India is a leader in digital payments, but cash remains dominant for small-value transactions.
    • High currency in circulation: India has a fairly high currency-to-GDP ratio.
    • Cost of currency management: An official digital currency would reduce the cost of currency management while enabling real-time payments without any inter-bank settlement.

    Why is CBDC preferred over Cryptocurrency?

    • Sovereign guarantee: Cryptocurrencies pose risks to consumers.  They do not have any sovereign guarantee and hence are not legal tender.
    • Market volatility: Their speculative nature also makes them highly volatile.  For instance, the value of Bitcoin fell from USD 20,000 in December 2017 to USD 3,800 in November 2018.
    • Risk in security: A user loses access to their cryptocurrency if they lose their private key (unlike traditional digital banking accounts, this password cannot be reset).
    • Malware threats: In some cases, these private keys are stored by technical service providers (cryptocurrency exchanges or wallets), which are prone to malware or hacking.
    • Money laundering: Cryptocurrencies are more vulnerable to criminal activity and money laundering.  They provide greater anonymity than other payment methods since the public keys engaging in a transaction cannot be directly linked to an individual.
    • Regulatory bypass: A central bank cannot regulate the supply of cryptocurrencies in the economy.  This could pose a risk to the financial stability of the country if their use becomes widespread.
    • Power consumption: Since validating transactions is energy-intensive, it may have adverse consequences for the country’s energy security (the total electricity use of bitcoin mining, in 2018, was equivalent to that of mid-sized economies such as Switzerland).

    Features of CBDC

    • High-security instrument: CBDC is a high-security digital instrument; like paper banknotes, it is a means of payment, a unit of account, and a store of value.
    • Uniquely identifiable: And like paper currency, each unit is uniquely identifiable to prevent counterfeit.
    • Liability of central bank: It is a liability of the central bank just as physical currency is.
    • Transferability: It’s a digital bearer instrument that can be stored, transferred, and transmitted by all kinds of digital payment systems and services.

    Key benefits offered

    • Faster system: CBDC can definitely increase the transmission of money from central banks to commercial banks and end customers much faster than the present system.
    • Financial inclusion: Specific use cases, like financial inclusion, can also be covered by CBDC that can benefit millions of citizens who need money and are currently unbanked or banked with limited banking services
    • Monetary policy facilitation: The move to bring out a CBDC could significantly improve monetary policy development in India.
    • Making of a regional currency: In the cross border payments domain, India can take a lead by leveraging digital Rupee especially in countries such as Bhutan, Saudia Arabia and Singapore where NPCI has existing arrangements.

    Others:

    • It is efficient than printing notes (cost of printing, transporting, and storing paper currency)
    • It reduces the risk of transactions
    • It makes tax collection transparent
    • Prevents money laundering

    Issues involved with CBDC

    • Innovation with centralization: The approach of bringing a sovereign digital currency stands in stark contrast to the idea of decentralization.
    • Liability on RBI:  when bank customers wish to convert their deposits into digital rupee, the RBI will have to take these liabilities from the books of banks and onto its own balance sheet.
    • Inflationary risk: Central banks would indulge in issuing more digital currencies which could potentially trigger higher inflation.
    • User adoption: User adoption could also pose a major setback for the smooth roll out of the CBDC in India. The main challenges would always be user adoption and security.
    • Reduced savings: Many, including various central bankers, fear that people may begin withdrawing money from their bank accounts as digital currencies issued by Central banks become more popular.
    • Volatility: the risk is higher and there is more price volatility and lesser acceptance as a money instrument globally, unless the trust factor and investor protection factors change.

    Way forward

    • The launch of CBDCs may not be a smooth affair and still requires more clarity in India. There are still a lot of misconceptions about the concept of digital currency in the country.
    • The effectiveness of CBDCs will depend on aspects such as privacy design and programmability.
    • There is a huge opportunity for India to take a lead globally via a large-scale rollout and adoption of digital currencies.

     

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  • What are Cloudbursts? Why are they rising across India?

    Over 20 people have been killed in destruction caused by cloudbursts and flash floods in different parts of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand over the last three days.

    What are Cloudbursts?

    • A cloudburst is a localised but intense rainfall activity.
    • Short spells of very heavy rainfall over a small geographical area can cause widespread destruction, especially in hilly regions where this phenomenon is the most common.
    • Not all instances of very heavy rainfall, however, are cloudbursts.
    • A cloudburst has a very specific definition: Rainfall of 10 cm or more in an hour over a roughly 10 km x 10-km area is classified as a cloudburst event.
    • By this definition, 5 cm of rainfall in a half-hour period over the same area would also be categorized as a cloudburst.

    How is it different from normal rainfall?

    • To put this in perspective, in a normal year, India, as a whole, receives about 116 cm of rainfall over the entire year.
    • This means if the entire rainfall everywhere in India during a year was spread evenly over its area, the total accumulated water would be 116 cm high.
    • There are, of course, huge geographical variations in rainfall within the country, and some areas receive over 10 times more than that amount in a year.
    • But on average, any place in India can be expected to receive about 116 cm of rain in a year.
    • During a cloudburst event, a place receives about 10% of this annual rainfall within an hour.

    How common are cloudbursts?

    • Cloudbursts are not uncommon events, particularly during the monsoon months.
    • Most of these happen in the Himalayan states where the local topology, wind systems, and temperature gradients between the lower and upper atmosphere facilitate the occurrence of such events.
    • However, not every event that is described as a cloudburst is actually, by definition, a cloudburst.
    • That is because these events are highly localized.
    • They take place in very small areas which are often devoid of rainfall measuring instruments.

    Why are they so destructive?

    • The consequences of these events, however, are not confined to small areas.
    • Because of the nature of terrain, the heavy rainfall events often trigger landslides and flash floods, causing extensive destruction downstream.
    • This is the reason why every sudden downpour that leads to destruction of life and property in the hilly areas gets described as a “cloudburst”, irrespective of whether the amount of rainfall meets the defining criteria.
    • At the same time, it is also possible that actual cloudburst events in remote locations aren’t recorded.

    Can cloudbursts be forecasted?

    • The India Meteorological Department forecasts rainfall events well in advance, but it does not predict the quantum of rainfall — in fact, no meteorological agency does.
    • The forecasts can be about light, heavy, or very heavy rainfall, but weather scientists do not have the capability to predict exactly how much rain is likely to fall at any given place.
    • Additionally, the forecasts are for a relatively large geographical area, usually a region, a state, a meteorological sub-division, or at best a district.
    • As they zoom in over smaller areas, the forecasts get more and more uncertain.
    • Theoretically, it is not impossible to forecast rainfall over a very small area as well, but it requires a very dense network of weather instruments and computing capabilities that seem unfeasible with current technologies.
    • As a result, specific cloudburst events cannot be forecast. No forecast ever mentions a possibility of a cloudburst.
    • But there are warnings for heavy to very heavy rainfall events, and these are routinely forecast four to five days in advance.
    • Possibility of extremely heavy rainfall, which could result in cloudburst kind of situations, are forecast six to 12 hours in advance.

    Are cloudburst incidents increasing?

    • There is no long-term trend that suggests that cloudbursts, as defined by the IMD, are rising.
    • What is well established, however, is that incidents of extreme rainfall, as also other extreme weather events, are increasing — not just in India but across the world.
    • While the overall amount of rainfall in India has not changed substantially, an increasing proportion of rainfall is happening in a short span of time.
    • That means that the wet spells are very wet, and are interspersed with prolonged dry spells even in the rainy season.
    • This kind of pattern, attributed to climate change, does suggest that cloudburst events might also be on the rise.

     

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  • Pandurang Khankhoje: Ghadarite revolutionary and a hero of Mexico

    Lok Sabha Speaker, who is currently in Canada for the 65th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference, will travel to Mexico where he will unveil statues of Swami Vivekananda and Maharashtra-born freedom fighter and agriculturalist Pandurang Khankhoje.

    Who was Pandurang Khankhoje (1883-1967)?

    • Born in Wardha, Maharashtra, in the late 19th century, Pandurang Khankhoje came in contact with other revolutionaries early on.
    • As a student, Khankhoje was an ardent admirer of the French Revolution and of the American War of Independence.
    • Closer to home, the Hindu reformer Swami Dayanand and his Arya Samaj movement, which called for a spirit of reform and social change, became the hero to a young student group led by Khankhoje.

    Revolutionary activities abroad

    • Khankhoje decided to go abroad for further training in revolutionary methods and militaristic strategy.
    • At this time, the British government’s suspicions of him were also growing due to his anti-government activities.
    • Before leaving, he visited Bal Gangadhar Tilak, by whom he was inspired.
    • Tilak advised him to go to Japan, which was itself a strong, anti-West Asian imperialistic force then.
    • After spending time with nationalists from Japan and China, Khankhoje eventually moved to the US, where he enrolled in college as a student of agriculture.

    Participation in the Indian independence movement

    • Khankhoje was one of the founding members of the Ghadar Party, established by Indians living abroad in 1914, mostly belonging to Punjab.
    • Its aim was to lead a revolutionary fight against the British in India.
    • While in the US, Khankhoje met Lala Har Dayal, an Indian intellectual teaching at Stanford University.
    • Har Dayal had begun a propaganda campaign, publishing a newspaper that featured patriotic songs and articles in the vernacular languages of India.
    • This was the seed from which the Ghadar Party would emerge.

    How did Khankhoje reach Mexico?

    • At the military academy, Khankhoje met many people from Mexico.
    • The Mexican Revolution of 1910 had led to the overthrow of the dictatorial regime, and this inspired Khankhoje.
    • He also reached out to Indians working on farms in the US with the aim of discussing the idea of Indian independence with them.
    • Along with the Indian workers, militant action was planned by Khankhoje in India, but the outbreak of the First World War halted these plans.
    • He then reached out to Bhikaji Cama in Paris, and met with Vladimir Lenin in Russia among other leaders, seeking support for the Indian cause.

    Association with Mexico

    • As he was facing possible deportation from Europe and could not go to India, he sought shelter in Mexico.
    • Soon, in part due to his prior friendship with Mexican revolutionaries, he was appointed a professor at the National School of Agriculture in Chapingo, near Mexico City.
    • He researched corn, wheat, pulses and rubber, developing frost and drought-resistant varieties, and was part of efforts to bring in the Green Revolution in Mexico.
    • Later on, the American agronomist Dr Norman Borlaug, called the Father of the Green Revolution in India, brought the Mexican wheat variety to Punjab.
    • Khankhoje was revered as an agricultural scientist in Mexico.

    Return to India

    • Both Pandurang and Jean returned to India after 1947.
    • His application for visa was initially rejected by the Indian government due to the ban by the British Indian Government, but was eventually overturned.
    • He settled in Nagpur and subsequently embarked on a political career.
    • Pandurang Khankhoje died on 22 January 1967.

    Back2Basics: Ghadar Party

    Founder: Sohan Singh Bhakna, 15 July 1913

    • The Ghadar Movement was an early 20th century, international political movement founded by expatriate Indians to overthrow British rule in India.
    • Earlier activists had established a ‘Swadesh Sevak Home’ in Vancouver and a ‘United India House’ in Seattle to carry out revolutionary activities. Finally, in 1913, the Ghadr was founded.
    • The Ghadar Party, originally known as the Pacific Coast Hindustan Association, was founded on July 15, 1913 in the US by Lala Har Dayal, Sant Baba Wasakha Singh Dadehar, Baba Jawala Singh, Santokh Singh, and Sohan Singh Bhakna.
    • The Ghadar party drew a sizable following among Indian expatriates in the United States, Canada, East Africa, and Asia.
    • It fought against colonialism from 1914 to 1917, with the support of Imperial Germany and the Ottoman Empire, both of which were Central Powers opposed to the British.
    • The party was organized around the weekly newspaper The Ghadar, which featured the masthead caption: Angrezi Raj Ka Dushman (an enemy of British rule); “Wanted brave soldiers to stir up rebellion in India,” the Ghadar declared.

     

  • Tribute to women freedom fighters

    Context

    • Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech underlined the role of women veeranganas in our freedom movement. The initiative highlighting the brave women of our freedom struggle, under the broader celebration of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, will mark a turning point in Indian feminist history writing from an Indic perspective.

    What veerangana means?

    • Veerangana means a brave female, someone who can fight for their rights. A strong woman not only protects herself, but protects others too.

    Veerangana’s in freedom struggle

    Rani Laxmibai

    • The queen of the princely state of Jhansi, Rani Laxmibai is known for her role in the First War of India’s Independence in 1857.
    • Refusing to cede her territory, the queen decided to rule on behalf of the heir, and later joined the uprising against the British in 1857.
    • Cornered by the British, she escaped from Jhansi fort. She was wounded in combat near Gwalior’s Phool Bagh, where she later died.
    • Sir Hugh Rose, who was commanding the British army, is known to have described her as “personable, clever…and one of the most dangerous Indian leaders”.

    Jhalkari Bai

    • A soldier in Rani Laxmibai’s women’s army, Durga Dal, she rose to become one of the queen’s most trusted advisers.
    • She is known for putting her own life at risk to keep the queen out of harm’s way.
    • Till date, the story of her valour is recalled by the people of Bundelkhand, and she is often presented as a representative of Bundeli identity.

    Durga Bhabhi

    • Durgawati Devi, who was popularly known as Durga Bhabhi, was a revolutionary who joined the armed struggle against colonial rule.
    • A member of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha, she helped Bhagat Singh escape in disguise from Lahore after the 1928 killing of British police officer John P Saunders.
    • Later, as revenge for the hanging of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev, she made an unsuccessful attempt to kill the former Punjab Governor, Lord Hailey.

    Rani Gaidinliu

    • Born in 1915 in present-day Manipur, Rani Gaidinliu was a Naga spiritual and political leader who fought the British.
    • She joined the Heraka religious movement which later became a movement to drive out the British. She rebelled against the Empire, and refused to pay taxes, asking people to do the same.
    • The British launched a manhunt, but she evaded arrest, moving from village to village.
    • Gaidinliu was finally arrested in 1932 when she was just 16, and later sentenced for life. She was released in 1947.
    • Then PM Nehru described Gaidinliu as the “daughter of the hills”, and gave her the title of ‘Rani’ for her courage.

    Rani Chennamma

    • The queen of Kittur, Rani Chennamma, was among the first rulers to lead an armed rebellion against British rule.
    • Kittur was a princely state in present-day Karnataka.
    • She fought back against the attempt to control her dominion in 1824 after the death of her young son. She had lost her husband, Raja Mallasarja, in 1816.
    • She is seen among the few rulers of the time who understood the colonial designs of the British.
    • Rani Chennamma defeated the British in her first revolt, but was captured and imprisoned during the second assault by the East India Company.

    Begum Hazrat Mahal

    • After her husband, Nawab of Awadh Wajid Ali Shah, was exiled after the 1857 revolt, Begum Hazrat Mahal, along with her supporters, took on the British and wrested control of Lucknow.
    • She was forced into a retreat after the colonial rulers recaptured the area.

    Velu Nachiyar

    • Many years before the revolt of 1857, Velu Nachiyar waged a war against the British and emerged victorious. Born in Ramanathapuram in 1780, she was married to the king of Sivagangai.
    • After her husband was killed in battle with the East India Company, she entered the conflict, and won with support of neighbouring kings.
    • She went on to produce the first human bomb as well as establish the first army of trained women soldiers in the late 1700s.
    • Her army commander Kuyili is believed to have set herself ablaze and walked into a British ammunition dump.
    • She was succeeded by her daughter in 1790, and died a few years later in 1796.

    Conclusion

    • The veeranganas are a potent symbol of nationalism and patriotism. They can overturn oppressive attitudes towards women in society. Their role and celebration in popular culture also refutes the colonial allegations about the suppression of women throughout Indian history. But it is essential to discover, rewrite and reinterpret the role and representation of these heroic women in the liberation of the motherland.

     

    Mains question

    Q. The veerangana’s are a potent symbol of nationalism and patriotism. They can overturn oppressive attitudes towards women in society. Discuss examples of them showing how they inspire women’s today.

     

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  • ‘Kerala Savari’: India’s first online taxi service as a public option

    Kerala has soft launched ‘Kerala Savari’, the country’s first online taxi service owned by a State government, to ensure fair and decent service to passengers along with fair remuneration to auto-taxi workers.

    What is Kerala Savari?

    • Operated by the Motor Workers Welfare Board under the aegis of the Labour Department, the Kerala Savari ensures safe travel for the public at ‘government approved fares’ without any ‘surge pricing’.
    • The ‘Kerala Savari’ app would be made available to the public on online platforms shortly as it is under the scrutiny of Google now.

    Why such initiative?

    • The alleged unfair trade practices and violation of consumer rights by private app-based cab aggregators have come as a major concern for governments.
    • Recently, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) had issued notices to cab aggregators Ola and Uber for unfair trade practices and violation of consumer rights which include:
    1. Charging exorbitant fares during peak hours
    2. Unprofessional behaviour from the part of drivers
    3. Lack of proper response from customer support, and
    4. Undue levy of cancellation charges despite the cab driver refusing to accept the ride booked by the passenger etc.
    • It is against this backdrop that the Kerala government has decided to come up with an app-based platform to offer auto-taxi service for the public.

    What are the main attractions of ‘Kerala Savari’?

    • There will be no fluctuation in fares on Kerala Savari irrespective of day or night or rain.
    • But Kerala Savari only 8% service charge in addition to the rate set by the government, whereas the private cab aggregators charge up to 20 to 30% service charge.

    What are the security-related features of ‘Kerala Savari’?

    • Kerala Savari is claimed as a safe and reliable online service for women, children, and senior citizens.
    • This consideration has been given importance in app designing and driver registration.
    • A police clearance certificate is mandatory for drivers joining the scheme apart from the required proper training.
    • A panic button system has been introduced in the app.
    • It has also been decided to install GPS in vehicles at a subsidised rate.

    Will the new government initiative end the monopoly of private cab aggregators?

    • Kerala has over five lakh autorickshaws and one lakh cabs.
    • The State government plans to bring all auto-taxi workers engaged in the sector under the new platform.
    • Since smartphone literacy is high in Kerala, the State is hopeful of bringing them under the scheme in a short span of time.
    • In addition, the Kerala government has also decided to provide fuel, insurance, and tyre subsidies for vehicle owners in the future and has already initiated talks with major companies in this regard.
    • After the evaluation of the first phase of the project in Thiruvananthapuram, it will be extended to the entire State in a phased manner.
    • Kerala Savari is expected to reach Kollam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Kozhikode, and Kannur municipal limits within a month.
    Regulation of Cab Aggregators in India

    • The Motor Vehicles Amendment Act 2019 seeks to regulate Cab aggregators in India
    • It’s the first time cab aggregators have got statutory recognition as “digital intermediaries” or “transport aggregators”.
    • They are now defined as marketplaces that can be used by passengers to connect with a driver for moving from one place to another.
    • The Centre will issue broad guidelines from time to time and the states will rely on them to frame their own rules to regulate the industry.
    • The aggregators will also have to comply with the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
    • This means they will have to follow rules on storing data safely to protect the identity of users.

     

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  • Tigray Crisis in Ethiopia

    The director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), described the Tigray crisis region as the “worst humanitarian disaster on earth”.

    What is the news?

    • Ethiopia has been on the brink of a civil war.
    • On Nov 4 2020, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed declared war on the country’s Tigray region.
    • The Tigray region is ruled by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
    • The war was declared in response to the TPLF’s attack on a federal military base in Tigray.

    Tigray Crisis: A backgrounder

    • The animosity between Tigrayans and Eritrea goes back to the Ethiopian-Eritrean war that occurred between 1998 and 2000.
    • It occurred approximately two decades ago was extremely brutal and resulted in the deaths of thousands of soldiers.
    • The roots of this crisis can be traced to Ethiopia’s system of government. Since 1994, Ethiopia has had a federal system in which different ethnic groups control the affairs of 10 regions.
    • The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) – was influential in setting up this system.
    • It was the leader of a four-party coalition that governed Ethiopia from 1991, when a military regime was ousted from power.
    • Under the coalition, Ethiopia became more prosperous and stable, but concerns were routinely raised about human rights and the level of democracy.

    How did it escalate into a crisis?

    • Eventually, discontent morphed into protest, leading to a government reshuffle that saw Mr Abiy appointed PM.
    • Abiy liberalized politics, set up a new party (the Prosperity Party), and removed key Tigrayan government leaders accused of corruption and repression.
    • Meanwhile, Abiy ended a long-standing territorial dispute with neighbouring Eritrea, earning him a Nobel Peace Prize in 2019.
    • These moves won Abiy popular acclaim, but caused unease among critics in Tigray.
    • Tigray’s leaders see Abiy’s reforms as an attempt to centralize power and destroy Ethiopia’s federal system.

    How bad is the humanitarian situation?

    • Tigray and its neighbouring regions are facing starvation.
    • There is an absence of medical facilities, no access to their own money due to shut-down banking services, ethnic and physical violence, and raids at the hands of warring forces.
    • The government declared a ceasefire on humanitarian grounds but in an effort to break the TPLF in June last year, imposed a blockade on Tigray.
    • This made it impossible to deliver humanitarian, economic, and medical assistance to Tigrayans.

    Also read:

    [Burning Issue] Ethiopian Crisis and the Geopolitics

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  • Anganwadi scheme

    Context

    • The economic fallout of COVID-19 makes the necessity of quality public welfare services more pressing than ever.
    • The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme is one such scheme.

    What is ICDS?

    • ICDS caters to the nutrition, health and pre-education needs of children till six years of age as well as the health and nutrition of women and adolescent girls.

    What is anganwadi scheme?

    • The scheme was started in 1975 and aims at the holistic development of children and empowerment of mother.
    • It is a Centrally-Sponsored scheme. The scheme primarily runs through the Anganwadi centre. The scheme is under the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

    Need for focus on early childhood care and education (ECCE)

    • Low enrolment: The National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5) finds only 13.6 per cent of children enrolled in pre-primary schools.
    • Weakest link: With its overriding focus on health and nutrition, ECCE has hitherto been the weakest link of the anganwadi system.
    • Low awareness: Unfortunately, due to a lack of parental awareness compounded by the daily stresses of poverty, disadvantaged households are unable to provide an early learning environment.

    Data to remember

    According to government data, the country has 13.77 lakh Anganwadi centres (AWCs).

    A meaningful ECCE programme in anganwadis

    • Activity-based framework which reflect local context: To design and put in place a meaningful activity-based ECCE framework that recognises the ground realities with autonomy to reflect the local context and setting.
    • Remove non-ICDS work: Routine tasks of anganwadi workers can be reduced and non-ICDS work, such as surveys, removed altogether.
    • Extend Anganwadi time: Anganwadi hours can be extended by at least three hours by providing staff with an increase in their present remuneration, with the additional time devoted for ECCE.
    • Change in policy mindset: ICDS needs a change in policy mindset, both at central and state levels, by prioritising and monitoring ECCE.
    • Engagement with parents: Anganwadi workers must be re-oriented to closely engage with parents, as they play a crucial role in the cognitive development of young children.

     

    Case study / value addition

    In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, anganwadi centres have been geotagged to improve service delivery.

    Gujarat has digitised the supply chain of take-home rations and real-time data is being used to minimise stockouts at the anganwadi centres.

    Way forward

    • Government must act on the three imperatives. First, while infrastructure development and capacity building of the anganwadi remains the key to improving the programme, the standards of all its services need to be upscaled.
    • Second, states have much to learn from each other’s experiences.
    • Third, anganwadi centres must cater to the needs of the community and the programme’s workers.

    Conclusion

    • Nearly 1.4 million anganwadis of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) across India must provide ECCE for the millions of young children in low-income households.

    Mains question

    Q. Some educationists have suggested that owing to the high workload of anganwadi workers, ECCE in anganwadis would remain a non-starter. Critically examine this statement and give dynamic suggestions to improve EECE in anganwadis.

     

     

     

  • What is India’s policy on the Rohingya?

    In a major boost to India’s policy on the Rohingya, the MHA would shift Rohingya refugees to flats meant for EWS in Delhi.

    Why in news?

    • This is seen as a response to the fundamentalists who claims that the NRC, CAA are against any particular community.
    • India respects & follows the UN Refugee Convention 1951 & provides refuge to all, regardless of their race, religion or creed.

    Who are the Rohingyas?

    • Rohingya, an ethnic group, mostly Muslim, hail from the Rakhine province of west Myanmar, and speak a Bengali dialect.
    • They comprise one million out of the 53 million people that live in Myanmar, forming the world’s largest stateless population in a single country.
    • Universally reviled by the country’s Buddhist majority, they have been oppressed by the government since the late 1970s when the government launched a campaign to identify ‘illegal immigrants’.
    • Serious abuses were committed, forcing as many as 250,000 Rohingya refugees to flee to Bangladesh.
    • The 1982 Citizenship Law in former Burma made the Rohingyas stateless people.
    • They have often been called the most persecuted minority in the world.
    • The 1.1 million Rohingya Muslims squeezed precariously into the northwest state of Rakhine, in mainly Buddhist Burma, bordering majority Muslim Bangladesh, are stateless and unwanted.

    Why are they stateless?

    • To qualify for citizenship, Rohingya applicants had to renounce their identity and accept being labelled as ‘Bengalis’ on all official documents.
    • They also had to prove that they could trace the presence of their family in Rakhine back three generations.
    • This is extremely difficult as many Rohingya lack documents or had lost them in 2012.

    Why did the Crisis happen?

    • Since World War II they have been treated increasingly by Burmese authorities as illegal, interloping Bengalis, facing apartheid-like conditions that deny them free movement or state education.
    • The army “clearing operations” sparked the mass exodus of Rohingyas in both October 2016.
    • In August 2017, were launched after insurgents known as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) attacked several paramilitary check posts.
    • Rohingya activists claim the insurgents are mainly young men who have been pushed to breaking point by relentless oppression.

    Security Implications

    • The Rohingya issue and its spill over impact on Myanmar`s western peripheral region and security implications figured in the discussions is not clear.
    • In all probability, the import of the ferment caused by the Rohingya migration, efforts of radical Islamists to influence some of the Rohingya youth, and the Pakistan attempts to capitalise on the situation.
    • Rising anger in the Muslim world about the plight of the Rohingya has compounded fears of home-grown militancy as well as support from international jihadists.
    • Illegal movement of people, combined with human trafficking and cross-border migration, can weaken Myanmar’s relations with its neighbour Bangladesh and its ASEAN partners.

    Where do the Rohingya live in Delhi?

    • The Rohingya live in hutments in the densely populated Kalindi Kunj and Madanpur Khadar areas in Delhi which are contiguous with Uttar Pradesh.
    • Officially, about 1,200 Rohingya have been identified as among the first batch to have arrived in Delhi in 2012.
    • After they protested outside the UNHCR (UN Refugee Agency) office in Delhi, they were provided with refugee cards.

    Total Rohingyas in India

    • In December 2017, the MHA informed Parliament that there are around 40,000 Rohingya in India, of which around 5,700 are in Jammu and also in Telangana, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Rajasthan.
    • Of these, only 16,000 are said to be registered with the UN refugee agency.
    • The MHA claimed that the exact number is not known as many of them enter the country.

    How is the Delhi government involved?

    • The Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO), responsible for tracking foreigners and their visas, has been requesting space at a new location for the Rohingya from the Delhi government since 2021.
    • The FRRO is under the administrative control of the MHA.

    When did the Rohingya come to Delhi?

    • A/c to MHA, they first came to Delhi in 2012.
    • They were forced to leave Myanmar in large numbers after several waves of violence, which first began in 2012.
    • The Myanmar army revived the attacks in 2017 and lakhs took shelter in Bangladesh.
    • Around five lakh Rohingya fled to Saudi Arabia in 2012.

    What is the process of deportation?

    • According to the MHA, illegal immigrants are detected, detained and deported under provisions of the Passport Act, 1920 or the Foreigners Act, 1946.
    • Once a ‘foreigner’ has been apprehended by the police for staying illegally, without any document, he or she is produced before the local court.
    • The powers to identify and deport them have also been delegated to State governments and UTs.
    • If the accused is found guilty, they can be imprisoned for three months to eight years.
    • After completing their sentence, the court orders deportation.

    Have any Rohingya been deported?

    • Any foreign nationals who enter into India without valid travel documents are treated as illegal immigrants.
    • In 2018, seven Rohingya were deported to Myanmar.
    • It was the first time that Myanmar issued a certificate of identity to the seven Rohingya. They had been picked up in Assam in 2012.
    • Many Rohingyas have expressed their desire to return to their country and gave an undertaking that they were returning out of their free will.

    India’s stance on Rohingyas

    • Amid fears of fresh exodus of Rohingya from Myanmar, the MHA in 2017 cautioned all the States about infiltration from Rakhine State of Myanmar into Indian Territory.
    • It cited the burden on the limited resources of the country that aggravates the security challenges especially in the North-East.
    • It also said the rise in terrorism in the last few decades is a cause for concern in most nations and that illegal migrants are more vulnerable to getting recruited by terrorist organisations.

    What is India’s stand on refugees?

    • India is NOT a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol.
    • All foreign undocumented nationals are governed as per the provisions of:
    1. The Foreigners Act, 1946
    2. The Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939
    3. The Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 and
    4. The Citizenship Act, 1955

    Way forward: A humane approach is needed

    • India must enact a National Asylum and Deportation Law. Since certain exoduses cannot be prevented due to international pressures.
    • We need a proper framework to make sure that refugees can access basic public services, be able to legally seek jobs and livelihood opportunities for some source of income.
    • The absence of such a framework will make the refugees vulnerable to exploitation, which is again detrimental to our own national security.
    • Our judiciary has already shown the way forward on this: In 1996, the Supreme Court ruled that the state has to protect all human beings living in India, irrespective of nationality since they enjoy the rights guaranteed by Articles 14, 20, and 21 of the Constitution to all, not just Indian citizens.
    • The enactment and enumeration of refugee rights will reduce our dependence on judge-centric approaches — or even worse, the whims of Home Ministry bureaucrats, police officers and politicians.

    Try this

    Q. In the absence of a uniform and comprehensive law to deal with asylum seekers, we lack a clear vision or policy on refugee management. In the context of this, examine the need for law to deal with asylum seeker and suggest the various aspects the law should cover. 

     

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