Mains Ready By December. Smash Mains & Smash PYQ Admissions Open
Talk to Mentor

Civilsdaily

GS Paper: GS2

  • Dealing with the problems of medical education

    The article discusses the issues with medical education in India and how it affects the principle of equality.

    Role of private entities

    • Due to demand for high-quality medical care on the one hand and constraints on public resources on the other, private entities have been permitted to establish medical educational institutions to supplement government efforts.
    • In the field of health care, there is a continuing shortage of health-care personnel.
    • The infrastructure required for high-quality modern medical education is expensive.
    • The three stated objectives of medical education has been — providing health-care personnel in all parts of the country, ensuring quality and improving equity.
    • None of the three stated objectives of medical education has been achieved by the private sector.
    • Though they are supposed to be not-for-profit, taking advantage of the poor regulatory apparatus and the ability to both tweak and create rules, these private entities, with very few exceptions, completely commercialised education.

    Demand for regulation and equity

    • There have been attempts to regulate fees, sometimes by governments and sometimes by courts.
    •  These efforts have not been fruitful.
    • The executive, primarily the Medical Council of India, has proven unequal to the task of ensuring that private institutions comply with regulations.
    •  When the courts are approached, which issues are seen as important depends on the Bench.
    • It was in this situation that led to the introduction of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate), or NEET-UG, as a single all-India gateway for admission to medical colleges.
    •  Challenged in courts, after an initial setback, the NEET scheme has been upheld.

    How NEET affected equity

    • NEET may have improved the quality of candidates admitted to private institutions to some extent, but it seems to have further worsened equity.
    • Under any scheme of admission, the number of students from government schools who are able to get admission to a medical college is very low.
    • With NEET, the number has become lower.
    • The high fees of private medical colleges have always been an impossible hurdle for students from government schools, whatever the method used for admission.

    Way forward

    • The basic cause of inequity in admission to higher educational institutions is the absence of a high quality school system accessible to all.
    • Allowing government medical colleges to admit students based on marks in Standard XII and using NEET scores for admission to private colleges will be more equitable right now.

    Conclusion

    Only a resolute government, determined to ensure that economic policy facilitates quality and equity in education, can do it.

  • Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, 2020

    The Centre moved to standardize protocols of the growing fertility industry and introduced the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, 2020, in Lok Sabha on the first day of the monsoon session of Parliament.

    Try this question for mains:

    Q. What is Assisted Reproductive Technology? Discuss the salient features of ART Regulation Bill, 2020?

    Features of the ART Regulation Bill, 2020

    (1) Defining ART

    • The Bill defines ART to include all techniques that seek to obtain a pregnancy by handling the sperm or the oocytes (immature egg cell) outside the human body and transferring the gamete or the embryo into the reproductive system of a woman.
    • Examples of ART services include gamete (sperm or oocyte) donation, in-vitro-fertilisation (fertilising an egg in the lab), and gestational surrogacy (the child is not biologically related to surrogate mother).
    • ART services will be provided through: (i) ART clinics, which offer ART related treatments and procedures, and (ii) ART banks, which store and supply gametes.

    (2) Regulation of ART clinics and banks

    • The Bill provides that every ART clinic and the bank must be registered under the National Registry of Banks and Clinics of India.
    • The National Registry will be established under the Bill and will act as a central database with details of all ART clinics and banks in the country.
    • State governments will appoint registration authorities for facilitating the registration process.
    • Clinics and banks will be registered only if they adhere to certain standards (specialised manpower, physical infrastructure, and diagnostic facilities).
    • The registration will be valid for five years and can be renewed for a further five years. Registration may be cancelled or suspended if the entity contravenes the provisions of the Bill.

    (3) Conditions for gamete donation and supply

    • Screening of gamete donors, collection and storage of semen, and provision of oocyte donor can only be done by a registered ART bank.
    • A bank can obtain semen from males between 21 and 55 years of age, and oocytes from females between 23 and 35 years of age.
    • An oocyte donor should be an ever-married woman having at least one alive child of her own (minimum three years of age).
    • The woman can donate oocyte only once in her life and not more than seven oocytes can be retrieved from her.
    • A bank cannot supply gamete of a single donor to more than one commissioning couple (couple seeking services).

    (4) Conditions for offering ART services

    • ART procedures can only be carried out with the written informed consent of both the party seeking ART services as well as the donor.
    • The party seeking ART services will be required to provide insurance coverage in the favour of the oocytes donor (for any loss, damage, or death of the donor).
    • A clinic is prohibited from offering to provide a child of pre-determined sex. The Bill also requires checking for genetic diseases before the embryo implantation.

    (5) Rights of a child born through ART 

    • A child born through ART will be deemed to be a biological child of the commissioning couple and will be entitled to the rights and privileges available to a natural child of the commissioning couple.
    • A donor will not have any parental rights over the child.

    (6) National and State Boards

    • The Bill provides that the National and State Boards for Surrogacy constituted under the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019 will act as the National and State Board respectively for the regulation of ART services.
    • Key powers and functions of the National Board include:
    1. advising the central government on ART related policy matters,
    2. reviewing and monitoring the implementation of the Bill,
    3. formulating code of conduct and standards for ART clinics and banks, and
    4. overseeing various bodies to be constituted under the Bill
    • The State Boards will coordinate enforcement of the policies and guidelines for ART as per the recommendations, policies, and regulations of the National Board.

    (7) Offences and penalties

    • Offences under the Bill include:

    (i) abandoning, or exploiting children born through ART, (ii) selling, purchasing, trading, or importing human embryos or gametes, (iii) using intermediates to obtain donors, (iv) exploiting commissioning couple, woman, or the gamete donor in any form, and (v) transferring the human embryo into a male or an animal.

    • These offences will be punishable with a fine between five and ten lakh rupees for the first contravention.
    • For subsequent contraventions, these offences will be punishable with imprisonment for a term between eight and 12 years, and a fine between 10 and 20 lakh rupees.
    • Any clinic or bank advertising or offering sex-selective ART will be punishable with imprisonment between five and ten years, or fine between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 25 lakh, or both.
    • No court will take cognizance of offences under the Bill, except on a complaint made by the National or State Board or any officer authorised by the Boards.

    With inputs from PRS: https://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/assisted-reproductive-technology-regulation-bill-2020

  • Gilgit-Baltistan: The land of peaks, streams and disputes

    Seven decades after it took control of the region, Pakistan is moving to grant full statehood to Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), which appears as the northernmost part of the country in its official map.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. If you travel through the Himalayas, you are likely to see which of the following plants naturally growing there?

    1. Oak
    2. Rhododendron
    3. Sandalwood

    Select the correct option using the code given below:

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 3 only

    (c) 1 and 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

    Pak occupation of GB

    • During the first Indo-Pak war of October 1947, Pakistan occupied 78,114 sq km of the land of Jammu and Kashmir, including the ‘Northern Areas’.
    • The Northern Areas is the other name of Gilgit-Baltistan that Pakistan has used for administrative reasons because it was a disputed territory.
    • This November, Pakistan will pave the way for fuller political rights for the roughly 1.2 million residents of the region, which will become the fifth State of Pakistan after Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

    GB through history

    • One of the most mountainous regions in the world that is rich with mines of gold, emerald and strategically important minerals, GB is known for its extraordinary scenic beauty, diversity and ancient communities and languages.
    • The political nature of Gilgit-Baltistan has been directionless from the beginning.
    • Pakistan initially governed the region directly from the central authority after it was separated from ‘Azad Jammu and Kashmir’ on April 28, 1949.
    • On March 2, 1963, Pakistan gave away 5,180 sq km of the region to China, despite local protests.
    • Under Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the name of the region was changed to the Federally Administered Northern Areas (FANA).
    • Pakistan passed the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self Governance Order in 2009, which granted “self-rule” to the ‘Northern Areas’.

    Sense of alienation

    • GB is largely an underdeveloped region.
    • One of the main reasons for the rebellion in the region in 1947 was the sense of alienation that the population felt towards the Dogra rulers of Srinagar, who operated under the protection of the British government.

    It’s geographical features

    • It’s home to K-2, the second tallest mountain in the world.
    • Tourism remains restricted by many factors, including military hostility, though the region has some of the ancient Buddhist sculptures and rock edicts.
    • It is also home to an old Shia community, which often finds itself subjected to persecution in Pakistan’s urban centres.
    • At present, a Governor and an elected Chief Minister rule the region, which is divided into Gilgit, Skardu, Diamer, Astore, Ghanche, Ghizer and Hunza-Nagar.

    Indian protest

    • Following Pakistan’s announcement of holding the legislative election in Gilgit-Baltistan, India reiterated its territorial sovereignty over the region.
    • India has consistently opposed Pakistan’s activities in Gilgit-Baltistan. It also opposed the announcement of the commencement of the Diamer-Bhasha dam in July this year.
    • There have been local and international concerns as reports suggest priceless Buddhist heritage will be lost once the dam is built.
    • India has objected to the use of Gilgit-Baltistan to build and operate the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

    GB resists

    • Gilgit-Baltistan in recent years has witnessed sporadic protests against Islamabad.
    • The protests were fuelled by the loss of land and livelihood of the locals to mega projects that are being championed by Pakistan and its international partners like China.
    • There is a growing feeling that full statehood will help the locals fight their battles inside Pakistan on an equal basis.
    • On the other hand, there is a widespread feeling that Pakistan, under pressure from China, is firming up its control over Gilgit-Baltistan, eventually creating conditions for the declaration of the LoC as the International Border.

    China’s vested interest

    • Gilgit-Baltistan is important for China as it is the gateway for the CPEC.
    • Significantly, the ongoing stand-off with China at the LAC in Eastern Ladakh has a Gilgit-Baltistan connection.
    • The Darbuk-Shyok-DBO road of India is viewed as a tactical roadway to access the Karakoram Pass, which provides China crucial access to Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan.
    • Full statehood for the region may give Pakistan a political and legal upper hand and strengthen China’s position in the region.

  • Moving away from parliamentary scrutiny

    The article discusses the important role played by the various committees and their significance.

    Committee system for legislative scrutiny

    • Over the years, the Indian Parliament has increasingly adopted the committee system as did the other democracies in the world.
    • This helped in housekeeping, to enhance the efficacy of the House to cope with the technical issues confronting it and to feel the public pulse.
    • But the committee approach also helped to guard its turf and keep it abreast to exercise accountability on the government.

    Important role played by the committees

    • Committees are the guardians of the autonomy of the House: consider the role of committees of scrutiny and oversight.
    • In the discharge of their mandate, the committee can solicit expert advice and elicit public opinion.
    • Besides the standing committees, the Houses of Parliament set up, from time to time, ad hoc committees to enquire and report on specific subjects which include Select Committees of a House or Joint Select Committees of both the Houses.
    • Departmentally-related Standing Committees (DRSCs)  were envisaged to be the face of Parliament in a set of inter-related departments and ministries.

    Issues

    • Committees of scrutiny and advice, both standing and ad hoc, have been confined to the margins or left in the lurch in the last few years.
    • While 60% of the Bills in the 14th Lok Sabha and 71% in the 15th Lok Sabha were wetted by the DRSCs concerned, this proportion came down to 27% in the 16th Lok Sabha.
    • The government has shown extreme reluctance to refer Bills to Select Committees of the Houses or Joint Parliamentary Committees.

    Conclusion

    The government must not forget that the primary role of Parliament is deliberation, discussion and reconsideration, the hallmarks of democratic institutions, and not a platform that endorses decisions already arrived at.

    Back2Bascis: Parliamentary Committees

    Broadly, they are classified into two categories — standing committees and ad hoc committees.

    1) Standing Committees

    • As the name suggests, these committees cover all the ministries and departments of the Government of India.
    • Standing committees are more permanent in nature, and are constituted from time to time in pursuance of the provisions of an Act of Parliament or Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha.
    • The standing committees are further divided into financial committees and departmentally-related standing committees (DRSCs).
    • There are 24 DRSCs in total — 16 from Lok Sabha and 8 from the Rajya Sabha.
    • Financial committees are of three kinds — the estimates committee, the public accounts committee and the committee on public undertakings.

    2) Ad hoc committees

    • Ad hoc committees are appointed for a specific purpose and they cease to exist after they finish the task assigned to them and submit a report.
    • These include advisory committees and inquiry committees.
    • Advisory committees include select and joint committees on bills.
    • Inquiry committees are constituted to inquire into a specific issue and report on it.

  • World Bank’s Human Capital Index 2020

    India has been ranked at the 116th position in the latest edition of the World Bank’s annual Human Capital Index that benchmarks key components of human capital across countries.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.As per UN-Habitat’s Global Report on Human Settlements 2009, which one among the following regions has shown the fastest growth rate of urbanization in the last three decades?

    (a) Asia

    (b) Europe

    (c) Latin America and Caribbean

    (d) North America

    Highlights of the 2020 rankings

    • The 2020 Human Capital Index update includes health and education data for 174 countries — covering 98 per cent of the world’s population — up to March 2020.
    • It provides a pre-pandemic baseline on the health and education of children, with the biggest strides made in low-income countries.

    Impact of the pandemic

    • The analysis shows that pre-pandemic, most countries had made steady progress in building the human capital of children, with the biggest strides made in low-income countries.
    • The pandemic puts at risk the decade’s progress in building human capital, including the improvements in health, survival rates, school enrollment, and reduced stunting.
    • The economic impact of the pandemic has been particularly deep for women and for the most disadvantaged families, leaving many vulnerable to food insecurity and poverty.
    • Due to the pandemic’s impact, most children — more than 1 billion — have been out of school and could lose out, on average, half a year of schooling, adjusted for learning, translating into considerable monetary losses.
    • Data also shows significant disruptions to essential health services for women and children, with many children missing out on crucial vaccinations.

    India’s performance

    • India’s score increased to 0.49 from 0.44 in 2018, as per the Human Capital Index report released by the World Bank.
    • Last year, India had raised “serious reservations” over the Human Capital Index, wherein India was ranked 115 out of 157 countries.
    • This year India finds itself at 116th from among 174 countries.

    Back2Basics: Human Capital Project

    1. As part of this World Development Report (WDR), the World Bank has launched a Human Capital Project (HCP).
    2. The HCP programme is claimed to be a program of advocacy, measurement, and analytical work to raise awareness and increase demand for interventions to build human capital.
    3. There are three components of HCP:
    • a cross-country human capital measurement metric called the Human Capital Index (HCI),
    • a programme of measurement and research to inform policy action
    • a programme of support for country strategies to accelerate investment in human capital.

    Human Capital Index (HCI)

    1. The HCI has been constructed for 157 countries.
    2. It claims to seek to measure the amount of human capital that a child born today can expect to attain by age 18.
    3. The HCI has three components:
      • Survival: as measured by under-5 mortality rates
      • Expected years of Quality-Adjusted School: which combines information on the quantity and quality of education
      • Health environment: Using two proxies of (a) adult survival rates and (b) the rate of stunting for children under age 5. 

    HDI vs. HCI

    1. UNDP constructs Human Development Index (HDI) for several years.
    2. The HCI uses survival rates and stunting rate instead of life expectancy as a measure of health, and quality-adjusted learning instead of merely years of schooling as a measure of education.
    3. HCI also excludes per capita income whereas the HDI uses it.

  • National Medical Commission

    The National Medical Commission (NMC) has replaced the Medical Council of India (BoG-MCI), as per information released by the Health Ministry.

    National Medical Commission

    • National Medical Commission (NMC) is an Indian regulatory body of 33 members which regulates medical education and medical professionals.
    • It replaced the Medical Council of India (MCI) on 25 September 2020.
    • The Commission grants recognition of medical qualifications, gives accreditation to medical schools, grants registration to medical practitioners, and monitors medical practice and assess the medical infrastructure in India.
    • The NMC will have four separate autonomous boards: under-graduate medical education, post-graduate medical education, medical assessment and rating and ethics and medical registration.

    It’s legal backing

    • The NITI Aayog had recommended the replacement of MCI with NMC.
    • The decision was approved by most states and after its approval by the Prime Minister and NMC bill was passed by parliament and approved by President on 8 August 2019.
    • National Medical Commission ordinance was brought in to replace Medical Council of India in early 2019 through an ordinance issued in January 2019 by the President of India.
    • The Supreme Court had allowed the Central Government to replace the medical council and with the help of five specialized doctors monitor the medical education system in India, from July 2017.
    • The government dissolved the MCI in 2018 and Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 (102 of 1956) stands repealed.

  • India needs a China plan

    The article discusses the issue of dealing with China in the aftermath of clashes on the border.

    Understanding the importance of Tibet

    • Tibet is the roof of the world, with vast mineral and natural resources.
    • The mighty rivers that emanate from its expansive glaciers — such as the Brahmaputra, the Yangtse, the Yellow river, the Mekong, the Salween and the Indus — together with thousands of their tributaries have nurtured civilisations in peripheral countries for centuries.
    • The Kailash Mansarovar is centered in this region.
    • In an act of naked aggression, China occupied Tibet in 1959.
    • A buffer was eliminated, and the de facto boundary of China became contiguous to that of India.
    • That boundary was deliberately left undemarcated to enable further expansion.

    Understanding China’s stand

    • China has land borders with 14 neighbours covering an estimated 22,100 kilometres.
    • Post-independence, and as its economic status increased, so did its military muscle.
    • China embarked on claims based on perceived imbalances of treaties forced on countries when they were weak.
    • Some of these have since been resolved after bloody clashes such as with Russia and Vietnam, while others have been resolved using a combination of lucrative offers.
    • Russia accepted half of China’s claim, Kazakhstan was given lucrative economic deals, Kyrgyzstan retained 70% of the land, ceding just 30%, and so on.

    Way forward

    • The road ahead will have to be evolved and based on a study of the manner in which China has negotiated its boundary disputes with 12 of its neighbours.
    • Under the prevailing circumstances, it has become imperative to form a group of experts.
    • This group will plan and prepare, short-, medium- and long-term goals to achieve them within a suggested time frame.

     Conclusion

    Let us play down the rhetoric and adopt a pragmatic approach. It can no longer be a part-time issue to be addressed only when a crisis occurs. The crisis is upon us now.

  • What are Lok Adalats?

    A daily wager in Odisha has moved the Lok Adalat against PM after he allegedly failed to get an Aadhaar card registered in his name despite 21 attempts.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. With reference to National Legal Services Authority, consider the following statements:

    1. Its objective is to provide free and competent legal services to the weaker sections of the society on the basis of equal opportunity.
    2. It issues guidelines for the State Legal Services Authorities to implement the legal programmes and schemes throughout the country.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) Both 1 and 2

    (d) Neither 1 nor 2

    What are Lok Adalats?

    • Lok Adalat (People’s Court) is an alternative dispute resolution mechanism.
    • The forum can settle cases pending on panchayat or at a pre-litigation stage in a court of law.
    • The decisions have statutory status under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.
    • Under this Act, the award (decision) made by the Lok Adalats is deemed to be a case of a civil court, final and binding for all parties, and not subject to appeal.
    • It has broad powers to devise its procedures, compared to national courts.
    • If the parties do not recognise the Lok Adalat (though there is no provision for an appeal against such a prize), they may initiate litigation by approaching the court of appropriate jurisdiction.

  • What is a Yo-Yo Test?

    In his interaction with fitness experts and influencers the PM asked about the yo-yo test, that is a vital part of the Indian cricket team’s fitness routine.

    Try this MCQ:

    Q.The Yo-Yo test sometimes seen in news is related to:

    Sports/ Healthcare/ Robotics/ Automation

    What is the Yo-Yo test?

    • The test was developed by Danish football physiologist Jens Bangsbo.
    • Two cones are placed 20 metres apart, and the athlete has to run between them when the beep goes off.
    • The beeps become more frequent after one minute, and if the athlete fails to reach the line within that time, he is expected to catch up within two more beeps.
    • The test is stopped if the player fails to catch up before the beeps run out.
    • The test has a beginner and an advanced level, and players are given scores. The minimum score set by the Board of Control for Cricket in India to pass the test is 16.1.

  • Weighing in on the efficacy of female leadership

    The article analyses the issue of women representation and leadership.

    Role of female leaders in pandemic

    • Germany, Taiwan and New Zealand have women heading their governments.
    • Three countries seem to have managed the pandemic much better than their neighbours.
    • A detailed recent study by researchers in the United States reports that States which have female governors had fewer COVID-19 related deaths.
    •  The authors of the study conclude that women leaders are more effective than their male counterparts in times of crises.

    Role of women as pradhans in gram panchayats

    • Women leaders perform significantly better than men in implementing policies that promote the interests of women.
    • This was demonstrated in study conducted by Nobel Laureate Esther Duflo and co-author Raghabendra Chattopadhyay.
    • They used the system of mandated reservations of pradhans in gram panchayats to test the effectiveness of female leadership.
    • Study concluded that pradhans invested more in rural infrastructure that served better the needs of their own gender.
    • This is also an important goal from the perspective of gender equality.

    Underrepresentation of women in politics

    •  Female members make up only about 10% of the total ministerial strength in India.
    • The underrepresentation of female Ministers in India is also reflected in the fact that there is only one female Chief Minister.
    • Despite this, women constitute just over 14% of the total strength of the Lok Sabha.
    • This gives us the dismal rank of 143 out of 192 countries for which data are reported by the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

    State of Women’s Reservation Bill

    • Women running for elections face numerous challenges, it is essential to create a level-playing field through appropriate legal measures.
    • Attempts have also been made to extend quotas for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies through a Women’s Reservation Bill.
    •  Male members from several parties opposed the Bill on various pretexts.
    • Although the Rajya Sabha did pass the bill in 2010, the Lok Sabha and the State legislatures are yet to give their approval.
    • 24 years that have passed since it was first presented in the Lok Sabha.

    Way forward

    • Political parties can sidestep the logjam in Parliament by reserving say a third of party nominations for women.

    Conclusion

    There is substantial evidence showing that increased female representation in policy making goes a long way in improving perceptions about female effectiveness in leadership roles. This decreases the bias among voters against women candidates, and results in a subsequent increase in the percentage of female politicians contesting and winning elections.