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  • Health Sector – UHC, National Health Policy, Family Planning, Health Insurance, etc.

    Weighing in on a health data retention plan

    | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    Context

    The National Health Authority (NHA) — the body responsible for administering the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) — has initiated a consultation process on the retention of health data by healthcare providers in India. The consultation paper asks for feedback on what data is to be retained, and for how long.

    Issues with the policy for healthcare data retention

    • Risk of over-collection: A simple classification system, as suggested in the consultation paper, exposes individuals to harms arising from over-collection and retention of unnecessary data.
    • At the same time, this kind of one-size-fits-all system can also lead to the under-retention of data that is genuinely required for research or public policy needs.
    • Instead, we should seek to classify data based on its use. 

    Do we need a policy for the mandatory retention of health data?

    • Currently, service providers can compete on how they handle the data of individuals or health records, in theory, each of us can choose a provider whose data policies we are comfortable with.
    • Whether the state should mandate a retention period at all is an open question.
    • Given the landscape of healthcare access in India, including through informal providers, many patients may not think about this factor in practice.
    • Nonetheless, the decision to take the choice out of the individual’s hands should not be taken lightly.

    Balancing the policy for public health data retention with the right to privacy

    • Four-part test for privacy: The Supreme Court of India has clarified that privacy is a fundamental right, and any interference into the right must pass a four-part test: legality; legitimate aim; proportionality, and appropriate safeguards.
    • Health data and privacy: The mandatory retention of health data is one such form of interference with the right to privacy.
    • 1] Legality: In this context, the question of legality becomes a question about the legal standing and authority of the NHA.
    • Since the NHA is not a sector-wide regulator, it has no legal basis for formulating guidelines for healthcare providers in general.
    • 2]Legitimate aim: The aim of data retention is described in terms of benefits to the individual and the public at large.
    • Benefits to the individuals: Individuals benefit through greater convenience and choice, created through portability of health records.
    • The broader public benefits through research and innovation, driven by the availability of more and better data to analyse.
    • Risk involved: Globally, legal systems consider health data particularly sensitive, and recognise that improper disclosure of this data can expose a person to a range of significant harms. 
    • Benefits must be clearly defined: As per Indian law, if an individual’s rights are to be curtailed due to anticipated benefits, such benefits cannot be potential or speculatory: they must be clearly defined and identifiable.
    • 3] Proportionality: This is the difference between saying that data on patients with heart conditions will help us better understand cardiac health — a vague explanation — and being able to identify a specific study that will include data from that patient.
    • It would further mean demonstrating that the study requires personally identifiable information, rather than just an anonymous record — the latter flowing from the principle of proportionality, which requires choosing the least intrusive option available.
    • 4] Safeguard: Standards for anonymisation are still developing.
    • We are not yet able to rule out the possibility of anonymised data still being linked back to specific individuals.
    • In other words, even anonymisation may not be the least intrusive solution to safeguarding patients’ rights in all scenarios.

    Way forward

    • Clear and specific case for retention: The test for retaining data should be that a clear and specific case has been identified for such retention, following a rigorous process run by suitable authorities.
    • Anonymise data: A second safeguard would be to anonymise data that is being retained for research purposes — again, unless a specific case is made for keeping personally identifiable information.
    • If neither of these is true, the data should be deleted.
    • Express and informed consent: An alternate basis for retaining data can be the express and informed consent of the individual in question.
    • User-based classification process: Health-care service providers — and everyone else — will have to comply with the data protection law, once it is adopted by Parliament.
    • The current Bill already requires purpose limitation for collecting, processing, sharing, or retaining data; a use-based classification process would thus bring the ABDM ecosystem actors in compliance with this law as well.

    Consider the question “What are the advantages and concerns with the retention of public health data? Suggest the ways to ensure the privacy-centric public health data retention policy.”

    Conclusion

    A privacy-centric process is needed to determine what data to retain and for how long.

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  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-SCO

    India- Central Asia Relations

    | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    Context

    The inaugural India-Central Asia Summit, the India-Central Asia Dialogue, and the Regional Security Dialogue on Afghanistan in New Delhi — all held over the past four months — collectively indicate a renewed enthusiasm in New Delhi to engage the Central Asian region.

    Significance of Central Asia for India

    • India has limited economic and other stakes in the region, primarily due to lack of physical access.
    • And yet, the region appears to have gained a great deal of significance in India’s strategic thinking over the years, particularly in the recent past.
    • New geopolitical realities: India’s mission Central Asia today reflects, and is responsive to, the new geopolitical, if not the geo-economic, realities in the region.

    Factors driving India’s engagement

    • One of the factors driving this engagement and shaping it is the great power dynamics there.
    • Withdrawal of the US from Afghanistan: The decline of American presence and power in the broader region (due primarily to the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan) has led to a reassertion by China and Russia seeking to fill the power vacuum.
    • India-Russia relations: Moscow considers India to be a useful partner in the region: it helps it to not only win back New Delhi, which is moving towards the U.S., but also to subtly checkmate the rising Chinese influence in its backyard.
    • For the U.S., while growing India-Russia relations is not a welcome development, it recognises the utility of Moscow-New Delhi relations in Central Asia to offset Beijing’s ever-growing influence there.
    • India’s dilemma:  In the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, New Delhi faces a major dilemma in the wider region, not just in the pre-existing theatres like the Line of Control and the Line of Actual Control.
    • India’s China challenge: India in the region might get further hemmed in due to the combined efforts by China, Pakistan and Taliban-led Afghanistan.
    • If so, it must ensure that there is no China-led strategic gang up with Pakistan and the Taliban against India in the region, which, if it becomes a reality, would severely damage Indian interests.
    • Consolidation of Afghan policy: India’s engagement of Central Asia would also help it to consolidate its post-American Afghan policy.
    • Now that the Taliban have returned to Kabul, New Delhi is forced to devise new ways of engaging Afghanistan.
    • That’s where the Central Asian Republics (CARs) and Russia could be helpful. 
    • The announcement of a Joint Working Group on Afghanistan during the summit between India and the CARs is surely indicative of such interest.

    Russia’s prominence

    • In India’s current vision for a regional security architecture, Russia appears prominent
    • Countering China: By courting Russia — its traditional partner, also close to China and getting closer to Pakistan — to help it re-establish its presence in the Central Asian region, India is seeking to work with one of the region’s strongest powers and also potentially create a rift between China and Russia.
    • Joint defence production by India and Russia has been on the rise and the CARs could play a key role in it.
    • India’s non-critical stance on developments in Ukrain and Kazakhstan: This growing India-Russia partnership also explains India’s non-critical stance on the developments in Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

    Challenges in India’s engagement with Central Asia

    • China’s dominance in the region:  China, which shares a land border with the region, is already a major investor there.
    • Iran’s role: An even bigger challenge for India may be Iran.
    • India’s best shot at reaching the CARs is by using a hybrid model – via sea to Chabahar and then by road/rail through Iran (and Afghanistan) to the CARs.
    •  So, for New Delhi, the ongoing re-negotiations on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action are of crucial importance.
    • While Iran getting close to the West is not preferred by Russia (but preferred by India), if and when it becomes a reality, India would be able to use it to its advantage and join Russia in engaging the CARs.
    • Delivering on the commitment: Most importantly, India will have to walk the talk on its commitments to Central Asia.
    • Does it have the political will, material capability and diplomatic wherewithal to stay the course in the region?

    Conclusion

    India’s renewed engagement of Central Asia is in the right direction for the simple reason that while the gains from an engagement of Central Asia may be minimal, the disadvantages of non-engagement could be costly in the longer run.

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  • WTO and India

    What is TRIPS Agreement?

    IOCR | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    India runs the risk of being excluded from a proposal it co-authored at the World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations, in 2020, to “temporarily waive” intellectual property rights (IPR) held, by primarily Western countries, on vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics for COVID-19.

    What is the case?

    • India and China are two major global suppliers of medicine.
    • A small group of WTO members was discussing suggestions to exclude drug manufacturers in India and China from prospective waivers to IPR obligations.
    • IPR obligations are a result of the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) which WTO members are committed to upholding.

    What is the Agreement on TRIPS?

    • The Agreement on TRIPS is an international legal agreement between all the member nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
    • It establishes minimum standards for the regulation by national governments of different forms of intellectual property (IP) as applied to nationals of other WTO member nations.
    • TRIPS was negotiated at the end of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) between 1989 and 1990 and is administered by the WTO.
    • It introduced intellectual property law into the multilateral trading system for the first time and remains the most comprehensive multilateral agreement on intellectual property to date.

    Key provisions

    • TRIPS requires member states to provide strong protection for intellectual property rights.
    • It seeks to provide copyright rights, covering authors and other copyright holders, as well as holders of related rights, namely performers, sound recording producers, and broadcasting organizations.
    • It provides for geographical indications (GI); industrial designs; integrated circuit layout designs; patents; new plant varieties; trademarks; trade names and undisclosed or confidential information.
    • It also specifies enforcement procedures, remedies, and dispute resolution procedures.
    • TRIPS also has a most favored nation (MFN) clause.

    Why TRIPS?

    • The obligations of the main international agreements of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that already existed before the WTO was created:
    1. Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (patents, industrial designs, etc)
    2. Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (copyright).
    • Some areas are not covered by these agreements. In some cases, the standards of protection prescribed were thought inadequate.
    • So the TRIPS Agreement adds significantly to existing international standards.

    What else is covered under TRIPS Agreement?

    • Copyright terms must extend at least 50 years unless based on the life of the author.
    • Computer programs must be regarded as “literary works” under copyright law and receive the same terms of protection.
    • Patents must be granted for “inventions” in all fields of technology and must be enforceable for at least 20 years.

     

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  • Medical Education Governance in India

    Legislative Powers of Governor

    | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Federalism

    Tamil Nadu CM has charged that the Governor that he had failed to perform the duty vested in him by the Constitution when it came to deciding on the Bill adopted in the Legislative Assembly against the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).

    What is the issue?

    • The Governor had returned the Bill to the Assembly Speaker instead of forwarding it for Presidential assent.

    Constitutional Powers of the Governor

    • Article 154: The executive power of the state shall be vested in the
      governor and shall be exercised by him either directly or through
      officers subordinate to him in accordance with this Constitution.
    • Article 163 (1): There shall be a council of ministers with the chief minister as the head to aid and advise the governor in the exercise of his functions, except in so far as he is required to exercise his functions in his discretion.
    • Article 163 (2): If any question arises whether a matter falls within the governor’s discretion or not, the decision of the governor is final and the validity of anything done by him cannot be called in question on the ground that he ought or ought not to have acted in his discretion.
    • The governor has constitutional discretion in the following cases:
      a) Reservation of a bill for the consideration of the President (Articles 200 and 201).
      b) Recommendation for the imposition of the President’s Rule in the state (Article 356).
      c) While exercising his functions as the administrator of an adjoining Union territory (in case of an additional charge).
      d) Special responsibility in 5th and 6th schedule areas.
      e) Seeking information from the chief minister with regard to the administrative and legislative matters of the state.
    • Also, the governor has situational discretion (i.e., the hidden discretion derived from the exigencies of a prevailing political situation) in the following cases:
      a) Appointment of the chief minister when no party has a clear-cut majority in the state legislative assembly or when the chief minister in office dies suddenly and there is no obvious successor.
      b) Dismissal of the council of ministers when it cannot prove the confidence of the state legislative
      assembly.
      c) Dissolution of the state legislative assembly if the council of ministers has lost its majority.

    What are the Legislative Powers of Governor?

    Governor summons the sessions of both houses of the state legislature and prorogues them.

    • The governor can even dissolve the State Legislative Assembly.
    • These powers are formal and the governor’s use of these powers must comply with the advice of the Council of Ministers headed by the Chief Minister.
    • He addresses the first session of the state legislature after the general elections in the state.

    Appointments to the legislature

    • He appoints 1/6th members of the State Legislative Council in states wherever there is a bicameral legislature.
    • He nominates one member in the state legislative assembly from the Anglo-Indian Community if in view; the community is not well represented.
    • Governor is empowered under Article 192 to disqualify a member of the State legislature when the election commission recommends that the legislator is no longer complying with provisions of Article 191.

    Passing of Bills

    • All the bills passed by the state legislatures are sent to the Governor for assent.
    • Once a bill is sent to Governor for assent, he can:
      a) Give assent to the bill
      b) Withhold the assent
      c) Return the bill to the legislature for reconsideration if it is not a money bill.
      d) If the bill is re-passed by the legislature with or without amendment, the governor has to give assent to the bill.
      e) Reserve the bill for consideration of the President.

    When is the Bill sent to the President?

    This is done under the circumstances when a bill:

    1. Violates the constitution or against directive principles of state policy (DPSP)
    2. Conflict with union powers
    3. Against the larger interest of the country and people
    4. May endanger the position of the high court in the state.

    Ordinance making power

    • When the state legislature is not in session and the governor considers it necessary to have a law, then the governor can promulgate ordinances.
    • These ordinances are submitted to the state legislature at its next session.
    • They remain valid for no more than six weeks from the date the state legislature is reconvened unless approved by it earlier.

    Others

    • As per Articles 165 and 177, Governor can ask the Advocate General to attend the proceedings of both houses of the state legislature and report to them any unlawful functioning if any.

    Concerns with the role of governor

    • Misuse of discretionary powers: States allege that this provision has often been misused by the governor who acts on the behest of the union government which is opposed to the basic scheme of the Indian Constitution.
    • Appointment by centre: This often leads to the appointment of persons aligning with the party’s ideology to the post of Governor and he/she remains faithful to the Union government of the day rather than acting on the advice of the State Executive.
    • Arbitrary removal: Even after Supreme Court Judgement in B.P. Singhal v. Union of India calling for a fixed tenure for Governors to encourage neutrality and fairness in the discharge of their duties, it is not being implemented on the ground.

     

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  • Innovations in Sciences, IT, Computers, Robotics and Nanotechnology

    What are Artificial Neural Networks (ANN)?

    Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

    This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in TH.

    What are ANN?

    • The concept behind an ANN is to define inputs and outputs, feed pieces of inputs to computer programs that function like neurons and make inferences or calculations.
    • It then forwards those results to another layer of computer programs and so on, until a result is obtained.
    • As part of this neural network, a difference between intended output and input is computed at each layer and this difference is used to tune the parameters to each program.
    • This method is called back-propagation and is an essential component to the Neural Network.

    Setting up of ANNs

    • Instead of CPUs, Graphic Processing Units (GPU) which are good at performing massive parallel tasks can be used for setting up ANNs.
    • A few free ANN frameworks are TensorFlow, Keras, PyTorch and Theano.
    • These can be used for both normal Machine Learning tasks like classification or clustering and for Deep Learning/ANN tasks.

    Why called Neural Network?

    • Neuron is the building block of the brain and it inspired computer scientists from the 1950s to make a computer perform tasks like a brain does.
    • It is not a simple problem and the clue to its complexity is in the brain structure.

    Why ANN?

    Ans. Making an artificial brain

    • We need billions of artificial neurons if we were to build an artificial brain.
    • With the increase in computing power, mimicking billions of neurons is now possible.

    Popularity of ANNs

    • Data Science, used interchangeably with Machine Learning, is the computer technology that uses data to detect patterns.
    • Hand-written digit recognition is a good example of machine learning.
    • However, in order for the computer to do this task, large amounts of sample data need to be manually labelled as examples of images of digits.
    • The ANN mentioned above with its backpropagation does exactly this.
    • This is why ANNs have become hugely popular in the past decade. This approach of using neural networks of many layers to automatically detect patterns and parameters is called Deep Learning.

     

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  • Communicable and Non-communicable diseases – HIV, Malaria, Cancer, Mental Health, etc.

    What is Havana Syndrome?

    Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    A recent US intelligence report says that ‘Havana Syndrome’ —a collection of symptoms and related brain injuries, reported by some US officials could be caused by pulsed electromagnetic energy or close-range ultrasound.

    What is Havana Syndrome?

    • ‘Havana Syndrome’ is a colloquial name given to a set of symptoms such as dizziness, hearing loss, headaches, vertigo, nausea, memory loss and possible brain injuries.
    • It was first reported by 16 American Embassy staff and their family members in Havana, Cuba, in 2016-17.
    • There have been other instances of the phenomenon, which has mostly impacted US officials.

    What did the latest investigation find?

    • Such cases have been caused by pulsed electromagnetic energy in the radio frequency.
    • The results of the investigation did not point to who may have been behind the phenomenon, nor commented on their motivations.
    • A partially redacted report summary finds that the symptoms of AHI are “genuine and compelling.”

    What can be the other reasons?

    • Psychosocial factors alone do not explain the core characteristics, the report finds, although they may cause other incidents or contribute to long-term effects.
    • These other incidents could occur via hyper-vigilance or reactions to stress especially among individuals who are security-oriented.

     

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  • Wetland Conservation

    Places in news: Basai Wetlands

    India Mapping | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    The Basai Wetlands in Gurugram has shrunk to a quarter of its original size over the years.

    Basai Wetlands

    • Basai wetland, located in Basai village in Gurgaon Haryana is a flora and fauna rich water body.
    • It lies in one of the paleochannel of the Sahibi River, a tributary of Yamuna which originates from the Aravalli range in Rajasthan and flows through the region.

    Its significance

    • It is recognized as one of India’s Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas and is of global conservation significance.
    • It supports populations of several endangered, vulnerable, and threatened bird species.
    • It is recognized globally as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by the BirdLife International housing 20,000 birds of over 280 species including migratory birds and endangered birds.
    • However, it has not yet been declared a protected wetland by the Government of Haryana.

    Threats

    • Given the accelerated expansion of the city of the future, the wetland continues to disappear under newly laid roads, modern housing constructions and other infrastructure development.
    • An upcoming expressway, cutting through the terrain here, has majorly impacted the flyway of thousands of migratory birds from Europe and Central Asia.

     

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  • Labour, Jobs and Employment – Harmonization of labour laws, gender gap, unemployment, etc.

    Issues with Population Control Bill

    | Indian Society | Mains Paper 1: Population & Associated Issues

    The Rajya Sabha has discussed a Private Member’s Bill on population regulation.

    The Population Control Bill

    • First introduced in 2019, it is a private member bill proposed by Rakesh Sinha.
    • The purpose of the bill was to control the population growth of India.
    • The proposed bill then was signed by 125 Members of Parliament (MP) and is yet to become an act of law.

    It seeks to amend Article 47 by inserting article 47A to the Constitution of India. It proposes that-

    1. The State shall promote small family norms by offering incentives in taxes, employment, education etc. to its people who keep their family limited to two children
    2. The state shall withdraw every concession from and deprive such incentives to those not adhering to small family norm, to keep the growing population under control.

    Key provisions

    • Penalties: The 2019 bill talked about introducing penalties for couples not adhering to the two-child policy such as debarment from contesting in elections and ineligibility for government jobs.
    • Two-child policy: The 2020 bill proposes to introduce a two-child policy per couple.
    • Incentivizing adoption: It shall incentivize adoption through various measures such as educational benefits, taxation cuts, home loans, free healthcare, and better employment opportunities.
    • Birth spacings: It also proposes to ensure healthy birth spacing through measures related to augmenting the availability, accessibility and affordability of quality reproductive health services.

    Issues with penal provisions

    • Alienation: If a family was penalized for more than two children, then the third child would develop a feeling of alienation that he is an unwanted child.
    • Bar on Women: The biggest victim of such would be women, irrespective of religion. They would be debarred in political participation.
    • Selective abortions: In India, the preference for male children may lead to a greater anti-female child sex selection because parents will only have “two attempts” to have babies.
    • Violation of reproductive autonomy: To control and regulate the number of children a family can have is a gross violation of human rights, the right to self-determination and an individual’s reproductive autonomy.
    • Violation of Individual Privacy: A right to procreation is not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution but it comes under the ambit of Article 21, as discussed in Jasvir Singh vs State of Punjab.
    • Remarriage issues: A divorced person who has two children with a prior partner cannot bear a child with their next spouse.

    Why need such policy?

    • India had a land availability of only 1.2 hectare per person, while the resources that get regenerated automatically was 0.43 only.
    • We are an ecological debtor. The ecological footprint which we use and the gap between their regeneration is 187%.
    • If this continued for 30 years, then resources would be exhausted and people would not be able to lead a dignified life.
    • Some people see demographic dividend in the growing population but it was being used as cheap labour globally.

    Way forward

    • The population of India is seen as the biggest obstacle to its economic development.
    • It is the fall guy for governments seeking to justify their incompetence.
    • No legislation must be enacted unless its future impact and social effect are first completely realized.

     

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  • Minority Issues – SC, ST, Dalits, OBC, Reservations, etc.

    Debate over Freedom of Religion and Attire

    | Indian Society | Mains Paper 1: Communalism, Secularism, Regionalism

    A row over whether educational institutions can impose a strict dress code that could interfere with the rights of students has spilled in the Udupi district of Karnataka.

    Don’t you think that such instances incite fear among the politically destitute minorities?

     

    Religious Freedom in India

    • Article 25(1) of the Constitution guarantees the “freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion”.
    • It is a right that guarantees a negative liberty — which means that the state shall ensure that there is no interference or obstacle to exercise this freedom.

    Restrictions on religious freedom

    • Like all fundamental rights, the state can restrict the right for grounds of public order, decency, morality, health and other state interests.
    • Over the years, the Supreme Court has evolved a practical test of sorts to determine what religious practices can be constitutionally protected and what can be ignored.
    • In 1954, the Supreme Court held in the Shirur Mutt case that the term “religion” will cover all rituals and practices “integral” to a religion.

    The test to determine what is integral is termed the “Essential Religious Practices” test.

    What is the essential religious practices test?

    • While these issues are largely understood to be community-based, there are instances in which the court has applied the test to individual freedoms as well.
    • In a 2004 ruling, the Supreme Court held that the Ananda Marga sect had no fundamental right to perform the Tandava dance in public streets since it did not constitute an essential religious practice of the sect.
    • For example, in 2016, the Supreme Court upheld the discharge of an airman from the Indian Air Force for keeping a beard.
    • It distinguished the case of a Muslim airman from that of Sikhs who are allowed to keep a beard.
    • In 2015, the Supreme Court restored the Jain religious practice of Santhara/Sallekhana (a ritualistic fast unto death) by staying an order of the Rajasthan HC.

    Issues with this Test

    • In the first place, what constitutes the essential part of a religion is primarily to be ascertained with reference to the doctrines of that religion itself, the SC had held in the Shirur Mutt case.
    • So the test, a judicial determination of religious practices, has often been criticized by legal experts as it pushes the court to delve into theological spaces.
    • In criticism of the test, scholars agree that it is better for the court to prohibit religious practices for public order rather than determine what is so essential to a religion that it needs to be protected.
    • In several instances, the court has applied the test to keep certain practices out.

    Precursors related to Hijab

    • Two set of rulings of the Kerala High Court, particularly on the right of Muslim women hold dressing according to the tenets of Islam.
    • In 2015, Kerala HC ruled the prescription of dress code for AIPMT exam which prescribed wearing light clothes with half sleeves not having big buttons, brooch/badge, flower, etc. with Salwar/Trouser and slippers and not shoes.
    • In 2016, it examined the issue more closely. It held that the practice of wearing a hijab constitutes an essential religious practice but did not quash the CBSE rule.
    • The court once again allowed for the “additional measures” and safeguards put in place the previous year.

     

     

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  • Railway Reforms

    Fast-tracking Vande Bharat Express

    Prelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways Etc.

    Presenting the Union Budget for 2022-23, Finance Minister said 400 new energy-efficient Vande Bharat trains will be introduced in three years.

    What is Vande Bharat Express?

    • The Vande Bharat Express is a semi-high speed train designed, developed, and built by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF).
    • Presently there are only two Vande Bharat trains that are running — Delhi to Varanasi and Delhi to Katra.

    Key Features 

    • The current Vande Bharat trains have seating only in two classes — chair car and executive chair car. But Railways is planning to upgrade it.
    • The trains have fully sealed gangways for a dust-free environment, modular bio-vacuum toilets, rotating seats in Executive Class, personalized reading lights, automatic entry/exit doors with sliding footsteps, diffused LED lighting, mini pantry, and sensor-based interconnecting doors in each coach.
    • They are self-propelled trains that do not require an engine. This feature is called a distributed traction power system, which is increasingly becoming the norm the world over for passenger operations(Distributed power gives the train higher acceleration and deceleration compared to loco-hauled trains, which take a much longer time to reach top speed or to gradually come to a halt).
    • 400 trains announced by the Finance Minister carry a potential investment of Rs 50,000 crore over the next three years, because of different specifications and also, inflation.
    • The current Vande Bharat’s are being made at Rs 106 crore per trainset of 16 cars, at 2018 pricing.

    Benefits of Vande Bharat Trains

    1) Cuts Travel Time Drastically

    2) Energy Efficient

    3) Reduce Turnaround Time

    4) Faster Acceleration and Deceleration among others.

    Why High-speed rail projects are important for India?

    • Improve India’s GDP: According to a study conducted by the London School of Economics and Political Science and the University of Hamburg in 2008, cities that are connected to HSR systems tend to witness a rise in their gross domestic product (GDP) by at least 2.7 percentage points compared to their neighbors that do not have an HSR station. The reason for the differential was improved market access.
    • Role of the trains in India’s development: Being the third-largest network in the world under single management and
      with over 68,102 route km IR strives to provide a safe, efficient, competitive, and world-class transport system.
    • During FY21, IR carried 1.23 billion tonnes of
      freight and 1.25 billion passengers. In addition, despite COVID -19 pandemic revenue earning freight loading (excluding loading by Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd. (KRCL) was 1230.9 million tonnes in 2020-21 as compared to 1208.4 million tonnes during2019-20. Passengers originating were 1250 million in 2020-21 as compared to 8086 million in 2019-20- Economic Survey 2021-22. 
    • Spin-off effect: It is about Rs 40,000 crore business opportunity that would also create 15,000 jobs and several spin-off benefits and act as a stimulus for the development of satellite towns.
    • Boost to ‘Make in India’– it involves only about 15 percent import content which will further go down if production volumes increase.
    • Environmental Benefits: More rail traffic translates to less automobile traffic, and by extension, less highway and city street traffic congestion, reduced air pollution. In addition, less congestion means less wear and tear on the roadways, which means that they require fewer repairs.  According to the International Association of Railways (UIC), high-speed rail is eight times more energy-efficient than airplanes and four times more efficient than automobile use.
    • Social Benefits: High-speed rail can promote a sense of social cohesion among residents, by bringing distant populated areas closer together.
    • Global Experience: The High-Speed Railway has an economic multiplier effect. Since the introduction of the first Shinkansen (literally meaning ‘new main line’) in Japan in 1964, high-speed trains have proven to be an undeniable technological, commercial and popular success. Many countries like the UK, France, Germany, Spain, China, and most recently, the US have adopted the technology.

    Challenges faced by the High-Speed Rail Projects

    • Infrastructure Bottlenecks: India’s railway system is saddled with a two-pronged infrastructure deficit – aging infrastructure and the pace of new project execution struck by unforeseen circumstances related to socio-economic issues on land acquisition for new projects and escalating projects costs.
    • New Technologies: For instance, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies which proposes to make travel as fast as 760 miles per hour, investing a humongous capital on bullet trains seems like an outdated investment.
    • Political Will: The politics of Rail Bhavan and an unwillingness to accept the need for change have derailed the project execution.
    • Short of Investments: For instance, the estimated cost of Mumbai-Ahmedabad HSR is ₹1.1 lakh crore (US$17 billion) which is massively expensive. Though India receives funding from Japan (81%), the power demand and up-gradation of existing infrastructure will be more costly.
    • Social Conflict: Development along the corridor will lead to an increase in urbanization, the fight for resources, and social conflicts due to the labor influx of the workforce.
    • Legal Trouble: While farmers in Maharashtra are protesting on the ground, the farmers in Gujarat led by Gujarat Khedut Samaj (GKS)-  fighting a case in the Gujarat High Court against the land acquisition for the bullet train project.

    Way ahead

    • Stakeholders approach: Politics and Policy have to be in sync for the railway modernization. In order to achieve the target, Railways will have to pool in all resources and multiple stakeholders, including private players to deliver the propulsion system and also carry out the assembling. The Policymakers and administration should give priority to systematic sustainable development work- the convergence of jal, jungle, jameen(water-forest-land is an asset for the Adivasi community). 
    • Regular Monitoring: To ensure the induction of these trains in the shortest time possible, as envisaged by Indian Railways.
    • Technology Transfer: The government has to push for the technology transfer of HSR. This is because there is no mention of the transfer of technology anywhere in the agreement.

    Conclusion

    India aspires to become the third-largest economy in the next 25 years. It has already proven its prowess in the field of space and now is the time for furthering its international stature by joining the exclusive club of nations having a high-speed rail network, however, we should be careful not to confuse leapfrogging technology development with elitism, whether it is mobile phones, satellite launches, regional air connectivity, or high-speed rail. This high-speed rail project will therefore help the Indian Railways to become a global leader in scale, technology, and skill.

     

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