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  • Zoonotic Diseases: Medical Sciences Involved & Preventive Measures

    Mucormycosis infection in COVID-19 patients

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

    Hospitals across the country have started to report a number of cases of Mucormycosis, an invasive fungal infection affecting patients who have recently recovered from COVID-19.

    What is Mucormycosis?

    • Mucormycosis is an aggressive and invasive fungal infection caused by a group of moulds called micromycetes.
    • It can affect various organs but is currently manifesting as invasive rhino-orbito-cerebral disease, crawling through the sinus and working its way to the brain, affecting the ear, nose, throat, and mouth.
    • While it is not contagious, it can cause a lot of damage internally and can be fatal if not detected early.
    • It is an old disease; perhaps new and concerning is the sudden increase in the invasive form of the sinus variant, which involves the orbit, and at times the brain, leading to blindness, stroke or death.

    What causes the disease?

    • Diabetes mellitus is the most common underlying cause, followed by haematological malignancies and solid-organ transplants.
    • Diabetes mellitus was reported in 54% to 76% of cases, according to a report.
    • What seems to be triggering Mucormycosis in patients post COVID-19 is indiscriminate use of a high dose of steroids in COVID-19 patients, sometimes even in minimally symptomatic patients.
    • This leads to spikes in the sugar level among diabetics, which, in turn, renders them vulnerable.

    Symptoms

    • The symptoms to watch out for are a stuffy nose, bloody, blackish, or brown discharge from the nose etc.
    • Other symptoms include blackish discolouration of the skin, swelling or numbness around the cheek, one-sided facial pain, toothache or jaw pain, drooping of the eyelids or eyelid swelling, double vision, redness of eyes, and sudden decrease in vision.

    Treatment

    • The mainline of treatment is an anti-fungal drug called amphotericin B, which is given over an extended period of time under the strict observation of a physician.
    • Rational use of steroids is necessary, and constant monitoring of sugar levels and resorting to insulin use to control these levels if required is essential.
    • Surgery to remove the fungus growth might also be warranted.

    Preventive measures

    • It is important to keep blood sugar levels under control and ensure that appropriate calibration of oral drugs or insulin is done from time to time.
    • Further, recognising the symptoms and seeking treatment early if there are two or three symptoms at a time is key.
    • Like most illnesses, if detected early, Mucormycosis can be cured.

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  • Zoonotic Diseases: Medical Sciences Involved & Preventive Measures

    2-DG: DRDO’s new oral drug for Covid-19

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

    Defence Minister has released the first batch of the indigenously developed anti-Covid-19 drug, 2-deoxy-D-glucose or ‘2-DG’.

    What is the news?

    • The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had cleared the formulation on May 1 for emergency use as an adjunct therapy in moderate to severe Covid-19 patients.

    What is 2-DG?

    • 2-DG has been developed by the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), New Delhi, a lab of the DRDO in collaboration with Hyderabad-based pharma company Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL).
    • The 2-DG anti-Covid drug is expected to reduce dependence on medical oxygen in Covid-19 infected patients.
    • The pseudo glucose molecule in the drug stops the virus in the tracts.
    • Hence, it has been prescribed for Coronavirus infected patients requiring critical medical oxygen.

    How does it work?

    • Clinical trial data show that the molecule helps in faster recovery of patients hospitalized with Covid-19, and reduces their dependence on supplemental oxygen.
    • The drug accumulates in virus-infected cells, and prevents the growth of the virus by stopping viral synthesis and energy production.
    • Its selective accumulation in virally-infected cells makes this drug unique.

    Advantages

    • 2-DG being a generic molecule and an analogue of glucose, it can be easily produced and made available in large quantities.
    • The drug is available in powder form in a sachet, and can be taken orally after dissolving in water.

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  • Women empowerment issues – Jobs,Reservation and education

    Socio-Economic Impact of Pandemic on Women

    op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Laws, Institutions & Bodies Constituted For The Vulnerable Sections

    The article highlights the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on women and suggests measures to soften the impact.

    Widening gender employment gap

    • Even prior to 2020, the gender employment gap was large.
    • Only 18% of working-age women were employed as compared to 75% of men.
    • Reasons include a lack of good jobs, restrictive social norms, and the burden of household work.
    • The nationwide lockdown hit women much harder than men.
    • Data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt. Ltd. show that 61% of male workers were unaffected during the lockdown while only 19% of women experienced this kind of security.
    • Men who did lose work were able to regain it, even if it was at the cost of increased precarity or lower earnings, because they had the option of moving into fallback employment arrangements.
    • Even as new entrants to the workforce, women workers had poorer options compared to men.
    • Women were more likely to enter as daily wage workers while men found avenues for self-employment.
    •  So, not only did women enter into more precarious work, it was also likely to be at very low earnings compared to men.

    Growing domestic work

    • With schools closed and almost everyone limited to the confines of their homes, household responsibilities increased for women.
    • The India Working Survey 2020 found that among employed men, the number of hours spent on paid work remained more or less unchanged after the pandemic.
    • But for women, the number of hours spent in domestic work increased manifold.
    • This increase in hours came without any accompanying relief in the hours spent on paid work.

    Way forward

    • The following measures are needed now:
    • The National Employment Policy, currently in the works, should systematically address the constraints around the participation of the women’s workforce.
    • Expansion of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and the introduction of an urban employment guarantee targeted to women as soon as the most severe forms of mobility restrictions are lifted.
    • There is a need for coordinated efforts by States to facilitate the employment of women while also addressing immediate needs through the setting up of community kitchens, the opening of schools and anganwadi centres, and engagement with self-help groups for the production of personal protective equipment kits.
    • Further, a COVID-19 hardship allowance of at least ₹5,000 per month for six months should be announced for 2.5 million accredited social health activists and Anganwadi workers, most of whom are women.
    • The pandemic has shown the necessity of adequate public investment in social infrastructure.
    • The time is right to imagine a bold universal basic services programme that not only fills existing vacancies in the social sector but also expands public investments in health, education, child and elderly care, and so on, to be prepared for future shocks.

    Consider the question “Examine the impact of the pandemic on women. Suggest the measures to mitigate the impact.”

    Conclusion

    As the country meets the challenge of the second wave of the pandemic, it is crucial to learn lessons from the first wave to chart the policy path ahead.

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  • RBI should return to its dharma of taming inflation

    op-ed snap | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    The article highlights the need for the RBI to focus on inflation instead of pursuing elusive growth.

    Is inflation at a level to be concerned about?

    • Due to the devastation caused by the pandemic, MPC kept its stance to ‘look through’ the sustained rise in prices through much of last year.
    • The release of the consumer-price inflation number for April 2021 (4.3%) might seem to validate their decision.
    • But there are many reasons why the MPC should be concerned.
    • To start with, the April print carries little validity since the base for comparison (April 2020) has been rubbished by RBI in the past on the grounds that it relates to the first month of the lockdown.

    Inflation comes down but after causing devastation

    • Through a combination of the base effect (high level of inflation in the previous comparable period), belated but inevitable monetary policy action and a fall in demand that more than offsets the disruption in supply, inflation will come down.
    • However, before inflation comes down, it brings untold misery to the public at large.
    •  In a country where close to 20% of the population lives below the poverty line and food is a major item of their consumption basket, any rise in inflation, especially food inflation, hurts the poor disproportionately.
    • Add to that the distress caused by job losses on account of the pandemic, and this time round, the pain is likely to be magnified many times over.

    What is causing inflation?

    • Monetary policy acts with long and indeterminate lags.
    • Far from spurring credit offtake through low interest rates excess liquidity has spilled over into price pressures in India.
    • Wholesale price inflation at 7.4% (March 2021) was the highest in 8 years, while it would be naïve to take any solace from the latest consumer price index number.
    • The RBI needs to be appreciated for doing its bit to keep the wheels of our economy moving during the pandemic.
    • However, its failure to shift gear in the face of mounting evidence of inflation cannot be neglected.
    • When inflation was breaching the upper end of RBI’s target band for months on end, the message should have been clear.

    US recovery and its impact on Indian economy

    • Globally, commodity prices are already on the rise.
    • Not without reason, it would seem, as borne out by 12 May’s inflation print of 4.2%, America’s highest in 12 years
    • Part of the reason is the excessive easing of US monetary and fiscal policies.
    • Rising US inflation has huge implications for countries like India that are at the receiving end of US policies.
    • As the US economy recovers, the dollar strengthens and US interest rates rise, the rupee is bound to weaken in response, adding to inflationary pressures here.

    Consider the question “What are the factors stoking inflation in the pandemic? How far the monetary policies pursued by the central bank is responsible for it?”

    Conclusion

    When the MPC meets next in early June, it must re-order its priorities. Instead of chasing elusive growth, it must revert to its swadharma, own dharma, and focus instead on inflation.

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  • Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism – NCA, Lok Adalats, etc.

    It is time to set up a National Tribunals Commission

    op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Statutory, Regulatory & Various Quasi-Judicial Bodies

    Context

    • The Centre has abolished several appellate tribunals and authorities and transferred their jurisdiction to other existing judicial bodies through the Tribunals Reforms (Rationalisation and Conditions of Service) Ordinance 2021.

    Issues with the abolitions of tribunals

    • The Ordinance has met with sharp criticism for not bypassing the usual legislative process.
    • Several tribunals such as the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal were abolished without any stakeholder consultation. 
    • Despite the Supreme Court’s direction in Rojer Mathew v. South Indian Bank (2019), no judicial impact assessment was conducted prior to abolishing the tribunals through this Ordinance.
    • While the Ordinance has incorporated the suggestions made in Madras Bar Association v. Union of India (2020) on the composition of a search-cum-selection committee.
    • But it has disregarded the court’s direction in Madras Bar Association v. Union of India (2020) for fixing a five-year term.

    No NCT constituted

    • Further, the Centre is yet to constitute a National Tribunals Commission (NTC), an independent umbrella body to supervise the functioning of tribunals, appointment of and disciplinary proceedings against members, and to take care of administrative and infrastructural needs of the tribunals.
    • The idea of an NTC was first mooted in L. Chandra Kumar v. Union of India (1997).
    • Developing an independent oversight body for accountable governance requires a legal framework that protects its independence and impartiality.
    • Therefore, the NTC must be established vide a constitutional amendment or be backed by a statute that guarantees it functional, operational and financial independence.
    • As the Finance Ministry has been vested with the responsibility for tribunals until the NTC is constituted, it should come up with a transition plan. 

    Advantages of NTC

    • The NTC would ideally take on some duties relating to administration and oversight.
    • It could set performance standards for the efficiency of tribunals and their own administrative processes.
    • It could function as an independent recruitment body to develop and operationalise the procedure for disciplinary proceedings and appointment of tribunal members.
    • Giving the NTC the authority to set members’ salaries, allowances, and other service conditions, subject to regulations, would help maintain tribunals’ independence.

    Consider the question “What are the issues with Tribunals Reforms (Rationalisation and Conditions of Service) Ordinance 2021? How the constitution of the National Tribunals Commission would help to improve the role played by tribunals?” 

    Conclusion

    The way to reform the tribunal system is to look at solutions from a systemic perspective supported by evidence. Establishing the NTC will definitely entail a radical restructuring of the present tribunals system.

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  • Child Rights – POSCO, Child Labour Laws, NAPC, etc.

    Lend a helping hand to children the right way

    op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Laws, Institutions & Bodies Constituted For The Vulnerable Sections

    The article highlights the need to be aware of the legal provisions while helping a orphan child.

    Helping orphaned children

    • Social media is flooded with requests to adopt children who have lost their parents in the pandemic.
    • However, before handing over an orphan child to any agency, family or person, it is important to be aware of the laws.
    • If an orphan child is kept by someone without lawful authority, he or she may land themselves in trouble.
    • According to the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956, the father, and in his absence the mother, is the natural guardian.
    • Not even a close relative can look after the child without authorisation.

    What are the options to help

    • First option is any individual who finds an orphan child or even any child who needs care and protection under the circumstances, should immediately call the toll free Childline number 1098.
    • It is an emergency phone outreach service managed by the Women and Child Development department’s nodal agency, the Childline India Foundation.
    • The second option is to intimate the district protection officer concerned whose contact details can be found on the National Tracking System for Missing and Vulnerable Children portal.
    • The third alternative is to approach the nearest police station or its child welfare police officer who is specially trained to exclusively deal with children.
    •  jOne can always dial the Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) which is a pan-India single number (112) based emergency response system for citizens in emergencies and seek the necessary help.
    • The non-reporting of such children is also a punishable offence under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (JJA).

    Procedure after a child reaches outreach agency

    • Once an orphan child is recovered by the outreach agency, it is the duty of the said agency to produce the child within 24 hours before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) of the district.
    • The CWC, after an inquiry, decides whether to send the child to a children’s home or a fit facility or fit person.
    • If the child is below six years, he or she shall be placed in a specialised adoption agency.
    • The State thus takes care of all such children who are in need of care and protection, till they turn 18 years.
    • In Sampurna Behrua vs Union of India (2018), the Supreme Court of India directed States and Union Territories to ensure that all child care institutions are registered.

    Procedure for adoption

    • Once a child is declared legally free for adoption by the CWC, adoption can be done either by Indian prospective adoptive parents or non-resident Indians or foreigners, in that order.
    • Another important feature of the JJA is that it is secular in nature and simple in procedure.
    • While the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 is religion specific but also relatively cumbersome in procedure.
    • Second, the procedure of adoption is totally transparent and its progress can be monitored from the portal of the statutory body, the Central Adoption Resource Authority.

    Directives to the police

    • The Supreme Court in Bachpan Bachao Andolan vs Union of India directed all Directors General of Police, in May 2013, to register a first information report as a case of trafficking or abduction in every case of a missing child.
    • At least one police officer not below the rank of assistant sub-inspector in each police station is mandatorily required to undergo training to deal with children in conflict with the law and in need of care and protection.
    • They are not required to wear a uniform and need to be child-friendly.
    • Similarly, each district is supposed to have its special juvenile police unit, headed by an officer not below the rank of a Deputy Superintendent of Police.
    • The Supreme Court in Re: Exploitation of children in Orphanages in the State of Tamil Nadu (2017) inter alia, specifically asked the National Police Academy, Hyderabad and police training academies in every State to prepare training courses on the JJA and provide regular training to police officers in terms of sensitisation.
    • The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) recently wrote to the Chief Secretaries of all States and Union Territories on the issue of children orphaned due to COVID-19.

    Conclusion

    Following the Covid surge and subsequent increase in request for adoption of children, the laws and procedure for the protection of children must be noted.

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  • Native Indian turtles face U.S. slider threat across Northeast

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

    About red-eared slider

    • The red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) derives its name from red stripes around the part where its ears would be and from its ability to slide quickly off any surface into the water.
    • Native to the U.S. and northern Mexico, this turtle is an extremely popular pet due to its small size, easy maintenance, and relatively low cost.

    Reports about threat

    • Between August 2018 and June 2019, a team of herpetologists from NGO Help Earth published the finding in ‘Reptiles & Amphibians’, journal of the U.S.-based International Reptile Conservation Foundation in August 2020.
    • But the alarm was raised experts from Mizoram University’s Department of Zoology published another report in the same journal in April this year.

    How is it a threat?

    • They grow fast and virtually leaves nothing for the native species to eat.
    •  People who keep it as pets become sensitive about turtle conservation but endanger the local ecosystem, probably unknowingly, by releasing them in natural water bodies after they outgrow an aquarium, tank or pool at home.
    • Much like the Burmese python that went to the U.S. as a pet to damage the South Florida Everglades ecosystem, the red-eared slider has already affected States such as Karnataka and Gujarat, where it has been found in 33 natural water bodies.
    • Preventing this invasive species from overtaking the Brahmaputra and other river ecosystems in the Northeast is crucial because the Northeast is home to more than 72% of the turtle and tortoise species in the country, all of them very rare.

    Way forward

    • Although the red-eared slider is traded legally, the time has come for the government to come up with regulations against keeping invasive as pets.
    • There is a need to create awareness among pet traders for maintaining a database of red-eared slider buyers.
    • They can be contacted to hand over the turtles to the repository insulated from any wetland or natural water body.

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  • Israel’s Iron Dome rocket defence system

    Explained | Security Issues | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

    Context

    • Amid the Israel-Palestine conflict, the night sky over Israel has been ablaze with interceptor missiles from Iron Dome shooting down the incoming rockets in the sky.

    What is Iron Dome?

    • Iron Dome is a multi-mission system capable of intercepting rockets, artillery, mortars and Precision Guided Munitions as well as aircraft, helicopters and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) over short ranges of up to 70 km.
    • It is an all-weather system and can engage multiple targets simultaneously and can be deployed over land and sea.
    • Iron Dome is jointly manufactured by Rafael Advanced Systems and has been in service with Israeli Air Force since 2011.
    • The radar system was developed by Elta.

    Working of Iron Dome

    • An Iron Dome battery consists of a battle management control unit, a detection and tracking radar and a firing unit of three vertical launchers, with 20 interceptor missiles each.
    • The interceptor missile uses a proximity fuse to detonate the target warhead in the air.
    • One of the system’s important advantages is its ability to identify the anticipated point of impact of the threatening rocket, to calculate whether it will fall in a built-up area or not, and to decide on this basis whether or not to engage it.
    • This prevents unnecessary interception of rockets that will fall in open areas and thus not cause damage, the paper states.
    • The system has intercepted thousands of rockets so far and, according to Rafael Advanced Systems, its success rate is over 90%.

    Limitations of the system

    • The system can see limitations when it is overwhelmed with a barrage of projectiles.
    • The system has a ‘saturation point’.
    • It is capable of engaging a certain number of targets at the same time, and no more.
    • One of the possible limitations is the system’s inability to cope with very short range threats as estimates put the Iron Dome’s minimum interception range at 5-7 kilometres.

     

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  • Parliament – Sessions, Procedures, Motions, Committees etc

    No virtual meets of standing committees

    | | Mains Paper 2: Parliament & State Legislatures

    Confidential nature of meeting not possible in virtual meetings

    • Days after the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha wrote to Chairman to allow virtual meetings of parliamentary standing committees, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat has turned down his plea.
    • Requests to allow virtual meetings of the standing committees were turned down last year as well by Rajya Sabha Chairman and Lok Sabha Speaker.
    • The request was turned down on grounds that virtual meetings would violate the confidential nature of such meetings and that any change to the norms require approval by Parliament.

    Matter referred to Committee on Rules

    • The letter by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat points out that the Chairman and Speaker had decided last year, during the first wave of the pandemic, to refer the issue of allowing virtual meetings of parliamentary panels to the Committee on Rules in both Houses.
    • The Committee on Rules, however, did not take up the matter for discussion since Committees started physical meetings as the lockdown restrictions gradually eased in the second half of last year.

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  • Medical Education Governance in India

    NITI Aayog’s proposal of allowing private entities to take over district hospitals

    op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    The article highlights the issue of shortage of doctors in India and issues with the involvement of private sector in it.

    Government approach

    • Market-oriented approach towards medical education: NITI Aayog’s proposal of allowing private entities to take over district hospitals for converting them into teaching hospitals with at least 150 MBBS seats.

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