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  • [Burning Issue] Abortion Debate

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    Context

    • Around 36 million women across the US are on the verge of losing their right to legal abortion.
    • A draft document, leaked a couple of weeks ago, suggests that the Supreme Court has decided to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision which legalized abortion across the country.

    What will be the implications if Roe v Wade is struck down? How will the decision reverberate around the world? Let us analyse.

    The Roe vs. Wade case: Upholding the Right to Abortion

    • Roe, short for Jane Roe, is the pseudonym for a Texas woman who in 1970 sought to have an abortion when she was five months pregnant.
    • Texas then had ban on abortions except to save a mother’s life. The case then went to the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS).
    • The 7-2 majority opinion of the SCOTUS written in 1973, paved the way for the recognition of abortion as a constitutional right in the US considering foetal viability.

    [Foetal viability is the point at which a foetus can survive outside the womb, at the time considered to be around 28 weeks, but today is closer to 23 or 24 weeks owing to advances in medicine and technology.]

    Right to Abortion Judgment: Key takeaways

    Based on the Roe vs Wade case, the framework of regulations that applied towards the right to abortion:

    1. Almost no limitations could be placed on that right;
    2. Only limitations to abortion rights that were aimed at protecting a woman’s health were permitted; and in the third trimester,
    3. State governments had greater leeway to limit the right to abortion except for cases in which the life and health of the mother were endangered.

    What is the debate?

    The abortion debate is the ongoing controversy surrounding the moral, legal, and religious status of induced abortion.

    The sides involved in the debate are the self-described “pro-choice” and “pro-life” movements.

    1. Pro-choice emphasizes the woman’s choice whether to terminate a pregnancy.
    2. Pro-life position stresses the humanity of both the mother and foetus, arguing that a fetus is a human person deserving of legal protection.

    Ethical questions raised

    (1) The primary questions

    The moral debate about abortion deals with two separate questions:

    1. Is abortion morally wrong?
    2. Should abortion be legal or illegal?

    (2) The secondary questions

    But those two questions don’t end the debate.

    1. If we conclude that abortion is not morally wrong, that doesn’t mean that it’s right to have an abortion;
    2. We need to ask whether having an abortion is the best thing (or least bad thing) to do in each particular case.
    3. If we conclude that abortion is morally wrong, that doesn’t mean that it’s always impermissible to have an abortion; we need to ask whether having an abortion is less wrong than the alternatives.

    Why is there a possibility of the judgment being overturned?

    • Foetuses feel the pain: If the foetus is beyond 20 weeks of gestation, gynaecs assume that there will be pain caused to the foetus.
    • Biblical gospel: The Bible does not draw a distinction between foetuses and babies. By the time a baby is conceived, he or she is recognized by God.
    • Abortions cause psychological damage: Young adult women who undergo abortion may be at increased risk for subsequent depression.
    • Abortions reduce the number of adoptable babies: Instead of having the option to abort, women should give their unwanted babies to people who cannot conceive. Single parenthood is also gaining popularity in the US.
    • Cases of selective abortion: Such cases based on physical and genetic abnormalities (eugenic termination) is overt discrimination.
    • Abortion as a form of contraception: It is immoral to kill an unborn child for convenience. Many women are using abortion as a contraceptive method.
    • Morality put to question: If women become pregnant, they should accept the responsibility that comes with producing a child. People need to take responsibility for their actions and accept the consequences.
    • Abortion promotes throwaway culture: The legalization of abortion sends a message that human life has little value and promotes the throwaway culture.
    • Racial afflictions: Abortion disproportionately affects African American babies. In the US, black women are 3.3 times as likely as white women to have an abortion.

    Arguments in favour for Abortion Rights

    • Upholding individual conscience and decision-making:  The US Supreme Court has declared abortion to be a fundamental right guaranteed by the US Constitution.
    • Reproductive choice empowers women: The choice over when and whether to have children is central to a woman’s independence and ability to determine her future.
    • Foetal viability occurs post-birth:  Personhood begins after a foetus becomes “viable” (able to survive outside the womb) or after birth, not at conception. Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy, not a baby.
    • No proof of foetal pain: Most neuroscientists believe that the cortex is necessary for pain perception. The cortex does not become functional until at least the 26th week of a foetus’ development.
    • Preventing illegal abortions: Access to legal, professionally-performed abortions reduces maternal injury and death caused by unsafe, illegal abortions.
    • Mother’s health: Modern abortion procedures are safe and do not cause lasting health issues such as cancer and infertility.
    • Child’s health: Abortion gives pregnant women the option to choose not to bring fetuses with profound abnormalities to full term.
    • Prevents women’s exclusion: Women who are denied abortions are more likely to become unemployed, to be on public welfare, to be below the poverty line, and to become victims of domestic violence.
    • Reproductive choice protects women from financial disadvantage: Many women who choose abortion don’t have the financial resources to support a child.
    • Justified means of population control: Many defends abortion as a way to curb overpopulation. Malnutrition, starvation, poverty, lack of medical and educational services, pollution, underdevelopment, and conflict over resources are all consequences of overpopulation.

    Indian Case: Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act

    • Abortion in India has been a legal right under various circumstances for the last 50 years with the introduction of Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act in 1971.
    • The Act was amended in 2003 to enable women’s accessibility to safe and legal abortion services.
    • Abortion is covered 100% by the government’s public national health insurance funds, Ayushman Bharat and Employees’ State Insurance with the package rate for surgical abortion.

    The idea of terminating your pregnancy cannot originate by choice and is purely circumstantial. There are four situations under which a legal abortion is performed:

    1. If continuation of the pregnancy poses any risks to the life of the mother or mental health
    2. If the foetus has any severe abnormalities
    3. If pregnancy occurred as a result of failure of contraception (but this is only applicable to married women)
    4. If pregnancy is a result of sexual assault or rape

    These are the key changes that the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act, 2021, has brought in:

    1. The gestation limit for abortions has been raised from the earlier ceiling of 20 weeks to 24 weeks, but only for special categories of pregnant women such as rape or incest survivors. But this termination would need the approval of two registered doctors.
    2. All pregnancies up to 20 weeks require one doctor’s approval. The earlier law, the MTP Act 1971, required one doctor’s approval for pregnancies upto 12 weeks and two doctors’ for pregnancies between 12 and 20 weeks.
    3. Women can now terminate unwanted pregnancies caused by contraceptive failure, regardless of their marital status. Earlier the law specified that only a “married woman and her husband” could do this.
    4. There is also no upper gestation limit for abortion in case of foetal disability if so decided by a medical board of specialist doctors, which state governments and union territories’ administrations would set up.

    Way forward

    • A search for the middle path perhaps the right of a woman to choose what to do with the foetus has to be balanced with the right of the foetus to survive.
    • It is only that a foetus does not have the ability to exercise an option while the person who carries it does.
    • There could be no two opinions that a victim of rape shall be allowed the choice to abort.
    • Rather than banning abortion, lawmakers must focus on counselling, employment security, social welfare, and financial support to persuade pregnant women to give birth to their children.
    • We must achieve some degree of protection for the unborn by obtaining voluntary recognition of personal responsibility and respect for the personhood of the unborn.

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  • Preparing for UPSC 2023 with a serious time crunch? Fill Samanvaya (Free) & manage your time with a senior IAS mentor

    Preparing for UPSC 2023 with a serious time crunch? Fill Samanvaya (Free) & manage your time with a senior IAS mentor

    Every year, a huge number of aspirants sit for the UPSC-CSE exam. Because the age limit is so relaxed, there have been multiple instances where working persons or people who already have a job also apply for the IAS ordeals.


    Working aspirants’ biggest challenge is time management, which is critical for studying and taking care of one’s health while working a 9-hour shift.

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    Examinees are often advised to devote 12 months to study for the civil service examinations. If you have limited time and still wish to pass the exam, you mustn’t waste time.

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    You can only make the best timetable for IAS preparation when you understand that time is crucial, so utilizing the time in the best possible way is the key. Time table is required to keep track of the time for preparation for the exam.

    • Is such time killing your dream? → 9 hours office, 1-hour in travel, 1 hour for washing and eating, 8 hours for sleep. This makes a total of 19 hours.
    • Time is left → 24 hours – 19 hours = 5 hours. Where to start, what to learn & revise in these 300 minutes.
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    The desire to complete the course alone in its entirety is the major cause of most time mismanagement. Many applicants set out to cover the entire syllabus blindly only to discover later that many topics are simply too broad or that very few if any, questions are being asked from certain sections. A lot of time is wasted in this effort because those topics are required to be addressed differently, and the time saved on their coverage could have been better spent on other parts of the syllabus.

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    Time mismanagement for any working professional is caused by a lack of understanding of how to divide time according to the priority and relevance of the syllabus, and because the syllabus is wide and often open-ended, it needs smart covering with a select few sources.

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    Our Students’ are saying….

    Bottom Lines:

    Since the IAS examination is one of the most insisting exams in India, it necessitates a full-time commitment in terms of hard work and study. However, there are working professionals who are occupied with their professions during the day and find it impossible to prepare for the IAS examination due to a lack of study time. Above are some UPSC preparation ideas for working people who want to follow their dream of passing the IAS exam, which may help them find time to study despite their hectic schedules.

  • Government lacking a coherent policy of food security

    Context

    The Government of India announced a sudden ban on export of wheat on May 13, 2022, a few days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had stated that “at a time when the world is facing a shortage of wheat, the farmers of India have stepped forward to feed the world”.

    What led to the sudden wheat export ban?

    • Low public procurement: The sudden turnaround in the export policy appears to be on account of fears that low public procurement would affect domestic food security.
    • This summer, procurement of wheat by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has been very low.
    • Last year, the FCI and other agencies procured 43.34 million tonnes of wheat.
    • For the current season, procurement has only been 17.8 million tonnes, as of May 10, 2022.
    • Given the low levels of procurement, the Government has reduced the procurement target for the current season from 44.4 to 19.5 million tonnes.
    • Low production: While wheat production this year has been lower than estimated on account of high heat and other factors in March, there is not a big shortfall in production relative to previous years.
    • Wheat production was 103.6 million tonnes in 2018-19, 107.8 million tonnes in 2019-20, and 109.5 million tonnes in 2020-21.
    • The most recent estimate of production for 2021-22, revised downwards from the earlier estimate, is 105.

    Public procurement in India

    • The system of public procurement has been in place since the mid-1960s, and has been the backbone of food policy in India.
    • As part of the liberalisation policy, many other economists suggested that food stocks be run down in India and that needs of food security be met through world trade and the Chicago futures market.

    Need for effective PDS

    • Higher than buffer stock norm: Stocks of wheat in the central pool as of April 30, 2022 were 30.3 million tonnes, much lower than the 52.5 million tonnes of last year, but comfortably higher than buffer stock norms.
    • While the Government procurement in this marketing season has been lower than the previous two years, the stock position so far is similar to 2019, when we had 35.8 million tonnes of stock in April.
    • An important role in pandemic: In the two COVID-19 years (2020-21 and 2021-22), the Public Distribution System (PDS) played a stellar role, and, its role showed the wisdom of not dismantling it.
    • Total offtake of rice and wheat was 102.3 million tonnes in 2021-22 when distribution through the PDS and other welfare schemes is combined.
    • It is essential that the PDS and open market operations be used to cool down food price inflation.
    •  While most States have high inflation rates, States with better PDS, such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu, have low inflation rates.

    Way forward

    • Provide remunerative prices: To promote production, a key aspect of food policy in India has been to provide remunerative prices to farmers.
    • As is well known, after the reports of the National Commission on Farmers, the announced minimum support price (MSP) for wheat has often been inadequate to cover costs of cultivation for several regions and classes of farmers, especially if comprehensive costs (or Cost C2) are taken as the base. 
    • Over the last two years, costs of production have risen sharply, one important component being the spiralling price of fuel.

    Conclusion

    India’s flip-flop on the export of wheat is an example of the Government lacking a coherent policy of food security.

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  • Agri-exports

    Context

    In the fiscal year 2021-22 (FY22), agri-exports scaled an all-time high of $50.3 billion, registering a growth of 20 per cent over the preceding year.

    What are the contributing factors?

    • The all time high agri-export was made possible largely by rising global commodity prices, but also by the favourable and aggressive export policy of the Ministry of Commerce and its various export promotion agencies like APEDA, MPEDA, and commodity boards.
    • Sustainability issue: From a strategic point of view, an important question that arises is how sustainable is this growth in agri-exports, given India’s resource endowments and the country’s domestic needs?
    • To answer this question rationally, let us first look at the composition of agri-exports.

    Composition of agri-exports

    • Among the several agri-commodities exported in FY22, rice ranks first with exports of $9.6 billion in value (with 21.2 million metric tonnes (MMT) in quantity).
    • It is followed by marine products worth $7.7 billion (1.4 MMT), sugar worth $4.6 billion (10.4 MMT), spices worth $3.9 billion (1.4 MMT) and bovine (buffalo) meat worth $3.3 billion (1.18 MMT) (see figure).
    • Concerns with Rice and Sugar: Of these, two commodities, rice and sugar, are water guzzlers and serious thought should be given to their global competitiveness and environmental sustainability.

    Competitiveness and environmental sustainability concerns with Sugar and Rice cultivation

    • India’s exports of 21 MMT constituted 41 per cent of a global rice market of 51.3 MMT.
    • Low export price: When most of the other commodity prices were surging in global markets, the price of rice (Thailand supplies 25 per cent) collapsed by about 13 per cent from $484/tonne in April 2021 to $429/tonne in April 2022, largely due to India’s massive exports.
    • This means that India had to export a greater quantity of rice to get the same amount of dollars.
    • In trade theory, it is a classic case for levying the optimal export tax of 5 to 10 per cent.
    • Optimal export: India should optimally not go beyond 12 to 15 MMT of rice exports, else the marginal revenue from exports will keep falling.
    • Subsidised water: Taking an average of about 4,000 litres of water per kg of rice, and assuming that half of this percolates into groundwater, exporting 21MMT of rice would mean the virtual export of 42 billion cubic meters (m3) of water.
    • Sugar is another water guzzler, whose exports touched 10.4 MMT in FY22.
    • Subsidies crossing WTO limits: It was backed partly by subsidies (including export subsidy) that crossed the 10 per cent limit mandated by the World Trade Organisation, bringing India into a dispute with other sugar exporting countries at the WTO.
    • However, from a sustainability point of view, we must note that exporting one kg of sugar amounts to roughly exporting 2,000 litres of virtual water.
    • That means in FY22, India exported at least 20 billion m3 of water through sugar exports.
    • So, by exporting 21 MMT of rice and 10 MMT of sugar in FY22, India exported at least 62 billion cubic meters of virtual water.
    • Much of this water is extracted from groundwater — as is being done in much of the Punjab and Haryana belt (for rice), where the water table is receding by 9.2 metres and 7 metres over the last two decades (2000-19), and in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh for sugar.
    • This can lead to a water disaster. 
    • Anthropogenic methane emission: Rice production systems are among the most important sources of anthropogenic methane emissions, contributing to 17.5 per cent of GHG emissions generated from agriculture (2021).
    •  This is all because of the distortionary policies of free power and highly-subsidised fertilisers, especially urea.

    Way forward: Support farmers smartly

    • AWD and DSR: Innovative farming practices such as alternate wetting drying (AWD), direct seeded rice (DSR) that can save up to 25-30 per cent water and micro-irrigation that can save up to 50 per cent irrigation water, could be game-changing technologies in reducing the crop’s carbon footprint.
    • Switching to other crops: The real solution lies in incentivising the farmers to switch some of the area under rice and sugar cultivation to other, less water-guzzling crops.
    • Haryana has come up with two schemes, Mera Pani, Meri Virasat and Kheti Khaali, Fir Bhi Khushali.
    • A closer evaluation of non-basmati rice exports brings out another interesting fact.
    • The unit value of these exports was just $354/tonne, which is below the MSP of rice ($390/tonne).
    • One possibility is that a substantial part of the supplies through the PDS and PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) are leaking out and swelling rice exports.
    • Introduce the option of direct cash transfer: From a policy angle, it may be high time to introduce the option of direct cash transfers in lieu of almost free grains under the PDS and PMGKAY.
    • This will help plug leakages as well as save costs.

    Conclusion

    The best way to tackle this upcoming environmental disaster would be to support farmers smartly, by giving them aggregate input subsidy support on a per hectare basis and freeing up the input prices of fertilisers and power to be determined by market forces and their costs of production.

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  • Hyper-accumulator Plants for Soil Detox

    A study published in the JNKVV (Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwavidyalaya) research journal concluded that heavy metal pollution of soil is “emerging at a speedy rate” in India due to industrialisation.

    How does soil get contaminated?

    • Soil contamination can happen due to a variety of reasons, including manufacturing, mineral extraction, accidental spills, illegal dumping, leaking underground storage tanks, pesticide and fertiliser use etc.
    • These toxic heavy metals are then absorbed by food crops and other plants before they eventually make their way into our food chain, directly affecting human life along with ecology.

    Detoxing the soil

    • Many technologies have emerged to remediate this soil pollution.
    • But these methods have been deemed lacking in terms of sustainability as they come with a large cost and have adverse effects themselves.

    Novel technique: Hyperaccumulators

    • Turning toward more sustainable and eco-friendly technologies, scientists have developed methods of “Phytoremediation”.
    • It is a remediation method that uses living organisms like plants, microalgae, and seaweeds.
    • One particular way to remove toxic heavy metals from the soil includes the use of “hyperaccumulator” plants that absorb these substances from the soil.

    What are hyperaccumulator plants?

    • Phytoremediation refers to the usage of “hyperaccumulator” plants to absorb the toxic materials present in the soil and accumulate in their living tissue.
    • Most plants do sometimes accumulate toxic substances.
    • Hyperaccumulators have the unusual ability to absorb hundreds or thousands of times greater amounts of these substances than is normal for most plants.
    • Most discovered hyperaccumulator plants typically accumulate nickel and occur on soils that are rich in nickel, cobalt and in some cases, manganese.

    Where are they found?

    • These hyperaccumulator species have been discovered in many parts of the world.
    • They include the Mediterranean region (mainly plants of the genus Alyssum), tropical outcrops in Brazi, Cuba, New Caledonia (French territory) and Southeast Asia (mainly plants of the genus Phyllanthus).

    How can they be used to remove toxic metals from the soil?

    • Suitable plant species can be used to ‘pick up’ the pollutants from the soil through their roots and transport them to their stem, leaves and other parts.
    • After this, these plants can be harvested and either disposed or even used to extract these toxic metals from the plant.
    • This process can be used to remove metals like silver, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, mercury, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, lead and zinc; metalloids such as arsenic and selenium; some radionuclides; and non-metallic components such as boron.
    • But it cannot be used to remove organic pollutants from the ground due to metabolic breakdown.

    Advantages of phytoremediation with hyperaccumulators

    • One of the primary advantages of phytoremediation is the fact that it is quite cost-effective in comparison with other remediation methods.
    • The only major costs attached are related to crop management (planting, weed control, watering, fertilisation, pruning, fencing, harvesting etc.).
    • This method is also relatively simple and doesn’t require any new kinds of specialised technology.
    • Also, no external energy source is required since the plants grow with the help of sunlight.
    • Another important advantage of this method is that it enriches the soil with organic substances and microorganisms which can protect its chemical and biological qualities.
    • Also, while the plants are growing and accumulating toxic heavy metals, they protect the soil from erosion due to wind and water.

    Limitations of hyperaccumulators

    • For all its advantages, this kind of phytoremediation with hyperaccumulators has a big drawback: it is a very slow and time-consuming process.
    • The restoration of an area with this process can take up to 10 years or more.
    • This comes with a large economic cost, proportional to the size of the area under rehabilitation.
    • The plants to conduct this rehabilitation must be carefully selected based on a large number of characteristics or they could act as an invasive species.
    • They could grow out of control and upsetting the delicate ecological balance of not just the area under rehabilitation, but also the entire region it is part of.

    What can be done for their better utilization?

    • Due to this reason, scientists only propose using species that are native to the region where the phytoremediation project is undertaken.
    • This also has other benefits: these plants will already be acclimatised to the region and there will be no legal problems concerning the procurement, transport and use of seeds.

     

     

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  • What are Artificial Intelligence (AI) Chips?

    Market leader Nvidia recently announced its H100 GPU (graphics processing unit), which is said to be one of the world’s largest and most powerful Artificial Intelligence (AI) accelerators, packed with 80 billion transistors.

    What are AI chips?

    • AI chips are built with specific architecture and have integrated AI acceleration to support deep learning-based applications.
    • These chips, with their hardware architectures and complementary packaging, memory, storage and interconnect technologies, make it possible to infuse AI into a broad spectrum of applications.
    • There are different types of AI chips such as application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), central processing units (CPUs) and GPUs, designed for diverse AI applications.

    What is Deep Learning?

    • Deep learning, more commonly known as active neural network (ANN) or deep neural network (DNN), is a subset of machine learning and comes under the broader umbrella of AI.
    • It combines a series of computer commands or algorithms that stimulate activity and brain structure.
    • DNNs go through a training phase, learning new capabilities from existing data.
    • DNNs can then inference, by applying these capabilities learned during deep learning training to make predictions against previously unseen data.
    • Deep learning can make the process of collecting, analysing, and interpreting enormous amounts of data faster and easier.

    Utility of AI chips

    • The adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) chips has risen, with chipmakers designing different types of these chips to power AI applications such as:
    1. Natural language processing (NLP)
    2. Computer vision
    3. Robotics, and
    4. Network security across a wide variety of sectors, including automotive, IT, healthcare, and retail

    Are they different from traditional chips?

    • When traditional chips, containing processor cores and memory, perform computational tasks, they continuously move commands and data between the two hardware components.
    • These chips, however, are not ideal for AI applications as they would not be able to handle higher computational necessities of AI workloads which have huge volumes of data.
    • Although, some of the higher-end traditional chips may be able to process certain AI applications.
    • In comparison, AI chips generally contain processor cores as well as several AI-optimised cores that are designed to work in harmony when performing computational tasks.
    • The AI cores are optimised for the demands of heterogeneous enterprise-class AI workloads with low-latency inferencing, due to close integration with the other processor cores.

    What are their applications?

    • Use of AI chips for NLP applications has increased due to the rise in demand for chatbots and online channels such as Messenger, Slack, and others
    • They use NLP to analyse user messages and conversational logic.
    • Then there are chipmakers who have built AI processors designed to help customers achieve business insights at scale across banking, finance, trading, insurance applications and customer interactions.

    What firms are making these chips?

    • Nvidia Corporation, Intel Corporation, IBM Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., and Apple Inc. are some of the key players in the AI chip market.

    Major breakthroughs

    • Nvidia, which dominates the market, offers a wide portfolio of AI chips including Grace CPU, H100 and its predecessor A100 GPUs.
    • It is capable of handling some of the largest AI models with billions of parameters.
    • The company claims that twenty H100 GPUs can sustain the equivalent of the entire world’s internet traffic.
    • IBM’s new AI chip, announced last year, can support financial services workloads like fraud detection, loan processing, clearing and settlement of trades, anti-money laundering and risk analysis.

    Scale of global market

    • The Worldwide AI chip industry accounted for $8.02 billion in 2020.
    • It is expected to reach $194.9 billion by 2030, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 37.4% from 2021 to 2030.

    What can be expected in the future?

    • AI company Cerebras Systems set a new standard with its brain-scale AI solution, paving the way for more advanced solutions in the future.
    • Its CS-2, powered by the Wafer Scale Engine (WSE-2) is a single wafer-scale chip with 2.6 trillion transistors and 8,50,000 AI optimised cores.
    • The human brain contains on the order of 100 trillion synapses, the firm said, adding that a single CS-2 accelerator can support models of over 120 trillion parameters (synapse equivalents) in size.
    • Another AI chip design approach, neuromorphic computing, utilises an engineering method based on the activity of the biological brain.
    • An increase in the adoption of neuromorphic chips in the automotive industry is expected in the next few years.

     

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  • What are Look Out Circulars (LOCs)?

    The Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that a Look Out Circular (LOC), which prevents one from travelling abroad, must be supplied to the person at the time of being stopped at the airport and that the reasons should be communicated to the affected party.

    What is a Look Out Circular?

    • It is a notice to stop any individual wanted by the police, investigating agency or even a bank from leaving or entering the country through designated land, air and sea ports.
    • Immigration is tasked to stop any such individual against whom such a notice exists from leaving or entering the country.
    • There are 86 immigration check posts across the country.

    Who can issue LOCs?

    • A large number of agencies which includes the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Income Tax, State police and intelligence agencies are authorised to generate LOCs.
    • The officer should not be below the rank of a district magistrate or superintendent of police or a deputy secretary in the Union Government.

    What are the details required to generate an LOC and who issues it?

    • According to a 2010 official memorandum of the Ministry, details such as First Information Report (FIR) number, court case number are to be mandatorily provided with name, passport number and other details.
    • The BOI under the MHA is only the executing agency.
    • They generate LOCs based on requests by different agencies.
    • Since immigration posts are manned by the BOI officials they are the first responders to execute LOCs by stopping or detaining or informing about an individual to the issuing agency.
    • The LOCs can be modified; deleted or withdrawn only at the request of the originator.
    • Further, the legal liability of the action taken by immigration authorities in pursuance of LOC rests with the originating agency.

    How are banks authorized?

    • After several businessmen including liquor baron Vijay Mallya, businessmen Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi fled the country after defaulting on loans, the MHA in 2018 brought changes to the 2010 guidelines.
    • It authorised the chairman, managing director and chief executives of all public sector banks to generate LOCs against persons who could be detrimental to economic interests of the country.

    Is there any other clause under which any individual can be stopped?

    • The 2010 Ministry guidelines give sweeping powers to police and intelligence agencies to generate LOCs in “exceptional cases” without keying in complete parameters or case details.
    • This was against suspects, terrorists, anti-national elements, etc. in larger national interest.
    • After the special status of J&K under Article 370 was abrogated in 2019, LOCs were opened against several politicians, human rights activists, journalists and social activists to bar them from flying out of the country.
    • The number of persons and the crime for which they have been placed under the list is unknown.

    Are individuals entitled to any remedial measures?

    • Many citizens have moved courts to get the LOC quashed.
    • As per norms, an LOC will stay valid for a maximum period of 12 months and if there is no fresh request from the agency then it will not be automatically revived.
    • The MHA has asserted that LOCs cannot be shown to the subject at the time of detention nor can any prior intimation be provided.
    • The Ministry recently informed the Punjab and Haryana HC that the LOC guidelines are a secret document and the same cannot be shared with the ‘accused’ or any unauthorised stakeholder.
    • It cannot be provided or shown to the subject at the time of detention by the BOI since it defeats the purpose of LOC and no accused or subject of LOC can be provided any opportunity of hearing before the issuance of the LOC.

    Precedence set by the Judiciary

    • In January this year, Delhi HC quashed an LOC against a Delhi businessman generated at the instance of the Income Tax department.
    • The court said no proceedings under any penal law had been initiated against the petitioner” and the LOC was “wholly unsustainable.”
    • It said that there cannot be any unfettered control or restriction on the right to travel and that it was part of the fundamental rights.
    • Delhi HC has also asked the Director of the CBI to tender a written apology.

     

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  • India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI)

    The IHCI project has demonstrated that blood pressure treatment and control are feasible in primary care settings in diverse health systems across various States in India.

    India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI)

    • It is a multi-partner initiative involving the Indian Council of Medical Research, WHO-India, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and State governments.
    • It aims to improve blood pressure control for people with hypertension.
    • The project initiated in 26 districts in 2018 has expanded to more than 100 districts by 2022.
    • More than two million patients were started on treatment and tracked to see whether they achieved BP control.

    The project was built on five scalable strategies:

    1. Simple treatment protocol with three drugs was selected in consultation with the experts and non-communicable disease programme managers.
    2. Supply chain was strengthened to ensure the availability of adequate antihypertensive drugs.
    3. Patient-centric approaches were followed, such as refills for at least 30 days and assigning the patients to the closest primary health centre or health wellness centre to make follow-up easier.
    4. The focus was on building capacity of all health staff and sharing tasks such as BP measurement, documentation, and follow-up.
    5. There was minimal documentation using either paper-based or digital tools to track follow-up and BP control.

    Prevalence of hypertension in India

    • Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of death among adults in India.
    • One of the major drivers of heart attack and stroke is untreated high blood pressure or hypertension.
    • Hypertension is a silent killer as most patients do not have any symptoms.
    • India has more than 200 million people with hypertension, and only 14.5% of individuals with hypertension are on treatment.

    Success of IHCI

    • Blood pressure treatment and control were feasibly controlled in primary care settings in diverse health systems across various States in India.
    • Before IHCI, many patients travelled to higher-level facilities such as community health centres (block level) or district hospitals in the public sector for hypertension treatment.
    • Over three years, all levels of health staff at the primary health centres and health wellness centres were trained to provide treatment and follow-up services for hypertension.
    • Nearly half (47%) of the patients under care achieved blood pressure control.
    • The BP control among people enrolled in treatment was 48% at primary health centres and 55% at the health wellness centres.

    Contributing to its success: A data-driven approach

    • One of the unique contributions of the project was a data-driven approach to improving care and overall programme management.
    • The list of people who did not return for treatment was generated through a digital system or on paper by the nurse/health workers.
    • Patients were reminded either over the phone or by home visit (if feasible).
    • This strategy motivated a large number of patients to continue treatment.
    • In addition, programme managers reviewed aggregate data at the district and State levels to assess the performance of facilities in terms of follow-up and BP control.
    • Patients were provided generic antihypertensive drugs costing only ₹200 per year.
    • In addition, E-Sanjeevani, a telemedicine initiative, facilitated teleconsultations.

    Back2Basics: Hypertension

    • Hypertension also known as high blood pressure (HBP), is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated.
    • High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms.
    • Long-term high blood pressure, however, is a major risk factor for stroke, coronary artery disease, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, peripheral arterial disease, vision loss, chronic kidney disease, and dementia.
    • High blood pressure is classified as primary (essential) hypertension or secondary hypertension.
    • For most adults, high blood pressure is present if the resting blood pressure is persistently at or above 130/80 or 140/90 mmHg.

     

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  • Illegal fishing by China in the Indo-Pacific

    In order to check China’s illegal fishing in the Indo-Pacific region, the Quadrilateral Security Alliance (Quad) has planned to launch a satellite-based surveillance initiative.

    What is the news?

    • The leaders of Quad are reported to be getting ready to unveil a maritime surveillance initiative to protect exclusive economic zones in the Indo-Pacific against environmental damage.

    How will the proposed maritime surveillance system work?

    • The initiative will use satellite technology to connect existing surveillance centres in India, Singapore and the Pacific.
    • This will help establish a tracking system to combat illegal, unregulated and unprotected (IUU) fishing.
    • The satellite-enabled dragnet will track IUU fishing activities from the Indian Ocean and South-east Asia to the South Pacific.
    • The idea is to monitor illicit fishing vessels that have their AIS (automatic identification system) transponders turned off to evade tracking.
    • The move by the Quad security group is also seen to be aimed at reducing the small Pacific island nations’ growing reliance on China.

    Why is illegal fishing seen as such a big threat?

    • The unregulated plunder of global fishing stock poses a grave threat to the livelihood and food security of millions of people.
    • Globally, fish provide about 3.3 billion people with 20% of their average animal protein intake.
    • According to an FAO report, around 60 million people are engaged in the sector of fisheries and aquaculture.
    • While the economic loss from illegal fishing has been difficult to precisely quantify, some estimates peg it around USD 20 billion annually.

    Threats posed by IUU Fishing

    • Illegal fishing has now replaced piracy as a global maritime threat.
    • In the Indo-Pacific region, like elsewhere, the collapse of fisheries can destabilise coastal nations.
    • It poses a much bigger security risk, as it can fuel human trafficking, drug crime and terror recruiting.

    Why is China in the dock?

    • The 2021 IUU Fishing Index, which maps 152 coastal countries, ranked China as the worst offender.
    • China is considered responsible for 80% to 95% illegal fishing in the region after having overfished its own waters.
    • It, in fact, is known to incentivise illegal fishing with generous subsidies to meet its growing domestic demand.

    China and distant-water fishing (DWF)

    • China’s DWF fleet has almost 17,000 vessels and is the largest in the world.
    • Vessel ownership is highly fragmented among many small companies and the fleet includes vessels registered in other jurisdictions.

    Issues with Chinese IUU Fishing

    • Chinese are often accused of pillaging ocean wealth with great sophistication and with little regard for maritime boundaries.
    • China also uses them to project strategic influence and to bully fishing vessels from weaker nations.
    • China uses destructive practises such as bottom trawling and forced, bonded and slave labour and trafficked crew, alongside the widespread abuse of migrant crewmembers.

     

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  • What is ‘Storage Gain’ in Wheat?

    Punjab’s state procurement agencies (SPAs) are seeking a waiver of ‘storage gain’.

    What is ‘storage gain’ in wheat?

    • Wheat, considered a ‘living grain’, tends to gain some weight during storage.
    • This is known as ‘storage gain’ and it mostly happens due to absorption of moisture.
    • There are three parts of the grain — bran (outer layer rich in fibre), germ (inner layer rich in nutrients) and endosperm (bulk of the kernel which contains minerals and vitamins).
    • The moisture is mostly absorbed by the endosperm.

    Who compensates whom for ‘storage gain’?

    • State procurement agencies, which purchase and store wheat at their facilities, are required to give one kg wheat extra per quintal to the Food Corporation of India (FCI).
    • While 20% of wheat, procured by the FCI and the SPAs, is moved immediately after procurement.
    • It is usually on the remaining 80%, which is moved out after July 1 every year that storage gain has to be accounted for due to longer storage duration.

     

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