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Subject: Governance

Important aspects of Society

  • All gold jewellery to bear hallmark

    The Centre will go ahead with its plan to mandate hallmarking of gold jewellery from June 1. The plan had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Note: Gold hallmarking is a purity certification and is voluntary at present.

    What is Hallmark Gold?

    • The process of certifying the purity and fineness of gold is called hallmarking.
    • Bureau of Indian Standards, the National Standards Body of India, is responsible for hallmarking gold as well as silver jewellery under the BIS Act.
    • If you see the BIS hallmark on the gold jewellery/gold coin, it means it conforms to a set of standards laid by the BIS. Hallmarking gives consumers assurance regarding the purity of the gold they bought.
    • That is, if you are buying hallmarked 18K gold jewellery, it will actually mean that 18/24 parts are gold and the rest is alloy.

    Here are the four components one must look at the time of buying gold (they are mentioned in the laser engraving of a hallmark seal):

    1. BIS Hallmark: Indicates that its purity is verified in one of its licensed laboratories
    2. Purity in carat and fineness (corresponding to given caratage KT)
      •     22K916 (91.6% Purity)
      •     18K750 (75% Purity)
      •     14K585 (58.5% Purity)
    3. Assaying & Hallmarking Centre’s mark
    4. Jeweler’s unique identification mark

    Try this PYQ from CSP 2017:

    Q. Consider the following statements:
    1. The Standard Mark of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is mandatory for automotive tyres and tubes.
    2. AGMARK is a quality Certification Mark issued by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) Both 1 and 2

    (d) Neither 1 nor 2

    Why such a move now?

    • As per the new rules, if jewellery or an artefact made of 14-, 18- or 22-carat gold is sold without the BIS hallmark, the jeweller could be penalized five times the cost of the object or imprisoned for up to one year.
    • About 40% of gold jewellery is sold with a hallmark.
    • Mandatory hallmarking would protect the public against lower caratage and ensure consumers did not get cheated while buying gold ornaments and got the purity as marked on the ornaments.

  • [pib] MANAS Platform

    The MANAS App to promote wellbeing across age groups was recently launched.

    Name, acronym and the purpose; thats all. The rest of the theory is of less importance.

    MANAS Platform

    • MANAS is an acronym for Mental Health and Normalcy Augmentation System.
    • It is a comprehensive, scalable, and national digital wellbeing platform and an app developed to augment the mental well-being of Indian citizens.
    • MANAS was initiated by the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India and jointly executed by NIMHANS Bengaluru, AFMC Pune and C-DAC Bengaluru.
    • It was endorsed as a national program by the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC).
    • It integrates the health and wellness efforts of various government ministries, scientifically validated indigenous tools with gamified interfaces developed/researched by various national bodies and research institutions.

  • NCAHP Bill 2020

    The article highlights the key aspects of NCAHP Bill 2020 which recognises the allied healthcare professionals and seeks to regulate and set the standards of education.

    Regulating allied health professions

    • The National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Bill, 2020 (NCAHP) was passed by Parliament in March.
    • Global evidence demonstrates the vital role of allied professionals in the delivery of healthcare services.
    • They are the first to recognise the problems of the patients and serve as safety nets.
    • Their awareness of patient care accountability adds tremendous value to the healthcare team in both the public and private sectors.
    • The passage of this Bill has the potential to overhaul the entire allied health workforce by establishing institutes of excellence and regulating the scope of practice by focusing on task shifting and task-re distribution.

    What the Bill provides for

    • This legislation provides for regulation and maintenance of standards of education and services by allied and healthcare professionals and the maintenance of a central register of such professionals.
    • It recognises over 50 professions such as physiotherapists, optometrists, nutritionists, medical laboratory professionals, radiotherapy technology professionals, which had hitherto lacked a comprehensive regulatory mechanism.
    • This Bill classifies allied professionals using the International System of Classification of Occupations (ISCO code).
    • This facilitates global mobility and enables better opportunities for such professionals.
    • The Act aims to establish a central statutory body as a National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions.
    • The Bill has the provision for state councils to execute major functions through autonomous boards.

    Shift in perception and policy in healthcare delivery

    • There has been a paradigm shift in perception, policy, and programmatic interventions in healthcare delivery in India since 2017.
    • In the past, curative healthcare received substantially greater attention than preventive and promotive aspects.
    • Ayushman Bharat as a programmatic intervention, with its two pillars of Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) and Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), operationalised certain critical recommendations of the National Health Policy, 2017, emphasising wellness in healthcare.
    • With PMJAY, the neediest are protected from catastrophic expenditure and India took the first step towards delivering comprehensive primary healthcare with HWCs.

    Conclusion

    Caring for patients with mental conditions, the elderly, those in need of palliative services, and enabling professional services for lifestyle change related to physical activity and diets, all require a trained, allied health workforce. The NCAHP is not only timely but critical to this changing paradigm.

  • Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT)

    The Government of India’s decision to abolish the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT), under the Tribunal Reforms Ordinance, 2021, has triggered a wave of criticism with filmmakers.

    The FCAT was the place filmmakers walked into as a penultimate resort to challenging edits suggested to their films by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

    Plunging into crisis

    • FCAT is only one of many tribunals in the country that were either abolished or amalgamated under the Ordinance.
    • Earlier, if a filmmaker fails to clear the Examining Committee (EC) and Revising Committee (RC) hurdles of the CBFC, the FCAT was the next step of recourse, but that is no longer the case.
    • FCAT only charged a nominal fee to hold the screening for its members, and it would pass its judgment immediately.

    Fighting the system

    • FCAT’s panel is predominantly made up of members from industry veterans who arrive at a judgment after balancing both CBFC and the filmmaker’s points of view.
    • Most of CBFC’s decisions were overruled by the Tribunal and that has reassured constitutional rights under Article 19 to filmmakers to express themselves freely.
    • A judge will only look at the issue from a legal perspective, not whether a particular edit will constrict the flow of the movie.

    Re-classifying certification

    • To avoid such issues, the Government constituted the ‘Shyam Benegal Committee’ in January 2016.
    • The committee recommended regulations for film certification — a move away from the current practice adopted by CBFC, and submitted its report in April 2016.
    • According to many, a revamp of the certification system that doesn’t require censoring or cuts is the need of the hour.

  • SARTHAQ Plan

    Union Education Minister has launched ‘Students’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement through Quality Education (SARTHAQ), the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 implementation plan for school education.

    SARTHAQ

    • SARTHAQ keeps in mind the concurrent nature of education and adheres to the spirit of federalism.
    • The plan delineates the roadmap for the implementation of NEP 2020 for the next 10 years.
    • States and Union Territories have been given the flexibility to adapt the plan with “local contextualization”.
    • They have been allowed to modify the plan as per their needs and requirements.

    Envisaged outcomes

    • Increase in Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), Net Enrolment Ratio (NER), transition rate and retention rate at all levels and reduction in dropouts and out of school children.
    • Access to quality ECCE and Universal Acquisition of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy by Grade 3.
    • Improvement in Learning Outcomes at all stages with an emphasis on teaching and learning through mother tongue/local/regional languages in the early years.
    • Integration of vocational education, sports, arts, knowledge of India, 21st-century skills, values of citizenship, awareness of environment conservation, etc. in the curriculum at all stages.
    • Introduction of Experiential learning at all stages and adoption of innovative pedagogies by teachers in classroom transaction.
    • Integration of technology in educational planning and governance and availability of ICT and quality e-content in classrooms.

  • [pib]  ‘Anamaya’ Initiative

    Anamaya, the Tribal Health Collaborative was recently launched.

    Simply keep in mind, the name and purpose.

    ‘Anamaya’ Initiative

    • The Collaborative is a multi-stakeholder initiative of the Tribal Affairs Ministry supported by Piramal Foundation and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).
    • It aims to build a sustainable, high-performing health eco-system to address the key health challenges faced by the tribal population of India.
    • It will converge efforts of various Government agencies and organisations to enhance the health and nutrition status of the tribal communities of India.
    • This collaborative is a unique initiative bringing together governments, philanthropists, national and international foundations, NGOs/CBOs to end all preventable deaths among the tribal communities of India.

    Terms of references

    • It will begin its operations with 50 tribal, Aspirational Districts (with more than 20% ST population) across 6 high tribal population states.
    • Over a 10-year period, the work of the THC will be extended to 177 tribal Districts as recognised by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

  • Why police reform recommendations have not been implemented

    The article discusses the status of implementation of the Supreme Court directives in the Prakash Singh case by the States.

    Background of the Prakash Sing judgement

    • Over the years, the National Police Commission made several recommendations for reform of the police force.
    • But many of these were not implemented effectively.
    • In 1996, two retired Directors General of Police, Prakash Singh and N. K. Singh, filed a public interest litigation (PIL) to know whether those recommendations had ever been implemented.
    • A decade later in 2006 that the Court delivered its verdict in what is popularly referred to as the Prakash Singh case.
    • In Prakash Singh v. Union of India, the SC relied on the eight reports of the National Police Commission (1979-1981) appointed by the Union.

    Following are some of the recommendations and provision and status of their implementations.

    Selection and minimum tenure of DGP

    • The provision regarding the selection of and minimum tenure for the DGP post has had partial if any, effect.
    • Corruption, politicking, and patronage-seeking at the top is so endemic that this provision has lost its sting.
    • The Security Commission consisting of the Home Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, the Chief Secretary, the DGP and five independent members is likewise ineffective.
    • How can one have at the apex of the reform system for the police those who have a vested interest in not reforming the police?

    Separation between investigation and prosecution wings

    • The Commission’s recommendation that there ought to be a separation between the investigation and prosecution wings, as is the system in many developed countries, required immediate enforcement by the judiciary.
    • Doing so will help weed out the corruption in criminal investigations would get a second look by the prosecutorial wing.
    • But, for that, it would require that this department be placed not under the Home Minister, but under the Ministry of Law and Justice.
    • This was never done.

    The Police Complaint Authority

    • Obviously, for police criminality, one cannot expect the police or the home department to take action against themselves.
    • An independent body was necessary.
    • The commission recommended that there should be a PCA at the state level, headed by a retired judge of the SC or high court chosen out of a panel of names proposed by the chief justice of the state.
    • A similar structure was envisaged for the PCA at the district level.
    • In addition, the PCAs would be assisted by members selected by the state from panels prepared by the State Human Rights Commission, Lokayuktas and the State Public Service Commissions.
    • The most important part of this decision was that the recommendations of the PCA would be binding on the state.
    • However, affidavits filed in the SC showed that not a single state or UT has implemented the PCA provision.
    • States have not constituted panels and appointed officials as chairpersons in the place of retired judges.
    • In many states, the name Police Complaints Authority has been changed.
    • For example, in Tripura and Mizoram, it is called The Police Accountability Commission, diverting attention away from the fact that the commission is for entertaining complaints against police persons.

    Consider the question “What are the Supreme Court directives for police reform in the Prakash Singh vs. Union of India case? To what extent states have implemented these directives?” 

    Conclusion

    On police reform, the recommendations exist, the SC order has been made but the Union remains defiant. Perhaps, now, after the Maharashtra fiasco, the SC may decide that this case pending for eight years merits listing.

    Back2Basics: The SC directives in the Prakash Singh case

    1) Limit Political Control

    • Constitute a State Security Commission to:
    • Ensure that the state government does not exercise unwarranted influence or pressure on the police.
    • Lay down broad policy guidelines.
    • Evaluate the performance of the state police.

    2) Appointment based on merit

    • Ensure that the Director General of Police is appointed through a merit–based, transparent process, and secures a minimum tenure of 2 years.

    3) Fix minimum tenure

    • Ensure that other police officers on operational duties (including Superintendents of Police in charge of a district and Station House Officers in charge of a police station) are also provided a minimum tenure of 2 years.

    4) Separate police functions

    • Separate the functions of investigation and maintaining law and order.

    5) Set up fair and transparent systems

    • Set up a Police Establishment Board to decide and make recommendations on transfers, postings, promotions and other service-related matters of police officers of and below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police.

    6) Establish a Police Complaints Authority in each state

    • At the state level, there should be a Police Complaints Authority to look into public complaints against police officers of and above the rank of Superintendent of Police in cases of serious misconduct, including custodial death, grievous hurt or rape in police custody.

    7) Set up a selection commission

    • A National Security Commission needs to be set up at the union level to prepare a panel for selection and placement of chiefs of the Central Police Organizations with a minimum tenure of 2 years.

  • Address the silent crisis of India’s gender deficit

    The recently released Gener Gap Report paints a grim picture for India. The deal with this issue.

    Where India Stands

    • The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2021 was released last week.
    • The report lays bare our silent crisis of gender inequality, aggravated by the covid pandemic.
    • India has slipped 28 places to 140th position among 156 countries on the WEF’s Global Gender Gap Index.
    • The country is now 37.5% short of an ideal situation of equality, by its index, last year it was a 33.2% deficit on the whole.
    • Back in 2006, we were almost 40% short, but even the slight progress made over the past 15 years has been highly uneven.
    • Gains were made on the education and political empowerment of women, we slid sharply on health and economic parameters.

    Factors to consider

    • Though pandemic has been responsible for the decline to a significant extent, many of our deficiencies are pre-covid.
    • Some of the drop in India’s international rank over the past two years, for example, has to do with regression in the field of political power.
    • The proportion of women ministers more than halved to 9.1% of the total, though our count of female Parliamentarians did not budge from its long stagnancy.
    • Our performance over the past decade-and-a-half has been poor on women’s economic opportunities and participation.
    • Indian workforce has been turning more predominantly male.
    • Senior managerial positions in the corporate sector have not seen sufficient female appointees.
    • At the aggregate level, our income disparity is glaring.
    • Women earn only a fifth of men, which puts India among the world’s worst 10 on this indicator.
    • We fare worse on women’s health and survival, with India beaten to the last rank only by China.

    Why proportionally fewer Indian women in jobs?

    • One explanation is that sociocultural attitudes go against women going out to work, unless the family lacks sustenance, and deprivation has been in decline for decades.
    • Another is that families prefer educated mothers to invest time in teaching their kids.
    • Both these motives are said to be influenced by upward income mobility and a quest for better lives.
    • Yet, the covid setback to both family incomes and gender progress would suggest the reasons are mostly attitudinal.

    Way forward

    • If the reasons are attitudinal, tax incentives and other schemes are unlikely to get women taking up more jobs.
    • What we need are new forms of social persuasion, which must go with credible assurances of gender equity in every sphere.

    Conclusion

    A country’s economic progress is inextricably linked to empowered women. So, India needs to act on the silent crisis of India’s gender deficit to move up the economic ladder.

  • Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP)

    The Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare has launched the Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP).

    About IHIP

    • The new version of IHIP will house the data entry and management for India’s disease surveillance program.
    • In addition to tracking 33 diseases now as compared to the earlier 18 diseases, it shall ensure near-real-time data in digital mode, having done away with the paper mode of working.

    Various functions

    • IHIP will provide a health information system developed for real-time, case-based information, integrated analytics, advanced visualization capability.
    • It will provide analyzed reports on mobile or other electronic devices. In addition, outbreak investigation activities can be initiated and monitored electronically.
    • It can easily be integrated with another ongoing surveillance program while having the feature of the addition of special surveillance modules.

    Unique features

    • This is the world’s biggest online disease surveillance platform.
    • It is in sync with the National Digital Health Mission and fully compatible with the other digital information systems presently being used in India.
    • The refined IHIP with automated -data will help in a big way in real-time data collection, aggregation & further analysis of data that will aid and enable evidence-based policymaking.
    • With IHIP, the collection of authentic data will become easy as it comes directly from the village/block level; the last mile from the country.
    • With its implementation, we are fast marching towards AtmaNirbhar Bharat in healthcare through the use of technology.

    Also read:

    [Burning Issue] Rolling-out of National Digital Health Mission

  • Global Gender Gap Report, 2021

    India has slipped 28 places to rank 140th among 156 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2021, becoming the third-worst performer in South Asia.

    For the 12th time, Iceland is the most gender-equal country in the world. The top 10 most gender-equal countries include Finland, Norway, New Zealand, Rwanda, Sweden, Ireland and Switzerland.

    Global Gender Gap Index

    • The report is annually published by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
    • It benchmarks countries on their progress towards gender parity in four dimensions: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival and Political Empowerment.
    • The report aims to serve “as a compass to track progress on relative gaps between women and men on health, education, economy and politics”.

    Highlights of the 2021 report

    Indian prospects

    According to the report, India has closed 62.5% of its gender gap to date.

    • Economic participation: India’s gender gap on this dimension widened by 3% this year, leading to a 32.6% gap closed to date.
    • Political empowerment: India regressed 13.5 percentage points, with a significant decline in the number of women ministers.
    • Income: Further, the estimated earned income of women in India is only one-fifth of men’s, which puts the country among the bottom 10 globally on this indicator.
    • Health: Discrimination against women is also reflected in the health and survival subindex statistics. With 93.7% of this gap closed to date, India ranks among the bottom five countries in this subindex.
    • Violence: Wide gaps in sex ratio at birth are due to the high incidence of gender-based sex-selective practices. In addition, more than one in four women has faced intimate violence in her lifetime, the report said.

    India’s neighbourhood

    • In South Asia, only Pakistan and Afghanistan ranked below India.
    • Among India’s neighbours, Bangladesh ranked 65, Nepal 106, Pakistan 153, Afghanistan 156, Bhutan 130 and Sri Lanka 116.
    • Among regions, South Asia is the second-lowest performer on the index, with 62.3% of its overall gender gap closed.
    • Within the region, a wide gulf separates the best-performing country, Bangladesh, which has closed 71.9% of its gender gap so far, from Afghanistan, which has only closed 44.4% of its gap.
    • Because of its large population, India’s performance has a substantial impact on the region’s overall performance.