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Subject: Governance

Important aspects of Society

  • OTT players adopt ‘toolkit’ for self-regulation

    Online streaming providers have announced the adoption of an ‘implementation toolkit’, under the aegis of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

    What is the news?

    • Various OTT platforms say that this is in furtherance to the Universal Self-Regulation Code the body had introduced in September.
    • The government had rejected this USRC code.

    Q.What is Over the Top (OTT) media services? Critically analyse the benefits and challenges offered by the OTT media services in India.

    What are OTT Media?

    • An over-the-top (OTT) media service is a streaming media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet.
    • OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms, the companies that traditionally act as a controller or distributor of such content.
    • The term is most synonymous with subscription-based video-on-demand (SVoD) services that offer access to film and television content.
    • They are typically accessed via websites on personal computers, as well as via apps on mobile devices (such as smartphones and tablets), digital media players, or televisions with integrated Smart TV platforms.

    Regulating OTT

    • Currently, there is no law or autonomous body governing digital content. The recent move will give the government control over OTT platforms, which were unregulated till now.
    • From time to time, the government had indicated the necessity to monitor these platforms.
    • In October 2019, the government had indicated that it will issue the “negative” list of don’ts for the video streaming services like Netflix and Hotstar.
    • It also wanted the platforms to come up with a self-regulatory body on the lines of the News Broadcasting Standards Authority.

    What is the toolkit about?

    • The effort of the signatories, through this toolkit, is to also address feedback received from the ministry of information and broadcasting inter-alia, on the issues of conflict of interest and prohibited content.

    The all-inclusive implementation toolkit will assist signatories in a seamless transition to self-regulation and guide them on various dimensions like:

    • Relevant laws of the land which will be adhered to by the signatories
    • Fair and transparent functioning of the grievance redressal mechanism, with escalation to an advisory panel with independent members
    • Training programs for creative and legal teams of OCCPs to enhance the knowledge and nuances of laws that govern content
    • Awareness programs for consumers to help increase understanding and use of age rating, content descriptor & parental controls
    • Implementation of a detailed audit and compliance mechanism

    Why such code?

    • The code comes into force at a time when the government has put OTT platforms on the anvil of content regulation after a spate of complaints on the ‘sensitive’ and ‘objectionable’ nature of certain shows.
    • Earlier this week, I&B minister has assured the Parliament that guidelines for the regulation of OTTs have been practically hammered out and will be implemented soon.

  • Centre’s new labour codes to allow 4-day work per week

    The Centre under its new labour codes would soon provide an option for organisations to allow their employees to work for four days in a week.

    What is the news?

    • The proposed new labour codes could provide companies with the flexibility of four working days in a week.

    What does this mean?

    • The working hour’s limit of 48 hours for a week will remain unchanged.
    • This implies that there will be long working hours if the working days are reduced.
    • Having a reduced number of working days does not mean a cut in paid holidays.
    • Therefore, when the new rules will provide the flexibility of four working days, it would imply three paid holidays.

    Roll out of the proposal

    • The Ministry of Labour and Employment is likely to complete the process to finalise the rules for four labour codes soon.
    • The provision of flexibility to have reduced working days of four days in the labour code rules will mean that companies will not require prior government nod to enact it.

    Why such a move?

    • The well-being of employees improves with less workload. Working parents can spare more time for the childcare.
    • It helps the economy and the environment since power and fuel consumption is reduced.

    Ahead of Labour reforms

    • The ministry is in the final phase of amalgamating 44 central labour laws into four broad codes.
    • The four Codes include- Code on Wages, Industrial Relations, Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH) and Social Security Codes.

     

  • What is Immunity Passport?

    In a bid to ease travel restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic, countries like Denmark, Estonia, Israel, Chile, UK have announced a new ‘immunity passport.’

    Try this question form mains:

    Q.Discuss various ethical issues evolved during the outbreaks of pandemics (of the scale of COVID-19).

    Immunity Passport

    • They are the recovery or release certificate or a document attesting that its bearer is immune to a contagious disease.
    • The concept has drawn much attention during the COVID-19 pandemic as a potential way to contain the pandemic and permit faster economic recovery.
    • The can be used as a legal document granted by a testing authority following a serology test demonstrating that the bearer has antibodies making them immune to a disease.

    Ethical issues involved

    • Issuing ‘immunity certificates’ to people who have recovered can be an ethical minefield.
    • Doctors do not generally prefer immunity to be induced by natural infection compared with vaccines. It seems logical, but there are multiple challenges.
    • There might be long-term health complications in those who had COVID-19, whereas the vaccine will have minimal or no adverse health consequences.
    • There is a danger that similar arguments will be made for other vaccine-preventable diseases for which we have a universal immunisation programme.

    Public health risk

    • People whose livelihood has have been affected would be encouraged to adopt risky behaviour so as to get infected rather than taking precautions to stay protected from the virus.
    • This would lead to a sharp increase in cases across the country with huge numbers requiring hospitalization.
    • Such a situation would lead to testing capabilities getting overwhelmed, crumbling of the health-care systems and increased deaths.

    Threats over malpractices

    • Immunity certification will include a system for identification and monitoring, thus compromising privacy.
    • Other contentious issues would be profiteering by private labs performing tests, and the menace of fake certificates which we have already seen in some Indian states.
    • In the end, an immunity passport will further divide the society with different ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’.

    Way forward

    • We need to look at COVID-19 with a sense of balance and not hysteria.
    • Terms such as immunity passports may not have relevance as we do not know anything about specific kinds of immune responses and the duration of protection in people.
    • There is currently not enough evidence about the effectiveness of antibody-mediated immunity to guarantee the accuracy of an ‘immunity passport’ or ‘risk-free certificate’.
    • The permission to travel or work should be decided on a case by case basis, according to the principles of ethics while dealing with a pandemic.

  • First steps in India’s journey to universal health care

    The article highlights the issues with India’s approach in achieving universal health care and issues with it.

    Learning from the experience of Thailand

    • About 20 years ago, Thailand rolled out universal health coverage at a per capita GDP similar to today’s India.
    • What made this possible was a three decade-long tradition of investing gradually but steadily in public health infrastructure and manpower.
    • This meant that alongside the availability of funds, there also existed robust institutional capacity to assimilate those funds.
    • This is important because enough evidence exists on weak fund-absorbing capacities particularly in the backward States in India.

    Budgetary allocations for health

    • The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare budget for 2021-22, viz. ₹73,932 crore, saw a 10.2% increase over the Budget estimate (BE) of 2020-21.
    • Also, a corpus of ₹64,180 crore over six years has been set aside under the PM Atma Nirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana, (PMANSBY).
    • ₹13,192 crore has been allocated as a Finance Commission grant.
    • These allocations could make the first steps towards sustainable universal health coverage through incremental strengthening of grass-root-level institutions and processes.

    Two important and prominent arms of universal health coverage in India merit discussion here

    1) Insurance route for achieving universal health coverage and issues with it

    • The Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) has stagnated at ₹6,400 crores for the current and a preceding couple of years.
    • Large expenditure projections and time constraints involved in the input-based strengthening of public health care have inspired the shift to the insurance route.
    • However, insurance does not provide a magic formula for expanding health care with low levels of public spending.
    • Beyond low allocations, poor budget reliability merits attention.
    • Another related issue is the persistent and large discrepancies between official coverage figures and survey figures (for e.g. the National Sample Surveys, or NSS, and National Family Health Survey) across Indian States.
    • Such discrepancies indicate that official public health insurance coverage fails to translate into actual coverage on the ground.
    • Robust research into the implementational issues responsible for such discrepancies and addressing them is warranted.
    • Without the same, the PM-JAY’s quest for universal health coverage is likely to be precarious.
    • Finally, even high actual coverage should not be equated with effective financial protection.
    • For example, Andhra Pradesh has among the highest public health insurance coverage scores (71.36%, NSS 75), but still has an out-of-pocket spending share much above the national average.

    2) Comprehensive primary care

    • Health and Wellness Centres — 1,50,202 of them — offering a comprehensive range of primary health-care services are to be operationalised until December 2022.
    • Of these, 1,19,628 would be upgraded sub health centres and the remaining would be primary health centres and urban primary health centres.
    • Initially, most States prioritised primary health centres/urban primary health centres for upgradation over sub health centres, since the former required fewer additional investments.
    • Till February 2, 58,155 health and wellness centres were operational, of which 34,733 were sub health centres and 23,422 were primary health centres/urban primary health centres.
    • This means that of the remaining 92,047 health and wellness centres to be operationalised by December 2022, 84,895 will be sub health centres.
    • This offers huge cost projections.
    • The current allocation of ₹1,900 crore, an increase of ₹300 crore from previous year, is a paltry sum in comparison.
    • Since 2018-19, when the health and wellness centre initiative began, allocations have not kept pace with the rising targets each year.
    • Additional funding under the PMANSBY and Finance Commission grants is reassuring, but a greater focus on rural health and wellness centres would be warranted.
    • Two untoward implications could result from under-investing and spreading funds too thinly.
    • Continuing the expansion of health and wellness centres without enough funding would mean that the full range of promised services will not be available, thus rendering the mission to be more of a re-branding exercise.
    • Second, under-funding would waste an opportunity for the health and wellness centre initiative to at least partially redress the traditional rural-urban dichotomy by bolstering curative primary care in rural areas.

    Consider the question “What are the challenges in adopting the insurance model in achieving the universal health coverage in India?” 

    Conclusion

    COVID-19 has prodded us to make a somewhat stout beginning in terms of investing in health. The key, and the most difficult part, would be to keep the momentum going unswervingly.

  • FSSAI caps transfats in foods

    The FSSAI has amended its rules to put a cap on trans fatty acids (TFAs) in food products just weeks after it tightened the norms for oils and fats.

    What are the new rules?

    • Food products in which edible oils and fats are used as an ingredient shall not contain industrial Trans fatty acids more than 2% by mass of the total oils/fats present in the product, on and from 1st January 2022.
    • In December, the FSSAI had capped TFAs in oils and fats to 3% by 2021, and 2% by 2022 from the current levels of 5%.
    • The 2% cap is considered to be the elimination of trans fatty acids, which is to be achieved by 2022.

    What are Trans Fats?

    • Trans fatty acids are created in an industrial process that adds hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils to make them more solid, increase the shelf life of food items and for use as an adulterant as they are cheap.
    • They are present in baked, fried and processed foods as well as adulterated ghee which becomes solid at room temperature.
    • They are the most harmful form of fats as they clog arteries and cause hypertension, heart attacks and other cardiovascular diseases.

    Why need such regulation?

    • As per the World Health Organisation (WHO), approximately 5.4 lakh deaths take place each year globally because of intake of industrially-produced trans-fatty acids.
    • The WHO has called for the elimination of industrially-produced trans-fatty acids from the global food supply by 2023.
    • The latest FSSAI rules signal the completion of the process of regulating trans fats in India.
    • The move will make a big difference in the health harm caused by this unwanted ingredient.
    • This allows FSSAI and the State-level food safety machinery to focus on implementation and enforcement of the WHO recommendations.

  • Privacy concerns over Haryana’s Parivar Pehchan Patra

    Amid concerns over the Parivar Pehchan Patra scheme, the Haryana govt. says enrolment is voluntary. But residents have little choice as the delivery of even birth and death certificates is linked to it.

    Practice question for mains:

    Q.What is Parivar Pehchan Patra (PPP) recently rolled out by Haryana Govt.? How it is beneficial compared to the Aadhaar?

    What is Parivar Pehchan Patra (PPP)?

    • It is an 8-digit Unique Identity Card number meant for each family to enable smooth and automatic delivery of several citizen-centric services.
    • The government will establish the scheme-wise eligibility of a particular family using this 8-digit code according to the information available in the PPP of the family.
    • The benefits, according to the schemes, shall automatically be transferred to the family using the same code.
    • PPP will ensure that not a single beneficiary is left out from the government benefits that they are entitled to.

    How is PPP different from the Aadhaar card?

    • The PPP, mathematically, is an integral number of Aadhaar.
    • While Aadhaar represents an individual as a unit, a PPP represents a family as a unit. Most of our government schemes are structured around the family.
    • It is not structured around an individual.
    • For example, ration eligibility is there for the family but the family can split it into various members as long as they are above 18 years and say they are separating entitlements for all individuals.

    Will it be mandatory for every family of Haryana to get PPP?

    • No, it will not be mandatory for every family of the state to obtain a PPP.
    • But, PPP is mandatory for families availing benefits under government schemes.
    • Also, whenever a family wants to avail any government scheme, it will have to first get a PPP to be eligible.

    The logic behind

    • Haryana officials said although there is a union government’s Aadhaar card, it contains individual’s details and does not cater to the entire family as a unit.
    • In certain circumstances, it may not be possible for a state government to keep track of all the families residing in the state.
    • Although the ration card system is there, it is not updated and does not contain adequate family records.
    • With the PPP, it will be easier for the state government to maintain a complete database of all the state dwellers.

    How would it work?

    • To begin with, the government has already linked PPP with three social security schemes – old age Samman allowance, divyang pension, and the widow and destitute women pension scheme.
    • For instance, when a family member turns 60, they will automatically get a message through the software and will automatically start getting benefits of the old-age pension if they meet the required criteria.
    • Similarly, the teenagers will get messages on turning 18 years old and shall become eligible for various government schemes that will be notified to them through the software.

  • [pib] MCA21 Version 3.0

    The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) will launch data analytics-driven MCA21 Version 3.0.

    What is MCA 21?

    • MCA21 is an e-Governance initiative of Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) that enables easy and secure access of the MCA services to the corporate entities, professionals and citizens of India.
    • It is the first Mission Mode e-Governance project of GoI.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Which one of the following is not a feature of Limited Liability Partnership firm?

    (a) Partners should be less than 20

    (b) Partnership and management need not be separate

    (c) Internal governance may be decided by mutual agreement among partners

    (d) It is a corporate body with perpetual succession

    MCA21 3.0

    • MCA21 V3 is a technology-driven forward-looking project, envisioned to strengthen enforcement, promote Ease of Doing Business, enhance the user experience, and facilitate seamless integration and data exchange among Regulators.
    • The project will have Micro-services architecture with high scalability and capabilities for advanced analytics.
    • It will have additional modules for e-Adjudication, e-Consultation and Compliance Management.
    • Aligned with global best practices and aided by emerging technologies such as AI and ML, MCA21 V3 is envisioned to transform the corporate regulatory environment in India.

    Components of MCA21 V3

    • E-Scrutiny: MCA is in process of setting up a Central Scrutiny Cell which will scrutinise certain Straight Through Process (STP) Forms filed by the corporates on the MCA21 registry and flag the companies for more in-depth scrutiny.
    • E-adjudication: E-adjudication module will provide a platform for conducting online hearings with stakeholders and end to end adjudication electronically.
    • E-Consultation: To automate and enhance the current process of public consultation on proposed amendments and draft rules etc., e-consultation module of MCA21 v3 will provide an online platform.
    • Compliance Management System (CMS): CMS will assist MCA in identifying non-compliant companies/LLPs, issuing e-notices to the said defaulting companies/LLPs etc.

  • The unmet health challenge

    The article analyses the allocation for the health sector in the Budget and highlights the need for more allocations.

    Need to increase spending on health

    • The Economic Survey argues for the need to increase public spending on healthcare to 2.5-3 per cent of the GDP — it’s about 1.5 per cent currently.
    • The Survey points out that there is not much difference in terms of outcomes and quality between healthcare services in the private sector and such services in public centres.
    • The Economic Survey, therefore, calls for strengthening the National Health Mission (NHM) along with Ayushman Bharat.
    • NHM was initiated in 2005-06 to strengthen public health services.
    • The Ayushman Bharat provide social insurance, thereby financing private sector services with public funds. 
    • The Economic Survey makes a strong pitch for greater regulation of health services in the private sector.

    Break-up of allocation in Budget on health (and well being)

    • The finance minister described “health and well-being” as one of the pillars of the budget in her budget speech and announcing a 137 per cent increase in allocations for it.
    • She placed healthcare, water and sanitation and nutrition as the key components of this pillar.
    • However, the figures in the budget documents reveal a different story.
    • There is an absolute increase of 9.6 per cent in allocations for the Department of Health and Family Welfare that includes NHM and Ayushman Bharat.
    • A 26.8 per cent increase for the Department of Health Research and 40 per cent increase for the AYUSH Ministry do not add up to much since each of them are only 3-4 per cent of the total health budget.
    • A Finance Commission grant of Rs 13,000-crore and Rs 35,000-crore for COVID-19 vaccination are one-time allocations and, therefore, do not strengthen the overall system.
    • The core health service and research ministries (H&FW and AYUSH) have together received only an 11 per cent increase.
    • Even in COVID times, the health services get only 2.21 per cent of the total central budget — down from 2.27 per cent in the 2020-21 budget.
    • Computing for inflation, the increase in allocation for health services alone disappears and actually becomes negative.
    • Water and sanitation received a 179 per cent increase from Rs 21,518 crore to Rs 60,030 crore already earmarked for the flagship schemes, Swachh Bharat and Jal Jeevan Mission.
    • But allocation for nutrition decreased by 27 per cent, with the “new” Poshan 2.0 merely combining the poorly performing Supplementary Nutrition Programme and Poshan project.
    • Added together, health, water and sanitation and nutrition make up the claimed 137 per cent increase in allocation to “health” services — with a real decline in healthcare and nutrition.

    Pradhan Mantri Atma Nirbhar Swasthya Yojana (PMANSY)

    • Finance Minister also announced a new scheme, the Pradhan Mantri Atma Nirbhar Swasthya Yojana, to support the almost 29,000 health and wellness centres in the country.
    • The scheme also envisages the creation of public health laboratories and critical care hospital blocks and virology institutes.

    Concerns with PMANSY

    • PMANSY has an announced allocation of Rs 64,180 crore over six years, but it does not find a place in the present budget documents.
    • But these additional activities could have been slotted in the NHM.
    • Since 2014, the allocation for NHM has been on the wane.
    • Therefore, even the marginal 1.33 per cent increase (from Rs 27,039 crore to Rs 30,100 crore) is a demonstration of the government’s realisation that public services do matter.
    • The allocations of about Rs 10,000-Rs 11,000 crore each year for the PMANSY is not enough for making the public services capable of “universal health coverage”.
    • The High-Level Expert Group on Universal Health Coverage had estimated that by 2020, we need a 114 per cent increase in sub-centres and primary health centres, 179 per cent increase in community health centres and a 230 per cent increase in sub-district and district hospitals.
    • Getting anywhere close to this requires doubling of real allocations every year over a five-year period to reach something like 10 per cent of the budget.
    • In the present budget, it declines to a mere 2.21 per cent.

    Way forward

    • If such public provisioning for universal health coverage can’t be done, then effective low-cost rationalised service system options have to be designed.
    • Insurance schemes only create the mirage of affordability of health services while adding to peoples’ expenses.
    • Community and public services are indisputably the most cost-effective for any society.

    Consider the question “Examine the benefits of the idea of health and well being under which health, water and sanitation and nutrition are clubbed together.”

    Conclusion

    Water and sanitation are meaningful for health, but not if it only inflates the allocation to “Health and Wellbeing”. What we need is the real increase in spending on health.

  • Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY)

    The government’s maternity benefit scheme, or Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, has crossed 1.75 crores, eligible women, till the financial year 2020, the Centre informed Parliament.

    PMMVY

    • The PMMVY is a maternity benefit program introduced in 2017 and is implemented by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
    • It is a conditional cash transfer scheme for pregnant and lactating women of 19 years of age or above for the first live birth.
    • It provides partial wage compensation to women for wage-loss during childbirth and childcare and to provide conditions for safe delivery and good nutrition and feeding practices.
    • Under the scheme, pregnant women and lactating mothers receive ₹5,000 on the birth of their first child in three instalments, after fulfilling certain conditionalities.
    • In 2013, the scheme was brought under the National Food Security Act, 2013 to implement the provision of cash maternity benefit stated in the Act.
    • The direct benefit cash transfer is to help expectant mothers meet enhanced nutritional requirements as well as to partially compensate them for wage loss during their pregnancy.

    Eligibility Conditions and Conditionalities

    The first transfer (at pregnancy trimester) of ₹1,000 requires the mother to:

    • Register pregnancy at the Anganwadi Centre (AWC) whenever she comes to know about her conception
    • Attend at least one prenatal care session and taking Iron-folic acid tablets and TT1 (tetanus toxoid injection), and
    • Attend at least one counselling session at the AWC or healthcare centre.

    The second transfer (six months of conception) of ₹2,000 requires the mother to:

    • Attend at least one prenatal care session and TT2

    The third transfer (three and a half months after delivery) of ₹2,000 requires the mother to:

    • Register the birth
    • Immunize the child with OPV and BCG at birth, at six weeks and at 10 weeks
    • Attend at least two growth monitoring sessions within three months of delivery

    Additionally, the scheme requires the mother to:

    • Exclusively breastfeed for six months and introduce complementary feeding as certified by the mother
    • Immunize the child with OPV and DPT
    • Attend at least two counselling sessions on growth monitoring and infant and child nutrition and feeding between the third and sixth months after delivery

    Before judging this factual information, take this PYQ form 2019:

    Q.Which of the following statements is/are correct regarding the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017?

    1. Pregnant women are entitled to three months pre-delivery and three months post-delivery paid leave.
    2. Enterprises with creches must allow the mother a minimum of six crèche visits daily.
    3. Women with two children get reduced entitlements.

    Select the correct answer using the code given below.

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

  • Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban) to revive urban water bodies

    The urban water supply mission under the Jal Jeevan Mission announced in the Budget would include rejuvenation of water bodies as well as 20% of supply from reused water.

    Access to safe drinking water has been a grave problem for India, especially in rural areas where lack of usable water has resulted in decades-old sanitation and health problems.

    Jal Jeevan Mission

    • Jal Jeevan Mission, a central government initiative under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, aims to ensure access of piped water for every household in India.
    • The mission’s goal is to provide to all households in rural India safe and adequate water through individual household tap connections by 2024.
    • The Har Ghar Nal Se Jal programme was announced by FM in Budget 2019-20 speech.
    • This programme forms a crucial part of the Jal Jeevan Mission.
    • The programme aims to implement source sustainability measures as mandatory elements, such as recharge and reuse through greywater management, water conservation, and rainwater harvesting.

    Urban component of the mission

    • The mission is meant to create a people’s movement for water, making it everyone’s priority.
    • There are an estimated gap of 2.68 crore urban household tap connections that the Mission would seek to bridge in all 4,378 statutory towns.
    • The Mission would also aim to bridge the gap of 2.64 crore sewer connections in the 500 cities under the existing Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).
    • The mission would include rejuvenation of water bodies to boost the sustainable freshwater supply and the creation of green spaces.