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Type: Op-ed

  • Fighting anaemia

    anaemiaContext

    • The recent National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) data shows anaemia rates increased from 53 per cent to 57 per cent in women and 58 per cent to 67 per cent in children in 2019-21.

    Definition of anaemia

    • The WHO defines anaemia as a condition where the number of red blood cells or the haemoglobin concentration within them is lower than normal. This compromises immunity and impedes cognitive development.

    Why anaemia is a concern?

    • Adverse effects of anaemia affect all age groups lower physical and cognitive growth and alertness among children and adolescents, and lesser capacity to learn and play, directly impacting their future potential as productive citizens.
    • Anaemia among adolescent girls (59.1 per cent) advances to maternal anaemiaand is a major cause of maternal and infant mortality and general morbidity and ill health in a community.

    What causes anaemia?

    • Imbalanced diet: Cereal-centric diets, with relatively less consumption of iron-rich food groups like meat, fish, eggs, and dark green leafy vegetables (DGLF), can be associated with higher levels of anaemia.
    • Underlying factors: High levels of anaemia are also often associated with underlying factors like poor water quality and sanitation conditions that can adversely impact iron absorption in the body.
    • Iron deficiency is major cause: A diet that does not contain enough iron, folic acid, or vitamin B12 is a common cause of anaemia.
    • Some other conditions: That may lead to anaemia include pregnancy, heavy periods, blood disorders or cancer, inherited disorders, and infectious diseases.

    anaemiaWhy is anaemia so high in the country?

    • Low vitamin intake: Iron-deficiency and vitamin B12-deficiency anaemia are the two common types of anaemia in India.
    • High population and nutrition deprivation: Among women, iron deficiency prevalence is higher than men due to menstrual iron losses and the high iron demands of a growing foetus during pregnancies.
    • Overemphasis on cereals: Lack of millets in the diet due to overdependence on rice and wheat, insufficient consumption of green and leafy vegetables could be the reasons behind the high prevalence of anaemia in India.

    What is Iron fortification?

    • Iron fortification of food is a methodology utilized worldwide to address iron deficiency. Iron fortification programs usually involve mandatory, centralized mass fortification of staple foods, such as wheat flour.

    https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/mandatory-rice-fortification-policy-should-be-re-examined/Why need iron fortification?

    • Iron deficiency anaemia is due to insufficient iron.
    • Without enough iron, the body can’t produce enough of a substance in red blood cells that enables them to carry oxygen (haemoglobin).
    • Severe anaemia during pregnancy increases risk of premature birth, having a low birth weight baby and postpartum depression. Some studies also show an increased risk of infant death immediately before or after birth.

    anaemiaSuccess story / value addition

    • Nepal’s success story to improve maternal anaemia by national action plan .

    Anaemia Mukt Bharat

    • The scheme aims to reduce the prevalence of anaemia in India.
    • It provides bi weekly iron Folic acid supplementation to all under five children through Asha workers.
    • Also, it provides biannual Deworming for children and adolescents. The scheme also establishes institutional mechanisms for advanced research in anaemia.
    • It also focuses on non-nutritional causes of anaemia.

    We need to focus on the following interventions

    • Prophylactic Iron and Folic Acid supplementation.
    • Intensified year-round Behaviour Change Communication Campaign (Solid Body, Smart Mind).
    • Appropriate infant and young child feeding practices.
    • Increase in intake of iron-rich food through diet diversity/quantity/frequency and/or fortified foods with focus on harnessing locally available resources.
    • Testing and treatment of anaemia, using digital methods and point of care treatment, with special focus on pregnant women and school-going adolescents
    • Mandatory provision of Iron and Folic Acid fortified foods in government-funded public health programmes

    Way forward

    • India’s nutrition programmes must undergo a periodic review.
    • The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), which is perceived as the guardian of the nation’s nutritional well-being must reassess itself and address critical intervention gaps, both conceptually and programmatically, and produce rapid outcomes.
    • The nutritional deficit which ought to be considered an indicator of great concern is generally ignored by policymakers and experts. Unless this is addressed, rapid improvement in nutritional indicators cannot happen.

    Conclusion

    • When a person is anaemic, the capacity of his blood cells to carry oxygen decreases. This reduces the productivity of the person which in turn affects the economy of the country. Therefore, it is highly important to cover Anaemia under National Health Mission.

    Mains question

    Q. “Every second adolescent girl has anaemia. Every second woman of reproductive age is anaemic”. In this context do you think Women’s empowerment will not have any meaning without tackling anaemia? Discuss.

     

     

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  • Patents in India

    patent systemContext

    • Increasing the efficiency of processing patent applications and wider academia-industry collaboration are crucial steps for patent system.

    What is patent system?

    • A patent system is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention.

    Why are patents important?

    • A patent is important because it can help safeguard our invention. It can protect any product, design or process that meets certain specifications according to its originality, practicality, suitability, and utility. In most cases, a patent can protect an invention for up to 20 years.

    patent systemHow to get patent?

    • To get a patent, technical information about the invention must be disclosed to the public in a patent application.
    • The patent owner may give permission to, or license, other parties to use the invention on mutually agreed terms.
    • The owner may also sell the right to the invention to someone else, who will then become the new owner of the patent.
    • Once a patent expires, the protection ends, and an invention enters the public domain; that is, anyone can commercially exploit the invention without infringing the patent.

    Terms of Patent

    • Patents may be granted for inventions in any field of technology, from an everyday kitchen utensil to a nanotechnology chip.
    • An invention can be a product – such as a chemical compound, or a process, for example – or a process for producing a specific chemical compound.
    • Patent protection is granted for a limited period, generally 20 years from the filing date of the application.
    • Patents are territorial rights. In general, the exclusive rights are only applicable in the country or region in which a patent has been filed and granted, in accordance with the law of that country or region.

    patent systemHow patents can support inventors and improve lives

    • Recognize and reward: Patents recognize and reward inventors for their commercially-successful inventions. As such they serve as an incentive for inventors to invent. With a patent, an inventor or small business knows there is a good chance that they will get a return on the time, effort and money they invested in developing a technology. In sum, it means they can earn a living from their work.
    • Economic opportunity: When a new technology comes onto the market, society as a whole stands to benefit – both directly, because it may enable us to do something that was previously not possible, and indirectly in terms of the economic opportunities (business development and employment) that can flow from it.
    • Research and development (R&D): The revenues generated from commercially successful patent-protected technologies make it possible to finance further technological research and development (R&D), thereby improving the chances of even better technology becoming available in the future.
    • Opportunities for business growth: A patent effectively turns an inventor’s know-how into a commercially tradeable asset, opening up opportunities for business growth and job creation through licensing and joint ventures, for example.
    • Commercialization of a technology: Holding a patent also makes a small business more attractive to investors who play a key role in enabling the commercialization of a technology.
    • Spark new ideas: The technical information and business intelligence generated by the patenting process can spark new ideas and promote new inventions from which we can all benefit and which may, in turn, qualify for patent protection.
    • No freebies: A patent can help stop unscrupulous third parties from free riding on the efforts of the inventor.

    What is KAPILA Initiative?

    • Full form: KAPILA is an acronym for Kalam Program for IP (Intellectual Property) Literacy and Awareness.
    • Guidelines for patent Filing: Under this campaign, students pursuing education in higher educational institutions will get information about the correct system of the application process for patenting their invention and they will be aware of their rights.
    • Encouragement to students: The program will facilitate the colleges and institutions to encourage more and more students to file patents.

    Thing to remember

    Remember one thing, ‘KAPILA’ Program is related to IP awareness. It sounds much like an animal husbandry related initiative.

    Way ahead

    • As the patent system is a critical aspect of the national innovation ecosystem, investing in the patent ecosystem will help in strengthening the innovation capability of India.
    • The right interventions should be made for the promotion of the quality of patent applications and collaboration between academia and industry.

    Mains question

    Q. A patent can help stop unscrupulous third parties from free riding on the efforts of the inventor. Discuss this statement in context of protection of innovative ecosystem in India.

     

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  • LGBTQ leap forward for positive future growth of human rights

    LGBTQContext

    • Four years after landmark LGBTQ verdict: The march to full citizenship.

    Why in news?

    • On September 6, 2018, exactly four years ago, in Navtej Singh Johar and Ors v Union of India, a five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court, in a beautifully elaborate decision, liberated LGBTQI Indians from the darkness of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.

    What is LGBTQ?

    • LGBTQ is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.

    What is Section 377 of the IPC?

    • It reads – Unnatural offences: Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.
    • The terms “carnal intercourse” and “against the order of nature” are not defined precisely anywhere in the code.

    LGBTQRole played by the judiciary hitherto

    • The Delhi High Court’s verdict in Naz Foundation vs Government of NCT of Delhi (2009) was a landmark in the law of sexuality and equality jurisprudence in India.
    • The court held that Section 377 offended the guarantee of equality enshrined in Article 14 of the Constitution, because it creates an unreasonable classification and targets homosexuals as a class.
    • In a retrograde step, the Supreme Court, in Suresh Kumar Koushal vs Naz Foundation (2013), reinstated Section 377 to the IPC.
    • However, the Supreme Court in Navtej Singh Johar & Ors. vs Union of India (2018) declared that the application of Section 377 IPC to consensual homosexual behaviour was “unconstitutional”.
    • This Supreme Court judgment has been a great victory to the Indian individual in his quest for identity and dignity.
    • It also underscored the doctrine of progressive realisation of rights.

    LGBTQWhat’s next?

    • Overarching legislation is needed to guarantee equality to all persons on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, sex, caste, religion, age, disability, marital status, pregnancy, nationality, and other grounds.
    • The law should impose obligations of equality and non-discrimination on all persons, public and private, and in the areas of education, employment, healthcare, land and housing and access to public places.
    • It should provide for civil remedies to stop discriminatory behaviour, costs and damages, and positive action to make reparations.
    • We need an equality law to define what equality would encompass.
    • Supreme Court comes held in its privacy judgment in K.S. Puttuswamy v. Union of India (2017) that equality and liberty cannot be separated, and equality encompasses the inclusion of dignity and basic freedoms.

    Way forward

    • Schools and colleges must effect changes in curricula for a better understanding of the community.
    • People of a different sexual orientation or gender identity often narrate harrowing tales of bullying, discrimination, stigma and ostracization.
    • Gender-neutral restrooms should be compulsory in educational institutes and other places.
    • Parents too need to be sensitised, because the first point of misunderstanding and abuse often begins at home, with teenagers being forced to opt for “conversion” therapies.

    Conclusion

    • Justice Chandrachud, speaking on the fourth anniversary of Johar and the journey ahead, while quoting the Beatles classic “All you need is love”, notes that “simply love is not enough”. Rights are necessary. Which will enhance dignity of the community.

    Mains question

    Q. “Silent segregation” on the grounds of gender, sexual orientation preferences are followed in several houses. Elucidate in context of LGBTQ issues. What Legal remedies are needed for its victims?

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  • Public health should be led by doctor alone

    public healthContext

    • Doctor shortages are creating hurdles in health emergency response

    What is the crux of the article in simple words?

    • Medical qualification and expertise is necessary to deliver quality health services by medical professionals unlike by general health care workers who lack competency.

    What is public health?

    • Public health has been defined as “the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals”.

    Why there is need of qualification?

    • Lack of training: Health workers have no training in public health; they are grassroots-level service providers. Asking them to be part of public health cadre trivialises the profession of public health.
    • Separate profession: It is important to understand that public health is a separate profession with a specific set of competencies.

    public healthWhat are 4 pillars of public health?

    • Academics: Academics refers to a good understanding of evidence generation and synthesis by having a good grounding in epidemiology and biostatistics. These competencies are also critical for monitoring and evaluating programmes, conducting surveillance, and interpreting data and routine reporting.
    • Activism: Public health is inherently linked to ‘social change’ and an element of activism is core to public health. Public health requires social mobilisation at the grassroots level by understanding community needs, community organisation, etc. This requires grounding in social and behavioural sciences.
    • Administration: Administration refers to administering health systems at different levels from a primary health centre to the district, State, and national level. This includes implementing and managing health programmes, addressing human resource issues, supply and logistical issues, etc. It includes microplanning of programme delivery, team building, leadership as well as financial management to some extent.
    • Advocacy: In public health, there is little that one can do at an individual level; there must be communication with key stakeholders to change the status quo at different levels of government. This requires clear enunciation of the need, analysis of alternative set of actions and the cost of implementation or non-implementation. Good communication and negotiation skills are critical to perform this function. The related subjects are health policy, health economics, health advocacy and global health.

    public healthWhat are the hurdles in absorbing others as public health professionals?

    • Lack of skill: Many doctors and other health professionals work at the grassroots level and develop a good sense of public health due to their inclination. But they do not become public health professionals as they may not have the necessary skills. Nevertheless, they are valuable.
    • Lack of critical expertise: Clinicians with training in epidemiology and biostatistics would not qualify to be public health professionals as they lack not only other essential and critical expertise but also an appropriate perspective.
    • Compromise on quality:

    Current challenges faced by public healthcare in India

    • Deficiency: The doctor-patient ratio of 1:1655 in India as against WHO norm of 1:1000 clearly shows the deficit of MBBS. While the government is working towards a solution and targeting to reach the required ratio, there is a need to relook at the overall medical education.
    • Post pandemic scenario: The lag in formal medical education has come up evidently post-pandemic when the nation saw the medical fraternity struggling to fill the doctor deficit.
    • Limited government seats: The number of seats available for medical education in India is far less than the number of aspirants who leave school with the dream of becoming doctors.
    • Lack of skills: Though the institutes are managing to hire professors and lecturers, there is a lack of technical skills. Finding faculties in clinical and non-clinical disciplines is difficult and there are very few faculty development programs for upskilling the existing lot.
    • Lack of infrastructure: The gap in digital learning infrastructure is currently the biggest challenge the sector is facing. There is an urgent need to adopt technology and have resources available to facilitate e-learning.
    • Lack of research and innovation: The medical research and innovation needs an added push as there haven’t been many ground-breaking research here. The education system needs to focus more on increasing the quality of research. Additionally since industry academia partnership is not available, hence innovation also takes a back-seat.

    Conclusion

    • By establishing new medical colleges, the government can increase student intake as well as enhance equitable access to public health as separate profession. This will attract the best and the brightest people into this discipline, which is very important for the nation’s health. This is one lesson that we should learn from the pandemic.

    Mains question

    Q. What do you understand by public health? Do you think it is a separate profession requiring a specific set of competencies? Examine.

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  • IIP gives us true health of our economy

    IIPContext

    • India’s statistics ministry generates only one high-frequency gauge of economic activity. And that lone barometer, the index of industrial production (IIP), is completely broken.

    What is IIP?

    • The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is an index that indicates the performance of various industrial sectors of the Indian economy. It is a composite indicator of the general level of industrial activity in the economy.

    IIPHow is IIP calculated?

    • IIP is calculated as the weighted average of production relatives of all the industrial activities. In the mathematical calculation Laspeyre’s fixed base formula is used.

    What are the Core Industries in India?

    • The main or the key industries constitute the core sectors of an economy.
    • In India, there are eight sectors that are considered the core sectors.
    • They are electricity, steel, refinery products, crude oil, coal, cement, natural gas and fertilizers.

    Which has highest weightage in IIP?

    • The eight core sector industries in decreasing order of their weightage: Refinery Products> Electricity> Steel> Coal> Crude Oil> Natural Gas> Cement> Fertilizers.

    IIPWhy is IIP important?

    • IIP is the only measure on the physical volume of production. It is used by government agencies including the Ministry of Finance, the Reserve Bank of India, etc. for policy-making purposes. IIP remains extremely relevant for the calculation of the quarterly and advance GDP estimates.

    Who releases IIP data?

    How useful are monthly IIP figures to draw a conclusion about India’s growth?

    • IIP figures are monthly data and as such it keeps going up and down.
    • In fact, the release calls them “quick estimates” because they tend to get revised after a month or two.

    IIP Index Components

    • Mining, manufacturing, and electricity are the three broad sectors in which IIP constituents fall.
    • The relative weights of these three sectors are 77.6% (manufacturing), 14.4% (mining) and 8% (electricity).
    • Electricity, crude oil, coal, cement, steel, refinery products, natural gas, and fertilizers are the eight core industries that comprise about 40 per cent of the weight of items included in the IIP.

    Basket of products

    • Primary Goods (consisting of mining, electricity, fuels and fertilisers)
    • Capital Goods (e.g. machinery items)
    • Intermediate Goods (e.g. yarns, chemicals, semi-finished steel items, etc)
    • Infrastructure Goods (e.g. paints, cement, cables, bricks and tiles, rail materials, etc)
    • Consumer Durables (e.g. garments, telephones, passenger vehicles, etc)
    • Consumer Non-durables (e.g. food items, medicines, toiletries, etc)

    IIP base year change

    • The base year was changed to 2011-12 from 2004-05 in the year 2017.

    Way ahead

    • IIP remains extremely relevant for the calculation of the quarterly and advance GDP (Gross Domestic Product) estimates.

    Mains question

    Q. What do you understand by IIP? How it helps us to understand economic health?

     

     

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  • G20 summit will open pandora of opportunities

    G20 summitContext

    • India is going to be at the centre stage of geopolitical spectrum as India will be hosting G20 summit presidency from December 2022. As Harsh V. Shringla, India’s chief G20 coordinator and former Foreign Secretary, (Amitabh kant is G20 Sherpa of India) recently said, “Our G20 Presidency would place India on the global stage, and provide an opportunity for India to place its priorities and narratives on the global agenda.”

    What is G20 (Group of Twenty)?

    • Composed of most of the world’s largest economies: 19 countries plus European Union, including both industrialized and developing nations. Together, its members represent more than 80% of the world’s GDP, 75% of international trade and 60% of the world’s population.
    • Role: To address major issues related to the global economy such as international financial stability, climate change mitigation, and sustainable development.
    • It is an Intergovernmental forum.
    • Strategic role: The G20 holds a strategic role in securing global economic growth and prosperity.

    G20 summitIndia and the presidency of G20 summit

    • In November this year, the 17th G20 Heads of State and Government Summit will take place in Bali.
    • After Indonesia, India will assume the presidency of the G20 from December 1, 2022 to November 30, 2023.
    • By hosting the summit of the G20, India will have the opportunity to assume centre stage in proposing and setting the global agenda and discourse.
    • India can assert its political, economic and intellectual leadership while hosting the G20 presidency.
    • Further it Provides India an opportunity to also champion the causes of developing and least developed countries.
    • India could invite and engage countries from Africa and South America to ensure better and more balanced representation at the G20.

    G20 summitChallenges before India:

             Global

    • World affected by the pandemic: Uneven vaccine availability has been flagged by many countries. Vaccine issue upset some countries.
    • Ukraine conflict: According to external affairs ministers Dr.S.Jaishankar due to Ukraine  conflict world is divided and this poses the challenge for India to bring rival camp on same stage
    • Climate change: Divergent view of developed and developing countries on climate change can be the bone of contention between west and the rest.
    • The rise of an assertive China: To maintain the delicate balance between NATO, G7 on the on hand while Russia and china on the other (as India is part of both QUAD and SCO).

         Domestic

    • Economic challenges: Such as stagflation, unemployment, exchange rate, declining prospects for exports and rising trade deficit.
    • Terrorism: Cross border terrorism emanating from Pakistan.

    Indonesia has focused on three key pillars in its presidency of G20 presidency:

    • Global health architecture: president of Indonesia Joko Widodo talked about a global contingency fund for medical supplies, building capacity in developing countries to manufacture vaccines and the creation of global health protocols and standards.
    • Sustainable energy transition: as part of its roadmap to reach net zero by 2060, Indonesia had slashed the coverage area of forest fires sevenfold. The country has restored peatlands and rehabilitated 50,000 hectares of mangrove forests.
    • Digital transformation

    What India can address?

    • Issues of global concern: Terrorism, climate change, stagflation etc.
    • Domestic and regional: economic recovery, trade and investment, unemployment, patent waivers on diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccines etc.
    • Greater co-operation and co-ordination: free trade agreements, supply chain resilience mechanism, stressing on green and digital transformations in the economy and its impact on societal well-being.
    • Other important Areas :such as technology transfer, assistance towards green economy, greater access to trade for developing countries, addressing debt distress of countries by offering sustainable aid and loan programmes, tackling food and energy prices/security for vulnerable economies etc.

    Why G20 summit presidency is an opportunity for India?

    • India exchange the G20 presidency with Indonesia and chose 2023 instead of 2022 to host the G20 countries.
    • India wanted to showcase its prowess in its 75th year of independence as cornerstone of new emerging world order. As India is part of Quad and SCO BRICS -the warring factions at world stage, it’s an opportunity in crisis to become the bridge of the divided world.
    • India is hosting the summit in Kashmir. World media will be in the Kashmir. In the direct message to world India will again assert that Kashmir is an integral part of India.

    Way ahead

    • As India will be hosting G20 and SCO summits, India will be central in outlining key priority areas. India can assert its political, economic and intellectual leadership which will have to address issues that help in cement the Fault-line in the world order.
    • India’s leadership could define the coming years and decades of global discourse and avenues of cooperation.

    Other related Information

    SCO (Shanghai Co-operation Organization):

    • The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is a Eurasian political, economic and security organization. It is the world’s largest regional organization, 40% of the world population, and more than 30% of global GDP.
    • Members: The Shanghai Five group was created on 26 April 1996; China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan.

    QUAD:

    • Known as the ‘Quadrilateral Security Dialogue’ (QSD), the Quad is an informal strategic forum comprising four nations, namely – United States of America (USA), India, Australia and Japan.
    • One of the primary objectives of the Quad is to work for a free, open, prosperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific region.

    G7:

    • The Group of Seven (G7) is an inter-governmental political forum consisting of Canada, France Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. In addition, the European Union is a ‘non-enumerated member.

    Mains Question

    Q. India can take advantage of G20 for its economic growth and security architecture. Discuss.

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  • Cheetah reintroduction

    Cheetah

    Context

    • This is the world’s first intercontinental translocation of a carnivore. It is even more unique because this is the first time cheetahs has reintroduced in an unfenced protected area (PA).
    • The Government is preparing to translocate the first batch from South Africa and Namibia to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh.

    About Asiatic Cheetah

    • Feature: Cheetah, the world’s fastest land animal was declared extinct in India in 1952.
    • Status: The Asiatic cheetah is classified as a “critically endangered” species by the IUCN Red List, and is believed to survive only in Iran.
    • Reintroduction: It was expected to be re-introduced into the country after the Supreme Court lifted curbs for its re-introduction.
    • Extinction: From 400 in the 1990s, their numbers are estimated to have reached to 50-70 today, because of poaching, hunting of their main prey (gazelles) and encroachment on their habitat.

    Cheetah

    Cheetah

    What caused the extinction of cheetahs in India?

    • Reduced fecundity and high infant mortality in the wild
    • Inability to breed in captivity
    • Sport hunting
    • Bounty killings

    Cheetah

    Why reintroduce Cheetahs?

    • Climate Change Mitigation: It will enhance India’s capacity to sequester carbon through ecosystem restoration activities in cheetah conservation areas and thereby contribute towards the global climate change mitigation goals.
    • Reintroductions of large carnivores have increasingly been recognized as a strategy to conserve threatened species and restore ecosystem functions.
    • The cheetah is the only large carnivore that has been extirpated, mainly by over-hunting in India in historical times.
    • India now has the economic ability to consider restoring its lost natural heritage for ethical as well as ecological reasons.

    Why was Kuno National Park chosen for Cheetah Reintroduction?

    • Both Cheetah and Asiatic Lions share the same habitats semi-arid grasslands and forests that stretch across Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh.
    • The rainfall, temperature, and altitude in the Sheopur district, where Kuno is situated, are equivalent to those of South Africa and Namibia.
    • In addition, Kuno contains a diverse population of prey species, including peafowl, wild pigs, gazelle, langurs, chital, sambhar, and nilgai.

    What are the Other Recent Initiatives for Wildlife Conservation in India?

    Legal Framework:

    • Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972
    • Environment Protection Act, 1986
    • The Biological Diversity Act, 2002

    India’s Collaboration with Global Wildlife Conservation Efforts:

    • Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
    • Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS)
    • Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
    • Global Tiger Forum (GTF)

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  • Sustainable Tourism in India

    TourismContext

    • Ministry of Tourism identified Tourism Industry’s potential as a Sunrise Industry.
    • There is a need for tourism analysts to hold tourism planners accountable.

    What is tourism?

    • Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours.

    Types of tourism

    • Domestic tourism: Refers to activities of a visitor within their country of residence and outside of their home (e.g. a Indian visiting other parts of India)
    • Inbound tourism: Refers to the activities of a visitor from outside of country of residence (e.g. a Spaniard visiting Britain).
    • Outbound tourism: Refers to the activities of a resident visitor outside of their country of residence (e.g. an Indian visiting an overseas country).

    What does sustainable tourism mean?

    • Sustainable tourism is defined by the UN Environment Program and UN World Tourism Organization as “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities.”

    TourismWhat is the main importance of tourism?

    • Tourism boosts the revenue of the economy, creates thousands of jobs, develops the infrastructures of a country, and plants a sense of cultural exchange between foreigners and citizens.

    Why tourism is needed?

    • Tourism is not a fad. It is a compulsion driven by the urge to discover new places. Because we have this compulsion to venture into the unknown, we need each other. When humans travel, meet and exchange ideas, civilisation flourishes.

    What should be done to promote tourism?

    • National Tourism Authority: A separate National Tourism Authority (NTA) should be established for executing and operationalizing various tourism related initiatives. Simple, flexible and elegant processes will be laid down to allow for nimbleness.
    • National Tourism Advisory Board: A National Tourism Advisory Board (NTAB) should be set up to provide overall vision, guidance and direction to the Development of Tourism Sector in the country.
    • Creating Synergy in Tourism Eco System: In order to ensure synergy at various levels of Government and with the Private Sector, it is important to have a well-defined framework in place.
    • Quality Tourism Framework: A robust framework for quality certification of products and services across all segments like accommodation providers, tour operators, adventure tour operators, service providers like spa and wellness, guides, restaurants etc. should be laid down.
    • Enhancing the existing luxury tourism products: The existing tourism products such as Nilgiri Mountain Railway, Palace on Wheels etc. should be enhanced and their numbers will also be increased. Haulage charges will be rationalised to make luxury trains viable.
    • Railways can be a game changer: For tourism Railways have presence in most parts of the country. Most of the tourist destinations in the country are connected by rail. Railways is also in the process of connecting more places especially the strategic locations that also are tourist places with limited connectivity at present. Indian Railways is working towards promoting tourism in the country by operating more trains connecting tourists’ destinations and also by providing an array of products starting from luxury tourist trains to budget catering tourist trains

    TourismWhat is MICE tourism of Gujarat?

    • The acronym “MICE” stands for “Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions”, and is essentially a version of business tourism that draws domestic and international tourists to a destination.
    • The policy aims to make Gujarat one of the top five MICE tourism destinations in the country.

    Way forward

    • Enhance the contribution of tourism in Indian economy by increasing the visitation, stay and spend
    • Create jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities in tourism sector and ensure supply of skilled work force
    • Enhance the competitiveness of tourism sector and attract private sector investment
    • Preserve and enhance the cultural and natural resources of the country
    • To ensure sustainable, responsible and inclusive development of tourism in the country

    Conclusion

    • We know that India has the highest tourism potential of any country. That is because we have every terrain and climate zone, and a range of customs, traditions, cuisines, crafts, art forms and festivals unmatched by any other nation. We should monetize our potential through putting comprehensive National tourism policy in place.

    Mains question

    Q. What should be done to transform our tourist destinations to provide world class visitor experience making India one of the topmost destinations for sustainable and responsible tourism?

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  • Kashmiri pandits

    Kashmiri panditsContext

    • Recent events of targeted killings of Kashmiri pandits and other Hindus by the militants in the valley lead to the protests which once again brought forward the question of their right to return and the safety of minorities living in the valley

    Who are the Kashmiri pandits?

    • The Kashmiri Pandits are one of the highest ranked Brahman castes who are the natives of the valley, locally known as pundits.
    • They were the minority in the valley comprising only 5% of the total population.
    • Traditionally dependent on agriculture and small-scale business and one of the favored sections in the administration.

    What is the conflict?

    • Radical Islamists and militants started targeting the Kashmiri pundits putting in front the option of either of conversion or persecution.
    • The Growth of militancy in the 1990s forced Kashmiri pandits to leave the valley in greater numbers. They started migrating to the other states, leaving every belonging behind and seeking refuge in other parts.
    • While many of them started migrating some decided to stay back in their homeland.
    • Conflict arose between radical Islamists organization and the Hindus leading to the mass killings of the Kashmiri Hindus in waves which is termed as exodus.

    kashmiri panditWhat has been done so far?

    • After the Pandit exodus from the Valley in the 1990s, the first few years of this century saw government efforts to send Pandits back to the Valley.
    • Under the Prime Minister’s return and rehabilitation of Kashmir migrants scheme, created government postings in the Valley for Kashmiri Pandit “migrant” youth.
    • Mostly, teachers and these government employees have lived in protected high security enclaves, but their work requires them to leave these enclaves and mingle with the rest of the population. Another segment, known as “non-migrant” Pandits because they never left the Valley, has lived in their own homes, without state-provided protection.

    What is CDR?

    • Centre for dialogue and reconciliation (CDR) is a Delhi-based think-tank incorporated in March 2001, aims to be a catalyst for peace in South Asia.
    • CDR working for the peace-building process in Jammu Kashmir, supported the initiative of dialogue between the two communities as a part of self-assessment, acknowledging the mistakes.

    kashmiri panditsWhat did CDR do in Kashmir?

    • CDR supported the initiative for a dialogue proposed by two prominent young Kashmiris one a Muslim and the other a Pandit both who have witnessed the violence of 1990 and the subsequent years.
    • They believe in the principle of talking could lead to healing.
    • It led to CDR’s ‘Shared Witness’, a Pandit-Muslim dialogue series, in December 2010.
    • Public intellectuals and other influential persons from both communities were participants

    Observations of the dialogue

    • The dialogue series coincided with the launching of the Prime Minister’s job scheme.
    • Dialogues created a social environment that enabled Kashmiri Pandits to take up government postings in the Valley.
    • They focused on the events in and around 1990, and the incidents that triggered the displacement of the Pandit community.
    • By the third dialogue, participants were sharing individual experiences that did not fit into the narrative that each community had built about the other.
    • The process of the conversation lead them to think on the actual reason behind the conflict, was it communal differences, or was it only religion?

    From the eyes of the pandits

    • Pandits were aggrieved that the Muslims did not protest the Pandit killings, not even when the killers claimed them. That greater responsibility lay with the Muslims as they were the majority.
    • If some social organizations had acted quickly, the exodus could have been stopped.
    • They observed that the Pandit community too had suffered from a lack of leadership.
    • They demand an apology and to set up of possible “Truth commission”

    What do the Muslims say?

    • The Muslim participants felt the Pandits were in denial of the struggle of the Muslims in the Valley, who were facing violence from the system.
    • The Kashmiri Muslim was always portrayed as being misguided, aided, and abetted by Pakistan.
    • The protest in Kashmir was not against religion but against structures of power and oppression.

    What is the Current situation?

    • The fresh spate of targeted killings of Kashmir pandits created an environment of fear and provided a major setback to their rehabilitation in the Kashmir valley.

    Way ahead:

    • We need urgent civil society engagement between communities in Kashmir once again.
    • The government can enable it, but individuals and civil society will need to create conditions on the ground. They will have to encourage people to give up the blame game.

     

    Mains question

    Q. Dialogue can bring peace in Kashmir valley. Critically examine.

     

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  • Apple Farming in India

    apple farmersContext

    • The increasing cost of production and the increase in GST on apple cartons has triggered protests in Himachal Pradesh’s apple farmers.

    What is the issue?

    • The cost of production of agricultural items increased substantially, denying remunerative prices to the poor and marginal apple farmers.

    Reason for crisis in apple farming

    • Increase in cost of production: The input cost of fertilizers, insecticides, and fungicides has risen in the last decade by 300%, as per some estimates. The cost of apple cartons and trays and packaging has also seen a dramatic rise. In the last decade, the cost of a carton, for instance, has risen from about ₹30 to ₹ The cost borne to market the Produce has also risen.
    • High taxation: The increase in the Goods and Services Tax on cartons from 12% to 18%. This was done to ensure that farmers are forced to sell their produce to big buyers instead of selling it in the open market. Just as the three farm laws were designed on the pretext of getting rid of the middlemen, the argument here was that commission agents, who fleece the apple farmers, will be forced to exit the picture. But this leaves the apple growers at the mercy of large giants in procurement, who have precedence of even deciding the procurement price.
    • No MSP in Himachal: Unlike in Jammu and Kashmir, where there is a minimum rate for procurement, there is no such law in Himachal. The government also does not seem prepared to bring in such a law. The farmers are demanding that legally guaranteed procurement at a Minimum Support Price (C2+50%) should be ensured to improve apple farmers condition.

    apple farmersHow to address this issue?

    • Need for a regulator: What is required is an independent body that is duly supported and trusted by the farmers. Such a body should have representatives of apple growers, market players, commission agents and the government. This must be a statutory body that is also given the task of conducting research in the apple economy.
    • Directional efforts: Issues such as high input cost, lack of fair price and unavailability of infrastructure such as cold chains should be addressed.
    • Required research to support improvements in apple farming systems: Over the past few decades, the priorities in research projects and government policies on apple production were focused on the improvement of tree productivity and product quality. This was important to enhance the net incomes and living standards of apple producers in India. This research should be further enhanced by introducing European varieties in India.
    • Focussing on Alternative Market Channels: The alternative market channel works on the principles of decentralisation and direct-to-home delivery. The idea is to create smaller, less congested markets in urban areas with the participation of farmers’ groups and Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) so that farmers have direct access to consumers.
    • Logistics transformation: To sustain the demand for agricultural commodities, investments in key logistics must be enhanced. Moreover, e-commerce and delivery companies and start-ups need to be encouraged with suitable policies and incentives. The small and medium enterprises, running with raw materials from the agriculture and allied sector or otherwise, also need special attention so that the rural economy doesn’t collapse.

    apple farmersConclusion

    • Agriculture is dying, not as in the production of food but as a desirable profession. One bad yield, whether due to errant rains, pests, etc., and most farmers have no buffer available. The last point worth considering is that food and agriculture are not the same. Expenditures on food span the value-add, including processing, preparation, service in restaurants, etc. Farmers in India merely get paid for their product and not for the food we eat.

     

    Mains question

    Q. Do you think there is urgent need to extend MSP to horticulture sector also? Discuss what can be done to solve the apple farmer crisis in Himachal Pradesh.

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