Daily Current Capsules
22nd September 2020
Acts/Bills/Draft/Policies
Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Bill, 2020

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the provisions of Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Bill, 2020)
What's the NEWS

• India passed a legislation aimed at protecting healthcare workers fighting the Covid-19 disease outbreak in the country by criminalising attacks on medical workers, resulting into imprisonment for up to five years.

Know about the Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Bill, 2020:

• It was introduced in the Upper House to replace an ordinance issued by the government in April.
• The previous ordinance amended the act dating to 1897 which protected healthcare service personnel and property, including their living and working premises against violence during epidemics.
• The act is applicable to healthcare service personnel from public and clinical healthcare service providers such as doctors, nurses, paramedical workers and community health workers; any other persons empowered under the act to take measures to prevent the outbreak of the disease or spread.
• Once a crime is legally registered, the offence will be investigated by an officer of the rank of inspector within a period of 30 days and the trial has to be completed within a year, unless extended by the court.
• Anyone found guilty of such acts of violence against healthcare personnel will be punishable with an imprisonment for a term of three months to five years, and with a fine of Rs 50,000 to Rs 2,00,000.

Social Issues
MoU signed between Ministry of AYUSH and Ministry of Women and Child Development for Controlling Malnutrition

Relevance IN - Prelims ( highlights of the MoU + about ICDS + about POSHAN Abhiyaan) + Mains ( GS II Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

What's the NEWS

• The Ministry of Women and Child Development has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) to work together for controlling Malnutrition as a part of POSHAN Abhiyaan through integration AYUSH systems with the ongoing nutrition interventions under the Umbrella ICDS program.

The specific areas identified for co-operation include:

(i) Integration of AYUSH into POSHAN Abhiyaan and
(ii) Control of malnutrition through the principles and practices of Ayurveda, Yoga and other Ayush systems.

The following activities will be implemented through the collaboration:

• Visit of AYUSH workforce to Anganwadi Centre
• Development of PoshanVatika.
• Provision of Telemedicine/ AYUSH helpline / call centres through Common Service Centres
• To develop awareness among the community about the traditional indigenous food items
• The Anganwadi worker who is providing the Ayurveda nutrition message to the community at ground level may be designated as ‘DHATRI' - Dedicated Health Activist to Replenish the Innutrition.

POSHAN ABHIYAAN /National Nutrition Mission

• NNM will be an apex body to monitor, supervise, fixing the targets and guiding the nutrition related interventions across the Ministries.
• It would be executed with the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) as the nodal ministry along with Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare which is in-charge of immunisation.

• POSHAN Abhiyaan is a scheme for holistic Nourishment
• Objective - to reduce the level of stunting, under-nutrition, anaemia and low birth weight in children.
• The focus is on adolescent girls, pregnant women, children and lactating mothers.
• To ensure a holistic approach, all 36 states and UTs will be covered in a phased manner.
• The Abhiyaan empowers frontline functionaries; i.e Anganwadi and lady supervisors by providing them with smartphones

National Council on India's Nutritional Challenges

• It is headed by Rajiv Kumar, Vice- Chairman, NITI Aayog meets once in 3 months and reports to the Prime Minister once in 6 months.
• It is the Apex Body to formulate overall policies, guide and monitor all nutrition based schemes.
• India Nutrition Report will be released every year by the Government
• Ministry of Women and Child Development is the nodal Ministry for anchoring overall implementation

Financial Outlay.

• 50% will be from Govt. budgetary support and 50% by loan from IBRD or other MDB.
• Govt. budgetary support would be 60:40 between the Centre and the States / UTs for normal States.

NNM targets

• NNM targets to reduce stunting, under-nutrition, anemia (among young children, women and adolescent girls) and reduce low birth weight by 2%, 2%, 3% and 2% per annum respectively.
• Although the target to reduce Stunting is at least 2% p.a., Mission would strive to achieve reduction in Stunting from 38.4% (NFHS-4) to 25% by 2022 (Mission 25 by 2022).

Know! about Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS)

• The Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) Scheme providing for supplementary nutrition, immunization and pre-school education to the children is a popular flagship programme of the government.
• Launched in 1975, it is one of the world's largest programmes providing for an integrated package of services for the holistic development of the child.
• ICDS is a centrally sponsored scheme implemented by state governments and union territories.
• The scheme is universal covering all the districts of the country.
• The Scheme has been renamed as Anganwadi Services.

Objectives

• To improve the nutritional and health status of children in the age-group 0-6 years;
• To lay the foundation for proper psychological, physical and social development of the child;
• To reduce the incidence of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and school dropout;
• To achieve effective co-ordination of policy and implementation amongst the various departments to promote child development; and
• To enhance the capability of the mother to look after the normal health and nutritional needs of the child through proper nutrition and health education.

Beneficiaries

• Children in the age group of 0-6 years
• Pregnant women and
• Lactating mothers

The ICDS Scheme offers a package of six services, viz.

1. Supplementary Nutrition
2. Pre-school non-formal education
3. Nutrition & health education
4. Immunization
5. Health check-up and
6. Referral services

• Three of the six services viz. immunization, health check-up and referral services are related to health and are provided through National Health Mission and Public Health Infrastructure.
• The services are offered at Anganwadi Centres through Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) and Anganwadi Helpers (AWHS) at grassroots level.
• All components of ICDS except Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP) are financed through a 60:40 ratio (central : state).
• The Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP) component was funded through a 50:50 ratio. The North East states have a 90:10 ratio.

Governance
E-Gram Swaraj Portal

Relevance IN - Prelims (about e-gram swaraj portal and its objective) + Mains ( GS II Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications)
Know! about the Portal

• With a vision to strengthen digitalization in Panchayats for the purpose of empowering rural India, a unified tool e-Gram SWARAJ portal (https://egramswaraj.gov.in/) has been developed by the Ministry for effective monitoring and evaluation of works taken up in the Gram Panchayats.
• e-Gram SWARAJ unifies the planning, accounting and monitoring functions of Gram Panchayats.
• It's combination with the Area Profiler application, Local Government Directory (LGD) and the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) renders easier reporting and tracking of Gram Panchayat's activities.
• It provides a single window for capturing Panchayat information with the complete Profile of the Panchayat, details of Panchayat finances, asset details, activities taken up through Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP)

Social Justice
Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan Launched
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan) + Mains ( GS II Social issues - government policies and interventions)
What's the NEWS

• The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has formulated and is implementing a National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction (NAPDDR) for 2018-2025.
• The Plan aims at reduction of adverse consequences of drug abuse through a multi-pronged strategy.

Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan

• The Ministry has launched Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan in 272 most affected districts with focus on institutional support, community outreach and awareness generation.
• These districts are identified based on inputs from Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and findings of Comprehensive National Survey done by Ministry.
• Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan in 272 districts is from 15th August 2020 to 31st March 2021.

Abhiyaan Action Plan has the following components:-

1. Awareness generation programmes in the community and Youth in particular
2. Focus on Higher Educational institutions, University Campuses and Schools
3. Community outreach and identification of dependent population
4. Focus on Treatment facilities in Hospital settings
5. Capacity Building Programmes for Service Providers.

Prelims Factoids
Human Capital Index 2020

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about World Bank's annual Human Capital Index highlights)
What's the NEWS

• India has been ranked at the 116th position in the latest edition of the World Bank's annual Human Capital Index that benchmarks key components of human capital across countries.
• India's score increased to 0.49 from 0.44 in 2018, as per the Human Capital Index report
• Last year India was ranked 115 out of 157 countries. This year India finds itself at 116th from among 174 countries.

 

Human Capital Index 2020 - Index highlights

• The 2020 Human Capital Index update includes health and education data for 174 countries - covering 98 per cent of the world's population - up to March 2020 providing a pre-pandemic baseline on the health and education of children, with the biggest strides made in low-income countries.

• The analysis shows that pre-pandemic, most countries had made steady progress in building human capital of children, with the biggest strides made in low-income countries.

• Despite this progress, and even before the effects of the pandemic, a child born in a typical country could expect to achieve just 56 per cent of their potential human capital, relative to a benchmark of complete education and full health
• The pandemic puts at risk the decade's progress in building human capital, including the improvements in health, survival rates, school enrollment, and reduced stunting.

• The economic impact of the pandemic has been particularly deep for women and for the most disadvantaged families, leaving many vulnerable to food insecurity and poverty,

 

• Human Capital Index provides a basis on which the government of India can prioritize and a dimension to support human capital.

Know! about HCI

• The Human Capital Index (HCI) measures the productivity and human capital potential of children in each country, given optimal health and education conditions
• The HCI quantifies economic losses from sub-optimal investments and their returns on human capital
• The Index measures which countries are best in mobilizing the economic and professional potential of its citizens.
• The index measures how much capital each country loses through lack of education and health.
• The Index was first published in October 2018 and ranked 157 countries.
• The Human Capital Index ranges between 0 and 1 with 1 meaning maximum potential is reached.

The Index is grounded on the following three pillars

1.Survival

• Share of children surviving past the age of 5 in %

2.School

• Quantity of education (Expected years of schooling by age 18)
• Quality of education (Harmonized test scores)

3.Health

• Adult survival rates (Share of 15-year-olds who survive until age 60 in %)
• Healthy growth among children (Stunting rates of children under 5 in %)

Prelims Factoids
Brucellosis
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about brucellosis )
What's the NEWS

• Authorities of the city of Lanzhou in northwest China confirmed that several thousand people have tested positive for a bacterial disease brucellosis due to a leak caused by a biopharmaceutical company in 2019.

Know! all about brucellosis

• People might have gotten infected by the disease either by consuming the contaminated food or by breathing in the bacteria.
• Person-to-person transmission is rare
• This disease happens when someone is in contact with livestock which is hosting the bacteria brucella.

 

• The disease can be acquired through direct contact with infected animals, by eating or drinking contaminated animal products or by inhaling airborne agents.
• Exposure to brucella can lead to Malta fever or Mediterranean fever. The symptoms are usually headaches, muscle pain, fever and fatigue.
• Brucella outbreaks in China were on the decline since 1980s due to vaccine introduction as well as improved control measures but minor outbreaks have been reported over the past few decades.

Prelims Factoids
Global Smart City Index
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about 2020 Smart City Index highlights)
What's the NEWS

• Four Indian cities - New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru - witnessed a significant drop in their rankings in the global listing of smart cities that was topped by Singapore.
• The Institute for Management Development (IMD), in collaboration with Singapore University for Technology and Design (SUTD), has released the 2020 Smart City Index, with key findings on how technology is playing a role in the COVID-19 era.

Know! the report highlights

• In the 2020 Smart City Index, Hyderabad was placed at the 85th position (down from 67 in 2019), New Delhi at 86th rank (down from 68 in 2019), Mumbai was at 93rd place (in 2019 it was at 78) and Bengaluru at 95th (79 in 2019).

• Cities in India (New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru) suffer significant drops this year.
• This can be attributed to the detrimental effect that the pandemic has had where the technological advancement was not up to date
• From 15 indicators that the respondents perceive as the priority areas for their city, all four cities highlighted air pollution as one of the key areas that they felt their city needed to prioritise on.
• For cities like Bangalore and Mumbai, this was closely followed by road congestion while for Delhi and Hyderabad it was basic amenities
• The 2020 Smart City Index was topped by Singapore, followed by Helsinki and Zurich in the second and the third place respectively.
• In SCI's context, 'smart city' describes an urban setting that apply technology to enhance the benefits and diminish the shortcomings of urbanization.
• The second edition of the SCI ranked 109 cities worldwide by capturing perceptions of randomly chosen 120 residents in each city.
• Hundreds of citizens from 109 cities were surveyed in April and May 2020 and asked questions on the technological provisions of their city across five key areas: health and safety, mobility, activities, opportunities and governance.

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