CURRENT AFFAIRS 18-11-2021
Topics
- The final draft of the National Register of Citizens
- GRAM Study- Global antibiotic consumption up by 46%
- SCs and HCs are not permitted to interfere with daily temple rituals
- The Pochampally Village
- Babasaheb Purandare
1. The final draft of the National Register of Citizens
#GS 2-Government policies and interventions for development
Context:
- In the final form of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), Assam, only about a thousand dubious instances have been reported to the appropriate district commissioners for action.
- In Assam, more than 19 lakh of the 3.29 crore candidates were eliminated from the final draught register, which cost $1,220 crore and was published on August 31, 2019.
- The administration had rejected the NRC in its existing form and sought that at least 30% of names in bordering areas and 10% in the rest of the state be re-verified.
In depth information
Background:
- The Supreme Court had been watching the process of amending the 1951 NRC in Assam. A total of 19.06 lakh people were left out of the revised draught, out of a total of 3.3 crore candidates.
- Re-verification:
- The current government has rejected the NRC in its current form and has demanded that at least 30% of names in bordering areas and 10% in the rest of the state be re-verified.
- Approaching the Foreigners Tribunals (FT):
- Within 120 days of obtaining the rejection slips, any rejected person can approach the Foreigners Tribunals (FT).
- Any person may protest the inclusion or exclusion of another person’s name from the citizen register under Citizenship Rules, after which the local registrar will issue a notice and the applicants will be required to provide documentation to verify their claims.
- At the village and ward levels, the registry is made public.
- The apex court’s oversight:
- Assam is the only state where an NRC was compiled under the highest court’s supervision.
- The Assam Accord of 1985, signed by the Centre, the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), and the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP) for the detection, disenfranchisement, and deportation of foreigners, was the culmination of the programme.
- Budgetary allocation:
- Neither the state nor the federal governments have set aside any additional funds for NRC in 2020. The Government of Assam has allotted Rs 10.07 crore in the State budget for the year 2021.
NRC’s Background:
- The NRC is, at its heart, a government-issued list of legal Indian citizens. It contains demographic data on all Indian citizens who meet the criteria set forth in the Citizenship Act of 1955.
- The record was first created following the 1951 Indian Census, and it has not been updated since then.
Assam’s National Research Council (NRC):
- So far, only the state of Assam has had access to such a database.
- The exercise was the climax of the 1985 Assam Accord, which was agreed by the Centre, the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), and the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP) to detect, disenfranchise, and expel foreigners.
- Why was the NRC for Assam updated?
- In 2013, the Supreme Court directed that the NRC be updated in all parts of Assam in compliance with the Citizenship Act of 1955 and the Citizenship Rules of 2003. The procedure began in earnest in 2015.
Issues that are present include:
- Thousands of people were left out of Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) draught, which was published in 2018.
- Those who were left off the draught NRC list were required to submit their biometrics during the ‘claims’ (to include themselves in the NRC) and ‘objections’ (to object to someone else’s inclusion) hearings, as stipulated by the Supreme Court.
- Only 8 lakh people from the 27 lakh people who were left off the 2018 list provided their biometric information, and only 8 lakh were included in the draught list issued in 2019. However, nearly 8 lakh people are having difficulty obtaining Aadhaar and are anxious about the benefits that come with it.
- Individuals have been put under a lot of stress due to a lack of transparency and their inability to reap the full benefits of Aadhar.
- This problem has occurred primarily as a result of a lack of clarity around the NRC exercise, as the government is delaying the assignment of Aadhar to these newly added individuals until the complete and final NRC list is published.
Is there any connection between the CAA and the National Research Council?
- The CAA and the NRC have no direct relationship:
- The Citizenship Amendment Act is intended to assist members of the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian communities who have migrated from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan and are facing religious persecution, by ensuring that they will not be treated as illegal immigrants and will be granted Indian citizenship.
- After being enacted by both Houses of Parliament, the Act was approved by the President of India in December 2019.
- Extension:
- Because the Act’s rules have yet to be drafted, the Centre has asked the Supreme Court to extend the deadline till 2022.
- The NRC, on the other hand, is a legally binding process.
2. GRAM Study- Global antibiotic consumption up by 46%
#GS-2 Health, #GS3- Science & Technology
Context
- According to a report published in The Lancet Planetary Health by the Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance (GRAM) Project, global antibiotic consumption rates grew by 46% in the last two decades, covering 204 nations from 2000 to 2018.
In depth information
- Comparative analysis: The study compares total antibiotic consumption rates in humans around the world, as measured by the WHO metric of defined daily doses (DDD) per 1,000 people per day.
Important Findings
- Differences across countries: Antibiotic consumption rates range from 5 DDD per 1000 population per day to 45.9 DDD per 1000 population per day.
- Increased by 46%: Global antibiotic consumption rates grew from 9.8 to 14.3 DDD per 1000 population per day between 2000 and 2018.
- Low- and middle-income countries: Between 2000 and 2018, there was an increase in low- and middle-income countries (from 7.4 to 13.1 DDD per 1000 per day).
- Consumption rates in high-income countries remained constant.
- Region-based: South Asia has had the greatest growth in antibiotic usage, with a 116 percent increase, and North Africa and the Middle East has seen the second-largest increase, with a 111 percent increase.
- The leading cause of drug-resistant infections is: According to the study, excessive and inappropriate antibiotic use is a major contributor to drug-resistant illnesses.
Antimicrobial Resistance is a Problem
- Meaning: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) arises when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites evolve over time and lose their ability to respond to antibiotics, making infections more difficult to cure and raising the risk of disease transmission, severe illness, and death.
- AMR emerges and spreads over time, mainly as a result of genetic alterations.
- People, animals, food, plants, and the environment all include antimicrobial-resistant microbes (in water, soil and air).
- They can transmit from person to person or between humans and animals, as well as through animal-sourced food.
- Misuse and overuse of antimicrobials, lack of access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) for humans and animals, poor infection and disease prevention and control in healthcare facilities and farms, lack of access to quality, affordable medicines, vaccines, and diagnostics, lack of awareness and knowledge, and lack of legislative enforcement are the main drivers of antimicrobial resistance.
What does the term “multiple drug resistance” (MDR) mean?
- Antimicrobial categories of three or more: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is defined as a microorganism’s resistance to at least one antimicrobial drug from three or more antimicrobial classes.
- Extensively drug-resistant (XDR) bacteria are resistant to all antimicrobial agents with the exception of two or fewer antibacterial types.
In India, there are several factors that cause AMR.
- Because to shifting prescription practise in the healthcare system due to the non-availability of a narrow spectrum of antibiotics, inappropriate use of broad-spectrum (last-resort) antibiotics is common.
- Self-medication to reduce financial stress is an example of inappropriate antibiotic use among the general populace.
- A large part of sewage is discharged untreated into receiving water bodies, resulting in widespread antibiotic residues and antibiotic-resistant organisms in rivers.
AMR Issues Challenges
- Antibiotic resistance is becoming a serious concern in the treatment of infectious diseases, organ transplantation, cancer chemotherapy, and major surgeries.
- Out-of-pocket health-care costs: The problem of AMR leads to out-of-pocket health-care costs, particularly for medicines.
- Treatment costs are driven up by the use of high-order medicines or second-line, pricey antibiotics.
- Neonates and the elderly are both susceptible to diseases and vulnerable groups in society.
The initiative of India:
- The central drug standard control organisation (CDSO) prevents medical stores from selling 24 essential antibiotics without a doctor’s prescription in order to prevent over-the-counter sales of antibiotics.
- The Red Line campaign in India, which calls for the marking of prescription-only antibiotics with a red line to prevent the over-the-counter sale of antibiotics, is a step forward.
- Antimicrobial resistance is identified as a critical healthcare concern in the 2017 National Health Policy, which prioritises the creation of antibiotic use guidelines and a check on antibiotic growth.
- Multiple government agencies involved in health, education, the environment, and livestock have been assigned coordinated tasks to change prescription practises and consumer behaviour, as well as scale up infection control and antimicrobial surveillance, as part of the National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (NAP-AMR) 2017.
- Several recommendations: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has established guidelines for minimising antibiotics in foods such as fish and honey.
Next Steps
- Prior to the establishment of resistance in bacteria, new medications must be discovered, and existing antibiotics must be used wisely.
- The development of a new antibiotic is an expensive and unpredictable procedure, with an estimated cost of more than $1 billion.
- Effective use: judicious application of existing antibiotics to ensure their potency for as long as possible.
- Education and awareness: Initiatives to regulate prescription through provider incentives should be supplemented by efforts to educate consumers and establish standard treatment guidelines in order to prevent improper demand.
- Policy congruence is required much beyond the health-care system. Clinical medicine solutions must be combined with improved AMR surveillance in agriculture, animal health, and the environment.
3. SCs and HCs are not permitted to interfere with daily temple rituals
#GS2-Separation of powers
Context:
- A writ petition was filed in the Supreme Court stating that rites at the famous Tirumala Tirupati temple were not being performed according to tradition.
The following are the Supreme Court’s observations in detail:
- On the basis of “public interest” petitions, constitutional courts could not intervene with day-to-day rites and sevas performed at temples.
- Religious scholars and priests were the best qualified to investigate whether temple ceremonies were being carried out in conformity with customs and traditions.
- Articles 226 and 32 limited the writ jurisdiction of a constitutional court in such cases.
- “Except as otherwise provided for by this Constitution,” the right granted by this Article “must not be suspended.”
- A person can only approach the Supreme Court directly under Article 32 if one of these fundamental rights is violated.
What does Article 32 entail?
- Article 32 deals with the ‘Right to Constitutional Remedies,’ or the right to petition the Supreme Court for the enforcement of the rights granted in Part III of the Constitution through suitable actions.
- It states that the Supreme Court “shall have power to issue directions or orders or writs, including writs in the nature of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto, and certiorari, whichever may be appropriate, for the enforcement of any of the rights conferred by this Part,” and that the Supreme Court “shall have power to issue directions or orders or writs, including writs in the nature of habeas corpus, mandamus
What recent Supreme Court rulings have been made on Article 32?
- The Supreme Court stated in Romesh Thappar versus State of Madras (1950) that Article 32 offers a “guaranteed” remedy for the enforcement of basic rights.
- The court stated, “This Court is thus formed as the custodian and guarantor of basic rights, and it cannot, consistent with the task entrusted to it, refuse to consider applications seeking protection from infringements of such rights.”
- During the Emergency, the Supreme Court held in Additional District Magistrate, Jabalpur vs S S Shukla (1976) that a citizen’s right to seek the court under Article 32 is lost.
- Finally, constitutional scholars say it is ultimately up to the Supreme Court and each individual judge to decide whether an intervention is necessary in a matter that may be heard first by the High Court.
4. The Pochampally Village
#GS3- Growth & Development
Context
- The United Nations World Tourism Organization recently named Pochampally Village in Telangana State as one of the top tourism villages in the world (UNWTO).
- The coveted prize will be presented at the UNWTO General Assembly’s 24th session on December 2nd, 2021 in Madrid, Spain.
In depth information
About the initiative “Best Tourism Villages”
- The UNWTO’s Best Tourism Villages Pilot initiative aims to recogniseand reward villages that are great examples of rural tourism and demonstrate best practises in each of the nine evaluation areas.
- Aim: To assist villages in developing their rural tourism potential through training and access to resources.
- The Ministry of Tourism has suggested three villages for India’s entry into the UNWTO Best Tourism Village competition.
- Kongthong in Meghalaya, Ladhpura Khas in Madhya Pradesh, and Pochampally in Telangana were the locations. The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) presented Pochampally with an award.
Concerning Pochampally
- Pochampally is a town in the Nalgonda district of Telangana, 50 kilometres from Hyderabad, and is known as the Silk City of India because of the gorgeous sarees woven in a distinctive design known as Ikat.
- Pochampally Ikat was designated as a Geographical Indicator (GI Status) in 2004.
- “Tie and Dye” is a Malaysian and Indonesian word for “tie and dye.”
- Before they are weaved, sections of bundled yarn are wrapped (or tied) and dyed in a predefined colour pattern called ikat.
- The dye only penetrates the exposed areas, leaving the wrapped sections uncolored. In this procedure, the yarn creates a design that is weaved into cloth.
- Pochampally is also known as BhoodanPochampally, in honour of Acharya VinobhaBhave, who founded the Bhoodan Movement from this village on April 18th, 1951.
- Within the village, there is currently a two-room VinobhaBhave Mandir, which was previously the residence of VinobhaBhave during his visit to the village.
5. Babasaheb Purandare
#GS1-Important Personalities,Modern Indian History
Context
- Babasaheb Purandare, a well-known Indian historian and writer, died lately.
In details
- Balwant MoreshwarPurandare, also known as Babasaheb Purandare, was born on July 29, 1922, in Maharashtra.
- He was a historian and author well recognised for his research on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
- Shiv Shahir, or ‘Shivaji’s poet,’ is his well-known moniker.
- His most well-known work: He is regarded as an expert on the Maratha King Chhatrapati Shivaji, and began writing about his life and achievements at a young age. Thinagya, which translates to Sparks on Shivaji, was his first book.
- Babasaheb’s other writings include the books Raja Shiva Chatrapati and Kesari, as well as the book Narayanrao Peshwa
- Aside from that, he is best known for his 1985 drama Jaanta Raja, which has been performed in five languages. It was written in Marathi during the time.
- In 2007-08, he was also awarded the Kalidas Samman by the Government of Madhya Pradesh for this drama.
- Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian award, was bestowed upon him in 2019.
- He received the Maharashtra Bhushan Award in 2015. It is the highest civilian award in Maharashtra.