{"id":17082,"date":"2018-03-16T13:45:14","date_gmt":"2018-03-16T08:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=17082"},"modified":"2018-03-14T13:45:55","modified_gmt":"2018-03-14T08:15:55","slug":"answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-march-15-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-march-15-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Answers: Mains Marathon \u2013 UPSC Mains Current Affairs Questions \u2013 March 15, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/mains-marathon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Archives<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Q.1) Statistics released by the National Crime Records Bureau reveal that there has been a steady increase in sexual crimes against children. In the light of the above statement, critically analyze the POSCO act in dealing with these crimes. What are the reasons for low conviction rates of child sexual abuse in India?(GS-1)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Statistics released by the National Crime Records Bureau reveal that there has been a steady increase in sexual crimes against children.. According to a study conducted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in 2007, over half of the children surveyed reported having faced some form of sexual abuse. Recently, the Supreme Court has ordered a nationwide inquiry into how many child sex abusers had actually been \u00a0\u00a0punished. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Protection of Children against Sexual Offences Act (POCSO):<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The act came into effect in 2012. The Act provides a graded classification of sexual offences against children, prescribes higher mandatory minimum sentences for such crimes, mandates several processes and safeguards to ensure a child-friendly trial such as the designation of \u201cspecial courts\u201d, child-friendly process of recording victim testimony, provision of compensation, protection of the identity of the child, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are some criticisms involved in the POSCO act due to which child sexual abuse problem still not able address. Some of these loopholes in the act are given below:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The POCSO Act, 2012 does not recognize consensual sexual acts among children or between a child and an adult. And this is where the problem lies \u2013 especially in societies where legal literacy is poor.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Police is highly mistrusted which makes such legislation ineffective.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Police harassment continues diluting effective functioning of special efforts by government.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Act focuses more towards punishment and lies absent at reformation efforts toward convicts.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lack of medical professionals in remote areas.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many loopholes in the act like issue of consenting activities, unwillingness of victim to provide testimony etc.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No provision of police training to deal sensitive cases of children.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No counselling available for children to recover the post crime trauma.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It emcompasses the biological age of the child and silent on the mental age considerations so many victims of cerebral palsy are not taken care of.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Exclusion of people with mental age below 18, as only biological age is considered in the act.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Reasons for low conviction rates of child sexual abuse in India:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the reasons for low conviction rates is the vast majority of victims turning hostile.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lack of child-friendly procedures.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Challenges related to age-determination.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Poor appreciation of the testimony of the child adversely affects the conviction rate.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Majority of child sexual abuse goes unreported. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Only a fraction of the incidences of sexual abuse against children enter the criminal justice system, amongst which only a minuscule fraction end in a conviction.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Only about a third of child sexual abuse incidents\/cases are identified, and even fewer are reported.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Researchers estimate that 38% of child victims disclose the fact that they have been sexually abused.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lack of adequate information.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Q.2)India recently announced an ambitious plan called the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) to provide government-sponsored insurance to nearly 40% of India\u2019s population. In this context discuss the relevance of NHPS towards universal health coverage. What more should be done to build an effective public health care system in India? (GS 3)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India recently announced an ambitious plan called the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) to provide government-sponsored insurance to roughly 500 million people or nearly 40% of India\u2019s population.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The NHPS is considered to be a significant move towards universal health coverage due to the following reasons:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is world\u2019s largest health care program under this each poor will get Rs 5 lac per year to \u00a0protect their health.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The move is considered significant because India under-invests in the healthcare of its citizens and this is affecting the health and financial well-being of Indians. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Out-of-pocket payments for healthcare services are very high in our country (about 70%, according to the National Sample Survey Office, 2014), which causes impoverishment to nearly 7% of our population. Health-financing policy directly affects the financial protection of people when direct payments that are made to obtain health services do not threaten their living standards.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The NHPS will have access to health information of 500 million people. This is an unprecedented amount of data and if curated well, it can have far-reaching applications. It can be used comparative effectiveness research and understanding which treatments work in the real world rather than just in clinical trials.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It will provide universal health coverage through health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh to over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Providing insurance to the poor not only saves lives but is also \u201ccost-effective\u201d.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Through this scheme beneficiaries will be able to take treatments within the country in private as well as government hospitals and health care centres.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What need to be done further?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is need to pay attention on both design of NHPS and its implementation.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The number of forms people face to enroll in NHPS must be minimized. For this, Aadhaar should be made readily available to demographics where it does not exist.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once enrolled, access to care should be provided where people live.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Programme financed by public money needs to conserve resources. Government sponsored insurance should be provided only to those who cannot afford insurance on their own.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Besides targeting the poor, insurance should also target health conditions where disease burden is high and effective interventions are available but underused.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Contracting with private hospitals and clinics. Nearly 75% of out-patient department care and 55% of in-patient department care in India is exclusively from the private sector. Therefore, private hospitals and clinics need to be part of NHPS.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Quality should be measured not only by the infrastructure available at the hospital but also by actual patient outcomes achieved.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NHPS should institute prior authorization for expensive medical procedures and surgeries.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NHPS doctors should review the medical records of NHPS beneficiaries to make sure that the surgery in medically warranted and meets evidence-based guidelines.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This new NHPS will cover the flaws of existing Rashtriya Swasthiya Bima Yojana, which offers the health insurance coverage to the poor workers who are working in unorganized sector.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Conclusion:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not addressing health issue disproportionately affects the weaker and vulnerable sections of society including women and children. A well developed NHPS has the potential to become the cornerstone of India\u2019s healthcare needs for several future generations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Q3)Write \u00a0short note on the following:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A- 20:80 gold import schemes(GS 3)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">B- The Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP)(GS 3)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>20:80 gold import schemes:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The scheme was introduced in August 2013 to curb the import of gold.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During this period, the country\u2019s macroeconomic indicators, especially the current account deficit (the excess of imports over exports), were weak.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While 80% of gold imports under the scheme (India is one of the biggest importers of gold globally) could be sold in the country, at least 20% of imports had to be exported before importers could bring in new consignments.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The policy aimed to discourage gold imports to rein in the widening current account deficit.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The scheme was designed to restrict the import of gold, conserve foreign exchange by imposing export obligations, and ensure that the premium from purchase and sale of gold resided in the hands of public agencies.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the time of its implementation, the 20:80 scheme was open only to banks and to public sector companies such as the Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation and the State Trading Corporation of India. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In May 2014, the RBI in consultation with the government widened the scheme to also allow Premium Trading Houses (PTH) and Star Trading Houses (STH), both private sector entities, to import gold.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>B)The Financial Sector Assessment Program:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) is a joint program of the <\/span><b><i>International Monetary Fund <\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and <\/span><b><i>the World Bank.<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Launched in 1999 in the wake of the <\/span><b><i>Asian financial crisis<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the program brings together Bank \u00a0The FSAP provides a comprehensive framework through which assessors and authorities in participating countries can identify financial system vulnerabilities and develop appropriate policy responses.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The FSAP follows a three-pronged approach when looking at the country\u2019s financial sector:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The soundness of a financial system versus its vulnerabilities and risks that increase the likelihood or potential severity of financial sector crises.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A country\u2019s developmental needs in terms of infrastructure, institutions and markets.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A country\u2019s compliance with the observance of selected financial sector standards and code<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Archives Q.1) Statistics released by the National Crime Records Bureau reveal that there has been a steady increase in sexual crimes against children. In the light of the above statement, critically analyze the POSCO act in dealing with these crimes. What are the reasons for low conviction rates of child sexual abuse in India?(GS-1) Statistics&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-march-15-2018\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Answers: Mains Marathon \u2013 UPSC Mains Current Affairs Questions \u2013 March 15, 2018<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":2292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mains-marathon-answers","category-public","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/pen-paper-laptop.jpg?fit=1000%2C500&ssl=1","views":{"total":17,"cached_at":""},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}