{"id":17425,"date":"2018-03-22T13:38:59","date_gmt":"2018-03-22T08:08:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=17425"},"modified":"2018-03-20T16:39:17","modified_gmt":"2018-03-20T11:09:17","slug":"answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-march-21-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-march-21-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Answers: Mains Marathon \u2013 UPSC Mains Current Affairs Questions \u2013 March 21, 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) The National Medical Commission Bill seeks to make structural changes in India\u2019s exploitative health-care system. In this context discuss the factors responsible for health crisis in India. What measures can be adopted in improving India\u2019s healthcare system?(GS 3)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill seeks to make structural changes in India\u2019s exploitative health-care system. The Bill proposes weeping changes for medical education and regulation in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Factors responsible for health crisis in India:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Article 47<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the Constitution makes it clear that the state is duty-bound to improve public health, but India continues to face a health crisis. The factors responsible for health crisis in India are given below:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An Absolute <\/span><b>shortage and an inequitable presence of doctors<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>over-burdened hospitals.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although India has 10 lakh medical doctors, it needs 3, 00,000 more in order to meet the World Health Organisation standard of the ideal doctor-population ratio.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is an 81% <\/span><b>shortage of specialists in community health centres (CHC),<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the first point of contact for a patient with a specialist doctor.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another fact is that <\/span><b>82.2% of providers of \u201cmodern medicine\u201d in rural areas do not have a medical qualification.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Shortfall in the number of medical practitioners.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">High capitation fees charged by private colleges can have a negative effect in terms of affordability of medical services.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The regulatory authority has been unable to act despite the fact that over half the 60,000 medical students graduating every year are from private medical colleges.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Corruption in the issuing of licences and regulatory requirements, many such academic institutions have a faculty of questionable standards, with obvious repercussions on the quality of education imparted.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0Low funding for health sector in the budget.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Health-services inequality between urban and rural India.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Disconnect between the public-health and medical-education systems <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Low level of public investments in preventive health facilities.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> India spends very low percentage of its GDP on health sector.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Measures can be adopted:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Strengthening primary centres.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> To address the urgent need for better access to medicines India should embark on the necessary regulatory and other mechanisms for pharmacy reform that will ensure the procurement prescribing and dispensing of low cost generics and eliminate the abuses of prescriber mark-ups. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0India needs to make the commitment to provide the level of public funding for medicines that is expected of a country that is becoming a growing economic power.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0Increase health system capacity through adequate funding. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Training informal healthcare workers <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Conclusion:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The quality of the health-care system needs attention. It is ironic that, while India is a hub for medical tourism (in 2016, India issued 1.78 lakh medical visas), it is a common sight in government hospitals to have patients sleep in corridors waiting for their outpatient department appointments. The Bill seeks to make structural changes in a stagnant and increasingly exploitative health-care system. This is a step in right direction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Q.2) India is taking tentative steps towards restarting research into Cold fusion, following global criticism heaped on the idea. \u00a0In this context critically discuss the rationale behind restarting research into Cold fusion(GS 3)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Low Energy Nuclear \u00a0Reaction(LENR) or cold fusion has been again in the news as India is \u00a0taking tentative steps towards restarting research into Cold fusion, some 25 years after it was shut down at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) following global criticism heaped on the idea.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cold fusion describes a form of energy generated when hydrogen interacts with various metals like nickel and palladium.Cold fusion is a field of condensed matter nuclear science CMNS, and is also called low-energy nuclear reactions LENR, lattice-assisted nuclear reactions LANR, low energy nanoscale reactions LENR, among others.Cold fusion is also referred to as the Anomalous Heat Effect AHE, reflecting the fact that there is no definitive theory of the elusive reaction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Advantages of cold fusion:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No radioactive materials are used in cold fusion.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It occurs as the tiny protons, neutrons and electrons of hydrogen interact, releasing energy slowly, through heat and photons, without the dangerous radiation associated with conventional nuclear reactions, and cold fusion makes no radioactive waste.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Criticism<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cold fusion seeks to produce nuclear energy without harmful radiation, complex equipment and the application of very high temperatures and pressures. But it has no conclusive theory explaining it and flies in the face of a well-established physics law that goes against easy fusion of nuclei.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is no guarantee that every time a cold fusion or LENR experiment is done, energy will be produced.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Q.3) Recently the Union Cabinet has approved an Agreement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to taxes on income between India and Iran. In this context discuss the significance of the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAAs) (GS-3)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recently the Union Cabinet has approved an Agreement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to taxes on income between India and Iran.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAAs):<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> A DTAA is a tax treaty signed between two or more countries.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Its key objective is that tax-payers in these countries can avoid being taxed twice for the same income.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> A DTAA applies in cases where a tax-payer resides in one country and earns income in another.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> India has DTAAs with more than eighty countries, of which comprehensive agreements include those with Australia, Canada, Germany, Mauritius, Singapore, UAE, the UK and US.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Significance:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> DTAAs are intended to make a country an attractive investment destination by providing relief on dual taxation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Such relief is provided by exempting income earned abroad from tax in the resident country or providing credit to the extent taxes have already been paid abroad.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">DTAAs also provide for concessional rates of tax in some cases.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Archives Q.1) The National Medical Commission Bill seeks to make structural changes in India\u2019s exploitative health-care system. In this context discuss the factors responsible for health crisis in India. What measures can be adopted in improving India\u2019s healthcare system?(GS 3) The National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill seeks to make structural changes in India\u2019s exploitative health-care&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-march-21-2018\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Answers: Mains Marathon \u2013 UPSC Mains Current Affairs Questions \u2013 March 21, 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-17425","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":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704702077},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17425","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=17425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17425\/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=17425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}