Brief of newspaper articles for the day bearing
relevance to Civil Services preparation
- GS PAPER 2
- Aiming it wrong {Internal Security}
- We need a Nutrition Mission {Health}
-
IAF plane vanishes over Bay of Bengal {Security}
- GS PAPER 3
- States to get sops based on Aadhaar’s DBT platform {Economy}
- A first, but big step {Agriculture}
GS PAPER 2
[1] Aiming it wrong
Context
In the ongoing agitation in Kashmir one scene has come out very strongly , that is , the sever injuries suffered by the protesters due to the use of pellet gun.
Analysis
- Pellet guns are used to disperse the agitating crowds. They are supposed to be non-lethal as compared to other high velocity guns. But then why such severe injuries have been afflicted?
- The answer to this is that the force using pellet guns is not trained and instructed to use such a weapon.
- The forces in Kashmir have been firing the pellet shotgun using shot no. 9.
- A shot no. 9 in a 12 bore shotgun releases almost 600 pellets and these dispersed pellets can cause severe injuries.
- While the shots should have been fired at the legs/ feet of the person , the forces fired the shots at heads and shoulders which compounded the injuries and lead to consequence like blinding, deaths.
- Such use of pellet gun has transformed it from a weapon of deterrence to a weapon of damage, which should not have been the case.
Conclusion
A non-lethal weapon can become lethal if not used in a way it is meant to be used. This is what seems to have happened in Kashmir. It is time that before using these weapons the force must be adequately trained and informed.
[2] We need a Nutrition Mission
Introduction
Global Nutrition Report 2016 has been launched. India has performed dismally on various indicators like addressing chronic malnutrition, Stunting (low weight for age), wasting (low weight for height), micronutrient deficiencies.
Key facts
India ranks 114 out of 132 countries, with the incidence of stunting at 38.7 per cent. Even Bangladesh and Nepal rank marginally higher than India.
On wasting
India ranks 120 out of 130 countries, at 15.1 per cent.
On the prevalence of anaemia in women of reproductive age, India ranks 170 out of 185 countries at 48.1 per cent, compared with Senegal which is the worst at 57.5 per cent.
Falling nutritional level
Segments facing most risk continue to be adolescent girls, women and children, and among them Scheduled Castes and Tribes.
Nearly 50 percent of women are married in India before they 18, leading to multiple pregnancies even before their adult age, it further leads to another dismal fact that 30 percent of all born children are of low birth weight.
It add approximately seven million, potentially wasted and stunted, to our population every year.
Some of the global and national level initiatives
Setting up of the SUN (Scaling Up Nutrition) secretariat in the UN.
World Health Assembly adoption (in 2012) of the 2025 global targets for maternal, infant and young children’s nutrition.
2015 Sustainable Development Goals which centre-stage the ending of all forms of malnutrition for all people by 2030.
Maharashtra was the first State in India to launch a nutrition mission, in 2005, followed by five other States, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Gujarat and Karnataka, covering a total population of 300 million.
Economic losses due to Malnutrition
World Bank estimates that India loses 2-3 per cent of its annual GDP by way of lower productivity.
Given the fact that 1 in 3 children born is underweight. It would be quite difficult for India to become a global player in manufacturing and other industries.
Initiatives need to be revamped
ICDS, which caters to the needs of pregnant and nursing mothers and children under the age of six.
Mid-day meal scheme, which directly feeds approximately 120 million schoolchildren every day.
Public distribution system, which makes available subsistence rations to above and below poverty line families.
Borrowing from best practice in countries that have made quick and significant progress in combating malnutrition.
[3] What Swachh Bharat should have addressed
Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has released a report, summarizing how urban India is suffering from their own created problem of garbage.
Key point of report
Our per capita consumptions waste generation figures have drastically increased. in metros it has gone up from a mere 0.2-0.6 kg/person in 2004, to over 1kg/person now.
Report has projected that by 2047; India would be producing 260 million tonnes of waste annually needing over 1,400 sq. km of landfills. This is an area equal to Hyderabad, Mumbai and Chennai put together.
Report puts individual at the center of this problem. It points out that individuals
Recommendations
Report suggests that rather than looking into the models adopted by Europeans or Americans to clean up their cities, we need to find out the model solutions domestically.
It gives the example of Alleppey in Kerala. The municipality bears no cost for collection and transportation.
In this unique model, every household segregates its waste, composts it, or makes biogas out of its wet waste. The municipality collects dry waste weekly.
For households that cannot treat their waste in-house, every ward has community sheds, where people come from 7-9 in the morning to give their wet waste and deposit the dry waste.
Redesign municipal contracts
Contracts should not pay for quantum of waste collected, but for the quantum of waste processed and recycled.
Any waste that is taken to the landfill must be charged through the landfill tax.
Recognising the role of the informal sector in segregation and recycling of household waste.
[4] IAF plane vanishes over Bay of Bengal
Introduction
An IAF An-32 aircraft travelling from Chennai to Port Blair.
Important points
An IAF An-32 aircraft travelling from Chennai to Port Blair on a courier flight with service personnel was scheduled to arrive at Port Blair, went missing later that day.
Missing An-32 had originated from the Sulur Air Force Station, where on an average between 10 and 14 such aircraft are stationed.
This courier aircraft ferried logistics and personnel to the Andaman and Nicobar islands, making two or three trips a week depending on the requirement.
There are 29 persons onboard the missing An-32 comprise six aircrew, 11 Air Force personnel, two from the Army, nine from the Navy and one from the Coast Guard. These include four officers and eight Navy civilians.
The IAF has deployed a C-130J Hercules and one An-32 for the search.
The Navy has pressed 12 ships, two P-8I long-range patrol aircraft and two Dornier aircraft for Full Search & Rescue (SAR) efforts.
GS PAPER 3
[1] States to get sops based on Aadhaar’s DBT platform
Context
Centre would be providing special incentives to those states which take the lead in providing Aadhar based direct benefits transfer in providing subsidies.
Analysis
- Example shows that DBT using Aadhar has resulted in huge saving in taxpayers money by plugging in the leakages.
- As of now DBT is being used for just a handful of schemes, primarily for LPG subsidies and still there has been a huge saving in terms of money.
- If DBT will be extended by state govt. to their schemes as well the quantum of savings it can generate will be huge.
- This scaling up of DBT requires coordination among the centre and the state.
- An incentive to those states which have used Aadhar based DBT scheme and have shown reduction in leakages is a good step by the government.
- It would motivate other states to take up similar activities which would result in the overall well being of Indian economy.
[2] A first, but big step
Context
Maharashtra government has delisted fruits and vegetables from Agriculture Produce Market Committee Act (APMC).
Analysis
- Due to this delisting, the traders and buyers can buy the produce directly from the farmers without going to APMC Mandis first.
- This will eliminate the intermediaries between the buyer and the farmers (which are present in APMC mandis) who charge commission on both the parties, thus shooting up the prices for the customer while not paying more to farmers.
- However, thinking that this move alone will eliminate mandis or middleman is not right as majority of our farmers do not have the resources and reach to make deals on their own with the buyers especially corporates.
- The farmers would still take their produce to the mandis and the buyers would still buy from mandis using intermediaries.
Then how is it a good move?
- But this move by Maharashtra government will certainly dismantle monopolies if not do much in eliminating the middleman.
- Also an individual farmer might not have the reach or resource to strike deals with corporated but if they aggregate forming cooperatives and pool their produce, they can certainly make a dent in the prevailing system.
- In a longer run this would definitely help the farmers and the buyers both and boost agriculture as a sector in totality.
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