POLITY AND GOVERNANCE                                                        

1. World Malaria Report: 2019                                                                               

2. Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Bill, 2019                 

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS                                                   

1. BRICS remote Sensing Satellite Constellation                                                   

2. How is a new country formed?                                                                           

ECONOMY                                                                                          

1. India set to make modest recovery on reforms: OECD                                      

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY                                              

1. Climate Emergency CoP 25:New platform linking oceans and climate launched in Madrid                                                                                                           

SECURITY                                                                                          

1. Exercise INDRA 2019                                                                                      

MISCELLANEOUS                                                                          

1. National Florence Nightingale Awards                                                             

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

World Malaria Report: 2019

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE -  Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Context :

• The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released the World Malaria Report, 2019.

  • While Africa and India saw the maximum dip in malaria cases between 2017 and 2018, they still accounted for 85 per cent deaths.

Key Highlights :

•  Globally 228 million malaria cases were reported in 2018, which is marginally lower than the number of cases in 2017 (231 million), as per the World Malaria Report 2019.

•  Nigeria accounted for almost 24 per cent of all malaria deaths, followed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (11 per cent), the United Republic of Tanzania (5 per cent), and Angola, Mozambique and Niger (4 per cent each).

• India, Indonesia and Myanmar accounted for 58 per cent, 21 per cent and 12 per cent of the total reported deaths in the region, respectively.

• The biggest region of concern for the WHO is the African region as it contributes 93 per cent cases to the global burden.  This region also accounted for 94 per cent of all malarial deaths. In 2018, there were an estimated 405,000 deaths from malaria globally as compared with 416,000 estimated deaths in 2017.

• As per this report, except for South Africa, all other countries—Eritrea,  Botswana, Eswatini, Namibia and Comoros—are not in line to reduce the burden by 40 per cent by 2020 as compared to 2015 levels.

India Specific Findings :

• India's progress means the country no longer has the world's fourth highest malaria burden, though it still is the only non-African country among the top 11 countries with the most malaria globally.

• India registered a fall of 2.6 million malarial cases in 2018 as compared to previous year. The country also has one of the lowest funding per person at risk of being inflicted with malaria at just US$0.2.

• However, 7 states (Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Gujarat, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh) account for about 90% of the burden of malaria cases in India.

• Overall number of deaths due to malaria in India have reduced.           

                                                                                                                 Source :- Indian Express

Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Bill, 2019

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.

Context :

• The Union Cabinet has approved the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens (Amendment) Bill,2019.

Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens (Amendment) Bill,2019 :

• The bill seeks to amend the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizen Act, 2007.

• The aim of the Bill is to provide for maintenance and welfare of parents and senior citizens, and ensure their rights are recognised under the Constitution.

Key Features :

• The Bill expands the definition of children which currently refers to only biological children and grandchildren to include daughter-in-law and son-in-law.

• It extends the definition of maintenance beyond provision of food, clothing, housing, health care to include safety and security of the parent.

• It proposes to remove the ceiling of ₹10,000 as maintenance towards welfare of parents.It proposes to make this amount variable as people who earn more can afford to shell out a higher amount for the upkeep of their parents.

• It also proposes registration of senior citizens care homes/homecare service agencies along with maintaining minimum standards for senior citizen care homes.

• It also includes the appointment of Nodal Police Officers for Senior Citizens in every Police Station and District level Special Police Unit for Senior Citizens.

• State governments were to set up maintenance tribunals in every subdivision to decide the level of maintenance.Appellate tribunals were to be established at the district level.

• The Senior citizens who are unable to maintain themselves can approach the maintenance tribunal seeking a monthly allowance from their children or heirs.

• The punishment for not paying the required monthly allowance was fixed at Rs 5,000 or up to three months in prison or both.

Conclusion :

• As a signatory to Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA), India has the responsibility to formulate and implement public policy on population ageing.

• Issues of poverty, migration, urbanisation, ruralisation and feminisation compound the complexity of this emerging phenomenon. Public policy must respond to this bourgeoning need and mainstream action into developmental planning.

• Gender and social concerns of elderly, particularly elderly women, must be integrated at the policy level.

  • The elderly, especially women, should be represented in decision making.

  • Increasing social/widow pension and its universalisation is critical for expanding the extent and reach of benefits.

  • Renewed efforts should be made for raising widespread awareness and access to social security schemes such as National Old Age Pension and Widow Pension Scheme. Provisions in terms of special incentives for elderly women, disabled, widowed should also be considered.

                                                                                                                    Source :- The Hindu

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

BRICS remote Sensing Satellite Constellation

GS PAPER - 02 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests

Context :

• The space agencies of BRICS nations have been negotiating a Framework Agreement to formalize the cooperation on building a ‘virtual constellation of remote sensing satellites’, made up of satellites contributed by BRICS space agencies.

‘virtual constellation of remote sensing satellites’ :

• The plan was first mooted by China to improve co-operation around natural disasters.

• But it took shape later when BRICS space agencies agreed to build a “virtual constellation of remote sensing satellites”.

• The Indian space Ministry has indicated major progress in terms of establishing a BRICS satellite for various applications including natural resources management and disaster management.

• The purpose of the proposed virtual constellation is to get access to satellite remote sensing data, which could be used by the individual BRICS nations for various applications including natural resources management and disaster management.

• Currently, only Brazil, Russia, India and China have remote-sensing satellites in the sun-synchronous orbit, and they will provide data to South Africa, which does not have a satellite of its own.

                                                                                                                                                                     Source :- PIB

How is a new country formed?

GS PAPER - 02 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.

Context :

• Across the world, various territories are agitating for independence — Catalonia in Spain, Kurdistan in Iraq, Tibet in China. New countries are suddenly in high demand.

  • Recently, Bougainville, an island in the Pacific, is holding a referendum to decide if it wants to remain a part of Papua New Guinea or become an independent country.

  • Nithyananda, India’s fugitive godman, has reportedly founded his own country somewhere in the Pacific.

How does a territory become a new country?

• A region’s quest for nationhood mainly depends on how many countries and international organisations it manages to convince to recognise it as a country.

• The biggest sanction of nationhood is the United Nations recognising a territory as a country.

Who can declare itself a country ?

• There is no law barring regions from declaring independence.Somaliland in Somalia has been calling itself a country since 1991 but no one else recognises it.

• Similarly,Kosovo in Serbia had also declared independence in 2008 and only a few other countries recognise it.

• In 1945,the right of self-determination was included in the UN charter. This means that a population has the right to decide how and by whom it wants to be governed.

• However, another widely accepted international rules is that of countries respecting each other’s territorial integrity.Hence,there is a conflict between Self-determination versus territorial integrity.

Criteria for declaring itself as a new country:

• According to the 1933 Montevideo Convention,a region must meet four requirements to become a state which are

  • permanent population

  • defined territory

  • government and

  • ability to form relations with other nation states.

• Other conditions must be met including clear evidence that a majority of people have freely chosen independence that minorities are welcome and respected.

• A state must also be able to agree divorce terms mutually with the country it breaks away from.

• The Individual countries can recognise each other but there is a huge significance in recognition as a state by the United Nations.

• Often, UN member states recognise a country, but not the UN as a body.

  • This puts a country in the grey area with respect to protection against parent country’s aggression, and international trade.

• The benefits of recognition by UN are

  •  protection of international law

  • access to loans from the World Bank and the IMF

  • control over borders and

  • greater access to economic networks and mechanisms.

• Further,the countries currency will also be recognised which allows it to trade.

                                                                                                               Source :- Indian Express

ECONOMY

India set to make modest recovery on reforms: OECD

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment

Context :

• The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD) has released its Economic Survey of India report.

Key Highlights of the Report :

• According to OECD report India is set for a modest recovery after a loss of momentum as reforms to simplify taxation lighten business regulations and upgrade infrastructure start to bear fruit.

• GDP :

  • The OECD economic survey of India said Asia’s third largest economy’s growth will slow down to 5.8% in 2019, but will recover to 6.2% in 2020, and 6.4% in 2021.

  • India’s economy had expanded at 6.8% in FY19, as per official government data.

  • In the June quarter, it expanded at 5% and in the September quarter, the slowdown deepened with a 4.5% expansion, the slowest pace since March 2013.

Concern :

• Economic growth has been strong but social and governance challenges remain.

• The public debt-to-GDP ratio remains relatively high

• Ambitious reforms have been passed but implementing them fully would boost incomes and wellbeing.

• Addressing domestic structural bottlenecks is key to supporting India’s competitiveness

• Air pollution is high and will increase in the absence of bold action.

• international oil prices have come down but they remain volatile and pose risks for inflation,the current account and public finances.

• India has greatly expanded its participation in global trade in recent years, but private investment remained relatively weak and employment rate has declined amid a shortage of quality jobs. It also noted that rural incomes were stagnating.

Recommendations :

• However, this slower pace of growth underlines the need to fully implement existing reforms and continue lowering barriers to trade to generate the investment and jobs India needs to raise living standards across the country

• Further reforms to modernize the economy are now needed to drive the creation of high-quality jobs, as well as measures to improve public services and welfare.

                                                                                                    Source :- Livemint ; Economic Times

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

6.Climate Emergency CoP 25:New platform linking oceans and climate launched in Madrid

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY -  Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Context :

• At the 25th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP25), Platform of Science-based Ocean Solutions has been launched

Platform of Science-based Ocean Solutions :

• It aims to enhance the sharing of knowledge created by various actors in the ocean and climate community to advance ocean-climate action.

Objective :

• To encourage the incorporation of the ocean in climate strategies (NDCs, NAPs, Adaptation Communications, and National Policy Frameworks).

• To facilitate access to key resources and solutions for the ocean,

• To highlight the importance of the IPCC Special Report on Oceans and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC) and its main findings, as the best available science for the planning and implementation of national policies

• To involve and engage a large number of actors in ocean-climate action: academia, the public sector, the private sector and the civil society

More in the news :

• IPCC Special Report on Oceans and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC): was released in September 2019.

  • The global ocean has absorbed more than 90% of the excess heat in the climate system.

  • It has also absorbed 20-30% of total human-caused carbon dioxide emissions since the 1980s, causing increasing surface acidification.

  • Since 1993, the rate of ocean warming has more than doubled. It has resulted in marine heatwaves doubling in frequency since 1982 and increasing in intensity.

  •  It is very likely that between 84–90 % of marine heatwaves that occurred between 2006 and 2015 are attributable to the anthropogenic temperature increase.

                                                                                                                Source :- Down To Earth

SECURITY

Exercise INDRA 2019

GS PAPER - 03 SECURITY - Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests

Context :

• Exercise INDRA 2019, a joint, tri-services exercise between India and Russia will be conducted in India in December 2019 simultaneously at Babina (near Jhansi), Pune, and Goa.

Exercise INDRA:

• The INDRA series of exercise began in 2003 and the First joint Tri-Services Exercise was conducted in 2017.

• The objective of the exercise is to imbibe the best practices from each other, jointly evolve drills to defeat the scourge of terror under the United Nations mandate.

                                                                                                                              Source :- PIB

MISCELLANEOUS

National Florence Nightingale Awards

GS PAPER - 03 AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Context :

• The President of India,presented the National Florence Nightingale Awards to nursing personnel on the occasion of International Nurses Day.

More in the news :

• The World Health Organisation has announced 2020 as the Year of the Nurse and Mid-wife.

• 2020 will also mark the 200th birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale.

• Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, was born on May 12, 1820 and hence this day is celebrated as International Nurses Day all over the world.           

                                                                                                                                                     Source :- PIB

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