DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS IAS | UPSC Prelims and Mains Exam – 23rd January 2023

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Syllabus

• Prelims – Polity and Governance

Context: The Supreme Court bench recently declared chargesheets to be private documents. It said that the state is not obliged to provide the public free access to chargesheets by uploading them on police or government websites.

About Chargesheet:

• A charge sheet refers to a formal police record showing the names of each person brought into custody, the nature of the accusations, and the identity of the accusers. The charge sheet contains majorly 4 parts:
  • Information about the accused and the witnesses
  • The charges and specifications
  • The preferring of charges and their referral to a summary
  • For the trial record
• The charge sheet is to be filed within 60 days from the date of arrest of the accused in cases triable by lower courts and 90 days in cases triable by the Court of Sessions.
• No case for grant of bail will be made under section 167(2) of the CrPC if the charge sheet is filed before the expiry of 90 days or 60 days, as the case may be, from the date of first remand.
• The right of default bail is lost, once the charge sheet is filed.
• A charge sheet is distinct from the First Information Report (FIR), which is the core document that describes a crime that has been committed.
• Chargesheet usually refers to one or more FIRs and charges on an individual or organization for the crimes specified in those FIR.
• Once the charge sheet has been submitted to a court of law, prosecution proceedings against the accused begin in the judicial system.

About FIR:

• First Information Report (FIR) is a written document prepared by the police when they receive information about the commission of a cognizable offence.
• It is a report of information that reaches the police first in point of time and that is why it is called the First Information Report.
• Based on the information provided, I.R. can be registered by the Judicial Magistrate by giving direction to the concerned jurisdictional area of the Police Station.
• Zero F.I.R.: With the help of zero F.I.R., a complaint can be lodged at any police station irrespective of the jurisdiction of the Police Station.
  • It is an amendment that came after Nirbhaya Rape Case.

Source: Indian Express

Previous Year Questions

Q.1) With reference to India, consider the following statements:

1. Government law officers and legal firms are recognized as advocates, but corporate lawyers and patent attorneys are excluded from recognition as advocates.
2. Bar Councils have the power to lay down the rules relating to legal education and recognition of law colleges.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (2022)

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

Q.2) With reference to India, consider the following statements:

1. Judicial custody means an accused is in the custody of the concerned magistrate and such accused is locked up in police station, not in jail.
2. During judicial custody, the police officer in charge of the case is not allowed to interrogate the suspect without the approval of the court.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (2021)

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

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Syllabus

• Prelims – Governance

Context: Wayanad from Kerala became the first district in the country to provide basic documents and facilities to all tribes people under the (Akshaya Big Campaign for Document Digitisation) ABCD campaign.

About ABCD Campaign:

• The ABCD campaign is an initiative by the Wayanad district administration in India to provide basic documents and facilities such as Aadhaar cards, ration cards, birth/death certificates, election ID cards, bank accounts and health insurance to all tribespeople.
• Since all the relevant departments were brought under one roof in a camp, each beneficiary gets all the needed services at the camp itself, saving them the time and effort of visiting several offices.
• Apart from these, other services such as income certificates, ownership certificates, age certificates and applications for new pensions were also provided.

Source: The Hindu

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Syllabus

• Prelims – Governance

Context: Recently, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said it has simplified the process of Levying Composition fees in case of extension of the Export Obligation Period under the Advance Authorisation Scheme (AAS).

About Advance Authorization Scheme:

• It allows duty free import of inputs, which are physically incorporated in an export product.
• In addition to any inputs, packaging material, fuel, oil, catalyst which is consumed / utilized in the process of production of export product, is also be allowed.
• The quantity of inputs allowed for a given product is based on specific norms defined for that export product, which considers the wastage generated in the manufacturing process.
• DGFT provides a sector-wise list of Standard Input-Output Norms (SION) under which the exporters may choose to apply.
• Alternatively, exporters may apply for their own ad-hoc norms in cases where the SION does not suit the exporter.
• Advance Authorisation covers manufacturer exporters or merchant exporters tied to supporting manufacturer(s).

Prerequisites for Applying:

• To apply for an Advance Authorisation scheme, an Import-Export Code (IEC) is required.
• Other prerequisites are mentioned in the Chapter 4 of Foreign Trade Policy and Handbook of Procedures.

About Directorate General of Foreign Trade:

• Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Organization is an attached office of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and is headed by Director General of Foreign Trade.
• Right from its inception till 1991, when liberalization in the economic policies of the Government took place, this organization has been essentially involved in the regulation and promotion of foreign trade through regulation.
• Keeping in line with liberalization and globalization and the overall objective of increasing of exports, DGFT has since been assigned the role of “facilitator”.
• This Directorate, with headquarters at New Delhi, is headed by the Director General of Foreign Trade.
• It is responsible for implementing the Foreign Trade Policy with the main objective of promoting India’s exports.
• The DGFT also issues licenses to exporters and monitors their corresponding obligations through a network of 25 Regional Offices.
• All regional offices provide facilitation to exporters in regard to developments in International Trade i.e. WTO agreements, Rules of Origin and anti-dumping issues, etc to help exporters in their import and export decisions in an internationally dynamic environment.

Additional Information:

About Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR):

• The DGTR (earlier known as Directorate General of Anti-Dumping & Allied Duties) is an attached office of the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry.
• The DGAD which was formed in 1997 has been restructured as DGTR in May 2018 by restructuring and re-designing DGAD into DGTR by incorporating all the trade remedial functions i.e. Anti-Dumping Duty (ADD), Countervailing Duty (CVD), Safeguards Duty (SGD), Safeguards Measures (QRs) under a single window framework.
• Thus, the DGTR has been formed by merging of functions of DGAD, Department of Commerce, Directorate General of Safeguards, Department of Revenue and Safeguards (QR) functions of DGFT into its fold.
• The DGTR is a quasi-judicial body that independently undertakes investigations before making its recommendations to the Central Government.
• It is the single national authority for administering all trade remedial measures including anti-dumping, countervailing duties and safeguard measures.
• The DGTR provides a level playing field to the domestic industry against the adverse impact of the unfair trade practices like dumping and actionable subsidies from any exporting country, by using trade remedial methods under the relevant framework of the WTO arrangements, the Customs Tariff Act and Rules and other relevant laws and international agreements, in a transparent and time bound manner.
• It also provides trade defence support to our domestic industry and exporters in dealing with instances of trade remedy investigations instituted against them by other countries.

Source: PIB

Previous Year Questions

Q.1) With reference to the Indian economy, consider the following statements:

1. An increase in Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) indicates the appreciation of rupee.
2. An increase in the Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER) indicates an improvement in trade competitiveness.
3. An increasing trend in domestic inflation relative to inflation in other countries is likely to cause an increasing divergence between NEER and REER.

Which of the above statements are correct? (2022)

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2 and 3 only
3. 1 and 3 only
4. 1, 2 and 3

Q.2) With reference to India, consider the following statements:

1. Retail investors through Demat account can invest in Treasury Bills and Government of India Debt Bonds in the primary market
2. The “Negotiated Dealing System-Ordering Matching” is a government securities trading platform of the Reserve Bank of India.
3. The “Central Depository Services Ltd” is jointly promoted by the Reserve Bank of India and the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (2021)

1. 1 only
2. 1 and 2
3. 3 only
4. 2 and 3

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Syllabus

• Prelims – Defence

Context: Germany has not decided whether to allow its Leopard 2 tanks to be sent to Ukraine which can be used against Russia during the ongoing war between the two countries.

About Leopard 2 Tank:

• It is a German made main battle tank.
• Developed by German weapons manufacturer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW).
• Leopard was first produced in the late 1990s for the West German army in response to Soviet threats during the Cold War.
• The Leopard 2 is one of the world’s leading battle tanks, used by the German Army for decades and by the militaries of more than a dozen other European nations, as well as by the armies of countries as far apart as Canada and Indonesia.
• It has seen service in conflicts in Afghanistan, Kosovo and Syria.
• Other Features:
  • These tanks are armed with a 120mm smoothbore cannon.
  • It is also armed with two coaxial light machine guns.
  • They also provide “all-round protection” for troops from threats such as mines, anti-tank fire, and improvised explosive devices

Source: Indian Express

Previous Year Question

Q.1) What is “Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)”, sometimes seen in the news? (2018)

1. An Israeli radar system
2. India’s indigenous anti-missile programme
3. An American anti-missile system
4. A defence collaboration between Japan and South Korea

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Syllabus

• Prelims – Science and Technology

Context: A recent study in the journal the Lancet Infectious Diseases held that “hybrid immunity” provides better protection against severe Covid-19.

Immunity and types of Immunities:

• Immunity refers to the body’s ability to prevent the invasion of pathogens. Pathogens are foreign disease-causing substances, such as bacteria and viruses.
• Active Immunity: It develops from the exposure to a disease thereby triggers the Immune system to produce antibodies to that disease.
  • Active immunity can be acquired through natural immunity or vaccine-induced immunity.
• Infection-induced immunity is defined as the immune protection in an unvaccinated individual after one or more infections.
• Vaccine-induced immunity is acquired through the introduction of a killed or weakened form of the disease organism through vaccination.
  • For example COVID-19 vaccines, Covid shield and Covaxin.
• Passive Immunity: It is provided when a person is given antibodies to a disease rather than producing them through his or her own immune system.
  • For example, a new born baby acquired passive immunity from its mother through the placenta.

About Hybrid Immunity:

• Hybrid immunity is defined as the Immune protection in individuals who have had one or more doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and experienced at least one SARS-CoV-2 infection before or after the Initiation of vaccination.
• Exposure to SARS-CoV-2 through infection or vaccination triggers the production of antibodies that can be readily measured in the blood (referred to as ‘seroconversion’).
• If the level of antibodies in the blood exceeds a pre-specified threshold, the individual is said to be ‘seropositive’.
• The percentage of seropositive individuals in a population at a given time point is referred to as the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in that population.

Source: Indian Express

Previous Year Question

Q.1) In the context of vaccines manufactured to prevent COVID-19 pandemic, consider the following statements:

1. The Serum Institute of India produced COVID-19 vaccine named Covishield using mRNA platform.
2. Sputnik V vaccine is manufactured using vector based platform.
3. COVAXIN is an inactivated pathogen based vaccine.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2 and 3 only
3. 1 and 3 only
4. 1, 2 and 3

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Syllabus

• Prelims – Science and Technology

In News: According to one theory by US researchers in a review paper published in 2022 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, the receptors for sour taste developed in fish which then evolved into terrestrial organisms.

• These ancient fish would most likely have had the receptors all over their bodies to judge the pH of the water (sourness would indicate acidity) in which they were venturing

Hog Plum

• The hog plum is scientifically classified as a member of the Anacardiaceae family, sharing space with the cashewnut and mango.
• Its genus, Spondias, has a history of use going back at least as far as 6500 BC in the Tehuacán Valley of Mexico.
• The Spondias pinnata tree is deciduous and can reach a height of around 25 m. It is usually found in home gardens in tropical regions — it is not restricted to India and is common in countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and Bali, where it is part of traditional food and medicine
• The hog plum, called ambara or amra in Hindi, is used as an important souring agent in several cuisines all across the country.
• For instance, in the Western Ghats, especially the Konkan area and Goa, the hog plum (called ambade or ambado in Konkani) provides a tangy taste to both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes like khatkhate, a mixed vegetable stew.
• It is also used to make a sweet and sour chutney in Goa and in West Bengal. In Kerala, the fruit is used to make a pickle.
• At first glance, the hog plum looks like a green unripe mango but small fruit has very little pulp and is more sour in taste than an unripe mango.

Benefits

• The fruit is an important source of nutrients and even has medicinal properties.
• It is rich in phenolic compounds, natural antioxidants and minerals and has ascorbic acid, malic acid, calcium and phosphorus
• The fruit not only aids digestion, but is also said to possess antidiabetic properties.
• It could help in cancer treatment – used to extract to prepare hematite (iron ore) nanoparticles which were found to be quite successful in controlling mammalian cancer cells.
• Nanaoparticles are used to deliver medication to cancerous sites and lower the amount of drugs needed.
• Production of nanoparticles can be expensive, and the widely available hog plum could help lower the costs
• Mucositis (inflammation of the mucous membranes in the digestive tract) is common in people receiving chemotherapy.
• Hog plum extract can be used to decrease the burden of this condition in people undergoing the treatment
• The bark extract of the hog plum tree can also protect against oxidative and inflammatory changes that occur in the body during mucositis.
• Hog plum seeds contain compounds which help suppress parasites such as Plasmodium berghei, which causes malaria in certain rodents.
• As effective in treatment as metformin, a commonly used diabetes medicine,

Source DTE

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Syllabus

• Prelims – Economy

In News: Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), visited IREDA’s corporate office in and reviewed the performance and the future roadmap of IREDA, followed by an interactive session with all employees of the company.

Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited(IREDA)

Aim

• To give financial support to specific projects and schemes for generating electricity and / or energy through new and renewable sources and conserving energy through energy efficiency.
• To maintain its position as a leading organisation to provide efficient and effective financing in renewable energy and energy efficiency / conservation projects.
• To increase IREDA`s share in the renewable energy sector by way of innovative financing.
• Improvement in the efficiency of services provided to customers through continual improvement of systems, processes and resources.

About:

• It is a Public Limited Government Company established in 1987
• It is a Mini Ratna (Category – I) Government of India Enterprise
• It is under the administrative control of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
• IREDA has been notified as a “Public Financial Institution” under section 4 ‘A’ of the Companies Act, 1956 and registered as Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) with Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• IREDA’s mission is “Be a pioneering, participant friendly and competitive institution for financing and promoting self-sustaining investment in energy generation from Renewable Sources, Energy Efficiency and Environmental Technologies for sustainable development.”
• Motto: “ENERGY FOR EVER”

Sources: PIB

Previous Year Question

Q1) With reference to the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA), which of the following statements is/are correct? (2015)

1. It is a Public Limited Government Company.
2. It is a Non-Banking Financial Company.

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

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Syllabus

• Prelims – Current Affairs

About the scheme:

• It is organised by Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sport (MYAS)
• First Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) meeting was held in 2023 on the sidelines of the ongoing Hockey World Cup in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

• India’s Olympic Program and proposals of Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) athletes, was held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
• The Indian men’s and women’s hockey teams are the only teams that are funded under MYAS’s TOPS Scheme
• They get an annual expenditure of Rs. 24 cr under Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) Annual Calendar for Training and Competitions (ACTC) scheme.

Source: PIB

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Syllabus

• Prelims – Polity

‘Summit for Democracy’

• It was an initiative of USA and was hosted in 2021.
• The Prime Minister of India spoke at the Leaders Plenary Session in 2021.
• A “Year of Action” was proposed with events and dialogues on themes related to Democracy.
• The Summit also developed two platforms – ‘Focal Groups’ and ‘Democracy Cohorts’ to facilitate participation in the Year of Action.
• The 2nd Summit for Democracy is scheduled to be held IN 2023 and co-hosted by governments of Costa Rica, Rep. of Korea, Netherlands, Zambia and the US. 
• As part of the ‘Summit for Democracy’ Year of Action, India through the ECI, is leading the ‘Democracy Cohort on Election Integrity’ to share its knowledge, technical expertise and experiences with other democracies of the world.
• ECI, as its lead, has proposed to also provide training and capacity building programmes to Election Management Bodies (EMBs) across the world and provide technical consultancy as per needs of other EMBs.

Cohort on Elections Integrity:

• It was established as a follow up to the ‘Summit for Democracy’ held virtually in 2021.
• India through ECI, is leading the Cohort on Elections Integrity

• The first international conference of the Cohort was organized in 2022 on the topic ‘Role, Framework and Capacity of Election Management Bodies’ where nearly 50 representatives from the Election Management Bodies (EMBs) of 11 countries participated.
• The Election Commission of India (ECI) is hosting the 2nd International Conference on the theme ‘Use of Technology and Elections Integrity’
• The two-day international conference will be inaugurated by Chief Election Commissioner of India
• Invited Greece, Mauritius and IFES to be co-leads for the Cohort. ECI has invited Isnternational Foundation for Electoral Systems and International IDEA, apart from EMBs and Government counterparts dealing with the conduct of elections worldwide.
• Around 43 Participants from 17 Countries/EMBs including Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Chile, Croatia, Dominica, Fiji, Georgia, Indonesia, Kiribati, Mauritius, Nepal, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines and Suriname and 06 participants from international organisations namely, IFES, International IDEA are expected to join.

Source PIB

Previous Year Question

Q1) Consider the following statements: (2017)

1. The Election Commission of India is a five-member body.
2. Union Ministry of Home Affairs decides the election schedule for the conduct of both general elections and bye-elections.
3. Election Commission resolves the disputes relating to splits/mergers of recognised political parties.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2 only
3. 2 and 3 only
4. 3 only

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Syllabus

• Mains – GS 2 (Governance) and GS 3 (Economy)

Context: The World Economic Forum in its ‘Global Risks Report 2023’ warned that the world could see a poly crisis emerging from the Russia-Ukraine war.

About Polycrisis:

• The term poly crisis was first used in the 1990s by French theorist of complexity Edgar Morin.
• When multiple crises in multiple global systems become causally entangled in ways that significantly degrade humanity’s prospects.
• These interacting crises produce harms greater than the sum of those the crises would produce in isolation, were their host systems not so deeply interconnected.
• The ‘Polycrisis’ was first used by former European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker to describe Europe’s combustible situation in 2016 which combined indebtedness with Brexit, climate change and a refugee crisis.

World Economic Forum on Polycrisis and its Impacts:

• The report has mentioned that the world is facing a set of risks that feel both wholly new and eerily familiar.
• There are older and familiar risks which are getting entangled with the new and emerging risks which collectively can lead to a Polycrisis.
• Older risks: These include inflation, cost-of-living crisis, trade wars, capital outflows from emerging markets, widespread social unrest, geopolitical confrontation and the spectre of nuclear warfare.
• New developments: These include unsustainable levels of debt, a new era of low growth, low global investment and de-globalisation, a decline in human development, and the growing pressure of climate change.

According to the report, these global risks classified into short term and the long term risks:

• Short term risks: These include the rising cost of living, slow economic growth, and tight global food and energy supplies.
• Long term risks: These are failure to mitigate climate change, failure to adapt to climate change, extreme weather events, and the threat of biodiversity collapse.
  • The report further goes on to state that these risks may converge into a Polycrisis by the end of the decade.

Reasons for the risks as mentioned in the report:

• Recent Events: The war in Ukraine sent energy and food prices soaring. The resulting inflationary pressures ignited a global cost-of-living crisis which has led to social unrest.
• Persistent events: Demand for food, water and energy are rising as a result of population growth and socioeconomic advancement.
  • The expansion of renewable energy systems is creating an unprecedented demand for rare minerals and metals.
• Reverberating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic to global wars and conflict, from high inflation and sluggish economic growth to increasingly extreme climate events, the world is facing a remarkably diverse range of crises all at the same time.
  • On top of all that, carbon emissions continued to rise as economies reopened after the pandemic.
• The gap between demand and supply of these resources could have catastrophic consequences, including biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse, trade wars and armed conflict between nations.
• The report describes four potential futures centred around food, water and metals and mineral shortages, all of which could spark a humanitarian as well as an ecological crisis – from water wars and famines to continued overexploitation of ecological resources and a slowdown in climate mitigation and adaptation.

Recommendations made by the Report against Polycrisis:  A Way Forward

• Given uncertain relationships between global risks, similar foresight exercises can help anticipate potential connections, directing preparedness measures towards minimizing the scale and scope of Polycrisis before they arise.
• In such a situation, many governments have refocused their priorities towards short-term risks such as countering food shortages or energy shortfalls at the cost of ignoring climate change and global development when they are most needed.
• It asks world leaders to address the issue of erosion of trust. “Addressing the erosion of trust in multilateral processes will enhance our collective ability to prevent and respond to emerging cross-border crises and strengthen the guardrails we have in place to address well-established risks,”.
• It further calls on leaders to act collectively, decisively and with a long-term lens to shape a pathway to a more positive, inclusive and stable world.

Source:  World Economic Forum

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Syllabus

• Mains – GS 2 Development Industry

Context:

• Rural Health is a state subject. Every state is responsible for raising the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties.
• Rural India is home to 68 per cent of India’s total population, and half of them live below the poverty line- struggling for better and easy access to health care and services.
• Health issues confronted by rural people are many and diverse ranging from severe malaria to uncontrolled diabetes from a badly infected wound to cancer.
• A huge improvement has been recorded when the government launched the National Rural Health Mission.

Rural healthcare system in India:

• The health care infrastructure in rural areas has been developed as a three tier system.
• As on March 2011, there are 148124 sub centres, 23887 Primary Health Centres and 4809 Community Health centres functioning in the country
• In the Indian healthcare system, sub-centres (SC) are the first point of contact for a patient, catering to a population of 3,000-5,000.
• This is succeeded by a PHC, which is required to look after the daily needs of 20,000-30,000 people.
• CHCs provide referrals and access to specialists, catering to 80,000-120,000 people.
• Urban PHCs — part of the National Health Mission’s efforts to set up multi-tier health centres caters to a population of 50,000-75,000
• Components of an effective healthcare system

• Availability of manpower
• Adequate infrastructure
• Robust policy framework

Challenges in India

• India’s rural healthcare system continues to be plagued by shortfall on two critical fronts — doctors and infrastructure.
• Shortage of qualified doctors– There is a shortage of 83.2 per cent of surgeons, 74.2 per cent of obstetricians and gynaecologists, 79.1 per cent of physicians and 81.6 per cent of paediatricians, according to the Rural Health Statistics 2021-2022 released last week.

• The number of doctors at PHCs has shrunk to 30,640 in 2022 from 31,716 in 2021. Lab technicians, nursing staff and radiographers at PHCs and CHCs have all recorded a marginal increase between 2021 and 2022. Up from 22,723 to 22,772, from 79,044 to 79,933 and from 2,418 to 2,448, respectively.
• Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Odisha face the highest shortage in surgeons, obstetricians / gynaecologists, paediatricians and radiographers at CHCs across the country.

• Poor infrastructure – Less than half the Primary Health Centres (PHC), 45.1 per cent, function on a 24×7 basis. Of the 5,480 functioning Community Health Centres (CHC), only 541 have all four specialists
• Overburdened facilities – PHCs are overburdened across the board, with SCs currently looking after more than 5,000 people, PHCs catering to 36,049 people and CHCs to 164,027 people. This, coupled with a human resource shortage, plagues access to adequate and quality healthcare.
• Low number of support staff – The number of auxiliary nurse midwives at SCs has decreased to 207,587 in 2021 from 214,820 in 2022. The shortage was most pronounced in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Uttarakhand.

National Rural Health Mission (NRHM)

• The National Rural Health Mission (2005-12) seeks to provide effective healthcare to rural population throughout the country with special focus on 18 states, which have weak public health indicators and/or weak infrastructure such as Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Mizoram, etc.
• The Mission is an articulation of the commitment of the Government to raise public spending on Health from 0.9% of GDP to 2-3% of GDP.

Objectives of NRHM

• Architectural correction of the health system to enable it to effectively handle increased allocations as promised under the National Common Minimum Programme and promote policies that strengthen public health management and service delivery in the country.
• Provision of a female health activist in each village; a village health plan prepared through a local team headed by the Health & Sanitation Committee of the Panchayat
• Train and enhance capacity of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) to own, control and manage public health services
• Promote access to improved healthcare at household level through the female health activist (ASHA)
• Integration of vertical Health & Family Welfare Programmes, optimal utilization of funds & infrastructure, and strengthening delivery of primary healthcare.
• It seeks to revitalize local health traditions and mainstream AYUSH into the Community Health Centre (CHC)
• It seeks decentralization of programmes for district management of health and to address the inter-State and inter-district disparities
• It also seeks to improve access of rural people, especially poor women and children, to equitable, affordable, accountable and effective primary healthcare.

Achievements:

• The allopathic doctors at PHCs have increased from 20,308 in 2005 to 30,640 in 2022, which is about 50.9% increase.
• The specialist doctors at Community Health Centers (CHCs) have increased from 3,550 in 2005 to 4,485 in 2022

Other healthcare schemes:

Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child and Adolescent health

• Universal Immunisation Programme
• Mission Indradhanush (MI)
• Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY)

National Nutritional Programmes

• National Iodine Deficiency Disorders Control Programme
• MAA (Mothers’ Absolute Affection) Programme for Infant and Young Child Feeding

Communicable diseases

• National AIDS Control Programme (NACP)
• Pulse Polio Programme

Non-communicable diseases

• National Tobacco Control Programme(NTCP)
• National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases & Stroke (NPCDCS)
• National Mental Health Programme

Way forward

• Recently, the government has scrapped custom duties on drugs and test kits used to treat AIDS in an effort to cut prices across the country.
• With a policy to double spending on health and devise innovative methods of health management there is renewed hope that the people of the country will have greater access to facilities and be healthier.
• The promise of Health Assurance  is an important catalyst for the framing of a New Health Policy in a developing India.

Source: DTE

Syllabus

• GS-3: Disaster Management
• GS-3: Indian Economy & Development

Context: Wide cracks have appeared in many roads and hundreds of houses in Joshimath, Uttarakhand, and the authorities have declared it a landslide and subsidence-hit zone.

• Families were evacuated to temporary relief centres for their own safety.
• The signs of sinking first appeared in October 2021 and subsequently cracks continued to appear around town and residents resorted to repairs.
• It is also worth noting that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a report that the town in Uttarakhand sank 5.4 cm between December 27, 2022, and January 8, 2023. However, the report and the satellite images were later withdrawn from the ISRO website.

Read Complete Details on Joshimath crisis

Q.1) With reference to ‘hog plum’, consider the following statements

1. It belongs to the category of mango and cashews
2. It is endemic to India
3. It can be used to treat cancer.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

1. 1 and 2 Only
2. 2 and 3 Only
3. 1 and 3 Only
4. 1, 2 and 3

Q.2) With reference to the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA), which of the following statements is/are correct?

1. IREDA is a Maharatna Company.
2. IREDA was established in 2012.

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

Q.3) Consider the following statements regarding Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR):

1. It is an attached office of the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
2. The DGTR is a quasi-judicial body that independently undertakes investigations before making its recommendations to the Central Government.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

Comment the answers to the above questions in the comment section below!!

ANSWERS FOR ’ 23rd January 2023 – Daily Practice MCQs’ will be updated along with tomorrow’s Daily Current Affairs.st

Q.1) – c

Q.2) – b

Q.3) – a