[Mission 2023] INSIGHTS DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS + PIB SUMMARY 14 July 2022

GS Paper 2

Syllabus: Local bodies(Municipalities and Panchayats), 73rd and 74th constitutional amendment Act etc

Source: The Hindu

Context:

• The health of municipal finances is a critical element of municipal governance which will determine whether India realizes its economic and developmental promise.
• Revenue losses after the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the pandemic have exacerbated the situation.
• The Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) analyzed data from 80 ULBs across 24 States between 2012-13 and 2016-17 to understand ULB finance and spending.

Background:

• The 74th Constitution Amendment Act was passed in 1992 mandating the setting up and devolution of powers to urban local bodies (ULBs) as the lowest unit of governance in cities and towns.
• Constitutional provisions were made for ULBs’ fiscal empowerment.

Key Findings:

• Share of own revenue:

• • ULBs’ own sources of revenue were less than half of their total revenue, with large untapped potential.
  • The ULBs’ key revenue sources are taxes, fees, fines and charges, and transfers from Central and State governments, which are known as intergovernmental transfers (IGTs).
• Dependent on IGTs:

• • Many ULBs are highly dependent on IGTs. Transfers from the Central government are as stipulated by the Central Finance Commissions and through grants towards specific reforms, while State government transfers are as grants-in-aid and devolution of the State’s collection of local taxes.

• Difference in revenue sources:

• • Tax revenue is the largest revenue source for larger cities, while smaller cities are more dependent on grants. There are considerable differences in the composition of revenue sources across cities of different sizes

• Operations and maintenance:  

• • Operations and maintenance (O&M) expenses are on the increase but still inadequate.
  • O&M expenses are crucial for the upkeep of infrastructure and for maintaining the quality of service delivery.
  • The share of O&M expenses in ULBs’ total revenue expenditure increased from about 30% in 2012-13 to about 35% in 2016-17. While the expenses were on the rise.

Suggestions:

Insta Links:

74th Constitutional Amendment Act

Practice Questions:

Q. The local self-government system in India has not proved to be an effective instrument of governance”.Critically examine the statement and give your views to improve the situation. (UPSC 2017)

Q. With reference to the 74th constitutional amendment Act, consider the following statements:

1. All members of the municipality should be elected directly by the people.
2. The Parliament is empowered to provide for the manner of election of the chairperson of a municipality.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

a. 1 only

b. 2 only

c. Both 1 and 2

d. Neither 1 nor 2

Ans: (a)

Justification:

• All members of the municipality should be elected directly by the people.
• For this purpose, each municipal area shall be divided into territorial constituencies known as the ward
• The state legislature is empowered to provide for the manner of election of the chairperson of a municipality
• The state legislature can also provide for representation of- persons having special knowledge who will not have the right to vote in the meeting, members of LS, RS, state legislature and council from the municipal area.

GS Paper 2

Syllabus: vulnerable sections of the society and developments related to them, issues related to the development of the social sector, Gender Gap Index etc

Source: The Hindu, Indian Express

Context:

• India ranks 135 among a total of 146 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index, 2022, released by the World Economic Forum.
• The country is the worst performer in the world in the “health and survival” sub-index in which it is ranked 146.

Key Highlights:

• The Global Gender Report, 2022, says it will now take 132 years to reach gender parity, with the gap reducing only by four years since 2021 and the gender gap closed by 68. 1%.
• India ranks poorly among its neighbours and is behind Bangladesh (71), Nepal (96), Sri Lanka (110), Maldives (117) and Bhutan (126). Only the performance of Iran (143), Pakistan (145) and Afghanistan(146) was worse than India in South Asia. In 2021, India ranked 140 out of 156 nations.

• Indicators:

• It measures scores on a 0 to 100 scale, which can be interpreted as the distance covered towards parity or the percentage of the gender gap that has been closed.
• India ranks 146 in health and survival, 143 in economic participation and opportunity, 107 in educational attainment and 48 in political empowerment.
• The report noted that India’s score of 0.629 was its seventh highest score in the past 16 years.
• India also “recovered”ground since 2021 in economic participation and opportunity, though the report goes on to add that the labour force participation shrunk for both men (by 9.5 percentage points) and women (3 percentage points).

India’s stand on different sub-indices:

• Political Empowerment: This includes metrics such as:
  • percentage of women in Parliament
  • percentage of women in ministerial positions etc
  • Of all the sub-indices, this is where India ranks the highest (48th out of 146)
  • Iceland is ranked 1 with a score of 0. 874 and Bangladesh is ranked 9 with a score of 0.546.
• Economic Participation and Opportunity: This includes metrics such as:
  • percentage of women who are part of the labour force
  • wage equality for similar work
  • earned income etc.
  • India ranks a lowly 143 out of the 146 countries in contention even though its score has improved over 2021 from 0.326 to 0.350.
  • India’s score is much lower than the global average, and only Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan are behind India on this metric.
• Educational Attainment: This sub-index includes metrics such as:
  • Literacy rate and the enrolment rates in primary
  • Secondary and tertiary education.
  • Here India ranks 107th out of 146, and its score has marginally worsened since last year. In 2021, India was ranked 114 out of 156.
• Health and Survival: This includes two metrics:
  • the sex ratio at birth (in %)
  • healthy life expectancy (in years).
  • India is ranked last (146) among all the countries.
  • Its score hasn’t changed from 2021 when it was ranked 155th out of 156 countries.

Insta Links:

World Economic Forum

Practice Questions:

Q. Public health system has limitations in providing universal health coverage. Do you think that the private sector could help in bridging the gap? What other viable alternatives would you suggest?(UPSC 2015)

Q. Which of the following reports is/are published by the World Economic Forum(WEF)?

1. Global Gender Gap report
2. Global Risk report
3. Energy transition Index
4. Global Hunger Index

Select the correct answer using the codes given below:

• 1, 2 and 3 only
• 2 and 3 only
• 1 and 4 only
• 1, 2, 3 and 4

Ans: (a)

Justification;

Refer to the above table

GS Paper 2

Syllabus: Structure, functioning and organization of judiciary, schemes and laws to protect vulnerable sections of society, JJ Act etc

Source: The Hindu

Context:

• The “delicate task” of deciding whether juveniles aged between 16 and 18, accused of heinous offences such as murder, can be tried like adults should be based on “meticulous psychological investigation” rather than be left to the discretion and perfunctory “wisdom” of juvenile justice boards and children’s courts across the country, the Supreme Court held in a judgment.
• The apex court’s judgment came while dismissing the appeals filed by the CBI and the relative of a Class 2 child who was allegedly found murdered in the washroom of his Gurugram school in 2017.
• The apex court upheld the High Court’s decision to reverse the assessment and refer the case back to the Juvenile Justice Board for a fresh ‘preliminary assessment’ of the new 21-year-old.

Background:

• Section 15 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act of 2015: It requires a “preliminary assessment” to be done of the mental and physical capacity of juveniles, aged between 16 and 18, who are involved in serious crimes.
  • The assessment is meant to gauge a child’s ability to understand the consequences of the offence and the circumstances in which he or she allegedly committed the offence.
• Opinion of Board: If the Juvenile Justice Board is of the opinion that the juvenile should not be treated as an adult, it wouldn’t pass on the case to the children’s court and hear the case itself.
• Juvenile care vs children court: In that case, if the child is found guilty, he would be sent to juvenile care for three years. On the other hand, if the Board decides to refer the case to the children’s court for trial as an adult, the juvenile, if guilty, would even face life imprisonment.

Guidelines by Supreme Court:

• The Board which conducts the assessment of the child should have at least one child psychologist.
• It should further take the assistance of experienced psychologists or psychosocial workers.

Insta Links:

Juvenile Justice Amendment Act 2021

Practice Questions:

Q. Examine the main provisions of the National Child Policy and throw light on the status of its implementation. ((UPSC 2016)

Q. The Juvenile Justice Amendment Act 2021 further empowered the District Magistrate. Critically analyze.

Q. Consider the following statements:

1. Juvenile justice board consists of a judicial Magistrate and two women as members.
2. Under Juvenile Justice Amendment Act 2021, Serious offences include offences for which the maximum punishment is imprisonment of more than seven years.

Which of the statements given above is/are not correct?

a. 1 only

b. 2 only

c. Both 1 and 2

d. Neither 1 nor 2

Ans: (a)

Justification:

• The JJB consists of a judicial magistrate of the first class and two social workers, at least one of whom should be a woman.
• Serious offences will include offences for which maximum punishment is imprisonment of more than seven years, and minimum punishment is not prescribed or is less than seven years.

GS Paper 3

Syllabus: General Science

Source: WHO

Context:

WHO has released its 1^st report on vaccines being developed to prevent infections caused by AMR bacteria.

• The report aims to guide investments and research into feasible vaccines to mitigate AMR.

AMR: Antimicrobial resistance occurs when microbes evolve mechanisms that protect them from the effects of antimicrobials drugs. This makes infections harder to treat.

• All classes of microbes can evolve resistance. Fungi evolve antifungal Viruses evolve antiviral resistance.

What does the report say?

• The silent pandemic of antimicrobial resistance is of major growing public health concern (resulting in the death of nearly 5mn people yearly)
• Vaccines are still effective against Pneumococcal disease (Streptococcus pneumonia), Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b) Tuberculosis (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) and Typhoid fever (Salmonella Typhi).
• Nee for more effective vaccine: Current Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccines against tuberculosis (TB) do not adequately protect against TB, therefore the development of more effective vaccines against TB should be accelerated

Recommendation by WHO:

• Equitable and global access to the vaccines that already exist
• Disruptive approaches are needed: The lessons from Covid 19 vaccine development and mRNA vaccines offer unique opportunities to explore for development of vaccines against bacteria
• Need to overcome challenges: Such as pathogens associated with hospital-acquired infections (HAI), difficulty in defining target population(s) among all admitted hospital patients; the cost and complexity of vaccine efficacy trials; and the lack of regulatory and/or policy precedent for vaccines against HAIs.
• Easier regulatory requirement: Vaccine development is expensive, and scientifically challenging, and is associated with high failure rates, and therefore, the need for support from the government and private sector.

Insta Links

The global toll of bacterial resistance to drugs

Practice Questions

Q. What is the importance of using \ Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccines in India? (UPSC 2020)

1. These vaccines are effective against pneumonia as well as meningitis and sepsis.
2. Dependence on antibiotics that are not effective against drug-resistant bacteria can be reduced.
3. These vaccines have no side effects and cause no allergic reactions.

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1 only

(b) 1 and 2 only

(c) 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer: b

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) can prevent pneumococcal disease. Pneumococcal disease refers to any illness caused by pneumococcal bacteria. These bacteria can cause many types of illnesses, including pneumonia, meningitis, sepsis etc., which is an infection of the lungs. There is a greater risk for children younger than 2 years and adults above 65 years.

Most people who get a pneumococcal vaccine do not have any serious problems with it. With any medicine, including vaccines, there is a chance of side effects. These are usually mild and go away on their own within a few days, but serious reactions are possible.

Q. Which of the following are the reasons for the occurrence of multi-drug resistance in microbial pathogens in India? (UPSC 2019)

1. Genetic predisposition of some people
2. Taking incorrect doses of antibiotics to cure diseases
3. Using antibiotics in livestock farming
4. Multiple chronic diseases in some people

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1 and 2

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 1, 3 and 4

(d) 2, 3 and 4

Answer: D

It is not the result of genetic predisposition

More women taking entrepreneur route: LinkedIn data – Women Empowerment

The share of female founders has grown by 2.68x between 2016 and 2021 as against the share of male founders, which has grown nearly 1.79x during the same period.

New LinkedIn data, published in the World Economic Forum’s 2022 Global Gender Gap Report, reveals despite India having a disproportionately low representation of women in leadership, more women are now seeking entrepreneurship opportunities as compared to men.

This highlights that women have the ability to break the glass ceiling phenomenon and if the given opportunity can achieve equal or even more than what men can do.

 Mizoram has the highest ratio of women working as legislators and managers

As per the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for July 2020-June 2021:

• 70.9% ratio of female-to-male workers who were working as legislators, senior officials and managers
• Nearly all the northeastern states, barring Nagaland, have strong double-digit representation in senior-level jobs,

The global average for the share of women parliamentarians stood at nearly 24 % (India has nearly 14% women parliamentarians in the 17th Lok Sabha)