UPSC: UT – HISTORY AND POLITY

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCNr2bBw8MM&t=4s

Under Article 1 of the Constitution, the territory of India comprises three categories of territories: (a) territories of the state; (b) union territories; and (c) territories that may be acquired by the GoI.

States – Proper distribution of power

1.       Features of Administrative Setup:

1.       Direct control and administration of the central government.

2.       Departure from federalism in India/Relationship with Centre is unitary

3.       They do not have autonomy

4.       No uniformity in their administrative set-up

                                                               i.      Puducherry in 1963 and Delhi in 1992 were provided with legislative assembly

                                                             ii.      Rest 5 don’t have this

5.       Their executive head is known by various designations – administrator or LG or CC (as specified by the President)

6.       President can appoint of Governor of adjacent State as administrator of UT.

7.       Administrator is the agent of the President

8.       Parliament can make laws on any subject of the three lists in relation to the UT

2.       History

1.       ‘Scheduled Districts’ in 1874 à ‘Chief Commissioners Provinces’

2.       Independent India: Original Constitution states were classified into four categories, namely, Part A, B, C and D states.

3.       Placed under Part C&D states

4.       1956 à Constituted as ‘Union Territories by the 7^th CAA 1956 and the States Reorganization Act 1956.

5.       UTs that have been upgraded to States: (HMT-AGM)

                                                               i.      Himachal Pradesh

                                                             ii.      Manipur

                                                            iii.      Tripura

                                                           iv.      Mizoram

                                                             v.      Arunachal Pradesh

                                                           vi.      Goa (Portuguese)

3.       7 Union Territories:

1.       Andaman Nicobar – 1956

2.       Delhi – 1956

3.       Lakshwadweep – 1956

4.       Dadra Nagar Haveli – 1961 (Portuguese)

5.       Daman Diu – 1962 (Portuguese)

6.       Pududcherry – 1962 (French)

7.       Chandigarh – 1973

4.        UTs created for a variety of reason

1.       Political & Administrative Consideration – Delhi & Chandigarh

2.       Cultural Distinctiveness – Puducherry, Dadrra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman Diu

3.       Strategic Importance – Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep

4.       Special treatment and care of the backward and tribal people – Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura (MAMT)

5.       Powers of President vis a vis Administration of UT

1.       Make regulations for Peace, progress and good government of Andaman Nicobar, Lakshadweep, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman Diu

2.       Puducherry – Legislate by making regulations when Assembly is suspended or dissolved

3.       Establish High Court for UT or put it under jurisdiction of another HC

6.       Articles – 239, 239A, 239 AA, 239 AB, 239 B, 240, 241, 242

UPSC GK: How to protect Delhi from Desertification? (ECOLOGY)

For five days last week, a thick layer of dust hung over Delhi, keeping the air quality ‘severe’, the worst category in the pollution index. It seemed odd because it happened in the peak summer, which is generally considered the off-season for air pollution in Delhi.

But despite air pollution being more visible in the winter, the capital’s air is almost as toxic in the summer. A 2015 IIT Kanpur study found the summer average for PM10 to be over 500 µg/m — five times the national average. About 40% of PM10 particles — with diameter less than 10 micron — was dust. While the major air pollution threat in Delhi is from the tiny PM2.5 particles that get embedded in the lungs, during the summer, PM10 is the primary pollutant.

Last week’s phenomenon was triggered by a dust storm that began over Rajasthan and was carried by strong westerly winds, the IMD said. The dusty blanket that spread itself over Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh was kept close to the surface by the anticyclonic flow of winds that swirl clockwise in the northern hemisphere, pushing the local air down and preventing outside air from entering the region.

Besides soil, sand and rock particles, windblown dust also contains “re-suspended” dust kicked up by vehicles, digging or construction. The dust hosts toxic materials, including, an IIT Delhi study of the capital’s air found this year, heavy metals such as lead, chromium and nickel.

So was the dust haze a one-off, resulting from the desert storm? The ongoing desertification around Delhi, the uncontrolled urban development, and climate change could make such incidents more common, experts say.

“Delhi’s summer aandhis, like Kolkata’s kaalbaisakhis, are localised events. What we saw this time was different in scale and impact. All of North India was enveloped, and this is something we need to prepare for in the future,” Anumita Roychowdhury of the Centre for Science and Environment said.

Desertification is the process of relatively dry land becoming increasingly arid due to factors ranging from loss of vegetation and overexploitation of soil to climate change. In April, Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan put the rate of desertification in India at 23 hectares of dryland per minute. Nearly 70% of India’s area was dryland, he said, a third of which was affected by degradation and a quarter by desertification. Rajasthan and Delhi were among the worst affected.

What this means is that in the absence of a longterm action plan to stop or reverse the process, we will see more dust. A senior official in the Delhi Environment Ministry said, “These climatic conditions can’t any longer be seen in isolation, we need to start preparing for this to become the new normal.”

The word ‘desertification’ was coined in 1927 by the French colonial forester Louis Lavauden. One of the first to make the connection between desertification and human action was E P Stebbing, a British forester who worked for long in India. In 1935, Stebbing wrote that “misutilisation of soils” and “overutilisation of the vegetable covering of the soil” results in “reduction of water supplies” and “lowering of water table in the soil”.

Today, Australia and several countries in sub-Saharan Africa and West Asia carry out dustfall monitoring (measuring dust deposits in the air) alongside ambient air monitoring, and use the data to plan mitigation processes. The African Union-led “Great Green Wall for the Sahara and Sahel Initiative” aims to create a mosaic of trees stretching 6,500 km across North Africa, Sahel and the Horn. In Australia, where air quality standards for dust are tougher than in Europe, US and UK, vegetation buffers are positioned between residential areas and industrial areas or roads.

Delhi has historically had a barrier of trees in the form of the Delhi Ridge and the linked Aravalli range. But a survey by the Wildlife Institute of India in 2017 found 12 vegetative gaps in southern Haryana, increasing the probability of desertification. From 1999-2012, the forest cover in Haryana, UP and Rajasthan declined from 4.3% to 3.3%, found the National Capital Region Planning Board.

“We need to rethink our urban design. Greening has to be done intelligently. Roads need to be designed with tree cover. The Aravalli and the Ridge need to be protected. This in turn will protect the water table and benefit the city throughout the year,” Roychowdhury said.

Credit: Indian Express Explained (https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/why-delhi-dust-haze-may-be-here-to-stay-5224935/)  

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UPSC GK: How to deal with ecological problems posed by Vilayati Kikar? (ECOLOGY)

For decades now, tree lovers and environmentalists across the country have been campaigning against a tree species. The vilayati kikar, Prosopis juliflora, allows no other species to thrive. The Delhi government recently gave its nod to clearing the Central Ridge of the non-native tree in the hope that the area’s original flora — which are called the lungs of the city — as well as fauna can be restored.

Vilayati kikar and its weedlike properties — fast growth in arid conditions, killing any competition and water-table depletion —have been documented by several scientists and activists in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, as well as Tamil Nadu, where it is called karuvelam and is used as firewood. The Madras High Court, in 2016, passed an interim order clearing removal of these trees as they were depleting the water table in areas already struggling for water. In 2017, the court started monitoring the removal of the kikar.

Delhi’s fight against the tree gained ground in the 1990s with court cases, representations to government, and research papers. The transformation of the Yamuna Biodiversity Park in Wazirabad, however, is what gave the forest department faith that the plan could work.

According to C R Babu, who heads the Centre for Environmental Management of Degraded Ecosystems (CEMDE), the organisation that will conduct the first phase of the removal over 100 acres between Dhaula Kuan and Chanakyapuri, the tree was brought to Delhi by the British in the early 1930s. By the end of the decade, it had taken over the Ridge completely, killing the native acacia, dhak, kadamb, amaltas, flame-of-the-forest etc. Along with the trees disappeared the fauna — birds, butterflies, leopards, porcupines and jackals.

The removal

Cutting down vilayati kikar and waiting for the other plants to grow is a counterproductive move for two reasons. First, the tree can regenerate from the root; second, leaving the Ridge barren and waiting for native species to grow will leave the city with barely any green cover, and invite encroachers.

In a plan made for Delhi but one that could well be replicated elsewhere, CEMDE has taken the stumbling blocks into account.

“The first step is to cut the trees’ branches and reduce the foliage cover so that sunlight can reach the ground. This cuts the tree’s capability to produce food and it starts to wither. Alongside, it gives enough sunlight and water to saplings,” Babu said.

Another method being used to expedite the process is planting parasitic, but native, vines that will cut the access of vilayati kikar to sunlight while taking away nutrients.

“The vines are native to Delhi. They quickly spread across the foliage and cut off the tree’s access to light, slowly killing it,” a senior forest department official said.

The replacement

Replacing the vilayati kikar, a crucial part of the project, will have to be a scientific exercise to make sure Delhi gets the Ridge of the early 1900s. “We have identified 30 tree communities such as butea, Sterculia, and Acacia and others that are all native to India. Some of these have a canopy that is three storeys tall and will dwarf any remaining kikars when full-grown. We will plant the saplings when they are 3 to 6 feet tall to give them a good chance of survival,” Babu said.

Sourcing the saplings is another challenge. Since many of these species have been eradicated from the wild in Delhi, the city is looking to communities in Haryana and Gujarat for help. “Once the trees reach fruit-bearing age, propagation will be unassisted,” Babu said.

The precedent

A reassurance is the similar model that has yielded results already, although on a smaller scale. Work started on developing the Yamuna Biodiversity Park in Wazirabad in 2002. Spread over 457 acres, the park is home to native tree, shrub, and creeper species, and houses several small water-bodies and boasts a healthy water table. Its most famous visitor, perhaps, was a young leopard that was spotted in November 2016.

For the scientists who run the park, it was a sign that what they had set out to do was being achieved. The leopard stayed for close to a month. Leopards only stay in an area for long if they find a suitable habitat — enough prey, water resources and some anonymity.

While the leopard was shifted out, the biodiversity remains — something CEMDE hopes can be replicated on the Ridge.

Credit: Indian Express Explained (http://indianexpress.com/article/explained/delhi-government-vilayati-kikar-removal-order-environmental-impact-5194797/)

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Delhi Chief Secretary Case - The Hindu (22.02.18)

(Latest Op-Ed First; Verbatim Compilation of The Hindu Op-Ed)

Power games: on AAP's relationship with the bureaucracy in Delhi (22.02.18)

The Delhi government under Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has had a history of conflict and confrontation with the police and the bureaucracy. But even Mr. Kejriwal’s worst detractors would have found it hard to imagine that his Aam Aadmi Party MLAs would be accused of assaulting the Chief Secretary in his presence. The shocking incident, which is said to have occurred when Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash was summoned to Mr. Kejriwal’s residence at midnight, has led to the arrest of one AAP MLA and a display of solidarity within the bureaucracy, which has refused to attend any meeting called by the CM until he apologises and takes action against the MLAs. Versions of what transpired radically differ, including the reason why Mr. Prakash was called late in the night. While the AAP has described Mr. Prakash’s charge as ludicrous, the implication that it was a product of his fevered imagination and part of a larger political conspiracy has convinced few in the bureaucracy. The timing of the meeting and the presence of a large number of MLAs at the residence give rise to the suspicion that it may have been called to intimidate the Chief Secretary. It is well known that Mr. Kejriwal’s discomfiture with the bureaucracy is a result of having to deal with officers who report directly to the Lt. Governor, who is not bound to act on the aid and advice of his council of ministers. To feel that this is a restrictive administrative environment and seek greater powers for Delhi under the Constitution is one thing. But until Delhi is a full State, Mr. Kejriwal and his party would do well to understand that they have to work within the existing institutional arrangement.

Mr. Kejriwal may have good reason to believe that the BJP, the AAP’s main rival, is attempting to stymie its attempts to govern Delhi effectively. The AAP has for long complained that the Centre is paralysing its executive functions through the Lt. Governor and that the bureaucracy is refusing to obey government orders. But the proper response to this is to keep pushing for the constitutional changes that will give Delhi full statehood rather than targeting police officers and civil servants. In the three years it has been in power in Delhi, the AAP government has positives to show in terms of governance, including ushering in greater accountability and transparency in its welfare programmes. In the long run, the party’s political future will depend more on how it governs Delhi and less on how aggressively it protests about its lack of administrative power. Both the Centre and the Delhi government must work together to see that the administration is not brought to a halt in the Union Territory. While the Centre should refrain from politically exploiting the issue, the AAP government must take a step back and assure the bureaucracy it will let officials work without fear of intimidation.

(All of the above articles have been taken straight from The Hindu. We owe it all to them. This is just an effort to consolidate opinions expressed in The Hindu in a subject-wise manner.)

Menace of Dengue & Chikungunya: What India needs to do?

Menace of Dengue & Chikungunya: What India needs to do?

UPSC GENERAL STUDIES PAPER II: ISSUES RELATED TO HEALTH

Table of Content:

India’s Goal vis a vis Vector Borne Diseases

Numbers tell the story

• Health Expenditure to GDP ratio
• State’s Share of Health Expenditure
• OOP Expenditure

Reason why India’s Health Infrastructure is in news recently

Causes of rampant spread of infections such as dengue, chikungunya, H1N1, malaria, TB

Consequences of falling ill

• Medical Consequences
• Social Consequences
• Economic Consequences
• Global Consequences

Measures taken at Present

• Fumigation
• Door-to-Door Inspection

Measures that must be taken

• Individual Level
• Local Government Level
• State/National Level

Conclusion

Associated Development

Bibliography

India’s Goal vis a vis Vector Borne Diseases: 

Eliminating malaria by 2030, and curb other vector-borne diseases, there has to be sustained effort and political will. Let us see where we stand today…

Numbers tell the story:

Health Expenditure to GDP ratio

·         9.94%: Total Healthcare Expenditure as a proportion of GDP (World as a whole)

·         4.7%: Total Healthcare Expenditure as a proportion of GDP (India)

HALF!!

State’s Share of Health Expenditure

·         61%: Average for State’s Share (World as a Whole)

·         30%: Indian State’s share of healthcare expenditure in India

HALF!!

Proportion of healthcare expenditure borne out of pocket as opposed to some pooling mechanism (insurance or public healthcare)

·         18.2%: World average

·         62.4%: India

GREATER THAN 3X!!

The above stats translate into an oft-repeated stat: Indian government spends 1.4% of GDP on health.

Reason why India’s Health Infrastructure is in news recently:

15.09.16: Deadly outbreak of dengue and chikungunya in Delhi

Delhi has also been struck by a mystery fever, symptomatically like dengue and chikungunya, but testing negative for these mosquito-borne diseases.

Causes of rampant spread of infections such as dengue, chikungunya, H1N1, malaria, TB:

·         Inadequacy of prevention measures

·         Inadequacy of primary health centers in dealing with local level outbreak of diseases.

·         Increasing travel and migration between states has led to diseases that were endemic to some states causing outbreaks across India. In 2010, West Bengal had close to half of India’s more than 48,000 chikungunya infections, and in 2015, an outbreak in Karnataka accounted for more than two thirds of India’s more than 27,000 infections. This year, the mosquito-borne infection crossed several state boundaries to affect several hundred people in Delhi, where only six cases — all in travellers from affected states — were reported in 2012.

Consequences of falling ill:

Medical Consequences: The chronic outbreak of diseases and improper cure, is causing many of the diseases to become increasingly drug resistant – therefore more difficult to cure and thus more debilitating.

Social Consequences:

Increased vulnerability of family/group of families: With disease come attached disabilities such as helplessness, desperation which puts pressure on social standing of the ill.

Economic Consequences:

Chronic Poverty: One health emergency is all it takes to push a family that has pulled itself out of poverty back into the abyss.

Loss of Productivity: A chikungunya patient takes days, even weeks, to recover. Dengue is similarly debilitating. There have been reports of an exodus of workers from Delhi. This has brought construction work at many sites to a grinding halt.

Limits India’s future prospects: India cannot become a knowledge economy or a global power with its current quality of healthcare.

Global Consequences:

Loss of repute: Tags such as disease capital etc. are attached to Indian cities; naturally this becomes an impediment in the flow of human talent.

Unflattering comparisons: The irony is that India, with its focus on rapid economic growth and prosperity, is nowhere near victory in the battle against productivity-sapping infections spread by mosquitoes and other insects, while a nimble neighbour like Sri Lanka could declare itself malaria-free.

Measures taken at Present

Fumigation: Fumigation, the standard practice for dengue prevention, is harmful for asthma patients and pregnant women and does not stop mosquito breeding. It only kills the adult mosquito. Worse, the municipal officials say they know that fogging is ineffective but still continue with it on popular demand.

Door-to-Door Inspection: Most residents resist inspection and complain of harassment when they are fined Rs. 500. It seems to suit everybody that fewer households have been checked for mosquito breeding this year.

Measures that must be taken:

Individual Level: Must focus on personal and community level hygiene and healthy living habits.

Increase Civic Consciousness: India contributes 60 per cent of the world’s open defecation with just 17 per cent of its people. Civic consciousness on above such other issues as not allowing mosquitoes to breed is a must.

• It is cheaper to kill mosquitoes at the larvae stage. Aedes does not breed in dirty drains. It needs clear water. Due to stagnant water in desert coolers, overhead tanks, Feng Shui plants and water collecting from condensers of ACs and refrigerators, half of those infected are bitten in their own homes.
• Encourage door-to-door inspection
• Resident Welfare Associations/Rotary Clubs and such local citizen bodies must become active on these fronts

Local Government Level: Must focus on preventive public health measures

Effective use of existing funds and further deployment if necessary

•  Fill up vacancies
• Ensure accountability
• Hire more if necessary

Providing Clean Drinking Water

Timely and Efficient Disposal of Sewage and Solid Waste

Hold Primary Health Centers Accountable: Not just the public one for providing service, but also the private ones for not duping by admitting anyone with just a high fever!

State/National Level

Ensure robust data collection mechanism at the ground level: Important not just to assess the magnitude of the problem but also for deployment of adequate resources.

• A 2014 study by researchers from Brandeis University, USA, Centre for Research in Medical Entomology, Madurai, Delhi-based National Institute of Health and Family Welfare (NIHFW) and the INCLEN Trust International concluded that the burden of dengue in India was the heaviest in the world. For every single officially reported dengue case at the national level, 282 went unreported in official records.

• Donald Shepard who led the 2014 study told The Economist that India must start publishing official data of both confirmed and suspected cases of dengue, a practice followed in many countries including the US.

(Note: Citizens can be involved; e-governance and ICT can be deployed; ASHA like personnel deployed to do a census)

Increase the expenditure on preventive and curative healthcare at the Primary Level: Since there is no vaccine for dengue, only early detection and good medical care can lower the damage and fatalities. World Bank estimates say that one dollar used in preventive measures saves nine in treatment.

Prepaid, pooled expenditure must be the norm in health spending: This does not mean blindly spreading health insurance. Healthcare outfits that take charge of the well-being of an assigned set of people and use a network of general practitioners and secondary and tertiary hospitals in return for a premium per person works better than hospitals and insurance that have misaligned incentives on costs.

Raise the number of Healthcare Professionals at the primary level: It is the super-specialist doctor who lays claim to fame, but it is the primary healthcare professional who saves lives in hundreds and thousands.

Learn from Sri Lankan Experience

• Integration of different approaches.
• Focusing on mosquito control in irrigation and agriculture
• Introducing new classes of insecticides for residual spraying within houses
• Scaling up distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets
• Mobile centres for access to diagnostics and treatment to halt disease transmission.

Conclusion

Quality care is a must and if policy-makers have the will, India has the skill and resources to provide it. India attracts medical tourism for its high-quality, low-cost advanced care, and has emerged as the global pharmacy for inexpensive drugs and vaccines. Yet India’s low public outlay so far makes it impossible for the public sector to respond to the growing health needs of the population. What is needed now is transformational initiatives in health financing, public–private mix in service delivery, and strengthening primary care to take health to people’s doorsteps to lower inequities.

Associated Developments:

• The health ministry has rejected the French drug and vaccine company Sanofi’s request to waive additional clinical studies required to introduce the dengue vaccine, Dengvaxia, in the country. (THIS CAN CONSTITUTE AN ETHICAL DILEMMA - PAPER IV ETHICS)
• In 2013, the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biology (ICGEB) in Delhi reported success in its attempt to develop a dengue vaccine. The endeavour was lauded in the international press but of late, scientists have been complaining that a fund crunch has stymied their efforts to fast-track the project.

Bibliography

1. 13.09.16: Upgrade health centres to fight new challenges

http://www.hindustantimes.com/editorials/upgrade-health-centres-to-fight-new-challenges/story-0Q4YsIA7FPUsiYpirM6u7L.html 

2. 14.09.16: To stop future outbreak of diseases, equip the public health sector

http://www.hindustantimes.com/editorials/to-stop-future-outbreaks-of-diseases-equip-the-public-health-sector/story-Ctpz0c1LewKVK2e5NUFE6L.html 

3. 15.09.16: Sapping India's Vitality

http://m.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-on-rising-dengue-and-chikungunya-cases-in-delhi/article9108122.ece 

4. 15.09.16: Cease and Disease

http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/chikungunya-dengue-deaths-delhi-aap-government-symptoms-sanitation-3031464/ 

5. 15.09.16: To fight dengue, we must come out of denial

http://www.hindustantimes.com/columns/to-fight-dengue-we-must-come-out-of-denial/story-he4rrs48oEeE25gvc8ArnM.html 

6. 15.09.16: Disease in capital underlying India's poor health

http://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/et-editorials/disease-in-capital-underlying-indias-poor-health/