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FROM 4.5 lakh cards a day, the government aims to achieve the target of issuing 10 lakh Ayushman Cards a day, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Sunday said at ArogyaManthan 2022, which marks the completion of four years of the insurance scheme and one year of the digital health mission.
More than 3.95 crore claims for over Rs 45,294 crore have been processed under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan ArogyaYojana (AB PM-JAY). Under the scheme, over 19 crore Ayushman cards have been issued and more than 28,000 hospitals – 45% of which are from private sector – have been empanelled, according to government data.
In just one year of the digital mission, more than 24 crore Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) numbers have been issued by the government.
ABHA is a 14-digit number to uniquely identify people in the country and create a digital health record for them. Under the mission, over 1.5 lakh health facilities and 80,000 healthcare professionals have also been registered.
At the inauguration of the two-day event, Mandaviya said, “Over 19 crore Ayushman Cards have been made in the country spanning its coverage in 33 states/UTs, and more than 24 crore ABHA numbers have been generated.
This reflects an important milestone in the digitization of health records in the country. The current rate of making 4.5 lakh cards per day will be increased to making 10 lakh Ayushman Cards every day. The government’s focus is to make health services reach the person at the end of the delivery chain, enabled by technology.”
A report on the PM-JAY showed that 46% of all hospital admissions were in the public sector and 54% in the private sector. Of the total admissions, 48% were women. Accounting for 27% of the total, the highest hospitalisations were recorded in the 45 to 59 age group.
The report also said that for the outbound calls made under the scheme to get feedback, 60% of the people reported the services to be good, 34% very good, with 5% reporting it to be satisfactory and 1% poor.
NITI Aayog Member (health) Dr V K Paul, in his address at the ArogyaManthan, posed five questions for consideration by the stakeholders – how to increase not just the numbers but quality of healthcare services; how to increase the reach of the services; how to cover the 40 crore people who are not yet covered under any scheme but can afford to pay something to the kitty for health assurance; how to ensure continuum of care between primary, secondary, and tertiary care centres, and adoption of the digital mission.
Union Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics and IT AshwiniVaishnaw said that every village in the country will be connected through high-speed optical fibre in the next few years, which will ensure connectivity and continuous health access to all.
The City
What lower rain in Delhi this year has meant for dragonflies, damselflies (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
A survey of dragonflies and damselflies at Delhi’s biodiversity parks indicates that low rainfall this year may have impacted their life cycles and numbers.
In a week-long survey that concluded on Sunday, a total of 25 species of dragonflies and damselflies were recorded across the biodiversity parks and the Kamla Nehru Ridge.
With rainfall having picked up towards the end of the week, the scientists noticed that the dragonflies began laying eggs again. Pictured here is a ditch jewel.
The Kamla Nehru Ridge recorded the maximum number of species – 25. The Yamuna Biodiversity Park recorded 23 species, a little less than the 25 species recorded in 2018.
In terms of the number of individuals recorded, the Kalindi Biodiversity Park recorded the highest number at 3,348, followed by the Aravalli Biodiversity Park where 555 individuals were counted.
The last such survey was conducted in 2018 at the Yamuna, Tilpath Valley and NeelaHauz Biodiversity Parks. The NeelaHauz biodiversity park also recorded a fewer number of species this year – just six – as compared to 2018, when nine species were counted.
Species that were recorded include the Scarlet Skimmer, Picture Wing dragonfly and the Granite Ghost. Dragonflies are an indicator of water quality in wetlands and water bodies. Pictured here is a pied paddy skimmer.
In addition to counting the number of species in the two main ecosystems of Delhi – the Aravallis and the Yamuna – the survey was also meant to determine whether the deficit in rainfall in Delhi this monsoon has had any impact on dragonflies and damselflies.
Since the temperature was high and rainfall was low, there was little water in the river and the floodplain wetlands are shrunken.
The nymph, which is one of the stages of the life cycle of the dragonfly, stays in the water for a long period of time and is a voracious feeder of mosquito larvae.
When the temperature is high and there’s less rainfall and less water, the nymph grows quickly into an adult. Since dragonflies have small life spans, they die quickly. That’s the scenario this time.”
“When the temperature is high and the metamorphosis is faster, the wing size also tends to reduce. And, when the wing size reduces, their dispersal can reduce drastically. Since their movement is reduced, their foraging – they feed on adult mosquitos – is also reduced.
Express Network
Conduct social audit of mid-day meal scheme by Nov 30: Centre to states, UTs (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, Welfare Schemes)
The centre has directed the states and Union Territories to carry out the social audit of the mid-day meal scheme in every district by November 30, with local authorities across the country running behind schedule in completing the task, which is mandatory under the National Food Security Act, 2013.
While many states have informed the Centre that the social audit exercise has been initiated in their jurisdictions but in many cases in the past, the final reports were never submitted to the Department of School Education and Literacy under the Ministry of Education.
For instance, the ministry told the Meghalaya government in February this year that it has not still not received the final audit report of the year 2019-20. In the case of Assam, the 2020-21 reports are awaited, which was conveyed to the state government in May.
Social audit of the scheme is important because it not only helps in detecting irregularities, including siphoning or diversion of funds, but also helps state and central authorities to get first-hand feedback from the local communities right at the gram sabha level.
Earlier this year, during the Centre’s meeting with the states where the annual budget and work plan were approved, it emerged that in at least nine states and four UTs, social audit for 2021-22 were not even initiated. Under the provisions of Section 28 of National Food Security Act, 2013 social audit of the scheme is mandatory.
During the PAB-PM POSHAN meetings also the states and UTs have been directed to conduct social audit in all schools covering all districts for the year 2021-22 and also advised to conduct social audit of the scheme in all the districts every year.
You are therefore requested to initiate action for conduct of social audit of PM POSHAN in all districts in your state/UT for the year 2021-22 on priority basis and as per MoE guidelines and conclude it with mandatory Public hearing by 30th November 2022,” the ministry communicated to the states and UTs on August 31.
States which reported not to have carried out social audits in 2021-22 include Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Telangana, Punjab, Odisha, Haryana, Chhattisgarh. In the UTs of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Puducherry, Ladakh and Lakshadweep, social audits have never been done, show records.
The Editorial Page
An unnatural quiet (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
Mission Smart Cities has a brand new dimension. These cities may soon be protest-mukt. Who wants their fingerprints, handwriting and even DNA samples to be taken, only for marching on the road against injustice? Rules have just been framed for the new Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act 2022 which allows policemen to record the biometrics of those arrested and even merely detained.
Those preventively arrested, or charged only for violating Section 144, which prohibits the assembly of five or more persons, are exempt, but only if they have no other offence registered against them.
That’s cold comfort. The police are no respecter of laws, let alone caveats. Even seven years after Section 66A of the IT Act (concerning “offensive’’ online posts) was struck down by the Supreme Court, the police continues arresting people under it. Secondly, seldom are protesters charged only with Section 144 violations.
The police’s treatment of peaceful protesters depends on the orders they get and their own prejudices. If they’ve been told to teach the protesters a lesson, or they themselves have little tolerance for the protesters, their behaviour may well provoke resistance, which is an offence in itself.
Under the new law, the police can store your biometrics till you are acquitted. But to get them deleted, you need an order from a magistrate. Given the pace at which our legal system works, once you’ve been acquitted, would you want to return to court?
Currently, images of Iranian women burning their headscarves on the streets, with men supporting them, are flooding our mobiles. Last week, thousands marched in Paris demanding the president’s resignation.
In June, thousands of Londoners protested against rising prices. Forget the advanced democracies of the West. In Pakistan, last week, thousands of tribesmen rallied in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for peace and an end to terrorism in the region.
Alas, such images are rare in India, although not for a lack of causes. Food and gas prices are at a record high; all through the rains, our metros have been flooded; potholes claim lives every day.
Yet, we aren’t out protesting. In recent years, one can only think of a few peaceful street protests in which thousands participated:
The protests against Dalit scholar RohithVemula’s suicide in 2016, the kisan long march in Maharashtra in 2018, the anti- CAA/NRC protests across cities in 2019-2020, and the farmers’ protests in Delhi in 2020-21. However, these were restricted to specific sections, even if others joined in for some time.
One reason for the lack of street protests is that the streets are no longer available. Till the 1990s, peaceful morchas of students, teachers, and even journalists, would snake their way across main roads.
Idea Page
A recipe for reform (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2/3, Governance/Internal Security)
Sixteen years ago, on September 22, 2006, the Supreme Court gave a landmark judgment on police reforms. It raised great expectations. It was generally felt that a new era would begin for the police; that it would become accountable and people-friendly, and that it would give primacy to upholding the rule of law.
The police fraternity has since been observing September 22 as Police Reforms Day. There has been some half-hearted compliance with the judicial directions but generally, the states have shown — as Justice Thomas Committee recorded — “indifference to the issue of police reforms”.
Shall we, therefore, give it up as a lost case in the face of political opposition and administrative stone-walling? The stakes are too high. I would like to give 10 reasons why the country must push for police reforms.
One, the Prime Minister, in his Independence Day speech, gave a clarion call for erasing all the vestiges of colonialism. The Police Act of 1861, which governs substantially the functioning of police even today, is a symbol of colonial rule. It was promulgated to have a police that would be “politically useful” — one which would ensure the dominance of the imperial masters over a subject people.
Significantly, the British devised a system of different policing for themselves, where police officers, according to Lord Denning, were “answerable to the law and the law alone”.
But, for Indians, they followed the Irish model, which enabled the executive to have complete authority over the police. Unfortunately, the system has not been changed even seven decades after Independence.
Two, we have one of the fastest growing economies in the world. We are proud of it. However, what most people do not realise is that this progress would have been even faster if the country did not have such serious challenges to its internal security, which sapped the economy of the country.
According to the Institute for Economics and Peace, violence cost the country 7 per cent of its GDP in 2020. Economic development depends on sound law and order and we can have good law and order only if we have professional police.
Three, we are proud of our democracy. However, it has been vitiated by the infiltration of persons of questionable background.
According to the Association of Democratic Reforms, the percentage of such people in Parliament has been showing a steady upward trend. It was 24 per cent in 2004, 30 per cent in 2009, 34 per cent in 2014 and 43 per cent in the last election held in 2019. The trend is disturbing.
The police, under the circumstances, feel hamstrung in taking action against this segment of people and their supporters who have a shady background and who may one day devour the very system that has placed them in power.
Rupee will bounce back strongly (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The latest interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve and by the Swiss Central Bank (ending the era of negative interest rates in Europe) demonstrates the new-found resolve of central banks in developed economies to bring inflation under control.
The US Fed was late in picking up on the signs of rising inflation, and its non-temporary nature. But adherence to faster and sharper rate hikes might absolve it of the acts of omission for the time being.
The Fed dot plot now shows that rates may continue to rise in 2022 and even in 2023, touching 5 per cent. This is a worrying number for global markets.
The fact that major central banks — the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan — have lagged the US expectations on the pace of rate hikes has exacerbated the situation, spurring the Dollar index to its 20 years highs, and beyond.
This is one of the few times when currencies of developed economies are witnessing more weakness than those of emerging market economies.
The Euro, having broken parity, is trading at a two decade low and could well inch towards its all-time low of 0.8231 seen in October 2000.
Another major currency, the Yen, is below its low of 1998, prompting the Bank of Japan to intervene in the markets on Thursday for the first time since June 1998 to protect the crucial level of 145.
The Pound could see further weakness as a chequered political landscape and adverse climatic conditions push it to its 1985 lows of 1.05 against the dollar.
For currencies of emerging market economies, the fall during the turmoil has been less wild, a reversal of the trend observed during the taper tantrum.
This “relative” performance by emerging economies like India is often ignored by puritans while assigning an abstract value to the depreciation of currency.
Against this volatile background, the fall of the rupee past 80 against the US dollar was inevitable. Till now the RBI had been protecting the currency from crossing this psychological benchmark and keeping the volatility under control.
However, after the recent hike by the US Fed, and the dot plot indicating the possibility of a terminal rate of around 5 per cent, the rupee has depreciated, crossing the 80 mark.
No central bank can prevent a currency depreciation at this juncture. In this environment, the RBI might allow the rupee to depreciate, though only for this period. The currency looks still overvalued when weighed against the real effective exchange rate and the nominal effective exchange rate.
Express Network
Axes, scrapers, handmade tiles — latest finds in excavation near Chennai (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 1, History)
Hand axes, scrapers, cleavers and choppers as old as 12,000 years to rouletted ware (from the Sangam era – 2,000 years ago), Roman amphora sherds and glass beads indicating active trade with Rome were some of the artefacts found by the most recent Archeological Survey of India (ASI) excavation near Chennai.
While scholars see it as a crucial chapter in bridging the gap in Tamil history, ASI officials said it was significant as they had discovered some Sangam age artefacts from NathamMedu too, 40 km north west of Chennai city.
K Rajan, a professor at Puducherry Central University, said the most recent discoveries at NathamMedu are significant for the Mesolithic artefacts found.
We previously discovered significant Mesolithic material at Pattinapakkam, a coastal town south of Chennai. Every stone artefact from stone age reveals a culture before it developed into a civilisation. So, these are significant in weaving the history, bridging the history.
M Kalimuthu, supervising archaeologist of ASI in Chennai, said they have started searching for agencies to send discoveries for carbon dating studies, suggesting that NathamMedu was likely a place where stone tools were produced for hunting.
The majority of these stone shards were discovered 75 cm below the surface. In the same area, a 10m by 10m pit had artefacts and rouletted ceramics from the Sangam age, Roman amphora sherds, and glass beads shows ongoing trade with Rome from that period. According to Kalimuthu, the sculptures date from the Pallava era (275 CE) to the late Pallavas on the surface (897 CE).
The archeological site at GuruvanMedu, also known as NathamMedu, near Vadakkupattu village, was originally discovered in 1922. There are around 200 potential sites in Tamil Nadu that are used by students and universities for their small-scale excavations.
There were multiple factors, including reports and observations from experts, that made us go deeper into the GuruvanMedu site. The excavation started in July 2022 and we will stop it in a few days only to resume it next year after monsoon.
According to him, the chiselled stone tools indicating the Mesolithic civilization found at a depth of 75 cm were the key findings about a culture.
He said they were also surprised to find floor tiles from the area they excavated from the same spot. “They were similar to roof tiles we found from Keeladi. They were handmade, like in Keeladi, but with different features and styles,” Kalimuthu said.
One of the major archaeological findings from Tamil Nadu in the recent past were in September 2019, indicating that Keeladi, near Madurai, was an urban settlement of Sangam Age on the banks of River Vaigai.
The findings, part of a report, had also pushed the history of literacy in south India to at least 2,600 years ago, reducing the gap between the Sangam era or Tamilagam (South India), and the Indus Valley Civilisation (1,500 BCE). Earlier, it was the 3rd century BCE.
Explained Page
Limits of free monetary policy (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
When, in May 2016, India adopted inflation targeting as a policy goal enshrined in law, it also embraced the idea of central bank “independence with accountability”.
Under the new statutory framework, the central government would, in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), set an inflation target based on the consumer price index (CPI) once every five years. The RBI was entrusted with the responsibility of meeting this target (“accountability”), for which it would be given “independence” in the conduct of monetary policy.
But in the situation that the economy today is in, the RBI is struggling to be accountable and, at the same time, having to increasingly depend on the government for fulfilling its mandate.
The Centre, under section 45ZA of the RBI Act, 1934, has fixed the CPI inflation target at 4% with an “upper tolerance limit” of 6%.
However, actual year-on-year inflation in 2022 has ruled above 6% every single month from January to August. If it does so in September as well, the RBI, under section 45ZN of the same law, will have to submit a report to the Centre on “the reasons for failure to achieve the inflation target” and “remedial actions proposed to be taken by the Bank”.
In this case, “failure” is defined as inflation being more than the upper tolerance level of the target “for any three consecutive quarters”.
During the Narendra Modi government’s first term, roughly from April 2014 to March 2019 (Modi 1.0), CPI inflation was above 6% only in 6 out of 60 months. Moreover, 5 of those 6 months were in 2014, well before the RBI Act was amended to provide a statutory basis for inflation targeting.
Overshooting of the inflation target has been more during the Modi government’s second term (Modi 2.0). In the 41 months from April 2019, inflation has exceeded 6% in as many as 21.
In other words, a failure rate of over 50%, as against 10% during Modi 1.0. Also, average CPI inflation was 4.5% during Modi 1.0, whereas it has been 5.7% so far in Modi 2.0.
But in the situation that the economy today is in, the RBI is struggling to be accountable and, at the same time, having to increasingly depend on the government for fulfilling its mandate.
There’s a simple reason for the RBI’s “failure” to adhere to its inflation-targeting mandate. It has to do with food and beverage items, which have a combined 45.86% weight in the overall CPI.
The accompanying charts show year-on-year increases in the general CPI as well as the consumer food price index (CFPI), both during Modi 1.0 and Modi 2.0.
Sport
Why WADA continues to put cannabis in banned drug list (Page no. 19)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
In September last year, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said it was reviewing the status of cannabis, which is prohibited in competition.
This followed the positive test of USA’s sprinting star Sha’Carri Richardson during the US Olympic Track and Field trials in June. She was banned and missed the Olympics. However, on Thursday WADA said the recreational drug would remain on its list.
Cannabis is sourced from the cannabis sativa plant. There are over 500 chemical substances in the plant but the one on Wada’s prohibited list is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
THC gives users of marijuana the high. So, cannabis in Wada’s books is marijuana, the chemical in which is THC.
Cannabis is banned only in-competition. This means that an athlete faces a risk of getting banned only for a positive test from a sample collected during a competition. For example, an athlete can smoke marijuana in the off-season and test positive but is unlikely to be banned.
From 2021 onwards, a positive test for cannabis can result in as short a ban as one month, according to Wada. For a reduced ban; down from two to four years earlier, athletes must prove that the use of cannabis was before entering a competition, which means the athlete did not intend to experience its effects while competing. Under the Wada code, cannabis is defined as a ‘substance of abuse’.
Wada says the current limit of 150 nanograms per millilitre in urine will be found in athletes who are frequent users and are impaired because of the effects of cannabis. The threshold limit in 2013 was just 15 ng/ml.
Cannabis is known to delay fatigue, mask pain and improve concentration but at the same time can increase heart beat which is not good, says Dr PSM Chandran, the former director (sports science) of the Sports Authority of India.
Dr Chandran, who has been part of anti-doping panels, said, “Cannabis, like all drugs, has its pros and cons but it is still unclear if it can help an athlete. There are studies which show it can reduce motor movement.”
Evidence of an increasing number of runners using cannabis during training was documented in the book Runners’ High by Josiah Hesse.
A research paper titled ‘Cannabis in sport, anti-doping perspective’ says there are benefits for athletes such as ‘improved oxygenation to tissues, improvement of vision for goalkeepers, and muscle relaxation’.
Cannabis can also reduce anxiety, fear, and tension, the paper says. “Athletes under the influence of cannabis indicate that their thoughts flow more easily and their decision making and creativity is enhanced; others claim that cannabis improves their concentration or reduces pain.