Insights Daily Current Affairs + PIB Summary – 02, December 2019
Table of contents:
GS Paper 2:
- Inner Line Permit (ILP).
- Australia’s points-based visa policy.
- INSTEX – Instrument In Support Of Trade Exchanges.
GS Paper 3:
- Antibiotic resistance.
Facts for prelims:
- Jnanpith Award.
- Kulasekarapattinam in Tamil Nadu.
- Operation ‘Clean Art’.
GS Paper 2
Topics Covered:
Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections
Inner Line Permit (ILP)
- What to study?
- For Prelims: Features of ILP system.
- For Mains: Concerns and implications of Citizenship Bill, ways to address these concerns.
Context: Union Home Minister Amit Shah has assured the civil society groups that the Citizenship Bill would provide protection to such regions and states where the Inner Line Permit (ILP) is applicable, and autonomous administration has been granted under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
What’s the issue?
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill aims to make it easier for non-Muslim refugees from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan to obtain Indian citizenship.
- If it is implemented with provisions for excluding from its ambit the states under the ILP regime, it means that beneficiaries under CAB will become Indian citizens but will not be able to settle in these three states.
- As a matter of fact, the same restriction applies to existing Indian citizens.
Now, on these lines, even Assam, Tripura and Meghalaya are demanding the implementation of ILP system.
What is an ILP?
Simply put, an Inner Line Permit is a document that allows an Indian citizen to visit or stay in a state that is protected under the ILP system.
The ILP is obligatory for all those who reside outside the protected states.
- Currently, the Inner Line Permit is operational in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland.
- It can be issued for travel purposes solely.
- An ILP is issued by the state government concerned.
Origin of ILP:
ILP’s origin dates back to the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulations, 1873- It prohibited “British subjects” or Indians from entering into these protected areas.
After Independence, in 1950, the word “British subjects” was replaced by Citizens of India and the focus of the ban on free movement was explained as a bid to protect tribal cultures in northeastern India.
Sources: the Hindu.
Topics Covered:
Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora.
Australia’s points-based visa policy
- What to study?
- For Prelims: Features of the points- based visa policy.
- For Mains: Advantages and disadvantages.
Context: In what is seen as an effort to block entry to unskilled people, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has promised to introduce an Australian style points-based visa policy from January 1, 2021.
What’s a points-based policy? How it works?
Generally, for visas that are points-tested, points may be given for different categories ranging from age to proficiency in English and amount of work experience. To be granted such visas, the individual’s score must reach a cutoff fixed by the authorities.
For workers with an “eligible skilled occupation” there are 10 categories of visas available. Applications are tested with points awarded in various categories. One of these is “Skilled Independent Visa”.
- A migrant with this visa can live and work permanently anywhere in Australia, study in Australia, sponsor eligible relatives for permanent residence and if eligible, enrol in Australia’s health-care system and subject to eligibility, also become an Australian citizen.
Some of the skilled jobs that come under the ambit of the skilled migration program include: accountant, actor, aeronautical engineer, advertising manager, air conditioning and mechanical services plumber, author, baker, swimming coach, urologist and vegetable grower.
What are the advantages of points systems?
The ability to qualify without an employer sponsor- workers entering under the Australian points system are less dependent on their employers and do not need permission to switch between jobs as they do in the UK; as a result, they are expected to have more bargaining power and to operate in a more competitive labour market.
Criticisms:
The most common criticism of points systems is that they often do not require a job offer and if workers do not have employment lined up, it is difficult to know whether they are actually employable. The system relies on the government’s perception of what skills are valuable, rather than on the views of the employers who are to recruit them.
Other criticisms include the fact that eligibility criteria can be unpredictable if candidate are ranked against each other and a specific number admitted. This is because the bar for admission will be higher in periods when more other people are applying.
Sources: Indian Express.
Topics Covered:
Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora.
INSTEX – Instrument In Support Of Trade Exchanges
- What to study?
- For Prelims: What is INSTEX? Stakeholders involved.
- For Mains: Why is it being setup? Benefits for participants, implications on other countries? How would US react to this?
Context: Six Countries – Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden have recently joined INSTEX.
What is it?
It is a payment mechanism being setup by the European Union to secure trade with Iran and skirt US sanctions after Washington pulled out of the landmark nuclear deal last May.
It is registered at Paris with an initial 3,000 Euros in the capital and a supervisory board with members from France and Germany and chaired by the UK.
It is a project of the governments of France, Germany and Britain and will receive the formal endorsement of all 28 EU members.
Key features of INSTEX:
- It will allow trade between the EU and Iranwithout relying on direct financial transactions.
- It will initially be used for non-sanctionable trade, including humanitarian goods such as medicine, food and medical devices.
Significance:
- This mechanism is the first concrete step by the EU to counter Trump’s unilateral decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal.
- The launching of INSTEX is not only a matter of Iran-EU relations but also embodies a new approach by the bloc towards US policies. It “becomes an opportunity when it’s understood as an experiment and as part of a bigger project to strengthen EU economic power.
How has the US reacted?
It has warned EU that any attempt to evade its “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran would be subject to stiff penalties.
Sources: toi.
GS Paper 3
Topics covered:
Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life. Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.
Antibiotic resistance
- What to study?
- For Prelims: what is antibiotic resistance and how it occurs?
Context: Findings of the new study by researchers at the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) on Antibiotic prescription rates in India has been published.
Key findings:
- India is one of the top users of antibiotics.
- The private sector clocked high levels of antibiotic prescription rates (412 per 1,000 persons per year).
- The highest rate was seen among children aged 0–4 years (636 per 1,000 persons) and the lowest in the age group 10–19 years (280 per 1,000 persons).
- Per-capita antibiotic consumption in the retail sector has increased by around 22% in five years from 2012 to 2016.
What is it?
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is the ability of a microorganism (like bacteria, viruses, and some parasites) to stop an antimicrobial (such as antibiotics, antivirals and antimalarials) from working against it. As a result, standard treatments become ineffective, infections persist and may spread to others.
When an organism is resistant to more than one drug, it is said to be multidrug-resistant.
Why is Antibiotic Resistance a Big Deal?
The discovery of antibiotics less than a century ago was a turning point in public health that has saved countless lives. Although antibiotic resistance develops naturally with normal bacterial mutation, humans are speeding it up by using antibiotics improperly. According to a research, now, 2 million people a year in the US develop antibiotic-resistant infections, and 23,000 of them die of those infections.
Why is the medical community worried?
Basically, superbugs are becoming more powerful and widespread than ever. Medical experts are afraid that we’re one step away from deadly, untreatable infections, since the mcr-1 E.coli is resistant to that last-resort antibiotic Colistin. Antibiotic-resistance is passed relatively easily from one bacteria to the next, since it is transmitted by way of loose genetic material that most bacteria have in common.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is afraid of a post-antibiotic world, where loads of bacteria are superbugs. Already, infections like tuberculosis, gonorrhea, and pneumonia are becoming harder to treat with typical antibiotics.
Need of the hour:
- A multi-stakeholder approach, involving private industry, philanthropic groups and citizen activists is needed.
- Private pharmaceutical industries must take it upon themselves to distribute drugs in a responsible manner.
- Philanthropic charities must fund the development of new antibiotics, while citizen activists must drive awareness.
- These stakeholders must appreciate that the only way to postpone resistance is through improved hygiene and vaccinations.
Sources: the Hindu.
Facts for Prelims
Jnanpith Award:
Context: Eminent Malayalam poet Akkitham has been chosen for 55th Jnanpith Award for the year 2019.
About:
Instituted in 1961.
Eligibility: Any Indian citizen who writes in any of the official languages of India is eligible for the honour.
Kulasekarapattinam in Tamil Nadu:
Why in News? Union Government is planning to set up a new rocket launch pad here.
Background: At present, the Indian Space Research organisation (ISRO) has two launch pads at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDCC) in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
Kulasekarapattinam Location
Operation ‘Clean Art’:
It is first pan India operation to crackdown on the smuggling of mongoose hair.
Conceived by WCCB.
Aim: To ensure that the mongoose hair brush trade should be closed down across the country.
Protection: Mongoose is listed in Schedule II Part 2 of the Wildlife Protection Act. Any smuggling or possession of its body part is a non-bailable offence.
Note: Some articles of today’s current affairs will be covered tomorrow.
