(13 Nov, 2019)



President’s Rule in Maharashtra

Why in News

The state of Maharashtra has been placed under the President’s Rule amid a stalemate over government formation after the assembly polls in October 2019.

  • The Union Cabinet recommended the President's rule in the state after Governor of the state submitted a report regarding the same.
    • In his report, the Governor said a situation has arisen that a stable government is not possible and the government could not be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.
  • The President signed a proclamation imposing President's rule in Maharashtra under Article 356(1). The Assembly has been kept in suspended animation.

President’s Rule

  • Meaning
    • President’s Rule implies the suspension of a state government and the imposition of direct rule of the Centre.
    • It is also known as ‘State Emergency’ or ‘Constitutional Emergency’.
  • Use of Article 356
    • The Supreme Court in Bommai case (1994) enlisted the situations where the exercise of power under Article 356 could be proper.
    • One such situation is that of ‘Hung Assembly’, i.e. where after general elections to the assembly, no party secures a majority.
  • Constitutional Provisions
    • The President’s Rule is imposed through the invocation of Article 356 of the Constitution by the President on the advice of the Union Council of Ministers.
    • Under Article 356, President’s Rule is imposed if the President, upon receipt of the report from the Governor of the State or otherwise, is satisfied that a situation has arisen in which the government of the State cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.
  • Parliamentary Approval and Duration
    • A proclamation imposing President’s Rule must be approved by both the Houses of Parliament within two months from the date of its issue.
    • The approval takes place through simple majority in either House, that is, a majority of the members of the House present and voting.
    • Initially valid for six months, the President’s Rule can be extended for a maximum period of three years with the approval of the Parliament, every six months.
  • Consequences of President’s Rule
    • The state governor, on behalf of the President, carries on the state administration with the help of the chief secretary of the state or the advisors appointed by the President.
    • The President can declare that the powers of the state legislature are to be exercised by the Parliament.
    • The President either suspends or dissolves the state legislative assembly.
  • Revocation
    • A proclamation of President’s Rule may be revoked by the President at any time by a subsequent proclamation. Such a proclamation does not require parliamentary approval.
    • This happens, in case, the leader of a party produces letters of support from a majority of members of the Assembly, and stakes his claim to form a government.

Punchii Commission’s Guidelines in case of a Hung Assembly

  • The party or combination of parties which commands the widest support in the Legislative Assembly should be called upon to form the Government.
  • If there is a pre-poll alliance or coalition, it should be treated as one political party and if such coalition obtains a majority, the leader of such coalition shall be called by the Governor to form the Government.
  • In case no party or pre-poll coalition has a clear majority, the Governor should select the Chief Minister in the order of preference as indicated below:
    • The group of parties which had pre-poll alliance commanding the largest number.
    • The largest single party staking a claim to form the government with the support of others.
    • A post-electoral coalition with all partners joining the government.
    • A post-electoral alliance with some parties joining the government and the remaining including independents supporting the government from outside.

Source: TH

Premature Deaths in India

Why in News

A recently released study by the Lancet Global Health shows that different states in India have different causes for premature deaths in the country.

  • The study shows that 9.7 million people face premature deaths in India (2017).
    • Premature deaths are death that occurs before the average age of death in a certain population.
  • Premature deaths due to various causes expressed as Years of Life Lost (YLL) are unevenly distributed in terms of the burden on the states.
    • The Years of Life Lost (YLL) is a measure of premature mortality. It estimates the years of potential life lost due to premature deaths.

Key Findings

  • The different causes of premature deaths in India include:
    • Liver and alcohol related issues:
      • These are high in the northeastern states, Bihar, Karnataka, and Maharashtra, accounting for 18% of national YLLs.
    • Suicides:
      • These are highest in the southern states, accounting for 15% of national YLLs.
    • Cancer:
      • The Northeastern states, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Haryana, Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka, and Madhya Pradesh account for 44% of India’s cancer burden.
    • Road traffic injuries:
      • Theses are high in the northern states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh, accounting for 33% of national YLLs.
  • More than three-quarters of premature deaths and Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALY) occurred in rural areas, and males accounted for 54.3% of all DALYs.
    • Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) is the sum of the number of years of life lost due to premature death and a weighted measure of the years lived with disability due to a disease or injury. India had 486 million DALYs in 2017.
    • DALY rates in rural areas of India are at least twice those of urban areas.

DALY and YLL

  • DALYs for a disease or health condition are calculated as the sum of the Years of Life Lost (YLL) due to premature mortality in the population and the Years Lost due to Disability (YLD) for people living with the health condition or its consequences
  • Simply, it can be written as DALY= YLL+YLD.

Source: IE

Cancer Care Infrastructure

Why in News

Recently, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science, Technology, and Environment submitted its report to the Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu. The committee was constituted to examine an expanded role of the Department of Atomic Energy to address India’s rising cancer burden.

Key Highlights

  • Infrastructure: According to the report, India’s cancer care infrastructure is highly inadequate which forces a majority of patients to travel thousands of kilometres for treatment.
  • Mortality to Incidence Ratio: The inadequate infrastructure fails to address the needs of patients and contributes to a 20% higher mortality among Indian cancer patients than those in countries with a high Human Development Index (HDI).
    • In India, the rate stands at 0.68 which is higher than that in countries with very high HDI (at 0.38) and high HDI countries (0.57).
  • Incidence Rate in India: The number of newly diagnosed cases of cancer annually is about 16 lakh. Around 8 lakh people die annually due to cancer.
    • Prevalence among women:
      • Breast cancer- 140,000 cases,
      • Cervical cancer- 100,000 cases, and
      • Oral cancer- 45,000 cases.
    • Among men, the top three cancers with the highest incidence are those in:
      • Oral cavity- 1,38,000 cases,
      • Cancer of the pharynx- 90,000 cases, and
      • The gastrointestinal tract- 2,00,000 cases.
    • The incidence of cancer is very high in all North Eastern States (higher than the national average) for several types of cancer, showing a consistently rising trend over the past few decades.
    • The International Agency for Research on Cancer expects cancer deaths in India to rise from 8.8 lakh in 2018 to 13 lakh in 2035.
  • The report highlights the significance of India’s National Cancer Grid which is the prominent centre for cancer treatment in the country. It treats over 7,00,000 new cancer cases.

National Cancer Grid

  • National Cancer Grid (NCG) is a network of major cancer centers, research institutes, patient groups and charitable institutions across India with the mandate of establishing uniform standards of patient care for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer, providing specialized training and education in oncology and facilitating collaborative basic, translational and clinical research in cancer.
  • It was formed in August 2012.

International Agency for Research on Cancer

  • The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) was created in 1965 by a resolution of the World Health Assembly, as the specialized cancer agency of the World Health Organization.
  • The objective of the IARC is to promote international collaboration in cancer research.
  • It comprises of 27 member countries. India is a member of it.
  • Headquarters: Lyon, France.
  • Recommendations:
    • Hub and Spoke Model: The committee recommended this model to enhance the accessibility and reach out to cancer patients nationally.
      • It has a network of centres (or hubs)- capable of treating complex forms of cancer. They would be connected to other centres (spokes) capable of treating less complex variants of cancers.
      • The underlying idea is to ease access and minimize travel time for patients- as one hub would cover about 4 crore patients and a spoke 50 lakh-1 crore patients annually.
      • The model is already in practice in Punjab.

Source: TH

Butterfly Survey

Why in News

The Kerala government has carried out a butterfly survey in the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) and Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS) located in Western Ghat region.

  • The survey aims at assessing the butterfly diversity in the forest areas of the western ghats region, which is vulnerable to climatic changes.
  • The survey coincides with the annual butterfly migration in south India from the plains to the Western Ghats areas.
  • The butterfly is an indicator species thus a survey will help to study the interrelation and effects of climate change on ecology.
    • An indicator species provides information on the overall condition of the ecosystem and of other species in that ecosystem. They reflect the quality and changes in environmental conditions as well as aspects of community composition.

Key Findings

  • The survey spotted 191 species of butterflies in the area, out of which 12 are endemic to the region. It shows a healthy butterfly habitat in the region
  • The survey observed rare species of butterflies such as Silver forget me not, Common three-ring, and Brown onyx, etc.
  • The diversity of butterflies was very low in the forest areas where alien invasive plants such as Senna spectabilis are found.
    • Senna spectabilis suppresses the growth of many host plants of butterflies.

Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary

  • It is part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve along with Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, Bandipur National Park, Nagarhole National Park, Mukurthi National Park, and Silent Valley.
  • Wayanad Wildlife sanctuary is significant because of ecological and geographic continuity with other protected areas such as Bandipur Tiger Reserve and Nagarhole N.P., of Karnataka in the north-eastern portion and Mudumalai Tiger Reserve of Tamil Nadu in the south-east.
  • It has the world’s largest recorded population of the Asiatic elephant.
  • Almost the entire Wayanad district is drained by Kabini and its three tributaries, the Panamaram, Mananthavady, and Kalindy rivers.
    • The Kabini River, one of the three east flowing rivers of Kerala, is an important tributary of the Kaveri River.

Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary

  • Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary is one of the 13 sanctuaries in the protected areas of the state of Kerala.
  • It is located in the Idduki district of Kerala near the Annamalai hills.
  • It comes under the jurisdiction of Eravikulam National Park.

Source:TH

Krishnapatnam Port

The Adani Group of Companies has expressed its interest in the Krishnapatnam port, as part of its plan to expand its reach in the east coast.

  • Krishnapatnam Port is located in Nellore District in Andhra Pradesh.
  • The Port has been named so as the Vijayanagar Emperor, Sri Krishnadevaraya used to operate this port.
  • In the 1980s, the Government of India declared the Port as a ‘minor port’.
    • The Union Government is responsible for development of 12 Major Ports whereas minor ports are under the jurisdiction of respective State Governments.

Vijaynagar Empire

  • Vijayanagara or “city of victory” was the name of both a city and an empire.
  • The empire was founded in the fourteenth century (1336 AD) by Harihara and Bukka of Sangama dynasty.
  • It stretched from the river Krishna in the north to the extreme south of the peninsula.
  • Vijayanagar Empire was ruled by four important dynasties and they are:
    • Sangama
    • Saluva
    • Tuluva
    • Aravidu
  • Krishnadevaraya (ruled 1509-29) of the Tuluva dynasty was the most famous ruler of Vijayanagar. His rule was characterised by expansion and consolidation.
  • He is credited with building some fine temples and adding impressive gopurams to many important south Indian temples. He also founded a suburban township near Vijayanagar called Nagalapuram after his mother.
  • He composed a work on statecraft in Telugu known as the Amuktamalyada.

Source: TH

Tiger Triumph

The first-ever India-US joint tri services Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) exercise, named ‘Tiger Triumph’, is being held from 13th-21st November, 2019.

  • The exercise will be conducted off Visakhapatnam and Kakinada coasts in Andhra Pradesh.
  • It aims to develop interoperability for conducting HADR operations.
  • Other joint exercises:
    • Military training: Yudh Abhyas and Vajra Prahar
    • Air Forces: Cope India
    • Naval Exercise along with Japan: Malabar

Source: PIB

Pneumonia and Diarrhoea Progress Report

Why in News

To mark the occasion of the World Pneumonia Day on November 12, the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) released the 10th Pneumonia and Diarrhoea Progress Report. The report describes progress in fighting pneumonia and diarrhoea in countries with the highest absolute number of deaths.

Key Highlights

  • Pneumonia and Diarrhoea Progress Report is issued annually.
  • Prevalence: The report has found that globally, pneumonia and diarrhoea led to nearly one of every four deaths in children under five years of age (in 2017).
  • Parameters: The report analyses how effectively countries are delivering 10 key interventions, including breastfeeding, vaccination, access to care, use of antibiotics, ORS, and zinc supplementation.
    • These measures are proven to help prevent deaths due to these illnesses and could help achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal-3 target of reducing under-five mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1,000 live births by 2030.
    • According to UNICEF, in India (2018) the
      • Under 5 Mortality Rate is 39 deaths per 1000 live births.
      • Infant Mortality Rate (under one year of age) is 32 deaths per 1000 live births.
      • Neonatal Mortality Rate (during the first 28 days of life) is 24 deaths per 1000 live births.
  • India’s Status: Rollout of rotavirus vaccines to prevent rotavirus diarrhoea (in 2016), and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine for treating pneumonia (in 2017) has helped India to improve its scores.
    • India’s exclusive breastfeeding rate (at 55%) is among the highest of the 23 countries. However, the proportion of children receiving important treatments, as with many other countries, remains below targets.
    • In India, half of the children with diarrhoea receive ORS (Oral Rehydration Solution) and 20% receive zinc supplementation that helps to protect against, prevent and treat pneumonia and diarrhoea.

  • Other Reports Findings: Reports from organizations like Save the Children and UNICEF have marked that, in 2017, the highest risk factors for child pneumonia death in India were:
    • 53% caused by child wasting,
    • 27% by outdoor air pollution, and
    • 22% caused by indoor air pollution from solid fuels.

Way Forward

The report concludes that the global community must increase investment and support other countries in developing smart and sustainable strategies that can close the gaps and accelerate progress.

Source: TH