India’s Brain Drain in Health Sector

Why in News

India has been a major exporter of healthcare workers to developed nations particularly to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, Europe and other English-speaking countries.

• This Brain Drain in the health sector is part of the reason for the current shortage in nurses and doctors.

Key Points

• Brain Drain:
  
  • Brain drain is a term indicating substantial emigration or migration of individuals.
    
    • A brain drain can result from turmoil within a nation, the existence of favorable professional opportunities in other countries, or from a desire to seek a higher standard of living.
  • The majority of migration is from developing to developed countries. This is of growing concern worldwide because of its impact on the health systems in developing countries.
  • As per the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data, around 69,000 Indian trained doctors worked in the UK, US, Canada and Australia in 2017. In these four countries, 56,000 Indian-trained nurses were working in the same year.
  • There is also large-scale migration of health workers to the GCC countries but there is a lack of credible data on the stock of such workers in these nations.
    
    • There is no real-time data on high-skilled migration from India as in the case of low-skilled and semi-skilled migration.
• Reasons:
  
  • Need in the Pandemic:
    
    • With the onset of the pandemic, there has been a greater demand for healthcare workers across the world, especially in developed nations.
    • Countries in dire need of retaining their healthcare workers have adopted migrant-friendly policies.
      
      • The UK has granted free one-year visa extensions to eligible overseas healthcare workers and their dependents whose visas were due to expire before October 2021.
      • France has offered citizenship to frontline immigrant healthcare workers during the pandemic.
  • Higher Pay and Better Opportunities:
    
    • There are strong pull factors associated with the migration of healthcare workers, in terms of higher pay and better opportunities in the destination countries.
  • Low Wages and Lack of Investment in India:
    
    • There are strong push factors that often drive these workers to migrate abroad.
    • In case of nurses in India the low wages in private sector outfits along with reduced opportunities in the public sector plays a big role in them seeking employment opportunities outside the country.
    • The lack of government investment in healthcare and delayed appointments to public health institutions act as a catalyst for such migration.
  • Policies of the Indian Government :
    
    • The government’s policies to check brain drain are restrictive in nature and do not give a real long-term solution to the problem.
    • In 2014, it stopped issuing No Objection to Return to India (NORI) certificates to doctors migrating to the US.
      • The NORI certificate is a US government requirement for doctors who migrate to America on a J1 visa and seek to extend their stay beyond three years.
    • The government has included nurses in the Emigration Check Required (ECR) category. This move was taken to bring about transparency in nursing recruitment and reduce exploitation of nurses in the destination countries.
• Concerns in India’s Health Sector:
  
  • Lack of Human Resource:
    
    • India has 1.7 nurses per 1,000 population and a doctor to patient ratio of 1:1,404 — this is well below the World Health Organization (WHO) norm of three nurses per 1,000 population and a doctor to patient ratio of 1:1,100.
  • Skewed Distribution:
    
    • The distribution of doctors and nurses is heavily skewed against some regions. Moreover, there is high concentration in some urban pockets.
  • Poor Infrastructure:
    
    • The 2020 Human Development Report shows that India has five hospital beds per 10,000 people — one of the lowest in the world.

Way Forward

• Increased investment in healthcare, especially in the public sector, is thus the need of the hour. This would, in turn, increase employment opportunities for health workers.
• India needs systematic changes to building an overall environment that could prove to be beneficial for them and motivate them to stay in the country.
• The government should focus on framing policies that promote circular migration and return migration—policies that incentivise healthcare workers to return home after the completion of their training or studies.
• India could also work towards framing bilateral agreements that could help shape a policy of “brain-share” between the sending and receiving countries.

Source:IE

Medicine from the Sky Project: Telangana

Why in News

Recently, the Telangana government has selected 16 Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) for pilot testing the ambitious ‘Medicine from the sky’, the first-of- its-kind project.

Key Points

• About:
  
  • The project involves delivery of medicines through multiple drones.
  • The project is being launched following the approval granted by the Civil Aviation Ministry.
    
    • The Ministry has granted conditional exemption to the Telangana Government from the Unmanned Aircraft System Rules 2021 for conducting experimental Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone flights for delivery of vaccines.
  • The project would be launched in three waves starting with a pilot followed by mapping the route network for operation of drones for delivering vaccine/medicine in the desired community health centres and PHCs.
• Collaborators:
  
  • Telangana government, World Economic Forum and HealthNet Global.
    
    • HealthNet Global is a private limited company which provides quality affordable health plans for individuals, families, Medicare and businesses.
• Aim:
  
  • To assess alternative logistics routes in providing safe, accurate and reliable pick up and delivery of health care items like medicines, Covid-19 vaccines, units of blood and other lifesaving equipment from the distribution centre to specific locations and back.
  • To ensure healthcare equity for rural areas.
• Significance:
  
  • The model, once successful, would enable deliveries from district medical stores and blood banks to PHCs, Community Healthcare Centres (CHCs) and further from PHCs/CHCs to central diagnostic laboratories.
  • It has the potential to disrupt the healthcare industry and save many lives during emergencies and in less accessible geographies.
• Other Projects involving Use of Drones:
  
  • Similar permission was granted to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for conducting feasibility study of Covid-19 vaccine delivery using drones, in collaboration with IIT-Kanpur.
  • The International Crops Research Institute (ICRISAT) was permitted to deploy drones for agricultural research activities, apart from some agriculture universities and educational institutions.

Drones

• Drone is a layman terminology for Unmanned Aircraft (UA). There are three subsets of Unmanned Aircraft- Remotely Piloted Aircraft, Autonomous Aircraft and Model Aircraft.
• Remotely piloted aircraft have been divided into five categories based on their weight-
  
  • Nano : Less than or equal to 250 grams.
  • Micro : From 250 grams to 2kg.
  • Small : From 2 kg to 25kg.
  • Medium : From 25kg to 150kg.
  • Large : Greater than 150kg.
• Under the Drone Regulation in 2018, the Ministry of Civil Aviation partitioned the Air space into Red Zone (flying not permitted), Yellow Zone (controlled airspace), and Green Zone (automatic permission).

Source:TH

Rural Development Schemes

Why in News

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the country has witnessed speed and progress in various schemes under the Ministry of Rural Development.

Key Points

• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) 2005:
  
  • About :
    
    • The scheme was introduced as a social measure that guarantees “the right to work”. The Ministry of Rural Development monitors the entire implementation of this scheme in association with state governments.
  • Major Objective:
    
    • Providing not less than one hundred days of unskilled manual work as a guaranteed employment in a financial year to every household in rural areas as per demand, resulting in creation of productive assets of prescribed quality and durability.
      
      • MGNREGA assets include farm, ponds, percolation tanks, check dams, road layer, irrigation channels etc.
  • Other Features:
    
    • It is the Gram Sabha and the Gram Panchayat which approves the shelf of works under MGNREGA and fixes their priority.
    • Social Audit of MGNREGA works is mandatory, which leads to accountability and transparency.
  • Achievements:
    
    • For the financial year 2021-22, 2.95 crore persons have been offered work, thus, completing 5.98 lakh assets and generating 34.56 crore person-days.
• Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM):
  
  • About:
    
    • It is a centrally sponsored programme, launched by the Ministry of Rural Development in June 2011.
  • Objective:
    
    • To eliminate rural poverty through the promotion of multiple livelihoods and improved access to financial services for the rural poor households across the country.
  • Functioning:
    
    • It involves working with community institutions through community professionals in the spirit of self-help which is a unique proposition of DAY-NRLM.
    • It impacts the livelihoods through universal social mobilization by inter alia organising one-woman member from each rural poor household into Self Help Groups (SHGs), their training and capacity building, facilitating their micro-livelihoods plans, and enabling them to implement their livelihoods plans through accessing financial resources from their own institutions and the banks.
  • Achievements:
    
    • Revolving Fund and Community Investment Fund amounting to approximately Rs. 56 Crore released to women SHGs in FY 2021 as compared to approximately Rs. 32 Crore in the same corresponding period in FY 2020.
    • Training on farm and non-Farm based livelihoods, on covid management and promotion of Agri-Nutri gardens.
• Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY):
  
  • Launch: 25^th December, 2000.
  • Objective:
    
    • To provide connectivity, by way of an all-weather road to unconnected habitations.
  • Beneficiaries:
    
    • Unconnected habitations of designated population size (500+ in plain areas and 250+ in North-Eastern States, Himalayan States, Deserts and Tribal Areas as per 2001 census) in the core network for uplifting the socio-economic condition of the rural population.
  • Achievements:
    
    • Highest length of road has been completed under PMGSY in the comparable period over the last 3 years.
• Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Gramin:
  
  • Launch:
    
    • To achieve the objective of “Housing for All” by 2022, the erstwhile rural housing scheme Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) was restructured to Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) w.e.f 1^st April, 2016.
  • Objective:
    
    • To help rural people below the poverty line (BPL) in construction of dwelling units and upgradation of existing unserviceable kutcha houses by providing assistance in the form of a full grant.
  • Beneficiaries:
    • People belonging to SCs/STs, freed bonded labourers and non-SC/ST categories, widows or next-of-kin of defence personnel killed in action, ex servicemen and retired members of the paramilitary forces, Disabled persons and Minorities.
    • Beneficiaries are chosen according to data taken from the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) of 2011.
  • Achievements:
    
    • Highest expenditure amounting to Rs. 5854 Cr in FY 2021-22; double than the FY 2020-21 in the comparable period.

Source: PIB

Initiative for Digital Transformation of Tribal Schools

Why in News

Recently, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MTA) inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Microsoft to support the digital transformation of schools such as Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) and Ashram Schools, among others under the Ministry.

• It is aimed at building an inclusive, skills-based economy.

Key Points

• About the MoU:
  
  • Artificial Intelligence curriculum will be made available to tribal students in both English and Hindi at all EMRS schools to skill educators and students in next-generation technologies.
  • In the first phase, 250 EMRS schools have been adopted by Microsoft, out of which 50 EMRS schools will be given intensive training and 500 master trainers would be trained in the first phase.
  • Teachers across states in India will be trained in a phased manner for using productivity technologies like Office 365 and AI applications in teaching.
  • The program will also offer opportunities for teachers to earn professional e-badges and e-certificates from the Microsoft Education Centre.
  • Students from schools under the Ministry will be mentored on projects that involve AI applications for societal good and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Expected Benefits:
  
  • This program will ensure that tribal students get a chance to change their future, their environment, their village, and overall community.
  • The initiative will also enable the professional development of educators, enabling them to use technology in classrooms.
  • It will help in the success of digital India Mission.
  • It will be able to bridge the gap between the tribal students and others.
• Other Educational Schemes for Tribals:
  
  • Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship Scheme (RGNF): RGNF was introduced in the year 2005-2006 with the objective to encourage the students belonging to the ST community to pursue higher education.
  • Vocational Training Center in Tribal Areas: The aim of this scheme is to develop the skill of ST students depending on their qualification and present market trends.
  • National Overseas Scholarship Scheme: It provides financial assistance to 20 students selected for pursuing higher studies abroad for PhD and postdoctoral studies.
  • Pre and Post Matric Scholarship Schemes.

Source: PIB

Electoral Bonds

Why in News

The Electoral Bonds worth Rs. 695.34 crore were sold during elections to the Assemblies of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, West Bengal, Assam and Kerala.

• The amount sold was the highest-ever for any Assembly elections since the scheme started in 2018.

Key Points

• Electoral Bond is a financial instrument for making donations to political parties.
• The bonds are issued in multiples of Rs. 1,000, Rs. 10,000, Rs. 1 lakh, Rs. 10 lakh and Rs. 1 crore without any maximum limit.
• State Bank of India is authorised to issue and encash these bonds, which are valid for fifteen days from the date of issuance.
• These bonds are redeemable in the designated account of a registered political party.
  
  • Political parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which have secured not less than 1% of the votes in the last general election to an Assembly or Parliament, are eligible to open current accounts for redemption of electoral bonds.
• The bonds are available for purchase by any person (who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India) for a period of ten days each in the months of January, April, July and October as may be specified by the Central Government.
  
  • A person being an individual can buy bonds, either singly or jointly with other individuals.
  • Donor’s name is not mentioned on the bond.
• There are two key problems with it - one, lack of transparency as the public do not know who is giving what to whom and what they are getting in return; two, that only the government, through ministries, has access to this information.
• However, the Election Commission of India has said that the scheme is one step forward compared to the old system of cash funding, which was unaccountable.
• Also, recently, the Central Information Commission (CIC), the lead body for implementing the Right to Information Act 2005, has ruled that the disclosure of identity of electoral bond scheme donors will not serve any larger public interest and will violate provisions of the Act itself.

Source: TH

US Global Entry Programme

Why in News

Indian security agencies in the past two years checked the antecedents of more than 9,000 Indians who wanted to enrol for the US’ Global Entry Program.

• The Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) is being used for antecedent verification.

Key Points

• About:
  
  • Global Entry is a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) program that allows speedy clearance for low-risk travellers upon their arrival in the US.
  • Though the pilot project started in 2008, India became a member of Global Entry in 2017.
  • The travellers are pre-approved for the programme after a rigorous background check.
  • After receiving a request, the US authorities send them to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The MEA forwards it to the Ministry of Home Affairs, which taps other ministries, State police and other databases to run a background check.
  • The CBP does not process the application if a person has been “convicted of any criminal offence or have pending criminal charges, including outstanding warrants, have been found in violation of any customs, immigration or agriculture regulations or laws in any country.”
• Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS):
  
  • About:
    
    • CCTNS is a centrally funded scheme, developed by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
      
      • It is a Mission Mode Project under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
      • It was approved in 2009.
    • It is a secure application that links over 97% of police stations in the country.
  • Objectives:
    
    • Make the Police functioning citizen friendly and more transparent by automating the functioning of Police Stations.
    • Improve delivery of citizen-centric services through effective usage of ICT.
    • Provide the Investigating Officers of the Civil Police with tools, technology and information to facilitate investigation of crime and detection of criminals.

Source: TH

International Museums Day

Why in News

International Museum Day is observed on 18^th May every year to raise awareness among people about the museums.

• 2021 Theme: The Future of Museums: Recover and Reimagine.

Key Points

• History: The Day was instituted in 1977 by the International Council of Museums (ICOM).
• International Council of Museum (ICOM):
  
  • ICOM is a membership association and a non-governmental organisation which establishes professional and ethical standards for museum activities. It is the only global organisation in the museum field.
  • It was created in 1946 and is headquartered in Paris, France.
  • It serves as a network of museum professionals (more than 40,000 members in over 138 countries).
  • The ICOM Red Lists of Cultural Objects at Risk are practical tools to curb the illegal traffic of cultural objects.
    
    • Red Lists present the categories of cultural objects that can be subjected to theft and traffic.
• Administration of Museums in India:
  
  • Multiple ministries hold charges of various Museums.
  • Not all Museums are administered by the Ministry of Culture.
  • Some are run without government support by a handful of people under a Board of Trustees.
  • Related Constitutional Provision:
    
    • Article 49: Protect monuments, places and objects of artistic or historic interest which are declared to be of national importance.
• Initiatives Related to Museums:
  
  • Museum Grant Scheme:
    
    • The Ministry of Culture provides financial assistance under the Scheme to the State Governments and Societies, Autonomous bodies, Local Bodies and Trusts registered under the Societies Act, for setting up new Museums.
    • It also aims to strengthen and modernize the existing museums at the Regional, State and District level.
  • The National Portal and Digital Repository for Indian Museums (under the Ministry of Culture) have been launched for digitisation of the collections of the Museums.

Source : PIB