Report on National Nutrition Mission: NITI Aayog

Why in News

Recently, the NITI Aayog has released “Accelerating Progress On Nutrition In India: What Will It Take”, the third progress report on the National Nutrition Mission or the Poshan Abhiyaan.

Key Points

• National Nutrition Mission:
  
  • Launched in 2018, it is the Government of India’s flagship programme to improve nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
    
    • It is backed by a National Nutrition Strategy prepared by the NITI Aayog with the goal of attaining “Kuposhan Mukt Bharat" or malnutrition-free India, by 2022.
  • Aims:
    
    • To reduce stunting, undernutrition, anemia (among young children, women and adolescent girls) and low birth weight by 2%, 2%, 3% and 2% per annum respectively.
    • To address the problem of malnutrition in a mission-mode.
  • 50% of the total budget comes from the World Bank or other multilateral development banks and the rest of the 50% is through Centre’s budgetary support.
    
    • The Centre's budgetary support is further divided into 60:40 between the Centre and the States, 90:10 for the north-eastern region and the Himalayan States and 100% for the Union Territories (UTs) without legislature.
  • Prevalence:
    
    • More than a third of children under five suffer from stunting and wasting and 40% of children between one and four are anaemic.
    • Over 50% of pregnant and non-pregnant women were found to be anaemic, according to the National Family Health Survey-4 released in 2016.
• About the Report:
  
  • The third progress report (October 2019-April 2020) takes stock of the roll-out status on the ground and implementation challenges encountered at various levels through large scale datasets.
    
    • These datasets are the NFHS-4 and Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS).
  • The initial Reports I and II, focused majorly on the mission’s preparedness and implementation by States and UTs, respectively.
  • The review report was drafted in March 2020 and does not factor worsening poverty and hunger levels since then, which are expected to have gone down further due to the Covid-19.
• Concerns Highlighted:
  
  • On stunting, India's targets are conservative as compared to the global target defined by the World Health Assembly (WHA), which is a prevalence rate of 5% of stunting as opposed to India’s goal of reducing stunting levels to 13.3% by 2022.
  • The target of reducing prevalence levels of anaemia among pregnant women from 50.3% in 2016 to 34.4% in 2022 and among adolescent girls from 52.9% in 2016 to 39.66%, is also considered to be conservative as compared to the WHA's target of halving prevalence levels.
  • In the wake of the pandemic, experts warn that deepening poverty and hunger may delay achieving the goals defined under the Mission.
• Suggestions:
  
  • On Stunting:
    
    • To improve complementary feeding using both behaviour change interventions and complimentary food supplements in the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS).
    • To work towards investments in girls and women (education during childhood, reducing early marriage and early pregnancy, improving care during and after pregnancy) along with other social determinants.
    • To improve water, sanitation, handwashing with soap and hygienic disposal of children’s stools with other effective interventions.
  • On Wasting:
    
    • To include interventions that go beyond the treatment of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and also address moderate wasting, have the potential to achieve larger declines in wasting.
    • To scale-up to reach facility-based treatment of SAM to all those needing in-patient care.
    • To urgently release a full strategy for prevention and integrated management of wasting nationally.
  • On Anaemia:
    
    • To scale-up scenario that focuses only on health sector interventions which will achieve modest improvements in anaemia among women of reproductive age.

Way Forward

• As the National Nutrition Mission continues to play an important role in India’s endeavour against malnutrition, India needs to now accelerate actions on multiple fronts. The projections are optimistic, and will need to be re-adjusted for the Covid-19 disruptions to health and nutrition services.
• There is a need to quickly graduate to a POSHAN-plus strategy which apart from continued strengthening the four pillars of the mission (Technology, Convergence, Behavioral change and Capacity building), also requires a renewed focus on other social determinants in addition to addressing the governance challenges of the National Health Mission (NHM) and ICDS delivery mechanisms.

Source: TH

43 More Mobile Apps Banned

Why in News

Recently, the government of India has blocked 43 new mobile apps, mostly Chinese, in the country, including shopping website AliExpress.

• This is in addition to a total of 177 Chinese apps banned till now.

Key Points

• The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology banned these mobile apps under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act (IT Act), 2000.
  
  • Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, was introduced by an amendment to the Act in 2008.
    
    • It gives the Central government the power to block public access to any information online whether on websites or mobile apps.
    • Under Section 69A, if a website threatens India’s defence, its sovereignty and integrity, friendly relations with foreign countries and public order, the government can ban it, after following due procedure.
    • Detailed procedures to do so are listed under the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009.
• Reasons behind banning apps:
  
  • The action was taken based on the inputs regarding these apps for engaging in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.
  • Government has received many complaints from various sources about misuse of some mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms for stealing and transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner to servers which have locations outside India.
  • Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center, Ministry of Home Affairs also gave a comprehensive report against the misuse of the apps.
• Implications of the Ban:
  
  • The decision to ban these apps, which comes amid continuing tensions between India and China, is the clear message from India that it will no longer be a victim of China’s Nibble and Negotiate policy and will review the norms of engagement.
  • The ban may affect one of China’s most ambitious goals, namely to become the digital superpower of the 21st century.
  • It will provide a good opportunity for Indian entrepreneurs to quickly rise to fill market gaps. This is also great for the Atmanirbhar Bharat mission.
    
    • After the initial ban of apps, the government launched 'Digital India Atmanirbhar Bharat Innovate Challenge' to encourage Indian application developers and innovators and facilitate their ideas and products.

Way Forward

• World today recognises that the next source of economic growth lies in the digital economy and given its raw material being data, thereby whoever builds the electronic backbone will have enormous advantages over everyone else.
• India must speed up indigenisation, research and development and frame-up a regulatory architecture to claim data sovereignty.

Source:TH

India’s Assistance to Afghanistan

Why in News

Recently, at the Afghanistan 2020 Conference, India has announced about 150 projects worth USD 80 million.

• Afghanistan’s President, officials from the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) officials, besides representatives of other countries, attended the conference.
• Also, the USA has decided to reduce its troop presence in Afghanistan to about 2,500 by January 2021.

Key Points

• India’s Current Assistance:
  
  • India will launch phase-IV of high-impact community development projects, which include around 150 projects worth USD 80 million.
  • It has signed an agreement for building the Shahtoot dam, which would provide safe drinking water to 2 million residents of Kabul city.
    
    • It builds on the 202 km Pul-e-Khumri transmission line of 2009, through which India provides power to the city.
• Earlier Assistance:
  
  • India’s development programmes in Afghanistan are focused around five pillars:
    
    • Large infrastructure projects.
    • Human resource development and capacity building.
    • Humanitarian assistance.
    • High-impact community development projects.
    • Enhancing trade and investment through air and land connectivity.
  • Since 2001, India has committed USD 3 billion towards rebuilding and reconstruction of Afghanistan.
    
    • During the Taliban years from 1996 to 2001, India did not invest in Afghanistan.
  • Chabahar Port in Iran, which provides alternate connectivity to Afghanistan.
    
    • Afghanistan’s growth has been constrained by its landlocked geography and Pakistan blocking transit access made the situation even worse.
  • Pandemic Support: India sent more than 20 tonnes of medicines, other equipment and transported 75,000 tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan to address the Covid-19 challenge.
• Shift in Indian Perspective:
  
  • The Indian government’s decision to invest in Afghanistan’s future, where the Taliban is set to play a dominant role, is being seen as a major departure from the past.
    
    • India also participated in the commencement ceremony of the intra-Afghan talks in Doha in September 2020, where a 21-member Taliban team was also present. It reflects India's realisation of ground realities and shifting sands in Kabul’s power structure.
• Reduction of Troops by USA:
  
  • In February 2020, the USA and the Tabilan signed an agreement in Doha, (Qatar’s capital).
    
    • According to it, the USA would withdraw all of its troops from Afghanistan in 14 months and would also release Taliban prisoners, held captive by the Afghan government.
    • In return, the Taliban assured that they would not allow transnational jihadist organisations such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State to use Afganistan as their base and also committed to start direct talks with the Afghan government, which began in September 2020.
    • With the USA leaving at such a crucial point, it not only deprives Afghan forces of the support they need, particularly the airpower, but also affects their morale.
    • The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has committed to funding Afghan troops for four more years.
  • However, this decision will leave Afghanistan with an uncertain future as the Taliban is expected to take over after the troops’ withdrawal.
    
    • The Taliban, who were ousted from power in 2001 after the USA invasion, have since been fighting both foreign troops and the Afghan government.
    • It now controls more than half of the country and contests the whole of it.
    • Since the agreement was signed, the Taliban have conducted more than 13,000 attacks nationwide.
    • According to a UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UMAMA) report in October 2020, nearly 6,000 Afghan civilians were killed in the first nine months of the year and 45% of the deaths were by the Taliban.

Way Forward

• The increasing level of violence in Afghanistan is a pressing concern. However, in spite of the challenges, both sides (the government representatives and the Taliban) remain at the negotiating table, and appear to have reached an early breakthrough.
• India calls for an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire and also believes that the peace process must be Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled.
• India looks forward to walking hand in hand with the people of Afghanistan and the world community to work towards a peaceful, prosperous, sovereign, democratic and united Afghanistan.

Source: IE

Desalination Plants

Why in News

Recently, Maharashtra announced the setting up of a desalination plant in Mumbai.

• The plant will process 200 million litres of water daily (MLD), and will help in overcoming the water shortage faced by Mumbai in the months of May and June.
• Maharashtra will be the fourth state to experiment with Desalination Plants.

Key Points

• Desalination Plants:
  
  • A desalination plant turns salt water into water that is fit to drink.
    
    • Desalination is the process of removing salts from water to produce water that meets the quality (salinity) requirements of different human uses.
  • Most commonly used technology for the process is reverse osmosis.
    
    • An external pressure is applied to push solvents from an area of high-solute concentration to an area of low-solute concentration through a semi-permeable membrane.
    • The microscopic pores in the membranes allow water molecules through but leave salt and most other impurities behind, releasing clean water from the other side.
  • These plants are mostly set up in areas that have access to sea water.
• Advantage of Desalination Plants:
  
  • It can extend water supplies beyond what is available from the hydrological cycle, providing an “unlimited”, climate-independent and steady supply of high-quality water.
  • It can provide drinking water in areas where no natural supply of potable water exists.
  • As it generally meets or exceeds standards for water quality, water desalination plants can also reduce pressure on freshwater supplies that come from areas (over exploited water resources) that need protecting.
• Disadvantage of Desalination Plants:
  
  • Costly to build and operate desalination plants as the plants require huge amounts of energy.
    
    • Energy costs account for one-third to one-half of the total cost of producing desalinated water.
    • Because energy is such a large portion of the total cost, the cost is also greatly affected by changes in the price of energy.
  • The environmental impact is another disadvantage to water desalination plants. Disposal of the salt removed from the water is a major issue.
    
    • This discharge, known as brine, can change the salinity and lower the amount of oxygen (Hypoxia) in the water at the disposal site, stressing or killing animals not used to the higher levels of salt.
    • In addition, the desalination process uses or produces numerous chemicals including chlorine, carbon dioxide, hydrochloric acid and anti-scalents that can be harmful in high concentrations.
• Opportunities: The environmental problem can be changed into an economic opportunity as:
  
  • The discharge (brine) can also contain precious elements like uranium, strontium as well as sodium and magnesium which have the potential to be mined.
  • Brine has been used for aquaculture, with increases in fish biomass of 300%. It has also been successfully used to cultivate the dietary supplement Spirulina, and to irrigate forage shrubs and crops.
• Use of Desalination Plants in India:
  
  • It has largely been limited to countries in the Middle East and has recently started being used in parts of the United States and Australia.
  • In India, Tamil Nadu has been the pioneer in using this technology, setting up two desalination plants near Chennai in 2010 and then 2013.
  • The other states that have proposed these plants are Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

Way Forward

• There is a need to make desalination technologies more affordable, i.e. increasing the viability of desalination for addressing Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG-6: Ensure Access to water and Sanitation for All).
• To do this, technological refinement for low environmental impacts and economic costs, along with innovative financial mechanisms to support the sustainability of desalination schemes, will likely be required.

Source:IE

Chang’e-5 Mission: China

Why in News

China has launched an unmanned spacecraft to bring back lunar rocks, the first attempt by any nation to retrieve samples from the Moon in four decades.

• The Chang’e-5 mission, named after the ancient Chinese goddess of the moon, will seek to collect lunar material to help scientists understand more about the moon’s origins and formation.

Key Points

• Launch: The Long March-5 Y5 rocket, carrying the Chang’e-5 spacecraft, was launched from Wenchang Space Launch Center (China).
• Key Task of the Mission: To drill 2 meters beneath the moon’s surface and scoop up about 2 kilograms of rocks and other debris to be brought back to Earth.
  
  • It will help scientists learn about:
    
    • Moon’s origins,
    • Volcanic activity on its surface and its interior, and
    • When its magnetic field, key to protecting any form of life from the sun’s radiation dissipated.
• Functioning:
  
  • Upon entering the moon's orbit, the spacecraft is intended to deploy a pair of vehicles to the lunar surface, a lander and an ascender.
  • A lander will drill into the ground, then transfer its soil and rock samples to an ascender that will lift off and dock with an orbiting module.
    
    • There will be an attempt to collect 2 kg of samples in a previously unvisited area in a massive lava plain known as Oceanus Procellarum, or “Ocean of Storms”.
    • Area of the moon where the spacecraft is due to land is 1-2 billion years old.
  • If this is successful, the samples will be transferred to a return capsule that will return them to Earth, with a landing in China's Inner Mongolia region.
  • The entire mission is scheduled to take around 23 days.
• Significance: If the mission is completed as planned, it would make China only the third country to have retrieved lunar samples, joining the United States and the Soviet Union.
  
  • The Apollo programme (which first put men on the moon), the United States landed 12 astronauts over six flights from 1969 to 1972, bringing back 382 kg of rocks and soil.
  • The Soviet Union Lead Luna: Deployed three successful robotic sample return missions in the 1970s. The last, the Luna 24, retrieved samples in 1976 from Mare Crisium, or “Sea of Crises” - a lunar basin.
  • The Apollo-Luna sample zone of the moon, while critical to our understanding, was undertaken in an area that comprises far less than half the lunar surface.
  • Subsequent data from orbital remote sensing missions have shown a wider diversity of rock types, mineralogies and ages than represented in the Apollo-Luna sample collections.
• China’s Moon Missions:
  
  • China made its first lunar landing in 2013.
  • In January 2019, the Chang’e-4 probe touched down on the far side of the moon, the first by any nation’s space probe.
    
    • Chang’e is a series of lunar probes launched by China National Space administration.
• China’s Other Space Plans:
  
  • It aims to have a permanent manned space station in service by around 2022.
  • Within the next decade, China plans to establish a robotic base station to conduct unmanned exploration in the south polar region of the moon.
    
    • It is to be developed through the Chang’e-6, 7 and 8 missions through the 2020s.
• Other Important Mission to Moon:
  
  • Chandrayaan 3 by ISRO
  • Artemis Mission by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Source:TH

IRNSS: Part of World Wide Radio Navigation System

Why in News

The Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has recognised the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) as a component of the World Wide Radio Navigation System (WWRNS) during its 102^nd session held virtually.

• The IMO is the United Nations specialised agency responsible for the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of marine and atmospheric pollution by ships.

Key Points

• India has become the fourth country in the world to have its independent regional navigation satellite system recognised by the IMO as a part of the World Wide Radio Navigation System (WWRNS).
• The other three countries that have its navigation systems recognised by the IMO are the USA, Russia and China.
• Significance:
  
  • The IMO has accepted IRNSS as an alternative navigation module in Indian waters. It was in use only on a pilot basis earlier but now all merchant vessels are authorised to use it, even small fishing vessels.
  • The navigation system can now replace GPS in the Indian Ocean waters upto 1500 km from the Indian boundary.
    
    • IRNSS is a regional and not a global navigation system.
    • With the recognition as a component of the WWRNS, the Indian navigation system is similarly placed as Global Positioning System (GPS - USA), most commonly used by marine shipping vessels across the world or the Russian Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS).
  • It is being considered as a significant achievement towards the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative.
    
    • Apart from navigational benefits it has strategic importance as it reduces overdependence on the global navigation system.
• Important Navigation Systems:
  
  • USA navigation system: The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system that consists of 24 orbiting satellites.
  • Glonass is Russian Satellite Navigation System considered as a counterpart to GPS of the USA.
  • BeiDou Navigation Satellite System of China: A hybrid constellation consisting of around 30 satellites in three kinds of orbits.
  • Galileo is Europe's Global Navigation Satellite System.

Source:IE

Land-attack Version of BrahMos Missile

Why in News

Recently, India has successfully test-fired a land-attack version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

• The test by the Army comes over a month after the Naval version of BrahMos was successfully test fired from Indian Navy’s indigenously-built stealth destroyer INS Chennai.

Key Points

• Features of New Land-attack Version:
  
  • The range of the missile has been extended to 400 km from the original 290 km but its speed has been maintained at 2.8 Mach or almost three times the speed of sound.
  • The test was done in a “top-attack” configuration.
    
    • Most modern missiles, including BrahMos, can be fired in both top-attack and direct attack modes.
    • In top attack mode, the missile is required to climb sharply after launch, travel at a certain altitude and then fall on top of the target.
    • In direct attack mode, the missile travels at a lower altitude, directly striking the target.
• Significance of the Test:
  
  • These tests are a display of India’s tactical cruise missile triad, i.e. launch capability from land, sea and air platforms.
    
    • India has already deployed a sizable number of the original BrahMos missiles and other key assets in several strategic locations along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.
  • The test marks the achievement of a critical milestone in enhancing India’s capability of engaging enemy’s vitally important targets in depth areas.
  • In the last two-and-half months, India has test fired a number of missiles including an anti-radiation missile named Rudram-1 which is planned to be inducted into service by 2022.
• BrahMos Missile:
  
  • An amalgamation of the names of Brahmaputra river and Moskva river (Russia), BrahMos missiles are designed, developed and produced by BrahMos Aerospace.
    
    • BrahMos Aerospace is a joint venture company set up by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Mashinostroyenia of Russia.
  • It is a medium-range supersonic cruise missile which can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land.
    
    • Cruise missiles are defined as “an unmanned self-propelled guided vehicle that sustains flight through aerodynamic lift for most of its flight path and whose primary mission is to place an ordnance or special payload on a target.”
    • Depending upon the speed, such missiles are classified as Subsonic (around 0.8 Mach), Supersonic (2-3 Mach) and Hypersonic cruise missiles (more than 5 Mach).
  • It is the world’s fastest supersonic cruise missile, as well as the fastest anti-ship cruise missile in operation.
  • It operates on the "Fire and Forget" principle, i.e it does not require further guidance after launch.
  • The missile has a flight range upto 290-km. However, India's entry into the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) has extended the range of the BrahMos missile to reach 450-600 km.
  • Various versions of BrahMos, including those that can be fired from land, warships, submarines and Sukhoi-30 fighter jets, have already been developed and successfully tested in the past.
    
    • A hypersonic version of the missile, capable of reaching a speed of 5 Mach, is under development.

Source: IE