DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS 11 MAY
EDITORIALS
Responding to COVID-19 at the grassroots
- Mahatma Gandhi envisioned that a free India would rest on a foundation of Gram Panchayats, village republics that governed locally and epitomised Swaraj in practice.
- B.R. Ambedkar was skeptical and described the villages as caste-ridden, unequal village society as a cesspool. Yet, he was not unequivocally against decentralisation.
About 73rd Constitutional amendment:
- The 73rd Constitutional Amendment mandates the constitution of Panchayats at the district, intermediate and village levels as devolved institutions of self-government.
- It provides for the endowment of powers and responsibilities to plan and implement programmes for social justice and economic development.
- This fulfilled the vision of the Mahatma, whilst addressing Dr. Ambedkar’s concerns by providing for reservation in both the elected seats and leadership positions of sarpanches, mukhiyas and adhyakshas.
Implementation of 73rd amendment:
- Some States have walked the talk by devolving untied grants to Panchayats so that they can plan flexibly and implement locally relevant initiatives.
- However, in most, the substantive spirit of the constitutional design has been obstructed by politicians and bureaucrats, who fear the loss of their patronage powers.
- Panchayats are not given enough funds
- They are bypassed by State-controlled line departments that continue to implement programmes falling within the rightful domain of the former.
Pandemics and Political systems:
- The plague waves of the 15th century, which killed nearly three quarters of England and nine-tenths of people in some quarters of Europe, also undermined the political position of the Pope.
- Will the novel coronavirus crisis trigger a reaction of greater faith in the local governments, or will it result in more centralization?
- In Kerala, administering the lockdown with firmness and compassion and alleviating the distress caused to the poor has also been largely due to Kerala’s empowered Panchayats.
- No State has such a Panchayats-friendly fiscal system like Kerala.
- Nearly a third of Kerala’s plan funds have been given to the Panchayats as flexible development and maintenance funds, a policy that the government follows even though it suffers from chronic fiscal stress.
- The Kudumbashree system, which encourages women to form self-help groups and their federations, acts as an organised civil society counterpoint to the Panchayats, collaborating with and yet holding to account the latter for their performance.
- Kudumbashree has also been an effective incubator for women leaders who have then stepped into the political sphere; nearly 65% of all women elected to the Panchayats are Kudumbashree members.
- Kerala’s Panchayats were COVID-19-ready because years ago, they stepped in as care givers for the old, the weak and the marginalised.
- From their flexible funds, Panchayats feed the destitute through their Ashraya programme, and run free day care centers for the mentally and physically challenged through ‘Buds’ schools. - Moving from that to taking care of those affected by COVID-19 has been an easy transition.
Working of Karanataka Panchayat in Pandemics:
- First, it would have been impossible to impose the lockdown in the State effectively without the cooperation and support of the Panchayats.
- Governance abhors vacuums, and that is what is prompting the revival of democratic decentralisation. As locked-in senior officials cannot oversee their frontline workers, Panchayats have stepped in and are taking charge.
- Government guidelines are giving flexibility to Panchayats to decide appropriate responses to the pandemic.
- Nearly all Panchayats in Karnataka passed a formal resolution that no one in their respective areas will go hungry.
- Gram Panchayats and village-level COVID-19 task forces have begun to easily and readily function to handle the crisis.
- The Panchayats-level task force meets twice a week.
- The primary health centre doctor, auxiliary nurse midwives and accredited social health activists are part of the task force in which all elected representatives and Panchayats-level staff participate.
- Decisions taken on COVID-19 related management such as implementing the lockdown, disinfection, providing food to those who need it and ensuring the supply of other essential services are implemented by the village- level task forces.
Challenges:
- For political reasons Karnataka have passed laws that create a powerful framework for democratic decentralisation.
- But in practice, the Panchayats are tied down through restricted finance and administrative controls, parallel structures, and have deputed officers who owe allegiance to their line departments rather than to the elected Panchayats body.
- Most bureaucrats support and implement this charade of devolution.
- Officers deputed from above and placed with the Panchayats, are obstructing the Panchayat’s resolution like purchase of mask.
- The five-year terms of the Panchayats will come to an end and an election is impossible in the current circumstances. A confident and caring government ought to continue with the current elected bodies functioning as administrators.
Reference: https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/responding-to-covid-19-at-the-grassroots/article31552359.ece
Six geopolitical lines will define the contours of the emerging global order
1. Rise of Asia:
- The first trend which became clear in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis is the rise of Asia.
- The 2008 financial crisis showed the resilience of the Asian economies, and even today, economic forecasts indicate that out of the G-20 countries, only China and India are likely to register economic growth during 2020.
- Asian countries have also demonstrated greater agility in tackling the pandemic compared to the United States and Europe. This is not limited to China but a number of other Asian states have shown greater responsiveness and more effective state capacity.
2. Retreat of US:
- The second trend is the retreat of the U.S. after a century of being in the forefront of shaping the global order.
- Role of US in world order: From the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations after World War I or the creation of the United Nations and Bretton Woods institutions after World War II, to leadership of the western world during the Cold War, moulding global responses to threats posed by terrorism or proliferation or climate change, the U.S. played a decisive role.
- President Donald Trump is talking about “America first” and during the current crisis, the U.S.’s efforts at cornering supplies of scarce medical equipment and medicines and acquiring biotech companies engaged in research and development in allied states, show that this may mean “America alone”.
- US’s bungled response at home to the pandemic indicates that countries are also losing trust in the U.S.’s competence.
- The U.S. still remains the largest economy and the largest military power but has lost the will and ability to lead.
Intra-European fission:
- A third trend is the European Union’s continuing preoccupation with internal challenges generated by its expansion of membership to include East European states, impact of the financial crisis among the Eurozone members, and ongoing Brexit negotiations.
- EU is facing difficulty to reach agreement on political matters e.g. relations with Russia and China.
- The trans-Atlantic divide is aggravating an intra-European rift.
- Rising populism has given greater voice to Euro-skeptics and permitted some EU members to espouse the virtues of “illiberal democracy”.
- Strains showed up when austerity measures were imposed on Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal a decade ago by the European Central Bank, persuaded by the fiscally conservative Austria, Germany and the Netherlands.
- Recently, Italy was denied medical equipment by its EU neighbours who introduced export controls, which led to China airlifting medical teams and critical supplies.
- Schengen visa or free-border movement has already become a victim to the pandemic.
- The EU will need considerable soul searching to rediscover the limits of free movement of goods, services, capital and people, the underlying theme of the European experiment of shared sovereignty.
Rising China
- A fourth trend, related to the first, is the emergence of a stronger and more assertive China.
- Its more assertive posture has taken shape under President Xi Jinping’s leadership with the call that a rejuvenated China is now ready to assume global responsibilities.
- U.S. feels betrayed because it assisted China’s rise in the hope that an economically integrated China would become politically more open.
- In recent years, the U.S.-China relationship moved from cooperation to competition; and now with trade and technology wars, it is moving steadily to confrontation.
- The pandemic has seen increasing rhetoric on both sides and with the election season in the U.S., confrontation will only increase.
- A partial economic de-coupling had begun and will gather greater momentum.
- Chinese Belt and Road Initiative seeks to connect China to the Eurasia and Africa through both maritime and land routes by investing trillions of dollars in infrastructure building as a kind of pre-emptive move against any U.S. attempts at containment.
- It will further lead to confrontation with USA.
Fading organisations (Challenges to Global organisations):
- With COVID-19, international and multilateral bodies are nowhere on the scene.
- The World Health Organisation (WHO) was the natural candidate to lead global efforts against the health crisis but it has become a victim of politics.
- The UN Security Council (UNSC), the G-7 and the G-20 (latter was structured to co-ordinate a global response to the 2008 financial crisis) are paralysed at when the world faces the worst recession since 1929.
- Agencies such as WHO have lost autonomy over decades as their regular budgets shrank, forcing them to increasingly rely on voluntary contributions sourced largely from western countries and foundations.
- U.S. leadership strengthened the Bretton Woods institutions in recent decades (The World Bank spends 250% of WHO’s budget on global health) because the U.S.’s voting power gives it a blocking veto.
- The absence of a multilateral response today highlights the long-felt need for reform of these bodies but this cannot happen without collective global leadership.
The energy factor:
- Growing interest in renewables and green technologies on account of climate change concerns,
- A looming economic recession and depressed oil prices will exacerbate internal tensions in West Asian countries which are solely dependent on oil revenues.
- Long-standing rivalries in the region have often led to local conflicts but can now create political instability in countries where regime structures are fragile.
- Rising nationalism and protectionist responses will prolong the economic recession into a depression, sharpening inequalities and polarisations.
Reference: https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/the-trends-shaping-the-post-covid-19-world/article31552150.ece
POLITY
Norms issued for restart of industrial units
Norms by Disaster management authority:
- Instructions have been issued for safekeeping of hazardous and flammable materials.
- Guidelines pertain to chemical disasters, management of chemical (terrorism) disasters, and strengthening of safety and security for transport of petroleum, oil and lubricants (POL) tankers also issued.
- Needs to update the off-site disaster management plan of the respective major accident hazard (MAH).
- While restarting the unit, consider the first week as the trial or test run period;
- Ensure all safety protocols;
- Try not to achieve high production targets.
- Employees should be sensitised to the need for identifying abnormalities such as strange sounds or smell, exposed wires, vibrations, leaks, smoke, abnormal wobbling, irregular grinding or other potentially hazardous signs.
Evacuation posed unique challenges, says Vice-Admiral
- While the Navy had carried out some massive evacuations in the past, it was altogether different this time around thanks to the specific requirements for COVID-19.
Steps taken by NAVY:
- Navy had to ensure safety of the crew as well as the evacuees.
- The crew remains as a unit for 14 days in harbour before the ship is deployed and proper screening is done.
- For the safety of the evacuees, relevant areas onboard the ships have been sanitised, additional medical gear and personnel — including women officers and Military Nursing Service personnel — and isolation facilities created on board.
- Crew rationalisation was done in view of safety measures like social distancing.
SECURITY
BPRD scraps online manual on identifying fake news
- The Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) removed the manual to check fake news from its website.
Reasons behind scrapping:
- There were some technical errors. The report is being corrected and will be published soon again.
About Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD):
- The Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), was set up on 28 August 1970 in furtherance of the objective of the Government of India for the modernisation of police forces.
- It has evolved as a multifaceted, consultancy organisation. At present, it has 4 divisions – Research, Development, Training and Correctional Administration.
ENVIRONMENT
KNP digs trench for boars as swine fever toll rises
- Kaziranga National Park (KNP) authorities have dug a six-foot deep and 2-km-long trench to prevent intermingling of wild boars with domesticated pigs to prevent spread of African swine fever.
About Kaziranga National Park:
- Kaziranga National Park is a national park in the Golaghat, Karbi Anglong and Nagaon districts of the state of Assam, India.
- The sanctuary, which hosts two-thirds of the world's great one-horned rhinoceroses, is a World Heritage Site.
- Kaziranga is home to the highest density of tigers among protected areas in the world, and was declared a Tiger Reserve in 2006.
- Kaziranga is recognized as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International for conservation of avifaunal species.
- Kaziranga is a vast expanse of tall elephant grass, marshland, and dense tropical moist broadleaf forests, criss-crossed by four major rivers, including the Brahmaputra.
African Swine Fever:
- African swine fever (ASF) is a severe viral disease affecting domestic and wild pigs;
- It is responsible for serious production and economic losses;
- This transboundary animal disease (TAD) can be spread by live or dead pigs, domestic or wild, and pork products;
- Furthermore, transmission can also occur via contaminated feed and fomites (non-living objects) such as shoes, clothes, vehicles, knives, equipment etc., due to the high environmental resistance of ASF virus.
- There is no approved vaccine against ASF (unlike classical swine fever (‘Hog Cholera’) which is caused by a different virus)
- Historically, outbreaks have been reported in Africa and parts of Europe, South America, and the Caribbean. More recently (since 2007) the disease has been reported in multiple countries across Africa, Asia and Europe, in both domestic and wild pigs.
HEALTH
NIV develops test to detect antibodies
- The National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, has developed an immunological assay — enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) — to detect antibodies that the body develops in response to infection by the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus.
- The test will detect antibodies in blood samples.
- ELISA is routinely used for detecting HIV infection.
- NIV had transferred the technology to ZydusCadila for mass-scale production.
- The Drug Controller General had granted commercial production and marketing permission to ZydusCadila.
- This is the first time India has developed an indigenous ELISA test for coronavirus.
Significance:
- The ELISA test developed by NIV gains significance as the rapid antibody tests imported from China was found to be unreliable.
- The ELISA test will be used to screen 30,000 samples from 75 hotspot districts to understand the extent of spread of the virus in the community.
- Since the ELISA test is based on detection of antibodies, it can only help in knowing if the person has been previously infected by coronavirus.
About ELISA Test:
- An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, also called ELISA or EIA, is a test that detects and measures antibodies in your blood.
- This test can be used to determine if you have antibodies related to certain infectious conditions.
- Antibodies are proteins that your body produces in response to harmful substances called antigens.
- ELISA is often used as a screening tool before more in-depth tests are ordered.
About National Institute of Virology (NIV):
- The National Institute of Virology, Pune is an Indian virology research institute, and one of the translational science cells part of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
- It has been designated as a WHO H5 reference laboratory for SE Asia region.
SOCIETY
Tying up with Todas to keep the virus at bay
- More than a hundred women and indigenous Toda artisans from the Nilgiris are producing thousands of stylish, embroidered masks for local residents, police, and sanitary workers.
About Toda tribe:
- Toda people are a Dravidian ethnic group who live in the Nilgiri Mountains of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
- The Toda traditionally live in settlements called mund, consisting of three to seven small thatched houses, constructed in the shape of half-barrels and located across the slopes of the pasture, on which they keep domestic buffalo.
- The Toda language is a member of the Dravidian family.
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