Current Affairs of October

IBPS-RRB Officer Scale -1 & Officer Assistent Result Out

According to top-secret documents provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, the American agency carried out intelligence gathering activities in India using at least two major programs: the first one is Boundless Informant, a data-mining system which keeps track of how many calls and emails are collected by the security agency; and the second one is PRISM, a program which intercepts and collects actual content from the networks. While Boundless Informant was used for monitoring telephone calls and access to the internet in India, PRISM collected information about certain specific issues — not related to terrorism — through Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, Apple, YouTube and several other web-based services.

Film tracing Buddhism’s journey

Noted art historian Benoy K. Behl will screen a documentary titled Culture of Compassion: Buddhism in India and ASEAN countries. The film shows the spread of Buddhism from India to other South Asian countries.

Key issue before NAC: should projects displacing tribals be resisted?

 NAC Working Group (WG) headed by tribal expert professor Virginius Xaxa — who also heads the Prime Minister’s high-level committee that is to produce a report on the socio-economic condition of tribals — will examine whether developmental interventions and constitutional safeguards  including Fifth Schedule provisions  have come to the aid of tribal people in Left Wing Extremism-affected districts in central India. It is expected to zero in on the issues of displacement arising from the various development and mining projects and wildlife sanctuaries, and atrocities and redress of grievances of undertrials.

The key question the agenda papers pose is whether “industry, mineral exploitation and other infrastructure development projects that displace tribal communities are to be invariably resisted. Or to be worked out, ensuring overall interest of the tribal communities [livelihood security, environment, culture, improved quality of life, etc].”

UPA’s emphasis

In recent months, the UPA government — and now the NAC — has once again begun to lay a special emphasis on the condition of tribals: the PM’s high-level committee is expected to come out with a report similar to the one the Sachar Committee produced on Muslims in 2006, ahead of the general election in 2014.

The background note for the September 23 meeting admits that tribals “have veered in some areas to left radicalism either as cadres or sympathisers and supporters due to their exploitation and oppression by traders, moneylenders, land-grabbers…and [in the] absence of effective and sensitive civil administration.” The large-scale displacement of tribals in recent years, it says, “has reinforced the discontent… widespread in these areas for decades.” This has happened “despite the special constitutional and legal provisions for the protection of the tribal people in the Fifth Schedule,” as well as a slew of other laws.

The note asks the WG to “assess the impact of special programmes for the LWE areas, being implemented over the past 5-6 years” and “review implementation of provisions under the Fifth Schedule and PESA, 1996, the Scheduled Tribe and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006, and the Prevention of Atrocities Act.”

The sad story of a good vaccine

The Pentavalent vaccine, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s latest addition to the immunisation programme, has run into a storm. The vaccine is no stranger to controversy. A mix of five vaccines to fight childhood diseases like diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, Hepatitis B, pneumonia and meningitis caused by Haemophilus influenzae Type B, its roll-out in nine States has been opposed after infant deaths were reported post vaccination. The Supreme Court has sent a notice to the Ministry asking why the vaccine should not be banned in the country.

 Vaccines are known to be safe and one of the best preventive tools to protect children from disease. In India, nearly three-and-a-half lakh children die of pneumonia and meningitis every year and the best way to save these lives is a vaccine.

Model worth considering

Immunisation is done by health-care providers like auxiliary nurse midwives, who are often not trained enough to recognise clinical symptoms prior to administering the vaccine and the ability to provide support in case of adverse events. Vaccinators need to be well trained in the importance of identifying underlying conditions of the child before vaccinating, make parents understand the risks of vaccinating in case of any underlying condition and ensure post-vaccination care if there is any event of crying, fever and convulsions.

So far, 82.72 lakh doses have been administered in the country and 29 serious cases of Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) have occurred following immunisation. Kerala reported 15 deaths; of these, six children had co-morbidity such as congenital heart disease, eight were Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SID), where the cause of death is unknown, and one infant probably died due to the vaccine. Haryana reported five deaths, Tamil Nadu four, Karnataka three and Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir one each. If the public health system provides quality immunisation services and ideal case management AEFI, cases can be minimised.