Long time learning from fukishima

There is not much information of significance from prelims point of view. So i am listing out only key facts

 

·         India lies between zone 2,3,4,5

·         Zone 5: punjab, himalayas, north east India, kutch

·         Zone 4: dellhi. Indo-gangetic plain, Jammu, bihar

·         India and iceland are working on seismic earthquake anticipation and preparedness

Way ahead

·         Transparent safety audit of nuclear reactors

·         Re-assess engineering and architectural design of our infrastructure

Problem of abundance

·         Food management policy involves

o   Procurement

o   Distribution

o   Maintian buffer

o   Price stability

·         This is done with help of tools like

o   Minimum support price

o   Central issue price

·         The nodal agency for implementing policy is FCI

·         FCI currently holds 45.8 mn tonnes of food grains which is more than twice the approved buffer stock

WHY the surplus?

·         Ban on export of food grains

·         Inability to distibute foodgrains to the poor

·         Open ended procurement policy

CONSEQUENCES

·         FCI lakcs the storage capacity for surplus.

·         As a result it is forced to store them in private godowns or leave it open

·         This has lead to rotting of grains and huge holding costs for FCI

WAY AHEAD

Reorder the procurement and food management policies

Census 2011 highlights

Pov Popu Total Ppt 2011

Judicial standards and accountability bill

1.        

·         It allows for anyone to complain against a judge

·         This effectively allows impeachment procedure to be initiated even by one person’s complaint unlike the current rule of atleast 100 MPs of lok sabha or 50 MPs of rajya sabha

·         The complaint needs to be submitted to a judicial oversight committee

·         Judicial oversight committee comprises of

o   2 sitting judges

o   A retired judge

o   An eminent person

o   Attorney general

·         But work of judicial oversight committee is effectively like a post office . hence it is a waste of time

·         Also attorney general may have to plead in front of a judge against whom there is a complaint. This creates a conflict of interest

·         Further the complaint is forwarded to a scrutiny panel to investigate the complaint and determine the future course of action

·         Scrutiny panel will comprise of 3 members of which 2 have to be from same court as that of accused judge

o   It is difficult for the members in scrutiny panel to pass an impartial judgement on their own colleague

·         The future course of action can either be

o   Minor punishment

o   Ask for voluntary resignation

o   Impeachment

·         Minor punishments will dent the credibility of judiciary

·         Another drawback is that composition and tenure of investigation committee is not defined in bill

·         The bill list out 18 judicial standards

o   This will impede the freedom and independence of judiciary

·         The entire process is kept out of scope of RTI. This will encourage a secret and regressive system

WAY AHEAD

·         Strike balance between accountability and independence of judiciary

·         Start with making the selection process transparent

Disruption of railway services is unlawful says Supreme court

• In context of frequent railway blockades and the mirchipur dalit killings in haryana,Supreme court said the following
o Destruction of public property and disruption of railways is unacceptable
o Political aprties behind such activities must be de-recognised and its leaders must be put behind bars
• This will help curtail political parties open support to such activities
• Such activities effect our international image
• This is positive move from supreme court
• Primary responsibility of state is to ensure protection of fundamental rights of citizens
• Blockades and disruptions violate art 19(1)(g).
• Hence state should be held responsible for losses occuring due to disruptions
WAY AHEAD
• Agitations are pre-planned and coordinated
• Government intellgence agencies can pre-empt and prevent such agitations
• Genuine demands must be addressed in a timely manner by state
• Efforts should be made towards having a constructive debate rather than pushing through demands with muscle and money power
• Railway minister has even offered to provide incentive to states that prevent railway blockades
IS judicial activism a necessity?
• If a government fails to perform its duty, court is forced to step in
• In case of UP jat agitation, court passed an order asking state to clear rail blockade by jats
• Within a day, the tracks were cleared
• This clearly shows states deliberately promote such agitations
• Hence judicial intervention is a necessity else situation may go out of control and elad to civil riots.

Unintended boosters

·        Economic survey Suggests that financial inclusion has lead to more money in economy and hence increasing inflation

·         However there are also some supply side factors

·         Percapita income has increased by 7% . hence the better off people are not impacted by inflation. It is the bottom quintile which is facing brunt of inflation(they 67% of household income on food)

Family medicine and medical education reform

·         What is family medicine?

o   Family medicine (FM) is a medical specialty devoted to comprehensive health care for people of all ages. It is a division of primary care that provides continuing and comprehensive health care for the individual and family across all ages

MCI

·         Last april, its board was replaced on grounds of corruption with a government nominated board of governors

·         They have been given the task of bringing about medical education reform

WHY REFORM?

·         To overcome inadequacies and inequities in our healthcare system

·         To achieve goal of quality and universal healthcare

CURRENT STATUS OF MEDICAL EDUCATION

·         Shortage of medical manpower

·         Poor quality of medical education

·         Shortage of faculty

WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS?

·         We need a sound and competent basic  health care system to cater to needs of disadvataged communities

·         Focus should be on disease prevention and promotion of ehalth in family and community

·         More focus on primary and secondary levels of healthcare

WAY AHEAD

·         Medical under grads need to be trained in family medicine

·         They should be given exposure to primarya nd secondary healthcare during their training

·         Medical colleges should set up a separate dept of family medicine

OBSTACLES

·         Health care is not of much importance in political scenario

·         Family medicine is not appealing to private sector