Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Indians add more years to their lives

News

• A first-of-its kind report on the ‘India State-Level Disease Burden,’ released , has revealed severe inequalities in the disease burden in different States, suggesting the need for more specific health planning.

Beyond News:

• The report was prepared under the Disease Burden Initiative, a joint project between the Indian Council of Medical Research, Public Health Foundation of India, and Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Important Findings:

• Life expectancy at birth improved significantly during 1990 to 2016 — from 59.7 years and 58.3 years for females and males respectively in 1990 to 3 years for females and 66.9 years for males in 2016.
• But in a measure of the continuing inequalities in public health, life expectancy for females in Uttar Pradesh was 66.8 years — below the national average and 12 years less than in Kerala, where it was 78.7 years.
• The study found that the per person burden from many of the leading infectious and non-communicable diseases varies 5-10 times between different States and malnutrition continues to be the single largest risk for health loss in India, which is higher among females and is particularly severe in the empowered action group States and Assam.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

Creamy layer case referred to Statute Bench

News:

• Reopening the debate on the application of “creamy layer” for reservations for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in government jobs, the Supreme Court referred the question to a Constitution Bench.
• A Bench said clarity is required on the “application of creamy layer in situations of completing claims within the same races, communities, groups or parts thereof of SC/ST communities notified by the President under Articles 341 and 342”.

Beyond News

• This question on the application of creamy layer principle in SC/ST quotas comes 11 years after a five-judge Constitution Bench in the  Nagaraj judgment of 2006 had decided that creamy layer should be excluded from the reservations for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in government jobs.
• The two-judge Bench’s order is based on a batch of petitions for clarity on Article 16 (4), which deals with the State’s powers for providing for appointments or posts for “any backward class of citizens”; on Article 16 (4A), which arms the State with power to make provisions for quota in promotion with consequential seniority to SC/ST communities; and finally Article 16 (4B) on unfilled reservation vacancies.

India, Russia chopper deal on right track

News

• India and Russia are in the final stages of concluding the deal to build Kamov-226T utility helicopters in India.

Beyond News

• A Russian team is in India for technical discussions on the JV with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL).
• India and Russia have concluded an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) for 200 helicopters estimated to cost over $1 billion.
• As per the deal, 60 helicopters will be imported from Russia and at least another 140 built in India by the HAL with technology transfer.
• After the RFQ is issued to the JV, the final commercial deal should be concluded very quickly as there are fixed timelines on the process, the source added.

The Kamov-226T helicopters are meant to replace the ageing and obsolete Cheetah and Chetak fleets of the Indian armed forces. The number is expected to go beyond 200 given the large requirement from the services.

Post-Doklam, India asserts itself in China’s backyard

News:
Displaying convergence of interests with the new quadrilateral grouping with U.S., Japan and Australia, India  reached out to China’s backyard, addressing an array of issues ranging from the tension in the Korean peninsula to freedom of navigation and sought a crackdown on chemical weapons during the ASEAN and the East Asia summits.

Beyond News:

A high-level Indian official told  that New Delhi has emerged as a more dependable partner for South-East Asia following the Doklam faceoff with China, and indicated that the South-East Asian countries expect New Delhi to be assertive with Beijing.

Ties with India going strong: U.S.

News

• A senior White House official has said that India-U.S. relationship is going to get stronger and better under the Trump administration in a wide range of areas, including regional security issues, trade and economy, and terrorism.

Beyond News

• India is a natural ally of the United States, because of the shared commitment to democracy and to counter-terrorism, and because the region is so vital to the U.S. security.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Wholesale inflation accelerates to 3.59%

News

• Inflation at the wholesale level accelerated to 3.59% in October, a six-month high, on the back of quickening food price inflation and firming oil prices, according to official data released by the Ministry of Commerce.

Beyond News

• The Wholesale Price Index had, in comparison, registered a growth of 2.6% in September.

This is due to adverse weather conditions and the situation should ease out in the coming months.

• Within the Index, the primary articles segment saw inflation quickening to 3.33% in October from 0.15% in September.
• This was mostly driven by food and fuel prices. The food articles segment saw inflation at 4.3% in October, climbing from 2.04% in the previous month. The fuel segment saw a much slower contraction in prices in October, of 2.1%, compared with a contraction of 11.55% in September.
• The food index — which is a composite of the food segment within primary articles, and the manufactured food category — saw inflation accelerating to 3.23% in October from 2.99% in September.

The minerals segment also saw inflation quickening sharply to 14.8% compared with a contraction of 7.08% in September.

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