Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

21st century India cannot shun leprosy patients: SC

News
The Supreme Court declared in an order that,twenty-first century society cannot justify shunning persons affected by leprosy or keeping them hidden in homes and away from the mainstream
Beyond News
The court asked the Centre to respond in eight weeks to a call to repeal 119 Central and State laws in practice since the 1950s that discriminate against leprosy patientsdespite the fact that modern medicine completely cures the disease.
A bench,acting on a PIL filed by Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, found that these statutory laws continue to recognise superstitions that leprosy is “infectious and has something to do with genetics”.
There are 119 laws that discriminate against persons affected by leprosy in broadly the following five ways:
(i) cause stigmatization and indignity to persons affected by leprosy
(ii) isolate/segregate persons affected by leprosy
(iii) deny them access to public services
(iv) impose disqualifications on them under personal laws
(v) bar them from occupying or standing for public posts or office.

UAE to open new consular offices in India

• News
  Boosting bilateral engagement with India, the United Arab Emirates will open several new consular centres in India and invest $75 billion of its sovereign wealth fund in the country.
  Beyond News

  Apart from renewed focus on diplomatic and consular contacts, the envoy said that his country stands with India on counter-terror cooperation firmed up with Mr. Modi’s visit to the UAE in August 2015.
  UAE has put in place a mechanism to oversee investment of $75 billion of its sovereign wealth fund into the Indian economy over the next decade.
  The UAE sovereign wealth fund, known as Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), has been a major issue that both sides have been trying to harness.

• The affirmation of continued investment followed a day after ADIA bought stakes in KKR India Financial Services Pvt Ltd, a major non-banking financial company in India.
• UAE and India have held two rounds of strategic dialogue. Significantly, terrorism is also a criterion on which the country has been trying to corner neighbour Qatar, which is facing isolation within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) which began its summit meeting in Kuwait .
• GCC, host of more than seven million Indian workers and professionals, is a key source of foreign remittances to India, and stability of the region is in India’s interest.

Kerala to do own caste, socio-economic census

News
Central government holding back the all-important data on castes from its Socio-Economic and Caste Census, Kerala find out how each of the castes is faring in the State.
Why its important?
The socio-economic indicators of castes are required to understand the social standing of each caste in society.
The caste data are also a key factor in fixing the reservation quota for Other Backward Communities and other eligible groups in government services.
Beyond News:
The Kerala State Commission for Backward Classes (KSCBC) has begun steps to hold an exclusive socio-economic and caste census in the State.
The Kerala Institute for Research, Training, and Development Studies of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes had declined to entertain the commission’s demand for conducting the survey, which warranted a separate study.
The document becomes all the more important when there is a demand for revising the list of Other Backward Classes (OBC) in the State.
Going by the provisions of the Kerala State Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993, those OBCs which are not adequately represented in the government services shall be given reservation in appointments or posts.
The caste data are also required for ascertaining the reservation quota of various beneficiary castes in the Central government services.

Finalising policy against drug abuse, govt. tells SC

News
The Centre informed the Supreme Court that it is finalising a National Policy on Drug Demand Reduction to combat the rising menace of drug and alcohol abuse, especially among children.
Beyond News
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment informed a Bench that 18 States have responded to an advisory sent by the Centre to formulate an action plan for combating drug abuse.
The Ministry, in an affidavit, said it had assigned the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre under the All India Institute of Medical Sciences to conduct a national survey on the extent and pattern of substance use.
A final report is expected by March 2018.
The affidavit was on a petition filed by Telugu Yuva Shakti member, for a CBI investigation in connection with the recent drug scandal involving Telegu celebrities.

Bill passed, but no end to trouble over KPME Act

• News
  Less than two weeks after the State legislature adopted the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (Amendments) Bill, trouble is brewing over it again.
  Beyond News
  The Justice Vikramjit Sen Committee, set up to recommend and draft amendments to the KPME Act, 2007, had suggested that government hospitals be brought under the ambit of the Act to make them accountable. However, the committee’s report was set aside and the Health Department drafted the amendments.
  The inclusion of public hospitals under the Bill is not possible as the principal Act of 2007 is titled Karnataka Private Medical Establishments Act. Including government hospitals will mean changing the very name of the Act

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Cyclone relief measures intensified in Ernakulam

News
Tracking the 115 fishing boats that reportedly left the harbours in the district and went missing during Cyclone Ockhi has been listed as the prime agenda of the rescue mission.
Beyond News
A host of agencies will come together to search for the missing vessels.
The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by the District Collector here to take stock of the relief and rehabilitation measures in the aftermath of the cyclone.
Arrangements, including transportation, will be made to send back fishermen rescued by the Navy and undergoing treatment in the hospital as soon as they are discharged.
Plan fund allocated to the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) will be utilised for the treatment of the injured and their transportation.
The Suchitwa Mission has been asked to complete sanitation measures in three days in areas where septic tanks were damaged in the natural calamity.
All possible measures will be taken to prevent the outbreak of epidemics.

• Officials of the health and social welfare departments have been deployed to undertake chlorination in the affected areas.

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