Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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U.P. site likely to get ‘national importance’ tag

News

• An ancient site with chariots, swords and other objects pointing to the presence of a warrior class around 4,000 years ago in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat district could be declared a site of national importance

Beyond News

• The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has started the process of declaring the site at Sadikpur Sinauli, which is spread over 28 hectares, of national importance, issuing a notification seeking objections, if any, from the public for a period of two months.
• After taking any objections into consideration, the Union government is likely to proceed with notifying the site as one of national importance.
• The site, where excavation and preservation work is still ongoing after being started in 2018, was deemed to have national importance due to the finds uncovered.
• Among the treasures unearthed are three chariots, legged coffins, shields, swords and helmets all which point towards a warrior class that must have existed around 2,000 BCE.
• ASI said the site, which is 68 km north-east of Delhi, was the “largest necropolis of the late Harappan period datable to around early part of second millennium BCE.
• A legged coffin with steatite inlays and holding a female skeleton was found in a burial pit, along with jewellery, pottery and an antenna sword near the head. Remains of four furnaces were found in another part of the site.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

Union Health Secretary flags malpractices in hospitals, sends patients’ rights charter to States

News

• A patient has the right to know all the rates charged for specific services in a hospital, hospitals should boldly display the cost of procedures in local and English language and patients should pay the fees agreed upon and never resort to violence.
• These are some of the points in a detailed charter of patients’ rights that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare wants all the State governments to adopt.

Beyond News

• Raising a red flag on malpractices in hospitals across the country, Ministry Secretary in a circular, asked all the States and Union Territories to adopt the charter so that the common grievances of patients and clinical establishments are addressed.
• The circular said the government had been receiving many complaints of malpractices in clinical establishments, particularly in large corporate hospitals such as billing of arbitrary and exorbitant charges, gross deficiency in services provided, not following standard treatment protocol, total lack of transparency in diagnosis and treatment, forcing patients to avail diagnostic services and purchase of medicines, consumables and implants from some select vendors, etc.
• Taking a cue from these complaints, the National Human Rights Commission had shared a draft of patients’ rights charter with the Ministry and it was discussed at the 11th meeting of the National Council of Clinical Establishments, an apex statutory body consisting of representatives of all major stakeholders.
• The national council recommended a set of Do’s and Don’t’s for patients and clinical establishments so that the fundamental grievances and concerns are addressed.
• The charter lists 13 rights of patients, including the right to seek a second opinion with investigation reports provided by the treating hospital, the right to the presence of a female during examination of a female patient by a male practitioner, right to non-discrimination about treatment and behaviour on the basis of HIV status, or other health condition, religion, ethnicity, gender age, sexual orientation etc., right to informed consent before digitisation of medical records, right to access case papers, patient records, investigation reports, detailed bill etc.
• The charter also lists six responsibilities of patients that include providing accurate health history, pay hospital fees agreed upon, respect the dignity of doctors and other hospitals staff and never resort to violence.

Bangladesh, South Korea to show DD India

News

• The Indian government has signed agreements with Bangladesh and South Korea, under which Doordarshan India will be available in those countries.

Beyond News

• The move is part of a robust cultural exchange, in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Act East policy.
• The government has also approved the proposal of Prasar Bharati for making KBS World, an English 24×7 channel of the government of Republic of South Korea, available on the DD Free Dish.
• Simultaneously, people of South Korea will be able to view DD India in their country.

Uptick for India on sanitation in UN report

News

• India has made great gains in providing basic sanitation facilities since the start of the millennium, accounting for almost two thirds of the 650 million people globally who stopped practising open defecation between 2000 and 2017.

Beyond News

• However, a monitoring report by UN organisations released also shows that there has been absolutely no growth in the population with access to piped water facilities over that period, while large inequalities remain between rural and urban areas.
• As for drinking water, the Joint Monitoring Programme report by UNICEF and WHO shows that India has increased the percentage of its population with access to a protected drinking water source less than 30 minutes away, from 79% in 2000 to 93% in 2017.
• However, the percentage of households getting piped water has remained stagnant at 44% over the 17-year period.
• With regard to sanitation, India’s record has been better. The country is responsible for almost single-handedly dragging the world towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal of ending open defecation.
• The South Asian region, including India, accounted for almost three-fourths of the population who stopped defecating in the open between 2000 and 2017. Of the 2.1 billion people who gained access to basic sanitation services over this time period globally, 486 million live in India.
• The millions of new toilets which mark the progress of the Swachh Bharat mission are, however, producing large amounts of solid and liquid waste that India simply does not have the ability to treat and dispose of safely.
• According to the report, only 30% of the country’s wastewater is treated at plants providing at least secondary treatment, in comparison to an 80% global average.
• The human right to sanitation implies that people not only have a right to a hygienic toilet but also have a right not to be negatively affected by unmanaged faecal waste. This is most relevant to poor and marginalized groups who tend to be disproportionately affected by other people’s unmanaged faecal sludge and sewage, says the report, highlighting inequalities beyond toilet access.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Panel will study the ‘1 nation, 1 poll’ issue

News

• A committee will be formed by the Narendra Modi-led government to prepare a road map for “One nation, one election”, Defence Minister announced here at the end of an over four-hour meeting with presidents of 21 political parties.

Beyond News

• Eleven political parties, including the Congress, skipped the meeting convened by the Prime Minister.
• The meeting also discussed increasing productivity of Parliament, 150th birth anniversary of Mahatama Gandhi and 75th anniversary of the Indian independence movement.

People in richer nations have low trust in vaccines: survey

News

• People in Europe have the lowest levels of trust in vaccines, according to a global survey of public attitudes toward health and science published.

Findings

• The study found that people living in high-income countries have the lowest confidence in vaccines, a result that ties in to the rise of the anti-vaccination movement, in which people refuse to believe in the benefits of vaccinations or claim that the treatment is dangerous.
• And France has the lowest levels of confidence, according to the survey.
• A third (33%) of French people do not agree that immunisation is safe.
• Globally, 79% of people agreed that vaccines are safe and 84% said they were effective.
• Bangladesh and Rwanda had the highest levels of confidence in vaccines, with almost 100% in both countries agreeing they were safe, effective and important for children to have.
• The lowest confidence levels in relation to vaccines were in Western Europe where more than a fifth (22%) of people disagree that vaccines are safe, and in Eastern Europe where 17% disagreed that vaccines are effective.
• An estimated 169 million children missed out on the vital first dose of the measles vaccine between 2010 and 2017, according to a UN report.

A water clinic for elephants opens on the banks of the Yamuna

News

• India has opened its first specialised hydrotherapy treatment for elephants suffering from arthritis, joint pain and foot ailments near the Wildlife SOS’ Elephant Conservation and Care Centre (ECCC), which currently houses 20 rescued elephants and is run in collaboration with the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department and the NGO Wildlife SOS.

Beyond News

• Situated on the banks of the Yamuna in Mathura, the new hydrotherapy jumbo pool is 11-foot-deep and has 21 high pressure jet sprays that create water pressure that massage the elephants’ feet and body and help in increasing blood circulation.
• The hospital started in 2018 already offers state-of-the-art modern facilities including wireless digital X-ray, laser treatment, dental X-ray, thermal imaging and ultrasonography to treat injured, sick and geriatric elephants.
• The elephants at the Wildlife SOS have been rescued from extreme distress. Some were privately owned and had the cruel history of being used for begging.
• An effective complementary treatment for the elephants’ painful joints and feet is hydrotherapy, a form of physical therapy that uses the therapeutic benefits of water to perform physical rehabilitation in animals.

India has highest data usage: report

News

• India has the highest average data usage per smartphone, reaching 9.8 GB per month at the end of 2018, according to a new study.

Findings

• The report, released, also forecasts that this figure is likely to double to 18 GB per month per smartphone by 2024.
• In 2018, mobile data traffic per smartphone per month stood at 7 GB for North America, 3.1 GB for Latin America, 6.7 GB for Western Europe, 4.5 GB for Central and Eastern Europe, 3 GB for Middle East and Africa, 7.1 GB for northeast Asia and 3.6 GB for southeast Asia and Oceania region.
• Mobile video traffic is fuelling the total data traffic as users are spending more time streaming and sharing video.
• Total smartphone subscriptions in the region is likely to reach 1.1 billion by 2024, growing at 11% CAGR, while the total mobile broadband subscriptions in India are expected to grow from about 610 million in 2018 to 1.25 billion in 2024.
• LTE would remain the most dominant access technology in the region up to 2024, even as 5G subscriptions are expected to grow during this period.
• Interestingly, Indian smartphone users are willing to pay more than 66% premium for 5G services.

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