DAILY NEWSPAPER ANALYSIS THE HINDU & BUSINESS STANDARD (27 TH JUNE,2018)
Transplanting best practices Heart transplantation has always been in the public eye right from the time Christiaan Barnard performed the first successful human heart transplant in 1967, in Cape Town, Africa. Controversy in India over a large percentage of foreign nationals receiving cardiac transplants from deceased donors in India. Dr. Sen s transplants as well as India s first successful cardiac transplant in 1994 (by P. Venugopal at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi) were performed in public institutions. Market pressures Organ transplantation in India (this includes Tamil Nadu) largely became a private sector activity. The rules of market medicine thus dictate who the organs go to. Unlike the liver and kidneys, a heart transplant cannot be performed with a living donor. Patients with advanced heart failure from certain countries which do not have a deceased donor programme have no option but to try their luck in India. As these are largely performed in corporate hospitals, the costs in India are well beyond a large majority of the local population. Cardiovascular practice in India is largely dominated by bypass and stenting for ischemic heart disease partly because this is a cash cow. Perfect hearts of young deceased donors remaining unutilised for the lack of recipients.
Revisit policy While ensuring the credibility of the process in the public eye lies at the heart of deceased organ donation, we need to go beyond just general calls for transparency. Hard policy changes needs to be made i. Strengthening the capacity of the public sector, ii. Subsidising transplantation and iii. iv. Perhaps enabling affirmative action in the allocation process in favour of public hospitals. Every fifth or sixth organ could be mandatorily allotted to a public hospital or the private centre can be asked to perform a certain proportion of transplants free. One of the secrets behind Europe s high donation rates is public trust in their respective nationalised health schemes thus in India, public hospitals must be brought into the loop for deceased donor programmes. While India has enthusiastically embraced the idea of a liberalised economy and immediately applied it to health care, many countries have insulated their health-care systems from the ravages of the market. This too is at the heart of this matter.
Saving Delhi s trees Delhi residents have been protesting against the government s approval for felling over 14,000 trees in south Delhi. These areas of Delhi have served as the lungs of the city. The projects, involving huge investments and wealthy, influential contractors, were designed by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and approved by the Union Cabinet in 2017 They have been declared smart and green despite their ecological impacts such as high water usage and tree loss. Large constructions A difficult task in India The sector has systematically lobbied to be excluded from the environmental norms of the country and has been successful in carving out special privileges for itself in the environment clearance process. From 2006, most construction projects have been approved based on an application form instead of detailed assessment reports. In 2014, schools, colleges and hostels for educational institutions were exempted from taking environment clearances as long as they followed specific sustainability parameters. As a result of these privileges, construction projects contribute significantly to urban air and noise pollution and high water consumption in cities. The government could heed residents voices on redesigning the city.
Warm-up For MAINS { Q & A} Question. Despite various initiatives to make tissue and organ donations transparent, there are various instances of corruption and violation of rules in organ transplantation. What are the issues with existing legal mechanisms? Also, what are the reasons behind the shortage of organs for transplantation? Examine. { 250 words, 15 marks } ( GS-II: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector or Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.)
DAILY MCQs(PRELIMS ORIENTED)- {27 th June 2018} Q 1. Which of the following statements is/are correct about National Green Tribunal (NGT)? 1. Establishment of NGT made National Environment Appellate Authority defunct. 2. Mumbai is one of the place of sitting of Tribunal. a. Only 1 b. Only 2 c. Both d. None of the above Q 2. Which of the following is not bordered by Black Sea? A) Ukraine B) Georgia C) Turkey D) Hungary
Q 1. ANSWER: Only 1 Explanation: - National Green Tribunal (NGT) became operational with Justice Lokeshwar Singh as first Chairman in 2010. - Currently it is chaired by Justice Swatanter Kumar since 2012. - NGT was established by National Green Tribunal Act 2010. - The five places of sitting of Tribunal are at Delhi, Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai. Q 2. ANSWER: D) HUNGARY Black sea borders - includes countries such as -Romania, Turkey, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia, and Georgia.
Q 3. India may attract U.S. sanctions under the latter s CAATS Act (CAATSA) if a) It signs a medium multi-role combat aircraft deal with Russia b) It files a case citing discrimination with the WTO if the U.S. did not grant exemptions from higher tariffs on steel and aluminium c) It does not strengthen its Intellectual Property Rights regime along the lines of TRIPS Plus provisions d) The US Department of Commerce believes India is not doing enough to address the India-US trade imbalance Q 4. Which of the following reports is/are published by RBI : a) Financial Stability report. b) Interest Subvention report. c) Index of Economic freedom. d) An economy for the 99%. Optionsi. A,B & C ii. A & D iii. A & C iv. A & B
Question 3) Solution: (a) Under the new U.S. legislation, CAATSA (Countering America s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act), the U.S. can impose sanctions on any company which engages with Russia in the defence or energy sector. The law (signed by the President of USA in 2017), among other things, imposed new sanctions on Iran, Russia and North Korea. Question 4) Solution : (4) A & B. Since, Index of Economic freedom- Heritage foundation. An economy for the 99% - Oxfam