23 September 2022

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS

1 – WHO: GS II – Health Related Issues

Context:

• The World Health Organization (WHO) has been criticised for acting “too cautiously and too slowly” on a number of crucial issues by the Lancet Commission on lessons for the future from the COVID-19 pandemic, which was published in the journal on September 14. The commission also made a number of recommendations for future plans.
• In 1948, the World Health Organization (WHO), a division of the UN dedicated to health, was established.
• Its corporate headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland.
• There are six regional offices, 150 country offices, and 194 Member States.
• It collaborates with its member nations through the Ministries of Health, which are an intergovernmental body.
• The WHO takes the lead in matters of global health, directing the direction of health research, establishing norms and standards, outlining evidence-based policy alternatives, offering technical assistance to developing nations, and observing and analysing health trends.
• It started operating on April 7, 1948, which is now recognised as World Health Day each year.

What goals are there?

• serving as the overseeing and coordinating body for work in international health
• Creating and maintaining efficient partnerships with the UN, specialised organisations, governmental health administrations, professional associations, and any other organisations deemed necessary.
• to offer support to governments in enhancing health care upon request.
• to encourage collaboration between academic and professional organisations that benefit health.

Exactly how is it run?

• The World Health Assembly (WHA) is the governing body of WHO, and it is attended by representatives of all of its member states.
• It takes place yearly at the WHO’s main office in Geneva, Switzerland.
• The Executive Board’s detailed health agenda continues to be the main topic of this meeting.
• The 2022 assembly will be the first physical gathering since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
• The World Health Organization hosted the 75th session of the World Health Assembly in May 2022. (WHO).

Functions:

• The Organization’s policies are set by the Health Assembly.
• It oversees the Organization’s financial procedures and examines and approves the budget.
• In accordance with any agreement between the Organization and the United Nations, it submits reports to the Economic and Social Council.

Administrative body:

• The Director-General and any other technical and administrative employees that the Organization may require make up the Secretariat.
• The Board nominates the Director-General, who is thereafter appointed by the Health Assembly under the terms that it deems appropriate.

Associate Membership and Membership:

• Members of the Organization may also be United Nations Members.
• The Health Assembly may invite territories or groups of territories that are not in charge of managing their international relations as Associate Members.

What benefits has the WHO brought the world?

• The WHO’s major points of interaction with governments are its country offices.
• They communicate government requests and requirements to other levels of WHO, share pertinent international standards and recommendations, and offer technical assistance on health-related issues.
• They also alert the host government to news of illness outbreaks elsewhere and follow up with them.
• They counsel and direct local offices of other UN agencies on matters of public health.
• The WHO coordinates with funders, NGOs, non-governmental organisations (NGO), the commercial sector, and other UN agencies in addition to governments.
• All nations, including the most developed, benefit from WHO’s efforts in global health.
• For instance, all nations have profited from their contributions to the WHO programmes that supported the promotion of more effective and affordable tuberculosis control and the global elimination of smallpox.
• According to the group, all children who require immunization—which protects against the six major childhood infectious illnesses of diphtheria, measles, poliomyelitis, tetanus, tuberculosis, and whooping cough—should have access to it.
• In collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund, WHO is leading a global initiative to deliver effective immunisation for all children (UNICEF).
• The WHO gave a lot of attention to several infectious diseases that affected millions of people in developing nations during the first decade (1948–1958).
• These included tuberculosis, yaws, malaria, and venereal illnesses.
• Maternal and child health services, environmental sanitation (particularly safe water), and medicine and vaccination standards were all given great attention.
• In these years, WHO and other UN organisations forged close working ties.
• The national liberation in Africa of a number of former colonies—which became voting members of the Organization—had a significant impact on the time period (1958 to 1968).
• When almost all foreign doctors left the newly established Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1960, a huge emergency resulted.
• In collaboration with the worldwide Red Cross, WHO hired 200 doctors and other healthcare professionals and launched a brand-new fellowship programme to help a large number of Congolese “medical assistants” advance to the level of fully licenced physicians.
• Fellowships for the development of health personnel emerged during this time as a key WHO policy in practically all nations.

Source The Hindu

 2 – Election Commission of India: GS II – Constitutional and Non-Constitutional Bodies

Context:

• The Yuvajana Shramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP), which dominates Andhra Pradesh, has angered the Election Commission of India (ECI), which has rejected the notion of a “permanent president” for a party. In July 2022, the party allegedly chose Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to serve as its president for life. According to the ECI, such a move is fundamentally anti-democratic. The YSRCP’s statement that it will launch a “internal enquiry” in response to the earlier letters from the ECI borders on the ludicrous. The ECI’s perspective and insistence on internal democracy has some appeal because nobody should be chosen as a leader for life. Any party that wishes to govern and pass laws through a democratic process must have regular and official elections for office holders as part of its associational structure. Indian political parties come in many different varieties. Some, like the Bharatiya Janata Party or the Communist parties, are structured, cadre-based organisations that work towards an ideological goal or a principle. Others, like the Congress, are more loosely structured groups of people with even different strands of opinion working within an association that has core ideals. Some others still reflect social or regional cleavages.

About:

• The administration of the Union and State election procedures in India is the purview of the Election Commission of India, an independent constitutional body.
• The organisation oversees elections for the President and Vice President of India as well as the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, and State Legislative Assemblies.

What constitutional provisions are relevant to this?

• The Indian Constitution’s Part XV addresses elections and creates a commission to handle these issues.
• On January 25, 1950, the Election Commission was constituted in conformity with the Constitution.
• The constitution’s Articles 324 to 329 deal with the commission’s and the member’s authority, function, tenure, eligibility, etc.

What Is the Commission’s Structure?

• The Election Commissioner Amendment Act of 1989 changed the commission from being a single-member body to one with multiple members.
• One Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners make up the commission.
• Rajiv Kumar was recently appointed as the Chief Election Commissioner by the Indian President (25th CEC).
• New Delhi serves as the commission’s secretariat.
• The Chief Electoral Officer, an officer with the IAS rank, assists the state electoral commission.
• Election commissioners and the chief election commissioner are chosen by the president.
• Their set term is for six years, or until they reach 65 years old, whichever comes first.
• They have the same status as Supreme Court of India judges, and they receive the same pay and benefits.

What is the removal process?

• The Chief Election Commissioner can only be removed from office by Parliament using a procedure akin to that used to remove a Supreme Court judge.
• Using a motion approved by Parliament, judges of the High Courts and Supreme Court, the CEC, and the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) may be removed from their positions for “Proven misbehaviour or incapacity.”
• Removal needs a special majority of two-thirds of the members present and voting, as well as approval from more than half of the house’s total membership.
• The term “impeachment” is not used in the Constitution to describe the removal of judges, CAGs, or CECs.
• The term “Impeachment” is solely used to refer to the removal of the President, which calls for a special majority of 2/3 of the members of both chambers combined, a phrase that is not used elsewhere.

What are the main responsibilities of ECI?

• Superintendents of the Election Commission of India oversee, direct, and regulate the whole election process for the offices of President and Vice-President of India as well as the legislatures of each State.
• The commission’s primary responsibility is setting the election dates for the timely and periodic conduct of general or bye-elections.
• It creates voting lists and issues electronic photo identification cards (EPIC).
• It makes decisions regarding the placement of polling places, the distribution of voters among them, the location of counting centres, the preparations to be made in and around polling places and counting centres, as well as any related issues.
• It recognises political parties, awards them electoral emblems, and resolves disputes pertaining to it.
• The Commission also has advising authority over the issue of post-election disqualification of lawmakers and state representatives who are currently serving in office.
• It publishes the Model Code of Conduct in elections for political parties and candidates in order to prevent unfair practises and willful misuse of authority by those in authority.
• It regulates and establishes campaign spending caps for each candidate across all political parties.

Source The Hindu

3 – CUET: Prelims Specific Topic

Context:

• Many students are concerned about the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) marking scheme. One of the concerns raised by the students is that the “normalisation” of marks prevents comparisons between two distinct subjects, which disadvantages those who took Hindi, Math, and Physics in addition to other subjects.

Why have a uniform entrance exam?

• Over the years, various governments have made an effort to lessen the load on people pursuing higher education by replacing multiple admission exams with a single exam. They conducted a thorough search, and CUET UG – 2022 provided the solution.
• All 45 central institutions are now required to use CUET UG – 2022, a revised form of CUCET. This has happened since the new National Education Policy (NEP), which supports the requirement of an entrance exam for university admissions, was made public.

About:

• Computer-based test (CBT) mode will be used to administer the CUET UG – 2022 (UG) 2022. For the academic year 2022–2023, the National Testing Agency will be in charge of administering the undergraduate entrance exams for all Central Universities (CUs). Computer-based test (CBT) mode will be used to administer the CUET (UG) 2022. For the academic year 2022–2023, the National Testing Agency will be in charge of administering the undergraduate entrance exams for all Central Universities (CUs). The National Testing Agency will administer the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) in 13 languages, including Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Urdu, Assamese, Bengali, Punjabi, Odia, and English (NTA). The State, Private, and Deemed Universities may also implement CUET UG – 2022.
• There are 27 domain disciplines available through UGC, including accounting, bookkeeping, biology, chemistry, computer science, economics, geography, and history. A student may select six domains from a total of 27 options.
• With the advent of CUET UG – 2022, students from all across the nation can now envision obtaining admission to the central university of their choice, which was previously just a luxury available to those with higher Board Examination results.

Source The Hindu

4 – F – 16 Aircraft: Prelims Specific Topic

Context:

• Ely Ratner, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, asserted that they had consulted India on the issue both before and during the decision and that the action on the F-16 was not intended to send India a message because of its ties with Russia.
• The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Aircraft is a single-engine, multi-role fighter plane built for the US Air Force (USAF).
• An all-weather multirole aircraft was created.
• In 1976, the production of aircraft was authorised.
• The US Air Force is no longer purchasing these items.
• For export, improved versions are being produced.

The key characteristics are:

• A transparent bubble canopy with no frames.
• To facilitate control while manoeuvring, side-mounted control sticks are used.
• To lessen the pilot’s exposure to g-forces, the ejection seat was 30 degrees from vertical.
• Its fly-by-wire flight control system and relaxed static stability contribute to the aircraft’s agility.
• There are 11 places to deploy weapons and other mission equipment, as well as an internal M61 Vulcan cannon.

Source The Hindu