UKPCS-2012 PRE RESULT BY END OF JANUARY'15

http://epaper.livehindustan.com/epaper/13-1-2015-145-edition-Roorkee-Page-1.html

Meningitis: Indian vaccine will protect infants also

The vaccine, which is heat stable, is a great Indian success story

A meningitis A vaccine (MenAfriVac) manufactured by Serum Institute of India, Pune was approved by WHO a few days ago for use in infants in sub-Saharan African populations. The vaccine will be introduced as part of the routine immunisation programme.

“In the four years since its introduction in Africa, MenAfriVac has had an immediate and dramatic impact in breaking the cycle of meningitis A epidemics,” a WHO release said. The vaccine has already been used in those aged 1-29 years. But with the WHO’s approval, the vaccine can be given to infants thereby “protecting million more children at risk of the deadly disease.” About 200,000 people suffer from meningitis every year in the region. The disease kills 20,000 to 25,000 people in the region every year.

“Like in the case of measles, not many meningitis cases are seen in children younger than one year,” said Dr. Suresh Jadhav, Executive Director of Serum Institute. “A mother, who has had meningitis, transmits the meningitis antibodies to newborns and these antibodies protect them for one year.” Every individual living in the meningitis belt (which stretches from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east) gets infected with meningitis before the age of 29 years and hence mothers invariably carry antibodies against the disease.

The WHO has approved the use of a 5 microgram dose of the vaccine for children, which will be administered when theyare nine months old. Immunisation at nine months will help achieve sustainable disease control following mass campaigns that target people belonging to the 1-29 age group.

Explaining the rationale for choosing to immunise at ninth month, Dr. Jadhav said: “It’s one opportunity to treat both measles and meningitis,” he said. Measles vaccination is also given to children at nine months of age.

A booster dose will be given when the child is 12-18 months old. According to Dr. Jadhav, the first meningitis dose will protect a child for five years and a booster dose will confer lifelong protection.

Though a single campaign has been carried outto cover a large population in 15 countries, those born after the campaign have not received the MenAfriVac vaccine and are hence vulnerable to meningitis infection. But with the introduction of the vaccine as part of the immunisation schedule, these children will also be protected.

The campaign mode will continue till 2017 in 3-4 countries per year. The current demand for the vaccine is 50-55 million. Once the campaign comes to an end, the demand will be directly proportional to the number of children born in the meningitis-endemic countries. “Twenty-five million children are born each year in these endemic countries. So 50 million doses will be the demand per year [as two doses are to be given to each child],” he said.

Serum’s achievement

The Serum Institute had successfully made the vaccine heat stable so that it can remain outside the cold chain at temperatures less than 40 degree C for up to four days without the potency getting affected. Before it was made heat stable, the vaccine had to be kept in a cold chain at 2-8 degree C at all time. The vaccine was made heat stable by freeze-drying it.

The Serum Institute successfully demonstrated that the stability and potency of the meningitis vaccine remained intact even when exposed to higher temperature. The heat stable nature of the vaccine proved to be a game changer in meningitis control and made it possible to cover a large number of people through the campaign mode.

“It’s a great Indian success story,” Dr. Jacob John, a former virologist of the Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore had earlier told this Correspondent. A study published in the WHO bulletin showed that using a CTC approach can reduce the cold chain related campaign costs by 50 per cent

Voting from abroad

Given the large NRI community dispersed globally, this move will undoubtedly have an impact on the country’s electoral politics in significant ways.

The Union government has agreed, “in letter and spirit”, to implement the Supreme Court direction and the Election Commission’s recommendation to allow Non-Resident Indians to vote from overseas through postal ballots. Given the large NRI community dispersed globally, this move will undoubtedly have an impact on the country’s electoral politics in significant ways. Parliament passed the Representation of the People (Amendment) Act in 2010 to introduce Section 20A that enables a person who is a citizen of India, and is away from her ordinary residence in India for employment, education or other reasons, to be eligible to be registered as a voter in the constituency mentioned in her Indian passport: before that amendment, only “ordinary residents” could cast their vote. Although the 2010 amendment intended to include NRI participation in national politics, Section 20A had required NRIs to be physically present in their respective constituencies at the time of elections. Making it impractical for voters, this requirement defeated the intention of the legislature. A petition was filed in the Supreme Court praying that Section 20A of the Act be read down so as to allow NRIs to vote from abroad without having to be present in India. The petition argued that the provision was in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution to the extent that it impliedly treated persons on a different footing based on economic classifications. The Supreme Court and the government agreed with this contention without hesitation.

The traditional argument against such external voting has been that only citizens who are present in the territory and affected by the consequences of their vote should be entitled to vote. As per this argument, since NRIs lacked sound knowledge about domestic conditions, they would be irresponsible in their electoral choices. But this argument is fast being disproved by empirical evidence. With the rapid increase in cross-border migrations, the concept of nationhood and political membership is increasingly being decoupled from territorial locations. India’s move towards enabling voting from overseas is an instance of a larger global trend towards increased citizen participation. The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, an inter-governmental organisation, lists different voting methods that can be employed, such as “personal voting”, where voters can cast their vote at diplomatic missions abroad; “postal ballot method”, where votes are sent by regular post; “proxy vote” and “electronic voting”. From amongst these alternatives, the government has decided to employ the postal ballot route that the electoral system already uses for absentee-voters on official duty.

RBI cuts repo rates by 25 basis points

Encouraged by softening inflation, the RBI on Thursday decided to cut the benchmark interest rate by 0.25 per cent to 7.75 per cent with a view to boost growth.

The decision to reduce repo rate comes a fortnight ahead of the scheduled date of monetary policy announcement on February 3.

“It has been decided to reduce the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) by 25 basis points from 8.0 per cent to 7.75 per cent with immediate effect,” Reserve Bank said in a statement on Thursday.

The RBI has been keeping the benchmark interest rate at elevated level at 8 per cent since January 2014.

The RBI, however, has decided to keep the cash reserve ratio (CRR), the portion of deposits which the banks are required to have in cash with the central bank, unchanged at 4.0 per cent.

Following reduction in the repo rate, the reverse repo rate has been adjusted to 6.75 per cent and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and Bank Rate to 8.75 per cent.

The RBI said that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has been easing since July 2014 and was below the expected trajectory and the government has reiterated its commitment to adhering to its fiscal deficit target.

“These developments have provided headroom for a shift in the monetary policy stance,” the RBI added.

The central bank in its fifth bi-monthly monetary policy statement of December had said that “if the current inflation momentum and changes in inflation expectations continue, and fiscal developments are encouraging, a change in the monetary policy stance is likely early next year, including outside the policy review cycle”.

In its public interactions, the RBI functionaries had committed to initiate the process of monetary easing as soon as data indicated that medium-term inflationary targets would be met, the statement said.

Elaborating on the price situation, it said, “Inflation outcomes have fallen significantly below the 8 per cent targeted by January 2015. On current policy settings, inflation is likely to be below 6 per cent by January 2016.”

“The lower-than-expected inflation has been enabled by decline in prices of vegetables and fruits, cereals and the large fall in international commodity prices, particularly crude oil,” the statement added.

The crude prices, barring geo-political shocks, are expected to remain low over the year, it said.

The Reserve bank in December had said that once the monetary policy stance shifts, subsequent actions would be consistent with it.

“Key to further easing will be data that confirm continuing dis-inflationary pressures. Also critical would be sustained high quality fiscal consolidation as well as steps to overcome supply constraints and assure availability of key inputs such as power, land, minerals and infrastructure,” the RBI statement said.

There was a need to ensure that potential output rises above the projected pick-up in growth in coming quarters so as to contain inflation, the apex bank said.

The RBI said it would continue with daily variable rate repos and reverse repos to smooth liquidity.

The central bank will “provide liquidity under overnight repos at 0.25 per cent of bank-wise NDTL at the LAF repo rate and liquidity under 7-day and 14-day term repos of up to 0.75 per cent of NDTL of the banking system through auctions,” the statement added.

Targeting development

We now have a successor to the Planning Commission with a carefully contrived acronym as its name, perhaps to signal what the institution is expected to do. What a pity they did not call it "National Institution for Transforming the Indian Nation", for then I could truly have rejoiced in the acronym!

The name chosen, and the initial appointments of its vice-chairman and full-time members suggest that the government's principal concern is the reform of the institutions, regulations and policies that control the process of economic development in a relatively freer market environment.

How would the products of a commission operating in a freer market environment differ from the Five-Year and annual Plans that we are used to? Basically, one can expect a shift from quantitative targeting and public investment planning to indicative projections and policy guidelines. Five-Year Plans would not have any role in this, though this should not preclude a medium-term fiscal framework for budgeting. One could call it planning without targeting.

However this is not the signal so far from the pronouncements of the government. What we have had instead is targeting without planning. Bold goals - like 100 gigawatts of solar energy by 2022, a pucca house for everyone by 2022, Swachh Bharat by 2019 - are announced with little analysis of resource requirements, intersectoral linkages and the needed policy changes. Hopefully, the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog will change this.

But will the Aayog have sufficient weight in the policymaking process? The doubts on this score arise from the elimination of a role for the Aayog in Centre-state fiscal transfers and how that affects its role in the internal dynamics of policy formulation in the Union government. Let me suggest that the answer to this also depends on whether the government accepts the proposal to eliminate the Plan/non-Plan Budget classification as recommended by the Rangarajan committee, and its response to the reported recommendation of the 14th Finance Commission that all non-tax transfers from the Centre to the states should be delinked from schemes. These two changes, if implemented, would be a seismic change in the dynamics of policy influence.

The flow of funds from the Centre to the states falls into three broad streams. First is the flow that arises from the award of the Finance Commission in the form of shares in taxes and grants for specific purposes. Second is the flow of discretionary block grants for Plan expenditures that are based on the Gadgil-Mukherjee formula - except for special category states, where the flow is based on an assessment of need. These two streams of funds flow are essentially unconditional.

The third is the flow of funds for central and centrally sponsored Plan schemes implemented by the states. This third stream is essentially a conditional transfer tied to particular uses and with various associated policy conditionalities. The Rangarajan committee recommendation would eliminate the distinction between the first stream and the other two. The 14th Finance Commission recommendation on delinking non-tax transfers from schemes would merge the second and the third stream into one block grant stream.

The two recommendations in themselves do not require the Aayog to give up its role in the fiscal transfers to the states for development purposes. That is an independent decision that the government has made.

Will this reduce the policy leverage of the Aayog? Not necessarily. The erstwhile commission's financial clout vis-à-vis the states had already been greatly reduced with the proliferation of central and centrally sponsored schemes that are projected to account for 76 per cent of the gross fiscal transfer to the states for the 12th Plan. In these schemes, the policy leverage rested largely with the sectoral ministry concerned, for instance, the rural development ministry for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. If the reported recommendation of the 14th Finance Commission is implemented, the locus of influence could shift to the Aayog, which provides a space for "cooperative federalism" and could bring the states together on policy guidelines for reaching agreed sectoral goals. Something like this has been attempted in the implementation of the goods and services tax.

In an open economy relying substantially on private investment and enterprise, the government had to exercise influence through its policies rather than through spending programmes. A national institution that has the active support of a powerful prime minister could well be more effective than a commission caught up in the nitty-gritty of scheme-wise Budget allocations.

The Aayog can transform the ecosystem of development policy. But the gains from this would be lost if the rising tide of religious intolerance and obscurantism is not countered. The government has performed better than expected in foreign policy and seems to be getting up to speed on economic issues. However, both of these could be endangered if the narrow and intolerant social agendas of some extremist members of Parliament and fringe groups politically associated with the ruling party are not visibly restrained by the prime minister.

India is a country of many communities (4,653 according to the Anthropological Survey). With development, these communities will inevitably move into each other's social and geographical spaces. The project report for the Delhi-Mumbai corridor, for instance, projects the in-migration of nearly 100 million people into the project area. This will not happen peaceably, unless political process fosters a climate of tolerance of "different diets and incompatible gods" (from "Partition" by W H Auden).

Majoritarian aggressiveness will also have its international impact if it leads to civil strife, disruptions and violence and undermine the prime minister's potential to be a global leader. Moreover, it will complicate matters in relations with neighbours, as critical border areas like the Northeast, Punjab and Kashmir are populated largely by minority groups.

The prime minister and his team must echo what a senior colleague, Sushma Swaraj, said in a recent speech: "The genius of India lies in its ability to absorb and encompass many cultures with whom it has come in contact. At the same time, it has allowed these cultures to flourish as distinct entities based on the principle of unity in diversity." The aspiring youths who voted for Narendra Modi need an India that cherishes and enjoys the diversity of language, culture, cuisine, religion and ethnicity with which it is blessed, and not one mired in social strife.

US eyes drone, C-130 project deals with India for Obama trip

The United States aims to secure agreements with India to start pilot projects for joint production of drones as well as equipment for transport planes in talks next week ahead of a visit by President Barack Obama, a US industry source said on Wednesday.

Frank Kendall, US undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, will be making his fourth visit to India to promote collaboration on defense technologies and co-production of weapons systems in an effort to finalize the projects.

Kendall's spokeswoman Maureen Schumann said he will meet with Defense Secretary Radha Krishna Mathur, Secretary for Defence Production G. Mohan Kumar and Scientific Advisor to the Minister of Defence Avinash Chander.

"His primary objective is to continue momentum on the Defense Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI), which promotes collaboration on defense technology and enables co-production and co-development of critical defense systems," Schumann said.

An industry source familiar with US-India discussions on the defense initiative said Kendall aimed to finalize two pilot projects, one involving unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and the other involving systems for the C-130 military transport aircraft built by Lockheed Martin Corp.

The source said the drone project involved the RQ-11 "Raven" built by AeroVironment Inc, a small US firm. Raven is the world's most widely used unmanned aircraft, a lightweight plane that can be used manually, or for autonomous operations.

The US government strictly controls foreign sales of larger UAVs, but has approved sales of unarmed systems like the Raven, which are used purely for surveillance to a range of countries, including Uzbekistan, according to a US source.

The transport plane project involves manufacturing of roll-on, roll-off modules that allow C-130s to be used for surveillance, and as VIP transports or hospitals, according to the industry source, who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the discussions.

US and Indian officials have declined to comment publicly on the systems under discussion, but the industry source said the aim was to announce the pilot projects during Obama's planned visit to India on Republic Day.

Lockheed declined comment on any specific co-production agreement, but a spokesman said teams from five Indian universities were participating in a design challenge to develop C-130 modules for use in disaster relief around the world.

India has received five C-130Js built by Lockheed, and six more planes are on order through 2017, parts of which will be built in India.

No comment was immediately available from AeroVironment.

The United States is keen to develop its political and strategic ties with India, with which it shares concerns about China's increasingly assertive territorial claims in the Asia-Pacific region.

Since the DTTI was launched in 2012, the United States has proposed 17 projects with potential for collaboration. But the initiative has been hampered by concerns from India that the projects do not sufficiently involve the transfer of technology.

On the US side, meanwhile, there have been concerns about India's demand for the right to manufacture components rather than whole systems, which could put them in competition with US manufacturers.

Ellen Lord, president and chief executive officer of Textron Systems, an aerospace unit of defence firm Textron Inc, which makes Bell helicopters and UAVs, told Reuters she was encouraged by reforms being undertaken by the Indian government.

"I'm energized by what I see as very positive changes," said Lord, who returned on Tuesday from a visit to India.

NOFN-National Optical Fibre Network

Govt decides to rope in private players for NOFN project

Earlier project cost was estimated to be Rs 20,000 cr which has now escalated to Rs 35,000 cr

The government has decided to rope in private sector players to expedite its National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project, which has seen a cost overrun of 75 per cent because of delays.

The project, which was approved by the Cabinet in October 2011, was expected to be completed within two years. Then, the project cost was estimated to be Rs 20,000 crore, which has now escalated to Rs 35,000 crore, said a senior official in the department of telecommunications.

“We will float tenders to invite private players for laying down optical fibres in the second phase of NOFN. The bids will be called by the end of March. It will involve trenching, ducting and laying (of cables),” the official added.

The second phase involves connectivity mainly in northern states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana and Uttarakhand for about 100,000 gram panchayats.

The target is to provide connectivity to all the 250,000 gram panchayats across India by December 2016, by using the existing optical fibre and extending it to the all the gram panchayats.

The government is already in the process of implementing the first phase of connecting 50,000 gram panchayats, which is expected to be over by the end this year, the official said. This will be done in Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, the North East and Maharashtra. Once implemented, NOFN will provide 100 Mbps (megabit per second) bandwidth to facilitate broadband services.

On January 12, the minister for communications and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad inaugurated the launch of the project in the Idukki district of Kerala. Also, Kerala will be the first state to be fully connected through NOFN by the end of March this year.

Bharat Broadband Network Ltd, a special purpose vehicle set up by the government, is responsible for management and operations of NOFN under the administrative control of ministry of IT and communications.

BBNL was incorporated as a PSU in February 2012. BBNL is getting the project executed through three PSUs — BSNL, RailTel and PGCIL — in the ratio of 70:15:15 and till now, no private player has been taken on board for laying down of the optic fibre project.

The deadline for the project has been revised many times because of coordination problems among the agencies and other issues, including right of way. The official said in global countries such projects have taken 6-10 years to be completed.

NOFN is being funded by the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) that is built with contributions from private telecom operators. However, for end-to-end services, companies will have to set up their own infrastructure at the gram panchayat level.