India Newborn Action Plan (INAP): Preventing Newborn Deaths and Stillbirths

India Newborn Action Plan (INAP): Preventing Newborn Deaths and Stillbirths

The India Newborn Action Plan (INAP) was launched in September 2014 with the aim of ending preventable newborn deaths and stillbirths by 2030.

The salient features are:

·         INAP has set the goals for neonatal mortality and stillbirths. The goal is to attain Single Digit Neonatal Mortality and Stillbirth Rates by 2030.

·         INAP is to be implemented within the existing Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent health (RMNCH+A) framework of the National Health Mission (NHM).

·         Six pillars of intervention packages impacting stillbirths and newborn health have been identified, which include:

o    Preconception and antenatal care

o    Care during labour and child birth

o    Immediate newborn care

o    Care of healthy newborn

o    Care of small and sick newborn

o    Care beyond newborn survival

·         For effective implementation, a systematic plan for monitoring and evaluation has been developed with a list of dashboard indicators.

INAP is now serving as a framework for the States to develop state-specific action plans and it is expected that these interventions would have an impact in reducing newborn mortality in the country.

Birth Defect surveillance has been started recently in 37 Medical Colleges across the country. This aims to build and strengthen surveillance capacity and expand the availability of standardized and accurate data on congenital anomalies.

INAP has been disseminated at the national and regional levels in order to facilitate the States to formulate their own need-based plans. As a result, the States are now in the process of developing their State-specific Newborn Action Plans.

Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana

Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana: Provides Death and Disability Cover to Persons Between the Age Group of 18 Yrs To 59 Yr

Aam Admi Bima Yojana (AABY) is a Government of India Social Security Scheme administered through Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) that provides Death and Disability cover to persons between the age group of 18 yrs to 59 yrs, under 48 identified vocational/ occupational groups /rural landless households. It is a group insurance scheme implemented through a Nodal Agency such as a Central Ministry/ Department; State Government /Union Territory or other institutionalized arrangements/ registered NGO. The AABY provides insurance cover for a sum of Rs 30,000/- on natural death, Rs. 75,000/- on death due to accident, Rs. 37,500/- for partial permanent disability (loss of one eye or one limb) due to accident and Rs. 75,000/- for total permanent disability (loss of two eyes or two limbs or loss of one eye and one limb) due to accident. The Scheme also provides an add-on-benefit, wherein Scholarship of Rs 100 per month per child is paid on half-yearly basis to a maximum of two children per member, studying in 9th to 12th Standard.

The total annual premium under the scheme is Rs. 200/- per beneficiary of which 50% is contributed from the Social Security Fund created by the Central Government and maintained by LIC. The balance 50% of the premium is contributed by the State Government / Nodal Agency / Individual, as the case may be.

The State/UT-wise details of the total number of beneficiaries covered under AABY are given in Annexure A.

Government of India has set up a Centralized Social Security Fund and Aam Admi Bima Yojana Scholarship Fund. The same is being administered by LIC. There is no State/UT-wise allocation of these funds. The due amounts required for settling Premium and Scholarships are debited from these funds.

Damodaran Panel on Business Environment

Damodaran Panel on Business Environment

A Committee constituted by the Government under the Chairmanship of Sh. M. Damodaran has submitted the report on “Reforming the regulatory environment for Doing Business in India”. The Committee has inter alia made recommendations on: (a) legal reforms (b) regulatory architecture (c) boosting efficacy of regulatory process (d) enabling Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and (e) addressing state level issues. The report was placed on the website of the Ministry and shared with different Ministries and Departments for implementation of those aspects which fall under their jurisdictions. Subsequently, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has been entrusted with action on the Report as it is coordinating on matters relating to the World Bank’s ‘Doing Business Report’ and issues relating to ‘ease of doing business’ in India. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has taken a series of measures in this regard, with emphasis on simplification and rationalization of the existing rules and introduction of information technology to make governance more efficient and effective. Details are

available on the DIPP website at http://dipp.nic.in/English/Investor/EoDB_Intiatives_o1June2015.pdf.

Steps taken by the Government for greater ease of doing business include: -

·         Doing away with the requirement for minimum paid up capital in a company;

·         Removing the requirement to file declaration before commencement of business by a company;

·         Removing the mandatory requirement of having a common seal by the Companies;

·         Doing away with the requirement of reserving a name, and integrating the processes related to allotment of Director Identification Number (DIN), appointment of Directors etc in a single form (INC – 29) for incorporation of a company.

·         Reducing the number of procedures for starting a company, by integrating the processes across different departments through E-Biz platform of DIPP.

Steps to Make Farming Competitive and Profitable

Steps to Make Farming Competitive and Profitable

To give new dimension to the condition and direction of agriculture in the country, Government has taken several steps. With the objective of making farming competitive and profitable and to make the country self-sufficient in providing food for a growing population, the Government has in the last one year embarked upon a number of initiatives that address the multiple concerns affecting the farming as an enterprise. The emphasis of the Government is on:

(i) production activities with a view to enhancing productivity on a sustainable basis;

(ii) on post-production activities, that takes care of marketing concerns; and

(iii) credit facilitation.

The emphasis is on sustained growth based on reduced cost of cultivation, rejuvenation of soil health, efficient use of water resources and remunerative prices on the produce of a farmer. Further, the emphasis is on risk mitigation through insurance scheme.

In consonance with the above, the Government has rolled out the following new initiatives:

(1) Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY)

(2) Soil Health Card Scheme

(3)Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayi Yojana (PMKSY)

(4) Neem Coated Urea (NCU)

(5) Enhanced credit facility to the farm sector

(6) National Agricultural Market

(7) Krishonnati Yojana, in addition to above includes:-

(i) National Food Security Mission (NFSM)

(ii) Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH)

(iii) National Mission on Oilseeds & Oil Palm (NMOOP)

(iv) National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA)

(v) National Mission on Agricultural Extension & Technology

(vi) Integrated Scheme on Agriculture Marketing

(vii) Integrated Scheme on Agriculture Cooperation

(viii) National Agri-Tech Infrastructure Fund

(ix) Price Stabilization Fund for Cereals & Vegetables.

(8) Further, the Department of Agriculture & Cooperation is also implementing the following schemes & programmes that support growth of the agricultural sector :-

(i) Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY)

(ii) National Crop Insurance Programme (NCIP) 

Mysore tops Swachh Bharat rankings for 476 cities ; 4 cities from Karnataka in top 10 West Bengal does well with 25 cities in top 100 ; 39 cities from South in top 100;

Mysore tops Swachh Bharat rankings for 476 cities ; 4 cities from Karnataka in top 10 West Bengal does well with 25 cities in top 100 ; 39 cities from South in top 100;

12 from North 74 cities from North in bottom 100; 21 from East; 3 from West and 2 from South Delhi Cantonment ranked 15; NDMC -16 and MCD at 398

                Mysore city in Karnataka has topped the Swachh Bharat Rankings of 476 cities in the country with three more from the State figuring in the top 10. West Bengal does well with 25 cities/towns from the State finding a place in the top 100 cities. These rankings are based on the extent of open defecation and solid waste management practices in these cities. The city of Mysore leads the cities with minimal open defecation and extensive adoption of solid waste management practices.

                39 cities from the Southern states are among the top 100 followed by 27 from the East, 15 from the West, 12 from the North and 7 from the North-Eastern States.

                15 of the 27 capital cities surveyed figured among the top 100 performers while five were ranked beyond 300. Bengaluru leads the list of capitals at 7^th rank while Patna came at the bottom at 429.

                Among the bottom 100 cities, 74 are from the North, 21 from the East, 3 from the West and 2 from the South.

                The top 10 ranked cities being : Mysore, Thiruchirapalli (Tamil Nadu), Navi Mumbai, Kochi (Kerala), Hassan, Mandya and Bengaluru from Karnataka, Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), Halisahar (West Bengal) and Gangtok (Sikkim) in that order.

                Damoh (Madhya Pradesh) came at the bottom of 476, preceded by Bhind(MP), Palwal and Bhiwani, both in Haryana, Chittaurgarh (Rajasthan), Bulandshahar (UP), Neemuch (MP), Rewari(Haryana), Hindaun (Rajasthan) and Sambalpur in Odisha at 467^th rank.

                All the 476 Class-1 cities in 31 States and Union Territories, each  with a population of above one lakh were surveyed for assessing  total sanitation practices covering a set of parameters including the extent of open defecation, solid waste management, septage management, waste water treatment, drinking water quality, surface water quality of water bodies and mortality due to water born diseases etc.

                The survey conducted during 2014-15 was commissioned by the Ministry of Urban Development as required under the National Sanitation Policy of 2008.

                Since the Swachh Bharat Mission is being implemented in urban areas with focus on construction of individual household, community and public toilets to eradicate open defecation and ensure door-to-door collection and disposal of municipal solid waste, all the 476 Class-1 cities have been ranked based on the data pertaining to these elements from out of the date generated in the survey. This helps in assessing the present situation in these cities so that they can undertake necessary interventions to  meet Swachh Bharat Mission targets in urban areas.

                Over all sanitation rankings of these cities based on a total of 100 marks assigned to different parameters covering all aspects would be announced later. The Swachh Bharat rankings are based on a total of 42 marks including 20 for open defecation indicators and 22 for solid waste management indicators.

Swachh Bharat ranking of capital cities :

S.No	Capital city	Swachh Bharat Rank
1	Bengaluru	7
2	Trivendrum	8
3	Gangtok	10
4	New Delhi Municipal Council	16
5	Chandigarh	21
6	Puducherry	23
7	Agartala	32
8	Port Blair	34
9	Aizawl	35
10	Guwahaty	51
11	Kolkata	56
12	Chennai	61
13	Dimapur	76
14	Imphal	83
15	Shimla	90
16	Bhopal	106
17	Shillong	120
18	Greater Mumbai	140
19	Srinagar	152
20	Lucknow	220
21	Ranchi	223
22	Hyderabad	275
24	Raipur	293
24	Gandhinagar	310
25	Bhubaneswar	331
26	Dehradun	360
27	Jaipur	370
28	Patna	429

Swachh Bharat ranking of other major cities :

S.no	City	Swachh Bharat Rank
1	Mangalore	11
2	Madurai	20
3	Jalandhar	28
4	Pune	31
5	Kozhikode	41
6	Surat	63
7	Ahmedabad	79
8	Jamshedpur	109
9	Anantnag	115
10	Darjeeling	129
11	Tirupati	137
12	Agra	145
13	Secunderabad	191
14	Coimbattore	196
15	Visakhapatnam	205
16	Raibareilly	240
17	Kanpur	241
18	Nagpur	256
19	Vijayawada	266
20	Cuttack	296
21	Puri	298
22	Ujjain	355
23	Ludhiana	381
24	Allahabad	383
25	Gwalior	400
26	Ajmer	401
27	Udaipur	417
28	Varanasi	418
29	Jammu	427
30	Amritsar	430

                Number of cities surveyed in major States include : UP (61), West Bengal (60), Mharashtra (43), MP(32), Gujarat (30), AP(30), Tamil Nadu(29), Rajasthan(28), Bihar (27), Karnataka (26), Haryana(20), Punjab(16), Telangana (11), Odisha (10), Jharkhand(10), Chattisgarh(9) and 6 each from Kerala, Uttarakhand and North-Eastern states.

Menace of E-Waste

Menace of E-Waste

A report from Central Pollution Control Board inticated the quantum of E-waste generation in the country in 2005 to the tune of 1.46 lakh Metric Ton (MT) which was projected to increase to 8 lakh MT by the year 2012.

The guideline for ‘Implementation of E-Waste Rules 2011’ provide for detailed operational modalities which inter-alia include norms for safety of workers in recycling units of E-waste. These safety norms mandate safety gears for workers including personal protective equipment, employment of skilled manpower in specific sector having adequate tools etc.

Un-scientific dismantling and recycling of E-waste generates hazardous wastes such as spent acids, metallic residues, ash residues etc., which if disposed-off on land results into contamination of soils as well as groundwater. E-waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011 have been notified for effective management of E-waste. These Rules provides for ‘Extended Producer Responsibility’ under which producers will be responsible for collection and channelization of E-waste generated from the ‘end of life’ of their products to registered dismantler or recycler. State Pollution Control Boards/Pollution Control Committees are the designated authorities for monitoring and compliance under these rules. To ensure better implementation of management of electronic waste, Ministry has published draft E-Waste Management Rules, 2015 inviting public comments and suggestions. The provisions of this Draft Rule include expanding producers’ responsibility, setting up of Producers’ Responsibility Organizations, and E-waste Exchange, assigning specific responsibility to bulk consumers of electronic products for safe disposal, providing for economic incentives for collection of electronic waste, providing for logo-based identification of E-waste Rules compliant companies, providing for restriction on Government procurement of electronic products only from the companies who are compliant with E-waste Rules, and other measures to include dedicated responsibility of electronic and electrical product manufacturers for collection and channelizing of electronic waste.