Antibiotic Resistance

Antibiotic Resistance

Antibiotic drug resistance is developed in the micro-organisms. ICMR is carrying out surveillance of drug resistance to antibiotics through its Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Research Network (AMRSN) in six pathogenic groups (i) Diarrhoeagenic bacterial organisms (ii) Enteric fever pathogens (iii) Enterobacteriaceae causing sepsis (iv) Gram negative Non-fermenters (v) Gram positives including MRSA (vi) Fungal infections. The data is being collected from CMC, Vellore, JIPMER, Puducherry, PGIMER Chandigarh and AIIMS, New Delhi. The significant findings from last 2 years indicate that Salmonella typhi multidrug resistance (MDR) to ampicillin, chloramphenicol and trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole is showing a downward trend. However, more than 50% of bacterial isolates of Klebsiella spp. and E. coli were found to be resistant to the currently used 3^rd generation cephalosporins, but they are sensitive to carbapenams and colistin. There is no data available regarding fatalities reported due to antibiotic resistance.

As informed by ICMR, according to a WHO survey, public health awareness about antimicrobial resistance is very low. The Government’s Programme on containment of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) includes the component of increasing awareness on rational use of antibiotics.

Government of India has signed a Memorandum of Understanding/Agreement for cooperation in health with several countries. AMR has been identified as one of the areas of cooperation in Agreements/ MOUS with some of these countries including Sweden, Netherland and U.K.

During the World Health Assembly in May 2015, the Member States have adopted a Global plan for action on AMR. Further, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Research Council of Norway (RCN), and also initiated collaboration with National Institute of Health, USA (NIH) and Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, USA (CDC) regarding antimicrobial resistance.

In order to strengthen the surveillance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the country, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has set up a National Anti-Microbial Resistance Research and Surveillance Network (AMRRSN) to enable compilation of National Data of AMR at different levels of Health Care.

The Drugs and Cosmetic Rule, 1945 were amended in 2013 to incorporate a new Schedule H1 under the said rules containing 46 drugs which include IIIrd and IVth generation antibiotics, anti TB drugs and certain habit forming drugs for having strict control over the sale of these drugs. The Drugs falling under Schedule H1 are required to be sold in the country with the following conditions:

(1)   The supply of a drug specified in Schedule H1 shall be recorded in a separate register at the time of the supply giving the name and address of the prescriber, the name of the patient, the name of the drug and the quantity supplied and such records shall be maintained for three years and be open for inspection.

(2)   The drug specified in Schedule H1 shall be labeled with the symbol Rx which shall be in red and conspicuously displayed on the left top corner of the label, and shall also be labeled with the following words in a box with a red border:-

“Schedule H1 Drug-Warning: -It is dangerous to take this preparation except in accordance with the medical advice. -Not to be sold by retail without the prescription of a Registered Medical Practitioner.”

Further, Government of India has formulated a national policy for containment of antimicrobial resistance in 2011. A National Programme for Containment of AMR has also been initiated in 12th Five Year Plan with the following objectives:-

§  To establish a laboratory based surveillance system by strengthening laboratories for AMR in the country and to generate quality data on antimicrobial resistance for pathogens of public health importance.

§  To generate awareness among healthcare providers and in the community regarding rational use of antibiotics.

§  To strengthen infection control guidelines and practices and promote rational use of antibiotics.

Consumer Price Index and Whole Sale Price Index

Consumer Price Index and Whole Sale Price Index

In an emerging and developing economy moderate inflation is desirable to spur growth impulses and sustained deflation is a challenge as it generally lowers aggregate demand and economic activity.

In the Indian economy inflation as per the Consumer Price Index-New Series (CPI) and other inflation indices has been in low positive territory while Wholesale Price Index (WPI) is in the negative zone, since November 2014. Under the Monetary Policy Framework Agreement signed between the Government and the Reserve Bank of India, year on year change in CPI has been accepted as the anchor for inflation in the Indian economy.

The behavior of WPI is influenced by the prices of international commodities including crude oil, which have been declining in the recent past while CPI inflation affects the ultimate consumers and includes consumer goods and services.

In view of movement in CPI inflation and growth in GDP, the Indian economy cannot be characterized as the one undergoing a deflationary situation.

To address the challenges posed to the Indian economy, the Government has undertaken a series of sectoral and macroeconomic reforms and is boosting aggregate demand through public investment in roads, railways and irrigation; liberalizing FDI flows; unblocking large number of stalled projects etc. Further, RBI has reduced the repo rates by 125 basis points since January 2015 which have impacted a reduction in interest rates and would spur investment and growth in the economy.

Financial Impact on Employees Under National Pension Scheme (NPS)

Financial Impact on Employees Under National Pension Scheme (NPS)

The National Pension System (NPS) has been designed giving utmost importance to the welfare of the subscribers under NPS. There are a number of benefits available to the employees under NPS. Some of the benefits are enlisted below:

• NPS is a well designed pension system managed through an unbundled architecture involving intermediaries appointed by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) viz, pension funds, custodian, central record keeping and accounting agency, National Pension System Trust, trustee bank, points of presence and annuity service providers. It is prudently regulated by PFRDA which is a statutory regulatory body established to promote old age income security and to protect the interests of subscribers of NPS.

• Dual benefit of low cost and power of compounding – The pension wealth which accumulates over a period of time till retirement grows with a compounding effect. The all-in-costs of the institutional architecture of NPS are among the lowest in the world.

• Tax Benefits – The tax benefits are available to the NPS subscribers under the provisions of the Income-tax Act, 1961. These were further increased in the Finance Bill, 2015.

• Transparency and Portability is ensured through online access on the pension account by the NPS subscribers, across all geographical locations and portability of employments.

• Partial withdrawal – subscribers can withdraw upto 25% of their own contributions before attaining superannuation age, subject to certain conditions.

Some representations have been received from certain quarters against the implementation of the NPS. The main demand in these representations is that NPS may be scrapped and the Government may revert to old defined benefit system. But the Government does not propose to reimplement the old pension scheme by doing away with NPS.

Social Security Scheme for Farmers

Social Security Scheme for Farmers

The Government is implementing a number of schemes to help the farmers in increasing their productivity by reducing cost of cultivation, achieving higher yield per unit and by realizing remunerative prices. Some of the important new initiatives in this context are:

(i) Soil Health Card (SHC) scheme by which the farmers can know the major and minor nutrients available in their soils which will ensure judicious use of fertiliser application and thus save money of farmers. The balanced use of fertiliser will also enhance productivity and ensure higher returns to the farmers.

(ii) Neem Coated Urea is being promoted to regulate urea use, enhance its availability to the crop and reduce cost of fertilizers application. The entire quantity of domestically manufactured urea is now neem coated.

(iii) Parampragat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) is being implemented with a view to promoting organic farming in the country. This will improve soil health and organic matter content and increase net income of the farmer so as to realise premium prices.

(iv) The Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY) is being implemented to expand cultivated area with assured irrigation, reduce wastage of water and improve water use efficiency.

(v) In addition, the Government is also implementing several Centrally Sponsored Schemes - National Food Security Mission (NFSM); Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH); National Mission on Oilseeds & Oilpalm (NMOOP); National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA); National Mission on Agricultural Extension & Technology (NMAET); National Crop Insurance Programme (NCIP); Unified National Agriculture Markets; and Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY).

(vi) The Government undertakes procurement of wheat and paddy under its ‘MSP operations’. In addition, Government implements Market Intervention Scheme

(MIS) for procurement of agricultural and horticultural commodities not covered under the Minimum Price Support Scheme on the request of State/UT Government. The MIS is implemented in order to protect the growers of these commodities from making distress sale in the event of bumper crop when the prices tend to fall below the economic level/cost of production. Losses, if any, incurred by the procuring agencies are shared by the Central Government and the concerned State Government on 50:50 basis (75:25 in case of North-Eastern States). Profit, if any, earned by the procuring agencies is retained by them.

It is a priority of the Government to work towards enabling social security protection for citizens, especially from the economically weaker and vulnerable sections. In accordance with this priority, the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojna (PMSBY) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) were recently launched to address the areas of life and accident risk, and old age income security. The Rashtriya Swastha Bima Yojana (RSBY) is also operational to provide health insurance cover to persons living below the poverty line etc. The Central Government has also initiated creation of a Senior Citizen Welfare Fund through the use of certain unclaimed amounts under various specified schemes. This fund will be used to subsidize the premiums of vulnerable groups such as old age pensioners, BPL card-holders, small and marginal farmers and others.

The proposed new National Crop Insurance Scheme will protect the interest of farmers with a broader coverage towards crop losses and other such natural calamities. This is an intervention to cover the risks involved in farming.

Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MOFPI), through its various schemes, has been providing assistance to various agriculture related industries.

8 States Heed PM's Call on Competitive Federalism

8 States Heed PM's Call on Competitive Federalism

Four states want to replicate Karnataka's Vehicles Database Management System, while three others want Gujarat's `Suraksha Setu Project' aimed at crime prevention

Eight states have heeded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for “cooperative and competitive federalism“ and expressed willingness to replicate some of the award-winning egovernance initiatives implemented in other parts of the country.Prime Minister's home state Gujarat and Congress-ruled Karnataka head the list of states whose projects are most popular, details accessed by ET show.While four states want to replicate Karnataka's `Effective Vehicles Database Management System', three states want to copy Gujarat's `Suraksha Setu Project' aimed at crime prevention.Gujarat, which has won two dozen national e-governance awards since 2008, has found takers for its other projects too.
The PM had given the call in February and on the Civil Services Day in April further exhorted state governments to send their teams to study the award-winning initiatives of other states and identify which they would like to replicate.
Officials said the Prime Minister's Office is keeping an eye on the exercise. “At the next Civil Services Day, the PM could be briefed on the award-winning e-governance initiatives as well as those awarded for excellence in public administration that have been picked for replication by other states,“ a senior government official said.
Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Goa and Nagaland want to replicate the project implemented by Kar nataka in Mandya to trace the owners of unclaimed vehicles lying in police stations. Madhya Pradesh, Goa and Assam also want to replicate Suraksha Setu project, under which 604 CCTV cameras, connected to a control room through a 200-km long underground optical fibre network, have been installed at 113 strategic locations, leading to a reduction in crime rate by a third.
Besides, Maharashtra and Jharkhand want to replicate Gujarat's `Barcoded Ration Card' project and `Biometric Food Coupon' project, which won a national award last year for ensuring there is no leakage in public distribution system. Chhattisgarh, on the oth er hand, is replicating `Gujarat's Mineral Administration and Governance through ICT (MAGIC)' project.
Modi, while addressing civil servants in April, had suggested that teams of officers from each state visit the districts in states which had won awards for their initiatives. “See how the project was conceptualised, what were the resources, how the infrastructure was created, what difficulties were faced...you can come back to your state and see if it can be replicated or suitably modified to be implemented in your district.This process should be institutionalised. Let's begin it...it's not enough to just print a booklet on the award-winning initiatives,“ he had said.
Earlier, in February, while addressing chief ministers at the first governing council meeting of NITI Aayog, the PM had said that he saw great scope for states to share their best practices and create a portal for state functionaries to share their experiences.
ET VIEW
First, Make More Spectrum Available
Competition among states to serve people better using technology is healthy. Hopefully, the Centre's Digital India initiative will also help prevent corruption in government services by making most things available online.For e-governance projects to be successful, and citizens to transact online, the ability of the telecom infrastructure to carry data needs to grow manifold. That, in turn, depends on the availability of spectrum. The Centre must have policies to ensure that more spectrum is made available cheap. Only then can states replicate e-governance initiatives.

India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution

India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution

1. Sustainable Lifestyle

To put forward and further propagate a healthy and sustainable way of living based on traditions and values of conservation and moderation.

2. Cleaner Economic Development

To adopt a climate friendly and a cleaner path than the one followed hitherto by others at corresponding level of economic development.

3. Reduce Emission Intensity of GDP

To reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 percent by 2030 from 2005 level.

4. Increase the Share of Non Fossil Fuel Based Electricity

To achieve about 40 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel based energy resources by 2030 with the help of transfer of technology and low cost international finance including from Green Climate Fund (GCF).

Download India's INDC

MITIGATION STRATEGIES

Clean And Efficient Energy System

Enhancing Energy Efficiency In Industries

Developing Climate Resilient Urban Centers

Promoting Waste To Wealth Conversion

Safe, Smart And Sustainable Green Transportation Network

Planned Afforestation

Abatement Of Pollution

Citizens And Private Sector Contribution To Combating Climate Change

ADAPTATION STRATEGIES

Agriculture

Water

Health

Coastal Regions & Islands

Disaster Management

Protecting Biodiversity & Himalayan Ecosystem

Rural Livelihoods Security

Adaptation Actions Under State Action Plans On Climate Change

Knowledge Management & Capacity Building

5. Enhancing Forests Carbon Sink

To create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.

IMPLEMENTATION

Climate Change Finance Requirement

Requirement For Technology Transfer & Support

Capacity Building Needs

6. Adaptation Component

To better adapt to climate change by enhancing investments in development programmes in sectors vulnerable to climate change, particularly agriculture, water resources, Himalayan region, coastal regions, health and disaster management.

7. Mobilizing Finance

To mobilize domestic and new & additional funds from developed countries to implement the above mitigation and adaptation actions in view of the resource required and the resource gap.

8. Technology Development &Transfer

To build capacities, create domestic framework and international architecture for quick diffusion of cutting edge climate technology in India and for joint collaborative R&D for such future technologies.

Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana

Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana

The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) a centrally sponsored health insurance scheme was launched in 2007 and operationalized in April, 2008. This scheme has been transferred from Ministry of Labour and Employment to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on “as is where is” basis with the effect from 01.04.2015.  At present the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) is being implemented in 19 States/UTs through insurance mode. The scheme is being funded, both by Centre as well as by the implementing State, on the approved premium. Funds allocation during the last three years and current year i.e. 2012-13 to 2015-16 for release of central share on premium under RSBY is as given below:-

Sl. No.	Year	Budget Estimate (In crore)
1	2012-13	1568.56
2	2013-14	1265.00
3	2014-15	1319.30
4	2015-16	700.00
Total		4852.86

An evaluation study was made by GIZ when RSBY was being implemented by the Ministry of Labour and Employment. Key findings are given below:-

Findings of Evaluation Study by Gesellchaft Fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on Implementation of RBSY

i. High levels of awareness on eligibility.  However, detailed information about the scheme was found to be lacking.

ii.                 The non-enrolees had to spend more that Rs.17, 000/ per year on an average for hospitalization while RSBY enrolled have spent very less out of pocket payment.

iii.               Access to private hospitals was noted in more than 70 percent of the respondents, both enrolees and non-enrolees.

iv.               90% of the respondents mentioned being highly satisfied with the RSBY Scheme.

Total 3, 68, 36,005 beneficiary families have been covered under RSBY Scheme against the target of 7, 30, 56,515 families in the states implementing RSBY.   Reasons for low enrolment in some States are due to implementation of the scheme by the States in phased manner. The Health Insurance Scheme for weavers by using RSBY platform is implemented only in the State of Tamil Nadu and the budget allocation for the same is made by Ministry of Textiles.

Approval for continuation of RSBY has been granted to the implementing states as required by them. Approval has also been granted to the states for floating of fresh tenders wherever required. All implementing states have been directed to take necessary action in claiming release of central share on premium so that there is no delay in release of central share. 

The Health Minister, Shri J P Nadda stated this in a written reply in the Lok Sabha here today(11-12-2015).