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Ramping up its anti-Covid measures amid a surge in cases in other countries, mainly China, the Government has added Bharat Biotech’s intranasal vaccine Incovacc to its vaccination programme as a mix-and-match, or heterologous, booster dose. Incovacc is the world’s first intranasal vaccine to be approved as a booster dose.
The vaccine, which is delivered without a needle through the nose, will be available in a few days at private centres across the country.
It is expected to be available as an option on the Government’s vaccine management platform, CoWIN.This is the second heterologous booster to be included in the vaccination programme after Corbevax in August.
Incovacc received the nod from the country’s apex drug regulator as a primary dose in September and as a booster dose in November.
The intranasal vaccine triggers an immune response in the mucosal membrane in the nose and mouth. “Being an intranasal vaccine, BBV154 may produce local antibodies in the upper respiratory tract, which may provide the potential to reduce infection and transmission.
Meanwhile, as part of its anti-Covid drive, the Government will conduct a mock drill at hospitals across the country Tuesday. Besides, officials said that from Saturday, two per cent of international travellers arriving in the country will be screened at random.
Also, in a meeting Friday with Health officials, states were asked to ramp up testing from the current 79 per million, and increase the share of RT-PCR tests.
They were also urged to focus on sewage, pan-respiratory virus and facility-based sentinel surveillance. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya urged states to create awareness for following Covid-appropriate behaviour, especially in view of upcoming festivals.
For one year from Jan, Govt makes foodgrains free for 81 crore people (Page no. 3)
(GS Paper 3, Food Security)
Combining fiscal prudence and the imperative of safety net, the Union government Friday said it would provide free foodgrains to beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act, 2013, as per their entitlement, for a year beginning January 2023.
It has, however, discontinued the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana launched in April 2020 amid Covid-19 under which 5 kg of free foodgrains was provided to every person on top of the NFSA entitlement of 5 kg foodgrains at subsidised rates.
The Central government provides foodgrains to people — rice at Rs 3 per kg, wheat Rs 2 per kg, and coarse grains Rs 1 per kg — under the NFSA.
Now, the Prime Minister has taken a historic decision to provide food security to the poor free of cost across the country,” Union Food Minister Piyush Goyal said briefing reporters on the Cabinet decisions.
The NFSA covers about 81.35 crore people and Goyal said the Centre would bear the entire cost of Rs 2 lakh crore to provide them food security.
Asked if the government has decided to discontinue the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, he said, “It has been merged (with the NFSA).
The free portion of that scheme has been added to the NFSA. Now, the entire quantity of 5 kg and 35 kg under the NFSA would be available free of cost. There is no need for additional foodgrains.
The NFSA covers 50 per cent of the urban population and 75 per cent of the rural population. There are two categories of beneficiary households under the NFSA – Antyoday Anna Yojana (AAY) and the Priority Households.
While the AAY households are entitled to 35 kg of foodgrains per month irrespective of the number of family members, the priority households get foodgrains depending on the number of family members (each member 5 kg per month).
Govt & Politics
Cabinet nod for revision in pension paid under OROP (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The Union Cabinet on Friday approved a revision in the pensions paid to retired defence personnel and their families under One Rank One Pension (OROP) at an annual additional expenditure of Rs.8,450 crore and arrears of Rs.23,638 crore.
At a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Cabinet approved the increase that would be applicable from July 1, 2019.
“Pension of the past pensioners would be re-fixed on the basis of average of minimum and maximum pension of defence forces retirees of calendar year 2018 in the same rank with the same length of service.
The revision would be applicable to all retired defence personnel up to June 30, 2019, but not including those who too pre-mature retirement till July 1, 2014.
The government said the revision would benefit over 25.13 lakh pensioners, including 4.52 lakh more recent retirees, and their families.
“Pension for those drawing above the average shall be protected.The benefit would also be extended to family pensioners, including war widows and disabled pensioners.
The arrears would be paid in four half-yearly instalments, except for those who receive special, liberalised family pension and gallantry award winners, who will get it in one instalment.
The total arrears from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2022 amounted to Rs.23,638 crore and this expenditure was over and above the ongoing expenditure on account of OROP.
In Parliament
Winter Session concludes early amid Fewer disruptions, higher productivity (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The Winter Session of Parliament ended prematurely, after a 13-day run marked by the passage of seven Bills, and protests and walkouts by the Opposition over not being allowed to debate contentious issues, particularly the clash between Indian and Chinese troops at the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh. The session was originally scheduled to end on December 29, after 17 sittings.
Starting December 7, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha registered productivity of about 97 per cent and 103 per cent, respectively, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi said the decision to curtail the session had the consensus of all political parties, keeping the “demand and sentiments of Members of Parliament for Christmas/year-end celebrations.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the Opposition wanted to raise issues concerning the people but the government did not want to debate them.
Along with 18 other Opposition parties, we tried our best to raise issues ranging from Chinese incursion to other issues of public importance.
The government should have accepted our demand and held a debate. But they did not follow rules or precedents. We let the House function smoothly and did not cause disruptions…
Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said many Opposition parties had pointed out during the beginning of the session that the “government does not have any Bills or agenda”.
The DMK, BJD, and many regional parties had demanded that the session be curtailed since it has no legislative business. Now they have got an excuse in Covid-19 and have adjourned.
In his valedictory address on Friday, Birla said nine Bills were introduced, of which seven were passed, including the supplementary demands for grants, the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Orders (Amendment) and the Maritime Anti-Piracy Bill.
Express Network
Maoist violence, deaths down; Chhattisgarh sees rise in cases (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Internal Security)
While incidents of violence from Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) in the country have dropped by 77 per cent between 2009 and 2021, state-wise data showed an increase in such incidents in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana this year in comparison to the previous year, and a decrease in incidents in Maharashtra, Odisha, Jharkhand and Bihar among others, according to data provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs in Rajya Sabha.
The data also showed a decline in the number of deaths from LWE violence in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand as well as other states.
Data of LWE violence in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana and Kerala showed that 670 incidents took place in 2019, 665 in 2020, 509 in 2021 and 483 this year (until November 30).
“State-wise breakup of four-year data shows that in Chhattisgarh, 279 incidents occurred in 2022, 255 in 2021, 315 in 2020 and 263 in 2019.
Data of deaths of security force personnel and civilians due to Maoist violence shows that 56 were reported this year, 101 in 2021, 111 in 2020 and 77 in 2019,” Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said in a written reply on Wednesday.
He said deaths of civilians and security forces have reduced by 85 per cent from a high of 1,005 in 2010 to 147 in 2021. While Jharkhand saw 118 incidents and 12 deaths this year, there were 130 incidents and 26 deaths in 2021, 199 incidents and 39 deaths in 2020, and 200 incidents and 54 deaths in 2019.
Rai informed Rajya Sabha that to address LWE holistically, the central government approved a national policy and action plan in 2015.
This policy envisages a multi-pronged strategy involving security related measures, development interventions, ensuring rights and entitlements of local communities, etc.
Steadfast implementation of this policy has resulted in consistent decline in violence in LWE affected areas. Incidents of LWE violence have reduced by 77 per cent from a high of 2,213 in 2010 to 509 in 2021.
Editorial Page
A more accessible house (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Social Justice)
Recently, well-known Congress MP Shashi Tharoor found himself confronting the accessibility barriers that are a routine feature of the lives of those of us who are disabled.
Tharoor slipped a step when walking in Parliament, thus spraining his ankle. He had to go to Parliament in a wheelchair early this week, as a result.
Taking to Twitter to share his experience, he wrote: “When you need to enter Parliament in a wheelchair, there’s only one entrance with a ramp, at door 9, a good four-minute trip (with the assistance of helpers) to the Lok Sabha. This temporary disability has taught me how poorly equipped we are to support people with disabilities.
In December 2021, I submitted a series of recommendations to the Parliamentary Research Institute for Democracies [PRIDE] to make the physical and digital interface of Parliament more disabled-friendly.
My suggestions included having an Accessibility Committee in Parliament to attend to the access needs of the disabled, providing sign language interpretation for Parliamentary proceedings and ordering an accessibility audit of Parliament’s websites. I note with dismay that there has been no movement whatsoever on these recommendations.
In December 2015, the Government of India launched the Accessible India Campaign (AIC) to make the built environment, ICT ecosystem and transport facilities more disabled-friendly.
What is unfortunately absent in the AIC is a strong enforcement mechanism, led by people with disabilities and accessibility professionals, to ensure that ambitious milestones are set and pursued to their meaningful conclusion.
An example of this implementation gap is the following. S. 45 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 [RpwDA] states that, as a general rule, all existing public buildings (a term, by the way, that also legally covers buildings run by the private sector that are used by the public at large) shall be made accessible within five years of the date of promulgation of such rules. The relevant Rules, namely the Harmonised Guidelines and Space Standards for Barrier Free Built Environment for Persons with Disabilities and Elderly Persons, issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, were notified in June 2017.
Explained
Taliban’s war on women (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 1, Women Related Issues)
The blanket ban on education for girls and women and other decisions effectively banishing women from public life in Afghanistan, and the return of public executions and floggings as punishments in keeping with Sharia law, has belied hopes that this Taliban regime would be somehow different from the one of 1996-2001.
The ban makes Afghanistan the only country in the world where girls and women are denied access to education.
The Taliban first slapped a ban on girls attending secondary schools — they said it was a “temporary suspension” — on September 18, 2021, a month after they took power, and two weeks after the last American and NATO troops left the country.
In August this year, foreign ministry spokesman Abdul QaharBalki told The Indian Express that despite the “cultural constraints, budgetary constraints, lack of resources, lack of infrastructure, lack of teachers, books”, the government was “working extremely hard to try to address this problem”. “Our policy”, Balki said, “is education for all Afghan citizens irrespective of gender”.
He accused the international community of “weaponising” women’s education against the regime in order not to return Afghanistan’s financial assets banked in the US. He also said girls had access to secondary education in more than a dozen out of the country’s 34 provinces.
Until December 20, women could attend colleges and universities, which the Taliban had gender-segregated with gendered changes to the time table as well.
After last year’s ban on secondary schooling, younger girls whose families could afford it, attended “courses” in fee-charging private schools. Madrassas also held “Islami” classes for girls.
A network of underground “secret” schools sprang up so that girls would at least not forget what they had learnt in school until then.
Benin Bronzes (Page no. 15)
(Miscellaneous)
Germany has returned 20 Benin Bronzes that were looted in the 19th century to Nigeria at a ceremony that was held in Abuja, the country’s capital, earlier this week, western media reported.
The return of these precious artefacts took place after Germany in July this year signed an agreement with Nigeria, pledging to transfer the ownership of around 1,100 Benin Bronzes.
The German decision came amid renewed calls worldwide for western museums and nations to return artefacts plundered during the colonial period to their countries of origin.
Earlier in October, the prestigious Smithsonian Museum returned 29 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria after launching an institution-wide review of its practices and ethical code.
From intricately decorated cast plaques to animal and human figurines, the Benin Bronzes are a group of over 3,000 sculptures and artworks from the ancient Kingdom of Benin in present-day Nigeria, which dates back to at least the 16th century.
These historical pieces were looted by British colonial forces during their infamous raid on Benin City in 1897.
Several of these pieces had been specially commissioned for the kings or Obas, and Queen Mothers of the kingdom. These artefacts provide insight into the culture of the Benin Kingdom as well as its relationships with neighbouring states. Some of these pieces also point to the kingdom’s relationship with Europeans.
In 1897, after seven British delegates were killed on their way to Benin City for a trade mission, the British launched a retaliatory military expedition which ultimately resulted in the city being captured.
The Benin Royal Palace was partially destroyed and looted — thousands of artefacts were taken back to Great Britain.
Since then, the items have been scattered around the world. Nigerian historians and activists have long been trying to get them back.