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CATEGORY: POLITY/GOVERNANCE
- No Audit of PM-CARES Funds by CAG: SC
The issue in news:
The Supreme Court recently said that PM-CARES fund is a public charitable trust and that , “there is no occasion for audit of Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM-CARES Fund) by the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) of India”
- SC also refused to order the transfer of funds from the PM CARES to the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).
Main Points
No Audit by CAG:
- SC ruled that NDRF is to be audited by the CAG of India as per the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
- A public charitable trust like PM-CARES Fund need not be. Instead the Fund will be audited by an independent auditor.
No Transfer of Funds of PM-CARES to NDRF:
- SC ruled ”The PM CARES Fund is a charitable trust registered under the Registration Act, 1908.
- The trust does not receive any Budgetary support or any Government money.” NDRF, formed under Section 46 of the DM Act of 2005, were provided for by Central and State Budgets.
Individuals Can Contribute to NDRF:
- SC held that there is “no statutory prohibition on individuals to make voluntary contributions to NDRF” under Section 46(1)(b) of the DM Act.
No New National Plan:
- SC also rejected the request for a direction to the government to put in place a new National Disaster Management Plan under the DM Act, to deal with Covid-19 situation.
- The bench said “all aspects of epidemics, all measures to contain an epidemic, preparedness, response, mitigation have been elaborately dealt in the National Disaster Management Plan, 2019.”
No intervention in Minimum Standards of Relief:
- SC also declined to intervene with the “minimum standards of relief” and the necessary guidelines issued by the government under Section 12 of the DM Act.
- The provision holds that the National Authority shall recommend guidelines for the minimum standards of relief to be provided to persons affected by disaster, which shall include the minimum requirements to be provided in the relief camps in relation to shelter, food, drinking water, medical cover and sanitation; special provisions to be made for widows and orphans etc
Background
- The PM-CARES Fund was created to deal with any kind of emergency or distress situation like posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, under the Disaster Management (DM) Act, 2005
- The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said that the PM-CARES Fund is not a public authority under the ambit of the Right to Information Act (RTI), 2005.
- It also denied information on the number of applications and appeals related to PM-CARES and the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund, raising concerns on its transparency and
National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP)
- provides a framework and direction to the government agencies for all phases of the disaster management cycle.
- The main aim of the plan is to make India disaster resilient and drastically lessen the damage caused during and in the aftermath of disasters, natural and man-made.
- The National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP) was first released in 2016.The plan was updated in 2016, 2018 and 2019.
- The NDMP 2019 incorporates Prime Minister’s ten point agenda for Disaster Risk Reduction.
CATEGORY: HEALTH
- National Cancer Registry Programme Report 2020
The issue in news
The National Cancer Registry Programme Report 2020, recently reveleaed that cancer cases in India are likely to increase to 15.6 lakhs by 2025, a 12% increase from the current estimated cases.
- The report has been released by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research (NCDIR), Bengaluru.
Main points
- Number of Cases: The number of cases are likely to touch 15.6 lakhs by 2025 from the current 13.9 lakhs in 2020.
- Major Cause: Tobacco-related cancers are estimated to contribute 1% of the total cancer burden.
- Regional Distribution: Cancers related to use of any form of tobacco were highest in the northeastern region of the country and in higher proportions in men.
- Gender Prevalence: Among women, breast cancers are estimated to contribute 14.8% and cervical cancer (tumour of the cervix, the lowermost part of the uterus) are estimated to contribute 5.4%.
- For both men and women, cancers of the gastrointestinal tract are estimated to contribute 19.7% of the total cancer burden.
- Cancers of the lung, mouth, stomach and oesophagus (the muscular tube that runs from the throat to the stomach) are the most common cancers among men.
- Detection and Spread: Cancers of the lung were diagnosed at a stage of spread to distant sites, while cancers of head and neck, stomach, breast and cervix were in higher proportions with a locoregional (restricted to a localized region of the body)
Cancer Incidence Rate:
- For the male population, it ranges from 269.4 (Aizawl, Mizoram) to 39.5 (Osmanabad and Beed, Maharashtra) per 1,00,000 population.
- For the female population, it ranges from 219.8 (Papumpare, Arunachal Pradesh) to 49.4 (Osmanabad and Beed, Maharashtra) per 1,00,000 population.
- A significant increase in the incidence rates of breast cancers in women and lung and head and neck cancers in both men and women was observed.
- A declining trend was seen in most of the registries for cancer of the cervix.
Cancer
- Cancer is a term for a large group of diseases characterized by the growth of abnormal cells beyond their usual boundaries that can then invade adjoining parts of the body and/or spread to other organs. Other common terms used for cancer are malignant tumors and neoplasms.
- Cancer is one of the leading causes of death globally.
- World Cancer Day is organized by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and celebrated each year on 4 February.
- 2020 theme: ‘I Am and I Will’, which acknowledges that everyone has the capacity to address the cancer burden.
Indian Council of Medical Research
- It is the apex body in India for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research.
- It is funded by the Government of India through the Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research
- It is one of its kind of unique institution which utilizes information science for health research as its integral component.
- Objective: To sustain and develop a national research data-base on cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and stroke through recent advances in electronic information technology with a national collaborative network.
GS3
CATEGORY: INDIAN ECONOMY
- Jobs Data: CMIE
The issue in news
The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) has released data regarding jobs gained or lost during the Covid-19 lockdown period (April-July 2020).
- CMIE is a leading business information company. It was established in 1976, primarily as an independent think tank. It analyses the data to decipher trends in the economy.
Main points
Salaried Jobs:
- They suffered a total loss estimated to be 18.9 million during April-July 2020.
- 7 million salaried jobs were lost in April. 5 million jobs were again lost in July.
- They offer better terms of employment and better wages, and have a higher share in urban parts of the country than rural parts.
- They are more resilient to economic shocks and not lost easily, however, once lost they are far more difficult to retrieve. Only 21% of all employment in India is in the form of a salaried employment.
- Loss of urban salaried jobs is likely to have a particular debilitating impact on the economy, besides causing immediate hardship to middle-class households.
Informal and Non-Salaried Jobs:
- This category of job has shown improvement during the April-July 2020 increasing to 325.6 million in July 2020 from 317.6 million in 2019, an increase of 2.5%.
- This is because of the opening of the country in a phased manner. This category of employment accounted for about 32% of the total employment but it suffered 75% of the hit in April 2020.
- Out of total 121.5 million jobs lost in April 2020, 91.2 million of the jobs were lost from this category.
- Small traders, hawkers and daily wage labourers were the worst hit by the lockdown.
Farm Jobs:
- The jobs lost in the non-farm sectors have resulted in people moving towards farm employment.
- The farm sector gained 14.9 million jobs in the April-July 2020 period.
- In 2019, 42.39% of the workforce in India was employed in agriculture.
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