📰 INTACH bats for heritage buildings
Says their demolition would contribute to global warming
•The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) has called for transforming heritage buildings in Rajasthan into “economic assets” for the society. Economic benefits could be derived from these properties as an alternative to paying for their upkeep on a regular basis.
•INTACH chairman Maj. Gen. (Retd.) L.K. Gupta said here that the demolition of heritage buildings would contribute to global warming. He said an exercise had been launched for mapping of natural heritage in Thar desert with the participation of local communities for modern planning.
Heritage protection
•Addressing a State-level meeting of INTACH here, Maj. Gen. Gupta said the trust was working for protection of natural heritage, geo-heritage, water bodies, stepwells, sacred groves, wall paintings and rock paintings.
•“The mapping of natural heritage in the Thar desert area will build up the capacity of local communities. Since they have a better knowledge of their resources, their techniques should be documented and implemented for modern planning,” Maj. Gen. Gupta said.
📰 Scrub typhus is key encephalitis cause in eastern U.P.: study
This finding is important, given that the mite-borne disease can be treated easily if doctors look for it early
•Three years of data from Gorakhpur’s Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College has confirmed that the majority of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) patients admitted to the hospital between August and October each year have scrub typhus. This finding is important, given that scrub typhus can be treated easily if detected early. The first indication of scrub typhus’ role came during a 2014 study at BRD by researchers from Karnataka’s Manipal Centre for Viral Research. But there was much scepticism about this hypothesis then.
•In the following years, however, other researchers reported similar findings. In 2015, a team led by the director of Chennai’s National Institute of Epidemiology, Manoj Murhekar, found that out of 370 AES patients tested during September-October, 63% had antibodies to scrub typhus. The findings were reported in the Journal of Infection. In 2016, out of 407 AES patients during the same period, 65% had the illness.
•Also, when all AES patients were given azithromycin, a treatment for scrub typhus, 35% of non-scrub-typhus patients died, while only 15% of scrub patients died, indicating that azithromycin was effective. These findings were published in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal in May this year. Finally, in 2017, over 50% of patients admitted to BRD in August-September were positive for scrub typhus, according to data shared with The Hindu by the Indian Council of Medical Research.
Study of mites
•Further evidence for the role of scrub typhus comes from a study of trombiculid mites in eastern Uttar Pradesh by Chennai’s Vector Control Research Centre (VCRC). They found that the mites carried Orientia tsutsugumashi, the bacterium which causes scrub typhus. While this study was published in Vector Borne and Zoonotic Diseases in July 2018, P. Jambulingam, VCRC Director, also told The Hindu that unpublished research has shown an increase in infestation of rodents by trombiculid mites during August-October. This explains why scrub typhus incidence peaks during monsoon, he said.
📰 Access to Andamans eased
Foreigners can visit 29 inhabited islands without Restricted Areas Permit
•Foreigners no longer need a Restricted Areas Permit to visit 29 inhabited islands in the Andaman and Nicobar chain. The Union Home Ministry decided on Tuesday to lift restrictions as the government intends to boost tourism.
•An official said 11 other uninhabited islands will also be thrown open to foreigners.
Area permits
•The 29 inhabited islands have been excluded from the restricted area permit (RAP) notified under the Foreigners (Restricted Areas) Order, 1963, till December 31, 2022, subject to certain conditions.
•However, citizens of Afghanistan, China and Pakistan and foreign nationals having their origin in these countries would continue to require RAP to visit the Union Territory, the official said.
•For visiting Mayabunder and Diglipur, citizens of Myanmar will continue to require RAP, which shall be issued only with the prior approval of the ministry.
•“To ensure preservation of natural and marine resources, including marine parks and environment, of the Union Territory without affecting tourism and business at large, it should be ensured by the Andaman and Nicobar Islands administration that the guidelines issued by the Environment and Forests Ministry are strictly adhered to,” said the official.
•Separate approvals of the competent authority would be required for visiting reserved forests, wildlife sanctuaries and tribal reserves, the official said.
📰 Most babies not breastfed in their first hour
Report cites lack of supportive work environment, inadequate skills of health care providers
•As many as 6 out of 10 babies born in the country are not able to begin breastfeeding within one hour of birth despite an improvement in institutional deliveries due to a lack of supportive work environment, inadequate skills of health care providers as well as caesarean deliveries, according to a new report made public on Tuesday.
First milk
•Mother’s breast milk within one hour of birth ensures that the infant receives the colostrum or first milk, which is rich in protective factors. The WHO and UNICEF also recommend exclusive breastfeeding for infants up to the age of six months and thereafter complementary foods with continued breastfeeding up to 2 years of age or beyond.
•The 5th Report of Assessment of India’s Policy and Programmes on Breastfeeding and Infant and Young Child Feeding in 2018 also gives India a score of 45 out of 100 on 10 parameters under the category of policy and programmes. However, India performs better in terms of infant and young child feeding practices scoring 34 out of 50 on five parameters.
•The report has been prepared by a national consortium of public health groups and agencies including government departments, AIIMS and UNICEF, under the aegis of World Breastfeeeding Trends Initiative (WBTI).
•Early initiation of breastfeeding within one hour of birth is 41.5%, exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months is 54.9%, inclusion of complementary feeding between 6-8 months is 42.7% and adequate complementary feeding and minimum acceptable diet among 6-23 months children is as low as 9.6%, the report cites data from NFHS-4.
Inching forward
•India has made some progress over the years and between National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-3 and NFHS-4, early initiation of breastfeeding has improved from 23.4% to 41.5% children breastfed within one hour of birth.
•This hasn’t kept pace with the stark increase in institutional deliveries which more than doubled during the same period, from 38.7 % to 78.9%.
📰 Pause, refresh: on the GST Council's focus on MSMEs
The GST Council does well to focus on the concerns of small firms
•The Goods and Services Tax Council met last Saturday for the second time within a fortnight. However, this time it refrained from further rate rejigs. While the new indirect tax regime has expanded India’s tax base and brought more firms into the formal economy, revenues have slipped somewhat after peaking at ₹1.03 lakh crore in April (for taxes accrued in March) this year. The first three months of this financial year have yielded ₹94,016 crore, ₹95,610 crore and ₹96,483 crore, respectively — this is well short of the ₹1.lakh crore revenue target a month for 2018-19. The steep rate cuts effected on several items in the last Council meeting were to kick in from July 27, so their full impact on revenue collections may take more time to unfold. Moody’s Investors Service reckons that the revenue loss from the most recent tax cuts may be 0.04-0.08% of GDP annually. This is marginal at best, and could be offset by stronger consumption-led growth and better tax compliance. But it is in this context of revenue concerns that the Council’s dedicated focus at its latest meeting on issues facing micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) is a creditable move.
•Setting up a ministerial group to look into the problems faced by MSMEs since India moved to the GST regime last July is a signal that the government is not brushing aside the implementation issues that still trouble smaller players. Firms with an annual turnover of less than ₹5 crore constitute 93% of the registered taxpayers under the GST. At its previous meeting, the Council had decided that such businesses need no longer file cumbersome returns every month, but only on a quarterly basis. There may be more room for the ministerial panel to recommend further easing of compliance for micro firms with turnover far below ₹5 crore and enhancing the ₹50,000 threshold for mandatory use of e-way bills to track movement of taxable goods. A deeper dive to understand why 1.7 million taxpayers had registered under the GST by December 2017 although their operations were below the taxable limit could also yield some pointers. The Council meeting has also, wisely, returned to a consensual approach on decisions. While a few States had reservations about the rate cuts at the last meeting, this time their concerns on a proposal to push digital payments by offering a cash-back to consumers using RuPay cards or the UPI platform have been incorporated. Now, States will volunteer to run a pilot on these lines and a final decision will be taken after a detailed system-wide evaluation of such incentives. This indicates the Centre’s keenness to retain a cooperative approach with States that has generally marked the Council’s functioning.
