📰 PM Modi launches Ayushman Bharat healthcare scheme
The scheme will be available for 10.74 crore beneficiary families and about 50 crore Indian citizens.
•Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday rolled out the Centre’s flagship scheme — Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyaan, also known as Ayushman Bharat or the National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM).
•“This is the world’s largest health scheme which will serve a population that equals 27-28 European countries. The beneficiaries are almost equal to the population of Canada, Mexico and US put together”, said PM Modi.
•The government-sponsored health insurance scheme will provide free coverage of up to ₹5 lakh a family a year in any government or even empanelled private hospitals all over India. Meant to help the poor and the economically deprived, the scheme will be available for 10.74 crore beneficiary families and about 50 crore Indian citizens.
•“This is an opportunity to serve poor people”, he added further.
•Addressing a mammoth crowd at Prabhat Tara ground in Ranchi, the Prime Minister further said that this scheme would be a role model for all future health schemes around the world.
•“This scheme will strengthen our health service in the country. Fifty crore people will benefit from this scheme. 13,000 hospitals in the country have been coordinated.”, he said.
•“I’ve lived in poverty and I have seen the self-respect of poor people as well. Through this scheme we’ve caught the genesis of poverty and focused on empowerment of poor people”, he said further explaining the benefits of the scheme.
•“Thos who won medals in Asian games recently were from remote villages, poor families. We have to identify poor people and give them the opportunity to excel in life”, Mr. Modi said.
•“If the previous governments who had governed in the name of poor people and looted the government fund would have put focus on poor people, such a situation would not have come. We have junked vote bank politics as our motto has been sabka saath, sabka vikas”, he added.
•The Prime Minister also laucnhed a toll free number 14555 for people to get more information about Ayushma Bharat scheme.
📰 The primary anchor of a health-care road map
The key to success is to integrate prevention, detection and treatment
•Universal health coverage is getting prioritised as a part of political reform with the launch of two pillars of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY): Ayushman Bharat (AB), where 1.5 lakh health sub-centres are being converted into health and wellness centres; and the National Health Protection Mission (NHPM), which aims to provide health cover of ₹5 lakh per family, per annum, reaching out to 500 million people.
•The “best health care at the lowest possible cost” should be: inclusive; make health-care providers accountable for cost and quality; achieve a reduction in disease burden, and eliminate catastrophic health expenditures for the consumer. All of this is not happening overnight simply because an audacious, nation-wide health-care programme is on the anvil. It could come about, however, if accompanied by the nuts and bolts of good governance that will support solutions and systems to achieve these objectives.
Align entitlement to income
•In the matter of inclusion, over 15 years ago, the Vajpayee government commissioned the Institute of Health Systems (IHS), Hyderabad to develop a ‘family welfare linked health insurance policy’. In 2003, the Director of the IHS Hyderabad delivered a broad-based Family Health Protection Plan (FHPP), open to all individuals. The fact is that any discourse on universal health care in India gets stymied by the sheer size and ambivalence of the numbers involved. This 2003 solution of the Vajpayee-era recommended, inter alia, that good governance lies in aligning the income lines for health and housing. In other words, de-link entitlement to health care from the poverty line. In that event, the income lines for housing (updated from time to time), could be simultaneously applicable for health entitlement. The government could then proceed, as per capacity, to scale the health premium subsidy in line with housing categories — economically weaker sections (entitled to 75-90%), lower income (entitled to 50%), and middle income groups (entitled to 20%).
Build in accountability
•The NHPM is pushing for hospitalisation at secondary- and tertiary-level private hospitals, while disregarding the need for eligible households to first access primary care, prior to becoming ‘a case for acute care’. We are in danger of placing the cart (higher-level care) before the horse (primary care). Without the stepping stone of primary health care, direct hospitalisation is a high-cost solution.
•Last month, the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, J.P. Nadda, said that while the PMJAY would help improve availability, accessibility, and affordability for the needy 40% of the population, the Prime Minister was looking for one additional requirement — that the PMJAY must continue to maintain credibility.
•This leads me to a caveat. Public sector health capacities are constrained at all levels. Forward movement is feasible only through partnerships and coalitions with private sector providers. These partnerships are credible only if made accountable. The National Health Policy 2017 proposed “strategic purchasing” of services from secondary and tertiary hospitals for a fee. Clearly, we need to contract-in services of those health-care providers (public and private) who are assessed as competent to provide all care for all the medical conditions specified; who will accept and abide by standard treatment protocols and guidelines notified, as this will rule out potential for induced care/unnecessary treatment; and who will accept the AB-NHPM financial compensation package (with fixed fees per episode, and not per visit).
•The credo for participating private providers should be “mission, not margin”. Health-care providers (public/private) should be accredited without any upper limit on the number of service providers in a given district. The annual premium for each beneficiary would be paid to those service providers, for up to one year only (renewable), as selected by beneficiaries. The resultant competition would enhance quality and keep costs in check. Upgrading district hospitals to government medical colleges and teaching hospitals will enhance capacities at the district level. Service providers will become accountable for cost and quality if they are bound to the nuts and bolts of good governance outlined above.
Transform primary care
•Third, elimination of catastrophic health expenditures for the consumer can come about only if there is sustained effort to modernise and transform the primary care space. Bring together all relevant inter-sectoral action linking health and development so as to universalise the availability of clean drinking water, sanitation, garbage disposal, waste management, food security, nutrition and vector control. The Swachh Bharat programme must be incorporated in the PMJAY. These steps put together will reduce the disease burden.
•At the 1.5 lakh ‘health and wellness clinics’ (earlier, health sub-centres), register households to provide them access to district-specific, evidence-based, integrated packages of community, primary preventive and promotive health care. A public education media campaign could highlight the merits of personal hygiene and healthy living. Kerala and Tamil Nadu have demonstrated that high-performing, primary health-care systems do address a majority of community/individual health needs. The health and wellness clinics must connect with early detection and treatment. The cornerstone of the Vajpayee-era FHPP was the primary medical clinic providing ambulatory primary care, out-patient consultation, clinical examination, curative services, and referrals. Robust delivery of preventive, clinical and diagnostic health-care services will result in early detection of cancers, diabetes and chronic conditions, mostly needing long-term treatment and home care. This will further minimise the demand for hospitalisation. Investment in primary care would very quickly reduce the overall cost of health care for the state and for the consumer.
•Technology and innovation are further reducing costs. AI-powered mobile applications will soon provide high-quality, low-cost, patient-centric, smart wellness solutions. The scaleable and inter-operable IT platform being readied for the Ayushman Bharat is encouraging.
•As we integrate prevention, detection and treatment of ill-health, the PMJAY will win hearts if people receive a well-governed ‘Health for All’ scheme.
📰 Governor’s discretion
The area being traversed in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case is alien to the Constitution
•The discretionary powers of the Governor are once again at the centre of a fresh controversy to decide on the remission of seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. A Supreme Court Bench led by Justice Ranjan Gogoi, while disposing a writ petition, recorded that the petitioner, A.G. Perarivalan, had filed an application before the Tamil Nadu Governor and that the “authority concerned will be at liberty to decide the said application as deemed fit”. Following this, the Tamil Nadu Cabinet adopted a resolution recommending that the Governor release the seven convicts under Article 161 of the Constitution.
•Subsequently, Raj Bhavan issued a press release explaining that the case involves “examination of legal, administrative and Constitutional issues” and “necessary consultation may be carried out, when required, in due course”. This communique seems to have been drafted to give the impression that the Governor is meticulously assessing the merits of the issue at hand, but it does not mention whether the Governor’s office is vested with any such powers to apply his mind and exercise his discretion under the Constitution. Article 161 of the Constitution provides the Governor with the power to “remit or commute the sentence of any prisoner”. The Governor’s decision will be subject to judicial review by the constitutional courts. Nevertheless, the immediate question is whether there is an independent, discretionary power vested with the Governor with regard to Articles 161 and 163 of the Constitution.
•In the view of the Supreme Court, speaking through a five-judge Bench in Nabam Rebia and Bamang Felix v. Deputy Speaker (2016), the discretionary power of the Governor is extremely limited and entirely amenable to judicial review. Time and again, the courts have spoken out against the Governor acting in the capacity of an “all-pervading super-constitutional authority”. Even when the exercise of discretion is concerned, a seven-judge Bench of the apex court in Samsher Singh v. State of Punjab (1974) had held that the Governor may do so only “in harmony with his Council of Ministers”. To do so, the Governor is precluded from taking a stand against the wishes of the Council of Ministers.
•The area being traversed in this case is alien to our Constitution, not having envisaged a situation where the Governor exercises his power under Article 161 against the express recommendation of the Council of Ministers. Such a decision will result in a tragic evisceration of the Constitution and its founding principles such as the federal structure, Cabinet responsibility and accountable governance. This may also be interpreted as the Governor having lost faith in the State government with regard to the performance of its executive functions. Either way, to stay true to the spirit of the Constitution, the Governor should desist from conferring discretionary powers to his office where there are none.
📰 A walk through the Koreas
Exploring the past and present of the North and South
•Last week, many stories and pictures emerged of North and South Korean bonhomie. One picture showed South Korean President Moon Jae-in filling a plastic bottle with water from the Heaven Lake of Mount Paektu in North Korea, which he had climbed with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the end of a three-day summit. As the somewhat showy images of North-South reconciliation played out, Andrei Lankov, who teaches at Kookmin University in Seoul and is an old North Korea watcher, tweeted: “N. Korea still won’t surrender its nuclear weapons completely. But the return of U.S. hardliners is a real threat, so if a bit of inter-Korean showmanship can reduce the chance of a crisis emerging, let it be.”
•Lankov’s The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia (2013) cuts through the “cliches” about the country being “mad” and “a nation of nuclear blackmailers” by pointing out that “North Korea’s leadership is quite rational, and nothing shows this better than its continuing survival against the odds.”
•However, for Hyeonseo Lee (The Girl with Seven Names, 2015), who still loves and misses North Korea, there’s no returning back as it “remains as closed and cruel as ever.” In her book, Hyeonseo describes her happy-sad life — the beautiful winters and loving parents, witnessing a public execution when she was seven, and the night she fled across a frozen river.
•Earlier in 2010, Barbara Demick, a Los Angeles Times journalist, published in Nothing to Envy seven years of conversations with North Koreans, especially those who had escaped from Chongjin which had been badly hit by the famine of the mid-1990s.
•In contrast, South Korea, despite tense ties with the North, and war and conflict, has steered itself as a liberal democracy and a flourishing economy. Yet, several books have captured its painful past. For instance, Hwang Sok-Yong’s 2002 novel, The Guest, is based on actual events — a massacre during the Korean War in Hwanghae Province.
•As South Korean pop bands take the world by storm, Euny Hong (The Birth of Korean Cool, 2014), who grew up in Seoul’s Gangnam district, explains just how far the country has come after rapper Psy made the neighbourhood “style” famous. With leaders of both Koreas now talking of peace and salvaging nuclear talks, the next “walk through the land of miracles”, as Simon Winchester wrote, should be interesting.
📰 Publishing poll candidate’s propaganda is paid news: Election Commission
Poll panel tells Supreme Court that it can’t be allowed as free speech.
•Repeated publication of propaganda lauding the achievements of a candidate in an election is nothing but “paid news”, the Election Commission of India has told the Supreme Court.
•Politicians cannot say that it is part of their fundamental right to free speech to spew out “motivated propaganda”.
•The EC has asked the court to declare whether it amounts to “paid news” if widely circulated daily newspapers cover statements issued by, and in the name of, a candidate that are not only laudatory of his or her record and achievements but also are a direct appeal to voters by the candidate.
‘Unequal advantage’
•“If such motivated propaganda is allowed in the garb of free speech during the election period, candidates with a strong network of connections and undefined relationships will exploit their sphere of influence in society and will have the unequal advantage of encashing such silent services,” the EC, represented by advocate Amit Sharma, said in a special leave petition.
•The commission has moved the court in appeal against a decision of the Delhi High Court on May 18 to set aside the disqualification of Madhya Pradesh BJP leader Narottam Mishra.
•The commission’s National Level Committee on Paid News found that five newspapers, with a wide circulation, had published 42 news items that were “biased and one-sided and aimed at furthering the prospects of Mr. Mishra”.
•Some of the reports were advertisements in favour of him. The committee concluded that the items fitted the definition of “paid news”.
•The EC on June 23 last year disqualified Mr. Mishra for not filing the accounts for money spent as election expenses on news items. Though a single judge of the High Court upheld the commission’s decision to disqualify Mr. Mishra, a Division Bench concluded that the BJP leader was merely exercising his fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression.
•Mr. Mishra’s witnesses also denied receiving any money from him for favourable coverage.
‘An unholy alliance’
•“The conduct of the eager supporters, whose extensive coverage, as in this case, being dubbed as freedom of expression cannot be termed news because ‘news’ is expected to be unbiased and characterised by dispassionate coverage and proportionate space to other contenders,” the EC countered in its appeal.
•Calling such relationships between candidates and publications an “unholy alliance,” the EC said the appeal was significant because if the court shut its eye to this case, “the assertion of freedom of speech would become a stock pretence or plea by the service provider and the beneficiary candidate”.
•The commission said its powers to investigate the contents of such news coverage should not be thwarted.
📰 India looks to buy Israeli missiles
Defence Acquisition Council to take up deal through the government-to-government route
•A deal to procure the Spike anti-tank guided missiles from Israel through the government-to-government route has been brought before the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) for approval. However, some validation trials have to be held before the deal is signed.
•“Validation trials of the infrared seeker (IR) are to be held. Once the DAC accords approval, the trials will be performed during the summer,” a defence source said.
•Not up to the mark
•The deal will feature on the agenda of the DAC which is scheduled to meet early this week. The deal is for 170 launchers, 4,500 missiles and 15 simulators.
•Another defence source said the missile did not perform as desired in the previous trials during peak summer temperatures in the desert, and hence the need to validate its performance.
•The earlier deal was cancelled in January after protracted negotiations, just ahead of the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to India.
•It was decided that the requirement could be met through the indigenous man-portable missile being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation.
Off the shelf
•However, as the Army is faced with a huge shortage of anti-tank guided missiles and the indigenous system missed development deadlines, it was decided that a smaller number will be procured off the shelf through the government-to-government route.
•The earlier $500-million deal for Spike missiles was accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) by the DAC in 2009 and was approved in October 2014, but contract negotiations dragged on over cost and technology transfer. The deal was for 8,000-plus missiles and 300-plus launchers, along with technology transfer to build them in India.
•Spike is a third-generation, fire-and-forget, man-portable missile manufactured by Israel’s Rafael.
•In all, nearly 40,000 missiles are required to equip the Army’s 382 infantry battalions and 44 mechanised regiments.
•The indigenous low-weight missile was successfully flight-tested twice by the DRDO from the Ahmednagar test range last week.
📰 WhatsApp appoints grievance officer for India
Users can seek help through the mobile app, send an email to WhatsApp’s senior director, global customer operations and localisation.
•Under pressure to clamp down on sinister messages, Whatsapp has appointed a grievance officer for India and outlined a process for users to flag concerns and complaints.
•Meeting one of the key demands that India had put on Whatsapp to curb fake messages, which triggered mob killings, the Facebook-owned company has updated its website to reflect the appointment of a ‘Grievance Officer for India’.
•The update mentions that users can seek help through the mobile app, send an email or write in to ‘Komal Lahiri’, who is based out of the United States.
•According to Lahiri’s LinkedIn profile, she is senior director, global customer operations and localisation, WhatsApp.
•When contacted, a WhatsApp spokesperson declined to comment on the matter but referred to the public FAQ on the company’s website that contains these details.
•According to sources, the appointment of the Grievance Officer was made at the end of August.
•They added that the Grievance Officer for India being based in the U.S. is in tune with similar practices by other American tech giants.
•According to the WhatsApp website, users can reach out to the company’s support team directly from the app under the ‘Settings’ tab and in case they wish to escalate the complaint, they can contact the Grievance Officer directly.
•A section within FAQs read: “You [users] can contact the Grievance Officer with complaints or concerns, including the following: WhatsApp’s Terms of Service; and Questions about your account.”
•The updated FAQs also detailed out the mechanism for law enforcement officials to reach out to WhatsApp.
•The government has been pressing WhatsApp to develop tools to combat fake or false messages. One of the demands was to name a grievance officer to deal with issues in India.
•India is WhatsApp’s biggest market with more than 200 million users. It, in July, limited message forwards to five chats at a time and had also removed the quick forward button placed next to media messages to discourage mass forwarding. It has also introduced a ‘forward’ label to help users identify such messages.
•The latest appointment is also significant as the Supreme Court, last month, had agreed to examine a petition alleging that WhatsApp does not comply with Indian laws, including the provision for appointing a grievance officer. The apex court had sought a reply on the matter within four weeks.
•With general elections slated for next year in India, the government is taking a tough stance on use of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp for spread of misinformation.
•The government had warned WhatsApp that it would treat the messaging platform as abettor of rumour propagation and legal consequences would follow if adequate checks were not put in place.
•In a meeting held with WhatsApp Head Chris Daniels last month, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had asserted that the company would have to find a solution to track the origin of messages on its platform, set up a local corporate entity that is subject to Indian laws within a defined time-frame as well as appoint a grievance officer.
•WhatsApp, which has been slapped with two notices, a third one under consideration, has said it is in the process of establishing a local corporate entity.
•It has, however, not accepted the government’s demand for traceability of messages, saying creating such a software would go against the idea of user privacy and end-to-end encryption.
📰 What caused the floods in Kerala?
Study by IIT professor identifies four major factors for the disaster
•A combination of four factors led to extreme flooding across Kerala this year, a study says. Above normal seasonal (May-August) rainfall, extreme rainfall events occurring almost across the State during the season, over 90% reservoir storage even before the onset of extreme rainfall events, and finally, the unprecedented extreme rainfall in the catchment areas of major reservoirs in the State led to the disaster.
•The summer monsoon rainfall in Kerala from May to August this year was 2,290 mm, which was 53% above normal. The average rainfall during the summer monsoon period (June-September) is about 1,619 mm. This makes 2018 Kerala’s third wettest year in the last 118 years (1901-2018); 1924 and 1961 were the wettest years with about 3,600 mm of annual rainfall.
•Second, till August 21, the State witnessed few extreme rainfall events covering almost the entire State. These extreme rainfall events have very low probability of recurrence in any given year.
•Third, Kerala received 1634.5 mm rainfall during the period May 1 to August 7, which is more than the average rainfall (1619.37 mm) during the summer monsoon period (June-September).
•As a result, six of the seven major reservoirs in the State had over 90% storage before August 8, well before Kerala received the unprecedented extreme rainfall events.
•Finally, the catchment areas of major reservoirs in the State received extreme rainfall never before witnessed in the State. The role of other factors such as changes in how infrastructure has grown at the expense of vegetation and drainage remains to be studied.
•“The State-wide flooding shows that reservoirs can play a major role in improving or worsening the flood situation,” says Prof. Vimal Mishra from the Civil Engineering Department at IIT Gandhinagar.
•The results of the study were posted on September 14 in Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions, and the manuscript is being peer-reviewed.
📰 Citizen science initiative helps save hornbills
Data on hornbill to be used to learn about its habitat
•A citizen science initiative of documenting Indian hornbills is providing valuable inputs for the conservation of the unique bird. The data on hornbill presence outside protected areas would be be crucial in identifying and protecting their habitats from possible threats and development projects, scientists said.
•The Hornbill Watch initiative (www.hornbills.in) is an interactive web interface that allows a person to report on hornbills anywhere in India. People can record the observation of a live hornbill, note its call or report a dead, hunted or captive bird.
Lack of information
•There are nine hornbill species in India, but experts say that information on hornbill distribution in the country is not very clear.
•Launched by scientists Aparajita Datta and Rohit Naniwadekar from Nature Conservation Foundation and Ramki Sreenivasan and Vikram Hiresavi from Conservation India, Hornbill Watch was aimed at bridging this gap. A recent paper in the journal Indian BIRDS elaborates on the work done by volunteers documenting hornbills in different parts of the country in three years.
•Between June 2014 and February 2017, the website, Hornbill Watch, had received 938 records from 430 contributors across 26 States including the national capital and two Union Territories.
•“States from where the most sightings were recorded are Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh,” the paper states. Hornbills were reported from across 70 protected areas in the country. While 41% of the observations were made within protected areas, 59% were made outside.
•Contributors to Hornbill Watch described 57 sites where the birds were reported to nest and 36 sites where the birds were reported to roost. The reports included notes on the endangered Narcondam hornbill, restricted to an area of 6 sq.km. of the Narcondam Island in the Andamans. Vulnerable or near threatened species such as the rufous-necked hornbill, the Austen’s brown hornbill and the great hornbill were observed in several States in northeastern India.
•Scientist Rohit Naniwadekar said that involving people in observation of hornbills was relatively easy because the birds are identifiable even to an untrained eye.
•“While Karnataka had the highest number of records, a significant number of sighting records were from Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Information on hornbill presence was recorded from Sikkim and Chhattisgarh, where there were no earlier records,” Mr. Naniwadekar said. According to the scientist, sightings the oriental pied hornbill and the Indian grey hornbill in green spaces within cities like New Delhi and Chandigarh highlighted the important role of urban tree cover.
📰 Saving Cauvery’s cradle
Protecting the Kodagu watershed is essential to ensure the water security of three States
•We require water for everything: drinking, growing crops, producing electricity and industrial production. With the world population projected to grow to about 10 billion by 2050, according to the United Nations, and with climate change discernible, both the quantity and quality of freshwater will become critical, affecting health, food security, and economic well-being. A 2015 UN report, Water for a Sustainable World, pointed out that the gap between the availability of water and our need for water is only going to increase.
Projects in the river basin
•The growing demand on freshwater resources demonstrates the need for sustainable management of water. In this context, projects that are being contemplated, such as the laying of multiple railway tracks in the critical Cauvery river basin in Kodagu district, Karnataka, are not only economically unviable but also ecologically damaging. Mega projects pose a clear threat to the long-term water security of the three States that depend on the Cauvery (Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu), and exacerbate the threat posed by seasonal droughts and floods.
•The Cauvery basin drains an area of about 81,000 sq. km. Originating in Talakaveri, Kodagu, the river irrigates agricultural fields, generates electricity, and provides drinking water to downstream communities across south India. The Cauvery and its tributaries contribute the bulk of water to the Krishna Raja Sagara dam near Mysuru, the primary water source for Bengaluru. However, increasing development pressure from the transportation and construction sectors poses a severe threat to the forests, riverbeds, wildlife and agricultural lands. This March, for the first time in decades, towns such as Virajpet in Kodagu faced a severe shortage of drinking water. The continuing loss of forest cover and illegal sand mining from river beds endanger water and food security for all the downstream communities in the Cauvery basin.
•The three proposed railway plans have major implications. One, all the tracks will cut through large swaths of agricultural farms and fields as well as Protected and Reserve Forests that are spread across Kodagu and Mangaluru districts of Karnataka, and Wayanad and Kannur districts of Kerala. Along this sparsely populated area, transportation needs can be met by simply improving existing roads at a fraction of the monetary and ecological cost of the proposed railways. In fact, in its feasibility report of the Mysuru-Thalassery line, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation stated that the project would not be beneficial to the State. In response to protests by the people of Kodagu in February, the plan to build the Mysuru-Thalassery line was scrapped in March. However, if history is any guide, plans to build the tracks will reemerge in time.
•Two, they will affect the Western Ghats, one of the most biodiverse regions on earth. Kodagu has about 45% forest cover and about 30% agroforestry systems (coffee plantations and paddy fields). Between 2013 and 2015, a high-tension power line linking Mysuru and Kozhikode resulted in the loss of about 50,000 trees in Kodagu alone. If the proposed railway lines are constructed, they would conservatively result in tree loss that is 10 times more than this. Forests help capture rainfall, reduce run-off and soil erosion, recharge groundwater aquifers, mitigate flooding, support local communities, and provide refuge for native flora and fauna. Raised railway tracks will also impede wildlife and could result in the deaths of endangered animals such as elephants. Most importantly, a forest-depleted Kodagu basin will have reduced capacity to capture and store rainwater. Even without the railway tracks, a satellite-based report titled India State of Forests 2017 noted that Kodagu lost 102 sq. km. of tree cover in just two years.
Variable monsoon
•The Kodagu basin receives heavy rainfall, mainly during the southwest monsoon (June-September), that feeds the Cauvery. However, studies by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology and others, published in the journalNature, have found evidence for increasingly variable monsoon rainfall. Thus, we can expect to experience more extreme floods as well as droughts in the future. These are scenarios that make preserving forest cover more vital in order to mitigate the collateral effects of these extreme events.
•During this year’s southwest monsoon season, Kodagu received twice as much annual rainfall as usual and with greater intensity. This resulted in landslides and floods. A recent study of nearly 5,000 landslides around the world, published in Earth and Space Science News (Eos), has revealed that activities like construction, illegal mining and hill cutting are increasingly responsible for the uptick in fatal landslides, particularly in Asia. It will be hard to claim that the uncontrolled development and forest clearance in the steep slopes of the Western Ghats in recent years has not been a factor in the tragedy that just unfolded in Kodagu, and in the coastal districts of Kerala. With 100-year storms likely to become more frequent as the climate becomes warmer, business as usual is sure to increasingly endanger lives and property.
•Erratic monsoon rains can cause flooding, droughts, water and food security. Preserving existing forests in the watershed provides an effective ‘insurance policy’ for reducing the effect of floods and droughts while recharging groundwater across the Cauvery river basin. Nature has reported that diminished access to water resources increases the risk of social unrest, political instability, intensified refugee flows and armed conflicts, even within borders. The variable nature of monsoons makes India one of the most vulnerable regions to water-related disasters associated with climate change and extreme weather events. According to a BBC report, Bengaluru is likely to run out of drinking water in the next decade. Economists should estimate the monetary and human cost of cities like Bengaluru becoming dry, and implement policies focused on achieving and maintaining sustainable water resources.
•We are at the start of the UN Decade for Water, which emphasises water security for all. Everyone lives in a watershed, yet water remains a remote concept for those who consume it the most — people, industries and farmers. There are no substitutes for water as the very basis for life. Protecting the Cauvery’s source is essential for the sustained well-being of the entire basin and of the three States that the river nourishes. In fact, good water governance of the nation’s watersheds will be key to its sustainable future. We can begin by saving Cauvery’s cradle.
📰 Merger to test large bank’s absorbtive capacity
Success in Bank of Baroda’s amalgamation with smaller Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank could set the stage for further consolidation
•With the government having finally set the ball rolling for the long awaited consolidation among public sector banks, by announcing its intention to merge Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank, all eyes will be on the proposed amalgamation to see how successfully the combination works.
•Investors and bankers will be keen to see if this may end up serving as a template for further mergers among state-run lenders, especially given the asset quality issues plaguing several of these banks.
•The success of this exercise, according to analysts, is crucial for future such attempts. In particular, the proposed merger is seen as a test of the capacity of a large bank, which itself is facing pressure on asset quality, to absorb a weaker peer.
•“Merger integration risk is high from a HR standpoint but further mergers would be contingent on the success of this one and the strength of the larger PSU banks to absorb smaller ones,” Kotak Securities wrote in a note to its clients.
•Bank of Baroda, the largest among the three with total business of ₹10.3 lakh crore, is more than five times the size of Dena Bank — the weakest of the three with business of ₹1.73 lakh crore. Dena also faces certain operational restrictions as it is currently under the Reserve Bank of India’s prompt corrective action framework after a rise in NPAs resulted in the lender’s return on assets turning negative.
•Vijaya Bank, also smaller with business of ₹2.8 lakh crore, is, however, a relatively healthy bank. The Bengaluru-based lender is one of only two public sector banks that reported a profit in the last financial year, the other being Chennai-based Indian Bank.
•One of the crucial positive aspects of the merger is the timing. While bank officials expect the merger to be completed in 4-6 months time, banking industry veterans expect it would take at least one year to complete the amalgamation. The recognition and resolution of stressed assets, which is currently under way, is expected to help improve asset quality over the next six to 12 months.
•The finance ministry recently said the stock of non-performing assets were ‘no longer rising’ as it had reduced by ₹21,000 crore in the April-June quarter.
•“We do expect this transaction would take more than a year to consummate which implies that the probability of negative surprises on asset quality (post-merger) should be largely contained,” Kotak Securities said.
•Bank of Baroda’s net NPA ratio is 5.4%, Vijaya Bank’s is 4.1% and Dena Bank’s is 11.04%. The combined entity will have a net NPA ratio of 5.7%.
•Improvement in operational efficiency is one positive that could emerge from the merger that is set to create the country’s third-largest lender. This is because a significant number of branches can be rationalised particularly in States like Gujarat, where both Baroda and Dena have a significant presence; Maharashtra, where all the three have significant presence; and Karnataka, where Vijaya enjoys dominance.
•In addition, cost of funds for the merged entity is expected to come down since Vijaya Bank has a high dependence on short-term bulk deposits, which are typically high cost in nature.
•There are a few challenges too including, particularly, the handling of human resources. HR is a key challenge for any merger, be it between private or public sector entities, as it could be difficult for employees to adapt to a new corporate culture. And that is where the role of top management and their communication to the employees assumes importance.
•One silver lining though could be the lower likelihood of employee retrenchment as an ageing workforce is leading to significantly higher numbers of retirements. And this at a time when they are expanding into new areas where there is a need for more specialised hands.
•The other challenge is customer retention. SBI’s recent merger with its associate banks saw customers of associate banks opting to move their business to rival lenders as result of a lack of comfort in banking with the larger parent. The merged entity from the latest proposal will, for instance, likely face a challenge in retaining customers particularly that of Vijaya Bank, which is dominant in south India.
•Ultimately, how well the three banks combine could well end up determining the future of consolidation among public sector banks.
📰 Lending a helping hand to coconut farmers
Project Kalpavriksha covers almost 6,000 ryots in T.N., Kerala
•For R. Prabhu, a farmer who has nine acres under coconut trees at Kodingam, a village located 25 km from Pollachi, there are several challenges in maintaining the farm.
•Water availability is a major issue, he says. Ground water is available at 1,000 feet and he has been using borewell for water supply for almost 20 years. Mr. Prabhu raises both traditional and hybrid varieties of coconut trees. Apart from the challenges in managing water supply, he says, there have been pest attacks on hybrid trees for which he used common pesticides available in the market.
Guidance to farmers
•However, about seven months ago, he came across a poster at a local dairy society about a project called Kalpavriksha that offered guidance to coconut farmers free of cost. He called up the number given and a field person visited the farm. “By following the methods he suggested, the pest problem had reduced by 50% to 70%,” said Mr. Prabhu.
•He has also downloaded the Kalpavriksha mobile application to know about copra rates. Consumer products company Marico started working on a project in 2014 for coconut farmers and in a year, had 125 farmers in Thanjavur area under its ambit, apart from six agronomists. Last year, the project was given shape and unveiled as Kalpavriksha. It now covers almost 6,000 coconut farmers in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
•On an average, the yield had increased 18% for the farmers, claims Udayraj Prabhu, executive vice president, Marico. “We want to improve it by about 50% and double the income of farmers.” The project has field staff in almost 750 villages who visit coconut farms, advise farmers on best practices, disease and yield improvement. It has a digital library and toll free number. The number of farmers who drop out of the project is about 10%. Going forward, Kalpavriksha will not only cover more farmers and agronomists but will also bring on its platform start-ups, financial institutions, and government agencies. Some of them can extend their service at a cost to the farmers, he said.
