📰 ‘Tomato flu’ detected among children in India, says Lancet
Cases reported in Kerala, T.N. and Odisha; precautions taken to check spread
•A new infection dubbed tomato flu, or tomato fever, has been detected in India mostly among children younger than five, according to a report in the Lancet Respiratory Journal.
•The “non-life-threatening” virus was first identified in Kollam district of Kerala on May 6. As of July 26, more than 82 children younger than five had been reported with the infection by government hospitals in Kerala, the report published in the August 17 issue of the journal said.
•It further said that this endemic viral illness triggered an alert in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
•Additionally, 26 children (aged one to nine) were reported with the infection in Odisha. “To date, apart from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Odisha, no other region in India has been affected by the virus. However, precautionary measures are being taken by the Kerala Health Department to monitor the spread of the viral infection and prevent its spread in other parts of India,” the report noted.
Primary symptoms
•The primary symptoms of tomato flu are similar to those of chikungunya, which include high fever, rashes, and intense pain in the joints. As with other viral infections, further symptoms include fatigue, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, dehydration, swelling of joints, body aches, and common influenza-like symptoms, which are similar to those manifested in dengue.
•As tomato flu is similar to chikungunya and dengue as well as hand, foot, and mouth disease, the treatment is also similar — isolation, rest, plenty of fluids, and hot water sponge for the relief of irritation and rashes. Supportive therapy of paracetamol for fever and body ache and other symptomatic treatments may be required.
•Similar to other types of influenza, tomato flu is very contagious and children are at an increased risk of exposure as viral infections are common in this age group and the spread is likely to be through close contact, the report noted
•Young children are also prone to this infection through the use of nappies, touching unclean surfaces, and putting things directly into the mouth.
•Given the similarities to hand, foot, and mouth disease, if the outbreak of tomato flu in children is not controlled and prevented, the transmission might lead to serious consequences by spreading in adults as well, the report said.
•“The ‘tomato flu’ is caused by Coxsackie virus A 16. It belongs to Enterovirus family. Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is a frequent febrile rash illness of childhood caused by enteroviruses (EV): Coxsackie A16 (CA16), EV A71, Coxsackie A6, Coxsackie B and Echo viruses,” said Dr. Suresh Kumar Panuganti, paediatrician, Yashoda Hospitals, Hyderabad.
📰 ‘Kerala Savari’, India’s first online taxi service as a public option
Why is the Kerala government launching its own app-based taxi service? How is it different from existing private players?
•Kerala has soft launched ‘Kerala Savari’, to ensure decent service to passengers along with fair remuneration to auto-taxi workers. It is operated by the Motor Workers Welfare Board under the aegis of the Labour Department.
•Kerala Savari only charges an 8% service charge in addition to the rate set by the government. Of the 8% service charge, 6% will go to the technical partner, and the remaining 2% will go to the implementation of this scheme and for providing promotional incentives to passengers and drivers.
•Kerala Savari is a safe and reliable online service for women, children, and senior citizens. A police clearance certificate is mandatory for drivers joining the scheme apart from the required proper training.
•The story so far: Kerala has soft launched ‘Kerala Savari’, the country’s first online taxi service owned by a State government, to ensure fair and decent service to passengers along with fair remuneration to auto-taxi workers. Operated by the Motor Workers Welfare Board under the aegis of the Labour Department, the Kerala Savari ensures safe travel for the public at ‘government approved fares’ without any ‘surge pricing’. The ‘Kerala Savari’ app would be made available to the public on online platforms shortly as it is under the scrutiny of Google now.
Why has the State government decided to launch this initiative?
•The alleged unfair trade practices and violation of consumer rights by private app-based cab aggregators have come as a major concern for governments. Recently, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) had issued notices to cab aggregators Ola and Uber for unfair trade practices and violation of consumer rights. Passengers often complain about the deficiency in services including charging exorbitant fares during peak hours, unprofessional behaviour from the part of drivers, lack of proper response from customer support, and undue levy of cancellation charges despite the cab driver refusing to accept the ride booked by the passenger etc.
•It is against this backdrop that the Kerala government has decided to come up with an app-based platform to offer auto-taxi service for the public. As private companies are purely focusing on profit making, the government-controlled online taxi service is a service-oriented scheme — a win-win situation for both passengers and taxi-auto drivers and owners.
What are the main attractions of ‘Kerala Savari’?
•Private cab aggregators used to make a killing with surge pricing during peak hours or in the event of rains. The passengers were often forced to pay through their nose during these critical times. But there will be no fluctuation in fares on Kerala Savari irrespective of day or night or rain.
•When private app-based taxi companies increase the charges for services up to two to three times during emergencies, neither passengers nor workers benefit from it. But Kerala Savari only charges an 8% service charge in addition to the rate set by the government, whereas the private cab aggregators charge up to 20 to 30% service charge. The taxi owner will get the approved fare on ‘Kerala Savari,’ while cab owners working for private online companies would often get a fare which is below the government-approved rate.
•Furthermore, of the 8% service charge collected from passengers, 6% will go to the technical partner, and the remaining 2% will go to the implementation of this scheme and for providing promotional incentives to passengers and drivers. The government will not be benefiting from this scheme. For instance, if the passenger travelled a distance fixed for ₹100, the total fare would be ₹108 including service charge. The car owner will get ₹100 and the remaining ₹8 would be used for running the facility and for providing promotional incentives to passengers and drivers. In the case of online private cab aggregators, the car owner used to get below the rate of ₹100 although he covered a distance fixed for the same fare band. In addition, they would charge more than 20% service charge.
What are the security-related features of ‘Kerala Savari’?
•One of the major issues that arise with app-based taxi services is that of the security of passengers. Kerala Savari is claimed as a safe and reliable online service for women, children, and senior citizens. This consideration has been given importance in app designing and driver registration. A police clearance certificate is mandatory for drivers joining the scheme apart from the required proper training.
•A panic button system has been introduced in the app. This button can be pressed in the event of a car accident or in cases of any other danger. One can do it completely privately. If the driver presses the panic button the passenger will not be alarmed and the same goes for when the passenger presses the panic button. When one presses the button, there is an option to select the Police, Fire Force, and Motor Vehicle Department numbers. If you are in such a dangerous situation that you cannot select any option, press the button for a few seconds and you will be directly connected to the police control room.
•It has also been decided to install GPS in vehicles at a subsidised rate. This will be implemented in a phased manner. A 24-hour call centre has been prepared for this purpose. A state-of-the-art call centre is functioning at the district office of the Motor Workers Welfare Board. The call centre works in such a way that all service-related issues can be resolved immediately.
Will the new government initiative end the monopoly of private cab aggregators?
•Kerala has over five lakh autorickshaws and one lakh cabs. The State government plans to bring all auto-taxi workers engaged in the sector under the new platform. Since smartphone literacy is high in Kerala, the State is hopeful of bringing them under the scheme in a short span of time. In addition, the Kerala government has also decided to provide fuel, insurance, and tyre subsidies for vehicle owners in the future and has already initiated talks with major companies in this regard. After the evaluation of the first phase of the project in Thiruvananthapuram, it will be extended to the entire State in a phased manner. Kerala Savari is expected to reach Kollam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Kozhikode, and Kannur municipal limits within a month.
Development of mountain areas over the years has upset the ecological balance
•Monsoon rainfall over India is 8% more than what is usual for this time of the year. While this might bode well for agriculture in some regions, it also means floods and concentrated downpours with devastating consequences. At least 25 people were killed over the weekend as torrential rains triggered flash floods and landslips in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Several arterial roads were blocked by debris, as currents washed away bridges and vehicles. The toll was higher in Himachal Pradesh with 21 killed and 12 injured. At least six are missing due to chaos following the downpour. Mandi, Kangra and Chamba were the worst-affected districts in the State. While death and damage to property are the surface manifestation of these rains, there are a range of secondary effects with long-term downstream impact. Schools and transport facilities, for instance, are immediately put out of action, leading to loss of productive hours. Cattle and saplings are left to perish, which in turn destroys livelihoods, debilitates family finances and strains the finances of the state exchequer. The monsoon compresses around 75% of India’s annual rainfall into four months and unevenly waters the country’s highly diverse terrain. It is, therefore, inevitable that some spots are far more vulnerable and bear a disproportionate impact of climate fury. A recent report released by Himachal Pradesh’s Department of Environment, Science and Technology underlines that mountain areas are highly vulnerable to natural disasters, where development over the years has compounded the problem by upsetting the ecological balance of various physical processes.
•While hill States such as Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand have certain unique challenges, the threats from the vagaries of climate are not unique to them. Monsoon rain patterns are being disrupted leading to a rise in cloudburst-like events as well as a rise in the frequency of high-energy cyclones and droughts. One strategy adopted by the government has been to improve the system of early warning forecasts. The India Meteorological Department now provides fortnightly, weekly and even three-hourly weather forecasts to districts. Within these are integrated warnings about flash floods and lightning. Not all of these are accurate and often, they are not provided early enough for authorities to prepare themselves. In recent years, improvements in early warnings for incoming cyclones have helped state agencies evacuate and rehabilitate the most vulnerable, but such success has not been observed for floods. While the inherent risks of infrastructure development in hills and unstable terrain is well understood, these are often elided by authorities in the name of balancing the demands of the people for better infrastructure and services. The increased risk and cost to such projects and infrastructure should be factored in when they are tendered out by the government, and scientific advice regarding development ought to be strictly adhered to.
📰 Not centres of learning yet
The Anganwadi scheme, designed to support children under six, is yet to fulfil its potential
•As we come to India@75, the Anganwadi system, part of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) of the government which serves over 30 million children in the age group of 3-6 in 1.3 million centres across the country, should have been a triumph.
•The ICDS scheme is designed to support all children under six with their health, nutrition, and education needs — done right, this would make India a leader in the next 25 years in early childhood education and deliver our delayed demographic dividend. However, while across India over 70% of children are enrolled in Anganwadis, they are plagued by low attendance — parents simply do not perceive Anganwadi centres as centres of learning.
Role of parents
•Parents’ perceptions of Anganwadis are shaped by how the system views them. In ICDS reports, parents are routinely addressed as “beneficiaries” — passive recipients of ration, immunisation camps, and lately, education. But this is not how parents view themselves or their children. Education for them is a gateway to meeting their aspirations, and a pathway to social mobility so that their children can have opportunities they missed out on. Enrolment rates for primary school reaching over 90% are a direct consequence of the link in parents’ minds that education leads to opportunities for a better life.
•However, the education ecosystem, including the early childhood care & education (ECCE)/ Anganwadi system, is not willing to speak parents’ language. Those of us in the ECCE space often claim to know what parents should want for their children better than they know themselves. But it is not a Sisyphean task to understand what parents want — we simply need to ask them. In surveys that we have conducted repeatedly with rural and urban parents of 3-6 year old children, over 80% of parents consistently tell us that their kids’ best pathway for social mobility through education is via learning English (speaking and writing) and math skills. This is what they look for when they enrol and send their children to a learning centre.
•Anganwadi systems, with the best of intentions, do not fulfil parents’ demands. The ECCE curricula for different States instead focus on local language-driven, and play-based pedagogy recommended by leading educators in India for this age group. They prescribe free and guided play-based, activity-based learning, facilitated by a skilled educator — without much thought given to how parents might perceive learning of this sort. No wonder then that when asked about what they thought about the importance of play, a parent told us, “Your kids should study, and ours should play?”
•Low attendance in Anganwadis is a tragedy for India’s children’s development. According to experts, the ideal preschool has a skilled facilitator who ensures that children spend most of their time in free and guided play. It includes exploring and manipulating their physical environments to develop early language, early numeracy, socio-emotional, executive function, and motor skills — at a rate of neuronal activity that they will never get back once they get older. The best Anganwadis in many States do look a lot like this. Staffed by Anganwadi workers with roots in play-based pedagogy, attending the Anganwadi for the prescribed two hours a day helps children build critical skills by playing with inexpensive, locally made, indestructible toys in a group setting.
•However, by ignoring or belittling parents’ aspirations and demands (with the best of intentions), we have pushed parents to vote with their feet and leave the Anganwadi system. They are sending their children to the opposite of Anganwadi classrooms — to private preschools that are downward extensions of primary school. Here the 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children sit in neat rows, practicing joyless, rote-based learning and memorisation of letters and numbers to the exclusion of all else. Over 7 million children in India attend these age-inappropriate private preschools that focus on rote learning from the earliest ages.
Importance of language
•To support our children best, we have to start by not patronising parents and ignoring their powerful, expressed needs for English language skills, writing, and maths. We must meet parents in the middle to have any chance of impact at scale in the short term. This can be done in easy ways — exposing children to the English language at an early age in an age appropriate, non-intimidating way — while recognising that the language spoken at home is the best way to reach fluency in any other language.
•Giving children a pencil to scribble for a few minutes a day, of course without making them write letters and numbers endlessly, is a great way to support fine motor skills and later writing. Exhibiting the wonder of maths through fun activities like estimation, comparison, sorting, and seriation could help reduce the fear and paralysis of maths that gets in their way of succeeding in STEM in later years. Why not ‘catch them young’ and impart the idea that maths is fun, easy, and omnipresent to the youngest children? Studies have shown that feeling like one is a part of the ‘maths community’ greatly aids reducing this fear, which changes numeracy outcomes later in life.
•Anganwadi centres can follow regular daily schedules that balance time spent on self-directed free play and teacher-led activities focused on developing cognitive, literacy and numeracy skills. They can also conduct regular Shiksha Choupals (parent - teacher meetings) to showcase the learning happening in the Anganwadi to the parent community to bolster their trust in this institution. Additionally, regular messages can be shared with the parents to equip them on the nature of engagement expected from them to maintain the momentum of what is learnt at school.
•However, changing ECCE curricula to make room for parents’ mindsets in the short term does not mean that we accept mindsets or perceptions as a given in the long term — especially as they relate to genuinely unproductive practices like rote-based, memorisation-heavy learning at the early ages. We have sufficient empirical evidence of mindset change from education’s own “School Chalen Hum” to the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan campaign, that we can change minds and behaviours with sustained action and mass campaigns. A mass campaign for awareness of age appropriate ECCE that brings parents in as stakeholders, is crucial in the next five years — our youngest children, and their developing brains, deserve no less.
•As the nation celebrates the joyous occasion of India@75, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has iterated that the spirit of Azaadi ka Amrit Mahotsav is establishing ‘jan-bhagidari’ (participation of citizenry) for activating India 2.0. In the ECCE ecosystem, we need to embrace the power of ‘abhibhavaak-bhagidari’ (participation of parents) to activate Anganwadi 2.0.
📰 A Centre-State skew further widened
The share of the States in divisible pool is shrinking despite their carrying a higher burden of expenditure
•Nearly two weeks ago, Chief Ministers expressed their concern about dwindling State revenues in a NITI Aayog meeting chaired by the Prime Minister. They sought a higher share in the divisible pool of taxes and an extension of GST compensation, both of which have long remained a bone of contention between the Union government and the States.
•States’ financial health had taken a turn for the worse with the implementation of the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana, farm loan waivers, as also the slowdown in growth in 2019-20. But, heightened expenses during the pandemic and a revenue shortfall further strained their finances.
•It is in this context that it becomes important to understand who raises the revenue and who carries the bulk of expenditure. The Constitution grants the Union government more revenue-raising powers while the States are tasked to undertake most of the development and welfare-related responsibilities. According to the 15th Finance Commission’s report, in FY19, the Union government raised 62.7% of the total resources raised by the Union government and States, while States had borne 62.4% of the aggregate expenditure. Chart 1 shows the Union government’s and States’ share in total resources raised and total expenditure borne in FY19.
•This allocation of taxation powers and expenditure responsibilities results in an imbalance, and hence the Constitution provides for sharing of the Union government’s revenue with the States. Successive Finance Commissions (FC) have attempted to reduce the imbalance by increasing the States’ share in Central taxes. Although the 14th and 15th FC raised the share of States in gross taxes to over 40%, the actual share never reached this mandated level. After reaching a peak of 36.6% in FY19, States’ share fell and has since stagnated at around 29%. At the same time, the gap between the share recommended by the FC and the actual devolution has widened to more than 11 percentage points, the highest in at least two decades. Chart 2 shows the States’ share in the divisible pool of taxes mandated by the FC and the actual share devolved to the States.
•So, even though FC raised the States’ share in Central taxes, it didn’t translate into an increase in the actual share devolved as the divisible pool shrank. This can be explained by illustrating the revenue sharing during the pandemic. As the gross tax revenues took a hit during the pandemic, the States’ share of the Union government’s taxes recorded a steep fall of 15% and 9% in FY20 and FY21, respectively. But, the Union government’s share continued to rise. This is because the Centre beefed up its revenue by levying cesses and surcharges which are not shareable with the States. Chart 3 shows the States’ and Union government’s share of gross tax revenue.
•In the past few years, the share of cesses and surcharges in gross tax revenue has risen significantly. From 10.4% in FY12, their share climbed up to 20% by FY21, suggesting the Union government’s excessive reliance on these instruments to raise revenue. While the surge in cess/surcharge revenue, largely through duties on fuel has swelled the Union government’s coffers, this has also shrunk the divisible pool of resources. Chart 4 shows the share of cesses and surcharges in gross tax revenue.
•Various cesses and charges are imposed by the government to raise resources. They are transferred to Reserve Funds to ensure that they are being used for the intended purpose. Worryingly, in FY20, about 40% of the cesses levied — worth ₹78,000 crore — were not transferred to the Reserve Funds. Between FY10 and FY20, ₹1.28 lakh crore was collected as a cess on crude oil. However, not a single penny was transferred to the Oil Industry Development Board (OIDB). Table 5 lists the issues flagged by the Comptroller and Auditor General with respect to cesses and levies.
•The shrinking of the divisible pool despite a higher burden on expenditure on States suggests that the Chief Ministers’ grouse appears to be valid and requires redressal.
📰 India, Iran sign pact to aid movement of seafarers
Centre highlights role of Chabahar port as a trade multiplier
•In a bid to aid the movement of seafarers between the two countries, India and Iran on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding on recognition of Certificates of Competency in Unlimited Voyages to help seafarers from both countries as per the provisions of the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watch Keeping for Seafarers, 1978.
•The MoU was signed during a bilateral meeting between the Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways and Ayush, Sarbananda Sonowal and Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Rostam Ghasemi. Mr. Sonowal is on a three-day visit to Iran.
•“The Union Minister reiterated the importance of the bilateral relationship between the two countries. The role of Chabahar as a trade multiplier for the region was highlighted by the Union Minister at the meeting as the potential of the port to act as a swift, economical trade conduit between Central Asia and South Asia, even South East Asia, remains to be tapped fully,” the Ministry said in a statement.
•The Minister also called on Iranian Vice-President Mohammad Mokhber. Mr. Mokhber, who is Iran’s special envoy for relations with India, said the development of the Chabahar port would lead to an increase in trade and shipment volume, the statement said.
•The statement said that since India Ports Global Private Ltd. (IPGPL) assumed the operations of Shahid Beheshti Port, it has handled over 4.8 million tonnes of bulk cargo. With close cooperation between India’s IPGPL and Iranian stakeholders including Iran’s Port and Maritime Organisation, Iranian Customs Administration and the Chabahar Free Zone Authority, the Shahid Behesti Port Authority & other stakeholders, the port is likely to act as a catalyst to unlock the huge trade potential in the region.
•In 2020, India supplied 75,000 tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan as part of a humanitarian assistance programme as well as provided for 40,000 litres of Malathion and 96% ULV pesticides to Iran via the Chabahar port in an effort to mitigate locust threat to agriculture and enhance food security in the region, it added.
