Facebook South Asia’s Safety Summit
Why in news?
- The 2nd edition of South Asia Safety Summit was organized by the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) and FACEBOOK in New Delhi.
Key Facts
- The South Asia Safety Summit is being organized to highlight the issue of safety while individuals and communities are connected on the digital platform.
- Participants from 125 civil society organizations who have expertise in running digital literacy programmes and creating tools for social-emotional development of young people attended the Summit. They are from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan.
- During the Summit, Union Minister of WCD launched “We Think Digital” website. This website is an online education portal with interactive tutorials aimed at helping people think critically and share thoughtfully online. The topics covered include privacy, safety, security, digital discourse and knowing your digital footprint.
Jansankhya Sthirata Kosh
Why in news?
- The Union Minister of Health informed Rajya Sabha about the Jansankhya Sthirtha Kosh (JSK).
About:
- Jansankhya Sthirtha Kosh (JSK), an autonomous body under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, implemented the following schemes:
- Prerna Scheme (for delaying marriage, childbirth and spacing),
- Santushti Scheme (Public Private Partnership for sterilization services),and
- National Helpline (for information on family planning).
- The JSK has been discontinued on 08/02/2019 vide the cabinet decision on 07.02.2018 and various schemes for population control are being supported under National Health Mission.
Steps being taken by the government to control population growth:
- The Government has launched Mission Parivar Vikas for substantially increasing access to contraceptives and family planning services in146 high fertility districts with Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of 3 and above in seven high focus states (Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Assam).
- New contraceptives Injectable contraceptive and Centchroman have been added to the existing basket of choices.
- A new method of IUCD insertion immediately after delivery i.e. post-partum IUCD (PPIUCD) has been introduced.
- Compensation scheme for sterilization acceptors – Under the scheme MoHFW provides compensation for loss of wages to the beneficiary and also to the service provider (& team) for conducting sterilizations.
- Clinical Outreach Teams (COT) Scheme – The scheme has been launched in 146 Mission Parivar Vikas districts for providing Family planning services through mobile teams from accredited organizationsin far-flung, underserved and geographically difficult areas.
- Scheme for Home delivery of contraceptives by ASHAs at doorstep of beneficiaries.
- Family Planning Logistic Management and Information System (FP-LMIS) is a dedicated software to ensure smooth forecasting, procurement and distribution of family planning commodities across all the levels of health facilities.
- National Family Planning Indemnity Scheme (NFPIS) is under implementation under which clients are insured in the eventualities of death, complication and failure following sterilization.
IMD World Talent Ranking Report
Why in news?
- According to the latest edition of IMD World Talent Ranking, India has slipped 6 places to 59 rank on the global annual list of 63 countries.
About:
- International Institute for Management Development (IMD) is a business education school located in Lausanne, Switzerland.
- The ranking is based on the performance in three main categories — investment and development, appeal and readiness.
Key facts:
- The list was topped by Switzerland. Denmark was placed second and Sweden, was in the third place.
- India has slipped 6 places to 59 rank on the global annual list of 63 countries. India is also lagging behind fellow BRICs countries – China ranked 42nd on the list, Russia (47th) and South Africa (50th).
- India also witnessed one of the sharpest declines among Asian economies owing to low quality of life, negative impact of brain drain, and the low priority of its economy on attracting and retaining talents.
- In Asia, Singapore rose from 13th to 10th position compared to last year, Hong Kong SAR from 18th to 15th, and Taiwan from 27th to 20th.
Understanding space Internet
Why in news?
- SpaceX, the world’s leading private company in space technology, last week fired a spray of 60 satellites into orbit to eventually evolve into a constellation of nearly 12,000 satellites aimed at providing low-cost and reliable space-based Internet services to the world.
Starlink network:
- The Starlink network, as the project is called, is one of several ongoing efforts to start beaming data signals from space, and also the most ambitious.
- SpaceX announced the satellite Internet constellation in January 2015, and launched two test satellites in February 2018. Following last week’s launch, the company has now deployed 122 satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The LEO extends up to 2,000 km above the Earth’s surface.
- Starlink aims to start space-based Internet service in the northern United States and Canada in 2020, and expand to cover the whole world by 2021.
Other initiatives:
- Several other private companies too, have plans for space-based Internet services.
- These include Amazon, OneWeb and O3B (apparently named for the ‘Other Three Billion’), each involving large constellations of satellites in lower and middle Earth orbits.
- But these projects are very small compared to Starlink.
Why is it necessary to launch satellites in order to provide Internet services?
- This is mainly to ensure that reliable and uninterrupted Internet services — now part of humanity’s basic infrastructure and an important means of delivering a wide variety of public services to the world’s peoples — are universally available in every part of the globe.
- Currently, about 4 billion people, more than half the world’s population, do not have access to reliable Internet networks.
- And that is because the traditional ways to deliver the Internet — fibre-optic cables or wireless networks — cannot take it everywhere on Earth.
- In many remote areas, or places with difficult terrain, it is not feasible or viable to set
up cables or mobile towers. - Signals from satellites in space can overcome this obstacle easily.
How old is this idea of space Internet?
- Space-based Internet systems have, in fact, been in use for several years now — but only for a small number of users. Also, most of the existing systems use satellites in geostationary orbit.
- This orbit is located at a height of 35,786 km over the Earth’s surface, directly above the Equator.
- Satellites in this orbit move at speeds of about 11,000 km per hour, and complete one revolution of the Earth in the same time that the earth rotates once on its axis.
- To the observer on the ground, therefore, a satellite in geostationary orbit appears stationary.
Niti Aayog looking at providing middle class with health cover
Why in news?
- Government think tank NITI Aayog has suggested “consolidation” of healthcare services and providers to reduce health expenditure and improve access.
News summary
- In a new report on building a 21st century health system for India, the Aayog proposed “strategic purchasing” of services, “risk pooling” and digitisation of health records for transformation of the healthcare sector.
- The report was released on Monday by NITI Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar in the presence of co-founder of Microsoft and co-chairman of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates.
- The Aayog is mulling building up a healthcare system for the middle class which is still not covered under any public healthcare system.
- Niti Aayog has recommended that health system financing structure should be changed in such a way that predominant undesirable out-of-pocket expenditure is reduced and spending is directed towards larger risk-pools with strong strategic purchasing capabilities
Four focus areas on future health systems:
- delivering on unfinished public health agenda,
- empowering citizens to become better buyers of health services,
- integration of health services to reduce out of pocket spend and
- digitisation of healthcare.
Background:
- The public health expenditure in India (total of Centre and state governments) has remained constant over years at approximately 1.4% of the GDP.
- On the other hand, out-of-pocket payments remain common and high in India, with only around 20% of the population covered by health insurance.
- Though Ayushman Bharat aims to expand the coverage significantly, it will take time and funding to ramp it up.
Qatar begin 5-day joint exercise at Doha
Why in news?
- The inaugural edition of the Bilateral Maritime Exercise Za’ir-Al-Bahr (Roar of the Sea) is being conducted from 17 to 21 November 2019 between the Indian Navy and Qatari Emiri Naval Forces.
About:
- The inaugural edition of the Bilateral Maritime Exercise between the two navies would further strengthen the robust defence co-operation between the India and Qatar, especially in the fight against terrorism, maritime piracy and maritime security.
- The five-day bilateral maritime exercise at Doha includes surface action, air defence, maritime surveillance as well as social and sports events.
Driving Cities Index 2019
Why in news?
- Two Indian cities-Mumbai and Kolkata are world’s worst cities to drive in, according to the 2019 Driving Cities Index by European car parts retailer Mister Auto.
- The Index looked at 100 cities and measured them on three main categories that impact driving conditions for motorists — Infrastructure, Safety and Costs. These were further broken down into 15 sub-factors.
Key facts of the report:
- Mumbai is placed last (100th) on the back of higher congestion and poor driving speed, while Kolkata is ranked just two spots higher (98th).
- The other worst cities for driving include Ulannbaatar, Mongolia (99th), Lagos, Nigeria (97th) and Karachi in Pakistan (96th).
- On the other hand, Calgary in Canada is named the best city for driving around the world, followed by Dubai and another Canadian city — Ottawa.
- The third and fourth position is held by Bern in Switzerland and El Paso in Texas, USA respectively.