Convalescent plasma for those not responding to steroids: govt.
Paper:
Mains: General Studies- II: Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations.
Why in News:
Convalescent plasma may be considered in COVID-19 patients with moderate disease who are not improving (oxygen requirement is progressively increasing) despite use of steroids, noted an advisory issued by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (Biological Division).
Convalescent-plasma therapy:
- Convalescent Plasma therapy involves transfusing certain components from the blood of people who have recovered from a virus attack into people who are very sick with the virus or people who are at high risk of getting the virus.
- When a pathogen like novel coronavirus infects, our immune systems produce antibodies.
- The antibodies span out to identify and mark the invading virus.
- White blood cells attach the identified intruders, and the body gets rid of the infection.
- The therapy, like blood transfusion, harvests the antibody from a recovered patient and ingest into a sick person.
- Helped by the antibody, the immune system mounts robust combat on the virus.
Antibodies:
- Antibodies are one of the front-line immune response to an infection by a microbe.
- They are a particular type of proteins secreted by immune cells called B lymphocytes when they encounter an invader, such as a novel coronavirus.
- The immune system designs antibodies that are highly specific to each invading pathogen. A particular antibody and its partner virus are made for each other.
Treatment given:
- Blood is drawn from a person who has recovered from COVID-19 sickness.
- The serum is separated and screened for virus-neutralizing antibodies.
- Convalescent serum, that is the blood serum obtained from one who has recovered from an infectious disease and especially rich in antibodies for that pathogen, is then administered to a COVID-19 patient.
- The sick acquires passive immunization.
- Potential donor would be examined before the blood serum is extracted and given to a sick person. First, the swab test must be negative and the potential donor has to be declared as cured. Then the recovered person has to wait for two weeks. Or else the potential donor should be asymptomatic for at least 28 days. Either of the two is mandatory.
Bombay HC allows minor rape victim to terminate pregnancy
Paper:
Mains: General Studies- II: Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations.
Why in News:
The Bombay High Court has allowed a 17-year-old rape victim to terminate her 25-week pregnancy, though a medical report had advised her against it.
Key Details:
- At the time of filing of the petition, the girl was 23 weeks pregnant and was barred from seeking termination of pregnancy as she had crossed the 20-week ceiling under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act.
- She needed a nod from the court to go ahead with the termination.
Need for a new bill on abortion:
- Section 3 of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971, capped the abortion limit at 20 weeks.
- Under Section 5, a woman could undergo abortion beyond 20 weeks only if her life was endangered by the pregnancy.
- But there remained no provision for foetuses that were diagnosed with severe life-threatening defects.
- Most birth defects are diagnosed between 16 to 18 weeks of pregnancy. But some anomalies of the brain and spine can be detected only after 20 weeks.
- The MTP Act, 1971 was replete with unclear language, which resulted in doctors refusing to perform abortions even within the stipulated 20-week gestation limit fearing criminal charges.
- Women had to seek the approval of the judiciary, which, by most accounts, did not always come in time.
- “As a result,”, notes a 2015 study in the India Journal of Medical Ethics, “10 to 13 per cent of maternal deaths in India are due to unsafe abortions”.
- Given the delays in the judicial system, the 20-week mark often passed, leaving many, including rape survivors, with unwanted pregnancies.
Features of the bill
- The bill proposes to permit the termination of pregnancy up to 24 weeks from the existing 20 weeks.
- It aims to expand access for women to safe and legal abortion services on therapeutic, eugenic, humanitarian or social grounds.
- The amendments proposed in the bill are the requirement for the opinion of one doctor for the termination of pregnancy up to 20 weeks of gestation, and introducing the requirement of the opinion of two doctors for the termination of pregnancy of 20-24 weeks of gestation.
- The bill also proposed enhancing the upper gestation limit from 20 to 24 weeks for special categories of women, which will be defined in the amendments to the MTP Rules and would include vulnerable women including survivors of rape, victims of incest and other vulnerable women (like differently-abled women, minors), etc.
- Upper gestation limit will not apply in cases of substantial foetal abnormalities diagnosed by Medical Board.
- The composition, functions and other details of the Medical Board are to be prescribed subsequently in Rules under the Act.
- Name and other particulars of a woman whose pregnancy has been terminated shall not be revealed except to a person authorized in any law for the time being in force.
Significance
- The extension of limit would ease the process for women, allowing the mainstream system itself to take care of them, delivering quality medical attention.
- It has a provision to protect the privacy of the person seeking abortion.
- The proposed increase in gestational age will ensure dignity, autonomy, confidentiality and justice for women who need to terminate a pregnancy.
- The extension will help victims of rape, girls with disabilities as well as minors, who may not realize they are pregnant until later.
Issue Area
- MTP will be extended till 24 weeks only for certain categories of women, there is also a provision that says that pregnancies with foetal abnormalities can be terminated only after being approved by medical boards.
- Medical boards often delay medical interventions required and often do not have the right kind of specialists.
Way forward
- The Government needs to ensure that all norms and standardized protocols in clinical practice to facilitate abortions are followed in health care institutions across the country.
- The government should also learn from the experiences of the 1971 Act: the new piece of legislation should be worded in a manner that removes frequent appeals to the judiciary.
China downplays fears over swine flu
Paper:
Mains: General Studies- II: Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations.
Why in news:
China played down the threat of a new swine flu strain with pandemic potential that researchers discovered in pigs, saying the study is not representative.
Key Details:
- It is called G4 EA H1N1.
- The new strain found in China, according to the study, had all the essential hallmarks to infect humans and raised fears over another potential pandemic.
- The G4 virus mentioned in the relevant report is a subtype of the H1N1 virus which caused a flu pandemic in 2009.
Centre designates 9 individuals as terrorists
Paper:
Mains: General Studies-III: Technology, Economic Development, Bio diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management
Why in News:
- The Union Home Ministry designated nine more individuals as “terrorists” under the amended Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
- The nine persons declared terrorists are linked to separatist Khalistan groups that seek to establish a separate country for the Sikhs.
Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA):
- UAPA, enacted in 1967, was amended in 2004, 2008 and 2013.
- The 2004 amendment was to ban organizations for terrorist activities, under which 34 outfits, including the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammad, were banned.
- The UAPA, as amended in August 2019, gives the Home Ministry the power to designate individuals as terrorists.
- Earlier, in September 2019, the four individuals to be first designated as terrorists were Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar, Lashkar-e-Taiba’s Hafiz Saeed, his deputy Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, who planned and executed the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts.
Concerns:
- The Opposition parties had raised concerns in Parliament that the law could be misused against political opponents and civil society activists.
- The designations are in alignment with laws in European Union (EU) countries, the U.S.A., China, Israel and even Pakistan and Sri Lanka, an MHA official had earlier said.
Ministry reconstitutes Central Zoo Authority
Paper:
Mains: General Studies-III: Technology, Economic Development, Bio diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management
Why in News:
- The Environment Ministry has reconstituted the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) to include an expert from the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi, and a molecular biologist.
- The CZA is a statutory body chaired by the Environment Minister and tasked with regulating zoos across the country.
- The authority lays down guidelines and prescribes rules under which animals may be transferred among zoos nationally and internationally.
Key Details:
- The CZA would now include an expert from the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi, and a molecular biologist.
Central Zoo Authority (CZA):
- CZA is a statutory body chaired by the Environment Minister.
- It is tasked with regulating zoos across the country.
- Every zoo in the country must obtain recognition from CZA for its operation.
- The authority lays down guidelines and prescribes rules under which animals may be transferred among zoos nationally and internationally.
Structure of CZA:
- Apart from the chairman, it consists of 10 members and a member-secretary.
- Almost all of them are officials in the Environment Ministry and non-government experts are those who are wildlife conservationists or retired forest officers.
Indian Railways begins process for entry of ‘private trains’
Paper:
Mains: General Studies-III: Technology, Economic Development, Bio diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management
Context:
The Railways kick-started the process to allow private players to operate certain trains on its network by inviting Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for the operation of passenger train services on over 100 routes with 150 modern trains.
Details:
- This is the first initiative for private investment in running passenger trains over the Railways network, and will attract investments of about ₹30,000 crore.
- The Delhi-Lucknow Tejas is the first train that is not operated by the Indian Railways, as Railways geared up to allow private train operators.
- The majority of trains will be manufactured in India and the private entity will be responsible for financing, procuring, operation and maintenance of the trains, which will be designed for a maximum speed of 160 kmph.
- The concession period for the project will be 35 years, and the private entity will pay to Indian Railways fixed haulage charges, energy charges as per actual consumption, and a share in gross revenue determined through a transparent bidding process.
Objectives of the initiative:
- To introduce modern technology rolling stock with reduced maintenance.
- Reduce transit time.
- Boost job creation.
- Provide enhanced safety.
- Provide world-class travel experience to passengers.
- Reduce demand supply deficit in the passenger transportation sector.
SBI unit to set up SPV for aiding NBFCs on liquidity
Paper:
Mains: General Studies-III: Technology, Economic Development, Bio diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management
Why in News:
According to RBI, State Bank of India’s SBICAP unit would set up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to assist NBFCs and HFCs to improve their liquidity following the Centre’s approval of a Special Liquidity Scheme (SLS) for the purpose.
Background – Special Liquidity Scheme (SLS):
- Under the 20-lakh crore rupees economic relief package titled Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, the Prime Minister had announced the Special Liquidity Scheme of 30,000 crore rupees to buy investment-grade debt paper from both primary and secondary markets.
- Such paper would be fully guaranteed by the government.
- The special liquidity scheme is expected to break the low confidence cycle in the market for lending to the NBFCs, housing finance companies and microfinance institutions.
- It will help these low rated finance companies to raise debt.
- It was announced to ward off any potential systemic risks to the financial sector.
Key Details:
- The RBI also issued guidelines specifying the norms that would make non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and housing finance companies (HFCs) eligible to avail funds under SLS.
- NBFCs and HFCs looking to avail the funds should not have net non-performing assets of more than 6% as on March 31, 2019, and should have made a net profit in at least one of the last two preceding financial years.
- The Capital to Risk (Weighted) Assets Ratio/Capital Adequacy Ratio of NBFCs/HFCs must not be below the regulatory minimum, i.e., 15% and 12%, respectively, as on March 31, 2019,
- They should not have been reported under the SMA-1 or SMA-2 category by any bank for their borrowings during one year prior to August 1, 2018; and should be rated investment grade by a SEBI-registered rating agency.