14 August 2024

• Healthcare: the Supreme Court set a two-month deadline for implementation of the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Act 2021. Only 14 of 28 states had established state councils.
• Economy: NITI Aayog's nine-year assessment of PM Mudra Yojana found Rs 23 lakh crore sanctioned across 41 crore loan accounts. Seventy-one per cent of accounts are held by women.
• History: the Geneva Conventions of 1949 mark their 75th anniversary this month. The four Conventions form the backbone of International Humanitarian Law.
• Defence: the Tungabhadra dam gate failure in Karnataka released 35,000 cusecs of water, flooding downstream areas in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

GS area: Governance, Health, Polity

The Supreme Court directed the Centre and states to implement the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Act 2021 within two months:

• What the Act does: it establishes a national commission to regulate allied and healthcare professionals. These are the large workforce of paramedical, laboratory and diagnostic professionals who are currently largely unregulated.
• Two categories: "allied health professionals" require a minimum of 2,000 training hours (2 to 4 years diploma or degree). "Healthcare professionals" require a minimum of 3,600 hours (3 to 6 years degree).
• Commission composition: a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson, 5 central government members and 12 part-time members.
• Penalty for unlicensed practice: Rs 50,000 fine for practicing without registration under the Commission.
• Implementation gap: only 14 of 28 states and Union Territories had established their State Allied and Healthcare Councils. The Supreme Court's intervention signals that states have been slow to implement a legislation that directly affects patient safety and professional quality.
• Comparison: the Medical Council of India (replaced by the National Medical Commission in 2020) regulates doctors. The Nursing Council regulates nurses. The NCAHP fills the gap for the large intermediate category.

Static linkage: healthcare regulation, Centre-state implementation, professional standards.

GS area: Economy, Government Schemes, Social Justice

NITI Aayog released an impact assessment of Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), which was launched in April 2015:

• Scale: Rs 23 lakh crore sanctioned across 41 crore loan accounts between 2015 and 2024.
• Women beneficiaries: 71 per cent of accounts as of FY 2022.
• Employment impact: 1 crore net additional jobs generated between 2015 and 2018 (the period directly assessed). 69 lakh jobs for women (62 per cent of total employment created).
• Three loan categories: Shishu (up to Rs 50,000), Kishore (Rs 50,001 to Rs 5 lakh), Tarun (Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh). The Tarun Plus category (Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh) was subsequently added for growing enterprises.
• Shishu dominance: 80 per cent of accounts fall in the Shishu category. This reflects the programme's reach to the smallest micro-enterprises.
• Mudra Bank: MUDRA (Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency) is not a bank but a refinancing institution. It refinances banks and MFIs that lend to micro-enterprises. Loans are collateral-free.

Static linkage: financial inclusion, micro-enterprise development, women empowerment.

GS area: International Relations, International Law

The four Geneva Conventions were adopted on 12 August 1949, four years after the end of World War II:

• First Convention (1864 original, 1949 revised): protection of wounded and sick soldiers on land.
• Second Convention: protection of wounded, sick and shipwrecked military personnel at sea.
• Third Convention: treatment of prisoners of war.
• Fourth Convention: protection of civilian persons in times of war.
• Additional Protocols: two additional protocols were adopted in 1977 (Protocol I for international conflicts, Protocol II for non-international conflicts). A Third Protocol (2005) introduced the Red Crystal emblem as an additional protective symbol alongside the Red Cross and Red Crescent.
• Indian Humanitarian Law: India is a party to all four conventions and the additional protocols. International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is also called the Law of Armed Conflict or Laws of War.
• ICRC: the International Committee of the Red Cross, founded 1863, is the custodian of the Geneva Conventions. It is a private Swiss organisation with a unique international mandate.

Static linkage: international law, humanitarian law, India's treaty commitments.

• Tungabhadra dam: located in Hosapete, Ballari district, Karnataka. Built in 1953 on the Tungabhadra River (a tributary of the Krishna). Multipurpose dam providing irrigation, power and flood control. A gate failure released 35,000 cusecs of water in August 2024, causing downstream flooding in both Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The dam also supplies the downstream Nagarjunasagar project.
• Technological doping in sports: Speedo's LZR Racer swimsuits, which aided 13 world records in 2008, were subsequently banned by FINA. Nike Vaporfly shoes assisted Eliud Kipchoge's sub-2-hour marathon. World Athletics now regulates shoe specifications. The boundary between permitted technology and unfair advantage is contested across all sports.
• Spintronic research: Indian researchers created a transparent two-dimensional electron gas layer at the interface of LaFeO3 and SrTiO3. This material exhibits negative magnetoresistance and the anomalous Hall effect, properties relevant to quantum devices and transparent electronics. Spintronics uses electron spin (rather than charge) to store and process data.
• Kerala's Jewish communities: India has two distinct Jewish communities. Malabar Jews trace origins to the Solomonic era. Paradesi Jews arrived in the 15th and 16th centuries from Europe. The last Paradesi Jewish woman in Kochi passed away recently. Most migrated to Israel since the 1950s. India's Jewish population peaked at 20,000-50,000 in the 1940s and now numbers about 4,000-5,000 nationally.