14 December 2024

• Health: African Swine Fever was reported in Kerala's Kottayam district. It is not transmissible to humans but has no vaccine, making culling the only response.
• Polity: One Nation One Election coverage continued. The Union Cabinet had approved the constitutional amendment package and sent it to a JPC.
• ASHA workers: A Parliamentary Standing Committee raised concerns about ASHA worker compensation and workload.
• Economy: Switzerland revoked India's Most Favoured Nation trade status, effective 1 January 2025, following the Nestle tax dispute.

GS area: Health, Governance

ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers came under parliamentary scrutiny in December 2024.

• Programme origin: Launched in 2005 under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). Now part of the Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres initiative.
• Scale: About 10 lakh ASHA workers across India's villages. One per 1,000 rural population.
• Key contributions: Institutional delivery rate rose from 47 per cent in 2007 to 79 per cent in 2022. ASHA workers are credited with a significant share of this improvement.
• Functions: Maternal and child healthcare counselling, immunisation support, community surveillance for diseases, tuberculosis directly-observed treatment support, linkage to government health schemes.
• Compensation issue: ASHAs are classified as "volunteers," not employees. They receive performance-based incentives, not a fixed salary. The minimum package is below minimum wage in several states.
• Ayushman Bharat coverage: ASHAs are covered under PM-JAY health insurance up to 5 lakh rupees.
• Challenges: Heavy workload, delayed payments, lack of job security, caste and gender discrimination in some areas.

Static linkage: Government schemes (NRHM, ASHA, Ayushman Bharat).

GS area: Polity

The Cabinet-approved Constitution (129th) Amendment Bill entered public debate. The JPC was constituted.

• Two-phase model (Kovind Committee recommendation):
  • Phase 1: Simultaneous Lok Sabha and all state assembly elections.
  • Phase 2: Municipal and panchayat elections within 100 days of Phase 1.
• New Article 82A: Proposed to define the "appointed date" from which all subsequent elections are synchronised.
• Constitutional challenges: States argue this overrides federalism and the right of state assemblies to complete their terms. Counter-argument: Article 356 already allows Centre to dissolve state assemblies.
• Single Electoral Roll: The Amendment also proposes one electoral roll for Lok Sabha, state and local body elections (currently state and parliamentary rolls are separate in some contexts).
• Article 368 requirement: Constitutional amendments affecting state legislatures require ratification by at least half the state legislatures. This is the key procedural threshold.
• Historical context: Simultaneous elections were the norm in 1951-52, 1957, 1962 and 1967. The cycle broke when the Punjab assembly was dissolved in 1968 after a hung assembly.

Static linkage: Polity (constitutional amendments, elections, federalism).

GS area: Economy, International Relations

Switzerland formally revoked India's Most Favoured Nation (MFN) trade status, effective 1 January 2025.

• MFN principle: A foundational WTO principle. Every WTO member must offer every other WTO member the same (most favourable) trade conditions it offers any trading partner.
• Why Switzerland acted: The Nestle tax case. An Indian Supreme Court ruling affected how Swiss companies pay withholding tax on dividends from Indian subsidiaries. Switzerland argued India was not honouring the MFN clause in its bilateral double taxation avoidance agreement.
• Practical impact: A 10 per cent withholding tax on dividends earned by Indian companies from Swiss entities and vice versa. This affects IT services, pharmaceutical and manufacturing companies with India-Switzerland bilateral business.
• WTO MFN status note: There is no formal WTO procedure for suspending MFN status; it is typically a bilateral treaty action.
• India-Switzerland trade: Switzerland is an important source of foreign direct investment for India. Swiss pharma and watch companies have significant India operations.

Static linkage: Economy (WTO, MFN, bilateral trade treaties, double taxation).

GS area: Health, Environment

African Swine Fever (ASF) was reported in pigs in Kottayam district, Kerala, in December 2024.

• Virus: Caused by the African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV), a large DNA virus in the family Asfarviridae.
• Not zoonotic: ASF does not transmit to humans. It poses no direct public health risk.
• Animal risk: Highly lethal to pigs and wild boar. Mortality can reach 100 per cent in naive populations.
• Transmission: Direct contact with infected pigs, contaminated feed, fomites (objects carrying the virus) and soft tick vectors.
• No vaccine available: The only containment measure is stamping out (culling) all pigs in the affected zone and strict movement restrictions.
• Origin: Endemic to sub-Saharan Africa. Spread to Georgia (2007), then across Eastern Europe, China (2018) and Southeast Asia.
• India precedents: ASF was first detected in India in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in 2020.

Static linkage: Health (animal diseases, veterinary science), environment.

GS area: Science and Technology

Post-launch analysis of the Proba-3 mission's objectives illustrated the difference between natural and artificial eclipses.

• Natural eclipse limitation: A total solar eclipse at any given location lasts a maximum of 7 minutes and 32 seconds. Annual occurrence is rare for any single location.
• Proba-3 advantage: Two spacecraft in formation maintain an artificial eclipse for up to 6 hours per orbital period.
• Precise Formation Flying (PFF): The technology that maintains millimetre-level separation between the Occulter (shadow-caster) and Coronagraph satellites at 150 metres distance.
• Corona science benefits: Understanding coronal mass ejections (CMEs), the origin of the solar wind and the coronal heating problem.
• Space weather applications: Better corona data improves prediction of geomagnetic storms that disrupt power grids, GPS and satellite communications.

Static linkage: Science and technology (space missions, solar physics, ESA, ISRO).

GS area: Art and Culture, Modern History

Durgadi Fort in Kalyan, Maharashtra, entered a communal property dispute.

• Historical timeline: Built in 1694 during the Mughal era (Shah Jahan/Aurangzeb period). Captured by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in 1654 (actually the fort's earlier structure). The Marathas added a Durga temple and renamed it.
• Structural note: Built in 1694 vs captured in 1654 is a factual discrepancy in some accounts. The earlier structure predates the Mughal construction.
• Location: Kalyan, about 50 km northeast of Mumbai.
• Area: Spans about 70 acres. Features include an Idgah, a mosque, a well and the Durga temple.
• Legal dispute: Petitions were filed claiming the mosque/Idgah was built over a temple. The dispute falls within the contested legal terrain of the Places of Worship Act.

Static linkage: Art and culture (Maratha history, medieval forts), Polity (Places of Worship Act).

• Cyber Slavery: Organised crime syndicates traffic vulnerable individuals (often from India, Nepal, Bangladesh) to Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos with false promises of IT jobs. Victims are forced to run online scams. The crime combines human trafficking, cybercrime and forced labour under NDPS-adjacent enforcement.
• Jupiter's Moon Io: NASA's Juno spacecraft confirmed Io has over 400 active volcanoes, making it the most volcanically active body in the solar system. The heat is generated by tidal flexing from Jupiter's immense gravitational field on Io's elliptical orbit.