Table of Contents
A health emergency
- 7 January: World Health Organization POLIO will continue to remain a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) for 3 months.
- There is a “rising risk” of international spread of wild poliovirus type-1.
- The virus spreads from person to person and can infect a person’s spinal cord, causing paralysis (can’t move parts of the body).
- 2019: 156 cases of wild polio type-1
- 2018: 28 cases of wild polio type-1
- Big issue: wild type-1 virus getting exported
- Afghanistan, 2018: a total of 8,60,000children did not receive polio vaccine due to security threats.
- Vaccine-derived poliovirus cases in16
- countries Committee: “The rapid emergence of multiple circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type-2 strains in several countries is unprecedented and very concerning, and not yet fully understood,”
- Angola: 86
- Democratic Republic of the Congo: 63
- Nigeria:18
Eloquently reticent
- SC has declared that free speech and expression (Article 19(1)(a)) and right to carry on any trade (Article 19(1)(g)) using the medium of internet is constitutionally protected.
- The restriction upon such fundamental rights should be in consonance with the mandate under Article 19 (2) and (6) of the Constitution, inclusive of the test of proportionality,”
- The power under Section 144 can not be used to suppress the legitimate expression of opinion or grievance or exercise of any democratic rights,” said an apex court bench comprising justices N.V. Ramana, R. Subhash Reddy and B.R. Gavai.
- The disappointing aspect of the verdict is the court’s failure to give a ruling on the validity of the government’s actions.
- It states categorically that an indefinite ban on the Internet is impermissible, but fails to direct the restoration of services.
- On 144 CrPC the court does not go beyond directing the authorities to review all their orders and restrictions forthwith.
- The government is bound to publish all orders it passes regarding such restrictions so that they can be challenged in a court of law.
- Having rejected the governments stand that it could not produce all the orders on the restrictions imposed since August 4, 2019, the court fails to strike them down on that ground.
- The absence of such order in the public domain is evidence that the state failed to demonstrate its necessity.
Taking a holistic approach to dengue
- Gaining control over dengue
- Promoting the use of the
- vaccine vector control
- Proper case management
- Aedes aegypti and a minor contributor Aedes albopictus
- Aedes eggs can remain dormant for more than a year and will hatch once they come in contact with water.
- Urbanisation, poor town planning,and improper sanitation are the major risk factors for the multiplication of such mosquitoes.
- Aedes mosquitoes cannot fly beyond a hundred metres.
- These mosquitoes bite during the day time, so keeping the windows shut in the day hours is also useful.
- Preventing water stagnation and using chemical larvicides and adulticides.
- Unfortunately, the number of skilled workers available for such measures is low; many posts in government departments remain vacant despite there being a dire public health need.
- Dengue cases are often underreported due to political reasons and also to avoid spreading panic among the common people.
- Contrary to the common belief, platelet transfusions are not needed even in cases of active bleeding, as per the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO).
- Nilavembu sooranam, which reportedly contains about nine different substances, has been widely promoted for use to treat dengue fever despite the safety of and complex interactions among its different constituents not having been tested.
Human rights are not solely an ‘internal matter’
- Responding to criticism made by theUnited Nations agencies and others, the Indian state asserted that both J&K and CAA are entirely internal matters and there cannot be any interference in such sovereign decisions.
- Modern international human rights law recognises individuals as subjects.
- Classic international law were not covering individuals.
- In 1919, the evolution of labour standards led to the establishment of the International Labour Office (ILO).
- 1926: Slavery Convention adopted by the League of Nations
- 1948: Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights
- This progress of international law in the last 100 years makes the Indian state’s assertion of its sovereign right unsustainable.
- The Indian government has ratified several international human rights treaties and submits periodic reports to the respective treaty bodies.
- Discrimination in various forms occurs in all societies, but what is of concern is institutionalised discrimination.
- Office of the High Commissioner for human Rights (OHCHR): expressed its concern stating that the CAA “is fundamentally discriminatory in nature” .
- Advocate Gautam Bhatia: human rights violations in J&K, the Supreme Court has “ducked, evaded and adjourned”
- In the case of India, it is not a question of resources but an unwillingness to uphold human rights.
NEWS
- SC stays NCLAT order reinstating Cyrus Mistry
- MoD approves rules of business for DMA
- ED attaches assets of Kochhar couple
- Supreme Court asks Centre to reply to UN official’splea on Rohingya
- New facility to tackle cybercrimes: Indian Cyber CrimeCoordination Centre
- U.S. rejects Iraq request to discuss troop withdrawal
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