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The power of a nudge

There are some 202 institutions: behavioural insights to public policy.
Even the best and well-intentioned public policy programmes fail.
People repeatedly make decisions that serve neither their own interests nor of others. Psychological Behavioral Cognitive
By including ‘nudges’ — small, easy and timely suggestions to influence behaviour — we understand implementation outcomes better.
Behavioural science can be applied to large-scale programmes.
Kilkari, a mobile service by the government that delivers free, weekly and time-appropriate audio messages about pregnancy, childbirth and childcare directly to families’ mobile phones.
Defaults
Reminders
Prompts
Incentives Rethinking disaster management
Unfortunately, disasters are not one-off events.
Responses to disasters must be proactive, not just reactive.

rebuilding in a better way
relocate people out of harm’s way
early warning
tougher implementation of logging and mining regulations in fragile ecologies

The new climate reality is raising the bar on disaster resilience Kerala floods: India Hurricane Harvey: USA Typhoon Haiyan: Philippines Cyclone Phailin 2013 claimed less than 40 lives in Odisha, whereas a superclyclone in 1999 in the State had killed 10,000 people.

Long road ahead

Ayushman Bharat: 40% of the population
₹2,000 allocation is less than what is required
Not all States and Union Territories are in a position to raise their own share, and a few have not even joined the scheme. The challenge of funding, therefore, remains.
Costs are a contested area between the care-providers and the Centre, and many for-profit hospitals see the government’s proposals as unviable.
The first-order priority should be to draw up a road map for universal health coverage, through continuous upgradation of the public sector infrastructure.

An indefensible ordinance

- An ordinance is a constitutionally sanctioned ad hoc mechanism by which critically urgent situations are met when Parliament or a State Assembly (as the case may be) is not in session and the government cannot afford to wait till it reassembles for fear of things becoming unmanageable if not legislatively redressed immediately.
- Article 123 of the Constitution requires the President to ensure the existence of circumstances “which render it necessary for him to take immediate action”, the Centre, in the interest of a fair debate, must make public the evidence presented to the President.
- Article 123 (3) warns that if an ordinance “makes any provision which Parliament would not under this Constitution be competent to enact, it shall be void.
- Section 2 (b), Section 3, Section 4 & Section 7
- even when it does not dissolve the marriage, is baffling
- Article 21: “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.”

Supreme Court in several cases, including Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978) and K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017), had made it clear that “law” means reasonable law, not any enacted piece.
And a procedure established by it has to be fair, just and reasonable to avoid being struck down as unconstitutional.
Article 123 (2) (a) demands that all ordinances be laid before both Houses of Parliament when Parliament reassembles.
SC: “re-promulgation of ordinances is a fraud on the Constitution and a subversion of democratic legislative processes.”

Important News

Yameen concedes defeat in Maldives presidential poll

Maldives President Abdulla Yameen on Monday conceded defeat in Sunday’s presidential election, making way for the joint Opposition candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

India our natural ally: Nasheed

Centre finalising tariffs on non-essential imports

The government has finalised the list of non-essential items on which it will be imposing import tariffs, according to a senior official in the Finance Ministry.
The official said the list, to be notified soon, would include electronics, gems, select items of steel that are also manufactured in India, imported apples, and almonds, among others.

Female circumcision issue goes to Constitution Bench

The Supreme Court on Monday referred to a five-judge Constitution Bench petitions seeking a declaration that the practice of female circumcision or ‘khafz,’ prevalent in the Dawoodi Bohra sect, amounts to “female genital mutilation (FGM)” and is a violation of women’s right to life and dignity.

Rain pounds north India, 11 killed

Navy officer Tomy rescued after three-day search

After a three-day global search and rescue effort, Commander Abhilash Tomy of the Navy, stranded in the Southern Indian Ocean, was rescued by French shipping vessel Osiris on Monday.

Husband not allowed to move SC: Sanjiv Bhatt’s wife

The wife of former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt on Monday approached the Supreme Court alleging that her husband is being thwarted from moving the Supreme Court.
A Bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Navin Sinha termed the allegation “serious” if found true and asked the State of Gujarat to file a response by October 4.

Panel approves nutrition norms

India’s top nutrition panel has recommended that severely malnourished children must be fed freshly cooked food prepared from locally available cereals, pulses and vegetables, and distributed by anganwadi centres, as part of the country’s first-ever guidelines for nutritional management of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM).

Domestic aviation traffic saw 17% growth in August

Sushma to focus on ‘South-South cooperation’

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj kicked off her week-long diplomatic engagements at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Monday morning, attending a special meeting on drugs. Ms. Swaraj will attend several bilateral and multilateral meetings over the next few days. The 73rd UNGA is taking place against the backdrop of increased American hostility towards the world body in particular and multilateralism in general. An Indian official said Ms. Swaraj’s meetings “will focus on issues such as climate change, digital infrastructure, sustainability and South-South cooperation. These are areas that India has interests and expertise in”.