PIB – February 22 , 2020


General Studies- II

Topic- Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulation Bill 2020

Context

Path breaking measures taken to protect women’s reproductive rights

About

  • The Union Cabinet has approved a historic Bill for the welfare of Women in the Country – the Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulation Bill 2020.
  • The other Bills for Women’s welfare are:
  1. The Surrogacy Regulation Bill 2020, and
  2. The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Bill 2020.
  • These legislative measures are path breaking steps to protect women’s reproductive rights.

Assisted reproductive technology (ART) in India

  • Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), including In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF), has given hope to a multitude of persons suffering from infertility.
  • India has become one of the major centres of this global fertility industry, with reproductive medical tourism becoming a significant activity.
  • Clinics in India offer nearly all the ART services—gamete donation, intrauterine insemination (IUI), IVF, ICSI, PGD and gestational surrogacy.
  • India has one of the highest growths in the ART centers and the number of ART cycles performed every year.
  • It also introduced a plethora of legal, ethical and social issues.
  • However, in spite of so much activity in India, there is yet no standardisation of protocols and reporting is still very inadequate.

What is Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART)

  • Assisted Reproductive Technology is used to treat infertility and fertility treatments that handle both a woman’s egg and a man’s sperm.
  • It works by removing eggs from a woman’s body.
  • The eggs are then mixed with sperm to make embryos. The embryos are then put back in the woman’s body.
  • In Vitro fertilization (IVF) is the most common and effective type of ART.
  • ART procedures sometimes use donor eggs, donor sperm, or previously frozen embryos. It may also involve a surrogate carrier.

Need to regulate the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART)

  • The need to regulate ART Services is mainly to protect the affected Women and the Children from exploitation.
  • The oocyte donor needs to be supported by an insurance cover, protected from multiple embryo implantations.
  • The children born through ART should be provided all rights equivalent to a Biological Children.

ART Regulation Bill 2020

  • The Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulation Bill 2020 is the most recent, in a series of legislations to protect and safeguard the reproductive rights of women.
  • The bill makes provisions for safe and ethical practice of assisted reproductive technology services in the country.
  • Through the bill, the National Board, the State Boards, the National Registry and the State Registration Authorities respectively will regulate and supervise assisted reproductive technology clinics and assisted reproductive technology banks.

Surrogacy Regulation Bill 2020

  • The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2020 proposes to regulate surrogacy in India.
  • It establishes National Board at the central level and State Boards and Appropriate Authorities in the States and Union Territories.

The major benefit of the Act

  • It will regulate the surrogacy services in the country.
  • The commercial surrogacy will be prohibited including sale and purchase of human embryos and gametes.
  • Ethical surrogacy to the Indian Married couple, Indian Origin Married Couple and Indian Single Woman (only widow or Divorcee) will be allowed on fulfillment of certain conditions.

It will control:

  1. The unethical practices in surrogacy,
  2. Prevent commercialization of surrogacy and
  3. Prohibit potential exploitation of surrogate mothers and children born through surrogacy.

Medical Termination Pregnancy Amendment Bill 2020

  • The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 was enacted to provide for the termination of certain pregnancies by registered medical practitioners.
  • The said Act recognised the importance of safe, affordable, accessible abortion services to women who need to terminate pregnancy under certain specified conditions.

Why new Act is needed?

  • The several Writ Petitions have been filed before the Supreme Court and various High Courts seeking permission for aborting pregnancies at gestational age beyond the present permissible limit.
  • This was on the grounds of foetal abnormalities or pregnancies due to sexual violence faced by women.
  • Taken together, the three proposed legislations create an environment of safeguards for women’s reproductive rights, addressing changing social contexts and technological advances.

General Studies- I

Topic- Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India.

International Mother Language Day

Context

The Ministry of Human Resource Developmentis celebrates  Matribhasha Divas.

About

  • On 21st February, International Mother Language Day (IMLD) will be celebrated as a worldwide annual observance of UNESCO.
  • MHRD will also observe Matribhasha Diwas on 21st Feb to highlight the linguistic diversity of our country.
  • International Mother Language Day is celebrated across the globe on 21st February to celebrate the linguistic diversity that exists in the world.
  • UNESCO has identified over 7000 languages that are used (read, written and spoken) in different countries across the world.
  • 21st February has been marked to celebrate this ‘Multilinguism’.

Theme for 2020:  ‘Languages without borders’.

  • According to UNESCO, ‘local, cross-border languages can promote peaceful dialogue and help to preserve indigenous heritage’.

Importance for India

  • India celebrates its cultural heritage under the aegis of ‘Unity in Diversity’ principle and languages are not an exception to this.
  • India has 22 officially recognised languages, 1635 rationalised mother tongues, 234 identifiable mother tongues, according to Census 2001.
  • The diverse linguistic heritage of India is a showcase of its strength.
  • India has managed to house so many languages within the same geographic boundaries and used it as a tool to facilitate dialogue for conflict resolution.

Theme of Matribhasha Diwas 2020: ‘Celebrating our Multilingual Heritage’

History

  • The roots of the International Mother Language Day can be traced back to a students’ movement in Dhaka, Bangladesh which took place in 1952.
  • On 21st February 1952, four students from four students of Dhaka University were gunned down by police, during their protest march demanding inclusion of ‘Bangla’ as one of the two national languages.
  • The IMLD is celebrated to commemorate their sacrifice.
  • On 29th February 1956, Bengali was adopted as an official second language of erstwhile East Pakistan.
  • From 1999 onwards, UNESCO – the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, started observing International Mother Language Day on 21st February every year.
  • Over the two decades of observance of IMLD, UNESCO has promoted mother tongue-based multilingual education.
  • Every year, UNESCO announces a unique theme for the International Mother Language Day and plans activities around it.

General Studies- III

Topic- Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices;

Crop Insurance Schemes

Context

Cabinet approves Revamping of “Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)” and “Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS)”.

About

  • Cabinet approves Revamping of ‘PMFBY’ and ‘RWBCIS’ to address the existing challenges in implementation of Crop Insurance Schemes.
  • The revamped scheme will be effective from 2020 Kharif season.

Key changes in ongoing schemes of PMFBY and RWBCIS:

  • Central Subsidy under PMFBY/RWBCIS will be now limited for premium rates upto 30% for unirrigated areas/crops and 25% for irrigated areas/crops.
  • Earlier it was the Centre’s share of the premium subsidy was 50%.
  • The revamp now reduces the burden on the Centre and increases the share of States.
  • Enrolment under the Scheme to be made voluntary for all farmers.
  • Central Share in Premium Subsidy to be increased to 90% for North Eastern States from the existing sharing pattern of 50:50.
  • Provisioning of at least 3% of the total allocation for the Scheme to be made by Government of India and Implementing State Governments for administrative expenses.
  • This shall be subject to an upper cap fixed by DAC&FW for each State.
  • States has been allowed for flexibility to select varied additional risk covers, with or without opting for the base PMFBY cover.
  • Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar had decided to exit the scheme citing high costs and the need to customise it based on geographical diversities.
  • The government has made it compulsory for the States to allow crop insurance firms to operate for three years.

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)

  • Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) was launched in April 2016.
  • It replaced the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) and Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS).
  • It envisages a uniform premium of only 2% to be paid by farmers for Kharif crops, and 1.5% for Rabi crops.
  • The premium for annual commercial and horticultural crops will be 5%.
  • The scheme is mandatory for farmers who have taken institutional loans from banks.
  • It’s optional for farmers who have not taken institutional credit.

 Objectives of PMFBY

  • To provide financial support to farmers suffering crop loss/damage arising out of unforeseen events, such as, failure of any of the notified crop as a result of natural calamities, pests & diseases.
  • To stabilize the income of farmers to ensure their continuance in farming.
  • To encourage farmers to adopt innovative and modern agricultural practices.
  • To ensure flow of credit to the agriculture sector which contributes to food security, crop diversification and enhancing growth and competitiveness of agriculture sector.
  • To protecting farmers from production risks.

Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme

The RWBCIS was launched on 18th February 2016.

Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS) aims to: mitigate the hardship of the insured farmers against the likelihood of financial loss on account of anticipated crop loss resulting from adverse weather conditions relating to rainfall, temperature, wind, humidity etc.

WBCIS uses weather parameters as “proxy‟ for crop yields in compensating the cultivators for deemed crop losses.

Crops covered

  1. Major Food crops (Cereals, Millets & Pulses) & Oilseeds
  2. Commercial / Horticultural crops

Farmers covered

  • All farmers including sharecroppers and tenant farmers growing the notified crops in the notified areas are eligible for coverage.
  • However, farmers should have insurable interest on the insured crop.
  • The non-loanee farmers are required to submit necessary documentary evidence of land records and / or applicable contract / agreements details (in case of sharecroppers / tenant farmers).
  • All farmers availing Seasonal Agricultural Operations (SAO) loans from Financial Institutions (i.e. loanee farmers) for the crop(s) notified are covered on compulsory basis.
  • The Scheme is optional for the non-loanee farmers. They can choose between WBCIS and PMFBY, and also the insurance company.

Perils covered

  • Rainfall – Deficit Rainfall, Excess rainfall, Unseasonal Rainfall, Rainy days, Dry-spell, Dry days
  • Relative Humidity
  • Temperature – High temperature (heat), Low temperature
  • Wind Speed
  • A combination of the above
  • Hailstorms, cloud-burst may also be covered as Add-on/Index-Plus products for those farmers who have already taken normal coverage under WBCIS.

For Prelims

Sustainable Development Goals Conclave

Highlights

  • NITI Aayog is organising “Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Conclave 2020: Partnerships, Cooperation and Development of North Eastern States”.
  • The SDG Conclave is being organized in Guwahati.
  • Organisers: the North Eastern Council, Government of Assam, Tata Trusts, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS).

 

Leave a Reply