Daily Practice Sheet 3 May 2021

Daily Practice Sheet

3 May 2021

Daily Prelims Topic

• POCSO
• Minister who is not a member of legislature (Art 164 (4))
• Activities against the security of the state under Art 311 (2) C
• G7
• SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule
• Rupee dominated bonds or Masala bond
• Germline targeting approach and R21 vaccine for Malaria
• Press freedom day
• Taiwan
• Chiranjeevi Health Insurance Scheme

Daily Constitution

1. Right to public health as an integral part of the Art 21

Daily Data

Rise in External commercial borrowing

• India Inc’s external commercial borrowings jumped by over 24 per cent to $9.23 billion in March this year, RBI data showed.
• Indian firms had raised $7.44 billion from the foreign market in the same period a year ago.

Health

• For decades, policy experts have pointed to the need for raising public expenditure on health from 1% of the gross domestic product (GDP), to 2% or 3%, but to no avail. In contrast, countries like China have been spending around 2% of the GDP on health since almost two decades ago. And there are countries like the United States (US), which spend around 8% of the GDP on healthcare. The low government spending on health in India ensures that almost 70% of health spending is out-of-pocket spending by individuals, one of the highest in the world.
• While the per capita health expenditure in Bihar was `617 in 2018–19, it was `2,048 in Kerala and `6,207 in Goa. Consequently, while Kerala, Goa and Karnataka have three to four hospital beds per 1,000 people it is lower than one in Bihar, Odisha, Assam, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. Similarly, while Kerala has more than five doctors, nurses and midwives per 1,000 people, the number is lower than one in Bihar and Jharkhand.
• Thus, it is no surprise that an index of effective coverage of universal health services in 204 countries for 1990–2019 showed that India’s effective coverage of universal health services was only 47, as compared to 51 in Bhutan, 54 in Bangladesh, 65 in Brazil, 70 in China and Iran, 73 in Cuba, 82 in the US, 86 in Germany, 91 in France and 96 in Japan.

Daily Mains Mantra

GS2: Polity

1. Coalition politics has become an inseparable fact of Indian politics. In this context critically examine role played by regional parties in federal structure. [Reference: Indian Express]
2. Poorly designed empirical and scientific systems, excessive centralization and a failure of execution is bigger challenge for the healthcare governance in India. Explain. [Reference: Indian Express]

GS 2: Governance

1. The present health crisis in India is majorly a result of poor health infrastructure. Discuss. [Reference: EPW]

GS3: Economy

1. Critically examine the policy of privatization of all state-owned enterprises operating in non-strategic sectors. [Reference: EPW]

GS3: Environment

1. Balancing development and environment protection necessitate India must first “green” its fossil-fuel energy basket. In this context discuss the role of natural gas in energy basket and how India can adopted it incrementally. [Reference: Financial Express]