📰 The tight and flowing structure of the Maoists
Lifting the lid on the ground-level organisation of the extremists, who the police allege are forging links with activists.
•Though the Naxalite movement was started by Charu Majumdar, Kanu Sanyaland Jangal Santhal in West Bengal in 1967 under the banner of Communist Party of India (Marxist), the movement has changed many banners over the past four decades and is now called the CPI (Maoist), which is a banned organisation in the country.
•The CPI (Maoist) was formed in 2004 with the merger of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) People’s War, commonly known as the People’s War Group, and the Maoist Communist Centre of India. And it has been functioning under this banner since then.
•The Maoists have a very tight and flowing organisational structure and follow the ‘need to know’ principle for the flow of information. Each unit within the structure has its role and area of operation cut out.
•The core body is the central committee (CC), which is headed by Muppala Lakshmana Rao, alias Ganapathy, who is also the general secretary of the organisation. The CC is supported by the polit bureau (PB) and the central military commission (CMC).
The think tank
•The polit bureau is the think tank of the organisation. It is again headed by Ganapathy and his second-in-command, Nambala Keshava Rao, alias Basavraj.
•The PB earlier had about 14 members, but the strength is now down to nine.
•It is the political brain of the Maoists, as the membership once comprised intellectuals such as Kobad Ghandy (now in jail) and Cherukuri Rajkumar, alias Azad (killed in an alleged encounter with the police in 2010). The PB’s role is basically to keep in touch with the over-ground frontal organisations, operators and sympathisers and formulate long-term policy and strategy.
•The PB keeps in touch with like-minded political parties and sympathisers and plays a major role in developing logistical support, which includes getting legal help for cadres, funding, spreading the ideology and finding safe houses for cadres.
Drafting plans
•The central military commission’s role is to design operational plans that include attacks on security forces, recruiting cadres and funding through extortion.
•It is presently headed by Nambala Keshava Rao.
•The military structure has divisions, which comprise the PLGA (People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army), the main armed platoons and the militia members.
•The CC, which has 19 members (13 from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana), is headed by Ganapathy. It is supported by the four regional bureaus — central, east, north and south.
•The central bureau spans the Dandkaranya zone, the Andhra-Odisha border special zone and the state committees of Telangana, Odisha, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. The eastern bureau consists of the zonal committees of Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Assam and Uttar Pradesh.
•While the northern bureau comprises Punjab and Uttarakhand, the southern bureau controls the whole of the Western Ghats region.
Going to the grass roots
•Each of the bureaus and the zonal committees is headed by a CC member. Under the zonal committees, there are regional committees.
•The regional committees are further divided into divisional committees, area committees and finally the local area committees, which focus on one or two tribal villages each.
Strategy meetings
•Every year the CC and the PB members try to meet at least on two occasions: the Martyrs’ Week, which begins on July 28, and the PLGA Week, usually the first week of December.
•It is during these two meetings that the year-long policy is drafted.
📰 In search of a second home for Manipur’s brow antlered deer
It’s turning out into a tug of war between the State government, activists and local residents.
•From near extinction in 1951, the population of the brow antlered deer, aka dancing deer — found only Manipur’s Bishnupur district — is 260, according to a joint census conducted by the Forest Department and wildlife enthusiasts in March 2016. Though encouraging, it is nothing to write home about.
•Foreign and domestic tourists come to Manipur to see, among others, this deer and pony which are not found anywhere in the world.
•In a bid to save and help them multiply, there is a demand for a second home for the deer. However, villagers in Thoubal district have been launching sit-in protests and taking out torch light processions almost every night, saying that they should not be deprived of their livelihood by opening a second home for this deer at Phumlenpat Lake in the district.
•It is very likely that the State government may drop the project. The reason? In Manipur, no government can do anything against the wishes of the womenfolk. While seemingly unconnected, it is illustrative of the women power in the State. The government had to drop the idea of tabling a bill — which proposed exporting country liquor — during the monsoon session of the Manipur Assembly earlier this month. Women activists took umbrage at the statement of one Minister that the revenue will be used in paying salaries of some government personnel.
•Women of villages surrounding the Phumlenpat say that for generations they have been depending on fish, other water living beings and edible water plants in this lake. Nungshitombi, a woman activist said that they will starve if they are not allowed to enter the lake once the sanctuary is opened.
•To understand the context, the State government enforced the Manipur Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, and later declared Keibul Lamjao as the National Park. Officials said that 14 deer were sighted in 1975. Despite slaughtering by poachers who enter the lake by masquerading as local fishermen, its population had increased. Wildlife enthusiasts, however, say that 260 deer of this species is too small a number to be comfortable.
Unnatural habitat
•Cut to the present. On Friday, village leaders said that they will oppose the government plan to keep the deer at the Phumlenat Lake. Activist Salam Joy said, “The Phumlenpat in Thoubal district is quite different from the Loktak Lake in Bishnupur district. There is no plant or grass or floating bio mass in the Phumlenpat Lake which means the deer will starve to death. At the same time, the villagers who will be denied entry in the lake will starve. Both deer and people will die and this government plan should be dropped”.
•The Forest Department had kept 14 deer in the “second home” at Iroishemba near Imphal. Conservator of forest, A. Kharsing, IFS, said that two fawns were born in 2014 in Iroishemba. However, animal lovers are not happy since this deer does not stay in mountains. They said that the deer stays in the floating bio-mass to give the impression that they are dancing. They relish the water plant sprouts found in the floating bio-mass.
•During the Congress government of R.K. Jaichandra in 1988-90, armed Manipur Rifles personnel were deployed in the National Park near the lake. The skeleton forest guards who were not issued firearms would chase away poachers with the armed personnel’s help. However, soon the guards were withdrawn.
•A forest official in the National Park said that they could do very little since a handful of unarmed officials cannot confront the poachers. They also disclosed that a staggering number of migratory birds are also caught by the poachers in the Loktak Lake.
Varying opinions
•To exacerbate, personal belongings of the forest staff were incinerated by a local group of budding politicians with an eye on the elections. They also allegedly instigated the villagers to demand closure of the National Park in Bishnupur district. Teaming up with villagers they say that ‘man is more important than deer’ and the 40 sq. km National Park should be converted into paddy fields.
•The campaign against the proposed home of the deer is gathering momentum with the government doing precious little so far.
•Some activists suggested shifting some deer to the vast sanctuaries in Assam since it is not safe in Manipur. However, it was vetoed saying a day will come when Assam will claim the deer as their own.
📰 ‘India moving towards tax compliant society’
Many filed under presumptive scheme
•The total number of income tax returns (ITRs) e-filed up to August 31, 2018, was 5.42 crore as against 3.17 crore up to August 31, 2017, marking an increase of 70.86%.
•Almost 34.95 lakh returns were e-filed on August 31, 2018.
•A remarkable increase was seen in the number of ITRs filed by salaried individuals, and also those availing the benefit of the Presumptive Taxation Scheme, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.
•The total number of e-returns of salaried individual taxpayers filed till August 31 increased to 3.37 crore from the 2.19 crore returns filed during the corresponding period in 2017, registering a growth of almost 54%.
•As many as 1.17 crore ITRs were e-filed by persons availing the benefit of Presumptive Tax, compared to 14.93 lakh returns filed up to August, 2017, registering a massive eight-fold jump.
Steadily moving
•This is indicative of an India moving steadily towards a more tax compliant society, and reflects the impact of continuous leveraging of technology to improve taxpayer service delivery, the statement said.
•Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had in Budget 2018-19 flagged the tax mop-up from entities under the Presumptive Taxation Scheme.
•Under this scheme, 41% more returns were filed during this year, which shows that many more persons are joining the tax net under the simplified scheme. However, the turnover shown is still not encouraging, he had said.
•The government had liberalised the presumptive income scheme for small traders and entrepreneurs with annual turnover of less than Rs. 2 crore and introduced a similar scheme for professionals with annual turnover of less than Rs. 50 lakh, with the hope that there would be significant increase in compliance.
•The I-T Department had received 44.72 lakh returns for assessment year 2017-18.
📰 The lowdown on current account deficit
What is it?Where do we stand?Why does it matterWhat lies ahead?
•The current account measures the flow of goods, services and investments into and out of the country. We run into a deficit if the value of the goods and services we import exceeds the value of those we export. The current account includes net income, including interest and dividends, and transfers, like foreign aid.
•India’s current account deficit (CAD) is pegged at $13 billion or 1.9% of the GDP in Q4 of 2017-18, which increased from $2.6 billion or 0.4% of the GDP in Q4 of 2016-17. However, the CAD moderated marginally from $13.7 billion (2.1% of GDP) in the preceding quarter.
•For the quarter, the Reserve Bank of India attributed the widening of the CAD to a higher trade deficit ($41.6 billion) brought about by a larger increase in merchandise imports related to exports. For the full financial year, the CAD increased to 1.9% of the GDP in 2017-18 from 0.6% in 2016-17 on the back of a widening of the trade deficit. India’s trade deficit increased to $160 billion in 2017-18 from $112.4 billion in 2016-17.
•The central bank wants to see the current account gap within 2.5% of the GDP, which is seen as crucial for currency stability. For example, the CAD touched a high of 4.8% of the GDP in 2012-13 on rising gold and oil imports, which also impacted the rupee that depreciated rapidly. High current account deficit forced the government to impose import restrictions on non-essential items like gold.
•As the rupee is under pressure — it hit the 71-mark against the dollar on Friday — and oil prices are inching up, it will impact the current account. While the present depreciation is mainly due to external factors with the dollar strengthening against all emerging market currencies, the rising trade deficit is adding to the worry about the currency. The rupee is the worst performing currency among the emerging market economies in Asia, and depreciated over 9% against the dollar in the current financial year. The central bank is also not seen intervening aggressively, according to currency dealers. As a result, the rupee, in a short span of time, travelled from the mid-68 levels to 71 a dollar. The foreign exchange reserves, also seen as an important factor for currency stability, have depleted by $26 billion since April, due to sporadic interventions by the central bank to control the pace of fall in the currency.
•The July trade deficit numbers have had an impact on the currency. According to data released by the government, a sharp surge in imports led to worsening of the trade deficit to $18.02 billion against a deficit of $11.45 billion during July 2017. Imports during July were $43.79 billion, representing a growth of 28.81%, compared to $33.99 billion a year ago.
•The government attributed the increase to a sharp increase in crude oil prices — global Brent crude prices increased 53.16% in July, compared to the same period the previous year. The oil import bill, which saw a 57% increase, and a 41% jump in gold imports to $2.96 billion in July are seen as the main reasons for the high trade deficit.
•Since a higher trade deficit will widen the current account deficit, the rupee could be under pressure from domestic factors also, economists have said. A huge current account gap could make the rupee depreciate further in the absence of meaningful intervention from the central bank.
📰 West Bengal, where erosion leads to land loss
What is the problem?
•It’s a land-starved State, and between 1990 and 2016, West Bengal lost more to erosion. A report by the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, released recently said West Bengal recorded the maximum erosion of 63%, followed by Puducherry 57%, Kerala 45%, and Tamil Nadu 41%.
Why is the State vulnerable?
•The coastal stretch of West Bengal, bordering Bangladesh and located on the eastern end of the Indian peninsula, is one of the largest deltaic regions of the world. The coastline has numerous rivers and the largest single block of tidal halophytic mangroves. The 534 sq km coastline of West Bengal, regularly hit by tides, tropical cyclones and storm surges, has suffered 63% erosion. Between 1990 and 2016, West Bengal lost 99 sq km land due to coastal erosion. The land gain in the State, due to accretion has been only 16 sq km. Sagar, the biggest island of the Sunderbans archipelago, which is home to almost 2 lakh people, is facing severe erosion on its western and south eastern parts. Islands like Ghoramara and Mousuni are also facing erosion. The same trend has been observed at Jambudweep Island and Henry Island in the Sunderbans.
•Other than the natural process, like storms and sea level rise, anthropogenic issues like aquaculture, port construction and other developmental activities also lead to coastal erosion, say experts.
What will be the impact?
•West Bengal is a land-starved State with the fourth highest population in the country. It is also the second most densely populated State. According to the 2011 census, 1,029 people live in each square kilometre of West Bengal. The Sunderbans, which comprises most of the coastline in the State, has about 1,000 people living per sq km. The loss of more than 80 sq km of coastal land puts further pressure on the population of the island, who are dependent on economic activities centred on the coastline. This stress leads to migration from these coastal areas and islands. Researchers call the people moving out of the Sunderbans “climate change refugees.” The erosion of coastal areas, coupled with climate change, is a major cause of migration from the Sunderbans, which is one of the most backward regions of the State. Reports say that of the 1,000 inhabitants of the Sunderbans, 190 eat just one meal a day and 510 are malnourished. The extent of migration can be gauged by a recent publication of the School of Oceanographic Studies, Jadavapur University, which said 75% of the people living on the island are dependent on remittances from outside. According to NCCR researchers, the report on the national survey of coastline will provide inputs for framing policies to address the stress of the people residing in coastal areas, especially in the Sunderbans.
Is it happening only in Bengal?
•Coastal erosion has been noticed in nine States and two Union Territories. The NCCR report said 34% of India’s coastline underwent varying degrees of erosion during the period under consideration, and 28% of the shoreline showed accretion and 38% of the country’s coastline remained stable. A State-wise analysis of the coastal erosion suggests that more than 40% erosion was observed in four States and Union Territories.
•The report states that the west coast has relatively been stable with erosion in minor pockets like Kerala. In the west, 48% of the coastline is stable, whereas only 28% of the eastern coast has been deemed stable. When it comes to accretion, States such as Odisha (51%) and Andhra Pradesh (42%) recorded the maximum gain owing to coastline changes. Goa and Maharashtra have the most stable coastlines in the country.
📰 Ocean mean temperature can better predict Indian summer monsoon
Information about the amount of monsoon rainfall will be avaiable two months before the onset of monsoon
•Sea surface temperature (SST) is routinely used for predicting whether the total amount of rainfall that India receives during the monsoon season will be less or more than the long-term mean of 887.5 mm. Now, scientists from Pune’s Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) find that ocean mean temperature (OMT) that has better ability to predict this than the sea surface temperature. Compared with SST which has 60% success rate of predicting the Indian summer monsoon, OMT has 80% success rate.
•In addition to better predictive success, the information on whether the amount of monsoon rainfall will be more or less than the long-term mean will be available by beginning of April, two months before the southwest monsoon can set in. This is because OMT is analysed by measuring the ocean thermal energy during the period from January to March. Southwest monsoon sets in around June 1 each year in Kerala .
•“Sea surface temperature gives information only about the thin upper layer of the ocean and does not reflect the thermal energy available in the upper ocean. The variations in the upper ocean thermal energy conditions are mainly responsible for summer monsoon activity,” says M.M. Ali, senior scientist at IITM and corresponding author of a paper published in Scientific Reports.
•“The heat content of the upper ocean creates more impact on monsoon than sea surface temperature, which is restricted to the skin of the ocean,” says M. Rajeevan, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences and one of the authors of the paper.
•The SST is restricted to a few millimetres of the top ocean layer and is largely influenced by strong winds, evaporation, or thick clouds. In contrast, OMT, which is measured up to a depth of 26 degree C isotherm, is more stable and consistent, and the spatial spread is also less. The 26 degree C isotherm is seen at depths varying from 50–100 metres. During January–March, the mean 26 degree C isotherm depth in the Southwestern Indian Ocean is 59 metres.
•The researchers analysed 25-year OMT data from 1993 to 2017. They found that unlike SST, OMT was able to correctly predict 20 out of 25 years (80% success rate) whether the amount of rainfall during the summer monsoon was more or less than the long-term mean. The prediction based on sea surface temperature was correct only for 15 out of 25 years (60% success rate).
•“Using OMT data collected during January-March 2018, we were able to predict with 80% probability that this year’s monsoon will be below average during June–September,” says Dr. Ali.
•Similarly, OMT showed better success in predicting above or below-average rainfall years compared with SST. For instance, OMT was able to successfully predict 13 out of 16 below average rainfall years and seven out of nine above average rainfall years during the period 1993-2017.
•In contrast, the prediction based on SST was correct only in 10 out of 16 below average rainfall years and five out of nine above average rainfall years.
•The reason why OMT performs better than SST is because OMT better represents the upper ocean thermal energy conditions. And the variations in the upper ocean thermal energy conditions are mainly responsible for the summer monsoon. “When there is rapid heating or cooling, the temperature of the top ocean layer will be significantly different from the upper ocean thermal energy, resulting in misleading monsoon predictions,” says Dr. Ali.
•In addition, SST also exhibits large temperature fluctuations compared with OMT of the upper layer, leading to more noise that causes lower correlations with summer monsoon rainfall. “The ocean mean temperature variations are more stable and consistent and have lower spatial and temporal spread. So OMT has better summer monsoon predictability than SST,” says Dr. Ali.
📰 The END of new-age smoking?
A Health Ministry notification highlights the dangers of electronic nicotine delivery (END) systems but the makers differ
•In a directive issued on August 28 to all States and Union Territories, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has stopped the manufacture, sale, distribution, import, trade and advertisement of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) such as e-cigarettes, vaping devices, e-sheesha, e-nicotine-flavoured hookah and heat-not-burn devices, citing the risk posed to children, adolescents and women in the reproductive age. It adds that ENDS has already been banned in 30 countries.
•Such devices are often misunderstood as Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) for those who aspire to quit tobacco use, and the Ministry’s notification puts an end to the belief that they help in tobacco cessation and are safer than cigarettes or other forms of tobacco-consumption as most do not contain tobacco — the source of nicotine and which is one of the most addictive substances.
A misconception
•In most ENDS, instead of tobacco, nicotine is used in a chemical form. Thus, users of these devices believe that they are not smoking tobacco, but in reality, they continue to have the addictive chemical.
•“People believe that the cancer-causing element is absent in the devices and are simply getting the pleasure of smoking. But several studies have found that use of ENDS leads to initiation of smoking,” says oncosurgeon Dr. Pankaj Chaturvedi of Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, adding that the dependence on smoking rises with such devices.
•He was a part of an MoHFW roundtable discussion on ENDS in 2014. There, doctors, specialists, scientists and officers from the health and drug departments concluded that available scientific evidence indicated that ENDS and similar technologies encouraged tobacco use, were hazardous for active as well as passive users, and had an adverse impact on public health.
•A cigarette contains four to six milligrams of nicotine whereas most cartridges used in ENDS contain an equivalent of 10 mg of nicotine, but in liquid form. While the cost of a cigarette starts from ₹7, a cartridge costs at least ₹200. Experts say that when it begins to pinch the pocket, most ENDS users go back to cigarettes. Nicotine gums and patches formulated under a valid drug manufacturing licence (with 2 mg and 4 mg of nicotine content) are the only approved forms of NRT currently.
•“There is no data or literature that supports any positive health outcomes from ENDS. Worse, many children are falling prey to its use as they are under the false belief that the absence of tobacco makes it safe. Many doctors wrongly advise e-cigarette use to control their patients’ smoking habits too,” says Dr. Jagannath P., a former tobacco control consultant for the Karnataka government. Dr. Jagannath, who has also worked on a World Health Organization-funded project on the National Tobacco Control Programme, says that till date, no health agency has declared it safe for use.
Nicotine alert
•An article in the Indian Journal of Medical and Paediatric Oncology, in 2015, said that the biological effects of nicotine are widespread and extend to all systems of the body including cardiovascular, respiratory, renal and reproductive systems. It said: “Nicotine has also been found to be carcinogenic in several studies.”
•The Health Ministry’s notification highlights that nicotine can have adverse effects on the development of the foetus, may contribute to cardiovascular diseases and could function as a “tumour promoter”.
•“Foetal and adolescent nicotine exposure may have long-term consequences for brain development, potentially leading to learning and anxiety disorders,” the notification warns.
•Dr. Chaturvedi says that most ENDS available in India are of Chinese make and non-branded. “However, well-known companies like ITC and Philip Morris International (PMI) have ENDS in the form of an e-cigarette called EON and a heat-not-burn device called iQOS, respectively. With the new advisory, these devices cannot be marketed or sold any more,” he says.
•PMI calls iQOS its breakthrough — it “heats the tobacco just enough to release a flavourful nicotine-containing vapour but without burning the tobacco” — and contends that “around 5.6 million consumers had already chosen to switch from cigarettes to this product”. A launch in India is now unlikely. When asked about the Ministry’s notice on ENDS, a PMI spokesperson said, “The advisory, if implemented, will deprive over 100 million smokers in India access to, and information about, potentially less risky alternatives to cigarettes.”
•“Smoke-free products are widely regarded as being less harmful than cigarettes and tens of millions of smokers worldwide have already made the switch,” he says. “We think that over 100 million smokers in India deserve access to these better alternatives, too.”
📰 An illusory cover
The law mandates mental health treatment coverage but awareness is limited
•Earlier this month, the country’s insurance regulator, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), reiterated that insurance companies are required to offer insurance cover for mental illness, thus making treatment on a par with physical illness. While the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017, which came into force this May, requires insurance agencies to offer such coverage, patients, doctors and experts say little has changed on the ground.
Still expensive
•“The IRDAI announcement comes at a time when mental health conversations are a part of mainstream dialogue. By reducing the economic burden, people with mental illness (in many cases, life-long) will now have the option of a more productive and integrated life,” says Dr. Ambrish Dharmadhikari, a psychiatrist with Mpower, a company that works in mental health diagnosis and care. “But the immediate ground reality of the high cost of treatment for mental health-related issues hasn’t changed for many just yet,” he adds.
•Studies show that government spending on health care is ₹1,112 per capita, or only ₹3 per day for the health care of an average Indian. There are direct and indirect costs that patients and agencies must bear such as medications, hospital visits and hospitalisation.
•The indirect costs involve intangible expenses such as loss of income from work and societal costs. Though direct costs are tangible and can be clearly elucidated, indirect costs are relatively difficult to be uniformly applied and vary across health systems. A World Health Organisation study (2015) shows that one in five Indians (or the equivalent of 200 million people) may suffer from depression in their lifetime.
•Because mental illness requires prolonged medical attention, continuous care and support from professionals, it constitutes a significant financial burden. It is not uncommon to have people stop treatment mid-way (especially for women and even the elderly) due to increasing costs of treatment. “Importantly, insurance could stamp out any and all stigma associated with mental health, ensure dignity and stop discrimination,” adds Neerja Birla of Mpower.
The minutiae
•“The math is simple to work out — cost of consultation, medicines, travel, hospital stay, reduced income from the person under treatment (who may be on leave or could be under-employed due to his illness), loss of income for the person accompanying the patient, cost of looking after the patient at home (nurse, attendants) and the escalation in health-care costs,” says Rosamma Jacob, whose husband has been battling depression for over 17 years now and has recently retired from a private firm.
•She has heard of the IRDAI clause but is unsure of the details. “There are several areas that we would like clarity on. Does it apply to people who are currently under treatment? Is this benefit available to people who have another underlying health condition in which mental illness is a part of it? Which are the diseases covered? And, most importantly, for how long, as most mental health issues linger for a life time?” asks Ms. Jacob.
•Dr. Nand Kumar, Department of Psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, says there are also a lot of administrative “blind spots” that need to be addressed. “Mostly, people (with mental health ailments) are out-patient department-based so we need to be clear if this scheme will cover that and again, for how long,” he adds.
