Current Affairs Analysis – 16.January.2020

WHO released 2020 Global Health Challenges report

Context : The World Health Organization (WHO) released the list of Global Health Challenges of the forthcoming year on 13 January 2020.

Report Highlights :

• The list of Global Health Challenges highlighted 13 potential threats.
• The top among the listed threats was Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) and climate crisis. 
• As per the report, around 7 million people are affected because of climate change. 
• The report said that climate change has increased malnutrition and is fueling the spread of infectious diseases such as malaria. 
• Following these 2, the other threats mentioned in the list include the influenza epidemic and the spread of infectious diseases such as HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis. 
• The report stated that most of the death is due to stroke, chronic respiratory disease, heart attack, and lung cancer. These diseases are increased by raising levels of air pollution. 
• For the first time, Lack of Access has entered the list. 
• It highlighted that a lack of access to vaccines, diagnostic tools, medicines, and other essential health products is one of the challenges and threats faced by society.

ASER report showed the learning status of Uttar Pradesh students

Context : The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) was showed over 46% in Lucknow and 45.9% in Varanasi kids are unable to read or recognize numbers. The survey covered 1,514 villages, 30,425 households and 36,930 children in the age group of 4-8 in the state.

Report HIghlights :

• The report stated that the children studying in Class 3 in the cities of Varanasi and Lucknow cannot read or recognize numbers between 1 to 100.
• It said that the standard of education continues to remain grim in Uttar Pradesh.
• Over 28.1% of kids studying in Class 1 of Lucknow were not able to identify even numbers from 1-9.  
• About 47% fail to recognize numbers from 1-100.
• According to the countrywide figures, for age 4-5 years, there were only 50.4% boys against 56.8% girls enrolled in government schools.

Varanasi:

16.8% of class I children could not read even a letter and 46.5% of class III and 58% of class II children in Varanasi could not read class I texts.

Also, in Varanasi, 45.9% of class III children do not recognize the numbers till 99 while 31.2% of class I children could not recognize 1-9 numbers in the district.

Bru Refugee Crisis

Context : A four party agreement among the Centre, Mizoram Government, Tripura Government and Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s Forum (MBDPF) which seeks to end the 22-year-old Bru refugee crisis may be signed on 16^th January 2020.

Background :

• Bru or Reang is a community indigenous to Northeast India, living mostly in Tripura, Mizoram and Assam. In Tripura, they are recognised as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group.
• In Mizoram, they have been targeted by groups that do not consider them indigenous to the state. In 1997, following ethnic clashes, nearly 37,000 Brus fled Mamit, Kolasib and Lunglei districts of Mizoram and were accommodated in relief camps in Tripura.
• Since then, 5,000 have returned to Mizoram in eight phases of repatriation, while 32,000 still live in six relief camps in North Tripura.
• In June 2018, community leaders from the Bru camps signed an agreement with the Centre and the two state governments, providing for repatriation in Mizoram. But most camp residents rejected the terms of the agreement.
• The camp residents say that the agreement doesn’t guarantee their safety in Mizoram.
• In October 2019, the supply of ration to relief camps was stopped on instructions of the Home Ministry in a bid to hastily complete the repatriation of refugees to Mizoram. Civil society outfits had alleged that at least six refugees died due to starvation.

Proposed New Agreement :

• According to the 2018 agreement, the Bru tribals would have settled in Mizoram, but according to the new agreement, they will now settle in Tripura.
• The stakeholders in the issue expect a package of Rs 600 crore from the Centre which includes:
  
  • Plots of 2,500 sq ft for each Bru family in addition to agricultural land.
  • A stipend of Rs 5,000 per month and free ration for each family for the next two years.
  • Bru tribals would be included in Tripura’s voter list.

CARA celebrated 5th Annual Day on 15 January

Context : Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) celebrated its 5th Annual Day in New Delhi on 15 January 2020. Secretary WCD, Rabindra Panwar along with other senior officials of the Ministry, its associated Statutory/Autonomous Bodies and representatives from the States and Union Territories participated in the function. Souvenirs to commemorate the Annual Day was unveiled during the event. 

CARA’s service :

• CARA conducted various training programmes and workshops at national and state levels for all the stakeholders of the adoption programme in 2019.
• It carried out a number of advocacy programs through various mediums to create awareness and sensitization of the general public and reached out to citizens through various inter-active programmes like Jan Sampark and through Social Media platforms. 
• It gives emphasis to the rehabilitation of older and special needs children in various Child Care Institutions across the country.

CARA :
CARA is an apex body of the Government of India. It was established in 1990. It promotes and facilitates In-country Adoption. The designated Central Authority for regulating Inter-country Adoption was designated as a Statutory Body on 15 January 2016, under the provisions of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. 

Henley Passport Index

Context : The latest edition of Henley Passport Index has been released.

What is Henley Passport Index (HPI) :

It is a global ranking of countries according to the travel freedom for their citizens. Started in 2006 as Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index (HVRI) and was modified and renamed in January 2018.

How are the countries ranked :

The ranking is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which maintains the world’s largest and most accurate database of travel information, and enhanced by the Henley & Partners Research Department. The Index lists the world’s passports “according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa”.

Performance of various Countries :

1. Japan is at the top. It has been topping the Index for three straight years; according to the 2020 index, its citizens are able to access 191 destinations without having to obtain a visa in advance.
2. Singapore, in second place (same as in 2019), has a visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 190.
3. Germany is No. 3 (same position as in 2019), with access to 189 destinations;
4. The US and the UK have been falling consistently over successive Indices.

Performance of India :

1. The Indian passport is closer to the bottom, ranked 84th in the world.
2. This translates into visa-free access to 58 destinations, including 33 which give Indians visas on arrival.
3. Twenty of the 58 visa-free access destinations in the 2020 list are in Africa, and 11 each in Asia and the Caribbean. Serbia is the only European country to which Indian passport holders can travel visa-free.