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Mar 20, 2022
WORLD HAPPINESS REPORT: FINLAND TOPS LIST FOR 5TH YEAR IN A ROW; SEE INDIA'S RANK
For the fifth straight year, the United Nations’ World Happiness Report has found Finland to be the happiest country in the world.
World Happiness Report 2022
About Japanese Encephalitis Virus
Nepal and the MCC Background
What are MANPADS?
The law against sexual harassment
About Himalayan Griffon
Afghanistan crisis
What are the terms of the proposal?
World Happiness Report 2022
- The World Happiness Report is a publication of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network
- The World Happiness Report ranks countries based on several factors such as real GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity and perceptions of corruption.
- The World Happiness Index is based on two key ideas – happiness or life evaluation measured through opinion surveys and identifying key elements that determine well-being and life evaluation across countries.
- It ranks 150 countries (146 in 2022), which is in its 10th year, assigns a score on a scale of 0-10, based on an average of data over a three-year-period.
- Finland ranks as the world's happiest country based on the 2021 report, with a score of 7.842 out of a total possible score of 10.
- India, meanwhile, saw a marginal improvement in its ranking, jumping three spots to 136, from 139 a year ago.
- In the latest rankings, among the countries which occupied the ranks in end, Afghanistan was ranked as the unhappiest nation, followed by Lebanon, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Botswana, respectively.
- In July 2011, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 65/309 Happiness: Towards a Holistic Definition of Development inviting member countries to measure the happiness of their people and to use the data to help guide public policy.
- On April 2, 2012, this was followed by the first UN High Level Meeting called Wellbeing and Happiness: Defining a New Economic Paradigm, which was chaired by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Prime Minister Jigmi Thinley of Bhutan, a nation that adopted gross national happiness instead of gross domestic product as their main development indicator.
- The first World Happiness Report was released on April 1, 2012 as a foundational text for the UN High Level Meeting: Well-being and Happiness: Defining a New Economic Paradigm, drawing international attention.
- The first report outlined the state of world happiness, causes of happiness and misery, and policy implications highlighted by case studies.
- In 2013, the second World Happiness Report was issued, and in 2015 the third. Since 2016, it has been issued on an annual basis on the 20th of March, to coincide with the UN's International Day of Happiness.
- The life factor variables used in the reports are reflective of determinants that explain national-level differences in life evaluations across research literature.
- However, certain variables, such as unemployment or inequality, are not considered comparable data is not yet available across all countries. The variables used illustrate important correlations rather than causal estimates.
- The use of subjective measurements of wellbeing is meant to be a bottom-up approach which emancipates respondents to evaluate their own wellbeing.
- In the reports, experts in fields including economics, psychology, survey analysis, and national statistics describe how measurements of well-being can be used effectively to assess the progress of nations, and other topics.
- Each report is organized by chapters that delve deeper into issues relating to happiness, including mental illness, the objective benefits of happiness, the importance of ethics, policy implications, and links with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) approach to measuring subjective well-being and other international and national efforts.
- In this troubled time of war and pandemic, the World Happiness Report 2022 reports a bright light in dark times. The pandemic brought not only pain and suffering but also an increase in social support and benevolence.
- The lesson of the World Happiness Report over the years is that social support, generosity to one another, and honesty in government are crucial for well-being.
- Politics should be directed as the great sages long ago insisted: to the well-being of the people, not the power of the rulers.
- Past reports have looked at the links between people's trust in government and institutions with happiness. The findings demonstrate that communities with high levels of trust are happier and more resilient in the face of a wide range of crises.
- Helping strangers, volunteering, and donations in 2021 were strongly up in every part of the world, reaching levels almost 25% above their pre-pandemic prevalence. This surge of benevolence, which was especially great for the helping of strangers, provides powerful evidence that people respond to help others in need, creating in the process more happiness for the beneficiaries, good examples for others to follow, and better lives for themselves.
- Critics have pointed out the difference between evaluations and experiences of wellbeing. For instance, Colombia came 37th in the 2018 World Happiness Report rankings but first by daily emotional experience in Gallup's Positive Experience Index.
- The inconsistencies in the results of different happiness measurement surveys have also been noted, for instance, a Pew survey of 43 countries in 2014 (which excluded most of Europe) had Mexico, Israel and Venezuela finishing first, second and third.
- Others point out that the variables of interest used by the World Happiness Report are more appropriate for measuring national-level rather than individual-level happiness.
- The World Happiness Report's use of a single item indicator measure of subjective well-being is fundamentally different from more traditional Index approaches which use a range of indicators such as the United Nation's Human Development Index, the OECD Better Life Index of 2011, or the Social Progress Index of 2013.
- There has also been an on-going debate regarding single-item and multi-item scales as measures of life satisfaction.
- The idea that subjective well-being can be captured by a survey has also been contested by economists, who have identified that people’s assessments of their happiness can be affected by the way in which, for example, their country’s education system grades exams, and that survey questions on subjective wellbeing are affected by response styles.
- Two thirds of adults globally (64%) report being happy: 14% very much so and 50% rather so. Countries with the highest proportion of adults considering themselves as very happy are Canada (29%), Australia, Saudi Arabia and India (28% each), Great Britain and the United States (27% each).
- The World Happiness Report is the first report to rank countries by how their populations feel. "Happiness can change, and does change, according to the quality of the society in which people live."
About Japanese Encephalitis Virus
- JEV is an infection that can be transmitted to people if they are bitten by a mosquito carrying the virus. It can’t be transmitted from person to person.
- Mosquitoes become infected if they bite an infected bird in the wild (usually wetland wading birds) or an infected mammal such as a pig. Pigs are the greatest risk as a source of infection to people because they get very high levels of the virus in their blood when infected. Mosquitoes bite infected pigs, and then bite humans, infecting us.
- But people don’t get infection directly from interacting with pigs or eating pork, because JEV is transmitted by mosquitoes. Encephalitis means inflammation of the brain, and myelitis means inflammation of the spinal cord. This inflammation of the brain or spinal cord is most often triggered by an infection.
- JEV is the leading infection that causes encephalitis in South and East Asia, causing approximately 50-70,000 cases of encephalitis and around 15-20,000 deaths each year.
- There are many other infectious causes of encephalitis. The specific features of the disease depend on the cause, but these features often overlap. Diagnosis of a specific cause can require testing of multiple samples on repeated occasions.
- Diagnosis of JEV encephalitis requires direct detection of the virus by PCR test in blood or in the fluid surrounding the brain or spinal cord, which is sampled from the lower back.
- Or, it can be detected through the body’s response to the virus by testing immune proteins (called antibodies) in the blood or in the fluid surrounding the brain or spinal cord.
- There's currently no cure for Japanese encephalitis. Treatment involves supporting the functions of the body as it tries to fight off the infection.
- The person usually needs to be admitted to hospital so they can be given fluids, oxygen and medication to treat any symptoms.
- If a person is bitten by an infected mosquito, the virus is injected into the skin. The first cycle of replication then begins inside our skin cells. The virus is then transferred to the local lymph glands, for example, under the arm or in the neck. This process lasts around a week. The infection can be stopped by our immune system at this point.
- A second cycle of replication may result in the virus being spread through our blood stream. Again, the virus can be stopped by our immune system in this phase, but this phase may be associated with symptoms like fever, rash, aches and pains, vomiting or diarrhoea. This phase lasts around one to four days.
- When JEV spreads in the bloodstream, the virus can cross into the brain or spinal cord. This happens in less than 1% of infections, but if it does, JEV efficiently replicates in the brain and spinal cord.
- The virus itself, and the inflammation that results, alter the functioning of the brain and spinal cord, often irreversibly.
- The key symptoms include
- fever
- headache
- confusion
- seizures or fits
- limb weakness.
- Inflammation also leads to swelling, and swelling of the brain in the enclosed skull can lead to death.
- All forms of encephalitis can be severe and result in brain injury, but JEV has shown itself to be one of the more severe forms, and potentially more severe in young children than in adults.
- For the 1% of people where JEV infection develops into encephalitis, it causes death in around 20% of cases, and around half of survivors will have some kind of neurological disability.
- Exposure to mosquitoes in and around those parts of NSW with large pig populations is the main risk, although at present only a relatively small number of cases have been identified in Australia.
- If you think you have been exposed to and have developed any of the symptoms, you need to see your doctor. If you or someone you know has the more severe symptoms of encephalitis, you need to seek urgent assessment.
- Unfortunately, there are no specific treatments that have proven effective in treating JEV. However, high-quality supportive care available in Australian hospitals does improve outcomes.
- Prevention is better than cure. So, now’s the time to do what you can to avoid mosquito bites.
- Also, there are effective vaccines. State and federal public health authorities are currently working on how these may be best used to control the current outbreak and prevent disease.
- At the moment, the vaccine is free and has been prioritised for certain groups including people: who need to work at or visit piggeries or pork abattoirs, who work directly or indirectly with mosquitoes, such as environmental health workers and lab workers who may be exposed to the virus.
- It's very rare for travellers visiting risk areas to be affected by Japanese encephalitis.
- It's estimated less than 1 in a million travellers get Japanese encephalitis in any given year.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates there are around 68,000 cases of Japanese encephalitis worldwide each year.
- The people most at risk are those who live and work in rural areas, such as on pig farms and in rice fields, where the condition is widespread.
- Around 75% of cases involve children under the age of 15.
- Find out more about the causes of Japanese encephalitis, and which countries have the highest risk.
- The best way to prevent Japanese encephalitis is to be vaccinated against the infection before you visit a part of the world where there's a risk of catching it.
- The risk is greater if you're planning to visit rural areas or go hiking or camping.
- The vaccine, which is usually only available privately, gives protection against Japanese encephalitis in more than 9 out of 10 people who receive it.
- Even if you have been vaccinated, you should still take precautions to reduce your risk of being bitten by an infected mosquito, such as:
- sleeping in rooms with close-fitting gauze over the windows and doors – if you're sleeping outside, use a mosquito net that's been impregnated with insecticide
- covering up with long-sleeved tops, trousers and socks
- applying a good-quality insect repellent to exposed areas of skin
- Most human infections with JE virus are asymptomatic; <1% of people infected with JE virus develop neurologic disease. Acute encephalitis is the most commonly recognized clinical manifestation of JE virus infection. Milder forms of disease, such as aseptic meningitis or undifferentiated febrile illness, also can occur.
- Humans have low levels of transient viremia and usually have neutralizing antibodies by the time distinctive clinical symptoms are recognized. Virus isolation and nucleic acid amplification tests are insensitive in detecting JE virus or viral RNA in blood or CSF and should not be used for ruling out a diagnosis of JE. There is no specific antiviral treatment for JE; therapy consists of supportive care and management of complications.
Nepal and the MCC Background
- Nepal decided to apply for the MCC in 2012 under Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai from the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). It only qualified to sign the compact in 2014 after meeting the minimum policy criteria.
- The compact was eventually signed in September 2017 under Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba from the Nepali Congress. It is important to note the political support for MCC from major parties across the ideological spectrum.
- This support was also extended by the controversial former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN-UML), the largest left party in Nepal.
- Such strong support ran directly against the prolonged debates and utter politicisation of MCC that followed after the compact was signed in 2017. A critical reason behind such opposition to the MCC was historical-political in nature.
- Considering the left-leaning politics of Nepal, the country’s political elite was always sceptical of the US’s intentions. A long history of U.S. intervention in several smaller countries has not exactly helped its case in Nepal, where it is traditionally viewed as an imperialist power.
- It is possible that more than being afraid of becoming an unnecessary casualty of strategic competition between two great powers, such strong protests to an American led program pointed towards the Chinese reservations being catered to by the larger Nepali political elite across the entire ideological spectrum, highlighting the extent of Chinese involvement in Nepal’s domestic politics.
- This fear, unfortunately, has been amply capitalised by China to curate a thought process hostile to a mere USD 500 million program based on grants and not even loans, a preferred foreign policy tool of China.
- The MCC-Nepal Compact is a non-military agreement; it does not have any military components and by U.S. law, MCC funding cannot be used for military assistance or training.
- The MCC-Nepal Compact is not, and never has been, a deliverable of the Indo-Pacific Strategy.
- MCC partnership is 100% grant funding – not loans.
- The Government of Nepal demonstrated its commitment to the MCC partnership by contributing an additional $130 million U.S. dollars towards programs. This remains the largest up-front contribution of any partner government in the history of MCC.
- Recognizing Nepal’s strong commitment to democracy, economic freedom and good governance, MCC has selected Nepal for its support. MCC and Nepal conducted a diagnostic study in Nepal in 2013-2014.
- MCC concluded that energy and transport sector are two major binding constraints for higher economic growth in Nepal and thus, these two areas of its focus to support in Nepal.
- Based on the diagnostic study, overall political and development potentials, and bilateral relations, MCC formerly selected Nepal directly for the Compact program in December 2014, not going through the threshold program.
- MCC opened its Nepal office in April 2015 and a Country Director was assigned in Oct 2015 to reinforce the activities in Nepal.
- MCC conducted feasibility studies to identify the projects in 2016-2017 and it submitted projects to the MCC Board in November 2016. The Nepal and MCC delegation concluded program negotiations in Washington DC in June 2017.
- MCC Board of Directors approved Nepal Compact Program which includes USD 500 million grants in August 2017.
- The Compact signing is done on September 14, 2017 in Washington DC between Nepal and MCC at the State Department’s Treaty Room. Finance Minister Mr. Gyanendra Bahadur Karki and MCC Acting CEO Mr. Jonathan Nash signed the Compact agreement.
- MCC supports goes to construct about 300km 400 KV transmission lines from Lapsiphedi – Galchhi- Damauli – Sunawal corridor along with 3 substations and maintenance of about 300 km Roads in various alignment of Mechi, Koshi, Sagarmatha, Tribhuvan Rajpath and East west highway.
- MCC will provides grant of USD 500 million and Nepal bears USD 130 million for this $630 million project where USD 500 million goes to Energy sector and $130 million goes to Road's sector.
- The MCC-Nepal Compact will advance Nepal’s economic growth by strengthening and expanding the energy sector, improving road quality, and creating business opportunities for the people of Nepal.
- The Government of Nepal identified the country’s need for more widely available and reliable electricity, and safer roads that are more consistently maintained and worked with MCC to focus on these national priorities. Nepalis will lead compact project teams and will be accountable to Nepali stakeholders for making decisions and achieving results. Citizens of Nepal will be hired to lead compact
- Over the last decade, the MCC-Nepal Compact has received the support of every Prime Minster and committed endorsements from civil society and the private sector.
- Even after parliamentary ratification, the MCC-Nepal Compact, does not and will not prevail over Nepal’s constitution.
- The MCC-Nepal Compact will make travel cheaper, the movement of goods easier and safer for drivers, travellers, and commuters along the East-West Highway network using climate-smart, sustainable technology to recycle asphalt and create a safer transportation network that is easier to maintain, quicker to repair, and better for the environment.
- The MCC-Nepal Compact will support the construction of powerlines connecting clean energy generated by Nepalese hydropower resources to over two-thirds of the homes and businesses across Nepal.
- Nepal’s domestic political landscape is fragile and its democratic institutions are quite new. The fears of yielding influence to yet another great power have, in part, driven the emotive debate across the country for the last few years.
- It was said that the ratification of MCC meant pushing Nepal towards the US Asia-Pacific strategy.
- Given Nepal’s recent expansion in ties with China and the growing US-China strategic tussle, Nepal has increasingly been seeing U.S. activities as part of its larger Indo-Pacific Strategy to counter China.
- The MCC was also criticised on the ground that it superseded the Nepalese Constitution, and was targeted against the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) of China.
- Nepalese lawmakers fearing the clauses under the grant agreement threaten national interests.
- Opposition to the MCC appears to stem from Nepali distrust of the Americans, questions over the integrity of Nepali leaders, and domestic political cost-benefit analysis.
- Scepticism toward the U.S. is also bolstered by the fact that U.S. intervention in many developing countries has not ended well for the target states.
- The MCC debate highlights the need for clear communication of policies to voters. A major reason behind the current debacle concerning the MCC is disinformation.
- The lack of communication indicates that those in power either did not trust the public to have a mature conversation or felt that it would not be accepted by the public.
- The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is an innovative and independent U.S. foreign assistance agency that is helping lead the fight against global poverty.
- Created by the U.S. Congress in January 2004 with strong bipartisan support, MCC has changed the conversation on how best to deliver smart U.S. foreign assistance by focusing on good policies, country ownership, and results.
- MCC provides time-limited grants promoting economic growth, reducing poverty, and strengthening institutions. These investments not only support stability and prosperity in partner countries but also enhance American interests. With cost-effective projects, a lean staff, and an evidence-based approach, MCC is a good investment for the American people.
- The MCC was envisaged by the U.S. in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks as a safeguard against perceived terror threats from the least developed countries (LDCs) by ensuring economic development. While the efficacy of such a security strategy may be questionable, it was an excellent opportunity for such countries to secure interest-free funds to supplement their socio-economic development.
- MCC forms partnerships with developing countries who are committed to good governance, economic freedom and investing in their citizens. MCC is a prime example of smart U.S. Government assistance in action, benefiting both developing countries and the American taxpayers through:
- Competitive selection:
- MCC’s Board examines a country’s performance on 20 independent and transparent policy indicators and selects countries based on policy performance.
- Country-led solutions:
- MCC requires selected countries to identify their priorities for achieving sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction.Countries develop their MCC proposals in broad consultation within their society. MCC then works in close partnership to help countries refine programs.
- Country-led implementation:
- When a country is awarded an MCC compact, it sets up a local accountable entity to manage and oversee all aspects of implementation. Monitoring funds is rigorous, transparent and often managed through independent fiscal agents.
- Focus on results:
- MCC is committed to producing results and ensuring that the American people are getting a good return on their investment. MCC employs technically rigorous, systematic and transparent methods of projecting, tracking and evaluating the impacts of its programs.
- MCC grants are designed to complement other U.S. and international development programs, as well as creating an enabling environment for private sector investment. There are three primary types of MCC grants:
- Compacts—large, five-year grants for selected countries that meet MCC’s eligibility criteria
- Concurrent Compacts for Regional Investments—grants that promote cross-border economic integration, and increase regional trade and collaboration
- Threshold Programs—smaller grants focused on policy and institutional reform in selected countries that come close to passing MCC’s eligibility criteria and show a firm commitment to improving their policy performance.
- MCC has approved over $10 billion in compact and threshold programs worldwide in 2017 that support country-determined projects in such sectors as:
- agriculture and irrigation,
- transportation (roads, bridges, ports),
- water supply and sanitation,
- access to health,
- finance and enterprise development,
- anticorruption initiatives,
- land rights and access,
- access to education.
- The objectives of implementation of compacts and threshold programs are promoting growth opportunities, opening markets, raising the standard of living, and creating a more prosperous future for some of the world’s poorest people.
- Competitive selection:
- Nepal’s joining of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2017 was seen as a major strategic win for China in South Asia. However, as years have passed, BRI projects have stalled and resistance to China’s flagship project is mounting even as its carefully cultivated political setup is dwindling.
- The fact that the Nepali parliament ratified the MCC with a two-thirds majority no less is as big a political setback for China as it is a strategic one. It also highlights how China is not an economic invincible giant with a silver bullet for the development woes of LDCs or developing countries.
- China has had deep reservations about the U.S. involvement in Nepal. According to some reports in Nepali media, China took great interest in the MCC and was essentially trying to cripple it.
- Many Chinese officials, including the Chinese ambassador to Nepal, Hou Yanqi held talks about the MCC with parties across the board. In fact, the Chinese disinformation campaign on social media against MCC was all too apparent in months preceding to the vote on the matter in the Nepali parliament.
- In September 2021, Prime Minister Deuba and Pushpa Kamal Dahal wrote a letter to the MCC on the need to better inform the masses and their party members about what the MCC entailed by providing accurate information and dispelling apprehensions.
- Four of the five biggest political parties in Nepal’s parliament voted in favour to ratify the MCC, with even the former Prime Minister Oli’s CPN-UML abstaining from the vote. For China, MCC ratification points to a highly contested political and economic space in Nepal and hints at possibly similar developments in other countries, particularly in South Asia.
- In recent years, China has been actively involved in Nepal’s domestic politics. This is chiefly driven by its aim to shift the strategic balance in South Asia by challenging India in its traditional sphere of influence.
- For India, the U.S. participation in Nepal and other South Asian countries is a necessity in the short to medium term as it tries to check China’s expansionist policies. These expansionist aims are supported by both military and economic tools. India recognises the need to partner with the U.S. in order to counterbalance China.
- The U.S. for its part has been careful in its approach to Nepal. Even the projects identified under the USD 500 million MCC grant, a 400 kV transmission line (MCC to fund only the Nepali side of the line) to help Nepal conduct power trade with India and upgrading road connectivity to Nepal’s East-West Highway that would, in turn, help the country achieve greater internal and external (with India) connectivity.
- For India, however, deep American influence may be as undesirable as the Chinese in its area of influence. And although the U.S. and India may work together in the foreseeable future as their interests remain converged, global politics has provided enough evidence to highlight the ever-changing nature of national interests and how quickly they can evolve. For India, the key remains to ensure a balance between its intermediate and long-term national interests.
- It was with great difficulty that the MCC was passed by the Nepalese Parliament, for which the credit largely goes to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his government as they worked tirelessly until the eleventh hour. Since the MCC is now passed by Parliament, the life of the coalition government that was at stake has been saved. But this has made the government more accountable to use the huge funds under the MCC judiciously for the development of the energy and transport sector of the country.
- One of the major challenges before the Nepalese government is that it has not streamlined its capacity to spend. In such a situation, it would be difficult to achieve the desired outcome from the American grant assistance.
- So, all possible efforts need to be made by the government and the concerned agencies to complete the MCC projects in time and thereby, promote the export of surplus power to India. This would not only generate income and employment opportunities but would also accelerate the rate of economic growth of the country.
What are MANPADS?
- The term MANPAD Man Portable Air Defence System refers to a class of weapon that was intended originally to defend ground units against attack from the air.
- A MANPADS consists of four parts. A missile includes a rocket motor steered by an electronic guidance system towards the target. Close to the target, a warhead at the tip of the missile explodes and brings down the plane. The entire missile is stored in a canister to which a firing and aiming mechanism is attached.
- An entire MANPADS is designed to be carried and fired by one man, weighing no more than 20 kg, with a length of about 180cm, and a diameter of less than 20cm.
- A MANPADS is directed to its target either autonomously (also called fire-and-forget) or semi-autonomously (also called Command-Line-of-Sight or CLOS). In autonomous missiles, the aiming mechanism attached to the canister identifies the target either by radar or by the target’s infra-red or other emissions.
- The missile, once launched, chases after the target, even if the target moves or tries to evade the missile and explodes in the target’s proximity. In CLOS launching, the operator might follow the target with the launcher’s sights, sometimes ‘painting’ the target with a laser beam, which the missile follows, allowing for corrections or aborting the shot.
- The FIM-92 Stingers were characterised as “fire and forget” MANPADS by a 2019 RAND Corporation report commissioned by the US Department of State.
- MANPADS are “short-range surface-to-air missiles used to intercept fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft in flight.” They are designed to be fired while mounted on a person’s shoulder or a tripod. Among such weapons, Stingers – made by the US – have an infrared seeker which detects the target through its radiation emissions. They can be used to shoot down aircraft and drones. Another example of such missiles is the Russian Igla-S.
- While MANPADS are deployed for air defence, US-made Javelins are used to destroy tanks and armour. They, too, come equipped with an infrared sensor so the missile can make adjustments mid-air to find its target.
- Similarly, Next generation Light Anti-tank Weapon (NLAW) systems are also shoulder-mounted short-range missiles, which have been supplied by the UK to Ukraine. They are jointly made by Britain and Sweden. However, they do not have an infrared sensor – hence, lighter to carry – and require the operator to pre-determine the missile’s path.
- According to experts, MANPADS have been at the forefront of the Ukrainian defence, keeping the Russians from dominating the air space. “These MANPADS are very useful because they make Russian air strikes less effective. If you deploy them in large numbers, you certainly won’t shoot down every Russian jet and helicopter, but Russia would have to pay a steep price for an attack”.
- According to a BBC report, researchers had confirmed that at least 20 Russian aircraft had been shot down by missiles by Ukraine as of March 8. However, Ukrainian defence has pegged the number at significantly higher. The latest figures shared by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense on March 17 show that it has destroyed 86 Russian aircraft and 108 helicopters. The Russians have not disclosed their losses so far.
- In fact, analysts have told The Economist that Russian stock of high-precision munitions is likely running low, due to which they are relying on older weapons that require them to fly lower and hence, within the range of MANPADS.
- On the ground, Javelins have become a symbol of the Ukrainian fight against Russia. ‘St Javelin’ – a female saint cradling a Javelin missile, a play on Virgin Mary – has been circulating on social media as Russian tanks suffer losses.
- NLAWs and Javelins allow operators to hit the tank from the top, where it's most vulnerable, and the short-range makes them effective in urban combat, experts have said. As of March 17, Ukraine claims to have destroyed 444 tanks.
- No, as talks for a ceasefire have yielded no significant breakthrough yet, Zelensky has repeatedly called upon the US and its allies to institute a no-fly zone over Ukraine. In his address to the US Congress, he added that the alternative was to provide them with aircraft that can help Ukraine defend its skies.
- The US has been mulling sending over longer-range S-300 surface-to-air missile systems that can shoot down aircraft. Since they are Soviet-designed, they would be familiar to Ukrainian forces.
- Ukraine has also appealed for Soviet-made MiG-29 and Su jet fighters, saying that it is outnumbered by Russians in air defence. The US and its allies, however, have been wary of sending jets or implementing a no-fly zone, fearing that it may escalate the war.
- A short history of MANPADS and concerns over proliferation
- The first MANPADS developed by the US were called ‘Redeye’ and declared operational in 1968, according to a report by the Australian Government. An updated version, Stinger, was released in the 1970s. They were provided to Mujahideen in Afghanistan to fight Soviet aircraft in the 1980s. The Soviets too have developed their own MANPADS – Strela and Igla.
- Around 20 countries, including the US, UK, Russia, Sweden, North Korea, Poland, and others, produce MANPADS. However, over the years, governments have expressed concerns over the illicit proliferation of MANPADS, with the missiles landing in the hands of terrorist organisations like Al Qaeda, the US State Department has said.
- In 2004, New York Times had reported that at least 4,000 MANPADS were unaccounted for from the stockpile in Iraq following Saddam Hussein’s fall, according to US officials.
- The RAND report states that as many as 60 civilian aircraft have been struck by MANPADS since 1975, taking over 1,000 lives. At least 57 non-state armed groups (NSAG) are thought to possess MANPADS.
- For instance, the report specifies, “One of the states believed to be involved in such illicit transfers is Iran; several of the NSAGs Iran supports are known to or suspected to have acquired MANPADS, including Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Houthis.” It adds that Qatar is believed to have purchased MANPADS for non-state actors in Syria via Sudan.
- The US State Department has said that the country is carrying out a massive coordinated effort to counter this proliferation, such as securing the excess missile systems as well as financially blocking terrorists from acquiring MANPADS.
- Only a few countries today manufacture and sell MANPADS. The most commonly found, which have been manufactured in the tens of thousands, are made by Russia (SA-7/14 known as Strella or SA-18 known as Igla) and the United States (Redeye and Stinger).
- Other countries—People’s Republic of China, Sweden, France, Israel, United Kingdom—manufacture them as well.
- MANPADS, notably from Russia, China, and the United States, have been supplied to many countries. For example, the deposed Libyan dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, had several tens of thousands in his arsenal.
- MANPADS are extremely effective against slow-moving aircraft—helicopters and passenger or cargo planes—but there is not much evidence of their danger to fighter planes. They are thus well suited as weapons of terror, but much less useful as weapons of war.
- The first recorded successful use of MANPADS was the downing of a Rhodesian passenger plane in 1978. Since then, there have been several attempts, some of them successful, to shoot down passenger planes with MANPADS.
- There are no recorded reliable instances of MANPADS shooting down fighter planes, though some planes (in Afghanistan and in the Andes) have been reported as being damaged or shot down.
- Because MANPADS are relatively small weapons with potentially enormous effects (a civilian airliner can carry up to 400 hundred passengers; a military aircraft can cost 10 to 150 million euro), MANPADS are weapons of choice in asymmetric warfare and terrorist acts.
- MANPADS threats to civilian aircraft are extreme and are taken very seriously by pilots, airlines and civil aviation authorities.
- The potential threat to civilian airliners is so great that several nations are considering, or are in the process of installing, countermeasures against this threat on civilian airlines. These countermeasures include laser beams to blind the missile’s guidance system, as well as flares to misguide them.
- Crucially, the single best way to deal with the MANPADS threat is to work through legislation and diplomatic channels. MANPADS technology is complex, and regulating the trade in components, as well as in the missile systems themselves offers a chance to reduce the threat worldwide.
- The German government, along with other governments such as the US, attempts to ensure the recovery and destruction of MANPADS in post-conflict states. Some states, such as Kazakhstan and Libya, have agreed to destroy MANPADS to reduce the stockpile and restrict the danger of stolen or lost MANPADS reaching terrorist hands.
- Man-portable air defense systems are a popular black-market item for insurgent forces. Their proliferation became the subject of the Wassenaar Arrangement's (WA)22 Elements for Export Controls of MANPADS, the G8 Action Plan of 2 June 2003, the October 2003 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, Bangkok Declaration on Partnership for the Future and in July 2003 the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Forum for Security Co-operation, Decision No. 7/03: Man-portable Air Defense Systems.
- Understanding the problem in 2003, Colin Powell remarked that there was "no threat more serious to aviation" than the missiles, which can be used to shoot down helicopters and commercial airliners, and are sold illegally for as little as a few hundred dollars.
- The U.S. has led a global effort to dismantle these weapons, with over 30,000 voluntarily destroyed since 2003, but probably thousands are still in the hands of insurgents, especially in Iraq, where they were looted from the military arsenals of the former dictator Saddam Hussein, and in Afghanistan as well.
- In August 2010, a report by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) confirmed that "only a handful" of illicit MANPADS were recovered from national resistance caches in Iraq in 2009, according to media reports and interviews with military sources.
- Countermeasures include firing flares, which, since they are powerful infra-red emitters, can confuse the guidance system and radar or laser jammers that can blind the guidance system.
- The U.S. government is pursuing three main strategies to prevent MANPADS proliferation and protect civilian aircraft: stiffening global export controls and transparency, funding MANPADS stockpile security and destruction worldwide, and researching defensive countermeasures.
- Although the United States had been promoting new MANPADS security and export controls since 1998, the 2002 Mombassa attack galvanized U.S. efforts. In 2003, governments added MANPADS exports and imports to the list of weapons transactions that should be volunteered annually by states to the UN Register of Conventional Arms.
- That same year, the voluntary Wassenaar Arrangement (WA), a group of arms suppliers that seeks to coordinate their export controls, agreed to strengthen export procedures governing MANPADS transfers and urged governments to equip newly-manufactured systems with safety devices to prevent unauthorized use.
- Today the WA includes 41 participating states. Other international institutions, such as the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe, have also focused more attention on strengthening MANPADS controls and stockpile security. A number of OCSE country plans have included destruction of MANPADS stockpiles as a priority.
- Some countries exercise poor accounting and security of their MANPADS, making them vulnerable to theft. Aiming to mitigate this problem, the State Department’s Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement and the Department of Defense’s Threat Reduction Agency operate programs to help foreign governments destroy excess weapons and improve protection of their missile stockpiles.
- The State Department claims these programs have destroyed approximately 32,500 MANPADS in over 30 countries since 2003, amounting to about 5-10% of the total world inventory.
- The prospect of terrorists using MANPADS to attack U.S. airliners have led to some calls for equipping civilian airliners with defensive countermeasures, such as onboard lasers to confuse infra-red seeking missiles.
- Multiple versions of these counter-MANPADS technologies exist, such as the MANTA (acronym for MANPADS Threat Avoidance), a “multi-spectral multi-band high-energy laser-based system” that can counter several MANPADS attacks simultaneously, though the system is bulky and only suitable for certain types of planes. Other examples of active countermeasures include missile approach warning systems, flares, offset decoys, infrared countermeasure systems, and high-energy lasers.
- The estimated cost of outfitting all U.S. airline planes with antimissile technologies would exceed $40 billion. This high cost is so prohibitive that the majority of civilian planes around the world do not have countermeasures and are thus vulnerable to attack.
- More behavioral safety precautions against MANPADS include improved pilot training on surviving a MANPADS hit on an aircraft, better airport security and improved stockpile safeguards. While a MANPADS hit on an aircraft does not necessarily result in bringing down the plane, nearly 70% of recorded attacks on civilian planes caused crashes and fatalities.
- New technologies are available to attempt to reduce the threat of MANPADS. These include infrared decoy flares that can confuse infrared seekers on the weapons. Directed Infrared Countermeasures (DIRCMs) cause the missile’s seeker to misread the location of the aircraft and miss its target. Missile warning systems (MWS) can alert an aircraft of an incoming missile.
- However, some studies have concluded that current available anti-MANPADS countermeasures would take years to install, cost upwards of $1-4 million per plane, and likely be ineffective against next-generation MANPADS given technological advancement.
- A solution that might be available in future MANPADS technology would be including GPS chips in the weapons that could be used to only allow activation of the weapon with a certain code or automatic disablement in the presence of U.S. or allied aircraft to prevent misuse of MANPADS in the wrong hands.
The law against sexual harassment
- The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act was passed in 2013.
- It defined sexual harassment, lay down the procedures for a complaint and inquiry, and the action to be taken. It broadened the Vishaka guidelines, which were already in place.
- The Vishaka guidelines were laid down by the Supreme Court in a judgment in 1997. This was in a case filed by women’s rights groups, one of which was Vishaka.
- They had filed a public interest litigation over the alleged gangrape of Bhanwari Devi, a social worker from Rajasthan. In 1992, she had prevented the marriage of a one-year-old girl, leading to the alleged gangrape in an act of revenge.
- The Visakha guidelines, which were legally binding, defined sexual harassment and imposed three key obligations on institutions — prohibition, prevention, redress.
- The Supreme Court directed that they should establish a Complaints Committee, which would look into matters of sexual harassment of women at the workplace.
- The 2013 Act broadened these guidelines.
- It mandated that every employer must constitute an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) at each office or branch with 10 or more employees. It lay down procedures and defined various aspects of sexual harassment, including the aggrieved victim, who could be a woman “of any age whether employed or not”, who “alleges to have been subjected to any act of sexual harassment”.
- This meant that the rights of all women working or visiting any workplace, in any capacity, were protected under the Act.
- The guidelines prohibit the disclosure of the identities of the victim, accused and witnesses, and mandate that all such court hearings be held in-camera. Even court orders and judgments will not be delivered in open court.
- Parties to POSH trials are prohibited from disclosing any information relating to such trials (including the final order/judgment) to the media or publicising the same via social media, without securing permission from the Court. The breach of these conditions will be contempt of court.
- Judgments in POSH cases will no longer be published or uploaded for public consumption without permission of the court, and, even then, publication of only a fully anonymised version can be allowed. For any lawyer to access this judgment, a court order will have to be obtained.
- The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act) mandates that government and private organisations redress complaints of sexual harassment at the workplace in a manner that is simpler and quicker than the judicial process.
- This is done to prevent victims from being ostracized by society. If this same privilege is extended to complainants and witnesses in POSH cases, that would be beneficial because there is reasonable expectation of retaliation at the workplace.
- Under the 2013 law, sexual harassment includes “any one or more” of the following “unwelcome acts or behaviour” committed directly or by implication:
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- Physical contact and advances
- A demand or request for sexual favours
- Sexually coloured remarks
- Showing pornography
- Any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature.
- The Ministry of Women & Child Development has published a Handbook on Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace with more detailed instances of behaviour that constitutes sexual harassment at the workplace. These include, broadly:
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- Sexually suggestive remarks or innuendos; serious or repeated offensive remarks; inappropriate questions or remarks about a person’s sex life
- Display of sexist or offensive pictures, posters, MMS, SMS, WhatsApp, or emails
- Intimidation, threats, blackmail around sexual favours; also, threats, intimidation or retaliation against an employee who speaks up about these
- Unwelcome social invitations with sexual overtones, commonly seen as flirting
- Unwelcome sexual advances.
- The Handbook says “unwelcome behaviour” is experienced when the victim feels bad or powerless; it causes anger/sadness or negative self-esteem. It adds unwelcome behaviour is one which is “illegal, demeaning, invading, one-sided and power based”.
- Additionally, the Act mentions five circumstances that amount to sexual harassment — implied or explicit promise of preferential treatment in her employment; implied or explicit threat of detrimental treatment; implied or explicit threat about her present or future employment status; interference with her work or creating an offensive or hostile work environment; humiliating treatment likely to affect her health or safety.
- Technically, it is not compulsory for the aggrieved victim to file a complaint for the ICC to act. The Act says that she “may” do so — and if she cannot, any member of the ICC “shall” render “all reasonable assistance” to her to complain in writing.
- If the woman cannot complain because of “physical or mental incapacity or death or otherwise”, her legal heir may do so.
- Under the Act, the complaint must be made “within three months from the date of the incident”. However, the ICC can “extend the time limit” if “it is satisfied that the circumstances were such which prevented the woman from filing a complaint within the said period”.
- The ICC “may”, before inquiry, and “at the request of the aggrieved woman, take steps to settle the matter between her and the respondent through conciliation” — provided that “no monetary settlement shall be made as a basis of conciliation”.
- The ICC may either forward the victim’s complaint to the police, or it can start an inquiry that has to be completed within 90 days. The ICC has powers similar to those of a civil court in respect of summoning and examining any person on oath, and requiring the discovery and production of documents.
- When the inquiry is completed, the ICC must provide a report of its findings to the employer within 10 days. The report is also made available to both parties.
- The identity of the woman, respondent, witness, any information on the inquiry, recommendation and action taken, the Act states, should not be made public.
- If the allegations of sexual harassment are proved, the ICC recommends that the employer take action “in accordance with the provisions of the service rules” of the company.
- These may vary from company to company. It also recommends that the company deduct from the salary of the person found guilty, “as it may consider appropriate”.
- Compensation is determined based on five aspects: suffering and emotional distress caused to the woman; loss in career opportunity; her medical expenses; income and financial status of the respondent; and the feasibility of such payment.
- After the recommendations, the aggrieved woman or the respondent can appeal in court within 90 days.
- Section 14 of the Act deals with punishment for false or malicious complaint and false evidence. In such a case, the ICC “may recommend” to the employer that it take action against the woman, or the person who has made the complaint, in “accordance with the provisions of the service rules”.
- The Act, however, makes it clear that action cannot be taken for “mere inability” to “substantiate the complaint or provide adequate proof”.
- The interim plea said that the guidelines were not only “against the letter and spirit” of the POSH Act, but also “against the concept of open courts”, which is an essential aspect of judicial determination world over.
- The interim application proceeds on the basis that the directions on that day in the suit were general directions governing all matters under the POSH Act and Rules.
- The directions had to be confined to this particular case. They could not possibly have had any larger or wider applicability for the simple reason that any such rules of general applicability would have to be approved by the full court.
- The blanket ban on revealing any information relating to POSH cases, including the identity of those found guilty of sexual harassment could potentially result in habitual offenders hiding behind this veil of confidentiality and prevent the public from learning about the actions of powerful employers accused of protecting perpetrators.
- From a psychological perspective, SH matters because it frequently causes pain and suffering.
- SH can also deliberately or unintentionally interfere with performance and career aspirations by creating an intimidating, hostile, abusive, or offensive environment that erodes targets’ confidence and makes it harder to achieve.
- SH creates unequal, intimidating, hostile, abusive, and offensive environments that erode victims’ confidence and sense of safety and interfere with people’s performance and aspirations.
- When SH leads targets to leave jobs, it may negatively affect career progression due to the loss of seniority and organization-specific work skills, difficult-to-explain gaps in employment, and trouble obtaining references from managers and co-workers.
- Other organizational impacts include job and career dissatisfaction, reduced organizational commitment, increased absenteeism, job turnover, job burnout, requests for transfers, and decreases in work motivation and productivity.
- One of the major reasons behind sexual harassment is the silence of the victims. In the cases where women become the victim, in majority of the situations, she keeps things to herself.
- From a sociocultural gender perspective, SH is a consequence of gender role socialization processes that promote male dominance, the sexual objectification of women, and the cultural approval of violence against women.
- Hegemonic masculinity norms, including power over women, dominance, disdain for homosexuals, and sexual conquest, may drive SH.
- A study of 2020 held that many people are not aware of the various types of harassment. It was found that 38.1% of the victims and 42.2% of the offenders are aware of the laws relating to sexual assaults.
- The other factors of this can be loopholes in our legal system. In cases of rape, the victim is the one who faces the utmost humiliation.
- For a long time, there has been a voice shouting for demanding equality for women, and still facing discrimination in various aspects and different corners of the society. But this is not bound to women only, but to the others as well.
- Previously, several protests have brewed up in demand of justice for the women who have faced discrimination, harassment, assault and so on. But for some reasons, and mostly lack conclusive evidence, things have most of the time not worked out.
- The influence of customs and traditions in India has created an environment, for the girls to become tolerant in most situations for the sake of society, so in such situations, in the cases of sexual harassment, these women are deprived of justice because the society seems to be turning a deaf ear to their situation and the mental suffering faced by them.
- Also, our law which favors proofs and evidence, is blind towards the plight of these victims as mostly the harassment cases specifically visual and verbal ones are accustomed with insufficiency of materialistic proofs so as to support the circumstances with the codified laws.
- If a woman’s clear refusal to someone’s sexual advances is met by threats to harm her, physically or her reputation and property it is a crime under this Section, and the accused can face imprisonment for 2 years along with a fine.
- Morphing pictures of women and sharing them with an intent to harass and defame her is considered as a crime where the punishment includes two years of imprisonment along with a fine.
- The Section states ‘Whoever, by words either spoken or intended to be read, or by signs or by visible representations, makes or publishes any imputation concerning any person intending to harm, or knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm, the reputation of such person, is said, except in the cases hereinafter expected, to defame that person.’
- Posting or publishing or transmitting any obscene or defamatory material on a public virtual platform intending to harass women is a crime under this section and the punishment for this is two years of imprisonment along with a fine.
- In other words, in a broader sense the section states that if any individual tries to reveal an overt sexual interest in the other person, through the electronic medium, which could derogate the image of the victim.
- This offender will be punished with imprisonment of three years and a fine which may extend to five lakhs in the case of first conviction, and imprisonment of five years and fine of ten lakhs for the second or subsequent conviction.
- Changing the organizational climates and contexts that allow SH is essential for reducing SH. Adopting clear anti-harassment policies and procedures is part of changing the normative contexts that support SH.
- SH policies can serve as a check on those inclined to sexually harass and can empower victims with avenues for rectification.
- Organizations that proactively develop, disseminate, and enforce SH policies and procedures have the lowest rates of workplace SH.
- SH training can increase reporting, increase knowledge of organizational policies and sensitivity to what constitutes SH, and reduce victim blaming and the minimization of SH.
- Effective organizational SH training includes education about SH behaviors, procedures for reporting, the responsibilities of managers and supervisors, promoting respect for people from all groups, and prohibitions against retaliation.
- Sexual violence prevention programs for boys and men often target traditional masculinity norms and empower men to change the masculine normative contexts supporting sexual violence; similar strategies may be used to reduce SH.
- Because media are a powerful vehicle for the sexualized norms that contribute to harassment recommend critical media education (media literacy) to reduce the effects of objectifying media content.
- Programs promoting bystander intervention (BI) are also important for SH reduction.
About Himalayan Griffon
- The Himalayan vulture or Himalayan griffon vulture is an Old-World vulture native to the Himalayas and the adjoining Tibetan Plateau. It is one of the two largest Old-World vultures and true raptors.
- The Himalayan vulture lives mainly in the higher regions of the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau at the elevation range of 1,200–5,500 m (3,900–18,000 ft).
- It is distributed from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Iran to Pakistan to India, Nepal, Bhutan to western China and Mongolia.
- Juvenile birds may however disperse further south, and vagrants have been recorded in Thailand, Burma, Singapore and Cambodia.
- Himalayan Griffons are found in the Himalayan Mountain range in India. These raptors prefer rocky areas and mountain peaks, where they mostly reside at altitudes between 1200 and 5500 meters. These large vultures have pale plumage compared to the Griffon Vulture and distinct stout bills. They are also identified by their white heads.
- Himalayan Griffons are not commonly seen near human settlements. They mainly feed on the carcasses of large mammals and monitor other scavenging birds to locate sources of food.
- They reside in small colonies and often dominate feeding areas and prevent other vultures from sharing the carcass. Himalayan Griffons build nests within caves and are known to return to the same nesting site.
- The Himalayan griffon is listed as ‘near threatened’ in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red list. The non-profit Bird life international states that the global population of the vulture has declined sharply over the years.
- There are around 1,500 to 2,000 vultures in Assam, according to the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS). The Himalayan griffon is listed as a migratory species among these.
- The steppe eagle is also a migratory bird that comes to Assam during winters from different countries, including African ones.
- This is a case of pesticide poisoning due to carbofuran. Sometimes, feral dogs chase cattle and injure them, because of which farmers have to incur losses.
- The people spray the carcasses of cattle with pesticide to kill the dogs. Here, we found two carcasses — one of a goat and one of a dogs — that had been sprayed with the pesticide.
- In case of mass deaths by poisoning, we cannot bury the dead bodies as the poison will seep into the earth and kill other insects that feed on the dead bodies.
- Himalayan vultures are susceptible to toxicity induced by diclofenac, a drug whose residues in domestic animal carcasses has led to rapid declines in populations of other Gyps vultures across Asia.
- The Himalayan griffon vulture populations have however not shown signs of rapid decline, although reductions in nesting birds have been noted in some parts of its range in Nepal.
- Indian Vulture (Gyps indicus)
- Alias: Long-billed Vulture
- IUCN Red List Status: Critically Endangered (Population decreasing)
- Closely related to the European Griffon, the Indian Vulture is mainly found in forests, grasslands and shrublands. Like many other vulture species, it is also observed near human-occupied spaces like cities, towns and agricultural areas.
- As the name suggests, this vulture is found throughout the Indian subcontinent and neighbouring countries. A medium-sized raptor, the Indian Vulture has white feathers and a dark torso. As seen in the image, the white patch on its neck is more prominent on the back.
- Indian Vultures nest in trees when there are no cliffs around their habitats. They mainly feed on carrion and are found near slaughterhouses along with other vulture species, looking for carcasses.
- Alias: Himalayan Long-billed Vulture
- IUCN Red List Status: Critically Endangered (Population decreasing)
- Slender-billed Vultures prefer grasslands and forests as habitats. They are mostly seen in the northern parts of India, where they reside in the sub-Himalayan regions and the Gangetic plains.
- They are characterised by their long, slender necks, pale underparts and their dark, thin bills. Unlike other vultures, they are not that common in areas close to human habitation.
- They feed on carrion, and large flocks are often seen near carcasses. These vultures make limited movements, mainly in search of food. Slender-billed Vulture’s nest in tall trees.
- Alias: White Scavenger Vulture, Pharaoh's Chicken
- IUCN Red List Status: Endangered (Population decreasing)
- Considerably smaller than other vulture species, Egyptian Vultures were once widespread in cities. They are now found in select regions, mainly in open areas, near river banks and around large garbage dump sites.
- Their preferred habitats are rocky areas and inland cliffs. They are identified by their yellow heads and their white and black plumage. While they mainly feed on carrion, they are also known to feed on discarded fruits, small birds and eggs.
- As seen in the image, they use their thin beaks to grab small pieces of meat. Egyptian Vultures mainly build nests within caves and occasionally on trees and buildings.
- Alias: Asian King Vulture, Indian Black Vulture, Pondicherry Vulture
- IUCN Red List Status: Critically Endangered (Population decreasing)
- Although distributed throughout India, Red-headed Vultures are present in low numbers in most regions except for the western Himalayas. These vultures prefer open areas, semi-deserts and scrublands away from human settlements.
- They are medium-sized raptors with distinct bare, red heads, red legs and neck, and dark plumage. Red-headed Vultures are known to feed on the carcasses of ungulates, birds and even fish.
- Unlike many vultures, they are not seen in large flocks and are usually found singly or in pairs. They build nests in tall trees.
- Alias: Indian White-backed Vulture, White-backed Vulture
- IUCN Red List Status: Critically Endangered (Population decreasing)
- Medium-sized vultures, White-rumped Vultures are commonly seen near human-occupied spaces. As seen in the image, they have white neck ruffs and black and brown plumage.
- They also have a white patch of feathers close to their feet on their lower backs. They are often seen in flocks with other vulture species. As with most vultures, White-rumped Vultures feed on carrion.
- But they have also been observed to feed on garbage and waste from slaughterhouses as they stay close to human settlements. They build nests on trees and cliffs.
- Alias: Eurasian Griffon
- IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (Population increasing)
- Seen mainly in the northern and northwestern parts of India, Griffon Vultures prefer rocky areas and grasslands as habitats. They have light brown plumage, a white neck and dark brown/black tail feathers. They build nests sheltered between rocks or in caves.
- They are frequently seen with other vultures when feeding on carrion. They primarily feed on carcasses of large mammals, and prefer the softer parts of the meat. Their long necks aid them in feeding when they share the carrion with other scavengers.
- Alias: Black Vulture, Monk Vulture, Eurasian Black Vulture
- IUCN Red List Status: Near Threatened (Population decreasing)
- One of the heaviest raptors in the world, Cinereous Vultures are identified by their bare heads, their dark plumage and their large beaks. This is why they are also called Monk Vultures, as these feathers resemble the hood of a monk's cloak.
- Found mainly in the northern parts of the country, Cinereous Vultures prefer grasslands and forests as habitats. They build nests on trees as well as cliffs. Cinereous Vultures feed on the carrion of medium and large-sized mammals, but they are also known to hunt for live prey and feed on snakes occasionally.
- Alias: Lammergeier, Ossifrage
- IUCN Red List Status: Near Threatened (Population decreasing)
- Bearded Vultures reside in rocky regions and mountains where they are usually found above a 1000-meter altitude. In India, they are mostly seen around the Himalayan region. They are identified by the red rings around their eyes, their long tail feathers and the rust-like colouration on their face and body.
- Although it is believed that Bearded Vultures capture live prey, they do so occasionally. They mainly feed on carrion, and bones consist a significant part of their diets, earning them the name ‘bone-eater’.
- They sometimes break the bones against hard rock surfaces, making it easier for consumption. They also capture birds. Bearded Vultures build nests within caves or on ledges of cliffs.
- The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), a pan-India wildlife research organization, has been promoting the cause of nature conservation since 1883.
- Conservation of nature, primarily biological diversity through action based on research, education and public awareness
- Premier independent scientific organization with a broad-based constituency, excelling in the conservation of threatened species and habitats.
- The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), founded on 15 September 1883, is one of the largest non-governmental organisations in India engaged in conservation and biodiversity research in which eight nature-loving residents of Bombay decided to exchange notes and exhibit interesting specimens of natural history.
- BNHS is the partner of BirdLife International in India. It has been designated as a 'Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation' by the Department of Science and Technology. It headquarters is in Mumbai and has one regional centre at Wetland Research and Training Centre, near Chilika Lake, Odisha.
- The BNHS logo is the great hornbill, inspired by a great hornbill named William. The logo was created in 1933, the silver-jubilee year of the Society's founding.
- The Asian waterbird census is an annual exercise undertaken in India by Bombay Natural History Society in association with Wetlands International, in which enthusiastic birdwatchers count the birds by observing them near their respective breeding grounds.
- The exercise is a part of the 'International waterbird census', an international exercise. It also aims to create awareness regarding bird species as well as health of the wetlands, which are facing severve threat amidst anthropogenic disturbance. It is conducted in the month of January every year.
- It strives to conserve nature through action-based research, education and public awareness.
- It organises and conducts nature trials and camps for the general public.
- The expedient withdrawal of the US armed forces followed by the Taliban’s resurgence to power in Kabul has spiralled Afghanistan’s humanitarian situation into a catastrophe.
- As a result of which, millions of Afghans are now facing widespread income losses, cash shortages, and high food costs with thousands displaced, killed, and wounded amidst the Taliban advances.
- However, amongst them, it is the women violations of whose rights continue to remain central to the ideology of the Taliban who are paying a much greater price.
Afghanistan crisis
- Reports emerging from the ground suggest that majority of women in Afghanistan are today experiencing severe restrictions including forced wearing of burqa, prohibition of public appearances without a male chaperone, lack of educational and employment opportunities, etc.
- And whilst all these actions are a clear depiction of the group’s merciless atrocities against women under their previous rule from 1990-2001 the ‘responsible’ international community in the past six months of the Taliban’s gradual erasing of women’s rights has chosen to remain silent.
- As a result of which, millions of Afghans are now facing widespread income losses, cash shortages, and high food costs with thousands displaced, killed, and wounded amidst the Taliban advances.
- In October 2021, women activists in Kabul were in fact, seen risking the wrath of the Taliban by publicly protesting against the global inaction on the Afghan crisis, holding up signs that read “why is the world watching us die in silence?”.
- However, even these sentiments failed to provoke the international community to take adequate steps for protecting the Afghan women who continue to live under the Taliban’s threat.
- This inaction is nonetheless, surprising given that back in 2001, improvement of women’s rights and freedoms was used as one of the main justifications by the global powers to intervene in Afghanistan.
- The international community is rather drained after funnelling billions and billions of dollars into nation building including progression and protection of women’s rights—within the war-torn country of Afghanistan.
- In fact, over the past two decades, it was the provision of the traditional siloes of the international aid system that kept the now-collapsed, Western-backed government led by President Ashraf Ghani going.
- As per the World Bank, 43 percent of Afghanistan’s GDP came from foreign aid and about 75 percent of the public spending—especially on women’s education and development programmes—was funded by donor grants.
- However, despite these provisions and constant efforts, the international community themselves have perceived to gain very little in return with their deployed troops often engaging in clashes with the Taliban fighters to protect the Afghan civilians.
- Thus, going by the cost-benefit analysis, the international community today, prefers utilising the money that they have been pouring in Afghanistan for the development of their own countries, conveniently brushing off the responsibility to protect women in Afghanistan under the carpet of their own self interests.
- The states in the past for the sake of Afghans have led and participated in peace processes with the Taliban where the latest commitment urged the group to engage in an intra-Afghan dialogue rather than pursue a military offensive.
- A prominent example of such prioritisation came about on the 4 of February 2022, when the US President Joe Biden signed an executive order freezing US $7 billion in Afghan funds to use the money as his country deems fit.
- However, as reality suggests, this amount might not mean a big deal to the US, but for the Afghan women it could mean saving lives.
- International aid is thus, extremely important for thousands of Afghan women who are today facing severe economic stress and food insecurity.
- Besides, many within the international community far from granting diplomatic recognition to the Taliban—are not yet even willing to deal with a bunch of Islamist fundamentalists to encourage them towards ensuring the protection of women.
- The reason for this is simple: The lack of trust in believing that the leopard could change its spots.
- As a matter of fact, in the 1990s, the group’s unceasing violations of women’s human rights had turned the Islamists into an international pariah with the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) declaring the Taliban as a terrorist organisation in 1999.
- Taliban, this time around has made all its efforts to present a more moderate image vis-á-vis woman, seeing their words fail the test of practice, some players in the international community have gone ahead and written off any dialogue with the Taliban or the Afghan peace process as dead in the water.
- They, in fact, find little value in engaging with a terrorist organisation that should be dealt fully as per the considerable capacity of international law and practice.
- Having said that, Afghanistan’s underlying economic and humanitarian troubles, which disproportionately impact women and girls, cannot simply be ignored because of the Taliban’s past record.
- Apart from this, another plausible reason for the ongoing global silence can be accounted to the swiftly emerging geopolitical challenges, where any communication against or for the Islamist fundamentalists could have severe repercussions, threating the country’s own positioning and stature. The international community is, thus, conceivably stuck in limbo.
- For instance, if the global powers provide any kind of political and diplomatic legitimacy to the Taliban, it could create an opportunity for the terrorist group to manipulate aggrieved and impoverished Afghan people, unleashing policies and practices that could further harm the women.
- It could also attract negative judgement towards the actions and fortitude of the countries extending recognition to the Taliban.
- On the contrary, if the international community is vocal about holding the Taliban responsible for its actions against women, it could fuel the group’s engagement in acts of terrorism as a way to put pressure on the countries to withdraw their anti-Taliban statements.
- And as we all already know, three major countries—Russia, Pakistan, and China—have all signalled varying levels of enthusiasm and support to the new regime. Speaking against the Taliban could, thus, also hamper relations with this emerging power block.
- With this puzzlement, the world is perhaps waiting to see the Taliban’s next course of action. However, inaction is untenable.
- Walking away from provision of vital services, ignoring or sideling women’s situation, or politically isolating the country won’t stop the Taliban but will only hurt the Afghan people—especially the women—increasingly.
- Reports have emerged that India, South Africa, the U.S. and the EU have arrived at an agreement.
- A draft of this agreement, that has been circulated among 164 members of the WTO, is likely to be taken up for discussion this fortnight.
What are the terms of the proposal?
- In October 2020, at the WTO’s Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Council, India and South Africa proposed that the WTO do away with certain provisions of the TRIPS Agreement for the duration of the pandemic to facilitate access to technologies necessary for the production of vaccines and medicines.
- Such a waiver would aid scaling up of local production, critical to ensure wider access to affordable and effective vaccines.
- Most of these patents are held by pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. and the European Union.
- The waiver proposal was blocked at the TRIPS Council and the WTO ministerial Council though there have been several rounds of discussions involving ministers of several WTO member-countries.
- In the last year through 100 countries, including the U.S., supported the proposal, the EU remained a stumbling block. But now the EU too appears to be calling a truce.
- Reports have emerged that India, South Africa, the U.S. and the EU have arrived at an agreement.
- A draft of this agreement, that has been circulated among 164 members of the WTO, is likely to be taken up for discussion this fortnight.
- A consensus of all members is necessary for a proposal to be approved.
- The draft says all patent rights that protect the manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines will be waived of for three-five years.
- Usually, there are multiple patents that cover even a single COVID vaccine and the draft says all of these line-patents too would stand temporarily waived.
- All member countries, through their governments, can authorise the manufacture as well as export of vaccines produced in these conditions.
- There’s a conflicting opinion on this. On the one hand, the pandemic isn’t over, and despite the widespread adoption of vaccines, (many of them employing very novel technology platforms such as mRNA and adenovirus vaccine technology) the evidence is overwhelming that vaccines are only protective against severe disease but ineffective at curbing transmission.
- It is possible that vaccines developed using the early strains of the virus may become ineffective over time and newer ones, potentially employing newer approaches, may be necessary in the months and years ahead.
- As relatively few countries have expertise in making vaccines, a waiver of this sort could help improve global access.
- These same set of reasons, critics of the draft say, could be used to argue that such a waiver for vaccines is too little, too late.
- Global facilities such as COVAX, that are charged with ensuring all countries get vaccines now have too many vaccines a flip from merely three months ago when there was a scarcity.
- India too has multiple manufacturers and technology platforms, and more than 60% of the population is fully vaccinated. All this, without patent waivers.
- While pharmaceutical patents have historically been impediments to the manufacture of affordable, high-quality drugs, the global nature of the pandemic has seen that even though richer nations hoarded vaccines, prioritising multiple inoculations for their citizens, over even a single shot for African countries, intellectual property rights on its own didn’t prove to be a hurdle. There are other major lacunae in the draft agreement.
- Critics say that central to the process of vaccine manufacturing are ‘trade secrets’ that specify the ingredients and chain of steps necessary to make them.
- The current waiver doesn’t automatically compel patent rights holders to share this information with a potential manufacturer for free.
- Another drawback is that this waiver is limited to vaccines. The original proposal sought a waiver on therapeutics and diagnostics and the agreement only says that a “discussion” on this can be held after six months.
- Access to new drugs and diagnostic technologies are necessary to keep people safe everywhere.
- Though no one has commented on the draft, prominent drug and vaccine companies in India haven’t been very vocal on the need for a waiver.
- But the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI), comprising Indian subsidiaries of western pharmaceutical companies, has been critical.
- Waiving of intellectual property rights will neither lead to increased production of vaccines nor practical solutions to fight the virus, as IP “is not the barrier” to vaccines.
- The Indian Drug Manufacturers Association, on the other hand, has supported it, with a caveat. They are more interested in “voluntary licences” by the patent holders to Indian companies with sufficient expertise in this field, and transferring technology to Indian companies against “reasonable” royalties.
POSTED ON 20-03-2022 BY ADMIN
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