78th anniversary of Quit India Movement observed
India commemorated the 78th anniversary of Quit India movement. On August 8, 1942, Mahatma Gandhi launched Quit India Movement at the session of All India Congress Committee in Mumbai.
What is Quit India Movement?
The Quit India Movement was launched after Cripps mission failed. Gandhiji made a Do or Die call through the movement. India too was facing havoc due to World War. The movement was crushed as it didn’t get support from outside. The British refused to grant immediate independence saying it could happen only after the war ended.
About Quit India Movement:
The Movement was also called the India August Movement or August Kranti. The movement created slogans such as “Bharat Chodo”, “Quit India”, “Do or Die”. The Quit India Resolution was passed in the Congress meet held in Bombay on 8th August 1942. The resolution had the following mandatories:
It demanded for an immediate end to British rule in India
It declared commitment free India to defend itself against imperialism and fascism
It demanded formation of provisional government of India after withdrawal of British
The following are the main causes of the launch of Quit India Movement
The precursors of second world war had begun. In 1939, Japan that was a part of the Axis Powers opposed British gaining onto the north-eastern frontiers of India. Many of the Indian leaders believed that if British left India, Japan would have enough reasons to invade India.
The Cripps Mission failed to provide constitutional remedy to India’s problems
The British Government arrested all major Congress leaders such as Nehru, Gandhi, Patel. This left the movement in hands of young leaders such as Ram Manohar Lohia and Jayaprakash Narayan. More than 1 lakh people were arrested. The Indian National Congress was banned.
There were certain parties that did not support the movement. This included Communist Party of India, Muslim League and Hindu Mahasabha.
IBBI amends Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India Regulations, 2017
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy board of India recently amended the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India Regulations. This is the second amendment. The amendment has made major changes to the voluntary liquidation process.
About the Amendment:
The amendment allows the corporate persons to replace the liquidator with another liquidator or insolvency professional to initiate voluntary liquidation process.
Earlier, the corporate personnel appoint insolvency professional to conduct voluntary liquidation process but not change the liquidator in due process. However, there can be situations that require appointment of another resolution professional as liquidator. The situations might arise due to conflicts or inadequate expertise.
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code requires interim professional to provide choice of three insolvency professionals in public announcement. The creditors select one of them as their authorized representative. The amendments now say that these three professionals should be from the State or Union Territory that has highest number of creditors according to the record of corporate debtor.
The amendment now makes it necessary for the Committee of Creditors to vote for the resolution. The resolution plan that receives not less than 66% of votes is to be considered as approved.
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India:
The IBBI oversees insolvency proceedings, Insolvency Professionals and Insolvency Professional Agencies. It was established in 2016 giving statutory powers under Insolvency and Bankruptcy code. The boards aim at simplifying the process of insolvency and bankruptcy proceedings.
The board handles cases using two tribunals such as Debt Recovery Tribunal and National Company Law Tribunal. The board has 10 members including Law and Corporate Affairs, Ministries of Finance and Corporate affairs and also members from Reserve Bank of India.
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code:
The code simplified Insolvency and Bankruptcy proceedings in India. The code helps to provide necessary relief to the creditors and increase credit supply in the economy.
SURAKHSYA: National Portal of “Project Elephant” launched
The Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar launched National Portal on Human Elephant conflict called “SURAKHSYA”. The portal aims to collect real time information and will also manage conflicts on real time basis.
The National Portal was launched during the celebration of international annual event World Elephant Day. The World Elephant Day is celebrated every year on August 12 to create elephant conservation and share knowledge for better protection of wild captive elephants.
The portal will help to set data collection protocols, data visualization tools and data transmission pipelines.
The Asian Elephants are listed as “Endangered” in the IUCN Red List. This is mainly because, most of the Asian countries except India have lost their elephant population due to loss of habitats and poaching. There are 50,000 to 60,000 Asian Elephants. Of these, 60% are in India.
Elephants in India:
Elephant is the Natural Heritage Animal of India. Indian Elephants have been listed under Appendix I of Convention of the Migratory Species in the recently held Conference of Parties of Convention of Migratory Species 13 in Gujarat in 2020.
The Project Elephant was launched in 1992 by the Ministry of Environment and Forest. The project aims to provide financial and technical support to wild life management. It aims to make sure long-term survival of elephant populations in the natural habitats. The project also supports research in management of elephants and providing veterinary care and also conservation among local people.
The Elephant Corridor is a narrow stretch of land that connects habitats with elephant population. There are 88 identified elephant corridors in India. Of these, 22 are in North-Eastern India, 14 in northern West Bengal, 20 in South India, 12 in North-Western India and 20 in Central India.
The major threats to elephant corridors are construction activities such as building roads, railways, etc. Also, the corridors are threatened due to mining, poaching and human elephant conflicts.
Pathogens listed Critical by World Health Organization found in River Yamuna
The World Health Organization, 2017 had published its first list of antibiotic resistant priority pathogens that pose the greatest threat to human lives. These critical group and certain multi-drug resistant bacteria are found in River Yamuna according to a group of researchers from IIT Delhi.
The study conducted by the researchers says that sewage is the main source of their entry into the river. The researcher team studies 20 major sewer drains of the river over two seasons at five major locations of Delhi.
The researchers found Beta-lactamases-Enzymes that help bacteria stay resistant to commonly used antibiotics.
About the Study:
The study says that poor sewage collection and lack of sewage treatment plants and lack of connectivity between the drain are the main reasons for the deadly bacteria to develop in the river. There is a need for adequate infrastructure for sewage management in the region.
Currently, the existing treatment plants work on organic pollutants such as nitrogen, carbon and phosphorous. However, there is an emerging need to upgrade the sewage treatment plants in the country.
The study says that the resistance genes present in the river were β-lactamases genes and carbapenemadse. There are possibilities for rapid proliferation of different antibiotic resistant genes through horizontal gene transfer.
WHO list of “Priority Pathogens”:
The list was published by World Health Organization in 2017. The list contains antibiotic resistant pathogens for which drugs are urgently needed. The list particularly highlights the Gram-negative bacteria that are resistant to multiple antibiotics.
The list is divided into three categories such as high, medium and critical priority.
The mist critical group include multi drug resistant bacteria such as Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter and other Enterobacteriaceae such as E.coli, Klebsiella, Serratia and Proteus.
The second and third tiers in the list are of medium and high priority categories respectively. They cause common diseases such as food poisoning, gonorrhoea.
eSanjeevani Medicine Platform: 1.5 lakh Online Consultations provided
The web based comprehensive Telemedicine solution eSanjeevani has so far provided 1.58 lakh online consultations according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The online platform was operationalised in more than 23 states. It covers more than 75% of population in the country. There are two types of teleconsultation under the platform. They are as follows:
The eSanjeevani is implemented under Ayushman Bharat health initiative. The scheme aims to connect all the 1.5 lakh health and wellness centre established under Ayushman Bharat. So far, 12,000 health professionals have been provided training through 3,000 of these centres. Around 250 specialists are available on daily basis on the platform. However, the service is restricted only to Android App users.
The main feature of the platform is that it uses MIS-based applications. It is designed for users to choose varied specialties such as tele-cardiology, tele-ophthalmology, etc. It also includes Comprehensive Electronic Medical Record, video conferencing, tele-consultation. It complies with international standards such as
The scheme was launched in 2018 by PM Modi. The scheme aims to provide free insurance coverage of up to Rs 5 lakhs per family per year. The scheme is meant only for the poor. Based on the Socio-Economic Caste Census data, around 74 crores of beneficiary families have been identified.
India needs to focus more on health sector for the following reasons
The Government of India had announced the beneficiaries of Ayushman Bharat can avail free COVID-19 tests in any of the Government authorised laboratories.