After an outbreak of dreaded and near fatal Bird Flu in a private poultry farm in Bidar district of Karnataka, the State Government has sounded an alert across the State.

Through its alert notice the Government has instructed farm owners to take preventive measures. Farm owners have been forbidden, in case of a viral infection, by scientists to sell or move any of the birds/eggs and material out of farm; Government agencies have instructed them to avow proper bio-security measures.

Since Karnataka has nearly 7,000 poultry farms, having a stock of more than five crore birds, the State’s daily egg-production is approximately 1.2 crore.

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About Bird Flu

Birds Flu, (H5N1), or avian influenza (AI), is a Viral infection that spreads from bird to bird. Scientifically, H5N1, a highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus, is fatal to most birds and it becomes fatal to those human beings too who become infected by this virus from birds.

The first case in which a human being was infected by H5N1 virus came into light in 1997 and since then this virus has killed about 60% of the people who were infected by it.

However, the bird flu does not expand easily from person to person as is the case with human flu. In few exceptional cases, such as a mother caught the virus while caring for her sick infant, the virus gets transmitted from human-to-human.

The natural carriers of bird flu viruses are migrating water fowl, especially wild ducks. Sometimes AI virus can spread the infection from wild fowl to domestic poultry.

It is a matter of concern that the disease has extended to wild birds, pigs and even to donkeys; it has become difficult to eradicate the bird flu. The disease had already got itself rooted, till 2011, in six nations: China, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Egypt and Vietnam.

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How Do Humans catch Bird Flu

It is commonly known that people catch bird flu by coming into close contact with birds or bird droppings. However the phrase “close contact” means different things to people belonging to different cultures.

Some people catch H5N1 from cleaning or plucking infected birds. Some people get infected after taking a bath or swimming in water that is contaminated with the droppings of infected birds. And some cases have come to light of people getting caught by bird flu while handling cock-fights. Some reports from China reveal that the infection causing birds flu spread there via inhalation of aerosolized materials in live bird markets.

Scientists working on bird flu claim that people who eat fully cooked chicken or eggs do not catch the virus H5N1 by merely eating.

Effects and Symptoms of bird flu on Humans

Although it has been established that most Avian Influenza viruses do not infect human being directly, some virus such as A(H5N1) and A(H7N9) have effected serious infections in people.

The most of the cases of A(H5N1) infection, involving human beings, are related with direct or indirect contact with infected live or dead poultry. No evidence has been found till date that the disease, the bird flu, can spread people through properly cooked food.

The most obvious symptoms of bird flu are: a temperature higher than 38 degree C and other symptoms of influenza such as cough or sore throat; diarrhea; vomiting; chest pain; abdominal pain; and bleeding from gums and nose. It is important to note that these are the early symptoms of the H5N1 virus infection.

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Controlling and reducing Bird Flu

The first step towards reducing the risks of spreading the bird flu to humans is/should be controlling the disease in animals.

The Government, as a first step, has ordered the evacuation of the entire infected poultry population, and its eggs, feed, litter and other infected material within a radius of one km.

Affected areas would/must be disinfected and cleaned up and restriction on the movement of poultry should be imposed.

Regular surveillance, especially in areas bordering infected countries and in areas where migratory birds regularly visit.

Treatment of Bird Flu

It has been found that some antiviral drugs, particularly oseltamivir, can shorten the duration of virus replication and improve chances of survival.

However, in cases of severe infection with the viruses, doctors may consider to increase the daily dose or the duration of treatment or both.

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In the first week of April 2016, the union government, while amending a 16- year-old rule that deals with a determining aspect of urban governance, replaced the Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000 with a new set of rules phrased as the Solid Waste Management Rules (SWM), 2016.

The new Solid Waste Management are in harmony with the plastic waste management rules, e-waste, biomedical waste, fatally harmful and construction and demolition waste management rules. The urgency shown by the government in Solid Waste Management matter reflects the seriousness of the issue as all of these rules have been  notified within a few days of each other.

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Gravity of the Solid Waste Management Problem

Solid Waste Management has become a very serious problem in India due to factors such as urbanisation, changing lifestyles and enhancement in consumerism indicating that we generate more and more waste.

Throwing light on  the magnitude of the problem while introducing the bill the Ministery of Environment Forest and Climate Change, has revealed  that the country generates 62 million tonnes of waste annually.  To put things in panorama this is a little less than double the amount of MSW the country generated when the last Solid Waste Management rules were formed and enacted. Financial compulsions, institutional weakness, inaccurate choice of technology, unplanned urbanisation and public indifference have made the situation worse.  The practice of dumping waste on the outskirts of cities and towns has created serious environmental problem with accompanying public health concerns.

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Solutions of the New Solid Waste Management

At first glance the Solid Waste Management seem to be going in proper direction as their frontier has stretched beyond municipal areas and  included special economic zones, urban agglomerations, areas under the control of the Indian Railways and airports. There is a special mention of places of religious and historical importance and pilgrimage.

The most significant aspect is that the Solid Waste Management make an attempt to address that great bugbear of waste management in India—sorting waste at source. The Solid Waste Management(rules) 2016 has put the responsibility on large waste generators like hotels and industrial establishments to separate waste at source.

Now these Large Waste Generators(LWGs) have to separate waste into biodegradable, dry and domestic hazardous waste such as mosquito repellents, cleaning agents. Hotels and restaurants will also have to segregate biodegradable waste and make sure that food waste is used for composting.

The Solid Waste Management-2016 also directs market associations and resident welfare  associations to segregate plastic, tin, glass, paper and recyclable waste. They talk about the integration of ragpickers, waste pickers and other players of informal sector. The Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules, 2016 mandate zero tolerance for throwing, burning or burying solid waste on streets or dumping them in water bodies. The biggest problem of waste collection in India is that people do not separate dry and wet waste, therefore, shifting the burden on collectors.

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Solid Waste Management,2016- An Analysis

The rules, seen this way, seem to be a move in the right direction.

However, all these homilies for decentralised approaches are followed by a thrust on centralised strategies; setting up of waste-to-energy plants for one. Vaporising garbage and generating electricity could basically be seen as killing two birds with one stone.

However, waste-to-energy plants in the country have been surrounded with serious problems. Typically, waste-to-energy plants require waste with a calorific count of 1,400–1,500 kcal/kg while in India the calorific value of waste in India is not more than 700 kcal/kg. Appropriate segregation at source, as mandated by the rules, can handle a large portion of the problem.

However, the rules, while talking of the importance of such a measure, fail to provide direction. And in doing so, the rules have completely ignored the recommendation of a Planning Commission committee’s report of 2014 that talked of accurate measures through which the informal sector could be blended into solid waste management plans by incentivising the ragpickers. While the new rules do prescribe punitive measures, they have little by way of incentives.

A Delhi-based non-profit organisation, Chintan, had claimed in 2012 that in the nine months after the inauguration of a waste-to-energy plant in Okhla in Delhi, the number of trash collectors working at the landfill near the plant fell from 450 to 150. According to these families, they took their children out of school in order to have more hands available to search through the heaps of ash for metal slag that fetch more in terms of money. The Planning Commission report of 2014 had talked of steps to avoid such transformation in fortunes for ragpickers. In fact, the draft SWM, 2014 had also talked of incentivising the informal sector. The New Solid Waste Management have paid insufficient attention to this aspect.

Indian cities that have made a success of waste management have done so through a slew of strategies:  for example, Pune has integrated a many waste pickers into a formalised door-to-door garbage collection network.

The Pune Municipal Corporation works with a cooperative of waste pickers in an arrangement that depends on a variety of agencies: centralised and decentralised composting and vermin-composting facilities and a waste recycling plant. Pune also has a waste-to-electricity plant.

However, the excess reliance in the rules on waste-to-energy plant ignores the fact that such plants are skirted with serious pollution problems. Last year, the National Institute of Urban Affairs had revealed that high mercury content in urban wastes in the country had been turning waste-to-energy plants into highly polluting outfits. And in February, this year, the Central Pollution Control Board has been asked by the National Green Tribunal to furnish a report on the effects of such plants on air quality. It is not only unfortunate but also a matter of grave concern that the Solid Waste Management (SWM) 2016, is paying a little attention to such concerns.

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In order to avail the historic opportunity to transform its demographic surplus into a demographic divident; the Ministry of Rural Development has implemented Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kausalya Yojna (DDU-GKY) to drive this national agenda for inclusive growth, by developing skills and productive capacity of the rural youth belonging to the poor families.

As India is rich in natural resources,there is no dearth of labour and skilled labour is easily available because of the high rates of unemployment among the educated class of the country.

And as Asia is becoming an autonomous hub of the world, India is soon going to become the preferred manufacturing destination of the most investors around the world.

The Census 2011 notes that India has 55 million potential workers between the age group of 15 and 35 years in rural areas. At the same time, the world is expected to confront a shortage of 57 million workers by 2020.

India’s rural poor are confronting several challenges that are preventing them from competing several challenges that are preventing them from competing in the modern market. These challenges include the lack of formal education and marketable skills. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kausalya Yojna (DDU-GKY) intends to bridge this scheme by funding training projects global standards with a stress on placement, retention, career progression and foreign placement.

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Highlights of the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kausalya Yojna

Under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kausalya Yojna, to enable poor and marginalised to access benefits, the demand led skill training to the rural poor at no cost would be provided by the Ministry of Rural; Development.

Shifting emphasis from training to career progression the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kausalya Yojna pioneers in promoting incentives for job retention, career progression and foreign placements.

The Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kausalya Yojna with an intention to cater to greater support for placed candidates provides post placement support, migration support and alumni network.

In order to enhance the capacity of the implementation Partners the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kausalya Yojna has a programme to nurture new training service providers and  develop their skills.

Under its inclusive program design, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kausalya Yojna has assured mandatory coverage of socially disadvantaged group (SC 50%, Minority 15%, Women 33%).

Implementation Model

DDU-GKY works on a three tier implementation model:

1. At the Ministry of Rural Development, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kausalya Yojna functions as the policy making, technical support and facilitation agency.
2. Project Implementation Agencies (PIAs) implement the program by using skilling and placement project.
3. The DDU-GKY is State Mission caters to implementation support.

Project Funding Support

DDU-GKY gives funding support for placement-related skill development projects that respond to the market demand with funding support ranging from Rs. 25, 696 to Rs. 1, 00,000 per person.

Funding parts include assistance for training costs, boarding and lodging (residential programs), transportation cost, post placement support costs, career progression and retention assistance cost.

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Training Requirements

Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kausalya Yojna (DDU-GKY) funds numerous skill training programs which covers almost 250 trades across a range of sectors such as Retail, Hospitality, Health, Construction, Automotive, Leather, Electrical, Plumbing, Jems and Jewellery etc.

The only condition is that the skill training should be based on demand and lead to placement of at least 75% of the training.

Training, apart from being in addition to the trade specific skills, must be catered in employable and soft skills, functional English and functional Information Technology literacy so that the training can make cross cutting essential skills.

Training centers will be developed and setup in each block, catering to the specific needs of the local youth. About 50% of the youth covered under this Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kausalya Yojna will be women and special efforts are going to be made to proactively cover particularly vulnerable tribal groups on a priority basis.

The Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kausalya Yojna is going to be implemented through training partners from the private and the public sectors as well as non-profit organisations.

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The United Nation’s (UN’s) top cultural body UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization) has added India’s ‘unique’ Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve (AMR) among 20 sites to its World Network of Biosphere Reserves.

These 20 new sites were finalised and annexed during a two day meeting of the International co-ordinates Council on 19 March,  2016 in Lima, capital of Peru. These new inclusions have brought the total number of Biosphere Reserves to 669 sites in 120 countries and the list includes 16 transboundary sites too.

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About Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve

The Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve (ABR) set up in 2001, is located and spread across the two states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu (in the Western Ghats, in South India). It is a unique genetic reservoir of cultivated plants especially pepper, jamun, cardamom, nutmeg and plantain.

As Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve consists of three wildlife sanctuaries – Shendurney, Peppara, Neyyar Kalakd Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, it has peaks reaching 1,868 metres above sea level, and consists mostly of tropical forests. ABR is a home to 2,254 species of higher plants out of that about 400 are local.

Biosphere Reserves (in India) shield larger areas of natural habitat and most of the time includes one or more National Parks or/and preserves as well as buffer zones that are open to economic uses.

In India there are 18 Biosphere Reserves; out of which Nilgiris, Nanda Devi, Nkre, Gulf of Manar, Sundarban, and Great Nicobar had been listed earlier in the network.

Each year, under the UNESCO’S Man and the Biosphere (MAB), new reserves are designated by the International coordinating council of UNESCO. The principal function of MAB is to bring together elected representatives of 34 UNESCO member states.

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About UNESCO

The United Nations of Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), an agency within the United Nations is responsible for encouraging peace, social justice, human rights and international security through international cooperation on educational, sciences and cultural programmes.

Based in Paris, France, UNESCO has over 50 field offices located around the World.

History of UNESCO

In 1942, when the governments of several European countries, during the second world War, assembled in the United Kingdom for the Conference of Allied Ministers of Education (CAME), the development of UNESCO was initiated.

It was during this conference that the leaders from the participant countries nulled over the idea to develop ways to reconstruct education across the world once the World War II was over.

The Conference ended with a promise to hold a future conference in London from 1 to 16, 1945 for the formation of an educational and cultural education.

In 1945, Shortly after the United Nations came into existence, the the delegates of the 44 participant countries of the Conference finalised to set up an organization in order to encourage a culture of peace, establish an intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind” and prevent another World War.

On 16 November 1945, when the conference concluded, UNESCO with the Constitution of UNESCO was founded by the 37 of the participant countries.

On November 4, 1946 the Constitution of UNESCO came into force after the ratification. And from November 19 to December 10, 1946 the first official General Conference of UNESCO was held in Paris; it was attended by representatives of 30 countries.

The number of participant members of UNESCO has grown to 195 : it establishes the growing significance of UNESCO across the world. There are 193 members of the United Nations but the Palestine and the Cook islands are also member of UNESCO.

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Themes of UNESCO

In order to secure it goals of promoting education, social justice and global peace and cooperation, UNESCO has five distinct themes / fields of action:

• Education that includes basic educator for all with a stress on literacy; HIV/AIDS prevention and teacher training in Dub-Saharn Africa’ promoting quality education worldwide, as well as secondary, technological and higher education;
• Natural sciences and management of Earth‘s resources;
• Social and human sciences that encourage basic human rights
• Culture: encouragement of cultural acceptance, maintenance of cultural diversity and protection  of cultural heritage;
• Communication and Information that includes “free flow of ideas by word and image” to form a worldwide community of shared knowledge.

Apart from these five themes there are special fields of action that require multidisciplinary approach, since special themes; some of these fields consist of Gender Equality, Languages, Climate Change and Education for Sustainable Development.

One of the most famous special themes of UNESCO is its World Heritage Center (WHC) that recognizes cultural, natural and mixed sites to be protected all over the world in an attempt to encourage the maintenance of cultural, historic and / or natural heritage in those places for other to see. The most famous sites of WHC include Pyramids of Giza, Australia,s Great Barrier Reef and Peru’s Machu Picchu.

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The External Affairs Ministry, following a request by the CBI, has directed 8 India Missions abroad to ask the countries concerned to ensure quick execution of Letters Rogatory (LR) which were issued earlier to establish the money trail in the Augusta Westland Chopper Scam; it is a Rs. 3,600 crore scam.

The LRs had been issued to Italy, Tumisia, Mauritius, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, Britain, United Arab Emirates and Switzerland. However, a few countries have either responded to the LRs or executed them partly while some others are yet to respond.

What are LRs

LRs are judicial requests to foreign countries for legal assistance in criminal case; it is so CBI had a few days back had requested, through a letter, the Ministry of External Affairs on expediting execution of LRs.

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Present Pretext of the Issue

On January 1, 2014 the Government of India had abraded the contract with Finmeccanica’s British subsidiary Augusta Westland for supplying 12 AW101 VVIP Choppers to the Indian Air Force (IAF) over alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of payment of bribe too the tune of RS. 423 crore by it for cementing the deal.

In 2015 CBI filed a chargesheet in Augusta Westland case in which it claimed that it had detected flow of alleged kickbacks sent from abroad to companies of the accured Delhi based lawyer Gautam Khaitan and cousins of the former IAF chief. It is imperative to be informed here that CBI is currently investigating the Augusta Westland Chopper scam and it has already questioned, as it claimed by CBI, former IAF Chief SP Tyagi for the fourth Consecuive day by Thursday.

History and Overview of Augusta Westland Chopper Controversy

In 2010, in the month of February, the Government of India signed a contract to buy 12 Augusta Westland AW101 helicopters for the Communication Squadron of Indian Air Force to carry the President, PM and other VVIPs.

Controversy over the contract surfaced with the arresting of Giuseppe Orsi, the CEO of Finmeccanica, Augusta Westland’s Parent company by Italian authorities on 12 February 2013.

Several Indian politicians and military officials have been indicted of taking bribes from Augusta Westland in order to secure the Rs. 36 billion (US $ 530 million) Indian contract for supplying 12 Augusta Westland AW101 choppers.

On 25th March, India’s Defense Minister while confirming conforming corruption allegations said, ” Yes corruption has taken place in the helicopter deal and bribes have been taken. CBI is pursuing the case very vigorously.”

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Investigation in the Augusta Westland Choper Scam

After serious allegations and huge controversy in Augusta Westland case then defense minister A. K. Antony on 12th February, 2013 order an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)

• On 25th February 2013, CBI registered a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) against 11 persons. Among these 11 suspects were the former Chief of the Indian Air Force, Air Chief Marshal S. P. Tyagi and his relatives and four companies.
• After finding sufficient evidence in Augusta Westland case the CBI on 13th March 2013, registered an FIR that named 13 persons including former Air Chief Marshal S.P.Tyagi, his three brothers – Juli, Docsa, and Sandee – brother of former Union Minister Santosh Bagrodia, Satish Bagrodia, Pratap Agarwal (Chairman and Managing Director of IDS Infotech).
• A CBI special court in September 2015, issued an open non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Christian Micheal. The NBW was based on a CBI report/demand that he was required to be questioned in the case to ascertain how much amount he has received as ‘commission’ in the deal.
• In March 2015, Enforcement Directorate (ED) i.e. investigating money laundering part of the case traced and identified the properties worth approximately Rs. 112 crore owned by Christian Micheal James and issued a provisional attachment order.
• In September 2015, the ED attached assets of about Rs. 7 crore alleged to be in the name of Ex. IAF Chief S. P. Tyagi.

Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on Augusta Westland Scam

By introducing a motion in Rajya Sabha, on 27th February 2013, the UPA II government tried to set the wheel for an investigation in the Augusta Westland scam by a 30 member Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC).

The motion was passed amidst the protest and walkout by most of the opposition parties for they consider this move as ‘exercise in futility’; the opposition including BJP, who is currently in power, instead demanded a Supreme Court monitored investigation; as, at present the Congress, now in opposition is asking for.

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