Thursday, June 30, 2011

Universal healthcare: barriers and way forward


·         Barriers
o   Top policy makers in health dept are not trained in public health and hence fail to frame suitable programs and policies
o   Five year plans set targets fo health without formulating suitable strategies
o   Fautly monitoring methodology that emphasises more on physical infra over human resources
o   Lack of funds
·         Way forward
o   Funds for health care needs to be increased
o   Clearcut strategies to achieve 5 year plan targets in health sector
o   Incetivise doctors and nurses who serve in remote areas
o   Contract private providers in areas where government is not able to reach out
o   Cost effective technologies should be made use of in national healthcare programs

Conditional cash transfer and health


·         Capitalism has helped improve economies of many countries but at same time they have widened the inequalities
·         Crores of people still live in hunger, malnutrition, unemployed and their livelihood under threat
·         Over 80% of world population lack access to social security benefits
·         Many nations in south america have proved that equitable growth can be achieved with conditional cash transfers
o   Argentians universal child allowance program
o   Bolsa familia in brazil
o   Mexico’s opportunidaes
·         CCTs have multiplies effects and create more secure societies
India’s CCT schemes
·         Janani suraksha yojana aims to reducing maternal and neo natal mortality by incentivising institutional deliveries
·         The scheme is monitored based on institutional deliveries and assitances provided but not based on outcomes like health of new borns and mothers
·         Most of the public health delivery systems are in shambles despite the efforts under NRHM
·         This is again because of NRHMs input based monitoring instead of outcome based monitoring
·         CCTs in health can be a success only when we have good public health delivery systems

CCTs and Population stabilisation
·         In 1975-77 government followed a populationc ontrol policy based on surgicals terilisation
·         It incentivised surgical sterilisation
·         The succeeding government rejected this policy however the mindset has remained so
·         Correlation between family size, illiteracy and poverty leads many to conclude that large number of children in a family is cause of poverty and ill health
·         But the reality is poor is see larger number of children as a safety net in their old age
·         Without social security , any conditional cash transfer to stabilise population will fail to meet its objectives
SOLUTION
·         CCTs are only aprt of a solution to the problems
·         the government shouldn’t abdicate from its responsibility claiming that CCTs will take care of everything

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

mnemonics for IAS

although the nature of IAS exam has changed from rote learning to logical nature, there still are some portions which require to be remembered. the best way to remember and recollect things is with mnemonics. Here i have made a few mnemonics. i shall update as and when i frame new ones. so keep checking this page. all the best :)

UN always faces the challenges of world. hence they are FACERS
F- French
A-Arabic
C-chinese
E-english
R-russian
S-spanish
these are official languages of UN
2.       National aquatic animal ganges dolpjin is found in 7 states

they are BMW RAJU

B-Bihar
M-Madhya Pradesh
W-West bengal

R-Rajasthan
A-Assam
J-Jharkand
U-Uttar Pradesh
3.       OPEC
members of OPEC are NAIL VIS QUAKE

N-Nigeria
A-Angola
I-Iran
L-Libya

V-venzuela
I-iraq
S-Saudi

Q-Quatar
U-UAE
A-Algeria
K-Kuwait
E-Ecuador
4.       Bharat nirman
under bharat nirman scheme there are 6 sub schemes
we all know the famous slogans of erstwhile election campaigns ie roti kapda makhan and bijli sadak pani...just replace kapda with broadband
they deal with
1.roti - accelerated irrigation benefit program
2.makhan - indira awas yojana
3.broadband - rural telephony
4.sadak -PM gram sadak yojana
5.pani - national rural drinking water program
6.bijli- ragiv gandhi grameen vidyut yojana

5.       PM swasthya surkasha yojana
under PM swasthya suraksha yojana . AIIMS like institutions to be setup at 6 places they are

C-chattisgarh capital Raipur
O-orissa capital  Bhubaneswar
M-Madhya pradesh cap: Bhopal
B-Bihar cap: Patna

Rajasthan- Jodhpur
Uttarakahan-Rishikesh

mnemonic: COMB + rishikesh ashrams+ Jodhpur foot= healthy life
6.       1st anglo mysore war

MEN vs hyder ali

M-Marathas

E-English

N-Nizams
7.       Kyoto
we all know that those supporting the cause for curtailing pollution are a MINORITY

Hence under KYOTO NCMs(national commission for minorities) has been set up
and sponsored by HP

N-Nitrogen
C-carbon dioxide
M-Methane
S-Sulphur hexaflouride

H-Hydroflourocarbon
P-perflouro carbon

these are gasses monitored under kyoto protocol

8.       SCO
China is a workshop of world. and where there are workshops therw will be TRUCK to carry goods

hence member of shanghai cooperation organisation are

T-Tajikistan
R-Russia
U-uzbekistan
C-China
K-kyrgystan and kazakhstan


9. Tri ratnas of jainism
in jainism to attain nirvana tri ratna was proposed the tri ratnas are KFC ie

K-right Knowledge

F-right Faith

C-right Conduct
1.   
10.     Jainism
in jainism there is panchamvrats which is expected to be followed by monks they are  CLIPS

C- chastity-Brahmacharya
L-non Lying-satya
I-non injury-ahimsa
P-non possession-aparigraha
S-non stealing-asteya



2.      11. UK
UK is made of WINES

W-wales

IN-Ireland north

E- england

S-scotland

Oceans and the monsoon

Please read the complete article as it explains several concepts in geography

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article2142488.ece


Summary


·         1.5 moths before monsoon, central bay of bengal(BoB) warms up leading to increased evopration of surface water and formation of dense clouds
·         These clouds precipitate giving rise to pre monsoon rains in KL and TN, myanmar and south east asia
·         This rain also cools down waters of BoB
·         Meanwhile waters of arabian sea heats up and clouds build up near equator and move north leading to onset of monsoon in KL
·         Factors determining onset off monsoon
o   Temperature of oceans north and south of equator
§  If northern waters cooler than south, then delayed monsoons
·         Factors determining cloud formation
o   Sea surface temperature
§  Has to be above 28 deg Celsius, for higher chances of cloud formation
§  Gradients in temperature across ocean surface
·         The 2009 monsoon flop reasons
o   Since monsoon clouds form near equator and have to move north towards India, they need warm waters for northward movement
o   In 2009, BoB was colder than usual while eastern equatorial indian ocean was warmer leading to delayed monsoon
BoB vs arabian sea
·         BoB is less saline than arabian sea coz , it receives more rainfall and river water discharge
·         As a result BoB has lesser surface water at top than arabian sea
·         Upwelling is a phenomenon when the colder water at bottom rises up and replaces the warmer surface water
o   Upwelling is more in arabian sea than BoB
·         Less saline water heats up and cools rapidly
o   rApid changes in sea surface temperature can build up atmospheric pressure gradient giving rise to cyclones





Donors shun water projects


·         Donors prefer to invest in glamorous projects like hospitals and education over the less glamorous water and sanitation
·         As a result world is unlikely to meet the MDG goal of halving the number of people without access to basic sanitation
·         This hampers developing countries growth prospects
·         More than 2 million people lack access to sanitation today 
Many girls are forced to stay out of school as most of their time is consumed in fetching water form far off places

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Hydro diplomacy


·         India has long standing treaties over water sharing with nepal over mahakali, khosi, gandak
·         Nepal’s terrain provides ideal location for hydro electric projects which can help in flood control as well as water augmentation
·         But most of the agreements on water sharing have been exceedingly in favour of India
·         As a result while India enjoys access to hydro power from nepal, nepal remains a net importer of power form India
·         This has created a resentment against India among the nepalis
·         As a result of this mutual distrust, India has failed to arrive at an agreement on many multi purpose projects in alst 3 decades
India-bhutan
·         In case of bhutan, it has achieved development through the revenues from sharing hydro power with India
WAY AHEAD
·         Nepal doesn’t have much of manufacturing base. So hydro power is the only way for it to prosper economically
·         But nepalese fear the multi purpose alrge dams for
o   Displacement
o   Impact on seismic sensitive region
o   Nepal has very less space and hence can’t afford space for large dams
·         So way ahead for nepal is to have small hydo projects which primarily fulfill requirements of nepal
·         India needs to adopt more open, generous approach in engaging nepal on matters of water and power