Poverty Estimates: Issues with PLFS Data

• The claim of poverty reduction in India during the pandemic year 2020-21 is contested due to discrepancies in data and survey design. The PLFS data is used to make this claim, and there are recent papers that have come up with divergent claims on trends in poverty, showing both a rapid decline in poverty as well as a sharp increase.

Use of Comparable Estimates

• Poverty estimates in India have always been based on consumption estimates from the NSO, particularly based on the consumption expenditure surveys (CES).
• The last official poverty estimates were for 2011-12, even though a comparable consumption survey was conducted in 2017-18.

What is the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)?

• PLFS is a large-scale household survey conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO) of India.
• It collects data on various aspects of the labor force in India, including employment, unemployment, and labor force participation rates. In addition to these labor force indicators, the PLFS also collects data on consumption expenditure, which can be used to estimate poverty levels.

The issue with PLFS Data

• Estimates are not comparable: The PLFS estimates of poverty are not comparable with those from the CES, as the PLFS estimates are based on a single question.
• Consumption estimates: The issue of sensitivity of consumption estimates to survey design, the level of aggregation, and details have been extensively written about and was at the heart of the Great Indian Poverty Debate of the early 2000s.
• Details about consumption expenditure are not just relevant: The sensitivity to the details of questions asked to collect consumption expenditure is not just relevant across different surveys but also different rounds of the PLFS.

Poverty Trends

• The first set of conclusions can be drawn for the period between 2011-12 and 2017-18.
• Using the CES-based full schedule and the leaked report for 2017-18, a rise in poverty can be seen.
• For a similar period, the single question asked in the earlier rounds of PLFS can be compared with the 2014-15 (72nd round) NSO survey on services and durable goods expenditure which had the same question in the same block with the same instructions making them comparable to estimates from the PLFS from 2017-18 to 2019-20.
• These suggest that the poverty headcount ratio was 27 percent in 2014-15 and rose to 36 percent in 2017-18, declining to 32 percent in 2018-19 and remaining at that level in 2019-20.
• Unfortunately, for the period during the pandemic (2019-20 to 2020-21) that the PM paper tries to address, it is difficult to say what happened based on available consumption data because of the questionnaire changes mentioned above.

Impact on Policy

• The absence of official estimates on poverty is also a reflection of the lack of political priority of the government on such a crucial indicator.
• Currently, a survey on consumption expenditure is being canvassed by the NSO which again follows a completely new methodology and schedule. While it may provide another set of estimates of consumption expenditure, it is unlikely to help resolve the poverty debate.

Conclusion

• The issue of what happened to poverty after 2011-12 is crucial for policy. However, frequent interference in the statistical system through changes in survey and questionnaire design, suppression of data, and delaying the release of crucial data are making it difficult to have a correct assessment of reality. The absence of official estimates on poverty is a reflection of the lack of political priority of the government on such a crucial indicator.

Mera Gaon Meri Dharohar Program

Central idea: The government has identified and documented the unique cultural heritage of more than one lakh villages across the country under the National Mission for Cultural Mapping’s Mera Gaon Meri Dharohar program.

Mera Gaon Meri Dharohar

• The National Mission for Cultural Mapping aims to develop a comprehensive database of art forms, artists, and other resources across the country.
• The programme was launched by the Culture Ministry in 2017 but was handed over to the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA) in 2021.
• The program aims to cover all the 6.5 lakh villages in the country.

Why such a program?

• The program seeks to document the cultural identity at the village level by involving citizens to share what makes their village, block, or district unique.
• The villages have been classified into seven-eight categories based on ecological, developmental, scholastic, historical, and mythological importance.
• The mapping aims to develop a comprehensive database of art forms, artists, and other resources across the country.

Survey Process

• The survey process involves a CSC Village Level Entrepreneur (VLE) conducting meetings with locals and then uploading interesting facts about their village, its places of interest, customs, and traditions, famous personalities, festivals and beliefs, art, and culture, etc., on to a special application.
• The IGNCA plans to create special films on 6,500 village clusters showcasing their unique heritage.
• Short films have been made on 750 cluster villages, which have been shot using drones, and the VLEs would upload these videos on the application as well.

Himachal Pradesh considering legalizing Cannabis Cultivation

Himachal Pradesh CM has announced that the state government is considering legalizing the cultivation of cannabis.

What is Cannabis?

• Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the Cannabis plant used primarily for medical or recreational purposes.
• The main psychoactive component of cannabis is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is one of the 483 known compounds in the plant, including at least 65 other cannabinoids, including cannabidiol (CBD).
• It is used by smoking, vaporizing, within the food, or as an extract.

Prospects of Legalizing Marijuana

(1) Health benefits

• The cannabinoids found in Cannabis are a great healer and has found mentioned in Ayurveda.
• It can be used to treat several medical conditions like multiple sclerosis, arthritis, epilepsy, insomnia, HIV/AIDS treatment, and cancer.

(2) Ecological benefits

• The cannabis plant and seeds apart from being labeled ‘super-foods’ as per studies is also super-industrial carbon-negative raw material.
• Each part of the plant can be used for some industry. Hemp currently is also being used to make bio-fuel, bio-plastics, and even construction material in certain countries. The cosmetic industry has also embraced Hemp seeds.

(3) Marijuana is addiction-free

• An epidemiological study showed that only 9%  of those who use marijuana end up being clinically dependent on it.
• The ‘comparable rates’ for tobacco, alcohol, and cocaine stood at 32%, 15%, and 16% respectively.

(4) Good source of Revenue

• By legalizing and taxing marijuana, the government will stand to earn huge amounts of revenue that will otherwise go to the Italian and Israeli drug cartels.
• In an open letter to US President George Bush, around 500 economists, led by Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman, called for marijuana to be “legal but taxed and regulated like other goods”.

(5) A potential cash crop

• The cannabis plant is something natural to India, especially in the northern hilly regions. It has the potential of becoming a cash crop for poor marginal farmers.
• If proper research is done and the cultivation of marijuana encouraged at an official level, it can gradually become a source of income for poor people with small landholdings.

(6) Prohibition was ineffective

• In India, the consumption of synthetic drugs like cocaine has increased since marijuana was banned, while it has decreased in the US since it was legalized in certain states.
• Moreover, these days, it is pretty easy to buy marijuana in India and its consumption is widespread among the youth. So it is fair to say that prohibition has failed to curb the ‘problem’.

(7) Marijuana is less harmful

• Marijuana consumption was never regarded as a socially deviant behavior any more than drinking alcohol was. Keeping it legal was considered an ‘enlightened view’.
• It is now medically proven that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol.

Risks of Legalizing Cannabis

(1) Health risks continue to persist

• There are many misconceptions about cannabis. First, it is not accurate that cannabis is harmless.
• Its immediate effects include impairments in memory and in mental processes, including ones that are critical for driving.
• Long-term use of cannabis may lead to the development of addiction to the substance, persistent cognitive deficits, and mental health problems like schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety.
• Exposure to cannabis in adolescence can alter brain development.

(2) A new ‘tobacco’ under casualization

• A second myth is that if cannabis is legalized and regulated, its harms can be minimized.
• With legalization comes commercialization. Cannabis is often incorrectly advertised as being “natural” and “healthier than alcohol and tobacco”.
• Tobacco, too, was initially touted as a natural and harmless plant that had been “safely” used in religious ceremonies for centuries.

(3) Unconvincing Advocacy

• Advocates for legalization rarely make a convincing case. To hear some supporters tell it, the drug cures all diseases while promoting creativity, open-mindedness, and moral progression.
• Too much trivialization of Cannabis use could lead to its mass cultivation and a silent economy wreaking havoc through a new culture of substance abuse in India.

Legalization status elsewhere in India

• Several states in India have already legalized cannabis cultivation, including neighboring Uttarakhand, which became the first state in the country to do so in 2017.
• Controlled cultivation is being done in some districts of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh.

Legal Framework for Cannabis Cultivation

• Definition of Cannabis: The Parliament has defined cannabis in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS), 1985.
• Ban on extracting resin and flowers: While a complete ban has been imposed on extracting the resin and flowers of the cannabis plant, the law determines the method and extent of cultivation of cannabis for medicinal and scientific purposes.
• Authorities to States: Section 10 (a) (iii) of the Act empowers States to make rules regarding the cultivation of any cannabis plant, production, possession, transport, consumption, use, purchase, sale, and consumption of cannabis (except charas).
• Cultivation of hemp: States are also empowered to permit, by general or special order, the cultivation of hemp, only for obtaining fibber or seeds or for horticultural purposes.

What next?

• The government will consider all aspects, including regulatory measures, and study the models followed by other States that have legalized cannabis cultivation, before taking the final call.
• Highlighted that the government is cautious about the potential increase in drug use, and will make a decision only after a thorough study by the committee.

 

 TEMPO: NASA device to Monitor Air Pollution from Space

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched carrying a new NASA device named Tropospheric Emissions Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) designed to monitor air pollutants and their emission sources across North America from space more comprehensively than ever before.

What is TEMPO?

• TEMPO is an instrument developed by NASA, which will enable scientists to monitor air pollutants and their emission sources from space, down to the neighborhood level.
• This instrument will measure pollution and air quality across greater North America on an hourly basis during the daytime.

TEMPO’s special features

• TEMPO is unique because it will be hosted on an Intelsat communications satellite in geostationary orbit, about 22,236 miles (35,786 km) above the equator.
• This will allow the instrument to match the rotation of the Earth, meaning it will stay over the same location (North America) at all times.
• It will be able to measure atmospheric pollution down to a spatial resolution of 4 square miles (10 square km), or neighborhood level.

Applications of TEMPO

• TEMPO will have multiple applications from measuring levels of various pollutants to providing air quality forecasts and helping the development of emission-control strategies.
• The data will be used by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and other agencies responsible for tackling atmospheric pollution.

Importance of the mission

• According to the American Lung Association, more than 40% of the US population, 137 million people, live in places with unhealthy levels of particle pollution or ozone, and air pollution is blamed for some 60,000 premature deaths a year.
• TEMPO will track pollutants like nitrogen dioxide, produced from the combustion of fossil fuels, formaldehyde, and ozone.

Healthcare: Need For Compassionate Leadership

• India’s rapid strides in health and healthcare with the help of a digital boom and the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, and the need for compassionate leadership to ensure respectful healthcare.

India’s healthcare sector

• India’s healthcare sector has shown improvement in multiple metrics due to the push for healthcare digitization, infrastructure, coverage, and other inputs.
• However, healthcare is not just about the treatment of diseases or the availability of infrastructure but also about the overall wellness of the person.
• Respectful healthcare that is available, affordable, accessible, and compassionate is a determinant of the quality of care.

Importance of Compassionate Leadership

• Respectful and compassionate healthcare is essential: Healthcare is a perpetually evolving, stressful, and high-risk industry that puts a vast burden on healthcare providers. It is essential to navigate and manage the situation compassionately to deliver respectful care.
• Compassion is a beating heart of healthcare: Compassionate leadership is required to build this type of healthcare system, as it is the quiet, beating heart of the entire healthcare system.

Curriculum for compassionate healthcare

• Compassionate curriculum is very necessary: To integrate compassion into the healthcare system at every stage, it is necessary to build a curriculum and deliver it to those responsible for administering healthcare respectfully.
• Curriculum with Dalai Lama’s vision rolled out in Bihar: An eight-stage curriculum, developed by Emory University, that furthers the Dalai Lama’s vision of educating both heart and mind for the greater good of humanity is being rolled out in Bihar.
• Impact: To date, 1,200 healthcare providers across 20 districts have been impacted by the vital components of cognitive-based compassion training, creating compassionate leaders at every level.

Institutionalizing compassionate healthcare

• Institutionalizing will bring in real change: While the curriculum is a quantum leap toward building compassionate leadership, institutionalizing it will bring in real change.
• Adopting at each level: Every academic institution and every department mandated with the responsibility to deliver health-related learning should develop and adopt compassion-based curricula.
• Building capacity: State and regional health institutions must also be built with the capacity to deliver compassionate leadership. Partnerships with established academia and development sector organizations can enable the organizing of master coaches and master facilitators, thereby creating public goods that can be delivered by all.

Strengthening internal systems

• Making compassion intrinsic to the ethos: All healthcare providers are expected to carry out a wide range of tasks within the system, which often leads to burnout and impacts patient experience adversely. It is vital to strengthen systems internally to make respect and compassion intrinsic to the ethos. Building a network: Building a network of compassionate practitioners in every state, district, and block hospital is crucial to fan the winds of change by starting with self-compassion first and then moving to compassion for others.
• Valuing and measuring organizational culture: Valuing and measuring organizational culture is just as critical as patient outcomes. Developing sound metrics to measure culture and employee satisfaction, self-compassion, and compassion for the team assumes greater significance to building an institution whose foundation is compassion.

Conclusion

• Respectful healthcare is already mentioned in the National Health Mission (NHM) guidelines, and such guidelines need to be the warp and weft of every policy and every guideline developed by public health authorities to improve the patient experience. Compassionate leadership can truly realize India’s historically known values of compassion and bring alive the words of Hippocrates, the father of medicine, “Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there is also a love of humanity”.