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— The Ministry of Jal Shakti has released the report of India’s first water bodies census, a comprehensive data base of ponds, tanks, lakes, and reservoirs in the country.
— The census was conducted in 2018-19, and enumerated more than 2.4 million water bodies across all states and Union Territories.
How is a ‘water body’ defined?
— The Water Bodies: First Census Report considers “all natural or man-made units bounded on all sides with some or no masonry work used for storing water for irrigation or other purposes (e.g. industrial, pisciculture, domestic/ drinking, recreation, religious, ground water recharge etc.)” as water bodies. The water bodies “are usually of various types known by different names like tank, reservoirs, ponds etc.”, it says.
— According to the report, “A structure where water from ice-melt, streams, springs, rain or drainage of water from residential or other areas is accumulated or water is stored by diversion from a stream, nala or river will also be treated as water body.”
— As per the report, West Bengal’s South 24 Pargana has been ranked as the district having the highest (3.55 lakh) number of water bodies across the country. The district is followed by Andhra Pradesh’s Ananthapur (50,537) and West Bengal’s Howrah (37,301).
Which water bodies were excluded from the census?
— Seven specific types of water bodies were excluded from the count.
They were: 1) oceans and lagoons; 2) rivers, streams, springs, waterfalls, canals, etc. which are free flowing, without any bounded storage of water; 3) swimming pools; 4) covered water tanks created for a specific purpose by a family or household for their own consumption; 5) a water tank constructed by a factory owner for consumption of water as raw material or consumable; 6) temporary water bodies created by digging for mining, brick kilns, and construction activities, which may get filled during the rainy season; and 7) pucca open water tanks created only for cattle to drink water.
What does the census reveal about encroachment of water bodies?
— The census found that 1.6% of enumerated water bodies — 38,496 out of 24,24,540 — had been encroached upon. More than 95% of these were in rural areas — which is logical because more than 97% of the water bodies covered by the census were in the rural areas. In almost 63% of encroached water bodies, less than a quarter of the area was under encroachment; in about 12% water bodies, more than three-quarters of the area was under encroachment.
— Uttar Pradesh accounted for almost 40% (15,301) of water bodies under encroachment, followed by Tamil Nadu (8,366) and Andhra Pradesh (3,920). No encroachment was reported from West Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh.
(Source: India’s first water body census: How was it done, what does the report say by Harikishan Sharma)
Point to ponder: What was the need for a water bodies census?
1. MCQ:
With reference to India’s first water bodies census, consider the following statements:
1. It is released by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
2. Rivers, streams, springs, waterfalls, canals, etc. which are free flowing, without any bounded storage of water are not included in it.
Which of the above statements is/are not correct?
(a) Only 1
(b) Only 2
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
National Panchayati Raj Day
WHY IN NEWS?
— Marking a landmark law that came into effect on April 24, 1993, the National Panchayati Raj Day was the day when the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992, vested constitutional status on Panchayati Raj institutions. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a range of projects and schemes today under the “Inclusive Development” theme of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, celebrating 75 years of Indian independence.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Rishika Singh Explains:
What was the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act of 1992?
— Before the act, India’s Constitution only mentioned a two-tier form of government and local institutions found a mention only in Directive Principles of State Policy – which is not enforceable by courts or bound to be followed, only meant as a guiding document for governments.
— With a lack of focus here, absence of regular elections, insufficient representation of marginalised sections like Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women, inadequate devolution of powers (transfer from a higher level of government to the lower levels) and lack of financial resources from the state and the Centre were some issues plaguing village-level governance.
— Several committees were constituted for studying these issues, such as the Balwant Rai Mehta Committee and the Ashok Mehta Committee, which gave important recommendations. In the late 1980s, then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi prioritised the issue and after cross-party support, the measure was finally passed. Being enshrined in law and an amendment to the Constitution meant these provisions could no longer be easily ignored. The 74th Amendment Act, passed in the same year, sought to look at local governance in urban areas and constituting municipal bodies.
What did the Act change?
— As The Indian Express noted in its 2018 editorial on 25 years of the act, “The Panchayati Raj Act not only institutionalised PRIs [Panchayati Raj Institutions] as the mandatory third tier of governance, it transformed the dynamics of rural development by giving a say to a large section of the people — significantly, women — in the administration of their localities.”
— Here are some other key changes it brought:
*It said the state government may devolve powers for such bodies to implement schemes for economic development and social justice, authorise a Panchayat to levy, collect and appropriate taxes, duties, and tolls and provide for making such grants-in-aid to the Panchayats from the Consolidated Fund of the State – a major move to help fund them.
*It mandated women’s representation in one-third of the seats. Women now constitute more than 45 per cent of the nearly three million panchayat and gram sabha representatives in the country, standing in contrast to their representation in the current Lok Sabha, at 14 per cent. Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe groups were also mandated to be assigned seats in proportion to their presence in the population.
*A five-year term was fixed for representatives, with a procedure given for conducting timely elections.
*It also noted that the Governor of a State would constitute a Finance Commission to review the financial position of the Panchayats and then recommend to her what their requirements are, how they can be met, etc.
How can the act be evaluated now?
— Undoubtedly, the act has been instrumental in involving more and more people in the democratic processes at a grassroots level. As James Manor notes in The Oxford Companion to Politics in India, decentralisation generally results in more transparency between the government and the people, better grievance redressal and better information flow. Manor notes how civil servants can gain timely news about developing health concerns or outbreaks in rural areas, for example, to suggest intervention.
— However, he also noted that many of the initial worries – having to do with finances, real devolution and genuine representation of marginalised groups – remain. Too often, these are dependent on the approach of the political parties in states or a reluctance to cede power.
— Notably, the domain of local governments comes under the State List as per Schedule 7 of the Constitution. Manor explained that this meant, “The amendments had to suggest more things than they required of the states.” State governments’ varied responses have led to varying results of the act’s impact across India.
— In 2013, former MP Mani Shankar Aiyar headed a committee titled ‘Towards Holistic Panchayat Raj’ on evaluating the act 20 years after it came into effect. He also noted some steps to rectify these problems in an article in The Indian Express, ranging from financial incentivisation of the states to encourage effective devolution to greater involvement of these bodies in district-level planning.
What else you should know- Gandhi’s vision
— The law on the governance of India’s villages was also a manifestation of one of Mahatma Gandhi’s central principles. He often championed the idea of a Panchayati Raj setup, where local people participate in the functioning of their villages – in improving the condition of schools, roadways and water bodies.
— In fact, Gandhi stated that after Indian independence from British rule in 1947, he wished for the Congress Party to transform into a volunteer organisation consisting of panchayat-like units in all Indian villages to interact with villagers for achieving swaraj. We explain what Gandhi meant when he spoke about the concept and why the law was a milestone.
What was the context of Gandhi’s quote on Panchayat?
— Gandhi’s quote, from a 1946 issue of the Harijan magazine, reads: “Independence must mean that of the people of India, not of those who are today ruling over them… Independence must begin at the bottom. Thus, every village will be a republic or Panchayat having full powers. It follows, therefore, that every village has to be self-sustained and capable of managing its affairs even to the extent of defending itself against the whole world.”
— In his various experiments against colonial forces and creating an alternative to their model of governance, Gandhi put forth values like ahimsa (non-violence) and satya (truth). But apart from ideology, he also gave practical steps for achieving true self-rule or swaraj. He said India must have panchayats, a setup where the village’s adults elect a council of five people and a head among them, as local representatives.
— Although, Gandhi clarifies this does not mean not taking any help from the outside world, but simply that each person must be so capable as to take care of their own basic needs in life in harmony with nature and those around them.
— This would mean contributing labour for public work like sanitation, growing food locally, creating a rotational force for guarding the village, ensuring education for all, wearing hand-spun khadi to promote local artisans, shunning intoxicants, etc.
Where does swarajya in villages fit in Gandhi’s ideology?
— Gandhi said that in a structure composed of “innumerable villages there will be ever widening, never ascending circles. Life will not be a pyramid with the apex sustained by the bottom.” And so instead of a hierarchy of a powerful district or state or Centre, villages must be equal, important micro units from whom the Centre ultimately derives its power through coordination. This has also been termed “democratic decentralisation”.
— He recognised the difficulties in achieving this, but added it was to be a template, saying, “If one man can produce one ideal village, he will have provided a pattern not only for the whole country, but perhaps for the whole world.” The idea also reflects his larger inclination towards preserving Indian traditions and resisting external forces.
What are eGramSwaraj and SVAMITVA Scheme ?
As per PIB:
eGramSwaraj – Government eMarketplace Integration
— eGramSwaraj (eGS) was launched on the occasion of National Panchayati Raj Day on 24th April 2020 which was designed to operate as a single window solution for all day-to-day functioning of the Panchayats from Planning to Online Payments. After the clarion call by Prime Minister on National Panchayati Raj Day on 24 April 2020, the adoption of the application increased speedily. As on date eGramSwaraj has almost 100% usage and adoption across the country with more than 2.3 lakh Gram Panchayats and Traditional Local Bodies are already using it for online payments.
— Till date more than 1.35 Lakh crore payments have been effected online through this system. The grants spent through this system were primarily central finance commission grants and all funds for XV FC grants (worth Rs. 2.5 Lakh crores) are being expended through eGramSwaraj application only. In FY 2022-23, funds to the tune of nearly Rs. 50,000 crores were spent online by the Panchayats across India. The payments are made through Public Finance Management System (PFMS) directly to the vendor accounts.
— While the expenditure was being done online, the procurement was being made in the traditional methods of offline tenders etc. by the Panchayats. Hence, upon the endeavour of Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) and also as requested by many Panchayats across the country, it was decided that the procurement process shall also become a feature of eGramSwaraj.
— Therefore, MoPR and GeM collaborated to integrate eGramSwaraj and GeM, and the initiative of technical integration between eGramSwaraj and Government eMarketplace (GeM) applications was carried out. The objective is to enable the Panchayats to procure their goods and services through GeM leveraging the eGramSwaraj platform directly.
— This initiative shall take the benefits of online procurement through GeM to the lowest tier of governance and not just restricted to Central/State Government Ministries and Departments. Since Panchayats are already accustomed to using eGramSwaraj, procurement through GeM will be an extension to their online work and the fund management.
Salient features of the eGramSwaraj – Government eMarketplace Integration:
1. Existing User base of GeM of nearly 60,000 is envisioned to increase to more than 3 lakhs in a phased manner.
2. Bringing transparency in procurement by Panchayats by making the process digital, a major demand raised by Panchayats
3. Encouragement of local vendors (Proprietors, Self Help groups, Cooperatives etc.) to register on GeM as Panchayats procure largely from such vendors. Also, selling online by such vendors can open new markets for them.
4. Mitigation of audit objections as procurements would follow General Financial Rules (GFR) by virtue of GeM usage.
5. Arbitrary award of contracts shall cease, compliant vendors would receive timely payments,
Panchayats will access to doorstep delivery of quality assured goods on standardized and competitive rates
6. Major Capacity building being taken by MoPR where trainings have been conducted multiple times at both Central and State level. GeM has also trained and appointed business facilitators in all States for handholding of the Panchayat users.
SVAMITVA Scheme
— SVAMITVA (Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas) is a Central Sector Scheme launched by the Prime Minister on 24th April 2020 on the occasion of the National Panchayati Raj Day. SVAMITVA Scheme aims to provide “Records of Rights”/ Property Cards to rural household owners of the inhabited area of the village.
— The scheme covers multifarious aspects viz. facilitating monetisation of properties and enabling bank loans; reducing property-related disputes; comprehensive village-level planning. It will further enhance the socio-economic profile of the Panchayats, making them self-sustainable. The Property Card generated under the Scheme provides the right of the property to the household in the rural abadi area. The Scheme covers each section of society including SCs, STs, differently-abled, minorities, women and other vulnerable groups.
— As on 31st March 2023, drone flying has been completed in 2.39 lakh villages which make up 63% of the overall target of 3.72 lakh villages, and Drone survey is completed in the state of Madhya Pradesh, UTs of Lakshadweep, Delhi, Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu. Property Cards of all the inhabited villages of Haryana followed by Uttarakhand, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Goa have been prepared. With close coordination between the States and the Survey of India, a milestone of preparation of over 1.24 crore property Cards for nearly 74,000 villages is achieved.
— SVAMITVA – Meri Sampatti, Mera Haq campaign has been covered under Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav – Samaaveshi Vikas – Inclusive Development theme to be launched by the Prime Minister on 24th April, 2023.
(Sources: PIB, This Quote Means: When Mahatma Gandhi said, ‘Every village has to become a self-sufficient republic’ by Rishika Singh)
Point to ponder: A fully functional, responsive grassroots-level system of self-governance is a sine qua non for an effective democracy. Discuss.
2. MCQ:
The fundamental object of the Panchayati Raj system is to ensure which among the following? (2015)
1. People’s participation in development
2. Political accountability
3. Democratic decentralization
4. Financial mobilization
Select the correct answer using the code given below
(a) 1, 2 and 3 only
(b) 2 and 4 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Maoist attack in Chattisgarh
WHY IN NEWS?
— Ten personnel of the Chhattisgarh Police’s District Reserve Guard (DRG) and the civilian driver of their vehicle were reported killed in an IED attack by Maoists in the state’s Dantewada district on Wednesday (April 26).
— The attack took place more than two years after the April 2021 ambush by Maoists in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, in which 22 security forces personnel were killed.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Deeptiman Tiwary Explains:
Why have the Maoists carried out this attack in Chhattisgarh now?
— The timing of the attack fits with the Maoist strategy of heightened military activity and more attacks on security forces every summer. The CPI(Maoist) carries out Tactical Counter Offensive Campaigns (TCOCs) between February and June every year, in which the focus of its military wing is to inflict casualties on security forces.
— This period is chosen because with the onset of the monsoon in July, it becomes difficult to conduct offensive operations in the jungles. “There are overflowing nullahs that can’t be crossed. There is tall grass and shrubs everywhere, which reduce visibility. With the onset of the monsoon, both the Maoists and the security forces return to their camps,” a security establishment officer said.
— Almost all major attacks by Maoists on security forces, including the 2010 Chintalnar massacre of 76 CRPF personnel, have taken place during the TCOC period.
— The TCOC period this year has been characterised by increasing IED attacks. Until April 15 this year, Maoists had carried out 34 IED attacks in Bastar, sources said. This figure was 28 for 2022 and 21 for 2021.
What is the current LWE situation in the country?
— The influence of Maoists and associated violence has been falling consistently in the country because of multiple factors, including a stronger push by security forces in Maoist strongholds, roads and civic amenities reaching the interiors to a greater extent than earlier, and a general disenchantment with the Maoist ideology among the youth, which has deprived the insurgent movement of new leadership.
— According to the government, Maoist violence in the country has gone down by 77% since 2010. The number of resultant deaths (security forces + civilians) has come down by 90 % from the all-time high of 1,005 in 2010 to 98 in 2022, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has said.
— The government has cut the number of districts declared to be Naxal-affected from over 200 in the early 2000s to just 90 now, and claims that the geographical spread of violence is actually restricted to just 45 districts. The presence of Naxals is said to be minimal to zero in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Jharkhand, and Bihar, which were at one time their strongholds.
— According to the MHA, “the arc of violence has been considerably restricted with just 25 districts accounting for 90% of the LWE violence.”
— At a press conference last year, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said that Budha Pahad, a 55 sq km forested area between Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, considered to be the last bastion of Maoists in Jharkhand, had been freed of the insurgents. Shah has vowed to rid the country of the Maoist problem by 2024.
What is the situation in Chhattisgarh?
— It is the only state in the country where Maoists continue to have a significant presence and retain the capability to mount big attacks.
— According to government data provided to Parliament, in the last five years (2018-22), 1,132 “violent incidents [were] perpetrated by Left Wing Extremists”, in which 168 security forces personnel and 335 civilians lost their lives. Chhattisgarh accounted for more than a third of all Maoist-related violence in this period — worryingly, however, it had a share of 70%-90% of deaths.
— The violence graph in the state for this period has been up and down. Maoists mounted 275 attacks in 2018; the number fell to 182 in 2019, but rose to 241 in 2020. It then declined to 188 in 2021, but rose to 246 in 2022. Until the end of February, Maoists had killed 17 people in the state this year, including seven security force personnel, in 37 attacks.
— The numbers of deaths of security forces personnel too have risen and fallen in this period — 55 personnel were killed in 2018; 22 in 2019; 36 in 2020; 45 in 2021; and just 10 in 2022.
— Over this same period, security forces killed 328 Maoist cadres in more than 400 planned operations.
Why does Chhattisgarh continue to remain troubled?
— It is a widely accepted principle in counter-Maoist strategy that the war against Left Wing Extremism can only be won by the state police and not central forces. This is because the state police have local knowledge, understand the language, and have local networks that are essential for the generation of intelligence.
— It was through the active involvement of local police in the leading role that states such as Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand were able to end their Maoist problem. All these states formed special units of their police forces with personnel and officers drawn from the state, gave them special training, and won the battle with concerted security and development efforts.
— This process, security establishment sources say, started late in Chhattisgarh. By this time, police of neighbouring states had pushed Maoists from their states to Chhattisgarh, making it a concentrated zone of Maoist influence.
— The special unit of the Chhattisgarh Police, the DRG, was raised from the local tribal population and trained to fight Maoists only a few years ago, and has become active relatively recently.
— “It is a measure of their activity that in all recent attacks, it is the DRG personnel who have been targeted by the Maoists. We are consistently pushing into Maoist strongholds and conducting intelligence-based operations,” a Chhattisgarh Police officer said.
— The absence of roads in the interiors of Bastar has stymied the operations of security forces. Minimal presence of the administration in the interiors of South Bastar has ensured that Maoists continue to have influence in the region and enjoy local support through a mix of fear and goodwill.
(Source: Why have Maoists killed again — and why do they repeatedly attack in Chhattisgarh? by Deeptiman Tiwary)
Point to ponder: Security forces operating in left-wing-extremism affected areas must not lower the guard. Do you agree and why?
3. MCQ:
SAMADHAN doctrine is related to:
(a) Left-Wing Extremism
(b) Bad loans
(c) Modernization of Police Force
(d) Terrorism affected areas
World Malaria Day
WHY IN NEWS?
— As we marked World Malaria Day on 25th April – the WHO’s guiding theme this year was “Time to deliver zero malaria: invest, innovate, implement” – there are reasons to be hopeful in our quest to control and finally eradicate malaria, in the form of two first generation vaccines that have recently been developed and may soon be rolled out.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Dr Paushali Mukherjee, Virander S Chauhan Explains:
— Malaria has been one of humanity’s greatest scourges for millennia, primarily killing babies and infants.
— Amongst the human-infecting species of Plasmodium, P. vivax is geographically the most widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, while 95 per cent of all cases of P. falciparum occur in the African region and are associated with severe disease and disease-associated mortality.
— Many focussed initiatives, like ‘Roll Back Malaria’ launched in 1998 to reduce deaths from malaria by half by 2010, and a major eradication program launched in 2015, have resulted in a significant reduction in cases and deaths.
— Despite these efforts, however, the disease still kills over 400,000 people each year. As feared, Covid-19 pandemic has caused disruption in malaria control, diagnosis and treatment measure. The exact impact of the pandemic is yet to be mapped and understood. It is feared that it may have negatively impacted malaria control measures in a very significant manner.
What have been the breakthrough Malaria vaccines?
— The malaria parasite is extremely complex and elusive, its lifecycle involving multiple stages. Scientists across the world have generally found it very difficult to develop efficacious vaccines against malaria. Of more than 100 malaria candidate vaccines to have entered clinical trials in the last three decades, none of them have yet shown the benchmark efficacy of 75 percent set by WHO.
— Given the urgency of malaria control and prevention, last year, the WHO gave a historic go-ahead for the first malaria vaccine called RTS,S to be rolled out in high transmission African countries.
— This vaccine, a result of collaborative efforts of several organisations across the world, including GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Wellcome Trust, has taken more than 30 years and several hundred million dollars for its development.
— Although the RTS,S vaccine has relatively low efficacy, in the range of 30 to 40 per cent, it was granted approval in view of the enormity of the task of malaria control. The vaccine has already been administered to over one million children in pilot trials since 2019, and it has resulted in a significant reduction in severe malaria and hospitalisation in malaria-endemic countries like Ghana, Kenya and Malawi.
— Incidentally, an Indian company, Bharat Biotech, based in Hyderabad, has been granted a licence to manufacture this vaccine. Under the agreement, GSK will provide the adjuvant of the vaccine, a key ingredient of any vaccine, and Bharat Biotech is expected to be the only global manufacturer of the vaccine by 2029.
— Another malaria vaccine called the R21, which like RTS,S works against the liver stage of the parasite, has recently created much excitement in malaria vaccine research circles. The R21 has been developed by scientists at Oxford University and formulated with proprietary adjuvant from Novavax called Matrix M. This adjuvant has also been used in protein-based COVID-19 vaccine, manufactured and marketed in India by the Serum Institute of India (SII) under the brand name COVOVAX.
— Following highly promising results from phase 2 clinical studies, crucial large phase 3 trials of this vaccine have been conducted in several malaria endemic countries in Africa. The results of these trials have also been submitted to WHO for its consideration for prequalification for approval. However, regulatory authorities in Ghana and Nigeria have already given their approval for the vaccine in their respective countries.
— Interestingly, R21 vaccine is manufactured by another India company, the SII, which happens to the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer. Not only is SII the sole manufacturer of the vaccine, it also has sponsored the large Phase 3 licensure clinical trials in Africa. SII has already established capacity to produce 200 million doses annually, underling its commitment to fight against malaria and its eradication.
What do we know about Malaria vaccine research in India?
— Understanding the dynamics of vaccine-induced immunity and pre-existing immunity during disease is absolutely essential. Controlled Human Malaria Infection (CHMI) studies have the potential to fast-track initial assessments of vaccine efficacy, and also facilitate the first clinical evaluation of vaccines involving fewer adult subjects. It is not surprising that across the world many countries have developed the capacity to conduct highly safe CHMI studies.
— Although basic malaria research is being carried out in many aademic institutions in India, it not been possible to set up human challenge model anywhere in the country.
— Scientists at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi, have successfully developed and produced two experimental recombinant blood stage malaria vaccines against P. falciparum and P. vivax and carried out Phase I first-in-man clinical trials in India. Based on the encouraging results of the Phase I(a) trial with P. vivax vaccine, Phase 2(a) involving efficacy assessment by controlled human malaria infection has been completed in collaboration with scientists at Oxford University.
— Needless to say, if the CHMI model was available in India, these completely indigenous efforts would have greatly facilitated the progress of these, and other malaria vaccines, developed in India.
Is the road long ahead?
— The vaccines against infectious diseases, particularly that target young children, is a long drawn and complex endeavour, as exemplified by development of RTS,S and R21 malaria vaccines.
— Development of such vaccines will essentially require collaboration of multiple stake holders, stable high quality infrastructure and long-term financial support from government and other agencies. It seems quite clear that the current and future vaccines that need to be rolled out in lower and middle-income countries will mostly be manufactures by pharma industries in India.
— The time is right for India to invest, integrate, and be the leader in finding solution in combating deadly infectious diseases in the world.
FYI: Do we really need malaria vaccine?
— India has witnessed an 85.1 per cent decline in malaria cases and 83.36 per cent decline in deaths between 2015 and 2022, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said, while addressing the Asia-Pacific Leaders’ Conclave on Malaria Elimination. However, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) report of 2021, India accounts for 83 per cent of malaria cases in southeast Asia.
— While various interventions have been implemented to control the burden of malaria in India, a study conducted recently has said that a vaccine has the potential to eradicate the disease in India, especially if included in the immunisation schedule for children. It urged the health policy makers to target populations and ensure rapid uptake towards the goal of eliminating malaria from India.
— In October 2021, the WHO had approved the RTS,S/AS01 (RTS,S) malaria vaccine for administration in four scheduled doses for five-month infants to reduce the burden and severity of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, and in other regions with moderate-to-high Plasmodium Falciparum malaria transmission.
— At the Asia-Pacific Leaders’ Conclave on Malaria Elimination on Monday, Dr VK Paul, member of NITI Aayog, congratulated South Asian and Pacific Region countries in achieving a significant decline in malaria cases. He stressed on the goal to make malaria history with a focus on working on most marginalised and vulnerable communities with an inter-sectoral approach. He said that India needed to work rapidly in developing a vaccine against malaria “in order to have additional arms” against the disease.
— However, Dr Sanjay Rai, professor at the Centre for Community Medicine at AIIMS Delhi, said that since India was not in a high endemic zone, a vaccine push might be a bit overambitious. Excerpts from an interaction:
Can a vaccine against malaria work in India?
— India is in a lower endemic region now and we have less than 100 deaths being reported since the last two or three years. WHO had recommended a vaccine for Africa during Covid based on a study meant for high and moderate endemic countries. The 95 per cent fatalities all over the world were from sub-Saharan countries, particularly in children. The fatalities were happening there due to Plasmodium Falciparum but in India it is not the major culprit behind the malaria cases.
— In India, the majority of states have reported Plasmodium Vivax and the vaccine is not effective against it. It will give some immunity against the parasite but Vivax is not a very severe variant. We are not in a high endemic zone so that is why vaccines are not recommended. In Africa, a large number of fatalities happened in children due to Plasmodium Falciparum. We have a mixed type of malaria parasites, with Plasmodium P Vivax being the majority.
— Before rolling out any vaccine or any programme, we must do a cost-benefit analysis. WHO has done this assessment only in high burden countries where it is cost-effective. In low-burden countries, vaccination is not very cost-effective. Besides, for now only one vaccine has been approved.
Does Plasmodium P Vivax need a vaccination?
— Not many deaths have been recorded, so it’s not considered a dangerous parasite. We really don’t have approved vaccines for low endemic countries. While WHO has approved vaccines for high burden countries, it is also facing a demand and supply mismatch.
How to tackle malaria then?
— Many countries like Sri Lanka, Maldives and China, which were high burden countries, eliminated malaria only by control measures. If we adopt effective controls, it is possible to attain zero cases and fatalities. We need to work on source reduction and control breeding of mosquitoes, use bed nets and so on.
— There are various control measures under the National Vector Disease Control programme. In fact, cases have been declining in India over the last 10 years. All malaria-related indicators like positivity rate, annual parasite incidence are gradually declining too. So we are moving in the right direction but there is a need to accelerate control measures.
(Source: On World Malaria Day 2023, the challenges and new hopes in the fight against the disease by Dr Paushali Mukherjee and Virander S Chauhan, Do we really need a malaria vaccine? by Ankita Upadhyay)
4. MCQ:
With reference to recent developments regarding ‘Recombinant vector Vaccines’, consider the following statements: (2021)
1. Genetic engineering is applied in the development of these vaccines.
2. Bacteria and viruses are used as vectors.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
ANSWERS TO MCQs: 1 (c), 2 (c), 3 (a), 4 (c)
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