Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Rats not responsible for ‘Black Death’ in medieval Europe: study
A study has revealed that black rats, considered to be behind the outbreaks of bubonic plague or the infamous “Black Death” which wiped out a third of Europe’s population in the Middle Ages, may not have been to blame for numerous outbreaks.
The study, “Climate-driven introduction of the Black Death and successive plague reintroductions into Europe” has been published in journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), according to a report in the BBC.
The scientists who authored the study believe that the culprit instead was the Giant Gerbil, another rodent species, as well as climate change.
“If we're right, we'll have to rewrite that part of history,” the report quoted Nils Christian Stenseth, from the University of Oslo, as saying.
Stenseth and his colleagues compared tree-ring records from Europe with 7,711 historical plague outbreaks to see if the weather conditions would have been optimum for a rat-driven outbreak.
He said: "For this, you would need warm summers, with not too much precipitation. Dry but not too dry. And we have looked at the broad spectrum of climatic indices, and there is no relationship between the appearance of plague and the weather."
Instead, the team believes that specific weather conditions in Asia may have caused the giant gerbil to thrive. And this then later led to epidemics in Europe.
"We show that wherever there were good conditions for gerbils and fleas in central Asia, some years later the bacteria shows up in harbour cities in Europe and then spreads across the continent," Stenseth added.
He said that a wet spring followed by a warm summer would cause gerbil numbers to boom.
"Such conditions are good for gerbils. It means a high gerbil population across huge areas and that is good for the plague," he added.
The fleas, which also do well in these conditions, would then jump to domestic animals or to humans.
And because this was a period when trade between the East and West was at a peak, the plague was most likely brought to Europe along the Silk Road, Stenseth explained.
Food production cannot ensure food security, says FAO head
Increasing production has for long been seen as the natural pathway to ending hunger, but today even though the world produces enough food to feed everyone, hunger remains a problem, the head of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said at the International Forum on Agriculture and Climate Change, held in Paris on February 20. At least 805 million still go without enough food on a regular basis, pointed out FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva.
"Since food production is not a sufficient condition for food security, it means that the way we are producing is no longer acceptable," said Graziano da Silva. “What we are still mostly seeing is a model of production that cannot prevent the degradation of soils and the loss of biodiversity, both of which are essential goods, especially for future generations. This model must be reviewed. We need a paradigm shift. Food systems need to be more sustainable, inclusive and resilient," he added.
Agriculture has a potentially large role to play not only in guaranteeing food security but also in building resilience to the affects of climate change and in reducing humankind's emissions of global warming gases, according to the FAO head. “The impacts of climate change are no longer an anticipated threat. They are now a crystal-clear reality right before our eyes,” he warns, adding: “Climate change will not only affect food production but also the availability of food and the stability of supplies. And in a global, interdependent economy, climate change makes the global market for agricultural products less predictable and more volatile."
In his remarks, the FAO Director-General underscored the important role played by healthy soils. "Soil hosts at least one quarter of the world's biodiversity and is key in the carbon cycle. They help us to mitigate and adapt to climate change," he said. 2015 has been designated by the UN General Assembly as the International Year of soils, and FAO is the lead agency for coordinating the year's activities.
A budget for women
The government’s first full year budget is an excellent chance to recognise missed opportunities and take corrective action with regard to investing in addressing gender inequality
The coming Union budget is significant for at least two reasons: first, this will be the new government’s maiden full year budget. Second, with the NITI Aayog replacing the Planning Commission, the government is likely to abolish the distinction between plan and non-plan budgets.
This year’s budget is also an opportunity for the government to demonstrate its commitment to gender equality. Gender issues have found consistent mention in official fora, including in the speeches of the Prime Minister. Ensuring adequate allocations for policies and programmes for women will help translate those commitments into action.
Development challenge
Gender inequality poses a significant development challenge in India. The Global Gender Gap Index 2014 ranked India at 114 out of 142 countries. The ranking is based on a country’s ability to reduce gender disparities in four areas: economic participation and opportunity, education, political empowerment, and health and survival. Violence against women and girls persists, both in private and in public spaces.
Gender inequality poses a significant development challenge in India. The Global Gender Gap Index 2014 ranked India at 114 out of 142 countries. The ranking is based on a country’s ability to reduce gender disparities in four areas: economic participation and opportunity, education, political empowerment, and health and survival. Violence against women and girls persists, both in private and in public spaces.
As a response to these challenges, India adopted ‘gender-responsive budgeting’ (GRB) in 2005. Put simply, GRB is a method of planning, programming and budgeting that helps advance gender equality and women’s rights. It also serves as an indicator of governments’ commitment to meeting those objectives. So far, 57 government Ministries/departments in India have set up Gender Budgeting Cells — a major step that could potentially impact the lives of crores of women. An analysis of GRB in India, 10 years after it was adopted, will be a crucial pointer to the way forward.
The quantum of allocations for schemes relating to women — out of a budget of nearly Rs.18 lakh crore (2014-15 budget estimate) — can be assessed by examining the Gender Budget Statement (GBS) which was first introduced in the 2005-06 budget. The analysis shows that over the last eight years the allocations for women as a proportion of the total budget have remained constant at approximately 5.5 per cent. Further, only about 30 per cent of the demands for grants, or estimates of expenditure, presented by Ministries/departments to the Union government are reported in the GBS.
Further, allocations to the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD), the nodal agency for women in the country, show a marginal increase over the last three years — from Rs. 18,584 crore in 2012-13 to Rs. 21,193 crore in 2014-15. With respect to ‘Women Welfare,’ the allocations actually show a downward trend — from approximately Rs. 930 crore in 2011-12 to around Rs. 920 crore in 2014-15. And almost 87 per cent of the 2014-15 budget of the MWCD was allocated for the Integrated Child Development Services Scheme, leaving only five per cent for schemes exclusively meant for women.
The UN Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women has emphasised the need for increased investments for the MWCD and for gender budgets across Ministries. In 2014, following its review of the fourth and fifth periodic reports submitted by the Government of India, the Committee — which monitors States’ implementation of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) — also reiterated the need to strengthen institutions such as the National Commission for Women and the State commissions.
Schemes focussed exclusively on women either received reduced allocations or were not implemented, as seen from the revised estimates for 2013-14 vis-à-vis the budget estimates of the same year. Revised estimate figures are presented for the ongoing fiscal year based on the performance in the first six months of that year. The Domestic Violence Act is a case in point. The legislation, enacted a decade ago, received an allocation of Rs. 20 crore in 2012-13. Revised estimate figures for 2013-14 show zero allocation, which indicates that the scheme launched to operationalise the Act did not take off that year. Renamed SAAHAS, the scheme was allocated Rs. 50 crore last year. The coming budget will reveal how much of this was actually spent.
Other schemes such as restorative justice for rape victims have also seen a decline in allocations. The recent launch of the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ scheme by the new government is commendable. Equal attention must now be paid to better implementation of laws and special measures for the most marginalised women, as highlighted in the election manifesto of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
It will also be important to ensure increased spending on all social sectors such as health, education and sanitation, given their impact on women. Women bear the greatest burden of unpaid care work — which includes looking after children and elderly or sick family members, cooking and cleaning. The call to recognise, redistribute and reduce women’s unpaid care work has gained momentum globally. This is therefore an opportune time to increase the quantum of allocations to the social sector.
Positive trend
A positive trend over the past couple of years has been the pre-budget consultations organised by the Ministry of Finance, aimed at ensuring that the voices of women are also heard in the budget making process. This year, in addition to meeting women’s rights organisations, the Ministry also held a dialogue with UN Women along with the MWCD to discuss key issues pertaining to GRB.
A positive trend over the past couple of years has been the pre-budget consultations organised by the Ministry of Finance, aimed at ensuring that the voices of women are also heard in the budget making process. This year, in addition to meeting women’s rights organisations, the Ministry also held a dialogue with UN Women along with the MWCD to discuss key issues pertaining to GRB.
In conclusion, the coming budget can serve as a timely course correction. The emphasis must be on the strengthening of key institutions, adequate investments for schemes that address gender concerns and the effective implementation of those schemes.
The coming months will see a greater focus on development issues in general, and gender issues in particular, with the adoption of the post-2015 global development agenda and reviews of countries’ performance vis-à-vis the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (Beijing+20). The stand-alone goal on gender equality and women’s empowerment in the Sustainable Development Goals is an achievement for women’s rights advocates across the globe. It will, however, remain elusive if not backed by adequate investments. The government’s first full year budget is an excellent chance to recognise missed opportunities and take corrective action.
Feb 25 2015 : The Times of India (Delhi)
India's tiger census method flawed, says Oxford study
Experts Hit Back, Say Univ’s Research Poorly Designed
Reigniting the debate over India’s tiger census, which has shown a 30% rise in the big cat’s population in four years, a British-Indian team of scientists has said the exercise mostly likely suffers from a measuring error — a finding rebuffed by experts involved in the census exercise.At the heart of the row is the ‘index calibration model’ which measures animal numbers when they can’t all be seen, using data from camera-traps, radio-collars etc.
The technique is commonly used in the census of tigers and other rare wildlife across the world. In the study, published in Methods in Ecology and Evolution, scientists from the University of Oxford, Indian Statistical Institute and Wildlife Conservation Society brought out inherent shortcomings in the model and said it could produce inaccurate results. However, experts involved in India’s tiger census said the study was poorly designed and the datasets used to develop the theoretical model suffered from low reliability. “It is not surprising that they haven’t found a strong relationship of tiger density with tiger signs or any other variable for that matter. No amount of statistical sophistication can compensate for poor study design,” said Yadvendra D Jhala and Qamar Qureshi from Wildlife Institute of India, in an email response. Both experts are principal investigators of the estimation exercise. Index-calibration relies on measuring animal numbers accurately in a relatively small region using relia ble, intensive and expensive methods (such as camera trapping) and then relating this measure to a more easily obtained, inexpensive indicator by means of calibration. The calibrated index is then used to extrapolate actual animal numbers over larger regions. To investigate index-calibration, the study team created a mathematical model describing the approach and then tested its efficiency using different values, even attempting to derive tiger numbers from fieldwork data. Under most conditions, the model was shown to lose its efficiency and power to predict. |
Rights abuse rampant in India: Amnesty
Kounteya Sinha
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London:
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Amnesty International has pulled up India, saying impunity is widespread for human rights abuses by state and non-state actors in the country .In its annual report, to be released on Wednesday, the global human rights watch dog has said state authorities often failed to prevent and at times committed crimes against children, women, dalits and adivasi (indigenous) people. Arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and extrajudicial executions often went unpunished, it has said.
A case in point was the arbitrary arrests and detentions of protesters and human rights defenders. National Human Rights Commission data indicated 123 illegal arrests and 203 cases of unlawful detention were reported from April to July 2014.
Amnesty has said “antiterror“ laws such as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, which did not meet international human rights standards, were used. It has also criticized India for failing to clean up the contaminated factory site of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy . “Survivors continue to experience health problems linked to the leak and to pollution from the factory site,“ Amnesty has said.
The rights group has also brought to light the menace of extrajudicial executions. It has said proceedings contin ued before the Supreme Court relating to a petition seeking investigations into over 1,500 alleged “fake encounters“ -a term referring to staged extrajudicial executions -in Manipur. Courts in Delhi, Bihar and Punjab convicted police personnel of being involved in fake encounter killings.
A case in point was the arbitrary arrests and detentions of protesters and human rights defenders. National Human Rights Commission data indicated 123 illegal arrests and 203 cases of unlawful detention were reported from April to July 2014.
Amnesty has said “antiterror“ laws such as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, which did not meet international human rights standards, were used. It has also criticized India for failing to clean up the contaminated factory site of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy . “Survivors continue to experience health problems linked to the leak and to pollution from the factory site,“ Amnesty has said.
The rights group has also brought to light the menace of extrajudicial executions. It has said proceedings contin ued before the Supreme Court relating to a petition seeking investigations into over 1,500 alleged “fake encounters“ -a term referring to staged extrajudicial executions -in Manipur. Courts in Delhi, Bihar and Punjab convicted police personnel of being involved in fake encounter killings.
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