Research contradicts earlier findings on smoking and Covid-19. Smokers, everywhere, lose a silver lining

 

A section of scientists has questioned the earlier studies, claiming that some of the researchers had ties to the tobacco industry.

Spare a thought for the smokers. Last year, at the height of the first wave of the pandemic, researchers — first in France, later in China and India — published studies that seemed to indicate smokers were at less risk of contracting Covid, and when they did, experienced less severe symptoms. In France, there was reportedly a rush on tobacconists by non-smokers hoping to get a little extra protection. For smokers everywhere, here, at last, was a justification — as much for themselves as for those they have been shunned by for the smell and cloud of carcinogens they spread — to take another drag. Now, unfortunately, they have been robbed of the only silver lining that pierced the haze and the tar all too briefly.

A recent study in England has collated observational and genetic data on Covid-19 and tobacco use and found that compared to those who had never smoked, smokers were about 80 per cent more likely to be hospitalised after contracting the virus. A section of scientists has questioned the earlier studies, claiming that some of the researchers had ties to the tobacco industry.

Not surprisingly, the disappointment among tobacco addicts is palpable. Unlike other substances — alcohol, marijuana and more notorious narcotics — smoking doesn’t really get you high. The social cost for the addiction is hardly commensurate to the pleasure — train and plane journeys have you jonesing, you’re shunned to dark corners outside bars and sometimes, even from your own homes to service the need without bothering others. All this, while it burns a huge hole in your pocket and you slowly but surely watch your health deteriorate. From France, the birthplace of existentialism, there was hope that smoking had a purpose. From England, the birthplace of utilitarianism, that hope has been taken away.

Source:29/09/21

Regularly available, credible data on formal and informal work force is needed to inform policy, plug the gaps

 

It provides policymakers not only a sense of the extent of labour market distress during periods of economic upheaval, but also an understanding of the effectiveness of government policies.

On Monday, the Ministry of Labour and Employment released the findings of the new Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) for the first quarter of the ongoing financial year. As most labour market data in India comes with a considerable lag, making it too late for any meaningful input in policymaking, the new survey is a welcome step towards filling the information void that surrounds the labour market. Regularly available, high quality, credible labour market data forms a valuable input. It provides policymakers not only a sense of the extent of labour market distress during periods of economic upheaval, but also an understanding of the effectiveness of government policies.

The quarterly survey provides data on employment in nine non-farm sectors of the economy — namely manufacturing, construction, trade, transport, education, health, accommodation and restaurants, information technology/business process outsourcing and financial services. These nine sectors account for roughly 85 per cent of total employment in units employing 10 or more workers. According to this survey, organised sector employment stood at 3.08 crore during April-June 2021, up from 2.37 crore in 2013-14. This translates to an annual growth rate of just 3.3 per cent. While most sectors saw a rise in employment during this period, employment in trade, and accommodation and restaurants — sectors that are more likely to have been hit by the pandemic — was down by 25 per cent and 13 per cent respectively. In fact, as per the survey, employment actually fell in 27 per cent of the establishments due to the pandemic. However, the survey also says, during the period of the national lockdown last year (March 25-June 30, 2020), 81 per cent of workers received full wages, 16 per cent received reduced wages, while 3 per cent were denied wages. How this demand-side snapshot provided by an establishment-based survey reconciles with supply-side data from household surveys remains to be seen.

As the QES covers only establishments with at least 10 workers, it provides data essentially on the formal economy. Considering that informal workers (with no written contracts, and benefits) account for roughly 90 per cent of the labour force in India, the QES thus provides only a partial glimpse of the labour market. Only when data on the unorganised sector (establishments employing nine or less workers) is captured — this forms the second part of the framework of the labour bureau’s establishment-based surveys — will a more comprehensive picture of the labour market emerge.

Source: Indian Express, 29/09/21

Quote of the Day

 

“What some people mistake for the high cost of living is really the cost of living high.”
Doug Larson

“कुछ लोग जिसे ग़लती से जीवन स्तर की बढ़ती कीमतें समझ बैठते हैं, वह वास्तव में बढ़ चढ़ कर जीने की कीमत होती है।”
डग लारसन

Current Affairs- September 28, 2021

 

INDIA

– Candidates for seven Rajya Sabha seats elected

– PM launches Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission; every citizen to get digital health ID and health records digitally protected

– Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri launches ‘Swachh Survekshan 2022’ annual cleanliness survey

– 4th Indo-US Health Dialogue being hosted by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sept 27-28

– India, Oman ink pact to boost maritime security cooperation during visit of Chief of Navy Staff Admiral Karambir Singh

– EAM S. Jaishankar meets Singaporean counterpart in US; discusses Indo-Pacific, COVID-19

– Delhi: CM Arvind Kejriwal launches Delhi tourism’s mobile app ‘Dekho Meri Dilli’

– Gujarat: Nimaben Acharya becomes 1st woman Speaker of Assembly

– Lieutenant General Gurbirpal Singh takes charge as new Director General of National Cadet Corps (NCC)

ECONOMY & CORPORATE

– Centre sets up GoM led by led by Karnataka CM Basavaraj S. Bommai set up to rationalise GST rates

– Centre notifies medical device parks’ scheme

– RBI imposes Rs 2 crore penalty on RBL Bank for breaching deposit, board composition norms

– Ministry of Food Processing Industries, in association with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, virtually launches the PMFME (Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises) Scheme Seed Capital Module

– NCW launches Training, Capacity Building Program for Women in Dairy Farming

– India, Australia must work towards enhancing supply chain resilience: Piyush Goyal

WORLD

– Germany: Social Democrats beat outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU/CSU conservative bloc in general elections

– Europe: San Marino votes in favor of legalising abortion in a referendum

– World Tourism Day observed on Sept 27; focus: “Tourism for Inclusive Growth”

– Greece: Strong quake rattles island of Crete; 1 dead

– Iceland: Close to 50% seats won by women in general elections

SPORTS

– Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton wins 100th Formula One race with victory in Russian GP at Sochi

– US defeats Europe 19-9 to win Ryder Cup golf tournament held in Wisconsin (US)

What is Dark Energy?

 Recently, an international team of researchers directly detected the dark energy with the help of advanced technologies and new experiments.

• Dark energy is a mysterious form of energy, making up about 68% of the universe. This energy has intrigued physicists as well as astronomers for decades.
• Researchers noticed some unexpected results in an underground experiment and noted that. dark energy may be responsible for it.

The XENON1T Experiment

XENON1T experiment is the most sensitive dark matter experiment in the world. It was operated deep underground at INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy. Finding of the experiment suggests that experiments like XENON1T could be used to detect dark energy.

What is Dark energy?

Dark energy makes up about 68% of the universe. 27% of the universe is made up of dark matter while planets, moons & massive galaxies make up only 5% of the universe. Dark matter attracts & holds galaxies together on the other hand, dark energy repels & causes the expansion of universe.

How dark energy was detected?

While conducting the XENON1T experiment, researchers reported an unexpected signal. There was some background noise and the electrons in XENON1T move a bit on their own even with no dark matter or dark energy around due to the noise. This excess was probably caused by the dark energy.

When dark energy can be directly detected?

As per researchers, upcoming upgrades to the XENON1T experiment and similar experiments like LUX-Zeplin could help in detecting the dark energy directly.

Children born in 2021 to be twice as affected by climate change: Study

 A new study showed that today's young generation will be much severely affected by climate extremes like wildfires, droughts, floods etc than today's adults.

Researchers have found that today's children will be hit much harder by climate extremes than today's adults.The findings of the study were published in the journal 'Science'.

During their lifetime, a child born in 2021 will experience on average twice as many wildfires, between two and three times more droughts, almost three times more river floods and crop failures, and seven times more heatwaves compared to a person who's for instance 60 years old today, the researchers found based on data from the Inter-sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP).

This is under a scenario of current greenhouse gas emission reduction pledges by governments which will be a topic at the upcoming world climate summit COP26 in Glasgow.

"Our results highlight a severe threat to the safety of young generations and call for drastic emission reductions to safeguard their future," said lead-author Wim Thiery from Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

"We even have strong reasons to think that our calculations underestimate the actual increases that young people will face," added Thiery.

Regarding droughts, heatwaves, river floods and crop failures, people under the age of 40 today will live what the researchers call "an unprecedented life".

"The good news: we can indeed take much of the climate burden from our childrens' shoulders if we limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by phasing out fossil fuel use," said Katja Frieler, who is coordinating ISIMIP, she's a leading scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and co-author of the study.

"If we increase climate protection from current emission reduction pledges and get in line with a 1.5-degree target, we will reduce young people's potential exposure to extreme events on average by 24 per cent globally," explained Frieler.

"For North America, it's minus 26 per cent, for Europe and Central Asia minus 28 per cent, and in the Middle East and North Africa even minus 39 per cent. This is a huge opportunity," added Frieler.

For instance, under a scenario of current insufficient climate policies, dangerous heatwaves that affect 15 per cent of the global land area today could increase to 46 per cent, hence triple by the end of the century.

Yet limiting warming to 1.5 degrees, which is the ambition of the Paris Climate Agreement signed by almost all countries worldwide, would reduce the affected land area to 22 per cent. This is more than today but significantly less than with unmitigated warming.

The analysis is the first of its kind. To assess age-dependent extreme event exposure, the researchers took a collection of multi-model climate impact projections from the ISIMIP project building on the work of dozens of research groups worldwide.

The researchers combined this with country-scale life-expectancy data, population data and temperature trajectories from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 

Source: Hindustan Times, 27/09/21

The right to sit must be the beginning

 The lack of access to seating works as a strong impediment to women’s participation in India’s workforce.

On September 13, the Tamil Nadu (TN) assembly passed the amended Tamil Nadu Shops and Establishments Act, 1947, making it mandatory for shops, storefronts, and commercial establishments to provide employees with seating facilities. TN is the second state to do so after Kerala. With most establishments having no chairs or stools for salespersons who work for over 10 hours a day, often with no toilet or tea breaks, workers developed various physical ailments (and most of the workers are women). These rules defy every tenet of labour rights and human dignity, and are often compounded by paltry wages and scant benefits.

While granting workers the right to sit is a positive move, India has a long way to go. The shops and establishments acts are state-specific, and regulate the terms of employment and conditions of service of employees. However, labour rights experts are demanding more: National legislation to protect the fundamental rights of employees because issues such as the lack of access to seating and toilets are related to occupational health and safety. Such provisions should have been added to the Occupational Safety Health Working Conditions Code, 2020. At present, the Code is applicable to establishments that have more than 10 employees.

The lack of access to seating works as a strong impediment to women’s participation in India’s workforce. Indian women face many barriers to their entry into the labour market. The denial of basic working conditions adds to those problems, and forces them out of the workforce. This not only undermines India’s economic growth and development trajectory, but denies a chance for 48% of its population to fulfill their dreams and potential.

Source: Hindustan Times, 26/08/21