Monday, February 20, 2023

The National Association of Software and Services Companies, NASSCOM released a report on “Artificial Intelligence Penetration”. The report was launched along with DRAUP and SALESFORCE. According to the report, the AI penetration of India is 3.09. This is the highest among all G20 countries and OECD countries. The report also says India will have more than one million AI professionals by 2024.

Key Findings of the Report

AI-led core sectors of India are expected to add 500 billion USD to the economy
In 2022, the demand for AI in India was 629,000. However, the talent base stalled at 416,000
The current demand-supply gap of AI in the country is 51%. It is lower than the developed economies like the United States
73% of the AI jobs in India are taken by five major role players. They are data engineer, ML engineer, data architect, data scientist, data engineer, and DevOps engineer
ML engineers and Data engineers alone constitute 46% of total AI jobs

Requirements

To achieve its complete potential in the AI field, India has to enhance its skills in the field, launch more AI-related schemes, add AI to academics and put in other efforts.

Current Scenario of AI in India

Today there are 1,900 AI-based startups in India. Most of these startups operate in the field of disease detection, NLP, fraud prevention, fake detection, etc. The government of India is planning to establish three AI Centres of Excellence.

How is Assam faring on the TB eradication front?

“My husband is a buddhu [illiterate],” 41-year-old Anita Bodo says through her tears. When she was diagnosed with tuberculosis in early 2021, her husband was thrown out of his job and he in turn nearly abandoned her. Such is the stigma of TB among the tribal people of Baksa district in north-western Assam that a patient and even his family face exclusion and loss of livelihood.

Baksa, one of the four districts of the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District (since renamed as the Bodoland Territorial Region) formed in 2003 after the signing of the historic Bodoland Territorial Council accord, is home to a diverse group of people including Bodos, Nepalis, Bengalis, Adivasis working in tea gardens, Assamese, and Rajbongshis. The majority of them are poor and work as daily wage labourers, making them one of the most vulnerable populations.

As in other rural parts of the country, the lack of awareness and fear of contagion leads to the isolation of patients in their homes. Coughing up blood terrifies communities that are all too familiar with the symptoms of the illness. Most people are simply unaware that the disease ceases to be infectious after two weeks of treatment. Though there have not been many deaths, the stigma surrounding TB is enormous.

Social disease

As a result, tuberculosis has become a social disease. Apart from the physical seclusion of patients, families often keep separate utensils for them. Women are subjected to more stigma and discrimination than men. Anita battled the disease for a year with the help of her children and now wants to help others who are suffering from the social and physical impacts of TB.

When Frontline met her, she had cycled several kilometres from her village in Geruapara to the Adalbari State Dispensary to attend a tuberculosis care and support group meeting. She was joined by Bhabananda Das, 42, who lost his job after being diagnosed with TB. In his village of Athiyabari, seven persons contracted it simultaneously. “Because of the stigma people hid the fact that they had contracted the disease, which led to its rapid spread,” he said. According to the National TB Prevalence Survey, 2019-2021, as many as 312 per 100,000 population in India is afflicted with TB. In Assam, the figures are 217 per 100,000 population. “Our goal is to reduce the TB infection rate to 44 per lakh population by 2025 under the ongoing NTEP [National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme],” says Dr Avijit Basu, Joint Director and State TB Officer, Department of Health Services, Government of Assam.

The NTEP aims to eradicate TB in India by 2025. The Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations call for the elimination of the global TB epidemic by 2035.

According to the WHO, India accounts for roughly one-fourth of the world’s TB burden. Close to 50,000 people die of the disease every year in India, where at the same time about a million cases are missed every year, says Dr Palash Talukdar, WHO Consultant, NTEP, Assam. Active testing is a key challenge in detecting TB. Community engagement at the grassroots level is one of the ways the government and NGOs are trying to accelerate the process of TB eradication. In order to reach out to people in their communities, TB champions such as Anita Bodo and Bhabananda Das use tools provided by Lakhya Jyoti Bhuyan, Prasenjit Das, and Dinesh Talukdar, foot soldiers of the Karnataka Health Promotion Trust (KHPT), an NGO that works on TB, adolescent health, maternal neonatal and child health, and primary healthcare. They identify a TB Buddy, who can be a caregiver or community member to provide support during each stage of the treatment. One of their objectives is to reduce the psychosocial impact of TB on patients by effecting behavioural changes.

Arjun Narzary, who works with the Inland Water Transport department in Guwahati, was fortunate to have a government job. He was granted medical leave for the period of treatment and has rejoined duty.

E-rickshaw driver Phukan Basumatary has made it his life’s mission to spread awareness about the disease. He travels from village to village, blaring instructional audio content about TB from his vehicle. He has defied the stigma of remaining silent about the disease by shouting it out from his rickshaw.

Controlling it

KHPT’s Breaking the Barriers project (2020-2024), supported by USAID, is in line with India’s National Strategic Plan for TB elimination. “Elimination does not mean there will be zero cases of TB but that the disease will be under control. By 2025, our aim is to minimise the TB caseload,” says Dr Avijit Basu.

In Baramchari, a picturesque little village in Baksa, dozens of women finish their daily chores to settle under a canopy of trees to discuss how to combat the monster of TB. Members of a self-help group, they say that detection has gone up ever since their group got actively engaged with TB awareness. “We have so far detected four cases of TB in our villages. We make sure that there is no ostracisation of patients. We have more TB cases because of a lack of testing. People here work hard as daily wage labourers and can seldom afford nutritious food. And then they also drink the local liquor. A combination of these factors compromises their immunity and they get TB,” says Reena Rabha of Lokpala village, a leader of the group.

Apart from the tribal community of Baksa, the tea garden workers of Dibrugarh, mining populations, industrial workers, and urban migrants are among the most vulnerable groups. Urban migrants are vulnerable primarily because of their unhygienic living conditions, tobacco use, and a lack of proper nutrition. Suman Phukan, a community coordinator with the KHPT, works with such groups in Guwahati and the Kamrup Metropolitan district. She is the first point of contact for the Bihari and Muslim migrant labourers who live in the Sitlabari Railway Colony slum.

She tells the story of Sunil Peshwan, who was diagnosed with pulmonary TB for the third time at the age of 28. After his wife left him, Sunil had no one to look after him and he discontinued his medication. Members of the local Gajraj club volunteered to look after him, but when it became too much for them, they admitted him to a hospital. Sunil ran away from there.

When the club members tried to get re-admit him, the hospital authorities refused, citing the lack of a primary care giver. When Suman learned of Sunil’s deteriorating condition, she had him admitted to a Missionaries of Charity home, which had a TB unit on its premises. When Frontline met Sunil on the day of his release from the centre, he had lost a lot of weight, but had recovered and was willing to take care of himself.

Another vulnerable area identified by the KHPT is the localities around the famous Kamakhya temple in Guwahati. Members of two self-help groups, Muktinath and Kuhipat, have prioritised TB detection in this area.

Only time will tell whether these efforts by communities, governments and NGOs will be successful in eliminating TB. In her landmark book Phantom Plague: How Tuberculosis Shaped History, Vidya Krishnan sounds a word of caution. Narrating the history of TB from the days of the vampire panics that led to Bram Stoker’s Gothic horror novel Dracula to the discovery of modern medicine and penicillin, Vidya asks readers to be cautious about reducing the stories of patients to mere numbers and targets. She emphasises the links between social inequalities and disease and how sometimes urban building laws can act as institutionalised incubators of deadly drug-resistant bacteria.

She writes, “No amount of aid is going to save us from ever-evolving pathogens unless we fix the superstructures of global health at their structural root. TB and humans have evolved hand in hand. During the course of this relationship, the bacteria has learned from us more than we have from it. One bad decision at a time, the global TB pandemic has been socially constructed by us—humans who are reliably small-minded, casteist, and racist every time we face a pathogen that is highly unpredictable, mutating and thriving. The fundamental question here is not whether the pathogen will prevail. It is whether individual decency—that encourages us to fight for the right to health and the right to dignity for the poor and vulnerable—will prevail. There lies our salvation. No one is safe until everyone is.”

DIVYA TRIVEDI Source: FRONTLINE.THEHINDU.COM, 22/06/22

Disaster relief as a tool of outreach

After a devastating earthquake hit Turkey and Syria on February 7, killing at least 35,000 people as per available statistics, India promptly dispatched a relief and rescue team. Reacting within a few hours under Operation Dosti, India was among the first countries to respond to the earthquake. Among the foreign policy responses India has devised over a period, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief has emerged as the most effective tool to make an effective intervention in support of life.

As is known, the region is prone to natural disasters, especially cyclones and floods. According to the Asian Development Bank, “People in Asia and the Pacific were displaced more than 225 million times due to disasters triggered by natural hazards from 2010 to 2021, accounting for more than three-quarters of the global number.” These statistics seriously reflect the challenges that confront the region. The ability to reach first in times of natural disasters, given the geographical location of India in the South Asian region, has been branded by various political leaders in New Delhi, defining its role as a “net security provider”.

India’s role in disaster relief has evolved over the years. To make its outreach effective and swift, India established the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in 2005, which stands on four pillars: Prevention, Mitigation, Preparedness and Response. Though a recommendation to form such a mechanism had been made by a government-appointed high-powered committee in 1999, the Indian Ocean Tsunami perhaps awakened India to its capacity and ability to respond.

India’s National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was established in 2008 as a dedicated force trained in disaster response. It has 15 battalions drawn from various paramilitary forces which are trained for the purpose. It has been at the forefront of India’s effort to reach out to countries that are facing an immense humanitarian crisis due to natural disasters. India has always responded to crises in the neighbourhood and beyond. However, only recently have the efforts become more efficient and better structured. The need for agencies like the NDRF was felt long back to enable India to respond swiftly to natural disasters within the country and in the immediate neighbourhood. The Indian Ocean Tsunami was the first major response of India in operationalising effective relief. India conducted relief and rescue operations by sending its navy when a powerful tsunami hit Sri Lanka and the Maldives in December 2004; it also extended support when Cyclone Sidr battered Bangladesh’s coast in 2007. In 2008, it extended help when Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar though the military junta carried out the aid distribution.

India was the first country to dispatch the INS Sukanya and the INS Deepak with 1,200 tonnes of drinking water when a fire broke out at the water treatment plant in Male, resulting in a drinking water crisis in 2014. It became one of the first countries to reach Nepal during the 2015 earthquake when an NDRF team got there right after the disaster. Apart from extending help during natural disasters, India has provided relief to the Rohingya refugees and the local population under Operation Insaniyat.

Evacuation is another important aspect of India’s increasing profile for providing humanitarian assistance. It evacuated Indian nationals as well as 960 foreigners from 41 countries when civil war broke out in Yemen in April 2015 under Operation Rahat. Within six hours, India sent a rescue team and relief to Nepal in April 2015 under Operation Maitri led by the Indian Army.

Not only has India augmented its ability to emerge as a first responder, it has also established an early warning system to predict natural disasters, including tsunamis in the Indian Ocean. In 2014, it provided $1 million to a trust fund to establish an early warning system as part of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System. The Indian-funded South Asia satellite that India launched helps in enhancing communication technology and disaster information transfer. Recently, the World Meteorological Department entrusted India with the responsibility of coordinating, developing and implementing the Regional Centre of South Asia Flash Flood Guidance System. India has been using it since 2020 to warn its neighbours of impending flash floods.

Capacity building of the neighbours is one of the priorities for India, apart from holding joint exercises to build interoperability. The South Asian Annual Disaster Management Exercises is one of them. India has several regional and international cooperation activities to carry its humanitarian assistance and disaster relief mission forward. However, it needs to engage more deeply in capacity building through training and joint exercises. There are the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) disaster management exercises which are hosted by India, and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) exercises.

India, which defines its role as a first responder in the neighbourhood, has been efficient in reaching out in times of natural disasters. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it stood true to its role when it dispatched vaccines to countries in the neighbourhood. However, it could not live up to the expectation it had generated through its vaccine maitri outreach when it faced a severe second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and stopped exporting vaccines. This created a crisis as neighbours scrambled for vaccines, which certainly created a dent in India’s credibility as a first responder.

To succeed in this role, India needs to engage in capacity building and joint exercises and work on interoperability between agencies. As disaster relief also requires engagement with locals, multi agency participation at the bilateral level is important. The 2022-23 budget of the External Affairs Ministry has earmarked INR 50 million for Disaster Relief under the heading Aid to Countries. Though this budget allocation appears minuscule, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief even featuring in the budget of the External Affairs Ministry shows that they have emerged as an important foreign policy instrument for India.

Smruti Pattanaik

Source: The Statesman, 17/02/23

Thursday, February 16, 2023

Quote of the Day February 16, 2023

“As I see it, every day you do one of two things: build health or produce disease in yourself.”
Adelle

“मेरे विचार से आप प्रतिदिन दो में से कोई एक काम करते हैं: स्वास्थ्य वर्धन करना या अपने शरीर में रोग पैदा करना।”
एडेल्लेय

ERC gives consolidator grants worth €657 million to excellent researchers

A total of 321 researchers have won the 2022 European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grants. The funding, worth €657 million, is part of the EU’s Horizon Europe programme. It will help excellent scientists, who have 7 to 12 years’ experience after their PhDs, to pursue their most promising ideas.

The grants will be invested in scientific projects spanning all disciplines of research, from engineering to life sciences and even humanities. For example, a neurologist in Denmark will look for a personalised treatment for chronic pain; a researcher in France will explore fibrous materials as a green alternative to fossil-based plastics; and a bioarcheologist in Lithuania will study what influenced the adoption and abandonment of crops over time, to improve present-day food security, biodiversity, and adaptation to climate change.

The laureates of this grant competition proposed to carry out their projects at universities and research centres in 18 EU member states, plus other countries associated with Horizon Europe. Among the EU countries, the highest number of grants will be located in Germany (62 projects), France (41) and Spain (24).

Nationals of 37 countries are among the winners of this call, notably Germans (52 researchers), Italians (32), French (31) and British (31). This call attracted 2,222 applicants, while the proposals were reviewed by panels of renowned researchers from across the world. The grants will create around 1,950 jobs for postdoctoral fellows, PhD students, and other staff at the host institutions.

Prof Maria Leptin, president, ERC, said, “ERC Consolidator grants support researchers at a crucial time of their careers, strengthening their independence, reinforcing their teams, and helping them establish themselves as leaders in their fields. Above all, this backing gives them a chance to pursue their scientific dreams.”

The statistics and final list of successful candidates are provisional. The Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) allows for associating the UK to the current EU research and innovation funding programme, Horizon Europe, subject to the adoption of a Protocol. As this Protocol has not been adopted so far, the UK is still considered ‘non-associated’ to Horizon Europe. Therefore, the successful proposals of applicants based in a country in the process of associating to Horizon Europe will be eligible for funding only if the relevant Horizon Europe association agreement applies by the time of the signature of the grant agreement. However, successful applicants from UK host institutions can still be funded, provided they move to a host institution in an eligible country

Current Affairs-February 16, 2023

INDIA

In Tripura, voting begins to elect a new 60-Member Legislative Assembly.
India and Spain agree to collaborate on digital infrastructure, climate action and sustainable development
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the mega National Tribal Festival – Aadi Mahotsav.
Cabinet approves construction of Shinku La Tunnel to provide all-weather connectivity in Ladakh
PM Modi to virtually inaugurate Jal Jan Abhiyan in Sirohi district of Rajasthan
India earmarks 75 per cent of capital procurement budget for domestic industry
Two-day Global Tech Summit to begin in Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) to provide maintenance and overhaul support for MQ-9B drone engines in India.

ECONOMY

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announces 2nd global hackathon- HARBINGER 2023.
West Bengal state government announces its state budget for the year 2023-24; broadens welfare schemes.
Foodgrain production is estimated to be over 3,235 lakh tonnes in agricultural year 2022-23: Second advance estimates.

WORLD

Death toll in Turkey and Syria climbs to more than 41,000 after devastating earthquakes.
South Korea has said that a North Korean food crisis appears to be worsening.
Pakistan government introduces bill to raise Rs 170 billion in taxes

SPORTS

Women’s T20 World Cup: India beat West Indies by 6 wickets.
Akshdeep Singh and Priyanka Goswami win National Race Walking Championships.
Indian men’s cricket team tops in all three formats for the first time

Followers