The President appointed retired IAS officers Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu as the new Election Commissioners.
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About News
The President appointed the two new Election Commissioners, issuing a notification under the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023.
The two appointments became the first to be conducted as per the new Act.
Gyanesh Kumar is a 1988 batch IAS officer from the Kerala cadre. Gyanesh Kumar will replace Rajiv Kumar as the next Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) in February 2025.
Sukhbir Singh Sandhu is 1998 batch IAS officer but from Uttarakhand cadre.
Election Commission of India (ECI)
Article 324 provides for the composition of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
It consists of the CEC and two other ECs.
The Constitution provides that the appointment of the CEC and EC shall, subject to the provisions of any law made by Parliament, be made by the President.
While the existing parliamentary law provides for their conditions of service, it is silent with respect to appointments.
The appointments till date are made by the President, that is the Central Government and there is no mechanism for ensuring independence during the appointment process.
A.P. sanctuaries hosted more than one lakh migratory birds this winter
Time to Read :🕑 5 Mins
Why in news?
Wildlife authorities report that Kolleru, Coringa, Pulicat, Nelapattu, and other bird sanctuaries have been abuzz with roosting birds this migratory season.
About News
According to the Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), around 1.50 lakh birds arrived in the sanctuaries, water bodies and wetlands in Andhra Pradesh this migratory season.
Nearly 50,000 birds were counted in Kolleru Lake, 43,130 birds at Coringa Sanctuary, 37,150 winged visitors at Pulicat Lake, around 16,000 birds at Nelapattu, and 8,000 birds at Uppalapadu.
Indian skimmers, great knots, greater flamingos, pelicans, painted storks, little egrets, northern pintail, Indian pond herons, Eurasian coots, glossy ibis, lesser whistling ducks, black-winged stilts, black-tailed godwits, grey pelicans, Asian open bill storks, garganey, purple swamphen and other birds were sighted.
The Forest Department arranged artificial mounds and iron stands to create nesting areas for the migratory birds in the lakes.
Instructions were given to Forest Range Officers (FROs), Deputy FROs and beat officers to take measures to provide a conducive atmosphere for the birds.
Centre to provide cashless treatment for road crash victims
Time to Read :🕑 5 Mins
Why in news?
The government has announced a pilot project in Chandigarh to provide cashless treatment of up to ₹1.5 lakh to victims of road accidents.
About Project
The pilot programme was announced by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
The pilot will be undertaken in Chandigarh to establish an “ecosystem for providing timely medical care to the victims of road accidents, including during the golden hour,”.
Victims will be entitled to cashless treatment of upto ₹1.5 lakhs per person for a maximum period of seven days from the date of accident.
The pilot scheme will be applicable to all victims of road accidents, which involves a motor vehicle, that occurred on any category of road.
The packages for trauma and polytrauma offered under Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana will also be co-opted under the scheme.
Claims raised by hospitals for providing treatment will be reimbursed from the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund.
The golden hour is the one-hour period following a traumatic injury during which there is the highest likelihood of preventing death by providing prompt medical care, according to the Motor Vehicles Amendment Act, 2019.
The amendment also provided for “a scheme for cashless treatment of road accident victims” as well as a Motor Vehicle Accident Fund.
The National Health Authority will be the implementing agency for the pilot programme, and will co-ordinate with police, hospitals and State Health Agency.
The implementation will rely on an IT platform which will use data from the Road Ministry’s Integrated Road Accident Database (iRAD) where police personnel enter data on road accidents along with photos and videos.
RBI likely to ‘upgrade’ some NBFCs to top layer this year
Time to Read :🕑 7 Mins
Why in news?
Nearly two years after introducing a revised regulatory framework for non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), the Reserve Bank of India is set to review the categorization of NBFCs in 2024, with a focus on potentially moving some to a stricter regulatory tier.
More detail about news
Some NBFCs backed by large corporate houses and conglomerates could be in focus for the purpose of this review.
Based on specific parameters, some NBFCs could be moved to the top layer from the upper layers, and depending on they perform in the top layer, they could be contenders for bank licenses when opportunity open up.
The exercise of moving up select NBFCs from upper layer could hence be a precursor and a testing process for handing out bank licenses.
Currently, 16 non-banks are placed in the upper layer of which nine NBFCs, including Tata Sons Private Ltd, are led by large business houses (see table). Tata Capital, M&M Finance, L&T Finance and Bajaj Finance are some names doing the rounds for the upgradation to top layer.
Basis of upgradation
It is learnt that merely scale and size of an NBFC may not be a determining factor for upgradation in scale.
The regulator is expected take a nuanced approach and rate non-banks on parameters such as ability to handle customer grievances, technology capabilities, asset granularity and composition of loan book, nature and quantum of business handled in-house, quality of board and top management, asset liability mismatch management, diversification of liabilities and so on.
The regulator may not adopt a ‘one-size fit all’ approach to gauge the candidates and who should move to the top layer may be reviewed on a case-to-case basis.
Also, the upgradation process is seen critical to remove the thought process which many NBFCs in the upper layer have, which is that they are already functioning like banks.
Scale based regulations came into effect on October 2021 and was implemented a year later. There are four layers namely base layer, middle layer, upper layer and top layer. As on September 30, 2023, NBFCs in the base, middle and upper layers constituted 6 per cent, 71 per cent and 23 per cent of the total assets of NBFCs respectively. Presently, no NBFC is listed in the top layer.
List of NBFCs in upper layer
LIC Housing Finance
Bajaj Finance
Shriram Finance
Tata Sons Pvt Ltd
L&T Finance
Indiabulls Housing Finance
Piramal Capital & Housing Finance
Cholamandalam Investment and Finance
Shanghvi Finance Pvt Ltd
M&M Financial Services
PNB Housing Finance
Tata Capital Financial Services
Aditya Birla Finance
HDB Financial Services
Muthoot Finance
Bajaj Housing Finance
North Indian diet high on salt, low on potassium, proteins: study
Time to Read :🕑 11 Mins
Why in news?
TA recent study of the north Indian diet has raised a host of red flags.
About Study
The study was conducted at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, and the George Institute for Global Health, India.
The study found that their diet does not conform to recommended guidelines for salt, and nutrients such as potassium and proteins.
The population’s salt intake is very high and potassium intake is low, increasing the risk of developing hypertension, cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease (CKD).
Consumption of protein is also below the recommended gure, according to researchers.
Unsurprisingly, women were not getting sucient nutrients compared to men.
Key finding
Dietary variations
The Indian diet is varied and diers from region to region.
In the south if the population predominantly eats rice, then in the northern parts people consume wheat.
It is thus challenging for policymakers to come up with an all-encompassing guideline for the entire country.
To Find ways to prevent CKD the researchers decided to assess the intake of nutrients such as sodium, potassium, protein and phosphorus.
They included two groups of adults — one that was healthy and another of persons with stage 2 to 4 chronic CKD. The healthy population was drawn from among the family members of those with CKD
Of the 404 adults who participated, 182 were healthy and 222 had CKD. The mean age of the group was 47 years. An equal number of men and women were enrolled for the study. While 71 (32%) of the subjects were in stage 4 of CKD, 127 (57%) persons were in stage 3 and another 24 (11%) per sons were in stage 2 of the disease.
The Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Medicine recommends a dietary allowance of 700mg/day of phosphorus and 0.80gm/kg/day of protein.
The actual phosphorus and protein intake in the western population is around 1,056-1,617 mg/day and 1.30-1.40g/kg/day respectively, the researchers said.
The intake of sodium was calculated at around 2 gm a day.
They explained that dietary manipulation is an important strategy to manage patients with non-communicable diseases, including CKD. The participants’ 24 hour urinary excretion was analysed to assess their nutrient intake.
High salt intake
In the first of its kind study the researchers said they found that more than two-thirds of the subjects studied took salt higher than recommended levels.
The amount of salt intake was lower in the study as compared to earlier studies done across the country, it acknowledged, attributing the reason for fall in salt consumption to better awareness after being educated on the benets of a low-salt diet.
Healthy individuals consumed substantially less than 3.50g/day of potassium that is recommended for healthy population, and 2-4gm for those with early-stage CKD as per the Kidney Disease Outcome Quality Initiative 2020 guidelines.
The diet contained just around 39.5g/kg/day of protein among the healthy population.
The authors pointed out the diet reected the low dietary diversity in the population whereas a balanced diet requires nuts, green vegetables and fruits, considered the main source of potassium.
The collective intake combination of higher than recommended sodium and lower than recommended potassium raises cardiovascular disease risk, the authors pointed out.
A poor-nutrition diet is a major risk element for non-communicable diseases (NCD), which are of considerable public health concern.
In India, people eat dierent foods, so it is important to know exactly what nutrients they are getting to help prevent and manage these diseases.
Reducing risk of NCD
The authors said the study highlighted the need for personalised changes in diet to reduce the risks of common non-communicable diseases.
It also emphasised the im portance of accurate dietary assessments to provide personalised advice and develop eective policies.
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