Sep 23, 2015

Pentagon cell to push India trade ties

  1. IRRC - India rapid reaction cell will be established in pentagon to take forward Defence trade and technology Initiative. (DTTI)
  2. India - USA strategic and commercial dialogue- The idea is to see economic issues from a strategic perspective.
  3. $3bn defence deals are cleared - India will be buying two of the advanced helicopters from boeing - A deal worth of $3bn.
  4. The deals will have a direct commercial component with being and a government to government component between the governments.
  5. In the past decade itself, India - USA signed the deals worth of $10bn. These include P-8I maritime surveillance planes, c - 130 J super hercules and c-17 globe master - III transport aircraft.
  6. 30% offset clause - This will be executed in India through leading private sector companies such as Tata, Mahindra, L&T etc.
  7. The bilateral synergy in strategic aspects is not matched in business and commercial aspects.
  8. The major impediments raised by USA corporate sector include weak contract enforcement, unpredictable policy and tax regimes, opaque regulatory mechanisms and rigid labour laws.
  9. You are posted as a new officer in a temple town. You are handed a responsibility to plan and manage a crowd gathering on a festive day. There are incidents of stampede 10 years back. Your observation says that, the conditions have not Improved since than. You are left with a month of time to plan and organise. Delineate your priorities.

Plan - Three dimensions need to be considered - spatial, temporal and event related. It involves study of space and understanding the pattern of flow of crowd on a timeline. For example - crowd may be expected more at the time of aarati etc.

Unforeseen, emergency incidents also need planning of buffer spaces, expanding the time for event, maintenance of reserve force etc.

Flow regulation - Improving the queuing system , identifying the bottle necks in the flow , managing the entry and exit points and making all the movements uni directional can help in uninterrupted flows. Maintenalkce of sign boards, people manning all important entry and exit points can improve the situation. Pre regulated flow through prior registration can be tried. It is successful in Tirupati. ( sudarshanakankanam)

Monitoring the crowd - It helps in Immediate correction mechanism to decongest the area and to maintain regular flow. Technology can be an aid to this. Success of Ganesh Immersion procession in Hyderabad is a good reflection of this.

Controlling the rumors - Rumors can create Panic and sudden turbulent flows in movements. Deployment of proper communication systems is vital.

A contingency plan shall be put in place like emergency evacuation, first Aid , ambulance, Fire services, water supply and so on.

National Health profile 2015

  • It is prepared by the central Bureau of Health Intelligence. Important findings include
  1. Poor doctor to people ratio - The government allopathic doctor serves 11,000 people with one hospital bed for 1833 people. It is worse in poor states such as Bihar, UP
  2. Decreasing expenditure on health as share of GDP by the Centre
  3. Out of pocket private expenditure on health has increased with Kerala top on the list.
  4. The morbidity due to communicable diseases has decreased and TB is the single largest communicable disease killer in India.
  5. On the other hand, non-communicable diseases are increasing reflecting the changing lifestyles.