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Ahead on malaria

Odisha shows the way in bringing down the incidence of new cases

India has suffered from a major burden of malaria for decades, with high levels of morbidity and death.

But the declining trend of the scourge shows that sustained public health action can achieve good

results.

The World Malaria Report 2018 of the World Health Organisation notes that India’s record offers great

promise in the quest to cut the number of new cases and deaths globally by at least 40% by 2020, and to

end the epidemic by 2030.

A lot of that optimism has to do with the progress made by Odisha, one of the most endemic States.

Investments made there in recruiting accredited social health workers and large-scale distribution of

insecticide-treated bednets, together with strategies to encourage health-seeking behaviour, seem to

have paid off. The WHO report highlights a sharp drop in the number of cases in the State.

This positive trend should encourage authorities not just in Odisha, but in the northeastern States and

elsewhere too to cut the transmission of the disease further.

One issue that requires monitoring in India is resistance to combination therapy using artemisinin.

Recent reports indicate that some patients in West Bengal became resistant to the treatment protocol

used for the falciparum parasite, which causes debilitating cerebral malaria and leads to a high number

of deaths.

Eliminating malaria requires an integrated approach, and this should involve Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand

and West Bengal, which have a higher burden of the disease. Odisha’s experience with using public

health education as a tool and reaching out to remote populations with advice needs to be replicated.

Along the new Silk Roads

Regional agreements such as the BRI could embrace greater trade liberalisation goals

At the recent Paris Peace Forum commemorating the end of World War I, the heads of the International

Monetary Fund and the World Bank made the case for a more inclusive multilateralism. Drawing

comparisons between 1914 and today’s situations in terms of inequalities, they warned against the

temptation of a divisive globalisation which could only benefit the wealthiest.

This normative determination to achieve a far greater objective has hardly been addressed when

26th Nov 2018

analysing China’s BRI and its impact.

There is more to the BRI than the six economic corridors spanning Asia, Europe and Africa, of which the

$50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is perhaps the most controversial. The BRI is

included in the Constitution of an officially socialist China. The BRI “shared interest” and “shared

growth” hence coexist with Marxism-Leninism and “capitalism with Chinese characteristics” in a country

now said to be more trade-friendly than its protectionist American rival, the U.S. Beijing has never been

afraid of contradictions in terms and this capacity to ‘Sinicise’ concepts is a signature trait.

Normative yet not legal

In this regard, the normative framework put in place by Beijing plays an interesting role. These norms

manifest themselves in the form of guiding principles, declarations, general agreements and other

communication tools including the hardly studied “Digital Silk Road” envisaging “innovation action plans

for e-commerce, digital economy, smart cities and science and technology parks”. They constitute a

normative discourse, a form of behaviour, a standard to abide by, but are not legally binding yet. The

BRI indeed develops without any dedicated law, nor is it a comprehensive trade or economic

partnership.

This non-legal yet rather domineering proposal is not a surprise. The fluid, if not vague, nature of the BRI

is nothing but a manifestation of a pragmatism with Chinese characteristics that has the capacity to

constantly adjust to a fast-changing environment. The absence of law is actually partial and temporary.

China is preparing for the domestic resolution of BRI disputes with the creation by the Supreme People’s

Court of two dedicated branches of the China International Commercial Court, one in Shenzhen to tackle

the Maritime Road disputes, and one in Xi’an to settle overland Belt issues. In addition, the Hong Kong

International Arbitration Centre has specific BRI arbitration clauses and administered arbitration rules.

Naturally, investor-state disputes could also be settled on the basis of China’s investment agreements,

nationally or internationally, in a given arbitration forum — for example, the World Bank-sponsored

International Centre for Settlement of Investment Dispute (ICSID).

Institutional strategies

The institutional setting of the BRI is also rather light. Joint committees are put in place and the existing

institutions mobilised from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation to the Asian Infrastructure

Investment Bank (AIIB), which is contributing to the BRI despite the rather distant position of some of its

members and India in particular, which is the largest recipient of AIIB funding.

A failure to resolve the WTO Appellate Body crisis or any consequent weakening of the multilateral

dispute resolution process could present an opportunity for purely nationalistic initiatives to transmute

and assume larger objectives.

Touchstone of the Republic

The unity of India is sustained by the Constitution and not by any particular faith

The adoption of the Constitution on November 26, 1949 by the Constituent Assembly was a historic

moment that laid the foundation for a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic. The

Constitution provides a framework for good governance based on law and jurisprudence.

Finding a place

From its first meeting on December 9, 1946 till the completion of its work and adoption of the

Constitution, the Constituent Assembly had to work in a politically turbulent environment. Some may

not know that B.R. Ambedkar did not find a place among the 296 members initially sent to the

Constituent Assembly. Only the withdrawal of Jogendra Nath Mandal, who was nominated from East

Bengal, paved the way for Ambedkar to enter the Constituent Assembly.

On June 3, 1947, Lord Mountbatten, the Viceroy of India, announced the Partition of India. Bengal and

Punjab were to be divided. Ambedkar ceased to be a member of the Constituent Assembly when India

was partitioned.

Given the dependence of the Assembly on Ambedkar, who had done extraordinary work, Rajendra

Prasad and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel took efforts to get him elected from Bombay Presidency. It was only

then that Ambedkar was immediately re-inducted as a member of the Constituent Assembly.

By that time he was already Law Minister in the Cabinet headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, who had moved

the Objectives Resolution that defined the aims of the Constituent Assembly.

Historians point out that Mahatma Gandhi, who knew about Ambedkar’s excellent work in the

Constituent Assembly and in various other committees, was keen that Ambedkar head the Drafting

Committee. On August 30, 1947, the Drafting Committee formally met and unanimously elected

Ambedkar as the Chairman of the Drafting Committee. Thereby he became the prime architect of the

Constitution.

Challenge to the Constitution

Today there is an open challenge to the Constitution. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Vishva Hindu

Parishad, Bajrang Dal, Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena are all competing and coordinating with one

another to achieve their agenda of converting the Indian secular state into a Hindu Rashtra. They have

become desperate and aggressive in their pursuit to subvert the Constitution.

Ambedkar defined the Indian state as a welfare state in a society that is stratified by caste and deeply

mired in structural forms of inequalities. The state, he said, should strive “to secure to all its citizens,

Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.”

The manner in which constitutional objectives are being deliberately ignored by the present government

in pursuit of the goals set by various corporates reminds me of Ambedkar’s warning in his last speech in

the Constituent Assembly. He said that if political parties put creed ahead of the interests of the

country, then we would stand to lose our independence forever.

Protecting the idea of India

Ambedkar had warned that even without altering the Constitution, administrators could subvert it using

their powers, causing it to collapse. We need to address such problems, which have assumed the

proportion of a crisis today. We need to defend the Constitution and cultivate constitutional morality. In

Kerala, for instance, we are seeing people being mobilised to prevent the implementation of the

Supreme Court judgment that allows women to enter the Sabarimala temple. This is a violation of the

law and the Constitution. The leaders of the ruling party are openly making statements which are

inconsistent with the constitutional scheme of governance. Let us be mindful of the fact that the unity

and integrity of India are sustained by the Constitution and not by any particular faith. Constitutional

values combined with the civilisational values of acceptance and tolerance are the need of the hour to

defend the idea of India. In undermining the Constitution, we are undermining and diminishing the very

idea of India.

Zika virus disease is caused by a virus transmitted primarily by Aedes mosquitoes, which bite

during the day.

Zika virus is a mosquito-borne flavivirus that was first identified in Uganda in 1947 in

monkeys. It was later identified in humans in 1952 in Uganda and the United Republic of

Tanzania.

Symptoms are generally mild and include fever, rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain,

malaise or headache. Symptoms typically last for 2–7 days. Most people with Zika virus

infection do not develop symptoms.

Zika virus infection during pregnancy can cause infants to be born with microcephaly and

other congenital malformations, known as congenital Zika syndrome. Infection with Zika virus

is also associated with other complications of pregnancy including preterm birth and

miscarriage.

ZIKA VIRUS

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