Editorial 1 : Kashmir File
Introduction
The recent two-day visit by a team of the Election Commission of India (ECI), led by the Chief Election Commissioner, Rajiv Kumar, to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) to meet representatives of political parties and the local administration. The visit comes amid the growing demands from regional parties to hold elections to the 90-seat Assembly of the five-year-old Union Territory (UT).
Supreme Court Judgement on Article 370
- Specific Directions: On Dec, 2023 the Court had noted that “direct elections to legislative assemblies cannot be put on hold until Statehood is restored”
- Direction to ECI: To conduct elections in J&K by September 30, 2024.
History of elections in Jammu & Kashmir in recent years
- Bifurcation: Of erstwhile State of J&K was bifurcated into two UTs, and its special status scrapped in 2019.
- Last election: J&K saw its last Assembly election in 2014.
- Coalition Collapse: Of the Peoples’ Democratic Party-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2018, J&K has not had a representative government.
- The Voter trend in Lok Sabha Elections: Voters chose to depart from the previous trend, especially in the Kashmir Valley, of election boycotts, and instead posted a historic turnout of 58% in five Lok Sabha seats. (Since 1990, J&K’s voting % had never crossed the 50% mark.)
Way Forward: Reviving Democracy in J&K
- Democratic Restoration: Allowing people to choose their representatives will be a major step towards ensuring the restoration and the building up of political processes.
- Addressing the Military challenges: A lot of work is still required to attain complete peace in J&K.
- Elections are a must: Making elections subservient to the security situation will only make the Centre hostage to the whims of terrorists.
- Strong political process: Centre needs to further its efforts to deal with militancy, while on the other, kick off political processes.
Conclusion
Assembly elections can turn out to be a democratic instrument to ensure that any sense of alienation does not get amplified and exploited by the enemies of the country. J&K needs to have a participatory democratic set-up in place to deal with issues such as growing unemployment, electricity crisis, and poor health infrastructure. These elections have the potential to act as a healing process for a place wounded by over three decades of conflict. More people friendly policies and sensitive approach will help a much smoother integration of people in the governments national agenda.
Editorial 2 : More and better
Introduction
The first Zika outbreak case was reported from Pune, the outbreak began on June 20. Slow and steady rise in cases are seen.
Key Dynamics of the reported cases
- As of August first week, Maharashtra has reported 88 confirmed cases.
- Pune city, the epicentre, alone accounts for 73 cases, while six are from Pune rural.
- Of the total number reported so far, at 37, pregnant women alone account for half the number of confirmed infections.
Concerns related to Zika Virus
- Guillain-Barré syndrome: Though rare, people with Zika virus infection run a risk of suffering from this rare neurological disorder in which the immune system mistakenly attacks part of the peripheral nervous system.
- Risk to pregnant women: They run a risk of giving birth to babies with a smaller than average head size, called microcephaly, and other neurological impairments.
- Dangers from Microcephaly: Lancet’s meta-analysis of babies born to 1,548 pregnant women infected with the Zika virus, from 13 studies in Brazil between 2015 and 2017, found the absolute risk of microcephaly to be 6.6% either at birth or during follow-up.
- Neurological Abnormalities: Babies also had 18.7% absolute risk of suffering from functional neurological abnormalities, and a relatively smaller risk of neuroimaging, ophthalmic and auditory abnormalities.
- Birth related risks: Significant risk of premature birth (10.5%), low birth weight and small for gestational age (16.2%).
- Lesser known risks: Of sexual transmission of the virus by infected men due to the presence of potentially infectious virus in their semen for at least two months.
Concrete steps necessary to mitigate the impacts of Zika Virus
- Risk assessment and Family Planning: It is important for infected men, especially those planning a family, to be made aware of the risk as well as recommend measures to prevent viral transmission to women for at least three months, as in the U.S. CDC guidelines.
- Increased Testing: Considering the harmful effects of the virus, delay in testing as done by Pune Municipal Corporation’s plan to send samples to a government medical college can be fatal.
- Lessons and Case studies for Capacity building: The Kerala’s effort during the Nipah outbreak and Gujrat’s hustle with the ongoing Chandipura virus outbreak and acute encephalitis syndrome cases, it is becoming increasingly important and necessary that States develop the capacity to conduct high-quality testing and sequencing of viruses that cause frequent and deadly outbreaks.
Conclusion
From the time that the first suspected case is observed, the reduction in the lead time to test results is the key to instituting timely public health response. It will help to limit the virus spread and stop an outbreak. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the advantages of decentralised testing and sequencing, and this should be replicated for every pathogen that causes deadly outbreaks. The reduction in the lead time to test results will ensure timely public health responses that can limit the virus spread and stop an outbreak.
