TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Joint Rivers Commission meeting of India and Bangladesh 2. Door-to-door screening for TB under Aashwasan Campaign
1. Joint Rivers Commission meeting of India and Bangladesh
Syllabus: GS 2, International Relation.
Prelims: Kushiyara river.
Mains: India and its neighborhood relations.
Context: 38th Ministerial level meeting of the Joint Rivers Commission(JRC) of India and Bangladesh was held in New Delhi.
Details:
- The Joint Rivers Commission(JRC) of India and Bangladesh was constituted in 1972.
- It is a bilateral mechanism between the two nations for cooperation on trans-boundary rivers.
- The meeting was significant because it was conducted after a gap of almost 12 years. However, technical level interactions under the framework of JRC have continued in the twelve-year period.
- India and Bangladesh finalized the text of the Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) on Interim Water Sharing of Kushiyara river.Â
- Kushiyara river originates in Nagaland, India.
- It is a distributary of the Barak river and is a transboundary river between Bangladesh and India.
- The Barak river separates into Surma and Kushiyara.
- The finalization of the design and location of the water intake point on the river Feni to meet the drinking water needs of Sabroom town in Tripura as per the MoU of October 2019 was also welcomed in the meeting.
- During the bilateral meeting discussions were also held on:Â
- River bank protection
- River water sharing of common rivers
- Sharing of flood data
- Measures to address river pollution,Â
- Conducting joint studies on sedimentation management, etc
- One of the major areas of cooperation between the two sides is sharing of real-time flood data. The period of flood data sharing beyond 15th October has been extended by India to help Bangladesh mitigate unforeseen flood events.
- Both countries share around 54 rivers, out of which 7 rivers have been considered for water-sharing agreements
- It was also proposed in the meeting to expand cooperation in 8 more rivers for data exchange.
For more information on India-Bangladesh relations, read here:Â
Bangladesh and India Relationship: History & Latest News
2. Door-to-door screening for TB under Aashwasan Campaign
Syllabus: GS 2, Social Justice.
Prelims: Aashwasan Campaign and Tribal TB initiative.
Mains: Welfare Schemes for the vulnerable section of the population.
Context: Screening of around 1 crore tribal persons under the initiative.
About Aashwasan Campaign:
- The Aashwasan Campaign was launched under the ambit of the Tribal TB Initiative, in January 2022Â for finding active cases of TB in 174 tribal districts of India.Â
- Tribal TB Initiative is a joint initiative of the Central TB Division, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Tribal Affairs(MoTA) assisted by USAID as a technical partner and Piramal Swasthya as an implementation partner.
- It was launched in Nandurbar District, Maharashtra. Â
- The door-to-door screening of TB cases was undertaken under the initiative covering 68,019 villages. On the basis of verbal screening of around 1 crore persons, 3,82,811 people were identified for Presumptive TB. Of these, 73% samples were tested for TB and nearly ten thousand people were found to be positive for TB and were put on treatment.
- The Aashwasan Campaign saw the participation of around 2 lakh community influencers including PRI members, tribal leaders, Self Help Groups, etc.
For more on TB read here:Tuberculosis (TB) – Definition, Causes, Diagnosis & Treatment
Way Forward:
On the occasion of 75 years of India’s Independence, 75 high-burden tribal districts have been identified for targeted interventions. A three-pronged strategy presented includes:
- Generating TB service demand through continued engagement with community influencers, increasing awareness about the disease, its symptoms, treatment processes, etc. Besides addressing the fear and stigma related with TB.
- Improving the testing and diagnosis facilities, leveraging financial capacity for customized solutions and better implementation
- Ultimately, reducing the transmission risk and subsiding the number of infections through proactive campaigns.
Read previous PIB here.
August 26th, 2022, PIB:- Download PDF Here
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