Current Affair 1:

WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2022

 

The WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2022 provides a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the TB epidemic and of progress in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the disease, at global, regional and country levels. This is done in the context of global TB commitments, strategies and targets.

TB is the second leading infectious killer after COVID-19 and the 13th leading cause of death worldwide. It is also the leading killer of people with HIV and a major cause of deaths related to antimicrobial resistance.

The WHO report mapped the five major causes of TB infections in all countries. For India and also the world, undernutrition was the biggest contributing factor in 2021. A lack of nutrients blunts the natural and innate immune response to the disease, once an individual is exposed to TB-causing bacteria. Hence, undernourished people who do not have access to sufficient nutritious food are more susceptible to the disease.

Alcohol use, diabetes, HIV and smoking were identified, in descending order, as other factors responsible for causing TB.

 

Current Affair 2:

Know about Kisan Credit Cards

 

The Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme was introduced in 1998 for issue of Kisan Credit Cards to farmers on the basis of their holdings for uniform adoption by the banks so that farmers may use them to readily purchase agriculture inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides etc. and draw cash for their production needs.

The scheme was further extended for the investment credit requirement of farmers viz. allied and non-farm activities in the year 2004.

KCCS cover all category of farmers, but are particularly helpful to those who are categorised as marginal and small (with landholdings up to 2 hectares) and constitute over 86 per cent of India’s farmers, according to the Agriculture Census 2015-16.

The Kisan Credit Card scheme aims at providing adequate and timely credit support from the banking system under a single window with flexible and simplified procedure to the farmers for their cultivation and other needs as indicated below:

KCC is issued for a term of five years and can be renewed. Farmers and farming collectives, such as landed cultivators, tenant farmers, oral lessee, agricultural labourers and self-help groups, are eligible for KCC. As of 2022, there are over 73 million operational KCC cards, the Union Minister of State for Finance told the Lok Sabha April 4, 2022.

The KCC credit limit / loan amount is fixed by banks as per guidelines prescribed in RBI’s Master Circular dated July 4, 2018. As a concept, KCC works like any credit card, but has several advantages. The rate of interest in case of default in repayment is just 7 per cent against the common credit cards, where the figure can exceed 20 per cent.

Farmers cannot get the entire credit limit in the first year itself. The limit rises by 10 per cent every year to reach the maximum amount in the fifth year.

RBI has also asked banks to provide a magnetic strip KCC to farmers, as per its Master Circular of 2018. As per data provided by the State Bank of India to Down To Earth under the Right to Information Act, 2005, only about 60 per cent of its KCC holders have been given magnetic strip credit cards. Most get the money in their KCC accounts and a cheque from the bank for the loan.

 

 

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