Social Protection for Children

Latest Context

• According to a new ILO-UNICEF analysis, there is still a social protection coverage gap of 1.5 billion children who are not receiving family or child cash payments.
• According to a recent report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Children's Fund, social protection lessens family poverty and vulnerability, which lessens one of the main causes of child labour (UNICEF).
• In a recent report titled "More than a billion reasons: The urgent need to build universal social protection for children," the ILO and UNICEF found that only 1 in 4 children are protected by social protection, leaving the remaining children vulnerable to poverty, exclusion, and multidimensional deprivations.

Highlight of the Report

• Regional Disparities: There are significant and alarming geographical differences in how well children are protected by social services.
• Coverage in the Americas is 57.4%.
• With 15.4%, coverage in the Arab States is still quite low.
• The current coverage rate in Asia and the Pacific is 18.0%.
• Shock Responsiveness: The need for shock-responsive social safety systems is important given that 73% of the world's extremely poor and 24% of the population now live in unstable environments.
• This covers humanitarian aid, cash transfers for humanitarian purposes, as well as the operational and policy frameworks that enable the inclusion of populations affected by disasters.
• Gender Gap: Girls and women have experienced a disproportionate number of catastrophes. They suffer numerous structural obstacles that prevent gender equality, as well as higher poverty rates than boys and men.
• Children with disabilities: Children who have a disability or who live with a family member who has a disability are more likely to experience poverty and suffer financial obstacles to living a complete life, but they are also less likely to obtain adequate social protection.

World Scenario

• A crucial component of a social safety system, child or family cash benefits, are inaccessible to 1.77 billion children between the ages of 0 and 18 years.
• Extreme poverty is twice as likely to affect children as it is adults.
• Over 800 million children live in poverty, defined as earning less than USD 3.20 per day, while 1 billion children live in multidimensional poverty.
• Only 26.4% of children aged 0 to 15 are covered by social protection, leaving 73.6% of them vulnerable to multidimensional deprivations, poverty, and marginalisation.
• To be healthy and happy, all 2.4 billion children worldwide require social protection.

India-Specific Data in the Study

• The national "PM CARES for Children" initiative had been put into effect, according to the report, in 31 Indian states. Only 4,302 kids have benefited from the programme thus far.

Suggestion of the Report

• close the gap in children's social protection coverage. This entails giving child benefits top priority and providing social protection to the two billion people who work in the informal economy to aid their transition to the formal economy.
• Create social protection systems that are integrated. Countries with social security systems that offer sufficient benefits at every stage of life—from child and family benefits, maternity and unemployment benefits, old-age pensions, and health protection—will find it simpler to reduce child labour.
• Make sure that programmes for social protection are inclusive and mindful of child labour. This will maximise the elimination of child labour.
• Make that social protection systems are adequately funded fairly and sustainably to enable the essential investment in children's social protection.
• Provide social protection systems that are based on human rights, inclusive of all people, gender-responsive, influenced by social discussion, and capable of quickly responding to a variety of emergencies.
• To improve the financial security of parents, carers, and their families, make sure that social protection mechanisms are modified to reflect changes in the workplace.

What is the Need of Social Protection

• It gives households resilience, enables them to increase their output and income potential, and reduces the chance that poverty will be passed down from generation to generation.
• Expanding human potential and production requires investment in social protection for children. Moreover, it promotes economic expansion, resulting in more resilient tax and transfer regimes.
• It is also a crucial base for enabling the potential of the world's most defenceless youngsters.
• Access to food, nutrition, education, and healthcare is made easier with the aid of social protection.

In addition to addressing the causes of gender inequality and exclusion, it can aid in the prevention of child labour and child marriage.

Great Seahorses

Latest Context

• It's possible that the big seahorse is being forced to migrate arduously towards Odisha by intensive fishing off the coast of Coromandel.
• Although fishing pressure off the coast of Odisha is lower, the Seahorse may not find its new home there due to a lack of suitable habitat.

More on News

Off the coast of Odisha in the Bay of Bengal, fishing is less active. Nevertheless, a study published in the most recent issue of the Journal of Endangered Taxa suggests that the shallow coastal ecology of the eastern Indian State may not be the new home for the fish with a horse-like head.

• The study was based on a specimen of a young great seahorse, or Hippocampus Kelloggi, which was procured from the Ariyapalli fish landing centre in the Ganjam region of Odisha and caught in a ring net.
• For better preservation and management of the remaining seahorse populations, it asks for improved monitoring of India's coastal ecosystems on the country's east coast.

About Seahorses

• Seahorse is a type of fish with a horse-like head.
• There have been reports of 46 different seahorse species.
• The fish family known as the "Syngnathidae," which also includes pipefish and seadragons, includes seahorses.
• Nine of the 12 species found in the Indo-Pacific are found in the Coastal Ecosystems of India.
• These seahorse populations are spread throughout varied environments such as seagrass, mangroves, macroalgal beds, and coral reefs.
• Because the males carry and give birth to the young, seahorses are unusual in this regard.
• The female seahorse transfers her eggs to the male's belly after mating, where they are fertilised and grow until they are ready to be born. Depending on the species, the male can carry hundreds of eggs at once.
• Another characteristic of seahorses that helps them evade predators is their capacity to change colour and blend in with their surroundings.
• They consume plankton and tiny crustaceans by sucking them up with their snouts.
• They are found in protected environments such as coral reefs, mangroves, estuaries, and seagrass beds.
• Across the planet, shallow tropical and temperate salt water between 45°S and 45°N is where seahorses are most commonly found.
• With the exception of Lakshadweep and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, all these nine species are found along the shores of eight States from Gujrat to Odisha and five Union Territories.
• one of the eight species classified as "vulnerable" is the population of the big seahorse.
• According to the report, the decline is brought on by overfishing for traditional Chinese remedies and as decorative fish, as well as general harmful fishing and bycatch in fisheries.

The Population of Seahorses is Vulnerable

• Among the eight species classed as "vulnerable" is the population of the big seahorse.
• It is brought on by the overfishing of seahorses for their use as ornamental fish and traditional Chinese medicines, together with general destructive fishing and bycatch in the fishing industry.

Cons of Seahorse Migration

• Off the coast of Odisha in the Bay of Bengal, fishing is less active. Yet, the seahorse's new home may not be the Eastern Indian State's shallow coastal ecology.
• Despite the 2001 prohibition on seahorse harvesting and selling in India, the seahorse population is under a lot of stress since it depends heavily on local environments to retain its vast and long-life cycle features.
• The great seahorse does not migrate in large numbers because, with the exception of the Chilika region, the Odisha coast lacks coral reefs or seagrass meadows that the species can call home.

Way Forward

• Although considerable progress against the seahorse population decline, significant actions and initiatives are still required to safeguard seahorses.

Marine protected areas, fishery management, targeted aquaculture projects, trade legislation, improved governance (in particular), and consumer involvement could all be used to safeguard seahorses and other syngnathid family members.

Read Also: Marine Protected Areas

Erythritol

Several studies have linked the popular Artificial Sweetener Erythritol to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

What was the Research's Outcome?

• The study's findings showed that erythritol facilitated platelet activation and clot formation.
• The blood cells called platelets, which form clots when they group together, are activated by erythritol. Such platelet accumulation restricts blood flow in blood arteries located throughout the body.
• Cardiovascular events can be fatal or not when it occurs in blood arteries that feed blood to the heart or brain.

Describe Erythritol

• It is a kind of sugar alcohol that is frequently used to replace sugar in meals and beverages. It has no calories and does not boost blood sugar levels, in contrast to conventional sugars.
• Table sugar is frequently swapped out for artificial sweeteners in low-calorie, low-carb, and "keto" products (high in fat and low in carbohydrates).
• Glycemic index (GI) below 50: It is also thought to have a lower GI than other sweeteners, which means it might not have a big effect on insulin levels.
• The GI score is a metric used to assess how much a certain item would raise blood sugar levels.
• Uses: Those who have obesity, diabetes, or metabolic syndrome and are looking for solutions to help regulate their sugar or calorie intake are frequently advised to try sugar-free goods containing erythritol.
• Also, those who have these disorders are more vulnerable to harmful cardiovascular events including heart attacks and strokes.

Natural Production and Occurrence

• Natural sources of erythritol include various fruits and fermented meals.
• Moreover, it is found in human body fluids such as urine, foetal fluid, serum, plasma, and eye lens tissue.
• It is created commercially by fermenting glucose with the yeast Moniliella pollinis.
• Heart disease is the largest cause of death worldwide, and the cardiovascular disease progresses over time. By comparing them to metabolic analyses of these compounds in circulating blood, the study above illustrates the risks of artificial sweeteners in raising the risk of cardiovascular events.

A deeper understanding of the long-term impacts of sweeteners like erythritol is required despite their recent surge in popularity.

Read Also: Cardiovascular Diseases

Bio-Computers

• The first steps towards developing an "Organoid Intelligence" that will produce "Biocomputers" have recently been made by scientists.

About

• The study of "organoid intelligence," like artificial intelligence, aims to develop autonomous decision-making organoids.
• Brain organoids are 3D cultures of human stem cell-derived brain tissue created in the laboratory. They accurately depict a variety of morphological and functional aspects of an evolving human brain.
• In the end, researchers want to build "biocomputers" that are just lab-grown brain cultures connected to actual sensors and input/output devices.

Uses

• These biocomputers can process complex information similarly to human brains.
• These organoids can shed light on the biological underpinnings of human learning, memory, and cognition.

They can support the creation of new medications and the analysis of the pathophysiology behind degenerative conditions like Parkinson's disease and microcephaly.

Read Also: Quantum computing