- Indian Heritage
- Culture
- Modern Indian history
- The Freedom Struggle
- Post-independence
- Indian Society
A. population and associated issues
B. poverty and developmental issues
C.urbanization
7. Geographical features
8.Indian Constitution
9. Polity
10. Governance
A. institutions
B. regulatory
C. Government policies
D. role of NGOs
E. measures
11. Social Justice
A. Welfare schemes
B Health
Empowering scientific research and enhancing proficiency will increase the acceptance and popularity of Homoeopathy as a medical system
Inaugurating the Scientific Convention on World Homoeopathy Day 2024 today at Yashobhoomi Conventional Centre Dwarka New Delhi, President Smt Droupadi Murmu said, “Many individuals who had become disillusioned with various methods of treatment have benefited from the miracles of Homeopathy. However, within the scientific community, such experiences can only be acknowledged when presented with a sufficient number of experiences backed by facts and analysis. Encouraging scientific rigor will increase confidence in this method of treatment among people.”
She added in her address “Scientific validity forms the basis of authenticity and both acceptance and popularity will increase with authenticity. Your efforts to empower research and enhance proficiency will be beneficial in promoting homeopathy. This will benefit everyone involved in Homeopathy, including doctors, patients, drug manufacturers, and researchers.”
The President further said that the continuous improvement in the education system of homeopathy will make this method more attractive to young students. The involvement of a large number of young people is essential for the bright future of homeopathy. President congratulated the Ayush ministry for organisating this mega event and promoting homeopathy along with other Ayush systems of medicine.
President graced this two-day Scientific Convention on the theme of “Empowering Research, Enhancing Proficiency” organized by Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRH), an autonomous apex research organization under Ministry of Ayush to celebrate the occasion of the World Homoeopathy Day today.
‘International Symposium on Health Governance in a Political Landscape: Interplay of Health Law, Society and Political Economy’ held
Centre for Trade and Investment Law (CTIL), Indian Institute of Foreign Trade established by Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, in collaboration with Centre for Justice, Law and Society (CJLS) at Jindal Global Law School (JGLS), organized the International Symposium on Health Governance in a Political Landscape: Interplay of Health Law, Society and Political Economy.
Dr. V.K. Paul, Member, NITI Aayog delivered the inaugural address highlighting the importance of access to medicine and right to health and shared his experiences for policy implementation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Paul emphasised the need for inspiring leadership in policymaking, particularly health policy, by citing the example of India’s leadership as a vaccine supplier to the developing countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Paul also discussed how the deficiencies of India’s Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 were addressed by invoking the Disaster Management Act, 2005 for implementing the health-related emergency measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prof. C. Raj Kumar, Vice Chancellor, O.P. Jindal Global University & Dean, JGLS delivered opening remarks along with the welcome address by Prof. James J. Nedumpara, Head & Professor, CTIL and Prof. Dipika Jain, Professor, JGLS & Director, CJLS respectively.
Hon’ble Mr. Justice Ravindra Bhat, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India chaired the plenary session 1 on the theme “Economic Policies, TRIPS and Healthcare: Building Bridges for Access”. Mr. Justice Bhat highlighted the importance of public interest as a ground for granting injunction in pharmaceutical patent disputes. Mr. Justice Bhat focussed on access to health and its intersection with the Intellectual property Right laws in broader parlance and interlinkages between health, trade, and access to medicines which balance economic and public rights. The panellists emphasized the need for innovative policy solutions and greater collaboration between governments, pharmaceutical companies, and international organizations to promote affordable access to medicines for all.
The second plenary session on the theme “Ink & Insight: Living the Scholarly Life Through Thought, Research & Publication” focused on the role of research and publication in shaping public health policy, particularly evidence-based policymaking. The panellists highlighted the influence of economic interests and conflicts of interest in health policy formulation and stressed on the importance of transparency in policymaking.
Dr. Sharmila Mary Joseph, Principal Secretary of Kerala’s Local Self-Government and Women & Child Development Department, delivered a special address that emphasized local bodies’ crucial role in addressing healthcare challenges and utilizing development funds effectively. Subsequently, thematic sessions explored diverse aspects of health governance, including intellectual property rights (IPRs), medicine accessibility, research ethics, and technology’s impact on health outcomes.
The first day of symposium concluded with a special address by Prof. Chantal Thomas, Vice Dean and Radice Family Professor of Law, Cornell Law School, United States of America highlighted India’s significant role in healthcare, emphasizing its moral leadership during Covid-19 and in bringing out the Doha 2001 declaration. She called for an analytical shift in legal and political discourse, advocating for dynamic trade models that consider gender and promoting participatory politics in international trade law.
The thematic sessions on Day 2 featured esteemed speakers and participants delving into critical health governance issues, particularly in TWAIL and Health Equity, abortion rights, reproductive justice, and TRIPS and regional integration in health. Both days’ thematic sessions saw discussions among eminent academicians such as Prof. (Dr.) B.S. Chimni, Distinguished Professor of International Law, JGU; Professor (Dr.) S. G. Sreejith, Professor & Executive Dean, Jindal Global Law School & Executive Director, Centre for International Legal Studies, JGU; Prof. James J. Nedumpara, Head & Professor, CTIL; Dr. Sylvia Karpagam, Public Health Doctor and Researcher, Bengaluru; Prof. Leila Choukroune, Professor of International Economic Law & Director of the University of Portsmouth Thematic Initiative in Democratic Citizenship; Prof. Shailja Singh, Associate Professor, CTIL; Prof. Shiny Pradeep, Assistant Professor, CTIL; and the participants.
C. Education
D. Human Resources
E. poverty and hunger
12. International relations
A. India and its neighbourhood
B. groupings and agreements
C.Indian diaspora
13. Economic Development
A. Government Budgeting
B. industrial
Centre directs States/UTs to enforce weekly stock disclosure of pulses
The Centre on Wednesday directed all States and UTs to enforce weekly stock disclosure of pulses by all stockholding entities and verify the stocks declared by them. Stocks in warehouses located in major ports and in pulses industry hubs should be verified from time to time and strict action should be taken on stockholding entities found to be reporting false information on stock disclosure portal.
The Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, Smt. Nidhi Khare took a meeting today with Principal Secretaries and Secretaries of State Consumer Affairs, Food & Civil Supplies Departments as a follow up of the 5th April, 2024 directive to all the States/UTs to enforce pulses stock disclosure by stockholding entities. The States and UTs were apprised of the need for increased vigilance over the stock position and price trends in respect of pulses to prevent hoarding and market manipulation.
She also took a meeting with pulses importers associations and other pulses industry representatives to discuss issues relating to the import and stock disclosure. The participants shared their views and inputs on pulses industry in general and imports in particular. The importers and industry players have been asked to religiously declare their stock of pulses, including imported Yellow Peas, on weekly basis. In this regard, the Department of Consumer Affairs has revamped the stock disclosure portal https://fcainfoweb.nic.in/psp/ to include Yellow Peas and also Big Chain Retailer as an entity which will be operational from 15th April, 2024.
Apart from the five major pulses, namely, Tur, Urad, Chana, Masur and Moong, the States/UTs have been asked to monitor the stock position in respect of imported Yellow Peas. The import of Yellow Peas has been allowed from 8th December, 2023 for a period till 30th June, 2024 to augment overall availability of pulses. Smt. Khare stressed the need to ensure that imported Yellow Peas are continuously released in the market. Similarly, stocks of Tur, Urad and Masur with importers are to be monitored for smooth and continuous release in the market.
E.issues
14. Technology
15. Environment
The climate crisis is not gender neutral
While climate action requires 100% involvement of the population, at the same time, empowering women would mean better climate solutions
The climate crisis is already here and does not impact everyone equally. Women and girls experience disproportionately high health risks, especially in situations of poverty, and due to existing roles, responsibilities and cultural norms. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), women and children are 14 times more likely than men to die in a disaster. The Supreme Court of India has just ruled that people have a right to be free from the adverse effects of climate change, and the right to a clean environment is already recognised as a fundamental right within the ambit of the right to life.
Agriculture is the most important livelihood source for women in India, particularly in rural India. Climatedriven crop yield reductions increase food insecurity, adversely impacting poor households that already suffer higher nutritional deficiencies. Within small and marginal landholding households, while men face social stigma due to unpaid loans (leading to migration, emotional distress, and sometimes even suicide), women experience higher domestic work burdens, worse health, and greater intimate partner violence. In fact, when compared to districts without droughts in the past 10 years, National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 4 and 5 data showed that women living in droughtprone districts were more underweight, experienced more intimate partner violence and had a higher prevalence of girl marriages. For women, the increasing food and nutritional insecurity, work burdens and income uncertainties lead not only to poor physical health, but also impact their mental health and emotional wellbeing.
Extreme events and gender-based violence
The world is witnessing an increasing frequency of extreme weather events and climateinduced natural hazards. A report from the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) in 2021 found that 75% of Indian districts are vulnerable to hydromet disasters (floods, droughts and cyclones). NFHS 5 data showed that over half of women and children living in these districts were at risk. Studies are increasingly showing a direct correlation between these natural disasters and genderbased violence against women. Also, extreme weather events and subsequent changes in water cycle patterns severely impact access to safe drinking water, which increases the drudgery and reduces time for productive work and health care of women and girls.
The past decade has been the hottest ever recorded in human history and countries such as India are likely to face unprecedented heatwaves. Prolonged heat is particularly dangerous for pregnant women (increasing the risk of preterm birth and eclampsia), young children, and the elderly. Similarly, exposure to pollutants in the air (household and outdoor) affects women’s health, causing respiratory and cardiovascular disease, and also the unborn child, impairing its physical and cognitive growth. One of the most worrying aspects of air pollution is its impact on the growing brain. Emerging data from cohort studies in India show that for every 10 micrograms per cubic meter increase in PM2.5, the risk of lung cancer increases by 9%, the risk of cardiovascular deaths on the same day by 3%, and stroke by 8%. For dementia, the risk increased by 4% for 2 micrograms increase in annual PM2.5.
Of course, not all women are equally at risk, even within the same geographic or agroecological zone. Thus, though climate change has a distinct gender dimension, there is a need for more evidence on the intersectionalities that make certain subgroups more vulnerable and therefore in need of more protection.
16. Security
17. Disaster Management
Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) conducts Pre-Cyclone Exercise for the season April-June 2024
Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) conducted Pre-Cyclone Exercise for the season April-June 2024 under the Chairmanship of Dr. Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, Director General, IMD today in Hybrid mode at Mausam Bhavan, New Delhi.
The Exercise was a part of biennial exercise conducted Pre-cyclone Season And post-Cyclone season to take stock of preparedness of various stakeholders in disaster management. DG IMD said “India has one of the best early warning system and weather forecasting model”. He highlighted the achievements of IMD in the recent times in cyclone forecasting along with continued co-operation from National Disaster management authority, National Disaster response force and Indian armed forces such as Army, Navy Air force, Coast guard etc.
Dr. Mohapatra informed that IMD has developed an indigenous ‘Decision Support System’ with an increased accuracy of more than 50% as compared to predictions in the last decade. He also shared that a Multimodal ensemble system in being deployed to continuous monitor the weather changes and accordingly issue location specific advisories. He also highlighted various mobile apps developed by IMD to issue warnings. He categorically mentioned that Application Programming Interface (API) are made available for other organizations to utilize. “We saw zero causalities during cyclone Biparjoy due to preparedness,” said DG IMD.
During the meeting DG IMD informed that National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) under National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP) developed a Web-based Dynamic Composite Risk Atlas (Web-DCRA) for location specific forecasting are made available to district disaster managers.
As IMD is celebrating the 150th year of its establishment and service to the nation, Dr. Mohapatra expressed his confidence that IMD is ready to scale new heights and reach out to each and every household with weather information at anytime and anywhere “HAR HAR MAUSAM and HAR GHAR MAUSAM” with state-of-art technology and collaboration of academia, R & D institutes, public private partnership and stakeholders.
Shri. Mohsen Shahedi, DIG (Ops & Training) NDRF said that the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) are ready and continuously revisited along with feedback. He appreciated IMD efforts and expressed confidence that NDMA, NDRF and IMD will work co-operatively.
Shri. R K Agarwal, (PA &AO), NCRMP also highlighted the success they achieved in theNational Cyclone Risk Mitigationproject with co-operation from IMD.
Participants from various disaster management agencies including representatives form Government of all Coastal states and union territories senior officials from Director General Shipping, Director General of Lighthouses and Lightships, National Hydrographic office, Airport Authority of India, Port Authority, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of fisheries, Rural development , All India Radio, Doordarshan News and Press Information Bureau were also present for the exercise.
Rayalaseema in grip of severe heatwave
Even as a heatwave of unprecedented scale is sweeping Andhra Pradesh, water scarcity appears to be the next worst thing to happen to the Rayalaseema region, comprising the southern districts.
With the mercury level hovering around 43 degrees Celsius in the first week of April, the residents are already scared of what May will feel like. Notwithstanding the allpervasive election mood, the sunbaked roads wear a deserted look from 11 a.m. till 4 p.m. in almost all the towns and villages. A curfewlike atmosphere witnessed around noon tells the remaining story.
While many municipalities are supplying water on a daily basis, some like
Adoni, Bethamcherla, Badvel, Pulivendula, Chittoor, Dharmavaram, Dhone, Gooty, Gudur (Kurnool), Guntakal, Kadiri, Kamalapuram, Kuppam, Madanapalle, Nandyal, Punganur, Puttur, Rayachoti, Rayadurg, Tadipatri, Tirupati and Yerraguntla are supplying it on alternate days.
The worsthit at the start of April are Kadapa, Palamaner, Penukonda and Hindupur, where water is supplied once in three days. Most of the ULBs have already started supplying water through tankers to supplement the availability through household taps.
The situation has worsened in most towns due to the alleged neglect in addressing the drinking water problem on a longterm basis. The situation is a ‘neverbefore’ sort of tale in many districts.
For example, Mydukur town is surrounded by Penna and Kundu rivers, as well as the KurnoolCuddapah and TeluguGanga canals, but the residents still suffer due to lack of concerted efforts to channelise the water to the town.
At a high level meeting chaired by Chief Secretary K.S. Jawahar Reddy in Amaravati recently to review the drinking water scarcity, the District Collectors and other officials made it clear that water supply for some towns will not last beyond April 15, and many will face a grave situation by April end.