Pulses farmers in Bidar harvesting bumper crops with A3P interventions

Bidar district of Karnataka is witnessing a silent revolution in pulses production. Farmers, used to growing pigeonpea, Bengal gram, green gram and black gram, have discovered that good seed coupled with expert advice and better cropping practices significantly raise the yield from the same farms and same amount of rainfall. Though only a small portion of farmers have adopted new farming technologies yet, the average pulses yield of the district now surpasses the national and state yields.

In 2010, Bidar was selected for A3P (Accelerated Pulses Production Programme), a central government scheme that showcases latest crop technologies and practices in farmers’ fields.

A3P also allows convergence of expertise, funds and farm technologies. In Bidar, the State agriculture department has, within A3P, experimented with transplanting and drip irrigation in farmers’ fields. This has resulted in high yields with less seed requirement and less water consumption.

Azad Dedicates Asia’s First BIO-Safety Level –IV Laboratory to the Nation

Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad dedicated to the

Nation the Asia’s First Bio-Safety Level-IV Laboratory established by ICMR

with support from Department of Science & Technology at Pune today.

The National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune has done tremendous work on Research and Management of infectious agents including viruses. It continues to do excellent work on viruses which are transmitted by vectors including mosquitoes, ticks and mites. It has lived up to its reputation by making laudable contributions on Hepatitis, Influenza and several other different viruses causing acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in the recent years.

Shri Azad said the inauguration ceremony of the BSL IV Lab marks the end of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of NIV, Pune and starting of the 60th year of its glorious existence.

He said the 12th Plan document has been approved by the National Development Council yesterday. It is a matter of satisfaction that “Health” has been given a central position in the 12th Plan and the outlay for health, including health research, has gone up substantially.

The following schemes will be rolled out in the area of health research during the 12th Plan period:-

• Establishment of multidisciplinary research units in 150 government medical colleges

• Setting up of 50 rural health research units at block level

• Establishment of a network of 250 laboratories at regional, state and district level for managing epidemics

• Grant in aid to researchers on projects involving development of affordable technologies, reagents and methods for public use

• Strengthen the existing ICMR Institutes and set-up new centres in deficit areas

• Suggest & regularly update Standard Treatment Guidelines

• Bench mark and Accredit Health Research Institutions

• Support Human Resource development for producing qualified researchers

Shri Azad complemented scientists, doctors and officers of the Department of Health Research, ICMR, DST, Director and Scientists of NIV Pune, National and International Advisors, Klenzied, the Company which built this facility, HSCC and all others who have played a role in the development of this facility.

National Water Resources Council Adopts National Water Policy (2012)

The National Water Resource Council has adopted the National Water Policy (2012). The consensus in this regard was made during 6th meeting of the council held here in New Delhi under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh.

National Water Policy (2012) was the result of wide consultations held with all the stakeholders including consultations with Members of Parliament, academia, NGOs, corporate sector and Panchayati Raj Institutions. Enumerating the challenges in the water sector, he called for an integrated approach of governance based on certain basic principles so that concerns get addressed adequately in the different parts of the country ensuring equity and social justice.

Over 8,60,000 ASHAs appointed to act as bridge between the communities and the health facilities in villages – Azad

Since the launch of National Rural Health Mission 7 years ago, substantial progress has been made in health sector. Over 8,60,000 ASHAs have been appointed to act as bridge between the communities and the health facilities in the villages. New Health Infrastructure has been created. A total of 70,000 beds have been increased in government health institutions for provision of essential and emergency services.

A Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS) has been put in place to reach out to every pregnant woman and child for proper vaccination. The government has launched a scheme wherein male and female contraceptives are being delivered at the doorstep in the high focus districts of the country by ASHAs at a nominal cost. Another scheme has been initiated for the promotion of menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls of rural areas in the age group of 10-19 years covering 1.5 crore girls in 152 districts of 20

states. There has been significant fall in MMR, IMR and TFR as well as reduction in new HIV cases by as much as 57% in the country.

He said the 12th Plan has just been finalized by the National Development Council. It is a matter of great satisfaction that “Health” has been given a central position in the 12th Plan and the outlay for health has gone up substantially. Several new initiatives have been envisaged during 12th Plan period.

These are:-

(1) Strengthening of Sub-Centres, which are the first port of call for the community for healthcare services in the remotest and inaccessible areas by providing additional manpower;

(2) The District Hospitals would be equipped to become strong hubs for advanced secondary and multi-speciality care

(3) To cope with the increasing load at government facilities, 20,000 additional beds for mothers and children have been approved for District Hospitals and Community Health Centres;

(4) It is proposed to introduce universal screening for all children for disease, disability and deficiency which would be followed up by free treatment where required;

(5) Medicines account for 70% of out of pocket expenditure. It is proposed to ensure availability of free generic medicines to everyone coming to a government health facility;

(6) Another area would be the launch of an urban health initiative to address health concerns of urban poor specially those living in the urban slums.

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The agriculture growth rate for the 11th Plan has been targeted at 3.3 per cent as compared to 2.2 per cent achieved during the 10th Plan period, the Finance Minister added.

Crop Insurance Schemes for Compensation of Loss to Farmers

Four crop insurance schemes are being implemented namely National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAlS), Pilot Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS), Pilot Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS) and Pilot Coconut Palm Insurance Scheme (CPIS). States have the choice for notification of areas / crops under the schemes.

International Meet on Locust Control Discusses Ways to Check the Pest in South West Asia

A meeting of 28th session of FAO Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in South West Asia was held today to discuss new techniques for monitoring and controlling of

locusts in the Region.

This international meet at Surajkund, Faridabad was also attended by Indian as well as foreign delegates.

India is a member of FAO’s Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in South West Asia.

South West Asia Commission (SWAC) member countries viz. Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan are playing an important role in preventing incursion of locust swarm into India. They are also disseminating the latest information to India from time to time on locust situation in their countries which alert it to keep itself well prepared to meet any eventuality. In case of emergency, SWAC member countries also provide the material assistance in the form of equipment, aircrafts, pesticides etc.

During 1989, 1993, 1997 locust incursions, the FAO has helped India in a big way by providing technical assistance as well as mobilizing the donor countries for seeking assistance for controlling locust, failing which it had not been possible to combat such large scale invasions.

background

The desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) is a species of locust. Plagues of desert locusts have threatened agricultural production in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia for centuries. The livelihood of at least one-tenth of the world’s human population can be affected by this voracious insect.

The desert locust is potentially the most dangerous of the locust pests because of the ability of swarms to fly rapidly across great distances. It has two to five generations per year. The last major desert locust upsurge in 2004–05 caused significant crop losses in West Africa and had a negative impact on food security in the region. While the desert locust alone is not responsible for famines, it can be an important contributing factor.

During quiet periods, called recessions, desert locusts are confined to a 16-million-square-kilometer belt that extends from Mauritania through the Sahara Desert in northern Africa, across the Arabian Peninsula, and into northwest India.

Under optimal ecological and climatic conditions, several successive generations can occur, causing swarms to form and invade countries on all sides of the recession area, as far north as Spain and Russia, as far south as Nigeria and Kenya, and as far east as India and southwest Asia. As many as 60 countries can be affected within an area of 32 million square kilometers, or approximately 20 percent of the Earth's land surface.

Locust swarms fly with the wind at roughly the speed of the wind. They can cover from 100 to 200 kilometers in a day, and will fly up to about 2,000 meters above sea level (thereafter, it becomes too cold). Therefore, swarms cannot cross tall mountain ranges

such as the Atlas Mountains, the Hindu Kush or the Himalayas.

They will not venture into the rain forests of Africa nor into central Europe.

However, locust adults and swarms regularly cross the Red Sea between Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, and are even reported to have crossed the Atlantic Ocean from Africa to the Caribbean in ten days during the 1987-89 plague. A single swarm can cover up to 1200 square kilometers and can contain between 40 and 80 million locusts per square kilometer. The locust can live between three to six months, and there is a ten to 16-fold increase in locust numbers from one generation to the next.

Desert locusts can consume the approximate equivalent of their body mass each day (2 g) in green vegetation: leaves, flowers, bark, stems, fruit, and seeds. Nearly all crops, and noncrop plants, are at risk, including pearl millet, rice, maize, sorghum, sugarcane, barley, cotton, fruit trees, date palm, vegetables, rangeland grasses, acacia, pines, and banana.

What is more, locust droppings are toxic, and spoil any stored food that is left uneaten.

Crop loss from locusts was noted in the Bible and Qur'an;The significant crop loss caused by swarming desert locusts exacerbates problems of food shortage, and is a threat to food security.

Biopesticides include fungi, bacteria, neem extract and pheromones. The effectiveness of many biopesticides equals that of conventional chemical pesticides, but there are two distinct differences. Biopesticides in general take longer to kill insects, plant diseases, or weeds, usually between 2 and 10 days.

The species M. acridum has specialised on short-horned grasshoppers, to which group locusts belong, and has therefore been chosen as the active ingredient of the product.

Owing to the destructive habits of locusts, they have been a representation of famine in many Middle Eastern cultures. This theme commonly occurs, such as in the movies The Mummy and The Bible. In the pre-oil era of the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, locusts were considered as a food delicacy.

Guaiacol is produced in the gut of Desert locusts by the breakdown of plant material. This process is undertaken by the gut bacterium Pantoea (Enterobacter) agglomerans. Guaiacol is one of the main components of the pheromones that cause locust swarming.

Water Dispute

1. Ravi & Beas

Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan

2. Cauvery

Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Pudducherry

3. Krishna

Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra

4. Mahadayi (Mandovi)

Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra

5. Vansadhara

Andhra Pradesh & Orissa

List of Life Saving Drugs

There is no such list of life saving drugs. The Government has, however, published a National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), 2011.

The objective of the NLEM is that the drugs included in it are adequate to meet the common contemporary health needs of the general population of the country.

It is the general obligation of the health administrators to ensure abundant availability of these drugs in the country. The primary purpose of NLEM is to promote rational use of medicines considering the three important aspects i.e. cost, safety and efficacy. Furthermore, it promotes prescription by generic names. The NLEM is revised and updated from time to time in the context of contemporary knowledge of therapeutic products.

The NLEM, 2011 consists of 348 medicines belonging to 27 therapeutic categories such as antineoplastic, anti-cancer, immunological, anti infective Cardiovascular, ophthalmological preparations, Diuretics, anti-allergic etc. Department of Pharmaceuticals under Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers have been requested to bring all drugs in NLEM, 2011 under the price control regime of Drugs Price Control Order (DPCO).

UN Goals on Infant Mortality

The report “Infant and Child Mortality in India”- Levels, Trends and Determinants published by NIMS-ICMR and UNICEF mentions that among India’s major states, six states namely Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the south, Maharashtra in the West, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh in the North and West Bengal in the Eastern part of

India are likely to achieve MDG-4 target of U5MR below 39 by 2015.

As per the above said report, impact of key socio-economic determinants on Infant and Child mortality are as under:

• Infant mortality rate among children born to illiterate mothers has been

consistently higher than those born to mothers with any education. The estimate showed that the lowest mortality levels were seen among children born to women with more than 12 years of education and the highest were among those born to mothers with no education.

• Children born in scheduled caste and scheduled tribe families have a significantly

higher risk of dying than others.

• All components of under-five mortality have an inverse association with economic

status as measured by Standard of Living Index.

• Between 1981 and 2005, IMR and U5MR were consistently lower among

children living in families who accessed drinking water from a safe source as compared to those who accessed drinking water from an unsafe source.

• All components of Under-five mortality are higher for children in households that

do not have access to a flush or pit toilet, in India as a whole.

Under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), higher resources are being provided to the states and districts with week health indicators. Further, the following interventions are implemented to reduce Infant and Child mortality rates and to achieve MDG goals in the country:

1) Promotion of Institutional Delivery through JananiSurakshaYojana (JSY) and JananiShishuSurakshaKaryakram (JSSK): Promoting Institutional delivery to ensure skilled birth attendance is key to reducing both maternal and neo-natal mortality.

JSY incentivizes pregnant women to opt for institutional delivery and provides for cash assistance.

JSSK entitles all pregnant women to absolutely free and zero expense delivery including caesarean section operation in Government health facilities and provides for free to and fro transport, food, drugs and diagnostics. Similar entitlements have also been put in place for sick neonates.

2) Strengthening Facility based newborn care: Newborn care corners (NBCC) are being set up at all health facilities where deliveries take place to provide essential newborn care at birth to all new born babies; Special New Born Care Units (SNCUs) at District Hospitals and New Born Stabilization Units (NBSUs) at FRUs are being set up for the care of sick newborn.

3) Home Based Newborn Care (HBNC): Home based newborn care through ASHA has recently been initiated to improve new born care practices at the community level and for early detection and referral of sick new born babies.

The schedule of home visits by ASHA consists of at least 6 visits in case of

institutional deliveries, on days 3, 7, 14, 21, 28 & 42nd days and one additional visit within 24 hours of delivery in case of home deliveries. Additional visits will be made for babies who are pre-term, low birth weight or ill.

4) Capacity building of health care providers: Various trainings are being conducted under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) to build and upgrade the skills of doctors, nurses and ANM for early diagnosis and case management of common ailments of children and care of newborn at time of birth.

These trainings include Integrated Management of Neo-natal and Childhood Illness(IMINCI) and NavjaatShishuSurakshtaKaryakaram (NSSK).

5) Management of Malnutrition: Emphasis is being laid on reduction of malnutrition which is an important underlying cause of child mortality. 594 Nutritional Rehabilitation Centres have been established for management of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM).

Iron and Folic Acid is also provided to children for prevention of anaemia.

Recently, weekly Iron and Folic Acid is proposed to be initiated for adolescent population. As breastfeeding reduces infant mortality, exclusive breastfeeding for first six months and appropriate infant and young child feeding practices are being promoted in convergence with Ministry of Woman and Child Development.

6) Village Health and Nutrition Days (VHNDs) are also being organized for imparting nutritional counseling to mothers and to improve child care practices.

7) Universal Immunization Program (UIP): Vaccination against seven diseases is provided to all children under UIP. Government of India supports the vaccine program by supply of vaccines and syringes, cold chain equipments and provision of operational costs.

Year 2012-13 has been declared as ‘Year of intensification of Routine Immunization’.

8)Mother and Child Tracking System: A name based Mother and Child Tracking System has been put in place which is web based to enable tracking of all pregnant women and newborns so as to monitor and ensure that complete services are provided to them.

States are encouraged to send SMS alerts to beneficiaries reminding them of the dates on which services are due and generate beneficiary-wise due list of services with due dates for ANMs on a weekly basis.

Besides the above, various programmes are being implemented by MORD, MOUD, HUPA, Department of school education and literacy, MWCD to address social and economic determinants of health like drinking water, sanitation, nutrition, education, women empowerment, poverty etc that have a bearing on reduction of infant and child mortality.

Allocation for the Health Sector

As per the draft 12th Five Year Plan document of Planning Commission, the projections for the Twelfth Plan envisage increasing total public funding by the Centre and States, plan and non-plan, on core health from 1.04 per cent of GDP in 2011-12 to 1.87 per cent of GDP by the end of the Twelfth Plan. The tentative allocation for 12th Five Year Plan for Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is Rs.300018 crore.

The President said Justice Bhagwati is a pioneer of Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in India, promoter of the right to legal aid and emissary of Lok Adalats. He converted the courtroom into a site of people’s struggle in humanizing law. Justice Bhagwati epitomizes how a judge can be instrumental in espousing the cause of justice to the millions of deprived Indians who are standing in the waiting room of history to become the subjects of justice.