Reading Time: 12 mins In the next decade, India is bound to become the most populous nation in the world, surpassing China. However, compared globally, India remains one of the lowest spenders on public health, despite the government’s commitment to expanding the funding. This makes healthcare service unaffordable and inaccessible to many. Therefore government intervention in this regard is a need of the hour.
Reading Time: 13 mins The Indian education system, for a long time, is faced with the problem of inaccessibility and low-quality education that make Indians unemployable. Due to this, India is not able to use the potential of its human capital. Education is one of the vital tools that help a nation to develop. The government needs to address this issue through proactive involvement for the betterment of all Indian citizens.
Reading Time: 5 mins While addressing the United Nations conference on desertification (COP-14), Indian PM told the global community that India is focusing on Zero-Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF). ZBNF was also mentioned in budget 2019 for doubling farmer’s income by 2022.
But scientists from the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences argued that there is no need for the government to promote ZBNF unless there is proper scientific validation.
Reading Time: 7 mins The gang-rape of a veterinary doctor whose body was set ablaze and dumped under a bridge has sent shockwaves through India, with hundreds of women taking to the street in protest. Less than 24 hours of this incident, another charred body of a 35-year old woman was found in the same area. The gruesome nature of this crime has brought back the chilling memories of the Nirbhaya incident that took place in Delhi in December 2012. People from all walks of life have come together to demand capital punishment for the accused.
Reading Time: 8 mins Updates * The government had set an ambitious target of achieving 175 GW renewable energy capacity by the year 2022 which is near impossible considering the fact that India has currently crossed only 80 GW renewable energy capacity and coal is still among its primary energy sources. According to BP Energy Outlook 2019, the consumption …
Reading Time: 6 mins The Union Budget allotted over Rs.80,000 crore for the up-gradation of 1.25 lakh km roads under the phase III of the PMGSY. This government initiative has greatly enhanced India’s rural population’s standard of living and is one of the significant steps towards inclusive economic growth. Not only is this scheme intending to promote inclusive growth but is also taking into account the need for sustainability of the environment by making use of green technology while constructing the road. Under the first two phases of PMGSY, a total of 1.25 lakh km of rural roads have been built across various villages in the country. The government has set a target to construct 7, 000 km of roads under this initiative during 2019-20. This scheme as a whole, until now, has brought in a significant improvement in ease of living for India’s very large rural population.
Reading Time: 8 mins Housing is one of the basic requirements of human survival. Normal citizen owning a house provides significant economic and social security status in society. For a shelter-less person, a house with basic necessity brings about a profound change in his existence, endowing him with an identity, thus integrating him with his immediate social milieu. With this in mind, the government had launched Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in 2015 to provide housing for all by 2022. Numerous challenges are faced by the government while undertaking this momentous scheme. These need to be addressed for this vision to be implemented within the deadline.
Reading Time: 8 mins Recently, the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority – EPCA had declared a public health emergency in the Delhi-NCR region as the pollution levels crossed the threshold of the “severe-plus” category. The air pollution is said to reach “Severe plus” or emergency levels when PM2.5 levels cross 300 µg/m3 or PM10 levels crosses 500µg/m3. As per the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), these levels, which are about 5-times the standard, need to persist for 48 hours or more before the emergency level can be declared. This is worrisome because, according to the plan, during severe or emergency levels of air pollution, those suffering from heart diseases, asthma and other respiratory diseases may suffer the most and has a direct impact on morality. According to WHO, air pollution kills 7 million people worldwide. And the health effects of air pollution are serious – about one-third of the deaths from stroke, lung cancer, and heart disease are caused by the same. It is having an equivalent effect to that of smoking tobacco.
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