A Member of Parliament from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam,S. Senthilkumar in the Lok Sabha made derogatory remarks about North Indian states in the Lok Sabha, which were later expunged from the records. Such comments are unworthy of a lawmaker and are considered bigotry, as they insult people's beliefs, food habits, and cultural practices.
A Member of Parliament apologized for his comments regarding the political divide between northern and southern states in India after BJP’s victory in three Hindi-speaking states (MP, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh) and the Congress party's victory in Telangana.
There are some genuine concerns on this naturally existing divide but such statements are unethical and baseless. For example- South is doing well on family planning and hence population growth has been relatively low and this has led to its lesser representation in Parliament. This issue needs to be reconciled properly by GoI because here one who is doing better is bearing the pain of poor representation in highest political institution of the country.
The World Meteorological Organization’s recent report, “The Global Climate 2011-2020”, gives a broad view of the planet’s response to greenhouse gas emissions.
World’s glaciers thinned by approximately a metre a year from 2011 to 2020.
In Africa, glaciers on the Rwenzori Mountains and Mount Kenya are projected to disappear by 2030, and those on Kilimanjaro by 2040.
The fury of a GLOF(glacial lake outburst flood) event was brought home this year by the destruction of the Chungthang dam in Sikkim after the South Lhonak Lake flooded from a melting glacier, triggering catastrophe downstream.
At the current rate of global greenhouse gas emissions, which is expected to see temperatures increase by 2.5°-3°C by the end of the century, the volume of glaciers is forecast to decline anywhere from 55% to 75%. This means sharp reductions in freshwater supply in the immediate vicinity of 2050.
Correspondingly, there is a need to make comprehensive risk assessments, map regions of vulnerability and commission infrastructure development with the highest standards of care.
Many of these unapproved or banned FDCs(Fixed Dose Combinations) contain antibiotics is cause for concern given the growing antibacterial microbial resistance.
A group of academics from India, Qatar and the United Kingdom recently published a worrying new study - the volume of unapproved and even banned fixed dose combination (FDC) of antibiotics that are being sold in India.
2020, 60.5% FDCs of antibiotics (comprising 239 formulations) were unapproved and another 9.9% (comprising 39 formulations) were being sold despite being banned in the country.
FDCs are combinations of one or more known drugs and can be useful in the treatment of some diseases since the combination can improve patient compliance.
The pharmaceutical industry’s love for FDCs-Drugs (Prices Control) Order (DPCO), under which the government fixes the prices of individual drugs. Since drug combinations were traditionally not covered under the DPCO, the pharmaceutical industry decided that making FDCs provided an easy way to escape the remit of the DPCO.
Two added advantages-
no standards set by bodies
it gives individual companies a reason to charge higher prices for their drugs.
1988, the central government amended the rules to introduce a new requirement for manufacturers of all “new drugs”, including FDCs, to submit proof of safety and efficacy to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) who heads the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO).
Despite the law being crystal clear on the issue, State drug controllers have simply ignored the law to continue issuing manufacturing licences for FDCs not approved by the DCGI with impunity. The manufacturers selling these FDCs that have not been approved by the DCGI can technically be prosecuted by the Central government for violating the law.
Ministry of Health; 444 orders under this provision since 1983- date over date n so on so forth in Courts.
The relationship between India and Sri Lanka in the areas of infrastructure development, energy links and trade should be much deeper than what it is now.
The announcement by Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe, recently, about a proposal to establish land connectivity with India has come none too soon.
Anti-Indian sentiments in Sri Lanka.
the idea of connecting the electricity networks of the two countries was floated even in 1970.Over 13 years have lapsed since the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on the bilateral grid, but not even one unit of electricity has been transmitted. In the case of Bangladesh, India has been exporting at least 7,000 million units (MU) annually for the last couple of years.
On trade-Despite signing the India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement in 1998, the two countries have not progressed beyond it despite holding talks for years on entering into an economic and technology cooperation agreement. However, negotiations recently resumed after a five-year break.
India is the largest source of imports for Sri Lanka, accounting for about 26% of total imports. However, some imports were through credit lines offered by India due to the economic crisis.
A start has been made- in the last one year (resumption of air services between Chennai and Jaffna, the launch of passenger ferry services between Nagapattinam and Kankesanthurai and a joint venture agreement among India’s National Dairy Development Board, the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation and Cargills of Sri Lanka for self-sufficiency in the dairy sector) should be sustained and improved upon.
NOTE: This content needs no analysis; it’s like a cover story on Chennai after being hit by
cyclone
Michaung.
