Clean sweep: Women turn torchbearers of cleanliness campaign

The idiom “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” may have been overused for decades, but what it preaches still holds true. Production of Municipal Solid Waste or garbage has reached such phenomenal levels that landfill sites have started overflowing and cities like Delhi have no dumping grounds where they can send their trash. The “mountains of shame” are finally being flattened with the help of trommel machines and waste-to-energy plants.

If one looks at the Annual Report 2020-21 on Implementation of Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 released by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), it can be seen that per capita waste generation has started decreasing in the past couple of years after peaking to 132.78 grams per day in 2016-17.

The total quantity of solid waste generated in the country is 1,60,038.9 tonnes per day (TPD) of which 1,52,749.5 TPD is collected by the civic agencies. While 79,956.3 TPD (50%) of the waste is treated, 29,427.2 TPD (18.4%) is sent to landfill sites, and 50,655.4 TPD, a whopping 31.7%, remains unaccounted for.

The maximum quantity of per capita solid waste is generated in Delhi, followed by Lakshadweep and Mizoram. The maximum percentage of solid waste treated was found to be in Chhattisgarh (100%), followed by Daman, Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli (88.76%), Goa (87.04%), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (84.7%) and Madhya Pradesh (80.67%).

PUTTING THE HOUSE IN ORDER

Community participation is a must if one is to rid their village, town, city and, eventually, the country of garbage. Trash strewn around sends an ugly picture to the outside world and clean public places are often a sight for sore eyes.

In the first-ever community powered step taken by the Indian Government, 17 lakh people from various cities across the country participated in a rally titled “Swachh Mashaal March” to raise awareness about garbage-free cities and conduct cleanliness drives and zero waste events on March 29, 30 and 31. The first Mashaal March was carried out on March 29, the eve of International Day of Zero Waste.

Calling for behavioural changes regarding Swachhata and commitment towards urban sanitation, lakhs of women changemakers participated in the rallies held in 3,000-plus cities and towns from Kashmir’s Baramulla to Madhyamgram and Ghatal cities of West Bengal, Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, Bhopal and Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh and Tiruvuru in Tamil Nadu to scale up the fight against garbage. The march was aimed at encouraging ward-level mobilisation of citizens towards the goal of “garbage-free cities”.

The past five years have seen an increasing trend in processing of solid waste wherein the figure has increased from 19% in 2015-16 to 49.96% in 2020-21. However, the challenge is segregation of garbage at source. If households religiously segregate wet and dry waste, then recycling and composting can be carried out without any extraordinary steps. The pressure on landfill sites can be reduced and wet waste can also be used by bio-methanation plants.

Another drawback is that while composting has been adopted by all States and Union Territories, waste-to-energy plants have been provided in only six States/UTs and bio-methanation plants have not been provided in 14 States/UTs.

Literal advantage: How lakhs are learning to write their destiny

Education means knowledge. Knowledge is power — power to choose; power to effect change; power to understand issues; power to make wise decisions; power to transform one’s lives; power to uplift one’s family as well as society. And education can only be gained if one is literate. And literacy is defined as an individual’s ability to communicate through reading and writing.

BOOKING A BETTER FUTURE

In the past 10 years, from 2011 to 2022, India’s literacy rate has increased significantly. While the literacy rate, when compared with developed nations, is still low, currently there are 84.7% literate men and 70.3% literate women. The average literacy rate in 2021 was 77.7% compared with 72.99% in 2011, according to the National Family Health Survey-5 and National Statistical Office (2021 and 2022). While the average literacy difference between men and women is 12.9 percentage points, Kerala has the smallest gap of just 2.2 percentage points.

In its effort to provide literacy to all, the Indian Government has started the Nav Bharat Saaksharata Karyakram or New India Literacy Programme (NILP) for implementation from financial years 2022 to 2027. The scheme is in alignment with the recommendations of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. It targets all non-literates aged 15 years and above with the focus being on women and educationally backward states.

The five components of the scheme include Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, Critical Life Skills, Basic Education, Vocational Skills, and Continuing Education. Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) volunteers, students of schools and higher education institutions and teacher education institutions have been involved in the teaching-learning activities across the country.

On March 19, 2023, the first Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Assessment Test (FLNAT) under the Nav Bharat Saaksharta Karyakram was held across 10 States and Union Territories to assess the basic reading, writing and numeracy skills of the neo-literates.

The positive response to the scheme could be assessed from the number of participants itself as more than 22.7 lakh learners aged between 15 years and 80 years participated in the event to be declared as literates on qualifying the test.

The maximum number of learners — 9,25,854 (5,91,421 women and 3,34,433 men) appeared in Madhya Pradesh against the initial target of 5,35,000 learners. The assessment test was conducted in all 52 districts of the state.

In what could be considered an inspiration for all neo-literates, in Jhabua, a tribal district of Madhya Pradesh, where 58,470 people appeared in the test, a groom, Neelesh Vasuniya from Nawapara village in Thandla Block, stopped his baarat and appeared for the assessment test before moving on to his wedding venue.

In Uttar Pradesh, FLNAT was held in all 75 districts where 1,46,055 learners appeared in the test. In both Leh and Kargil districts of Ladakh, 7,366 learners appeared for the test. While 5,48,352 learners (3,98,418 women and 1,49,934 men) appeared in the assessment test held in schools in 33 districts of Rajasthan, in Tamil Nadu the test was organised in all 38 districts where 5,28,416 learners (4,36,020 men and 92,371 men) appeared for it. Twenty five transgenders of 13 districts also appeared for the test.

On January 27, 2023, University Grants Commission issued directions to the vice-chancellors of universities and principals of all colleges in the country to involve students and higher education institutions for implementation of the scheme. It directed them to give credits for this volunteer activity and have mandatory coursework for NILP for students of teacher training institutes.

Healthy tradition: Alternate forms of medicine may turn into boon for rural areas

Healthcare for all has always been a much-debated topic in a developing country like India. While there are many challenges associated with providing proper medical attention to patients in rural areas, the Primary Healthcare Centres in villages and kasbas have since time immemorial been ill-equipped in terms of medicines, implements, doctors and nurses.

This has forced the rural populace to turn to untrained “medical practitioners” who have set up their “practice” after managing to learn bare treatment methods while working as compounders of MBBS/MD doctors in nearby towns or cities. The huge downside is that such “practitioners” treat on the basis of guesswork, which at times backfires and the patient’s ailment or disease worsens and they have to be rushed to government hospitals, sometimes resulting in fatalities.

POUNDING OUT DISEASES

Traditional means of medicine, like Ayurveda, Unani and Homeopathy, come to the rescue of the underprivileged and the poor in rural areas as they are not as costly as allopathy, both in terms of doctors’ fees and cost of medicines. But the majority of the masses still leans towards allopathy as it is quick to heal them of their ailments. The limited income factor also does not attract good talent to adopt traditional medicine as their profession.

Moreover, traditional medicine doses have to be tailored for each patient based on their habits, routine, mental state, preferences, what they eat, etc. For example, a homeopathy practitioner must spend a considerable time noting down the aforementioned before giving a mix of the liquids in the form of sweet pills, otherwise the medicine will have no effect. Also, during the intake of traditional medicines, certain foods are to be avoided.

Most of the time, traditional medicine practitioners are in a hurry to cater to a larger number of patients, so they give them generalised doses, which do not work in the manner intended. This also forces patients to shy away from traditional medicine.

However, a ray of light has come in the form of 25 countries coming together to promote traditional medicine. Recently, a B2B Conference and Expo along with National Arogya Summit was held at Guwahati under India’s Presidency of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The event promoted traditional medicine to contribute in economic development, environment protection and achieving the goal of health security among the SCO nations.

The Ministry of Ayush has taken various initiatives on traditional medicine during India’s SCO Presidency by organising virtual conference of experts and practitioners and conducting the First Expert Working Group on Traditional Medicine wherein draft regulations have been approved. The regulation would be subjected to each country’s administrative procedures and finally be adopted at the Head of the States Summit.

Fields of Gold: Green Revolution Must Get Greener To Cut Costs, Increase Yield Of Crops

Sustainable Agriculture, without the use of
chemicals, seems the only way forward

Everything comes full circle, and so have techniques in the agricultural sector. There was a time when farmers had gradually shifted from using natural or organic manure to spraying chemical-laden pesticides, broadcasting urea, deep placement of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and potash liberally on crops in their fields. But with organic foodgrains gaining more popularity in the past few years, usage of biomass, compost, cowdung, pressmud, etc has again picked up.

The Indian Government has also started the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) to motivate farmers to adopt chemical-free farming and enhance the reach of natural farming. The Mission has been formulated as a separate and independent scheme from FY 2023-24 by upscaling the Bhartiya Prakritik Krishi Paddhati (BPKP).

According to the government, the success of NMNF will require behavioural changes in farmers to shift from chemical-based inputs to cow-based locally produced manure. This will require continuous efforts in awareness, training, hand-holding and capacity building of farmers in the initial years. In this regard, a provision of Rs 459 crore for 2023-24 has been proposed in the budget.

Another downside of farmers using chemicals like urea, DAP, potash and pesticides is the burden shouldered by the Central Government in the form of subsidies given on fertilisers. The budget for fertiliser subsidy for 2023-24 has been kept at Rs 1,75,099 crore. The government foots a subsidy on these soil nutrients so that farmers, who are mostly marginal, do not have to bear high input costs as it will result in heavy losses to them.

While need-coated urea is sold at around Rs 590 per quintal to farmers, the price payable to domestic manufacturers and importers comes to about Rs 1,700 and Rs 2,300 per quintal, respectively. The per-tonne subsidy is currently Rs 10,231 for DAP and Rs 6,070 for potash.

Natural Farming relies on cattle dung and locally available resources, with no chemical fertilisers and pesticides, and gives freedom to farmers from externally purchased inputs. It is largely based on on-farm biomass recycling with major stress on mulching, using cowdung-urine formulation as pesticides and botanical concoctions for improving the natural nutrient cycling and increase in organic matter in the soil.

Organic farming is considered to be climate friendly and promotes low external input usage, recycling, reuse and reduced use of synthetics. The Indian Council of Agriculture Research under its All India Network Programme on Organic Farming has developed practices for organic production in cropping and farming systems.

Given that the input costs for farming have been increasing by leaps and bounds and the final crop yield is failing to match the investment given its vulnerability to extreme weather conditions, sustainable farming is fast becoming the next big thing to meet the challenges of sustaining domestic food production in the face of the changing climate.

Free legal aid: Reducing the burden of costly justice

It is a common saying that no guilty can escape the long arm of the law. But in reality, the long arm of the law takes a considerable period to encircle the throats of offenders to throw them behind the bars. Moreover, justice eludes the poor and underprivileged, or those from the weaker sections of the society, as they are unable to bear the cost of prolonged litigation. This is where legal aid comes into play where advocates offer their services pro bono.

Service to society:

Eligible beneficiaries can avail of free legal aid under Section 12 of Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. As on March 1,2023, 2,180 people have benefited from Pro Bono Legal Services, while 5,954 advocates have registered for the scheme across the country. Pro Bono Panel of advocates has been initiated in 21 High Courts, while Pro Bono Clubs have been started in 69 select law schools to instill the culture of providing free legal aid in budding lawyers.

While five law schools each in Delhi, Gujarat and Maharashtra have started Pro Bono Clubs, in Uttar Pradesh seven legal schools have come forward to join the endeavour. In Delhi, 401 litigants have benefited from pro bono work, 117 in Haryana, 379 in Maharashtra, 106 in Odisha, 281 in Uttar Pradesh and 213 in West Bengal.

The State Bar Councils have been entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining the list of advocates offering pro bono work. In Andhra Pradesh, 539 advocates have registered themselves for offering legal aid free of charge, while the number of such lawyers in Bihar is 426. In Delhi, 751 advocates offer their services pro bono, Jharkhand 150, Madhya Pradesh 517, Maharashtra & Goa 462, Odisha 225, Punjab & Haryana 619, Rajasthan 194, Tamil Nadu 264 and Uttar Pradesh 557.

Digital world to the rescue:

In 2017, the Indian Government launched the Tele-Law programme for providing an effective and reliable e-interface platform to the needy and disadvantaged sections seeking legal advice. Through this programme, the underprivileged can consult empanelled lawyers via video conferencing, telephone and chat facilities available at the Common Service Centres (CSCs) situated in Gram Panchayats and through the Tele-Law mobile app.

A technological framework has also been put in place where advocates volunteering to provide their services for pro bono work can register on the Nyaya Bandhu app, which is available on both Android and iOS platforms. Nyaya Bandhu Services are also available on the UMANG platform.

Brainstorm: Mental healthcare for all through 24x7 helpline 14416

The situation was bad, really bad, during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the deadly waves of the novel coronavirus (SARS-Cov-2) snuffed out lakhs of lives across the world, those who survived the disease were severely affected mentally, battling depression, anxiety and other ailments.

A study done on the burden of depressive and anxiety disorders in 204 countries and territories prompted the Indian government to take a number of initiatives to address the mental health issues being faced by people across the country.

The initiatives included setting up of a 24x7 helpline (14416 or 18008914416) to provide psycho-social support with the help of mental health professionals to the entire affected population, who were divided into different target groups — children, adult, elderly, women and healthcare workers.

Guidelines and advisories were issued for management of mental health issues catering to different segments of the society. Management of stress and anxiety was advocated through various media platforms in the form of creative and audio-visual materials and promotion was done for creating an environment of support and care for all.

The National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru issued guidelines for general medical and specialised mental healthcare settings, while online capacity building of health workers in providing psycho-social support and training was provided through the (iGOT)-Diksha platform.

To provide affordable and accessible mental healthcare facilities to people, especially the poor and underprivileged, the Central Government is implementing the National Mental Health Programme (NMHP). The District Mental Health Programme (DMHP) component of NMHP is being implemented in 716 districts through the National Health Mission.

The facilities under DMHP at the Community Health Centre (CHC) and Primary Health Centre (PHC) levels include outpatient services, assessment, counselling, psycho-social interventions, continuing care and support to people with severe mental disorders, drugs, outreach services, ambulance services, etc.

The Centre also launched a “National Tele Mental Health Programme” on October 10, 2022, to improve access to quality mental health counselling and care services across the country. As of March 9, 2023, 25 States and Union Territories have set up 36 Tele MANAS Cells and started mental health services. In all, 63,806 calls have been handled on the helpline number.

Future planning of the government under the tertiary care component of National Mental Health Programme includes setting up of 25 Centres of Excellence and 47 PG departments to increase the intake of students for them to qualify as mental health specialists as well as to provide tertiary-level treatment facilities.

Three mental health institutions that are under the administrative control of the Central Government have been allocated Rs 865.3 crore for the year 2022-23. While NIMHANS, Bengaluru has been sanctioned Rs 678 crore, Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi Regional Institute of Mental Health in Tezpur, Assam would be given Rs 58.3 crore and Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi Rs 129 crore.

Unlimited Bandwidth: How Panchayat services are being planned through a mouse click

The Great Digital Divide between urban and rural areas is fast being bridged under the Digital India Programme. While services in urban areas are mostly available at a click of the mouse, villagers still need to trudge to the nearest Panchayat office and fill out forms to get their work done. Moreover, Panchayats are yet to be digitised with massive mountains of files adorning their offices.

Considering the fact that Panchayats are heavily reliant on paperwork, the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj is implementing the e-Panchayat Mission Mode Project (MMP) to transform the functioning of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and making them more transparent, accountable and effective.

eGramSwaraj, a work-based accounting application for PRIs under the e-Panchayat MMP was launched on April 24, 2020 to encompass all aspects of the functioning of Panchayats (planning, budgeting, accounting, monitoring, asset management, etc) on a single digital platform, including online payments.

To ensure better financial management and to enhance transparency and accountability in the maintenance of accounts, eGramSwaraj was integrated with Public Financial Management System (PFMS). As a result, Panchayats can now transfer payments online to their vendors.

So far, 2.55 lakh Gram Panchayat across the country have prepared and uploaded their Gram Panchayat Development Plans for 2022-23 on eGramSwaraj. Moreover, 2.24 lakh Panchayats have carried out online transactions under the 15th Finance Commission during 2022-23.

In Financial Year 2022-23 (as on March 15, 2023), out of the total 2,65,335 Panchayats across the country, 2,51,371 have uploaded their development plans, while 2,24,614 have started online payments. In the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, out of 58,842 Panchayats, 58,064 have uploaded their development plans, while 58,135 have started online payments.

Citizen’s Charter for speedy delivery of services:

Meanwhile, the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj has prepared a Model Panchayat Citizen’s Charter for delivery of services across 29 sectors. This has been aligned with localised Sustainable Development Goals for the Panchayats to adopt and customise. The aim is to provide services to people in a time-bound manner, redress their grievances and improve their lives.

The “Meri Panchayat, Mera Adhikaar - Jan Sevaayein Hamaare Dwaar” campaign was conducted between July 1, 2021 and September 30, 2021. It emerged as an effective strategy for ensuring that Gram Panchayats have a Citizen’s Charter approved by the respective Gram Sabhas, cataloguing different categories of services rendered to people by the Panchayat and the time limit for providing such services.

Till date, over 2.32 Lakh Gram Panchayats across the 31 States and Union Territories have conducted Gram Sabha and 2.15 Lakh have finalised their Citizen’s Charters.

Fibre of one’s being: Millets turning into super foods of the future

The Central Government is focusing on making millets the “super foods” of the future considering the fact that a shift in food habits and increase in a sedentary lifestyle have resulted in a dual burden of diseases. Even in the second version of Poshan Abhiyaan, the focus is on diet diversity, food fortification, leveraging traditional systems of knowledge and popularising the use of millets.

Poshan Abhiyaan was launched on March 8, 2018, with an aim to achieve improvement in nutritional status of adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers in a time-bound manner by adopting a synergised and result-oriented approach.

Recently, experts from across the globe and members of the industry participated in the Global Millets (Shree Anna) Conference of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare at the AP Shinde Symposium Hall, NASC Complex, New Delhi. One of the sessions was centered on “Research, Innovations and Sustainability” in which it was highlighted that awareness, innovations, robust market integration and supply chain should be the area of focus to promote the consumption of millets.

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India CEO Kamala Vardhana Rao was of the view that millets should now be included in daily food items like bread, biscuits, noodles, chocolates, etc.

Stakeholders noted that wild varieties of millets were very resistant, but needed to be studied well. They shared that millets were in high demand and different packaging solutions were being researched upon to increase their shelf life. Other experts added that greater awareness on health at different levels needed to be created. They stressed on the need of more research on yield management. For enriching soil fertility, intercropping with millets was suggested. It was also pointed out that marketing was crucial for the promotion of millets and millennial consumers needed to be targeted to enhance demand.

The prophylactic and therapeutic benefits of millets were discussed in the session moderated by Justice D Seshadri Naidu, Former Judge, Bombay High Court with the focus on consumer behaviour, right method of consumption with innovation across the whole value chain. Dr M Srinivas, Director, AIIMS, Delhi, mentioned that phytonutrients present in millets could be very helpful with therapeutic benefits.

Nutrition awareness strategies under Mission Poshan 2.0 aim to develop sustainable health and well-being through regional meal plans to bridge dietary gaps. Further, greater emphasis is being given on the use of millets for preparation of hot cooked meals and take home rations (not raw rations) at Anganwadi centres for pregnant women, lactating mothers and children below six years of age as millets have high nutrient content, which includes protein, essential fatty acid, dietary fibre, B-vitamins, minerals such as calcium, iron, zinc, folic acid and other micro-nutrients, thereby helping to tackle anemia and other deficiencies common among women and children.