Suchergebnisse

To mark the 17th World Rabies Day on September 28th, the authors discuss their research findings and explore the implications of strategies aimed at eliminating this life-threatening disease in India. Rabies: a fatal disease Rabies is the only disease in the world with a 100% fatality rate. Despite being one of the oldest known diseases, … Continued

This study of decentralization reforms in India challenges the assumption that corruption should be seen as a function of culture. At the individual level, the capacity to distinguish between public and private sectors is important for rejecting the use of bribes to public sector employees, while at the aggregate level social capital plays an important role for resisting corruption.

Overweight, obesity, hypertension, and diabetes increase the risk of non-communicable diseases and all-cause mortality worldwide. Previous studies have not determined the prevalence of these conditions/diseases throughout India. Therefore, this study was aimed to address this limitation. Data on these conditions/diseases among men and women aged ≥ 18 years were obtained from the fourth National Family Health Survey conducted throughout India between January 2015 and December 2016. The prevalence and prevalence rate per 100,000 population were calculated at the national level and by age group, sex, and type of residence for each state and union territory. The national prevalence of overweight, obesity, hypertension, and diabetes were 14.6%, 3.4%, 5.2%, and 7.1%, respectively. The highest prevalence of these conditions/diseases at the national level was seen among those aged 35–49 years (54 years for men), especially women living in urban areas. In India, 1 out of every 7, 29, 19, and 14 individuals at the national level had overweight, obesity, hypertension, and diabetes, respectively—between 2015 and 2016. These results are important for the healthcare system and government policies in the future. Moreover, targeted efforts are required to establish public health strategies for the prevention, management, and treatment of these conditions/diseases throughout India.

Diwali is a five-day festival celebrated every year with lamp illumination and bursting of firecrackers in India. Considering the present situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Rajasthan government im- posed a ban on firecrackers during the five-day festivities in the year 2020 to tackle air pollution caused by the emission of harmful pollutant gases from their burning. This paper has assessed the concentration of PM10, PM2.5, CO and SO2 pollutants, which are released from fireworks in large amounts in the environment during the Diwali festival. Seven air quality monitoring stations viz. Ajmer, Alwar, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Pali and Udaipur in Rajasthan state were selected to examine the effect of a ban on the use of firecrackers during the Diwali festival. The analysis was done by comparing the mean concentrations of baseline data and Diwali day data of 2019 and 2020. The results depict that the firecracker ban helped in declining the concentrations of all the air pollutants (PM2.5, PM10, CO and SO2) taken into consid- eration, which significantly improved the ambient air quality of Rajasthan during the Diwali festival, and it is suggested that such regulations should be implemented from time to time to improve the quality of air and human health effectively.

Many Climate Smart Agricultural (CSA) technologies fail to achieve their full potential impact due to low levels of adoption by smallholder farmers and difficulties in scaling CSA. This paper presents how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can act as change agents for the uptake of CSA technologies where their business models may be seen as adoption and scaling mechanisms. Drawing upon our fieldwork in Punjab (India) during which over 100 respondents have been interviewed, critical issues and enabling factors for the business model of two types of SMEs, i.e. farmer cooperatives and individual service providers of climate smart technologies have been identified. Enabling factors supporting adoption are driven by scientific and practical evidence of CSA technologies, good partnership between SMEs and research institutes, good customer relationships and effective channels through farmers' field trials. Critical issues consist of distortive government subsidies on energy and the lack of market intelligence affecting the profitability of the business model. Scaling is enhanced through market intelligence and a favouring regulatory landscape. However, difficult socio-economic circumstances and distortive government subsidies limit the role of SMEs business model as mechanism for scaling.

BACKGROUND: Plasmodium vivax, once considered benign species, is recently being recognised to be causing severe malaria like Plasmodium falciparum. In the present study, the authors report the trends in malaria severity in P. vivax among patients from a Delhi government hospital. The aim of the study was to understand the disease severity and the burden of severe vivax malaria. METHODS: A hospital based study was carried out from June 2017 to December 2018 at a tertiary care centre from Delhi, India. Patients were tested for malaria using peripheral blood smear (PBS) and/or rapid malaria antigen test (RMAT). The severe and non-severe vivax malaria categorization was done as per the WHO guidelines. Sociodemographic, clinic and paraclinical data were collected from patients and their medical records. RESULTS: Of the 205 patients, 177 (86.3%) had P. vivax infection, 22 (10.7%) had P. falciparum infection and six (2.9%) had mixed infection with both the species. Out of 177 P. vivax cases included in this study one or more manifestations of severe malaria was found in 58 cases (32.7%). Severe anaemia (56.9%), jaundice (15%) and significant bleeding (15%) were the most common complications reported in most of patients, along with thrombocytopenia. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, it is evident that vivax malaria is emerging as the new severe disease in malaria patients, a significant shift in the paradigm of P. vivax pathogenesis. The spectrum of complications and alterations in the laboratory parameters in P. vivax clinical cases also indicate the recent shift in the disease severity.

AbstractThe role played by the East India Company in European expansion in early modern Asia is of such importance that it has generated a large body of scholarly literature. However, the logbooks of the East Indiamen, compiled by their captains, are largely overlooked as a primary source for the history of navigation, despite the wealth of information such firsthand, "from below" documents could provide about those voyages. As part of the Global Sea Routes (GSR) project, this essay analyses the voyage of the Nassau (1781–85) along four main themes: the peculiarities of navigation during the Age of Sail, when the duration of a voyage was difficult to predict and subject to a range of possible accidents; the concrete reality of life on board, oscillating between the various activities of the crew and the episodes of desertion and insubordination that broke its daily routine; her military deployment, as the Nassau was directly involved in operations related to the Second Anglo-Mysore War; and, finally, her commercial activities, from the port cities of India to the seas of China.

AbstractHomelessness comes with a slew of challenges and a never‐ending struggle for survival. This study examines the impact of the pandemic and lockdown on the homeless population of urban India. The study reflects on the experiences of the homeless in the major cities of India during the first wave of the pandemic as well as explores the aspect of their rights and the role of government policy in this regard. The methodology of the study is qualitative in nature, where secondary data collected from various sources such as news articles, blogs, books, journals, and reports are put to analysis for deriving the findings. The study reveals the sufferings of the homeless in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, and Chennai. Their fight is not merely with the SARS‐CoV‐2 virus but also with hunger, unemployment, and neglect faced by them. The study highlights the fact that their rights are being compromised due to drawbacks relating to policy implementation. The study concludes with certain suggestions such as, addressing the loopholes in policy implementations and creating sustainable livelihood opportunities.

The trust of depositors in the Indian banking system was shaken in September 2019 when the five-page confession letter written by Joy K Thomas, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank (PMC Bank), one of the ten largest co-operative banks in India revealed gross financial irregularities, collusion and fraud in banking operations of PMC Bank from 2008 onwards. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) came into swift action and placed curbs on routine banking activities and restricted the withdrawal of money to a limited amount. Succumbing to the shock, depositors protested at several places and even, eleven depositors lost their lives. With a huge exposure of 73% of the overall loan portfolio to a single borrower, Housing and Development Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) & group companies, that too facing insolvency proceedings, the recovery of full money was almost impossible. The malice at PMC Bank is the classic case of crony capitalism, collusion and fraud, and failure of corporate governance. The case draws important lessons for reforming co-operative banking sector and strengthening banking supervision in the country.

China and India relations are currently marked by increasing competition, but also by cooperation which is mostly accentuated in the economic domain. The latter is highly dependent on the development of conflicting issues. The existing borderland disputes have already resulted in war, and tensions remain high. Whereas the source of conflict was primarily an inland one, there are signs of a growing oceanic tension, with the Indian Ocean poised to become a determinant strategic issue. With both countries currently enlarging their naval military capacities, the ever possibility for conflict scenarios grows, jeopardizing the desirable adversary position between the two powers determined by competition, favoring instead an inimical one, tending towards destruction. Under such conditions, a multi-polar world order, desirable to promote stability in the international system, under the contemporary world political conditions, is likely to be drown in the Indian Ocean waters. The current paper aims to discuss the significance of current and future developments in China-India relations specifically in the context of the Indian Ocean, as determinants for the establishment of a Multi-polar world order.

BackgroundIn 2013, the Government of India launched the National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) in order to better address the health needs of urban populations, including the nearly 100 million living in slums. Maternal and neonatal health indicators remain poor in India. The objective of this study is to highlight the experiences of women, their husbands, and mothers-in-law related to maternal health services and delivery experiences.MethodsIn total, we conducted 80 in-depth interviews, including 40 with recent mothers, 20 with their husbands, and 20 with their mothers-in-law. Purposeful sampling was conducted in order to obtain differences across delivery experiences (facility vs. home), followed by their family members.ResultsMajor factors that influence decision-making about where to seek care included household dynamics and joint-decision-making with families, financial barriers, and perceived quality of care. Women perceived that private facilities were higher quality compared to public facilities, but also more expensive. Disrespectful care, bribes in the facility, and payment challenges were common in this population.ConclusionsA number of programmatic and policy recommendations are highlighted from this study. Future endeavors should include a greater focus on health education and public programs, includingeducating women on how to access programs, who is eligible, and how to obtain publicfunds. Families need to be educated on their rights and expectations in facilities. Future programs should consider the role of husbands and mothers-in-law in reproductive decision-making and support during deliveries. Triangulating information from multiple sources is important for future research efforts.