India Transformed- Notes
Social Domain
India's transformation is reflected in the social domain also. The government is actively trying to reduce the social disparity and to bring all classes in the society in the mainstream of economic development. In this regard, the "Human Rights Protection. Act 1993 is important. "National Human Rights Commission was established under this act. Its objective is to protect fundamental human rights, like the right to life, equality, etc. and to see that nobody is deprived of these rights. According to this Act the Commission can act on the basis of a report of a case of deprivation of fundamental human rights, published in newspaper or other media ('Sui Moto Cognisance'). A complaint can be lodged by a social activist or a social institute on behalf of the victim. In 2005 the 'Domestic Violence Act was passed. This Act was formed to provide protection to women from domestic violence. The most important provision in this Act is the right of a woman on the house where she has been residing, even if she doesn't own the house.
According to 2011 census the sex ratio in India, is alarming. The ration of girls is very low. In the age group of 0-1 years the number of girls is 914 against 1000 boys. This statistics was a warning of a grim social situation and several women organisations raised a voice expressing their concern. The State Government of Maharashtra banned sex/gender prediction. tests of a fetus and launched a programme called 'Lek Ladaki. Gradually the social loathing for the birth of a girl is diminishing because of the growing awareness.
Health:
Polio eradication: The transformation of India was bound to reflect in the field of 'Health'. In 1995 the health department of the Indian government launched the campaign, dubbed as 'Pulse Polio'. It was started jointly under the sponsorship of World Health Organisation WHO', UNICEF, Rotary International and Government of India. This campaign was for the eradication of polio. The campaign was run with a determination not to leave a single child under the age of five years without administering polio vaccination. Various means were used to make the campaign absolutely successful, such as awareness camps, home visits and extensive advertising through various media.
AYUSH:
The 'Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Government of India opened a new department for developing alternate medicine like Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Homeopathy, etc. Since 2009, this department is known as Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani Medicine, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH). It is working for the development of syllabi and education of these branches of medicine, advanced research, standardisation of medicine, etc.
Environment:
Most of the states in India are facing the problem of increasing air pollution. The pollution caused by automobiles is an issue of great worry. The 'Centre for Science and Environment studied the problem of pollution in Delhi and made the public aware of it severity. It has been proved that the cause of pollution in Delhi is basically the increasing number of automobile, vehicles with poor maintenance running on the street that cause emission containing poisonous gases and carbon particles. The heritage monuments in Delhi are also getting affected because of the pollution. The institution recommended the use of CNG Compressed Natural Gas as fuel for vehicles to overcome the pollution problem. Based on this recommendation, the Supreme Court issued an order of using CNG for public transport vehicles, in 1998. Later, a policy of permitting only those vehicles as roadworthy, which passed the test of Pollution Under control PUC was adopted. It was decided that vehicles without 'PUC certificate will not qualify for insurance and renewal of insurance. Several centres issuing PUC certificates were opened. Chemical effluents drained into rivers and streams is the major source of water pollution.
Efforts of a number of environment activists have contributed significantly to environment conservation and preservation. Among them, Sundarlal Bahuguna ('Chipko' Movement), Medha Patkor (Narmada Bachao Movement) and Dr. Rajendra. Singh (Water Conservation) are some prominent names.
The pollution of water and food is increasing because of artificial and non-biodegradable materials like plastic and pesticides. This is also causing degradation. of the soil. It causes a spurt of various diseases in humans, animals and plants that creates a harmful situation for general health.
Three experiments in Maharashtra, in the context of conservation and preservation of environment are indeed worthy of mention.
Rahibai Popere On 8th March 2018, Rahibai Popere was felicitated by the President of India by Nari Shakti Award". This award was given to her for her work in 'Kalasubai Parisar Biyanee Samvardhan Samiti'. She is popularly known "Beejmata (Seed Mother). She has worked for preserving seeds of native cultivars for the future generations. Her grandson got ill because of the diet consisting of food made with hybrid varieties of food-grains and vegetables of lesser quality. She thought of native varieties of food-grains to overcome the problem. She decided to grow the food-grains and vegetables of native variety to meet her family's needs. She began to do it and store the seeds of those landraces (Deshi Van). Bitter gourd (karle), Spinach. (palak), Amaranthus Tricolour (tandulja/lal math), Sweet beans (hyacinth beans/pavata), Bitter beans/twisted beans (kodu wal), Ghevada (kidney beans), Groundnut (bhuimoog), Barnyard millet (varai), varieties of rice Dhavul Bhat, Kalbhat. Ambemohor, Black Gram (udid), etc. She did not confine her efforts only to her family; but, through micro banking groups. (bachat gat) she spread it to the surrounding villages. The movement started by her grew well with the partnership of Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation (BAIF)'.
Rahibai preserves the seeds in earthen pots. Once filled she closes the pot by plastering its mouth by a mixture of soil and cow dung. This method saves the seeds from insects and ants. Before closing the pot the seeds are covered with a layer of ash and neem leaves. Now in her seed bank she has a collection of more than 50 landraces of food-grains and 30 landraces of vegetables. She is one of the three Indian women selected as 'Women of the Year 2018' by BBC, among 100 women from various countries.
Bhau Katdare Bhau Katdare and his associates work for the conservation of nature through an institute, called "Sahyadri Nisarg Mitra. In 1999, Bhau Sea Katdare read about the White-breasted Eagle' as an endangered species. He began his. work in Ratnagiri district, to save and conserve this bird. He created public awareness about this bird, by trekking the sea coast of the district. In this he found out 62 nesting sites of the bird. While doing this, he and his associates detected some instances of smuggling of the nests of birds known as 'Indian Swiftlets (Pakoli) at Bandra island, which is located near Vengurla Rocks, in the vicinity of the Nivati port in Sindhudurg district. The nests were smuggled out and sold in foreign countries. There was a need to save these birds and their nests. 'Sahyadri Nisarg Mitra worked in that direction. As a result Indian Swiftlets were included in Schedule "I (a list of wildlife, offence against which is punishable) of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972. This is a remarkable contribution of Sahyadri Nisarga Mitra'.
Sahyadri Nisarg Mitra also worked for the protection of Olive Ridley turtles. The females of this species come to Velas. beach (Ratnagiri district) for nesting. Bhau Katdare and his associates planned an operation for the protection of these nests. In the first year, they were successful in protecting 50 nests. 2734 baby turtles from those 50 nests, were successfully released back into the sea. This proved to be a start of an annual event, Turtle Festival", Hundreds of tourists come every year to watch the occasion of baby turtles returning to sea. To accommodate them facilities for 'Home Stay' were developed. The peasants were trained for the management of 'Home Stay'. Thus, efforts for conservation of nature resulted into development of tourism as well. The news of this development was. well appreciated in Maharashtra. Now, Bhau Katdare and his associates are working for the protection of the endangered "Pangolin' (ant eater/Khavalya Manjar).
Premsagar Mestri The number of vultures is rapidly decreasing in India. Vultures are the scavengers in the nature.
Two species of vultures, "Long billed Vultures' and 'White back Vultures', are observed in the region around Raigad. Premsagar Mestri and his associates are working for increasing their numbers and to make available safe food for them through Society for Eco Endangered Species Conservation and Protection-SEESCAP', a non-governmental organisation. Painkillers (a drug called diclophenac) given to animals has proved to be toxic for vultures. Besides, dearth of trees with adequate height, scarcity of food, have also caused the decrease in vulture population. People working for SEESCAP are gradually getting success in changing these circumstances.
Education:
1990 was declared as the 'International Year of Literacy. The state Government resolved to make Kerala a state with 100% literacy, in the international year of literacy. Accordingly, Kerala became the first state in India to become a state with 100% literacy.
The campaign of literacy in Kerala included training of reading, writing, mathematical skills, importance of hygiene. and cleanliness, vaccination of children, co-operative agriculture and importance of saving money. During the campaign for literacy, some additional problems were observed. Many senior citizens who participated in the campaign had eyesight related problems, which were unattended before. Many of the unskilled labourers could not afford the medical eye examination and cost of spectacles. In order to help them, free medical camps for eye examination and distribution of spectacles were arranged. Then people could easily attend the literacy classes. This is an example of a problem solved with combined will power of the government and people.
The first district in Kerala to become completely literate was Ernakulum. Announcement to this effect was made on 4th February 1990.
