Governance

As told to Parliament (July 21, 2023): Unseasonal rains in March 2023 ruined over 18,000 hectares of crops in Chhattisgarh

All that was discussed in the House through the day  

 
By DTE Staff
Published: Friday 21 July 2023

Chhattisgarh government has reported that 18,179.647 hectares of agriculture/horticulture cropped area was affected by the unseasonal rain and hailstorm in March 2023, Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare told the Rajya Sabha.

Further, 27,658 farmers across 18 districts of the state have been affected. 

Gas/chemical leaks 

In 2021, 21 incidents of gas / chemical leakage happened in India, Bhagwanth Khuba, Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers told the Lok Sabha. However, in 2022, only four such cases were reported, all in Assam.

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) compiles the data for chemical accidents on a progressive basis, including gas and chemical leakages, based on the inputs provided by the chief inspectors of factories of various state governments / Union Territories. 

Rising cases of paralysis and brain haemorrhage

The crude incidence rate of stroke increased in India by 37 per cent from 1990 to 2019, showed data from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Satya Pal Singh Baghel, Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare told the Lok Sabha.

However, the age-standardised incidence (-8.8 per cent) and Disability Adjusted Life Years (-33.4 per cent) rates decreased.

ICMR’s population-based stroke registry in urban and rural Ludhiana observed a higher proportion of hemorrhagic stroke in the rural population as compared to the urban population, the minister said. 

Similarly, the ongoing population-based registry in Dibrugarh, Assam observed that hemorrhagic stroke is more prevalent in this population (65.1 per cent) and stroke patients are younger, Baghel added.

Cough syrups by Indian companies probed

Samples from a manufacturing unit of a cough syrup were found to be negative for toxic chemicals diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol, Bharati Pravin Pawar, Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare told the Lok Sabha.

The probe was carried out following reports of deaths of children in Gambia and the factory of Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd were raided by India’s national regulatory body for pharmaceuticals Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) and State Drugs Controller, Haryana.

Control samples of the drugs from the manufacturing unit were drawn and sent for test and analysis to the Regional Drug Testing Laboratory of CDSCO by the investigating team, the minister said. 

However, the probe revealed violations of good manufacturing practices and the State Drugs Controller issued show-cause notice to the company under Rule 85(2) of the Drugs Rules, 1945. 

An order has been issued for stopping all the manufacturing activities of M/s Maiden Pharmaceuticals at Sonipat with immediate effect, Pawar added.

Cancer cases in North East India

There were 53,046 cancer cases in the North East India in 2022, according to the ICMR- National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research (NCDIR) National Cancer Registry Programme (NCRP), Baghel told the Lok Sabha.

The North East region of India accounts for 3.6 per cent of the total cancer cases in the country during the last five years.

Heatwave deaths

Till June 30, the maximum heatwave deaths in 2023 were reported in Kerala (120), followed by 35 deaths in Gujarat, Baghel told the Lok Sabha.

The heatwave deaths were reported in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. 

Fixing labels on food packages  

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has notified Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020, prescribing requirements for labeling packaged food, Pawar told the Lok Sabha.

The Regulation required the display of nutrients and their contribution to the recommended daily allowance in percentage at the back of the pack as nutritional information. 

It also mandates that all food products (except single ingredient food products) intended for sale to customers shall mention a list of ingredients in descending order of their composition by weight or volume, as the case may be. 

It is mandatory for food business operators to label the food package in accordance with these regulations, Pawar added. No data is maintained by FSSAI regarding the total number of tinned/canned food products and packaged food items.

Cases of type-2 diabetes

The prevalence of diabetes and pre-diabetes is 101 million and 136 million cases, respectively, according to ICMR-India Diabetes, Baghel told the Lok Sabha.

Per capita health expenditure

National Health Policy, 2017 envisages raising the government health expenditure to 2.5 per cent of the gross domestic product or GDP in a time bound manner, Baghel told the Lok Sabha.

Further, NHP 2017 also envisages that states should increase their health spending to at least 8 per cent of their budget and two-thirds of such expenditure should be on primary care

The budget allocation for Department of Health & Family Welfare has increased by 82 per cent from Rs 47,353 crore in 2017-18 (budget estimate) to Rs 86,175 crore in 2023-24 (budget estimate), he said.

Eradication of sickle-cell anaemia

To eliminate sickle cell disease, the Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission has been launched by the Prime Minister in Madhya Pradesh on July 1, 2023, Baghel told the Lok Sabha.

The mission aims to provide affordable and accessible care to all sickle cell disease patients, quality of care and reduction in the prevalence of the disease through awareness creation, he said.  

About 70 million people in the age group of 0-40 years in affected 278 districts of tribal areas will be screened universally and counselled through collaborative efforts of central ministries and state government. 

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