Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh held a bilateral meeting on 5^th September 2020 with Iran’s Minister of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics, Brigadier General Amir Hatami, at the latter’s request. Raksha Mantri was on a transit halt in Tehran enroute from Moscow to New Delhi.

The meeting between the two Ministers took place in a cordial and warm atmosphere. Both the leaders emphasized upon the age-old cultural, linguistic and civilizational ties between India and Iran. They discussed ways to take forward bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on regional security issues, including peace and stability in Afghanistan.

The spike in the daily recovered COVID-19 patients continues in the country. For the second successive day, India has clocked a record recovery of more than 70,000 patients in a single day.

73,642 patients have recovered and been discharged from either home/facility isolation or hospitals in the last 24 hours.

The total numbers of recoveries have reached nearly 32 lakh (31,80,865) as of today.

With this surge in numbers of patients getting recovered on a daily basis, India’s Recovery Rate has been further pushed upwards to 77.32% .

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, has expressed grief over the passing away of  Kesavananda Bharati Ji. 

The Prime Minister said, “We will always remember Pujya Kesavananda Bharati Ji for his contributions towards community service and empowering the downtrodden. He was deeply attached to India’s rich culture and our great Constitution. He will continue to inspire generations. Om Shanti.”

As the pandemic enters the ninth month in India, the Centre has steadfastly led the response and management strategy for COVID with a sharp focus on the management of the pandemic in the States and UTs. The State/UT governments have in close coordination and integral collaboration implemented the Centre-led policies and interventions. Many have also designed customised innovative measures to fight the pandemic. These are being emulated by others, thereby facilitating wider implementation of regional ideas and best practices.

The government of Uttar Pradesh has taken various initiatives in this direction.

On 18th July 2020, the UP government established the Integrated COVID Control & Command Centres (ICCCC) in all districts as well as the State headquarter with representation of all relevant departments to address the rising number of positive cases. These centres are primarily for ensuring effective coordination among relevant departments for Non Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs). They also facilitate prompt referral of COVID-19 patients to the appropriate level of dedicated COVID facilities. The Command centres coordinate with zonal units to ensure prompt testing of symptomatic patients and contacts, intimation of laboratory status, facilitation of transport and facility allocation in case of admission, and regular follow up of cases under home isolation.

Uttar Pradesh has also developed a Unified State COVID Portal: which captures all information related to surveillance, testing and treatment of COVID patients. Regular trainings are being provided to ensure quality of data and data management at the District-level. Since its development, the portal has further evolved with more understanding of the disease, and interventions and feedback from the users at the State and District levels. Availability of digitalized data has facilitated decentralized as well as granular analysis for prompt decision making and response. This portal has also benefitted through interoperability with the Govt of India portal.

The State Government has also procured 1000 High Flow Nasal Canula (HFNCs) from the State funds. 500 of these have been installed and are being utilized for non-invasive management of patients in the State.

Despite the testing time of COVID lock down Bureau Of Pharma PSUs Of India , BPPI the implementing agency of Pradhanmantri Janaushadhi Pariyojana-PMBJP clocked appreciable sales turnover of Rs. 146.59 crore in the first quarter of 2020-21 and testing times as compared to Rs. 75.48 crore achieved in the first quarter of 2019-20. In the month of July, 2020, BPPI have added a sales of Rs. 48.66 Cr.  The total sales up to 31st July, 2020 stood at Rs. 191.90 Crore.

The Janaushadhi Kendras remained functional during lockdown and maintained operations as part of their commitment to ensure uninterrupted availability of essential medicines. They  sold about 15 lacs Face masks, 80 lacs tablets of Hydroxychloroquine and and 100 lacs Paracetamol Tablets, which saved around Rs. 1260 crore of the citizens.

Present basket of medicines sold by these kendras  consists of 1250 medicines and 204 surgical instruments. The target is set to enhance it up to 2000 medicines and 300 surgical products by the end of 31st March 2024 so that all essential medicines covering therapeutic groups, like – Anti Diabetics, Cardiovascular Drugs, Anti-Cancer, Analgesics & Antipyretics, Anti Allergic, Gastro Intestinal Agents, Vitamins, Minerals & Food supplements, Tropical Medicines, etc.

The cost of  Janaushadhi Medicines is cheaper at least by 50% and in some cases, by 80% to 90% of the market price of branded medicines. These medicines are procured on an open tender basis from WHO-GMP compliant manufacturers only. They undergo two stage stringent quality check process at nationally accredited labs.

In terms of number of stores, probably the biggest retail pharma chain of the world it is  providing a good source of self-employment for educated unemployed youths with sustainable and regular earnings and in this way  truly doing justice to its tagline “Seva bhi, Rozgar bhi”. As per the official data this has provided direct source of sustainable employ ment for more than 11600 educated unemployed youth of the country by engaging them in the scheme.

The incentive provided to the Kendra owners has been enhanced from existing Rs. 2.50 lakh to up to Rs. 5.00 lakh to be given @ 15% of monthly purchases made, subject to a ceiling of Rs. 15,000/- per month. One-time incentives of Rs. 2.00 lakh is to be provided to the PMBJP Kendras opened in North-Eastern States, Himalayan areas, Island territories and backward areas mentioned as aspirational district by NITI Aayog or opened by women entrepreneur, Divyang, SC & ST in the form of furniture & fixtures.

Jan Aushadhi Scheme’ was launched by Department of Pharmaceuticals, in November 2008 across the country with the aim of ensuring  access to quality medicines for all the section of the population especially for the poor and the deprived ones.         

Low reflection lenses, high reflection mirrors in devices such as better binoculars and telescopes, colour changing paints, and inks may now be powered by a newly discovered property of the interaction between light and molecules. Bengaluru based scientists have found that UV and blue light combination reversibly switches the system between 3D and 1D photonic structure — a novel interaction that can help make tunable and effective optical devices.

In their quest to develop materials for tunable and effective optical devices, Scientists from the Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India, have discovered that high levels of light in the blue wavelengths or actinic light lead to switching between two photo isomers — Chiral Nematic (Ch) and Twist Grain Boundary Smectic C* (TGBC*) which are liquid crystal phases possessing photonic structures in one and three dimensions, respectively. This work involving the research team of Rajalaxmi Sahoo, D.S. Shankar Rao, U.S. Hiremath, C.V. Yelamaggad, and S. Krishna Prasad from CeNS, has been published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry.

The change occurs because of interactions between light and molecules leading to photoisomerization in which light of a specific wavelength (actinic light) can bend molecules with certain linking groups. A well-known example in this regard involves a change in the shape of a macromolecule of azobenzene derivatives from essentially linear to highly bent form when irradiated with Ultraviolet light (~ 365 nm). The phenomenon found by the CeNS involves reverse transformation on stimulation with blue light. This phenomenon is quite attractive to achieve photo-driven isothermal phase transitions in liquid crystal (LC) materials. Such photoresponsive LCs are attractive for applications, including flexible polarisers, patterned objects, logic devices, and energy harvesting materials.

The present study also shows that photonic wavelength variations of over 100 nanometres can easily be achieved reversibly within a few tens of seconds, a feature that can find applications ranging from low reflection lenses and high reflection mirrors to colour changing paints and inks. 

Lung cancer, the most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide, is tough to detect at early stages, making it difficult to treat. Scientists may soon have a solution in the form of diagnostic therapy for lung cancer which paves the way for personalized medicine.

Recently researchers from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), an autonomous institute under the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Govt. of India, have developed a theranostics (diagnostic therapy) drug candidate for lung cancer. The research work funded jointly by DST, BRICS Multilateral R&D Projects grant, and SwarnaJayanti Fellowship Grant was published in the journal Theranostics.

The selective recognition and imaging of oncogene specific non-canonical DNA secondary structures (G-quadruplex-GQ structures) holds great promise in the development of diagnostic therapy (theranostics) for cancer and has been challenging due to their structural dynamics and diversity.

Prof. T. Govindaraju, along with his team from JNCASR, developed a small molecule for selective recognition of BCL-2 GQ through unique hybrid loop stacking and groove binding mode with turn on far-red fluorescence response and anticancer activity demonstrating the potential as GQ-targeted lung cancer theranostics.

The JNCASR team reported the theranostic activity of TGP18 molecule by turn on fluorescence recognition of BCL-2 GQ through unique hybrid binding mode as well as its anti-lung cancer activity and tissue imaging potential. Their strategy of specific topology recognition through hybrid binding mode led to capitalize on the gains of oxidative stress and genome instability to kill lung cancer cells in vivo. In addition, TGP18 with turn on emission band at the lower edge of far-red to NIR spectroscopic window proved to be a viable probe for tumour tissue imaging. Collectively, theranostic agent TGP18 with outstanding biocompatibility showed in vivo tumor inhibition and tissue imaging, indicating excellent clinical translational potential.

G-quadruplexes (GQs) are non-canonical DNA secondary structures which regulate a wide range of cellular processes, including expression of several oncogenes. In cancer cells, stabilization of GQs leads to replication stress and DNA damage accumulation and therefore considered as promising chemotherapeutic target. Despite the significant attempts to combine therapeutic and diagnostic properties in a single formulation, there are no concerted reports on small molecule theranostics. Similarly, there are no molecules reported for the topology selective recognition of myriad of GQs, especially oncogenic GQs.

This study by the JNCASR team revealed that the selective recognition originating from the distinct loop structure of GQ that alters the overall probe interaction and binding affinity. TGP18 binding to anti-apoptotic BCL-2 GQ ablates the pro-survival function and elicit anti-cancer activity by inducing death in cancer cells. The JNCASR team deciphered that inhibition of BCL-2 transcription synergized with signalling cascade of nucleolar stress, DNA damage, and oxidative stress in triggering apoptosis signalling pathway. Intervention of GQ mediated lethality by TGP18 translated into anti-cancer activity in both in vitro 3D spheroid culture and in vivo xenograft models of lung and breast cancer with superior efficacy for the former. In vivo therapeutic efficacy, supplemented with tumor 3D spheroid and tissue imaging potential define the role of TGP18 in GQ-targeted cancer theranostics.

According to their findings, a remarkably lower dosage of TGP18 (0.5 mg/kg) showed anti-lung tumor activity similar to anticancer drug gemcitabine at a very high dose of 100 mg/kg. The therapeutic agent TGP18 was found to reach the target tumor site as monitored by its far-red imaging of the tumor tissue.

This methodology can be further exploited to develop cancer-type specific theranostic drugs with tremendous implications in personalized medicine. A patent application has been already filed for this invention.

Disclosing this here today, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and MoS Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said that ISRO’s maiden mission to the Moon has sent images which show that Moon may be rusting along the poles.  The sign of this finding is that even though the surface of the Moon is known to have iron – rich rocks, it is not known for the presence of water and oxygen, which are the two elements needed to interact with iron to create rust, he said.    

Scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) say that this could be because the Earth’s own atmosphere is lending a helping hand which, in other words, means that the Earth’s atmosphere could be protecting the Moon as well.  Thus, the Chandrayaan-1 Moon data indicates that the Moon’s poles are home to water, this is what the scientists are trying to decipher. 

Dr Jitendra Singh said, as for Chandrayaan-3 is concerned, the launch may now take place somewhere in early 2021.  Chandrayaan-3 will be a mission repeat of Chandrayaan-2 and will include a Lander and Rover similar to that of Chandrayaan-2, but will not have an orbiter. 

Meanwhile, preparations are going on for India’s first ever Human Space Mission Gaganyaan, said Dr Jitendra Singh.  The training processes and other procedures are also in place.

Constraints due to Covid pandemic led to some disruptions in the plan for Gaganyaan but efforts are going on to stick to the timeline of around 2022, he said. 

The 3^rd Rashtriya Poshan Maah is being celebrated during the month of September 2020. Every year the Poshan Maah is celebrated under POSHAN Abhiyaan (PM’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment), which was launched in 2018. Ministry of Women and Child Development, being the nodal Ministry for POSHAN Abhiyaan, is celebrating the Poshan Maah in convergence with partner Ministries and departments, at  National, States/UTs, Districts, and grass root level. The objective of the Poshan Maah is to encourage Jan Bhagidaari, in order to create a Jan Andolan, for addressing malnutrition amongst young children, and women and to ensure health and nutrition for everyone.

The importance of Nutrition in our lives was recently emphasized by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in the recent edition of his popular programme “Mann ki Baat” on 30^th August 2020. The Prime Minister drew attention towards the role played by nutrition in helping children and students to attain their optimum potential. He also noted the efforts made during the past few years especially in villages where public participation in nutrition week & nutrition month (Poshan Maah) is converting nutrition awareness into a mass movement.

Smt Smriti Zubin Irani, Union Minister of Women & Child Development and Textiles had chaired an inter-ministerial meeting on 27^th August 2020 and Shri Ram Mohan Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development interacted with all States and UTs to secure convergent activities during Poshan Maah. Identification of Severely Acute Malnourished (SAM) Children and their management and plantation of Poshan Vaatikas– Nutri gardens, will be undertaken as focus activities during Poshan Maah, along with awareness generation regarding importance of early breast feeding, Need for good nutrition during first 1000 days of life, measures for reducing Anaemia in young women and children etc.

All the stakeholder Ministries have expressed their commitment to the objective of Poshan Maah and planned activities to bring Nutrition in focus through their verticals. Department of School Education, Ministry of Education has asked States to conduct Nutrition e-quiz and Meme making competition amongst students. Ministry of Panchayati Raj is planning to conduct special Committee meetings in every gram Panchayat during the month. Ministry of Rural Development has advised States to promote Nutri-gardens with the support of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA. Ministry of Ayush has offered to support building a healthy lifestyle by adopting Yoga and holistic nutrition. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has also extended its cooperation for all the activities in the best possible manner. 

Considering the prevalent COVID situation in the Country, Ministry of Women and Child Development is encouraging all stakeholders to use digital platforms for celebrating Poshan Maah. Social media, online activities, Podcasts, and e-Samvaad etc will be used to disseminate knowledge and information about importance of Nutrition in our lives. Ministry is also hosting a Webinar series, in which subject experts and Health Professionals will throw light on important aspects of health and nutrition for women and children.

Union Environment Minister, Shri Prakash Javadekar will be chairing a webinar on the first-ever International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies tomorrow, September 7, 2020.

Shri Javadekar will also be reviewing the progress of the activities under National Clean Air programme (NCAP) during the course of the webinar. The webinar can be joined live on the following link :

The webinar will be joined by Principal Secretaries of the Urban Development Department and Environment Department of 28 states and 8 Union Territories. Commissioner of 122 cities as identified in NCAP programme will also participate.

It is noteworthy that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in his address from the Red Fort on this Independence Day, had highlighted the need of “Holistic Improvement in Air quality” in 100 cities.

The General Assembly of United Nations on 19 December 2019 adopted a resolution to observe the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies on 07th September every year starting from 2020.

“A healthy mind breeds a healthy body” – Zig Ziglar

When my friend recalled how her family reacted to the news of her anxious and depressive state of mind, it lead me to think that among many other things, Depression is still considered a taboo among many middle class Indian families. Coming from one, I could relate how and why her parents were more concerned about “what people will say?” rather than how to help their child. They further aggravated the situation by questioning how could she “get” such a thing when no one else did? It was a slap in the face for me as well, when on asking my family as to what their view were on depression, they responded by saying-” It’s all nonsense, you kids suffer from a little stress, and you name it as depression. We’ve seen tougher times than you, yet we never faced such an issue. You need to learn to be strong”. What my parents, and several other people fail to realize is that those suffering from depression, anxiety or stress, are not the victims, but fighters, who try to reason out with themselves that today is not the day to Quit.

World Health Organization defines depression as a common illness related to severe mental health issues, affecting approximately 264 million people, and resulting in the deaths of roughly 8,00,000 people every year due to suicide. Despite the presence of several effective treatments, most people in middle and low income countries do not receive or seek help for their disorders. The root cause of this problem has been linked to multiple factors, psychological, social or biological- surrounding the individual. The recent being the Covid-19 pandemic and its resultant effects on people from across the world. Millions lost their jobs while helplessly watching their savings dwindling away while being isolated from any social interaction. Those who lost their loved ones to this disease, lost their peace of mind as well. The result? – rise in cases of problems related to mental health.

In one of the surveys conducted by Sangath – an NGO dedicated to mental well being, surge in levels of stress and depression due to Corona virus were reported. This pandemic has caused a mayhem not only in terms of physical health issues, but also increased psychological trauma in many. Though it is understandable as to why anxiety levels are escalating, the growing cases are still of concern. Nearly half of American citizens complained of increased mental health related problems, with 43% Indians suffering from similar issues. The mere fact that people are losing interests in hobbies and are experiencing continuous drop in energy levels, indicate that work load or our fast paced lives, are not always responsible for depression.

The current scenario has forced the medical facilities to prepare themselves for not only the Covid pandemic,but also the behavioral issues associated with the mind. Instead of regarding it as a stigma, the need of the hour is to focus on solutions for this major problem. A mental disorder leaves a deep gash in the mind of the sufferers, leading to life long a impact. If we fail to do anything about this now, we will fail to control it in the future.

There has been good news in the area of coral conservation as a newly developed genotyping chip has been launched which is the first in its kind and has the potential to save corals by identifying them genetically.

The chip can differentiate between corals and the symbiotic algae which lives in corals, thus providing researchers in stepping towards restoration of genetic diversity of coral reefs. It will further help in extracting DNA and analysing the data from the corals. A paper which describes all about the chip in the Journal Scientific Reports.

It is also known as micro-array uses more than 30,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms which are locations present in a coral genome. A single letter in the DNA alphabet can vary among distinct corals. It was designed using Caribbean corals which can also be used to analyse Pacific species. The scientists are very enthusiastic with the arrival of the chip and are looking towards it as a game changer in the field of coral restoration. 

We all know that donating blood is one of the most noble causes on this earth and it helps in saving lives. According to American Red Cross, a single donation can save three lives. But blood donation also has some cons, which include:

Bruising, continued bleeding, dizziness, light- headedness, nausea, pain and physical weakness has been noticed in some of the cases. Though it is a safe process, there are some points which should be kept in mind before donation. Now, we will look from a closer perspective at how blood donation can negatively affect those who are donating.

The first point is bruising, there is a fair amount of chance that a donor can get bruised during insertion of a needle, which ranges from yellow to purple to blue. Where normal bruises are okay and we should not worry about and can treat it with ice packs but if the bruise changes its colour, then we should definitely go to visit the doctor.

The second demerit is continued bleeding which may happen in some cases after the removal of the bandage which is applied by the nurse at the hospital after s/he removes the needle. We are told to keep the bandage for four to five hours as bleeding stops in some time. But in some cases, bleeding continues even after five hours then it is suggested to keep the bandage for a longer duration. And even after that, bleeding doesn’t stop then it is the time you go to see the doctor.

In some cases, dizziness, light-headedness and nausea was observed in donors after donation. After blood donation, the donors are told to sit and have energizing snacks and juices to not feel any after effect of donation to give their body rest. The feeling subsides in some hours but in some cases, it continues and in such cases the donors should call their centres and go to see the doctor.

Then comes pain. We all know that donating blood is not painless as a needle is inserted to take out the blood and removed when the process completes. Though the pain is not of high level but in case of bruising it aggravates, then it is suggested by the doctor to take some pain reliever medicines to alleviate the pain.

In some of the cases physical weakness was also experienced by the donors especially in the arm in which the needle was inserted. It is the reason; the nurses tell donors not do any heavy activity five-six hours after the donation.

But we should never forget how blood donation is necessary for humanity and how it has the ability to save a dying person. It is an act of humanity and can do a lot of good and save millions of hopes. As one blood donation can not only save only one life but it can save up to approximately three lives. It is totally up to a person to donate or not but if you are ready to donate then analyze pros and cons and whatever you are comfortable with, you can go for that.