Illiteracy and Poverty go hand in hand. Education plays a very big role in uplifting people from poverty. It also helps one to improve his/her lifestyle or standards of living. Illiterate people miss these opportunities provided by education. Everyone, every girl, boy or an adult should be literate, it not just forms a basis to have a good career but it helps one in handling day to day life issues too.

Time is changing fast; technology and research making progress in leaps and bound. The present generation is completely different from the generation for which our education system was designed. The current education system is not keeping up with current needs of education. We are in dire need of extensive changes in Indian education system. Education is the most important component out of various components of social infrastructure. The well educated and properly trained manpower can accelerate the pace of economic development.

The following are the main problems faced in the progress of education:

1. Lack of funds: The lack of sufficient funds is the main problem in the development of education. Due to insufficient funds most educational institutions lack infrastructure, science equipment and libraries etc. 
2. Expensive Higher Education: University, professional and technical education has become costly in India. It is beyond the reach of common man. Privatization of higher education has led to the growth of profit hungry entrepreneurs. Now a day’s higher education is much costly affair.
3. Neglect of Indian Languages: The medium of instruction particularly in science subjects is English. So rural students who are not well versed in English, cannot study science properly in English. They suffer a lot; Indian languages are still under developed. Standard publications are not available in Indian language.
4. Problem of Brain Drain: When intelligent, talented and deserving candidates do not get suitable jobs in the country, they prefer to go abroad for seeking jobs. So our country is deprived of good talent. This phenomenon is called ‘Brain drain’.
5. Mass Illiteracy: Despite constitutional directives and economic planning we are not able to achieve cent percent literacy. -Even now 35 percent people remain illiterate. In India, the number of illiterates is almost one-third of the total illiterates in the world. 
6. Problems of Primary Education: Our primary education is ridden with too many problems. Large number of primary schools has no buildings what to talk of basic facilities like drinking water, urinals and electricity, furniture and study materials etc. Large numbers of primary schools are single teacher schools and many schools are even without teachers. So the drop rate is very high and a cause of concern. Concluding, we can say that there is quantitative expansion of education but in qualitative development we are still lagging behind.

The only way to deal with failing education system is that they need to adapt with time over and over again.

A blood donation occurs when a person voluntarily has blood drawn and can be used for transfusions or made into bio pharmaceutical medications by a process called fractionation(separation of white-blood components). Donation may be of whole blood, or of specific components directly. Today in the developed world, most blood donors are unpaid volunteers who donate blood for a community supply.

If your blood type is:	You can give to:	You can receive from:
A Positive	A+, AB+	A+, A-, O+, O-
B Positive	B+, AB+	B+, B-, O+, O-
AB Positive	AB+ Only	All blood types
O Negative	All blood types	O- only

Blood Donors Eligibility

The Pros of Donating Blood

• Help Others

Blood donation is a voluntary act that all healthy adults can take part in. Donated blood is distributed to those in need of it, including people that suffer from severe loss of blood and people who have undergone extreme medical procedures.

• Renewable

Blood is renewable. It renews itself within the body, so the donated blood will not be a loss by the body. Donation time is approximately 45 minutes or less, and a person can donate blood every 56 days.

• Health Benefits

Blood donation has several health benefits. It reduces blood cholesterol level and sheds extras calories. The number of blood cells within the body decreases after blood donation. This stimulates the bone marrow to produce new and fresh blood cells to replace the lost cells.

The Cons of Blood Donation

• Painful

The insertion of needle into the veins can be painful. While some people find the needle poke unpleasant, others have a strong fear of needles. Others are even afraid to see blood.

• Weakness

A person may faint or feel dizzy after donating blood, but these symptoms are quite common. These feelings disappear quickly after the body makes more blood. Almost all blood donation centers have free snacks and juice to help the donor boost energy levels.

A common myth-people think that they can’t give blood because of their tattoos.

Due to lack of awareness, a large number of potential blood donors are being turned away by blood banks if they have got themselves tattooed or pierced. Recently many young people opting are going getting tattooed and body piercing and subsequently more than 5 per cent of the donors are rejected.

Reason: Blood donated by such people carries the risk spread of hepatitis B and in rare cases HIV and hepatitis C infections through unsanitary needles used for tattoos and body pierces.

Medical Opinion: The good news for tattooed blood donors, is that they can donate blood after six months/one year (depends on blood banks) of having undergone piercing or body art.

Root Cause

• In India lack of any regulation in tattoo facilities is also to blame.
• In USA, you may be able to donate blood if you got your tattoo at a state-regulated tattoo shop. State-regulated shops are routinely monitored for safe and sterile tattooing practices, so the risk of infection is low.

Lack Of Coordination Between Blood Banks and Hospitals Wasted 6 Lakhs Litres Of Blood In The Last 5 Years

A Right To Information (RTI) petition filed by activist Chetan Kothari with the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) revealed serious loopholes in the nation’s blood banking system. In the last five years, over 28 lakhs units of blood and its components were discarded by banks across India.When calculated in litres, the 6% cumulative wastage translates to more than 6 lakhs litres of blood – which is enough to fill 53 tankers.On an average, India faces a shortage of 3 million units of blood annually. Lack of blood, plasma or platelets often leads to maternal mortality as well as deaths in case of accidents that cause serious blood loss.

State-wise spoilage by blood banks

The states that fared the worst in the country in terms of not only discarding whole blood, but even red blood cells and plasma as the life-saving components could not be used before their expiry date, were Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. In 2016-17 alone, more than 6.57 lakh units of blood and its products were wasted.

The most troubling part is that 50% of the units wasted were of plasma, which has a shelf life of one year, much longer than the 35-day deadline by which whole  blood and red blood cells have to be used.

The only state to have crossed the one-million mark with regard to collection of blood units – Maharashtra – has also accounted for the maximum spoilage of whole blood, followed by the states of West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh.

The top three positions in the wastage of red blood cells were bagged by Maharashtra, UP and Karnataka, with the latter two also wasting the maximum units of fresh frozen plasma. Given that fresh frozen plasma is imported by several pharma companies to produce albumin, it is surprising that in 2016-17, over 3 lakhs units of the product were discarded.

Around 56,000 litres of blood and its components were wasted in Tamil Nadu in the last 5 years – which is 5% of the total donations made, but the government, in an effort to reduce wastage, is used in the process of drafting, the state’s first blood policy.

Reasons for spoilage

• The crisis of spoilage of blood can be blamed on the absence of a robust blood sharing network between banks and hospitals, according to crusaders of safe blood transfusion.

• In many states, donation camps involving thousands of participants are set up by local politicians to use them as a tools to please constituents.

Dr Zarine Bharucha of the Indian Red Cross Society pointed out that a collection of up to 500 units was acceptable and manageable.

“But we have seen and heard of camps where 1,000 to 3,000 units are collected. Where is the place to store so much blood? Why can’t people walk into regular banks and donate once every three months?” she said, as reported by The Economic Times.

However, the head of the directorate of health services in Maharashtra argued that the wastage could be a “noble health plan to curtail maternal deaths”.

“We have created more than 200 storage centres in interior areas for emergencies. We would rather be prepared to save a life than worry about unused units of blood,” he said.

• NACO revealed that in the past 17 months starting May 2016, 2234 persons across India were infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) while getting blood transfusions.

• Though in some cases it is understandable that emergency stores of blood might go waste, spoilage in other areas, especially urban cities, where blood donation camps can be held at regular intervals cannot be justified.

• In a country where shortage of blood is on a rise, wastage of imported fresh frozen plasma is troubling. This not only poses a threat on the lives of those who might require a blood transfusion, but is also a monetary loss.

• All hospitals – private and public, blood banks and government authorities should implement proper regulations to prevent such loss in the future.

‘Lord’ came to court for ‘Justice’
When a person becomes hopeless & depressed in his life, he usually seeks shelter in the supreme power, the almighty. But when that almighty gets in trouble he comes to court..ahem..quite literally. I am referring to those cases which involve GOD as the litigant. I will give you a glimpse into such interesting suits but first let’s start with the recent one, The Padmanabhaswamy case.

The Padmanabhaswamy case

The padmanabhaswamy temple in Kerala is one of the richest shrine in the world. The historical temple is dedicated to lord Padmanabhaya, an incarnation of lord Vishnu. This temple has six underground chambers, known as Vault A, Vault B, Vault C, Vault D, Vault E and Vault F. These vaults are full of royal treasure worth in billions. Apart from the treasure the shrine gets crores in donation every year from devotees around the world. Understandably controlling the administration of the temple was the cause of the dispute. On July 13, reversing the Kerala High Court judgement, the Supreme Court of India upheld the rights of the former royal family to run the administration of the 8th century built temple. In 2011, Kerala High Court had given the administration power to the state government.
Originally the temple was maintained by the Travancore Royal Family. The tiff started over the maintenance and legal rights of the historic temple after the death of the last ruler Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, in 1991. There had been a critical question on whether his younger brother Utradam Thirunal Marthanda Varma can control and manage the Padmanabhaswamy Temple administration as the “ruler of Travancore”.
By carefully examining the Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act, 1950, the Supreme Court decided to allow the Travancore royal family to claim ownership and manage the ancient Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple. And along with the controlling rights, the Apex Court has also passed the ball in the court of the royal family to decide whether the mysterious ‘vault B’ be open or not. However, the royal family had argued against the opening of the secret vault as they claim it would bring misfortune to the entire state.

The Ayodhya case

After decades of litigation and political-nonpolitical, religious movements, the famous Ram Janmabhoomi matter dispute was finally settled by the Supreme Court of India. On 9 November 2019, a five member bench headed by the then CJI Ranjan Gogoai had also passed the historical verdict on the matter. The apex court upheld the title right of Ram Lalla, the presiding deity, over the disputed 2.77 acre land in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. The court had also directed the government to allocate a separate 5 acre land for the construction of a mosque.

The Sabrimala verdict

The Sabarimala Temple, considered the abode of Lord Ayyappa, is located in the Periyar Tiger Reserve in the Western Ghat mountain ranges of Kerala. According to the centuries old custom the temple does not allow the entry of women in their ‘menstruating years’ (between the age of 10 to 50). In 2006, a PIL was filed by Indian Young Lawyers Association before the Supreme Court, challenging the custom. The Association argued that the custom violates the rights to equality under Article 14 and freedom of religion under Article 25 of female worshippers.
On 28th September 2018, a five member bench of the Apex Court delivered the controversial judgement on the Sabrimala Temple. The 4:1 majority held that the custom of not giving entry to the Shrine of Lord Ayappa is unconstitutional. Though the only female judge in the bench, Justice Indu Malhotra dissented with the verdict.
The Constitution bench also suggested the larger bench to look into pending cases in relation to the entry of Muslim women to a dargah/mosque; Parsi women married to non-Parsis and their entry to a fire temple; and issues relating to female genital mutilation in the Dawoodi Bohra community. The apex court observed that a common policy needs to be formulated to deal with recurring cases related to similar issues of faith and religion.
Challenging the judgment a review petition is still pending in the court.

In our series ‘Expert Speak’ on All India Radio we bring you the views of the leading medical experts on COVID-19.

Speaking to AIR News, Dr. Saurabh Mehrotra, consultant at Mental Health Division in Medanta Hospital emphasised that people should indulge in positive addictions like reading books, music activities and exercise.

He said, special care should be taken not to over-expose oneself to excessive COVID related News which leads to anxiety related issues.

Road Transport and Highways Ministry has clarified that the heavy road making machinery are not motor vehicles and are not covered under MV Act. It has requested the States and UTs to not to insist upon registration and driving licence for these machines.

In a letter to the transport departments of all the States and UTs, the Ministry has informed regarding a number of representations received on Road Building and Rehabilitation Equipment, wherein concern regarding registration of cold recycling machines and soil stabilization machine under Central Motor Vehicle Rules 1989 has been raised.
 
The representations have clarified that cold milling machines are used to salvage the crust of the existing bituminous pavement to recover the asphalt material and re-use them to conserve aggregate and bitumen and save the associates costs of mining and crushing. Also the extracted bitumen leads to saving of bituminous material thus saving forex. The work awarded to the concessionaire by the employer is within a given range of chainage.

Therefore, these equipment work in a defined region and its operating speed  is 5 to 10 kilometre per hour as well as these equipment are deployed at the work site through trailers.

The representation regarding Heavy Earth Moving Machineries (HEMM) – wherein concern regarding registration of the equipment and their operation has been raised. HEMM like Dumpers, Payloaders, Shovels, Drill Master, Bulldozers, Motor Grader and Rock breakers are also categorised as off the road operated and maintained within mine boundary under sole management, supervision and control of Mines Manager and are never used outside mine boundary.  

The 15th meeting of the India-European Union Summit will be held in virtual mode tomorrow. The Summit will be co-chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President of European Council Charles Michel and President of European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. 
 
Sources said, COVID-19 pandemic, its impact on foreign trade, movement of people, and response to the pandemic are likely to be discussed by the two sides. Sources said, India-EU relationship, trade and investment and economic issues will also be discussed. They said, this meeting is taking place even as EU wants to play a more active role globally and also attaches high priority to relationship with India.
 
One point of significance of the summit is that the new Presidents of the European Commission and European Council had taken over in December last year. Sources said, the new leadership believes that EU needs to play a stronger role in the global platform and showed a lot of interest in India and also held telephonic conversations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon after taking over.
 
On scope of Free Trade Agreement with EU during the India-EU summit, sources said, there was a pause on the issue after intensive negotiations for years. In the year 2000 India and the European Union decided to institutionalise mechanism at the level of the Summit. This year marks 20 years of the Summit process between India and EU. The last Summit between the two sides took place in 2017.