SPRF
INTRODUCTION In 2019, the Department of Food and Public Distribution launched the Integrated Management of Public Distribution System (IM-PDS) scheme, more commonly known as the One Nation One Ration Card scheme. The One Nation One Ration Card scheme aims to improve the portability of food distribution, by enabling ration card holders to collect their entitled […]
CONTEXT The ongoing pandemic has led to a strategic shift towards a newly created ‘focal point’, constituting the need to train and equip the otherwise undervalued backbone of the global healthcare workforce – the frontline health workers [1]. It is imperative to point out that at the forefront of the efforts to contain the further […]
ABSTRACT This commentary explores the intervention of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in providing mental healthcare services, through chatbot applications. Mental health chatbots, being inexpensive and easily accessible, are increasingly gaining ground as an alternative to therapists and other mental health professionals. The commentary aims to draw conclusions on the effectiveness of its usage in mitigating mental […]
Across the globe, around a hundred million barrels of oil are in demand each day [1]. It was estimated that in 2020, this number will increase by 825,000. However, in sharp contrast, following the spread of the Novel Coronavirus, the oil demand has instead fallen by 90,000 barrels per day [2]. In fact, global oil […]
CONTEXT On March 28, four days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown till mid-April to halt the spread of Covid-19, chaotic scenes of migrant workers standing in long queues emerged from Delhi’s Anand Vihar Bus Terminal [1]. Numbering in thousands, these were mostly daily wage labourers from Delhi and neighbouring satellite cities […]
In 2017, a landmark Supreme Court judgement declared the right to privacy as being protected as “an intrinsic part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 and as a part of the freedoms guaranteed by Part III of the Constitution” [1] [2]. This judgement followed a petition filed in the Supreme […]
Around 600 million people in India face severe water shortage, and according to NITI Aayog’s Composite Water Management Index (2018), the situation is predicted to get worse in the next few years. [1] The report states that 21 cities are expected to completely exhaust groundwater resources available to them by 2020. Over the last two […]
The Indian government, as part of its efforts to revamp forest conservation and management, announced two new changes to India’s forest policies in 2018 and 2019. The first of these, the Draft National Forest Policy (NFP) 2018, has been under review since it was first made public in March 2018, and seeks to replace the […]
India is primarily an agrarian economy and has the 10th largest arable land resources in the world. Its varied climate and the agrarian culture have contributed significantly to the global food basket and India is currently among the 15 leading exporters of agricultural products in the world. Agricultural export is one of the major […]
The most widely accepted definition of human trafficking across the globe can be found under Article 3(a) of The United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children of 2000 (also called the “Palermo Protocol”) [1]. Simply put, it is the trade and transport of human beings for the […]
INTRODUCTION The Chakma and the Hajong refugees have been inhabitants of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh for over 50 years now. Despite their coexistence for several decades, the indigenous communities of the state still consider them to be ‘outsiders’. The recent Supreme Court judgement [1] of granting citizenship to these refugee groups, in consonance […]