Reservoirs’ level falls to 31% of capacity Govt wants alternative med researched
New Delhi: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, arrested in an excise scam case, is eating food high in sugar like mangoes and sweets every day despite having type 2 diabetes to create grounds for a medical bail, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) claimed before a court here on Thursday. The ED made the claim before special judge for CBI and ED cases, Kaveri Baweja.
The water level in India’s 150 major reservoirs has further shrunk to 31% of their total capacity, as southern states such as Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka face a significant shortfall in water storage compared with the previous year and the 10-year average.
Cities like Bengaluru have been grappling with water shortage due to rain deficiency in last year’s monsoon, a decline in reservoir level, and the loss of lakes due to rapid urbanization.
The depleting water level is attributed to lower rainfall caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon (which finally ended on Tuesday as per the Australian Bureau of Meteorology), resulting in insufficient rainfall in India, and leading to water scarcity in some regions, besides droughts and prolonged dry periods across Asia.
As many as 21 states in the country have witnessed rain deficiency or no rainfall since March. The country has received 18% below-normal rainfall since March, as per the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
According to data from the Central Water Commission (CWC), the available water level this week in these reservoirs was 56.085 billion cubic meter (BCM), 17% lower than the corresponding period last year when it was 67.575 BCM and 3.5% lower than the average of last 10 years (58.166 BCM). The live storage available in 150 reservoirs as of Thursday was 83% of the live storage of the corresponding period of the previous year and 96% of storage of average of the past 10 years.
The weather bureau last month warned that most regions of the country will witness above-normal temperature during April-June.
The Ayush ministry is encouraging hospitals and wellness centres under it to conduct research to show the efficacy and health benefits of alternative medicines, according to the ministry.
This is part of the Centre's push to widen the reach, popularity and acceptance of alternative medicines.
Ayush works with six disciplines—Ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-rigpa and homeopathy. The Centre has been taking steps to encourage Ayush institutes to conduct studies in collaboration with Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
"During the covid pandemic the Ayush ministry did more than 150 research studies. The recent inclusion of ASU (Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha) disease nomenclature in the International Classification of Disease (ICD-11) TM2 of WHO is another evidence of researchbased and collaborative efforts," said V.D. Rajesh Kotecha, secretary, Ayush.
The validity of Ayush practices is sometimes questioned, and their application is freathy quently limited to yoga and therapeutic activities. The ministry aims to dispel this myth and provide empirical evidence for their significance.
"Standardization, clinical research and safety studies are the foundation of our research councils active across the nation. The ministry has also undertaken various collaborative research projects, following an integrative research model for scientific evidence generation in the Ayush sector at institutions of national repute like CSIR, DBT, AIIMS, ILBS and more, apart from many international collaborations," Kotecha added.
There are five research councils under the ministry of Ayush—the Centre Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), Central Council for Research in Homeopathy (CCRH), Central Council for research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM), Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturop(CCRYN), and Central Council Research in Siddha (CCRS).
The CCRAS, an autonomous body under the ministry has been undertaking, coordinating, formulating and promoting scientific research on Ayurveda.
As per the ministry, the CCRAS has already conducted clinical research on 50 health issues such as cardiovascular diseases, hemiplegia, malaria, obesity and lipid disorder, peptic ulcer, asthma and chronic bronchitis.
Currently, there are 30 institutes which are working in clinical research programmes with the CCRAS such as Central Ayurveda Research Institute in Delhi, Bhubaneshwar, Kolkata, Patiala, and Regional Ayurveda Research Institutes in Jaipur, Lucknow and other cities.
Focusing on the importance ofevidence-basedresearchand innovation and recognizing the global shift towards chronic and non-communicable diseases, the ministry emphasized integrating traditional systems with conventional medicine to promote a holistic and patientcentric healthcare approach. It has developed general guidelines for research and development in Ayush.
Cities like Bengaluru have been grappling with water shortages due to deficient rain in the last monsoon
The ministry is encouraging research to show the efficacy and health benefits of alternative medicines