Consumer Protection Act 2019, The Mystical Triangle, Early detection of colon cancer, Manodarpan initiative to provide psychosocial support to students,
1. "The Mystical Triangle- Maheshwar, Mandu & Omkareshwar" under DekhoApna Desh Series
- Ministry of Tourism, Government of India’s DekhoApna Desh Webinar Series titled, “The Mystical Triangle- Maheshwar, Mandu & Omkareshwar” was organised on 18th July 2020.
- The first stop of the mystical triangle was Maheshwar or Mahishmati is one of serene and captivating destinations of Madhya Pradesh with historical significance which is 90 kms away from Indore city.
- The city got its name after Lord Shiva/ Maheshwara, it also finds a mention in the epics Ramayana and Mahabharatha.
- Also, described in detail the life & times of Queen Rajmata Ahilya Devi Holkar.
- The Town lies on the north bank of the Narmada River.
- It was the capital of the Malwa during the Maratha Holkar reign till 6 January 1818, when the capital was shifted to Indore by Malhar Rao Holkar III.
- In the late eighteenth century, Maheshwar served as the capital of the great Maratha queen Rajmata Ahilya Devi Holkar.
- She embellished the city with many buildings and public works, and it is home to her palace, as well as numerous temples, a fort, and riverfront ghats.
- The queen is also known for her simplicity, this is evident to present day through Rajwada or the Royal Residence where the queen used to meet her people, a two-storied building.
- Tourists can see and experience the then royal setup as the things related to queen.
- Ahilyeshwar temple, where Ahilya devi used to offer prayers, Vitthal temple near Ahileshwar temple are must stop places for aarti and to admire architecture.
- There are around 91 temples that are built by the Rajmata.
- Ghats in Maheshwar are the best places to see the beauty of sunrise and sunset and the fort complex can also be seen at its best from Ahilya ghat.
- One can also go on a boat ride, evenings after sunset boat men light small diyas as an offering to Narmada River.
- Baneshwar temple which is dedicated to Lord Shiva is one of the must-see temples of Maheshwar especially during sunsets.
- Narmada aarti is performed after sunset at Narmada ghat.
- Textiles are another important aspect that is developed by Ahilya Devi, she invited master weavers from Surat and South India to weave sarees that are unique from the existing ones.
- The designs used on these are inspirations from fort architecture and Narmada river.
- These were gifted to royal guests.
- Rajmata Ahilya Devi Holkar was a generous patron of the arts. She loved sarees and in 1760 sent for the famed weavers of Surat to enrich her kingdom with fine cloth – something worthy of the royal family.
- Under the princely state the weavers arts flourished and specialized into the present day Maheshwari cloth.
- Once an all cotton weave – in the 1950’s silk started being used in the wrap and slowly became the norm.Rehwa Society was founded in 1979, is a non profit organisation working for the welfare of weavers of maheshwar.
- Omkareshwar has 33 deities and 108 impressive shivling in divine form and this is the only Jyotirlingawhich is situated on the north bank of Narmada.
- Omkareshwar is a spiritual town in Madhya Pradesh, 78kms away from Indore. A visit to Omkareshwar temple is incomplete without visiting Mamleshwar temple.
- It is also believed that Lord Shiva comes here to rest everyday considering this a special aarti called Shayan aarti is performed everyday at 8:30pm in the evening and arrange game of dice for Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi.
- Siddhanth temple is the most beautiful temple one should definitely save their time to explore this divine temple.
- Mandu located in Dhar district of State of Madhya Pradesh is also known by the name of Mandavgarh, Shadiabad (City of Joy).
- It is about 98km. away from Indore and at an elevation of 633 meters.
- Nearest Railway station for Mandu is Ratlam (124km.) TheFort in Mandu is spread over an area of 47 sq km and the fort wall is 64 kms.
- Mandu is mainly known for the love story of Sultan Baz Bahadur and Rani Roopmati.
- Once out hunting, Baz Bahadur chanced upon a shepherdess frolicking and singing with her friends. Smitten by both her enchanting beauty and her melodious voice, he begged Roopmati to accompany him to his capital.
- Roopmati agreed to go to Mandu on the condition that she would live in a palace within sight of her beloved and venerated river, Narmada.
- Thus was built the RewaKund at Mandu. On knowing about Roopmati’s beauty and sweet voice, Mughals decided to invade Manduand capture both Baz Bahadur and Roopmati.
- Manduwas easily defeated and when Mughal forces marched towards fort, Roopmati poisoned herself to avoid capture.
- Baz Bahadur’s Palace built in 16th-century is famous for its large courtyards encompassed by large halls and high terraces.
- It is situated below Roopmati’s Pavilion and can be seen from the pavilion.
Rewa Kund: A reservoir constructed by Baz Bahadur for the purpose of supplying water to Rani Roopmati’s Pavilion. The reservoir is situated below the pavilion and hence is considered an architectural marvel.
Jahaz Mahal/Ship Palace: Situated between two artificial lakes, this two-storied architectural marvel is so named as it appears as a ship floating in water. Built by Sultan Ghiyas-ud-din-Khalji, it served as a harem for the sultan.
- One cannot afford to miss the local food like poha, kachori, bafla etc while travelling in this circuit.
2. Early detection of colon cancer
- Colorectal cancer that affects the large intestine (colon) and rectum is the 5th leading cause of cancer death in India, mainly because late detection minimizes chances of recovery.
- In the last decade, the country has witnessed a rapid increase in the rate of colorectal cancer among younger people due to poor dietary habits, lack of physical activity, obesity, increased alcohol consumption, and chronic smoking.
- The current detection methods need invasive biopsies, and subsequent evaluation requires special expertise.
- The delay in the timely detection of the disease limits access to rapid and affordable treatment.
- Dr. Tatini Rakshit from S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences,a recipient of the INSPIRE Faculty Fellowship Award instituted by the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Govt. of India along with her research group has developed a sensitive tool that could be useful to identify colon cancer at a very early stage from body fluids like blood, urine, and feces (stool).
- The method that scores above currently existing methods like polymerase chain reaction (PCR), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), electrophoresis, surface plasmon resonance (SPR), surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), microcantilevers, colorimetric assay, electrochemical assay, and fluorescence methods in terms of accuracy.
- The Researchers group is working with Extracellular Vesicles (EV) at the single vesicle level to identify biomarkers non-invasively.
- Initially, these EVs were thought to be garbage bags for removal of unwanted materials by the cell.
- The group teased out a potential colon cancer biomarker molecule, Hyaluronan (HA), that is present on the surface of lipid sacks secreted by cancer cells.
- Extracellular vesicles (EVs) embody molecular information about the parent malignant tissue and hold a huge potential for convenient cancer diagnostics.
- The team has established that the evaluation of cancer cell-secreted EVs from body fluid (for example, blood, urine, stool etc.) and capturing clinical information without biopsying the tumour could be an effective and non-invasive alternative method of cancer detection.
- They used Atomic Force Microscope that utilizes a nanoscale finger to probe Hyaluronan on the EVs’ surface from colon cancer cells.
- They have also performed spectroscopy experiments (FT-IR, CD, and RAMAN) to find the characteristic signatures of HA, and both the data sets highly correlate with each other.
3. Manodarpan has been launched, an initiative under Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, to provide psychosocial support to students
- Union HRD Minister, Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ will be launching virtually the Manodarpan initiative of HRD Ministry on 21st July, 2020.
- The HRD Ministry felt the need to focus on continuing education on the academic front and the mental well-being of the students.
- Ministry of Human Resource Development has undertaken an initiative, named ‘MANODARPAN’ covering a wide range of activities to provide psychosocial support to students, teachers and families for Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing during the COVID outbreak and beyond.
- As the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 12.05.2020, launched the ATMANIRBHAR BHARAT ABHIYAN, a stimulus package for revitalising the economy of India post COVID-19 outbreak.
- The ‘Manodarpan‘ initiative has been included in the ATMANIRBHAR BHARAT ABHIYAN, as a part of strengthening human capital and increasing productivity and efficient reform and initiatives for the Education sector.
- Also it is appealed to all the students, teachers and parents across the country to join the initiative to keep a healthy lifestyle and lead a stress free life.
- The aim of Manodarpan is to help students to live their lives happily, effectively and productively and become resilient over time with the help of life skills even in the face of challenges and roadblocks.
- Under the initiative all students from Schools affiliated to CBSE will be covered.
- A Web-page named ‘Manodarpan- Psychosocial Support for Mental Health & Well-being during the COVID outbreak and beyond’ has been created on the Website of the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
- The Web-page contains advisory, practical tips, posters, videos, do’s and don’ts for psychosocial support, FAQs and online query system.
- A National Toll-free Helpline (8448440632) for a country-wide outreach to students from schools, colleges and universities has also been set up.
- Through this helpline tele-counselling will be provided to the students to address their mental health and psychosocial issues.
- This unique helpline shall be managed by a pool of experienced counselors/ Psychologists and other mental health professionals and will continue beyond the COVID-19 situation.
- About 500 experienced counsellors have been enrolled to implement the national helpline, and 100 counsellors have been mapped to commence the first phase for students.
4. To protect consumer rights, Consumer Protection Act 2019 is a significant step
- The Consumer Protection Act,2019 comes in to force from 20th July 2020.
- This new Act will empower consumers and help them in protecting their rights through its various notified Rules and provisions like Consumer Protection Councils, Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions, Mediation, Product Liability and punishment for manufacture or sale of products containing adulterant / spurious goods.
- The Act includes establishment of the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) to promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumers.
- The CCPA will be empowered to conduct investigations into violations of consumer rights and institute complaints / prosecution, order recall of unsafe goods and services, order discontinuance of unfair trade practices and misleading advertisements, impose penalties on manufacturers/endorsers/publishers of misleading advertisements.
- The rules for prevention of unfair trade practice by e-commerce platforms will also be covered under this Act.
- The gazette notification for establishment of the Central Consumer Protection Authority and rules for prevention of unfair trade practice in e-commerce are under publication.
- Under this act every e-commerce entity is required to provide information relating to return, refund, exchange, warranty and guarantee, delivery and shipment, modes of payment, grievance redressal mechanism, payment methods, security of payment methods, charge-back options, etc. including country of origin which are necessary for enabling the consumer to make an informed decision at the pre-purchase stage on its platform.
- The e-commerce platforms have to acknowledge the receipt of any consumer complaint within forty-eight hours and redress the complaint within one month from the date of receipt under this Act.
- The New Act introduces the concept of product liability and brings within its scope, the product manufacturer, product service provider and product seller, for any claim for compensation.
- The new Act provides for simplifying the consumer dispute adjudication process in the consumer commissions, which include, among others, empowerment of the State and District Commissions to review their own orders, enabling a consumer to file complaints electronically and file complaints in consumer Commissions that have jurisdiction over the place of his residence, video conferencing for hearing and deemed admissibility of complaints if the question of admissibility is not decided within the specified period of 21 days.
- The Minister said an Alternate Dispute Resolution mechanism of Mediation has been provided in the new Act.
- This will simplify the adjudication process.
- A complaint will be referred by a Consumer Commission for mediation, wherever scope for early settlement exists and parties agree for it.
- Mediation will be held in the Mediation Cells to be established under the aegis of the Consumer Commissions.
- There will be no appeal against settlement through mediation.
- As per the Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission Rules, there will be no fee for filing cases upto Rs. 5 lakh.
- There are provisions for filing complaints electronically, credit of amount due to unidentifiable consumers to Consumer Welfare Fund (CWF).
- The State Commissions will furnish information to Central Government on a quarterly basis on vacancies, disposal, pendency of cases and other matters.
- The New Act also introduces the concept of product liability and brings within its scope, the product manufacturer, product service provider and product seller, for any claim for compensation.
- The Act provides for punishment by a competent court for manufacture or sale of adulterant/spurious goods.
- The court may, in case of first conviction, suspend any licence issued to the person for a period of up to two years, and in case of second or subsequent conviction, cancel the licence.
- Under this new Act, besides general rules, there are Central Consumer Protection Council Rules, Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission Rules, Appointment of President & Members in State/District Commission Rules, Mediation Rules, Model Rules and E-Commerce Rules and Consumer Commission Procedure Regulations, Mediation Regulations and Administrative control over State Commission & District Commission Regulations.
- The Central Consumer Protection Council Rules are provided for constitution of the Central Consumer Protection Council, an advisory body on consumer issues, headed by the Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution with the Minister of State as Vice Chairperson and 34 other members from different fields.
- The Council, which has a three-year tenure, will have Minister-in-charge of consumer affairs from two States from each region- North, South, East, West, and NER.
- There is also provision for having working groups from amongst the members for specific tasks.
- Further, in earlier Consumer Protection Act, 1986a single point access to justice was given, which is also time consuming.
- The new act has been introduced after many amendments to provide protection to buyers not only from traditional sellers but also from the new e-commerce retailers/platforms.
- This Act will prove a significant tool in protecting consumer rights in the country.
