Swasth Nari Campaign – A Shift in Approach to Women’s Health

Why in News?

Recently, India has received three Guinness World Records titles under the nationwide Swasth Nari, Sashakt Parivar Abhiyaan (SNSPA), marked by unprecedented coordination, mass mobilisation, and efficient digital use.

What is Swasth Nari campaign?

• Swasth Nari campaign – The "Swasth Nari, Sashakt Parivar" (Healthy Woman, Empowered Family) campaign was a nationwide health initiative in India launched by Prime Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on September 17, 2025, to run until October 2, 2025.
• Significance – It was celebrated as a large-scale "Jan Andolan" (mass movement) involving various government ministries, medical colleges, and community organizations.

What are the Key objectives and activities?

• Health and nutrition improvement – The core goal was to improve the health of women and children through comprehensive services.
• Health screenings – It included extensive screening for non-communicable diseases such as breast and cervical cancer, anemia, diabetes, hypertension, and TB.
• Health camps – The campaign organized numerous health camps at various government facilities, providing preventive, promotive, and curative services.
• Awareness and counselling – Health camps also offered counseling on nutrition, menstrual hygiene, mental health, and lifestyle choices.
• Community participation – The initiative encouraged broad community involvement, with over 20 ministries, medical colleges, and private organizations participating.
• The campaign’s massive community mobilisation that involved more than 5 lakh Panchayat representatives, 1.14 crore students, 94 lakh Self-Help Group members, and 5 lakh other community members
• Digital integration – Beneficiaries were enrolled in digital health services like the ABHA and encouraged to use online platforms for health pledges and information.

What are the Digital turns in women’s healthcare?

• Foundation – India’s journey towards digitising women’s healthcare began in earnest in the mid-2000s, marking a shift from manual, paper-based record system to data-driven health governance utilising digital tracking systems.
• Varied technologies – India has deployed diverse technologies, including Interactive Voice Response Systems (IVRS), SMS, telemedicine, and mobile health applications, to strengthen maternal healthcare.
• Notably, these choices have been shaped by the targeted population’s socioeconomic status and literacy levels.
• The Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS) – It was launched in 2009, represented the first systematic attempt to create digital registries for pregnant women and children, aiming to track immunisation schedules and antenatal care visits.
• This evolved into the Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) portal, which consolidated multiple vertical programmes into an integrated digital platform.
• The Kilkari mobile health programme – This was rolled out in 2016 as a part of the Digital India Initiative, delivers 72 weekly automated voice messages in Hindi to those women registered in the RCH portal.
• The programme now reaches over 29 million women across 18 states and union territories.
• eSanjeevani telemedicine platform – It was integrated into the public system, has delivered over 100 million consultations since 2020.
• Government data suggests that women constitute the majority of beneficiaries, with more than half of consultations pertaining to female patients.
• National Digital Health Mission in 2020 – It was later rebranded as the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) – marked an acceleration toward a comprehensive health data infrastructure.
• The COVID-19 pandemic functioned as a catalyst, normalising telemedicine, digital health records, and mobile health applications.
• Co-WIN platform – It demonstrated the state’s capacity for mass digital health coordination.
• These infrastructures have since been efficiently utilised for women’s health initiatives, as evidenced by the recent SNSPA campaign.

How Digitisation has yielded measurable improvements in certain dimensions of healthcare delivery?

• Improve immunisation coverage – Studies on the mMitra voice message service for maternal health indicate that digital tracking systems have improved immunisation coverage.
  • mMitra has enabled automated reminders and reducing dropout rates between vaccine doses, apart from aiding doctor consultations for bleeding and promoting institutional child delivery.
• Increased home visits – Research proves that mobile health applications used by frontline health workers have increased antenatal home visits by 15.7% and postnatal visits by 12%, while facilitating health education and systematic screening.
• The ability to generate real-time data on service delivery gaps has enhanced administrative visibility, potentially enabling more responsive resource allocation.

What lies ahead?

• State-level initiatives like Haryana’s proposal to assign unique “pregnancy IDs” linked to the RCH portal may help illustrate the importance of integrating technology in medical care.
• Although the initiative aims at improving monitoring of sex-selective abortion and ensuring maternal healthcare benefits, it also illustrates how digital infrastructures can be deployed both to protect and to discipline women’s reproductive lives.
• Nonetheless, a more progressive trajectory could be possible if digitisation is reframed through an inclusive approach that takes into account the intersectional vulnerabilities of women in India.
• This requires prioritising low-tech, multilingual channels (SMS, WhatsApp Chatbots & IVR) co-designed with women users; strengthening enforceable consent, grievance and redress mechanisms.
• The digital tools need to be used to support rather than replace community health workers, enabling ASHAs to leverage data for advocacy and claim-making, not just reporting.
• Digitisation can advance women’s health only when it redistributes power, protects autonomy, and actively mitigates the inequalities it risks entrenching.
• An imperative now made tangible by initiatives like the Swasth Nari, Sashakt Parivar Abhiyaan, signalling India’s readiness to translate scale into sustained structural transformation.

Reference

The Indian Express| Swasth Nari Campaign

Refining of Minerals – A missing link in India’s mineral mission

Why in News?

In recent years, the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act has been amended to support domestic mining through exploration licences, national auctions, mining-associated minerals, and a national mineral exchange.

What are the recent developments and issues in mining sector?

• Rare earth magnet scheme – The Union Cabinet’s new ₹7,280 crore rare-earth magnet scheme acknowledges a simple truth: digging without processing is just exporting prosperity.
• Importance of refining – The new G-20 framework on critical minerals also makes value creation through refining and manufacturing its centrepiece.
• Indian scenario – India, which has reformed its mining laws but still lacks large-scale processing, this is a timely reminder.
• Every solar panel, electric vehicle, and wind turbine begins not on an assembly line but in a refinery, where ores are turned into battery-grade graphite, magnet-ready rare earths, or ultra-pure polysilicon.
• Yet, almost all this processing happens outside India, increasing the vulnerability of domestic supply chains.
• Gaps in Legal reforms – In recent years, the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act has been amended to support domestic mining through exploration licences, national auctions, mining-associated minerals, and a national mineral exchange.
• These reforms help us dig, but they do not help us refine.
• India still imports almost all its lithium, nickel, and cobalt and the stakes extend far beyond clean energy.
• High-purity materials are also vital for semiconductors, telecommunications, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, and defence systems.
• Processing gaps, therefore, expose not just our energy transition but the entire economy.
• The midstream segment of the critical minerals value chain—processing and refining—remains a global chokepoint.
• Domination of China – China controls over 90% of rare earth and graphite refining, nearly 80% of cobalt, and 70% of lithium chemicals.
• In October 2025, Beijing briefly weaponised these supply chains, imposing controls on rare earth magnets, lithium-ion batteries, graphite anodes, and processing technologies.
• US strategy – The recently inked U.S.–Japan and U.S.–Australia critical minerals frameworks now tie financing directly to local refining.
• India must do the same by, scaling up its processing and refining capacity, beginning with the minerals it already produces or recycles.
• The recently approved ₹1,500 crore critical minerals recycling scheme is a promising start.
• Recent study – The Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) shows India mines and processes seven critical minerals relevant for clean energy and defence: copper, graphite, silicon, tin, titanium, rare earths, and zirconium.
• Yet, in each case, refining lags behind in either scale or quality. Domestic graphite reaches 92–99% purity, while batteries need 99.95% spherical graphite.
• Rare earths are processed into oxides but not separated into the metals required for magnets.
• And India’s tin production meets barely 1% of demand.

What are the measures India can take to develop critical mineral processing in India?

• Turn Centres of Excellence into innovation engines – The nine Centres of Excellence (CoEs) under the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM) must drive applied research for producing high-purity compounds and materials aligned to downstream industry needs.
• In the short term, their priority should be developing processing technologies ready for commercial use (technology readiness level 7–8), with clear metrics on purity, recovery, cost, and waste.
• IITs, NITs, industry, and think tanks are already part of this ecosystem and must accelerate life-cycle modelling and cost-benefit analysis through collaborative projects that move innovations swiftly from lab to market.
• Unlock secondary resources to recover critical minerals – India generates over 250 million tonnes of coal fly ash annually, containing both light and heavy rare earths.
• Red mud from aluminium plants holds gallium; zinc residues contain cobalt; steel slag carries vanadium.
• Pilot projects at CSIR and IITs show recovery is possible.
• Embedding recovery units in proposed Critical Minerals Processing Parks could scale these efforts, provided they are backed by incentives for mine tailings and residues and co-funded with PSUs and state utilities.
• The Environment Ministry should streamline clearances so such secondary resources can be utilised efficiently.
• Training and upskilling – A new generation of process metallurgists and technicians should be trained.
• India’s metallurgical workforce is largely trained for bulk metals using pyrometallurgy.
• Critical minerals, found in low-grade ores, require specialised hydrometallurgical and advanced refining techniques.
• The ₹100 crore NCMM allocation for skilling should fund train-the-trainer programmes, diploma courses, and new curricula at academic and CSIR labs, developed with industry input.
• Apprenticeships at Hindustan Copper, Hindalco, Vedanta, and other refiners can provide hands-on experience.
• This could create thousands of skilled jobs in states like Odisha, Gujarat, and Jharkhand, where mineral reserves and processing hubs are concentrated.
• De-risk investment – It should be done through demand assurance and financing tools.
• Global mineral markets are distorted by artificially low prices that deter new entrants.
• The U.S. Department of Defence’s deal with the U.S.-based MP Materials, offering offtake commitments and price guarantees, is instructive.
• India could adapt this by turning its planned mineral stockpile into an active market-maker, buying from domestic producers during downturns and releasing during demand surges.
• A dedicated window under the Ministry of Mines could manage this mechanism through long-term contracts.
• Encouraging key sectors – Key sectors such as defence, pharmaceuticals, and electronics should be encouraged to source part of their inputs domestically.
• While processors should be encouraged to meet stringent quality and reliability standards, anchoring demand and attracting private investment.
• Link mineral diplomacy to processing capacity – India’s overseas acquisitions, such as the five lithium blocks in Argentina through Khanij Bidesh India Limited and exploration rights in Zambia, are significant but focus mainly on raw ores.
• Real leverage lies in processing strength.
• If India can demonstrate consistent high-purity refining across the seven minerals it already handles, it can shift global partnerships from buyer-seller deals to co-investment alliances.
• A template emerged at the Johannesburg summit with the announcement of the Australia-Canada-India Technology and Innovation Partnership.
• By explicitly including critical mineral supply chains in this trilateral agenda, India has opened the door to co-develop processing technologies with major resource holders.
• The concept of critical minerals parks under the NCMM could become a platform for such partnerships.
• The Ministry of Commerce and Industry, along with the Ministry of Mines, should also integrate the processing of critical minerals, along with trade and investment opportunities, into bilateral and multilateral economic dialogues such as G-20, BRICS and IPEF.

What lies ahead?

• China’s recent restrictions on minerals and technology are a reminder that control over processing equals control over power.
• For India, the question is no longer whether we have enough mines but whether we can master the stage that turns ores into usable materials. Processing is the missing link that will decide whether we remain suppliers of raw material or become builders of resilient industries.
• True strategic autonomy lies not in the mine, but in the refinery.

Reference

The Hindu| Missing Link in India’s Mineral Mission

Draft Indian Statistical Institute Bill 2025

Why in news?

Protest in Kolkata against the Central government’s new Bill to repeal the ISI Act, 1959, saying it would seriously reduce the institute’s academic autonomy.

• Aim – To give ISI a stronger legal identity and a more robust governance system.
• Replaces – Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) Act, 1959, that conferred ISI’s national importance status.

Key Provisions of the bill

• Institutional Status – It transforms ISI into a statutory body corporate established by an Act of Parliament and ends its current status as a registered society.
  • Making it more like that of central institutions such as the IITs and IIMs.
• Governance Structure –
  • Visitor – It proposed to appoint the President of India as Visitor.
  • Board of Governance – Chairperson nominated by the Visitor on the Union government’s recommendation.
  • Representatives of the Centre, eminent persons, director and other institute representatives are nominated by the Centre.
  • Functions – Decide on administrative matters, grant degrees, and make appointments to academic and other posts, and also frame regulations and rules to implement the Act.
• Academic Council – It consists of the heads of divisions & centres and is headed by the director, make recommendations to the board on academic matters.
• Appointment & Oversight –
  • Director – Appointed by Board Chairperson from a panel recommended by a search-cum-selection committee constituted by the Union government.
  • Visitor’s Power – Remove the Director and order inquiries and reviews of the institute’s work.

Quick Fact

References

1. The Hindu | Academics protest against the draft ISI bill
2. Indian Express | Indian Statistical Institute Bill 2025

Mahad Satyagraha

Why  in news?

The scholars are revisiting the Mahad Satyagraha’s influence on India’s constitutional discourse and human rights, especially in the context of Ambedkar’s death anniversary.

• Location – Mahad, a town located in the Raigad district of Maharashtra.
• Mahad’s legacy – It was home to pioneering reformers like Gopalbaba Walangkar (early anti-caste activist), N. M. Joshi (social reformer), Sambhaji Gaikwad and others.
  • It became the site of India’s 1^st organised human rights movement, led by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in 1927.
• Background
  • Bole Resolution, 1923 – It was named after S. K. Bole, and allowed untouchables access to public places, including tanks and wells.
  • Municipal Board’s order – In 1926, the Municipal Board of Mahad, Maharashtra, passed orders to open the famous tank to all communities; it was opposed by high-caste Hindus.
• Launch – It was a non-violent movement, launched on March 20, 1927.
  • It is also called as Chavdar Tank Satyagraha.
• Aim – It aimed to assert the right of the untouchables to use water from a public tank.

Events

• Led by – Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, about 2,500 Dalits in a march to the Chavdar Tank in Mahad, where Dalits had long been denied access to this public water source.
• In a bold act, Ambedkar drank water from the tank, symbolising equality. This triggered strong protests from caste Hindus.
• Ambabai Temple Satyagraha (Nov 1927) – Ambedkar joined Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh’s movement after violent attacks on Dalits.
• Later in December 1927, he and his followers burned the Manusmriti, symbolically rejecting the ideological foundation of caste hierarchy (Manusmriti Dahan Din – 25^th December).
• He stressed that true human rights must also mean gender equality, seeking for inclusion of women in the rights discourse.
• In December 1937, the Bombay High Court ruled that untouchables have the right to use water from the tank.
• Constitutional Impact – It emphasises how Ambedkar’s struggle at Mahad influenced the principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity later enshrined in the Indian Constitution.

March 20 – Social Empowerment day to commemorate the Mahad Satyagraha & December 25 – Indian Women’s Liberation Day, linking Ambedkar’s vision to gender equality.

References

1. The Hindu | How Mahad Satyagraha shaped constitutional discourse
2. BARTI | Mahad Satyagraha
3. The Wire | Mahad Satyagraha

National Career Service (NCS) Portal

Why in news?

The National Career Service (NCS) Portal has crossed major milestones in registrations and vacancies mobilised.

• NCS – It is a flagship initiative that provides a wide array of career-related services.
• Aim – By acting as a one-stop solution to bridge the gap between job seekers and employers through a digital platform.
• Launched in – 2015.
• Nodal Ministry – Ministry of Labour & Employment.

Key Features & Services

• Various stakeholders – It is a comprehensive platform connecting various stakeholders in the employment ecosystem, including job seekers, employers, career counsellors, skill providers, and government departments.
• Registration is free and entirely online.
• Job Matching – Provides a transparent and efficient system for matching job seekers with suitable employers.
• Career Services – Offers vocational guidance, career counselling, and information on skill development courses.
• Inclusive Access – Special focus on women, SC/ST, differently-abled, and economically weaker sections to ensure equitable opportunities.
• Job Fairs – Facilitates both online and offline job fairs across India, improving outreach and accessibility.
• Model Career Centres (MCCs) – Physical centres approved across states/UTs to deliver employment services in collaboration with institutions.
• Integration with Other Services – It is integrated with other government initiatives and platforms like DigiLocker, e-Shram, and AICTE to streamline the hiring process and document verification.
• Digital Governance – Part of the Digital India initiative, ensuring services are accessible online and integrated with Aadhaar for authentication.

References

1. PIB | National Career Service (NCS) Portal
2. Vikaspedia | National Career Service (NCS) Portal
3. DGE | National Career Service (NCS) Portal

Ultra-Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT)

Why in news?

Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) celebrates 10 Years of Operation of the UltraViolet Imaging Telescope on board AstroSat.

• AstroSat – Launched on September 28, 2015, carrying 5 payloads spanning ultraviolet to X-ray bands.
• The UVIT is the primary payload of AstroSat among the 5 payloads.
• UVIT’s core science areas –
  • Star formation in the Galaxy and nearby galaxies
  • Star formation history of the universe
  • Hot stars in globular clusters
  • Planetary nebulae
  • Transients and variability studies in UV

UVIT’s Feature & Role –

• India’s 1^st ultraviolet (UV) space telescope, unique globally for combining a large field of view with high spatial resolution(<1.5 arcseconds).
• Far-UV Observation Capability – The only operational telescope (besides the Hubble Space Telescope) capable of observing in the far-ultraviolet spectrum.
• Twin Telescope System – It observes near-UV (200–300 nm) and visual bands (320–550 nm) & far-UV (130–180 nm)
• Collaborations – Led by IIA, with support from IUCAA (Pune), TIFR (Mumbai), multiple ISRO centres (ISAC/URSC, LEOS, IISU, SAC), and the Canadian Space Agency.
• Set up Special “Clean Rooms” at IIA’s CREST campus (Hosakote) for sensitive fabrication.
• Key Discoveries & Highlights
  • Hot compact companion stars of Be stars
  • Blue Straggler Stars in clusters
  • Novae in the Andromeda galaxy
  • Extended UV disks in dwarf galaxies & planetary nebulae
  • Emission from distant galaxies at redshift 1.42
  • Correlations between UV and X-ray emissions in active galactic nuclei
  • Young star formation characteristics in galaxies
• Future Plans – India could now develop a bigger, next-generation space telescope called INSIST (Indian Spectroscopic and Imaging Space Telescope).

To know about AstroSat, click here

References

1. PIB |Celebrates 10 Years of Operation of the UVIT
2. IIA | Ultra-Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT)

Inclusion/Exclusion from SC/ST List

Why in news?

A proposal from the State Government of Bihar for inclusion of Krishi Vaishya/Chasot in the Scheduled Tribes list.

• Constitutional Provisions – Article 341 (SCs) & 342 (STs), which authorise the President to specify SCs/STs in consultation with the Governor, but only Parliament can alter these lists through law.
• Parliament's Role – Parliament has the sole power to include or exclude any caste/tribe from the lists through legislation, overriding any later executive action.

Process of Inclusion/Exclusion from SC/ST Lists

• Initiation at State/UT level – The concerned State/UT recommend the addition or removal of a community based on studies and socio-economic assessments.
• Union Government scrutiny – The proposal is examined by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs/Social Justice, Registrar General of India (RGI), and National Commissions (SC/ST).
• Legislative process –
  • A Bill is introduced in Parliament to amend the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 or the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950.
  • The Bill must be passed by both Houses of Parliament.
• Presidential Notification – Under Articles 341 & 342, the President issues the final notification, giving legal effect to the inclusion/exclusion.
• Criteria
  • Scheduled Castes (SCs) – Extreme, social, educational and economic backwardness arising out of the traditional practice of untouchability.
  • Scheduled Tribes (ST) – Ethnological traits, traditional characteristics, distinctive culture, geographical isolation, and social & economic backwardness.

Census 2011

• SC list – They spread across 31 States/UTs with 1,241 notified communities.
  • Population – Over 20 crore (Approx. 16.6% of India’s population)
• ST list – They are notified in 30 States/UTs, with 705 individual tribes/communities under Article 342.
  • Population – Over 10 crore (Approx. 8.6% of India’s population).

References

1. PIB |  Inclusion of Krishi Vaishya/Chasot in ST list
2. The Hindu | Inclusion/exclusion from the ST list
3. Digital Sansad | Inclusion in SC list