Ministries told to work with Health Ministry to eliminate filariasis as public health problem

A Centre for Advocacy and Research note:

---

Dr VK Paul, Member, Niti Aayog, has urged all key ministries to work with the Health Ministry to eliminate filariasis as a public health problem through mass drug administration from 10th February, 2024.

Lymphatic Filariasis (Hathipaon) is a priority disease for the Government of India and is targeted for elimination by 2027. The country adopted the enhanced elimination strategy under which the Mass Drug Administration (MDA) is planned in a Mission Mode on 10th February and 10th August, 2024, together with National Deworming Day. The strategy demands synergy of efforts by all Ministries and Departments to culminate into a Jan Andolan for improved compliance in MDA.

To sustain the momentum for intersectoral convergence, a virtual meeting under the Chairmanship of Dr VK Paul, Hon’ble Member, Niti Aayog, was held on 16 January, 2024, wherein senior officials of all leading Ministries – Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Department of School Education, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Ministry of Youth and Ministry of Tribal development present.

Dr VK Paul, Member, Niti Aayog, said the time has come to work concertedly and with total dedication and determination to eliminate filariasis as a public health problem. This is a cause and call that each of us in our capacity as representative of government or as development partner and citizen must respond to unflinchingly and with the recognition that this is not just a health problem to be tackled by the health ministry but goes beyond it and in many ways a scourge that all of us together must end and emancipate our people from the burden of this debilitating disease he added and urged everyone to make it a Jan Andolan and ensure 95% of coverage and drug compliance.

In response to this clarion call of Dr Paul, the officials from all Ministries avowed to fight shoulder to shoulder with NCVBDC and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and make the MDA programme in February, 2024 a success. Assuring the Hon’ble Member, Niti Aayog of their continued support, Ms. Swati Sharma, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development with “about 8.93 crore Women households have been mobilized into 82.61 lakh Self Help Groups (SHGs) and the SHG members playing a role all over the country in empowering women to access all major programmes including health and nutrition we will ensure that they are geared to support the MDA programme in a missionary mode."

Comments

The golden crop: How turmeric is transforming women's lives in tribal India

By Vikas Meshram* When the lush green fields of turmeric sway in the tribal belt of southern Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat, it is not merely a spice crop — it is the golden glow of self-reliance. In villages where even basic spices once had to be bought from the market, the very soil today is yielding a prosperity that has transformed the lives of thousands of families. At the heart of this transformation is the initiative of Vaagdhara, which has linked turmeric with livelihoods, nutrition, and village self-governance — gram swaraj.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Authoritarian destruction of the public sphere in Ecuador: Trumpism in action?

By Pilar Troya Fernández The situation in Ecuador under Daniel Noboa's government is one of authoritarianism advancing on several fronts simultaneously to consolidate neoliberalism and total submission to the US international agenda. These are not isolated measures, but rather a coordinated strategy that combines job insecurity, the dismantling of the welfare state, unrestricted access to mining, the continuation of oil exploitation without environmental considerations, the centralization of power through the financial suffocation of local governments, and the systematic criminalization of all forms of opposition and popular organization.

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

By Ram Puniyani The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

False claim? What Venezuela is witnessing is not surrender but a tactical retreat

By Manolo De Los Santos The early morning hours of January 3, 2026, marked an inflection point in Venezuela and Latin America’s centuries-long struggle for self-determination and independence. Operation Absolute Resolve, ordered by the Trump administration, constituted the most brutal and direct military assault on a sovereign state in the region in recent memory. In a shocking operation that left hundreds dead, President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores were illegally kidnapped from Venezuelan soil and transported to the United States, where they now face fabricated charges in a New York federal detention facility. In the two months since this act of war, a torrent of speculation has emerged from so-called experts and pundits across the political spectrum. This has followed three main lines: One . The operation’s success indicated treason at the highest levels of the Bolivarian Revolution. Two . Acting President Delcy Rodríguez and the remaining leadership have abandone...

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

Search This Blog