Aarogya Maitri

In a groundbreaking development, India has introduced the 'Aarogya Maitri Cube,' the world's first portable disaster hospital, designed to sustain 200 survivors for 48 hours. This revolutionary creation has been conceived under the 'Bharat Health Initiative for Sahyog Hita and Maitri' (BHISHM). In February 2022, a dedicated task force under the Ministry of Defence was instrumental in bringing this project to fruition. As per the brief given, Air Vice Marshal Tanmoy Roy, head of the task force told  Media that BHISHM had to make something original and innovative. Being a doctor himself, along with 6 of his colleagues Roy understood what is required during a medical emergency of any kind and might, and how important it is to be well equipped and deploy aid at the right time. This led to the indigenously developed  Aarogya Maitri Cubes.

In January 2023, at the the Concluding Leaders’ Session of the two-day virtual ‘Voice of Global South, PM announced the ‘Aarogya Maitri’ project under which India would provide essential medical supplies to any developing country affected by natural disasters or humanitarian crisis. 

The idea of February 2022, was announced in Jan 2023 and already 'Aarogya Maitri Cubes' have been donated to Myanmar as a goodwill gesture

In the picture above, Indian High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka presented state-of-the-art Arogya Maitri Cube to Sri Lanka

The 'Aarogya Maitri Cube' is composed of three frames, with each accommodating 12 mini-cubes. The portable hospital consists of a four wheeled cage that encloses a total of 36 mini-cubes that suffice for a 100 survivors, for a period of 2 days/48 Hours, this arrangement is called a master cube. The design of the master cube is such that it can adjoin a similar master cube, to encompass a total of 72 mini cubes, catering to 200 survivors.

These cubes can handle various severe injuries, from bullet wounds to spinal fractures, providing critical medical support in the most challenging circumstances. Each Aarogya Maitri Cube comprises an operation theatre, mini-ICU, ventilator, blood test equipment, X-ray machine, cooking station, food, water, shelter, power generator, and more, all compactly packed into 72 cubes. These cubes, ingeniously designed for flexibility, are an innovative approach to disaster response. The contents of the cubes can be tailored to specific needs, whether it's responding to natural disasters, war zones, epidemics, or challenging terrains. This wholly Made-in-India product is affordable, costing less than Rs 2.5 crore for 72 cube boxes and can be airlifted.

The multifaceted aid kit proves to be helpful for astringent as well as the most severe injuries. It includes Forty bullet injuries, Twenty-five major bleeds, 25 major burns, around 10 long limb fractures, head injuries, spinal injuries or fractures and chest injuries. 

https://www.news18.com/india/aarogya-maitri-cube-india-builds-worlds-first-portable-hospital-to-keep-200-survivors-alive-for-48-hrs-8560481.html

Many details are available here 

https://asianatimes.com/worlds-first-portable-hospital-india-triumphs/

Previous : Amrit Sarovar

Amrit Sarovar

The objective of Mission Amrit Sarovar under the Ministry of Rural Development is to develop at least 75 Amrit Sarovars in every district of the country during Amrit Mahotsav of Independence. The Mission was launched 24th April, 2022 with a view to conserve water for the future through  rain water conservation and harvesting by renovating Amrit Sarovars which have reached the verge of extinction and constructing of new Amrit Sarovar. These would become the centre of local community activities. A user group is formed for each Amrit Sarovar for there community ownership and maintenance. 

The target was set to build 50 thousand Amrit Sarovar by August 15, 2023, this has been achieved ahead of schedule. As per their press release of 10th May 2023, 50,071 Amrit Sarovar have been completed. 

The aim is to conserve water for the future generations with the combined efforts of district administration, Panchayat Raj officials, public representatives, panchayats, voluntary organizations, various institutions and public participation in states and union territories.  In this on-going project, over one lac sites have been identified.

So far 59,282 user groups have joined Mission Amrit Sarovar for maintaining the Sarovar and generating their livelihood from it. Public participation has converted this mission into a mass movement. So far, 1784 freedom fighters, 684 families of martyrs, 448 families of freedom fighters, 18173 senior members of panchayats and 56 Padma awardees have participated in the mission.

An android application is used for inspection of all Amrit Sarovar that are built across the country.  There are several media reports on the status or planning towards achieving the targets. A report from Nashik, Maharashtra, can be read here https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nashik/2l-people-to-benefit-from-131-amrit-sarovars/articleshow/100780760.cms

Like so many of the other government schemes, there is regular updationof status which can be seen here; https://amritsarovar.gov.in/. The current completion as on 29th July 2023 is 63,860

Next : Aarogya Mantri

Previous: Jal Jeevan Mission : An update

Jal Jeevan Mission - An update

 Government of India's Jal Jeevan Mission, envisioned providing safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in ALL rural India. It has various components -  recharge and reuse, water conservation, rain water harvesting etc.. Details of this programme can be seen here.

https://jaljeevanmission.gov.in/https://jaljeevanmission.gov.in/

I had posted about this earlier, (Jal Jeevan Mission and Goa's success),  now thought of looking at the present position. As on 15th August 2019, out of over 19.45 crores of rural households, only 3.24 crores - just 16.63% of rural households got water. In less than four years since then, 8.89 cr rural households have been provided water connections, taking the present statistics to 62.84% - a fourfold increase in such a short time. Thus it took over 70 years to reach  16% and another 4 years to do another 48% of rural households in India. Though behind schedule, yet what a fantastic performance.

 

The position is updated daily and can be seen here

https://ejalshakti.gov.in/jjmreport/JJMIndia.aspx

100% connection has been achieved by Goa (the first to do so), A&N Islands, Dadra &...., Haryana, Gujarat, Puducherry, Punjab, and Telengana. The laggards in decreasing order of achievement are Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and West Bengal.  Lakshadweep is at 0%

Next : Amrit Sarovar

Previous : Slow progress in regard to Enemy Property

Slow progress in regard to Enemy Property

Evacuee and or Enemy property is that left behind by nationals/ residents of Pakistan or China (or any other country who performed external belligerence against India) and who have moved out of India.  During the two wars with Pakistan in 1965 and 1971, the Indian government took over many properties owned by those who had opted for Pakistani citizenship, to ensure that profits accruing from that property or business were not channeled to Pakistan to help it fight the war.

In Delhi about 3,500 built-up evacuee properties were transferred by the rehabilitation ministry to the municipal corporation of Delhi for slum clearance, during the period of 1962 to 1974. Another 10,000 bighas of agricultural land was also transferred by the ministry of rehabilitation to the DDA for land and building development.

Pakistan sold off all such property in 1975, Due, inter-alia, to various Indian court decisions the Act in this regard was last revised in 2017. Read more here. The guidelines for the disposal of properties were amended in 2019, to facilitate ‘usages of enemy property by the state government exclusively for public use’. Various committees have also been set up and surveys undertaken.

Reasons for the amended Bill:

• The term “Enemy” was widened to include legal heirs irrespective of the citizenship.
• The sale of enemy property cannot be performed by the enemy/ heirs, the Law of Succession will not be applicable.
• The Government can exclusively use the enemy property for public use.
•  Civil Courts cannot entertain matters related to enemy property, only High Courts and Supreme Court will be having jurisdiction.
• The Custodian becomes the owner of enemy property retrospectively from 1968 and will have all rights to evict, get encroachments removed and sell enemy property.

An issue raised against the amendment is that it applies retrospectively and impacts the rights of an earlier purchaser of such property

 Extent of Properties

 An estimated 7 million left for Pakistan after the partition/ communal clashes, and 5 million migrated from West Pakistan to India. Of the total then estimated 9,406 enemy properties in India, 9,280 were left behind by Pakistani nationals and 126 properties by Chinese nationals. Also shares worth about 3000 crores (Feb 2019). Amongst the former, 4,991 are located in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal has 2,735 and Delhi 487. Properties left by Chinese nationals is in Meghalaya (57), West Bengal has 29 such properties and Assam seven. These properties were estimated to be valued at over rupees one lakh crores,

In Nov 21, it was reported that there are 12610 number of Enemy Properties (belonging to Pakistan Nationals and Chinese Nationals), which have been declared and are vested in the Custodian of Enemy Property for India.

 Some recent developments

Hyderabad Oct 2021 : The single largest enemy property in India is on the outskirts of Hyderabad spread over more than 650 acres in Shamshabad Mandal Ranga Reddy district.. CEPI has been pursuing the case with the state government due to the threat of encroachments looming large as land sharks set eyes on it. The encroaches apparently include some prominent and politically well-connected individuals and cover over 540 acres

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/cepi-cracks-down-on-shamshabad-squatters/articleshow/86899239.cms

 Goa Oct 2021 - The state identified 3.5,00,00 square metres of land as enemy property. Over 40 apartments and 30 shops across seven buildings 19 residential bungalows and several commercial houses had come up in part of this enemy property in one area alone.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/3-5l-sqm-of-enemy-property-identified-will-conduct-resurvey-if-needed-cm-to-house/articleshow/87144774.cms

 Kanpur May 2022 : -  Notices have served on 30 people of the city following a campaign to remove people living in enemy properties for years.

 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/91479129.cms

Ghonda June 2022: The district administration has freed a 56-bigha enemy property from encroachers in Akauni village, Gonda, UP when a team along with heavy police force, operated a tractor over the sugarcane crop which was planted on the said piece of land, and destroyed it, a case was registered against four encroachers.

 https://www.outlookindia.com/national/56-bigha-enemy-property-freed-in-gonda-news-194593

This issue recently came into limelight in regard to the riots that too place in Kanpur early this month. It was found that stone pelting etc. was done from several storey high buildings that were built on enemy property

Next: Jal Jeevan  Mission - An update

Previous : Evacuee and/or Enemy property

Evacuee and/or Enemy property

By an Act of 1950 any person who, for fear of disturbances, had left for a place outside India, or become a resident of Pakistan was an “evacuee". And “evacuee property" was of an evacuee (held in any capacity), as also any property obtained from an evacuee. Such evacuee property was deemed to have been vested in the Custodian for the State.

 The evacuee property legislation was actually a predecessor of the current Enemy Property Act. The office of the Custodian of Evacuee Property appropriated buildings and land worth crores of rupees while also using the properties to provide shelter to those who moved to India after partition, as the evacuee property law allowed a migrant’s family to reclaim, in the country they settled in, the value of their forsaken property. 

 The Enemy Property Act, enacted in 1968, provided for the continuous vesting of enemy property in the Custodian of Enemy Property for India (CEPI). The central government, through the Custodian, is in possession of enemy properties spread across many states in the country.  With the India-Pakistan wars of 1965 and 1971, people migrated from India to Pakistan. The Government of India took over the properties and companies of those who took Pakistani nationality. These “enemy properties” were vested by the central government in the Custodian of Enemy Property for India (CEPI). The same was done for property left behind by those who went to China after the 1962 Sino-Indian war.

 The Tashkent Declaration of January 10, 1966 included a clause that said India and Pakistan would discuss the return of the property and assets taken over by either side in connection with the conflict. However, the Government of Pakistan disposed of all such properties in their country in the year 1971 itself.

These properties were initially managed by the home ministry but shifted to state governments in 1989. Subsequently, evacuee land and properties were transferred to them for management and disposal.

Some Courts decisions and subsequent actions 

Courts initially supported CEPI orders but later verdicts hampered their powers.

The estate of the erstwhile Raja of Mahmudabad, declared enemy property, was claimed by his son and after a long legal battle, an SC bench on October 21, 2005, ruled in favour of the son. If the “Enemy” dies, then the property will be transferred through succession and it will no longer be enemy property, if the successor is a citizen of India. Also the enemy can sell the property. In another case, the Bombay High Court held that the power of the CEPI does not include the eviction of an occupant in the unauthorized occupation, without following the proper procedure such as filing of the suit or filing a suit for recovery."

On July 2, 2010, the then UPA government promulgated an Ordinance that restrained courts from ordering the government to divest enemy properties from the Custodian. The 2005 SC order was thus rendered ineffective, and the Custodian again took over the Raja’s properties. The Bill was referred to the Standing Committee and thereafter lapsed

On January 7, 2016, the President of India promulgated The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Ordinance, 2016, which was replaced by the Bill that became law in 2017. The Act was amended in 2017 to ensure that the successors of those who migrated to Pakistan and China, will have no claim over the properties left behind in India.

In 2017, Parliament passed The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016, which expanded the definition of the term “enemy subject”, and “enemy firm” to include the legal heir and successor of an enemy, whether a citizen of India or a citizen of a country which is not an enemy.

The amended law provided that enemy property shall continue to vest in the Custodian even if the enemy or enemy subject or enemy firm ceases to be an enemy due to death, extinction, winding up of business or change of nationality, or that the legal heir or successor is a citizen of India or a citizen of a country which is not an enemy.

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-what-is-enemy-property-in-india-and-how-has-the-government-dealt-with-it-6231854/

Next  : Slow progress in regard to Enemy Property

Previous : Recent Interesting Decisions on Waqf Property