Snakebites in India are mostly brushed away as a rural, poor-people problem. While the numbers are staggering, the bigger story is wrapped up in mythology, superstition, and abysmal public health infrastructure.
Published in Transactions of The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene journal, the study is the first to use govt records of snakebite death compensations in the state.
Snakebites in India considered a ‘poor man’s problem’ with little investment in their prevention & treatment. Experts flag need to improve medical infra & focus on community awareness.
Snake venom is a toxin that can cause paralysis, kidney failure, disability, even death. According to researchers, many use it as substitute for opioid use & alcohol dependency.
The study sheds light on how oral venom systems evolved and proposes that mammalian salivary glands could be repurposed to produce venom under the right evolutionary circumstances.
According to a study, 1 in a 100 people were at risk of dying from a snakebite in hotspots such as Bihar, Jharkhand, MP, Odisha, UP, Andhra, Telangana, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
The last time this matter flared up was when Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, in a very similar directive in April, called for the relocation of stray dogs in the capital.
Finance ministry says the proposed revamp will focus on structural reforms, rate rationalisation & ease of living, & will be deliberated upon in the coming weeks.
The project is meant to be a ‘protective shield that will keep expanding’, the PM said. It is on the lines of the ‘Golden Dome’ announced by Trump, it is learnt.
Now that both IAF and PAF have made formal claims of having shot down the other’s aircraft in the 87-hour war in May, we can ask a larger question: do such numbers really matter?
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