Technical Capacity, Policymaking and Food Standards: An Overview of Indian Experience

The SPS Agreement in the WTO gives legal validity to the CODEX\ud standards. Since the developed countries have been at the forefront of\ud setting the food standards in the CODEX, the developing countries have\ud been increasingly engaged in the CODEX, and also in the WTO, with an\ud objective to increase their exports of the agricultural and food products.\ud But such objective and desire have often been stymied by the lack of\ud institutions which can sustain the intense technical negotiations at the\ud CODEX. If these participations are not qualitatively satisfactory, the very\ud objective of such participations is not fulfilled. But since most of the\ud developing countries are lacking in such high technical capacity, they are\ud unable to influence or qualitatively shape the negotiations in the CODEX.\ud This also impacts their exports of agricultural and food products.\ud India has been an active member of the WTO. But whether it has been\ud able to influence or respond to the play of events internationally and\ud concomitantly balance it with the domestic imperatives that are embedded\ud in the international legal and technological regimes, institutional capacity\ud constraints and other social issues. This paper examines such issues, and\ud also examines some bilateral trade agreements which demonstrate the\ud mounting pressure on the developing countries to conform to the food\ud standards of the developed countries

Environmental impact assessment in India: reviewing two decades of jurisprudence

This short note reviews two decades of significant case law developments in the environmental impact assessment process in India. EIA was first introduced as a regulatory requirement in 1994. EIA reflects the constant struggle to balance economic development with ecological integrity in the context of a developing country. The Courts have developed a rich jurisprudence thereby considerably deepening and widening the EIA process

From judicial activism to adventurism — the Godavarman Case in the Supreme Court of India

Beginning as a conservative institution in post-independent India, the Indian judiciary has emerged as a more assertive actor. Key legal innovations have helped expand public interest litigation and, with that, the role of the judiciary. The Supreme Court has also established public bodies to directly oversee enforcement of its orders. This potentially trespasses into executive turf. In environmental law, the imprimatur of the Court’s judicial philosophy is most striking in the case of T N Godavarman v Union of India. It demonstrates how institutions selfreflect on their roles, especially in a federal polity. Do the actions of the Supreme Court push the limits of judicial activism? Can they be seen as judicial adventurism? These questions are explored in this case note on Godavarman

Administrative structure and functions of drug regulatory authorities in India

Drug Regulation has been the focus of several recent policy reform efforts in India, starting with the Mashelkar Committee Report in 2003 to the most recent report of the Ranjit Roy Chaudhary Committee in 2013. Nevertheless, the regulatory structure continues to be plagued with several structural challenges, including issues related to regulatory harmonisation between the centre and the states, access to regulatory resources, transparency, which have undermined the general effectiveness of the regulatory system. At the juncture when the Drugs and Cosmetics (Amendment) Bill, 2015 to amend the Drugs and Cosmetic Act, 1940, is expected to overhaul the drug regulation, this study, the first of its kind, evaluates the administrative structure and functions of drug regulatory authorities at both the federal and state level along with comparative perspectives on similar challenges from other international jurisdictions. Through legal and policy analysis, supported by stakeholder interactions, this study not only provides a systematic analysis of the current challenges, along with actionable policy recommendations and suggests possible means for their operationalisation

Association of maternal serum ferritin level with preterm labor

Background: Preterm labor is a significant contributor to neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. Identifying reliable biomarkers for predicting preterm birth can improve maternal and neonatal outcomes. Serum ferritin, an acute-phase reactant and iron storage protein, may play a role in the pathophysiology of preterm labor. This study aimed to evaluate the association between maternal serum ferritin levels and preterm labor. Methods: A case-control study was conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Dhaka Medical College Hospital from June 2022 to May 2023. A total of 88 pregnant women were enrolled using purposive sampling, including 44 with preterm labor (cases) and 44 with term labor (controls). Sociodemographic, obstetric, and biochemical data were collected, and maternal serum ferritin levels were measured. Data were analyzed using statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) version 25, and comparisons between groups were made using the Mann-Whitney U test and Chi-square test where appropriate. Results: There was no significant difference in maternal age between the two groups. However, serum ferritin levels were significantly higher in the preterm group (89.09±106.07 ng/ml) compared to the term group (32.13±31.40 ng/ml) (p=0.004). A weak but statistically significant negative correlation was observed between serum ferritin levels and gestational age (r=-0.313, p<0.05). Conclusions: Elevated maternal serum ferritin levels are significantly associated with preterm labor. Serum ferritin may serve as a useful biomarker for identifying women at risk of preterm delivery, allowing for timely interventions to prevent adverse pregnancy outcomes

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries