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  • Bridging the health policy to execution chasm

    Context

    In April this year, the Union government released a guidance document on the setting up of a ‘public health and management cadre’ (PHMC) as well as revised editions of the Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) — for ensuring quality health care in government facilities.

    Background

    • The need for a public health cadre and services in India rarely got any policy attention.
    • Limited understanding: The reason was that even among policymakers, there was limited understanding on the roles and the functions of public health specialists and the relevance of such cadres, especially at the district and sub-district levels.
    • However, the last decade and a half was eventful.
    • The initial threat of avian flu in 2005-06, the Swine flu pandemic of 2009-10; five more public health emergencies of international concern between years 2009-19; the increasing risks and regular emergence and re-emergence of of new viruses and diseases (Zika, Ebola, Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic fever, Nipah viruses, etc.) in animals and humans, resulted in increased attention on public health.
    • National Public health Act: In 2017, India’s National Health Policy 2017 proposed the formation of a public health cadre and enacting a National Public Health Act.
    • The COVID-19 pandemic changed the status quo.
    • In the absence of trained public health professionals at the policy and decision making levels, India’s pandemic response ended up becoming bureaucrat steered and clinician led.

    Different cadres and its implications

    • Lack of career progression opportunities: At present, most Indian States (with exceptions such as Tamil Nadu and Odisha) have a teaching cadre (of medical college faculty members) and a specialist cadre of doctors involved in clinical services.
    • This structure does not provide similar career progression opportunities for professionals trained in public health.
    • Limited interest: It is one of the reasons for limited interest by health-care professionals to opt for public health as a career choice.
    • The outcome has been costly for society: a perennial shortage of trained public health workforce.

    Public health cadre

    • The proposed public health cadre and the health management cadre have the potential to address some of these challenges.
    • With the release of guidance documents, the States have been advised to formulate an action plan, identify the cadre strengths, and fill up the vacant posts in the next six months to a year.
    • A public health workforce has a role even beyond epidemics and pandemics.
    • A trained public health workforce ensures that people receive holistic health care, of preventive and promotive services (largely in the domain of public health) as well as curative and diagnostic services (as part of medical care).

    Revised version of IPHS and significance

    • This is the second revision in the IPHS, which were first released in 2007 and then revised in 2012.
    • The regular need for a revision in the IPHS is a recognition of the fact that to be meaningful, quality improvement has to be an ongoing process.
    • The development of the IPHS itself was a major step.
    • The revised IPHS is an important development but not an end itself.
    • In the 15 years since the first release of the IPHS, only a small proportion — around 15% to 20% — of government health-care facilities meets these standards. .
    • If the pace of achieving IPHS is any criteria, there is a need for more accelerated interventions.
    • Opportunities such as a revision of the IPHS should also be used for an independent assessment on how the IPHS has improved the quality of health services.

    Implementation challenges

    • The effective part of implementation is interplay: policy formulation, financial allocation, and the availability of a trained workforce.
    • In this case, policy has been formulated.
    • Financial allocations: Then, though the Government’s spending on health in India is low and has increased only marginally in the last two decades; however, in the last two years, there have been a few additional — small but assured — sources of funding for public health services have become available.
    • The Fifteenth Finance Commission grant for the five-year period of 2021- 26 and the Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM) allocations are available for strengthening public health services and could be used  as States embark upon implementing the PHMC and a revised IPHS.
    • Availability of trained workforce: The third aspect of effective implementation, the availability of trained workforce, is the most critical.
    • As States develop plans for setting up the PHMC, all potential challenges in securing a trained workforce should be identified and actions initiated.

    Conclusion

    The public health and management cadres and the revised IPHS can help India to make progress towards the NHP goal. To ensure that, State governments need to act urgently and immediately.

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    Back2Basics: Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS)

    • IPHS are a set of uniform standards envisaged to improve the quality of health care delivery in the country.
    • The IPHS documents have been revised keeping in view the changing protocols of the existing programmes and introduction of new programmes especially for Non-Communicable Diseases.
    • Flexibility is allowed to suit the diverse needs of the States and regions.
    • These IPHS guidelines will act as the main driver for continuous improvement in quality and serve as the bench mark for assessing the functional status of health facilities.

  • States have equal powers to make GST-related Laws: SC

    The Supreme Court has held that Union and State legislatures have equal, simultaneous and unique powers to make laws on Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the recommendations of the GST Council are not binding on them.

    What is the case?

    • The apex court’s decision came while confirming a Gujarat High Court ruling that the Centre cannot levy Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) on ocean freight from Indian importers.

    Key takeaways of the Judgment

    • The recommendations of the GST Council are the product of a collaborative dialogue involving the Union and the States.
    • They are recommendatory in nature. They only have a persuasive value.
    • To regard them as binding would disrupt fiscal federalism when both the Union and the States are conferred equal power to legislate on GST.

    Basis of the Judgment

    • The court emphasised that Article 246A of the Constitution gives the States power to make laws with respect to GST.
    • It treats the Union and the States as “equal units”.
    • It confers a simultaneous power (on Union and States) for enacting laws on GST.
    • Article 279A, in constituting the GST Council, envisions that neither the Centre nor the States are actually dependent on the other.

    What are the articles added/modified to the Constitution by the GST Act?

    (1) Article 246A: Special Provision for GST

    • This Article was newly inserted to give power to the Parliament and the respective State/Union Legislatures to make laws on GST respectively imposed by each of them.
    • However, the Parliament of India is given the exclusive power to make laws with respect to inter-state supplies.
    • The IGST Act deals with inter-state supplies. Thus, the power to make laws under the IGST Act will rest exclusively with the Parliament.
    • Further, the article excludes the following products from the scope of GST until a date recommended by the GST Council:
    1. Petroleum Crude
    2. High-Speed Diesel
    3. Motor Spirit
    4. Natural Gas
    5. Aviation Turbine Fuel

    (2) Article 269A: Levy and Collection of GST for Inter-State Supply

    • While Article 246A gives the Parliament the exclusive power to make laws with respect to inter-state supplies.
    • The manner of distribution of revenue from such supplies between the Centre and the State is covered in Article 269A.
    • It allows the GST Council to frame rules in this regard. Import of goods or services will also be called as inter-state supplies.
    • This gives the Central Government the power to levy IGST on import transactions.
    • Import of goods was subject to Countervailing Duty (CVD) in the earlier scheme of taxation.
    • IGST levy helps a taxpayer to avail the credit of IGST paid on import along the supply chain, which was not possible before.

    (3) Article 279A: GST Council

    • This Article gives power to the President to constitute a joint forum of the Centre and States called the GST Council.
    • The GST Council is an apex member committee to modify, reconcile or to procure any law or regulation based on the context of GST in India.

    (4) Article 286: Restrictions on Tax Imposition

    • This was an existing article which restricted states from passing any law that allowed them to collect tax on sale or purchase of goods either outside the state or in the case of import transactions.
    • It was further amended to restrict the passing of any laws in case of services too.
    • Further, the term ‘supply’ replaces ‘sale or purchase’.

    (5) Article 366: Addition of Important definitions

    Article 366 was an existing article amended to include the following definitions:

    1. GST means the tax on supply of goods, services or both. It is important to note that the supply of alcoholic liquor for human consumption is excluded from the purview of GST.
    2. Services refer to anything other than goods.
    3. State includes Union Territory with legislature.

    Back2Basics: GST Council

    • The GST Council is a federal body that aims to bring together states and the Centre on a common platform for the nationwide rollout of the indirect tax reform.
    • It is an apex member committee to modify, reconcile or to procure any law or regulation based on the context of goods and services tax in India.
    • The GST Council dictates tax rate, tax exemption, the due date of forms, tax laws, and tax deadlines, keeping in mind special rates and provisions for some states.
    • The predominant responsibility of the GST Council is to ensure to have one uniform tax rate for goods and services across the nation.

    How is the GST Council structured?

    • The GST is governed by the GST Council. Article 279 (1) of the amended Indian Constitution states that the GST Council has to be constituted by the President within 60 days of the commencement of the Article 279A.
    • According to the article, the GST Council will be a joint forum for the Centre and the States. It consists of the following members:
    1. The Union Finance Minister will be the Chairperson
    2. As a member, the Union Minister of State will be in charge of Revenue of Finance
    3. The Minister in charge of finance or taxation or any other Minister nominated by each State government, as members.

    Terms of reference

    • Article 279A (4) specifies that the Council will make recommendations to the Union and the States on the important issues related to GST, such as the goods and services will be subject or exempted from the Goods and Services Tax.
    • They lay down GST laws, principles that govern the following:
    1. Place of Supply
    2. Threshold limits
    3. GST rates on goods and services
    4. Special rates for raising additional resources during a natural calamity or disaster
    5. Special GST rates for certain States

     

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  • India’s Vulnerability to Drought

    A United Nations report ‘Drought in Numbers’ has revealed that many parts of India fall under the list of regions that are vulnerable to drought globally.

    What are Droughts?

    • Drought is a prolonged dry period in the natural climate cycle that can occur anywhere in the world.
    • It is a slow-onset disaster characterized by the lack of precipitation, resulting in a water shortage.

    Types of Droughts

    • Meteorological drought is defined usually on the basis of the degree of dryness (in comparison to some “normal” or average amount) and the duration of the dry period.
    • Agricultural drought should be able to account for the variable susceptibility of crops during different stages of crop development, from emergence to maturity.
    • Hydrological drought is associated with the effects of periods of precipitation (including snowfall) shortfalls on surface or subsurface water supply (i.e. streamflow, reservoir and lake levels, and groundwater).
    • Socioeconomic drought is associated with the supply and demand of some economic goods with elements of meteorological, hydrological, and agricultural drought.

    What is the Drought in Numbers report?

    • The Drought in Numbers report is a collection of data on the effects of droughts on our ecosystem and how they can be mitigated through efficient planning for the future.
    • The report also helps inform negotiations surrounding key decisions by the UNCCD’s 197 member parties at the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15), currently underway in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
    • Drought, land restoration, and related aspects such as land rights, gender equality and youth empowerment are among the top considerations at COP15.

    What is COP15?

    • The UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) COP15 focuses on desertification, land degradation, and drought.
    • The theme for the conference is “Land. Life. Legacy: From scarcity to prosperity.”
    • The conference has brought together government representatives, private sector members, and civil society stakeholders to ensure that land continues to benefit present and future generations.

    What does the report entail?

    • The number and duration of droughts around the world has increased by an alarming 29% since 2000.
    • Globally, droughts in the same period caused economic losses of approximately $124 billion.
    • Drought conditions can force up to 216 million people to migrate by 2050.
    • Other factors at play along with drought could be water scarcity, declining crop productivity, rise in sea levels, and overpopulation.
    • The report also stated that India’s GDP reduced by 2 to 5% between 1998 and 2017 due to severe droughts in the country.

    Gendered impacts of drought

    • Research shows that women and girls in emerging and developing countries suffer more in terms of education levels, nutrition, health, sanitation, and safety as a result of droughts.
    • The burden of water collection also disproportionately falls on women (72%) and girls (9%).
    • The report notes that they may spend up to 40% of their caloric intake fetching water.

    What are the environmental aspects?

    • The largest increase in drought losses is projected in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic regions of Europe.
    • Australia’s megadrought in 2019-2020 contributed to “megafires” resulting in one of the most extensive losses of habitat for threatened species.
    • About three billion animals were killed or displaced in the Australian wildfires.
    • Around 12 million hectares of land are lost each year due to drought and desertification.

     

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  • What is Stockholm+50?

    Stockholm+50 conference — a follow-on to the 1972 conference to be held in Stockholm from 2-3 June 2022 is the one that started the environmental movement we see today.

    What is Stockholm +50?

    • Stockholm +50 is an international environmental meeting hosted by the United Nations General Assembly to be held in Stockholm, Sweden from 2-3 June 2022.
    • The theme of Stockholm+50 is “a healthy planet for the prosperity of all – our responsibility, our opportunity.
    • In 1972, the UN Conference on the Environment in Stockholm was held, and it was essentially the first conference that managed to address environmental issues on the right level.
    • Fifty years later, the United Nations is back in Stockholm to commemorate that important milestone.

    Significance: Establishment of UNEP

    • In 1972, some 122 countries attended, and participants adopted a series of principles on the environment, including the Stockholm Declaration and Action Plan for the Human Environment.
    • The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was created as a result of the conference.

    What is India’s connection with this?

    • Then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in her seminal speech in the conference brought forward the connection between ecological management and poverty alleviation.
    • Her call remains as pertinent now as then: “We have to prove to the disinherited majority of the world that ecology and conservation will not work against their interest but will bring an improvement in their lives.”

    Why is Stockholm +50 important?

    • There was a lot of media attention around COP26 last year where world leaders gathered to continue the work to uphold the actions promised by the Paris Agreement, 2015.
    • Later this year, there will be COP27 in Egypt, where organizers will aim to make the conference a radical turning point in international climate efforts.

    What will be happening at Stockholm +50?

    • The event in the beginning of June will see representatives from around the world gather in Stockholm to discuss how to achieve a sustainable and inclusive future for all.
    • Stockholm +50 could usher in a much-needed new boost to environmental awareness and action for the next half-century, just as it did five decades ago.

     

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  • Places in news: Sela Tunnel

    The strategically-significant Sela Tunnel project in Arunachal Pradesh is nearing completion well before the deadline.

    What is Sela Tunnel Project?

    • The Sela Tunnel is the longest bi-lane road tunnel in the world.
    • The total length of the project, including the tunnels, the approach and the link roads, will be around 12 km.
    • The tunnel is being constructed by the Border Roads Organisation at an altitude of 13,800ft near the Indo-China border.
    • It is being built on the 317km long Balipara-Charduar-Tawang (BCT) road which connects West Kameng, East Kameng and Tawang districts of Arunachal Pradesh to the rest of the country.

    Why is the project important?

    • All-weather connectivity to Tawang and other forward areas in the sector will be the most important advantage that the project promises.
    • At the moment, Sela pass stays closed for a few winter months.
    • The project will provide a new alignment on the axis towards the LAC, and allow movement of military and civil vehicles all through the year.

    Significance of the tunnel

    • China is undertaking massive infrastructure development and troop build-up in the Rest of Arunachal Pradesh (RALP) area.
    • In military parlance, the RALP is an area in Arunachal Pradesh other than the Kameng area.
    • Other than the Kameng area consisting of East and West Kameng districts, the rest of the State is referred to by the Army as the RALP.

     

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  • Ensuring a sustainable vaccination programme

    Context

    COVID-19, which disrupted supply chains across countries and in India too, marks an inflection point in the trajectory of immunisation programmes.

    UIP: Showcasing India’s strength in managing large scale vaccination

    • India’s Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP), launched in 1985 to deliver routine immunisation, showcased its strengths in managing large-scale vaccine delivery.
    • This programme targets close to 2.67 crore newborns and 2.9 crore pregnant women annually.
    • Full immunisation: To strengthen the programme’s outcomes, in 2014, Mission Indradhanush was introduced to achieve full immunisation coverage of all children and pregnant women at a rapid pace — a commendable initiative.
    • India’s UIP comprises upwards of 27,000 functional cold chain points of which 750 (3%) are located at the district level and above; the remaining 95% are located below the district level.
    • The COVID-19 vaccination efforts relied on the cold chain infrastructure established under the UIP to cover 87 crore people with two doses of the vaccine and over 100 crore with at least a single dose.

    Why strong service delivery network is essential?

    • While we have, over the years, set up a strong service delivery network, the pandemic showed us that there were weak links in the chain, especially in the cold chain.
    • Nearly half the vaccines distributed around the world go to waste, in large part due to a failure to properly control storage temperatures.
    • In India, close to 20% of temperature-sensitive healthcare products arrive damaged or degraded because of broken or insufficient cold chains, including a quarter of vaccines.
    • Wastage has cost implications and can delay the achievement of immunisation targets.

    Measures and initiatives in strengthening vaccine supply chains

    • The Health Ministry has been digitising the vaccine supply chain network in recent years through the use of cloud technology, such as with the Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN).
    • Developed with support from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and implemented by the UN Development Programme through a smartphone-based app, the platform digitises information on vaccine stocks and temperatures across the country.
    • This supports healthcare workers in the last mile in supervising and maintaining the efficiency of the vaccine cold chain.

    Way forward

    • Electrification: There is a need to improve electrification, especially in the last mile, for which the potential of solar-driven technology must be explored to integrate sustainable development.
    • For instance, in Chhattisgarh, 72% of the functioning health centres have been solarised to tackle the issue of regular power outages.
    • This has significantly reduced disruption in service provision and increased the uptake of services.

    Conclusion

    India has pioneered many approaches to ensure access to public health services at a scale never seen before. Robust cold chain systems are an investment in India’s future pandemic preparedness; by taking steps towards actionable policies that improve the cold chain, we have an opportunity to lead the way in building back better and stronger.

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  • Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021

    What is issue:

    A senior parliamentarian has expressed concern over the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021, which is in the final stages of consultations in the Joint Parliamentary Committee.

    Biological Diversity Act (BDA), 2002: 

    • The BDA, 2002 was enacted for the conservation of biological diversity and fair, equitable sharing of the monetary benefits from the commercial use of biological resources and traditional knowledge.
    • The main intent of this legislation is to protect India’s rich biodiversity and associated knowledge against their use by foreign individuals.
    • It seeks to check biopiracy, protect biological diversity and local growers through a three-tier structure of central and state boards and local committees.
    • The Act provides for setting up of a National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs) and Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) in local bodies.
    • The NBA will enjoy the power of a civil court.

    What are the proposed Amendments?

    The amendment bill seeks to reduce the pressure on wild medicinal plants by encouraging the cultivation of medicinal plants and Decriminalizes certain offences.

    • Biological resources sharing: Exempts Ayush practitioners from intimating biodiversity boards for accessing biological resources or knowledge (Vaids and Hakims)
    • Research promotion: Facilitates fast-tracking of research, simplify the patent application process
    • Bring in foreign investment: Seeks to bring more foreign investments in biological resources, research, patent and commercial utilisation, without compromising the national interest

    Need for the Amendment

    • Simplifying process: Concerns were raised by Ayush medicine, seed, industry and research sectors urging the government to simplify, streamline the profession.
    • Easing compliance: They urged govt to reduce the compliance burden to provide for a conducive environment for collaborative research and investments.
    • Access and Benefit-sharing: It also sought to simplify the patent application process, widen the scope of access and benefit-sharing with local communities.
    • Exemptions: Ayush practitioners have been exempted from the ambit of the Act, a huge move because the Ayush industry benefits greatly from biological resources in India.
    • Certain offences: Violations of the law related to benefit-sharing with communities, which are currently treated as criminal offences and are non-bailable, have been proposed to be made civil offences.
    • Imbibing Nagoya Protocol: This bill provides to reconcile the domestic law with free prior informed consent requirements of the 2010 Nayogya Protocol on ABS.

    Criticisms of the bill

    • No consultation: The bill has been introduced without seeking public comments as required under the pre-legislative consultative policy.
    • No profit-sharing: There are ambiguous provisions in the proposed amendment to protect, conserve or increase the stake of local communities in the sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity.
    • Commercialization: Activists say that the amendments were done to “solely benefit” the AYUSH Ministry.
    • Loopholes to Biopiracy: The Bill would mean AYUSH manufacturing companies would no longer need to take approvals.
    • Ignoring Bio-utilization: The bill has excluded the term Bio-utilization which is an important element in the Act.  Leaving out bio utilization would leave out an array of activities like characterization, incentivisation and bioassay which are undertaken with commercial motive.
    • Exotic plants cultivation: The bill also exempts cultivated medicinal plants from the purview of the Act but it is practically impossible to detect which plants are cultivated and which are from the wild.
    • De-licensing: This provision could allow large companies to evade the requirement for prior approval or share the benefit with local communities.

  • Highlights of the Seoul Forest Declaration

    The participants from 141 countries gathered in person and online at the 15th World Forestry Congress in Seoul, Republic of Korea adopted the Seoul Forest Declaration.

    Seoul Forest Declaration

    • Shared responsibility: The Declaration urges that responsibility for forests should be shared and integrated across institutions, sectors and stakeholders.
    • Increased investment: Investment in forest and landscape restoration globally needs to triple by 2030 to meet internationally agreed commitments and targets on restoring degraded land.
    • Moving towards circular economy: One of the key takeaways was the importance of moving towards a circular bioeconomy and climate neutrality.
    • Innovative green financing mechanisms: To upscale investment in forest conservation, restoration and sustainable use, and highlighted the potential of sustainably produced wood as a renewable, recyclable and versatile material.
    • Decision-making: It urged the continued development and use of emerging innovative technologies and mechanisms to enable evidence-based forest and landscape decision-making.

    Other takeaways

    • Close cooperation among nations is needed to address challenges that transcend political boundaries.
    • This was strengthened at the Congress by the launch of new partnerships such as the:
    1. Assuring the Future of Forests with Integrated Risk Management (AFFIRM) Mechanism and
    2. Sustaining an Abundance of Forest Ecosystems (SAFE) Initiative

    Back2Basics: World Forestry Congress

    • The first World Forestry Congress first held in Rome in 1926. After that, it is held about every six years by the UN-FAO.
    • In 1954, FAO was entrusted with supporting Congress preparations in close cooperation with the host country and proudly continues to do so today. .
    • It has been providing a forum for inclusive discussion on the key challenges and way forward for the forestry sector.

     

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  • What are Urban Heat Islands?

    Several parts of the country are reeling under heat wave conditions. Cities, especially, are a lot hotter than rural areas. This is due to a phenomenon called an “urban heat island”.

    Urban Heat Island

    • An urban heat island is a local and temporary phenomenon experienced when certain pockets within a city experience higher heat load than surrounding or neighbouring areas on the same day.
    • The variations are mainly due to heat remaining trapped within locations that often resemble concrete jungles.
    • The temperature variation can range between 3 to 5 degrees Celsius.

    Why are cities hotter than rural areas?

    • Green cover: Rural areas have relatively larger green cover in the form of plantations, farmlands, forests and trees as compared to urban spaces.
    • Transpiration: Transpiration is a natural way of heat regulation. This is the scientific process of roots absorbing water from the soil, storing it in the leaves and stems of plants, before processing it and releasing it in the form of water vapour.
    • Heat-regulation: Urban areas are often developed with high-rise buildings, roads, parking spaces, pavements and transit routes for public transport. As a result, heat regulation is either completely absent or man-made.
    • Construction: Cities usually have buildings constructed with glass, bricks, cement and concrete all of which are dark-coloured materials, meaning they attract and absorb higher heat content.

    This forms temporary islands within cities where the heat remains trapped.

    How can urban heat islands be reduced?

    • The main way to cut heat load within urban areas is increasing the green cover; filling open spaces with trees and plants.
    • Other ways of heat mitigation include appropriate choice of construction materials, promoting terrace and kitchen gardens, and painting white or light colours on terraces wherever possible to reflect heat.

    What has NASA said on urban heat islands in India?

    • NASA recently pointed out heat islands in urban parts of Delhi, where temperatures were far higher than nearby agricultural lands.
    • It used its Ecosystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment (Ecostress) on the International Space Station.

     

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  • Buddhist heritage in Gujarat

    Prime Minister in Lumbini, on the occasion of Buddha Purnima, said that his birthplace Vadnagar in Gujarat’s Mehsana district had been a great centre for Buddhist learning centuries ago.

    Vadnagar’s ties with Buddhism

    • In 2014, the excavation work has brought up Buddhist relics and around 20,000 artefacts, some dating back to the 2nd century.
    • Among these are an elliptical structure and a circular stupa along with a square memorial stupa of 2×2 metres and 130 centimetres in height with a wall enclosure.
    • It is like a platform which has a chamber in the centre that resembles a pradakshina path.
    • Further, bowls said to be used by monks have been found during the excavations, which have a terracotta sealing with inscriptions of namassarvagyaya and a face-shaped pendant with tritatva symbol.
    • Sacred relics of the Buddha were even found in Devni Mori in Aravalli district of Gujarat.

    In travellers record

    • Vadnagar is mentioned often in the Puranas and even in the travelogue of the great Chinese traveler, Hiuen Tsang (7th century), as a rich and flourishing town.
    • He is believed to have visited the state in 641 AD.
    • It adds how some of the names attributed to Vadnagar in history are Chamatkarpur, Anandpur, Snehpur and Vimalpur.
    • It also had snippets about other Buddhist heritage sites in Gujarat, such as Junagadh, Kutch and Bharuch.

    Back2Basics: Places associated with Buddha

    These are three of the few holiest sites in Buddhism:

    1. Bodh Gaya in Bihar, the site of the enlightenment of Gautama Buddha under a tree and top site in the list of world heritage sites in India.
    2. Kesaria stupa is a Buddhist stupa in Kesariya, located at a distance of 110 kilometres (68 mi) from Patna, in the Champaran (east) district of Bihar, India. The first construction of the Stupa is dated to the 3rd century BCE. Kesariya Stupa has a circumference of almost 400 feet (120 m) and raises to a height of about 104 feet (32 m).
    3. Nalanda was a renowned Buddhist University in the ancient kingdom of Magadha (modern-day Bihar) in India.Buddhist texts describe it as a Mahavihara, a revered Buddhist monastery.
    4. Sarnath near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, the site of the first sermon (Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta), where Buddha taught about the Middle Way, the Four Noble Truths and Noble Eightfold Path.
    5. Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh, the site of the Buddha’s parinirvana and home of many famous meditation & prayer offering sites in India.

     

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