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GS Paper: GS2

  • Anganwadi centres

    The article highlights the role of Anganwadi’s in the effective implementation and service delivery under the ICDS.

    Gaps in the utilisation of services by ICDS

    • The economic fallout of COVID-19 makes the necessity of quality public welfare services more pressing than ever.
    • The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme is one such scheme.
    • ICDS caters to the nutrition, health and pre-education needs of children till six years of age as well as the health and nutrition of women and adolescent girls.  
    • However, recent reports have shown gaps in the utilisation of services.

    Recasting the Anganwadi centres

    • Anganwadi centres (AWCs) could become agents of improved delivery of ICDS’s services.
    • According to government data, the country has 13.77 lakh Anganwadi centres (AWCs).
    • These centres have expanded their reach, but they need to play a much larger role in anchoring community development.
    • Nearly a fourth of the operational AWCs lack drinking water facilities and 36 per cent do not have toilets.
    • In 2015, the NITI Aayog recommended better sanitation and drinking water facilities, improved power supply and basic medicines for the AWCs.
    • NITI Aayog also suggested that these centres be provided with the required number of workers, whose skills should be upgraded through regular training.
    •  It has acknowledged the need to improve anganwadi centres.
    • The Central government’s Saksham Anganwadi Scheme aims to upgrade 2.5 lakh such centres across the country. It is up to the state governments to take up the baton
    • Only a limited number of AWCs have facilities like creche, and good quality recreational and learning facilities for pre-school education.
    • An approach that combines an effective supplementary nutrition programme with pedagogic processes that make learning interesting is the need of the hour.

    Steps taken for effective implementation of ICDS

    • Effective implementation of the ICDS programme rests heavily on the combined efforts of the anganwadi workers (AWWs), ASHAs and ANMs.
    • The Centre’s POSHAN Abhiyaan has taken important steps towards building capacities of AWWs.
    • Technology can also be used for augmenting the programme’s quality.
    • AWWs have been provided with smartphones and their supervisors with tablets, under the government schemes.
    • Apps on these devices track the distribution of take-home rations and supplementary nutrition services.
    • The data generated should inform decisions to improve the programme.
    • In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, anganwadi centres have been geotagged to improve service delivery.
    • Gujarat has digitised the supply chain of take-home rations and real-time data is being used to minimise stockouts at the anganwadi centres.

    Conclusion

    Government must act on the three imperatives. First, while infrastructure development and capacity building of the anganwadi remains the key to improving the programme, the standards of all its services need to be upscaled. Second, states have much to learn from each other’s experiences. Third, anganwadi centres must cater to the needs of the community and the programme’s workers.

  • Factors sustaining federalism in India

    The article analyses the various factor that helped in sustaining the federal structure in India.

    Flexible federalism

    • The Indian Constitution was designed to be opportunistic about federalism.
    • As BR Ambedkar had put it, “India’s Draft Constitution can be both unitary as well as federal according to the requirements of time and circumstances.”
    • This flexible federalism is still the default common sense of Indian politics.
    • The concerns about security, state-building, and economic development are always given preference over the idea of federalism.

    4 factors sustaining federalism in India

    1) Linguistic and cultural diversity in India

    • The first was a genuine concern about whether a centralised state could accommodate India’s linguistic and cultural diversity.
    • The States Reorganisation Act and the compromises on the issue of languages was a victory for federalism.
    • It allowed India to use federalism to accommodate linguistic diversity.
    • So long as regional linguistic identities are not threatened there is no natural source of resistance to centralisation.

    2) Distribution of political power

    • The rise of coalition governments, economic liberalisation, regional parties, seemed to provide a basis for political federalism.
    • Political federalism is quite compatible with financial, and administrative centralisation.
    • Fragmentation of power effectively meant was that each state could bargain for certain things, or very strong leaders could veto central proposals.
    • However, it is striking that the period of fragmented power, strong chief ministers, didn’t act to strengthen the institutions of federalism.

    3) Political and institutional culture

    • The third thing that sustains federalism is the political and institutional culture.
    • But the culture of political parties ruling at the Centre was committed to the most extreme interpretation of flexible federalism, including procedural impropriety to oust opponents.
    • Because of the increasing presidentialisation of national politics, the attribution of policy successes or failures might change, diminishing the stature of chief ministers considerably.
    • The other source of institutional culture might be the Supreme Court.
    • There was mostly a bi-partisan consensus on honouring the technical recommendations of institutions like the Finance Commission.

    4) Asymmetrical federalism

    • The fourth thing that sustained federalism was “asymmetrical federalism” — special exemptions given to various states.
    • But asymmetrical federalism has always been subject to three pressures.
    • For Kashmir, asymmetrical federalism came to be seen as the source, not the resolution, of the security threat.
    • Even in the North-east, local conflicts within the scheme of asymmetrical federalism and discourse of security allowed the Centre to step in.
    • And increasingly, there will be pressure on the question: Which laws under asymmetrical federalism are compatible with Article 14 of the Indian Constitution?

    GST and Decentralisation in states

    • The most far-reaching change in the Indian Constitution on federalism was GST.
    • It does increase centralisation in the system.
    • But it is a product of the cooperation of the states, who still have a significant role in shaping it.
    • The states did push back against the possibility of the Centre reneging on its commitment on payments.
    • Most states are reluctant to honour more decentralisation within, to rural and urban bodies.
    • The Centre disproportionately controls resources in India; but very few states have shown a zeal to increase their own financial headroom by utilising whatever powers they might have on taxation.

    Consider the question “How federalism in India is different from the U.S.? What are the factors responsible for its sustenance in India?”

    Conclusion

    The flexible federalism will be bent in all kinds of ways. But it is important to remember that this mess is not a product of Centre versus states. It has been co-produced by a political culture in both Centre and the states.

  • Healthcare in India & Pandemic

    Pandemic has been ravaging the world in a way few could have imagined. It highlighted the flaws in our healthcare system. However, it also offers several important lessons for tackling future pandemics and healthcare emergencies.

    Where we stand after 1 year of pandemic

    • About a year after the first cases were reported, we are in a different position than at the start.
    • Doctors, public health specialists and policymakers have a better sense of the interventions that are required.
    • Many treatments initially proposed, based on expert experience, have been tested and removed from management strategies even as modified protocols have improved survival rates.
    • Vaccines have moved even faster than drugs with  nearly 40 of them undergoing clinical trials, a dozen of which are at the phase three stage, and at least one has been licensed post-phase three trials under conditional emergency use authorisation (EUA).
    • This highlights the importance of science, technology, multilateral partnerships such as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the WHO.
    • This highlights the importance of science, technology, multilateral partnerships such as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the WHO.

    Takeaways from our response to pandemic

    1) Increase investment on health services

    • The countries which handled the pandemic best (Thailand and Vietnam) have well-functioning health systems designed to deliver primary healthcare services.
    • These countries also have strong preventive and promotive health services as well as a dedicated public health workforce.
    • Their governments had made sustained investments in health over decades.
    • In contrast, countries which focused mainly on hospital centric medical systems struggled.

    2) Important role played by health workers

    • The role of community health workers in recognising, referring and motivating individuals for therapy was remarkable.
    • Healthcare workers, particularly those at the frontline, such as the accredited social health activists (ASHA) who visited hundreds of households repeatedly during the pandemic.
    •  If we are to build back better, we need to give them better recognition, salaries and career progression.

    3) Increase community participation

    • Third, community trust and participation is essential for implementation of non-pharmacological interventions.
    • Dharavi in Mumbai is an example of the difference community participation can make.

    4) Importance of data

    • Outside of the immediate response, the need for timely and quality data in a health information system was recognised again during the pandemic.
    • Without real time data on testing, disease surveillance and other outcomes, tailored responses are near impossible.
    • The solutions that have brought us hope have come from long-term private or public investments in scientific research and developments.

    Conclusion

    Future readiness needs to start now, and we have the resources and knowledge to do this — all we need is commitment and that is outlined in the recent National Health Policy 2017 and reiterated in the report of the Fifteenth Finance Commission, which for the first time has a dedicated chapter on health.

  • [pib] Digital platform ‘CO-WIN’

    A New Digital platform ‘CO-WIN’ is being used for COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery.

    Q.India’s first mass adult vaccination drive against COVID-19 is a difficult task. Explain.

    CO-WIN

    • This user friendly mobile app for recording vaccine data is working as a beneficiary management platform having various modules.
    • The platform will be used for recording vaccine data and will form a database of healthcare workers too.
    • The app will have separate modules for administrator, registration, vaccination, beneficiary acknowledgement and reports.
    • Once people start to register for the app, the platform will upload bulk data on co-morbidity provided by local authorities.
    • In the process of forming database of Healthcare Workers, which is in an advanced stage across all States/UTs, data is presently being uploaded on the Co-WIN platform.

    Prioritized group

    Prioritized Population Groups include:

    1. Healthcare Workers in both Government and Private Healthcare facilities
    2. Frontline Workers including personnel from state and central police department, armed forces, home guard, civil defence organizations, disaster management volunteers and municipal workers and
    3. Prioritized Age Group, which includes those aged above 50 years & those with co-morbidities

    (Note: This is not the sequence, but categorization.)

  • Building political consensus on climate change

    With the victory of Joe Biden in the U.S. Presidential election geopolitics of the climate change is headed for a new reset. The article examines the role India could play in the changing geopolitical realities and also spells out the challenge for India.

    India’s role in geopolitics of climate change

    • India is probably better prepared than in the past when India was widely seen as part of the problem on climate issues.
    • But the urgency of addressing climate change is likely to intensify for two reasons:
    • 1) The election of Biden as US President.
    • 2) The prospect of cooperation on climate change between Washington and Beijing.
    • India’s ability to influence the new geopolitics of climate change will depend a lot on its domestic political resilience in adapting to the new imperatives.
    • While a democratic India struggles to deal with the new internal conflicts centred on climate, China has crafted a new template of “coercive environmentalism”.
    • The Chinese model of coercive environmentalism is finding an echo among some Western environmentalists.
    • Whatever the merits of authoritarian environmentalism, it has little political chance of being replicated in democracies.

    Cooperation on climate change between the US and China

    • Modernising liberal environmentalism is the essence of president-elect Biden’s commitment to integrating the climate question with the domestic policy agenda.
    • “Climate justice” is another important objective of Biden’s domestic environmental policy.
    • It is based on the recognition that pollution and other ecological problems have a greater impact on the poor and minorities.
    • Although coercive and liberal approaches to managing climate change are different, the US and China share some important objectives.
    • Both China and the US (along with the West) recognise the urgency of the challenge.
    • Beijing and Washington are also racing to develop new technologies that will constitute the foundations of the green economic future.
    • Both have zeroed in on industrial policy to achieve their climate objectives.
    • For Xi and Biden, gaining the leadership of the global movement for mitigating climate change is a strategic mission.
    • Washington and Beijing understand that climate politics is in the end about rearranging the global order.
    • Consequently, the new direction of Chinese and US policies (in partnership with Europe and Japan) will inevitably put pressure on other states for climate actions.

    Conclusion

    India’s real test on climate change is on building a new domestic consensus that can address the economic and political costs associated with an internal adjustment to the prospect of a great global reset.

  • Investing in India’s youth

    Significant progress has been made in India on the skill development front. However, there are many challenges that are needed to be tackled through policy measures and their effective implementation. The article deals with the issue.

    Progress in skill development in India

    • Evidence shows that many people develop 21st-century skills on the job, or from courses that focus on practical application of skills, rather than in schools.
    • India has laid the foundation for delivering on the vision of making quality skills development programmes available to the youth.
    • Vocational education can be a route for many to gain specific skillsets, such education formats are referred to as Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).
    • The National Skill Development Policy was launched in 2009 and revamped in 2015, recognising the challenge of skilling with speed and high standards.
    • The Skill India Mission was launched soon after, with the vision for making India the “skill capital” of the world.

    Key finding and recommendations of the UNESCO’s State of the Education Report for India

    • The report focuses on vocational education and training and showcases the growth of the skills development sector.
    • It also provides practical recommendations to ensure that policy is effectively implemented.
    • One of the biggest challenges for expanding the reach of TVET-related courses has been the lack of aspiration and stigma attached to jobs such as carpentry and tailoring.
    • Considerable effort, including information campaigns involving youth role models, would help in improving the image of vocational education.
    • At the same time, common myths around TVET need to be debunked.
    • Research is now proving that TVET graduates for entry level jobs can get paid as much as university graduates.
    • Moreover, students from vocational streams typically take less time to find jobs as compared to university graduates.
    • The report emphasises the need for expanding evidence-based research.
    • High-quality research based on careful data-gathering and analytics can add value to all aspects of TVET planning and delivery.

    Emphasis on vocational education in NEP

    • The new National Education Policy (NEP) aims to provide vocational education to 50% of all learners by 2025.
    • Schools are encouraged to provide students access to vocational education from Grade 6 onwards and to offer courses that are aligned to the local economies and can benefit local communities.
    • For the vision of the NEP to be fulfilled, a robust coordination mechanism for inter-ministerial cooperation is necessary for bringing the skills development and vocational education systems together.

    Conclusion

    Effective implementation of the policies for skill development is essential for capitalising on the country’s demographic dividend.

  • Who are the Tharu Tribals?

    The Uttar Pradesh government has recently embarked upon a scheme to take the unique culture of its ethnic Tharu tribe across the world.

    The Terai or Tarai is a lowland region in northern India and southern Nepal that lies south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas, the Sivalik Hills, and north of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. This lowland belt is characterized by tall grasslands, scrub savannah, sal forests and clay rich swamps.

    Tharu Tribals

    • The community belongs to the Terai lowlands, amid the Shivaliks of lower Himalayas. Most of them are forest dwellers and some practised agriculture.
    • The word Tharu is believed to be derived from their, meaning followers of Theravada Buddhism.
    • The Tharus live in both India and Nepal. In the Indian Terai, they live mostly in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar.
    • According to the 2011 census, the Scheduled Tribe population in Uttar Pradesh was more than 11 lakh; this number is estimated to have crossed 20 lakh now.
    • The biggest chunk of this tribal population is made up of Tharus.
    • Members of the tribe survive on wheat, corn and vegetables are grown close to their homes. A majority still lives off the forest.

    Tharu language, food, and culture

    • They speak various dialects of Tharu, a language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup, and variants of Hindi, Urdu, and Awadhi.
    • In central Nepal, they speak a variant of Bhojpuri, while in eastern Nepal, they speak a variant of Maithili.
    • Tharus worship Lord Shiva as Mahadev and call their supreme being “Narayan”, who they believe is the provider of sunshine, rain, and harvests.
    • Tharu women have stronger property rights than is allowed to women in mainstream North Indian Hindu custom.
    • Standard items on the Tharu plate are bagiya or dhikri – which is a steamed dish of rice flour that is eaten with chutney or curry – and ghonghi, an edible snail that is cooked in a curry made of coriander, chili, garlic, and onion.

    What is this scheme about?

    • The UP government is working to connect Tharu villages in the districts of Balrampur, Bahraich, Lakhimpur and Pilibhit bordering Nepal, with the homestay scheme of the UP Forest Department.
    • The idea is to offer tourists an experience of living in the natural Tharu habitat, in traditional huts made of grass collected mainly from the forests.
    • Tharu homeowners will be able to charge tourists directly for the accommodation and home-cooked meals.
    • The government expects both domestic and international tourists to avail of the opportunity to obtain a taste of the special Tharu culture by staying with them, observing their lifestyle, food habits, and attire.

  • Surgery as part of Ayurveda

    Last month, a government notification listed out specific surgical procedures that a postgraduate medical student of Ayurveda must be “practically trained to acquaint with, as well as to independently perform”.

    Q.Allowing modern surgeries to Ayurveda professionals is a mixopathy and an encroachment into the jurisdiction and competencies of modern medicine. Critically analyse.

    What is the notification?

    • The notification mentions 58 surgical procedures that postgraduate students must train themselves in and acquires skills to perform independently.
    • These include procedures in general surgery, urology, surgical gastroenterology, and ophthalmology.

    The issue

    • The notification has invited sharp criticism from the Indian Medical Association, which questioned the competence of Ayurveda practitioners to carry out these procedures.
    • They have called the notification as an attempt at “mixopathy”.
    • The IMA has planned nationwide protests against this notification and has threatened to withdraw all non-essential and non-Covid services.

    Surgery as a part of Ayurveda

    • It is not that Ayurveda practitioners are not trained in surgeries, or do not perform them.
    • In fact, they take pride in the fact that their methods and practices trace their origins to Sushruta, an ancient Indian sage and physician.
    • The comprehensive medical treatise Sushruta Samhita has, apart from descriptions of illnesses and cures, detailed accounts of surgical procedures and instruments.
    • There are two branches of surgery in Ayurveda — Shalya Tantra, which refers to general surgery, and Shalakya Tantra which pertains to surgeries related to the eyes, ears, nose, throat and teeth.
    • All postgraduate students of Ayurveda have to study these courses, and some go on to specialize in these and become Ayurveda surgeons.

    Distinctions in surgical procedures

    • For several surgeries Ayurvedic procedures almost exactly match those of modern medicine about how or where to make a cut or incision, and how to perform the operation.
    • There are significant divergences in post-operative care, however.
    • The only thing that Ayurveda does not do is super-speciality surgeries, like neurosurgery or open-heart surgeries.
    • For most other needs, there are surgical procedures in Ayurveda. It is not very different from allopathic medicine.

    Ayurvedic surgeries before the notification

    • PG education in Ayurveda is guided by the Indian Medical Central Council (Post Graduate Education) Regulations framed from time to time.
    • Currently, the regulations formulated in 2016 are in force. The latest notification of last month is an amendment to the 2016 regulations.
    • The 2016 regulations allow postgraduate students to specialise in Shalya Tantra, Shalakya Tantra, and Prasuti evam Stree Roga (Obstetrics and Gynecology), the three disciplines involving major surgical interventions.
    • Students of these three disciplines are granted MS (Master in Surgery in Ayurveda) degrees.

    Arguments in favour

    • Ayurveda practitioners point out that students enrolling in Ayurveda courses have to pass the same NEET (National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test).
    • Ayurveda institutions prescribe textbooks from modern medicine, or that they carry out surgeries with the help of practitioners of modern medicine.
    • Their course, internship and practice also run parallel to the MBBS courses.
    • Postgraduate courses require another three years of study. They also have to undergo clinical postings in the outpatient and In-patient departments at hospitals apart from getting hands-on training.
    • Medico-legal issues, surgical ethics and informed consent is also part of the course apart from teaching Sushruta’s surgical principles and practices.

    So, what is new?

    • Ayurveda practitioners say the latest notification just brings clarity to the skills that an Ayurveda practitioner possesses.
    • The surgeries that have been mentioned in the notification are all that are already part of the Ayurveda course. But there is little awareness about these.
    • A patient is usually not clear whether an Ayurvedic practitioner has the necessary skill to perform one of these operations.
    • Now, they know exactly what an Ayurveda doctor is capable of. The skill sets have been defined. This will remove question marks on the ability of an Ayurveda practitioner.

    What are the IMA’s objections?

    • IMA doctors insist that they are not opposed to the practitioners of the ancient system of medicine.
    • But they say the new notification somehow gives the impression that the skills or training of the Ayurveda doctor in performing modern surgeries are the same as those practising modern medicine.
    • This, they say, is misleading, and an “encroachment into the jurisdiction and competencies of modern medicine”.
    • The IMA has condemned the move calling it predatory poaching on modern medicine and its surgical disciplines.
    • The IMA has demanded that the notification, as well as the NITI Aayog, move towards ‘One Nation One System’ (of AYUSH) be withdrawn.

  • Caste Census and associated issues

    The Tamil Nadu government has decided to appoint a commission to formulate a methodology to collect caste-wise particulars of its population and use that to come up with a report.

    Q.India’s caste system is perhaps the world’s longest surviving social hierarchy. Critically analyse.

    The issue

    • The Centre conducted a ‘Socio-Economic Caste Census’ (SECC) in 2011 throughout the country, but it did not make public the caste component of the findings.
    • In Karnataka, the outcome of a similar exercise has not been disclosed to the public.

    Caste details as a part of the census

    • Caste was among the details collected by enumerators during the decennial Census of India until 1931.
    • It was given up in 1941, a year in which the census operation was partially affected by World War II.
    • In his report on the 1941 exercise, then Census Commissioner of India, M.W.M. Yeatts, indicated that tabulation of caste details separately involved additional costs.
    • However, at the time of sorting the details, some provinces or States that wanted a caste record for administrative reasons were given some data on payment.

    Issues with caste in the census

    • H. Hutton, the Census Commissioner in 1931, notes that on the occasion of each successive census since 1901, some criticism had been raised about taking any note of the fact of caste.
    • It has been alleged that the mere act of labelling persons as belonging to a caste tends to perpetuate the system.
    • Some argue that there is nothing wrong in recording a fact and ignoring its existence.

    View after Independence

    • The 1951 census did not concern itself with questions regarding castes, races and tribes, except insofar as the necessary statistical material related to ‘special groups’.
    • It created certain other material relating to backward classes collected and made over to the Backward Classes Commission.
    • ‘Special Groups’ has been explained as referring to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Anglo-Indians and certain castes treated provisionally as ‘backward’ for the purposes of the census.
    • This implies that BC data were collected, but not compiled or published.

    How have caste details been collected so far?

    • While SC/ST details are collected as part of the census, details of other castes are not collected by the enumerators.
    • The main method is by self-declaration to the enumerator.
    • So far, backward classes commissions in various States have been conducting their own counts to ascertain the population of backward castes.
    • The methodology may vary from State to State.

    What about SECC 2011?

    • The Socio-Economic Caste Census of 2011 was a major exercise to obtain data about the socio-economic status of various communities.
    • It had two components: a survey of the rural and urban households and ranking of these households based on pre-set parameters, and a caste census.
    • However, only the details of the economic conditions of the people in rural and urban households were released. The caste data have not been released till now.
    • While a precise reason is yet to be disclosed, it is surmised that the data were considered too politically sensitive.
    • Fear of antagonizing dominant and powerful castes that may find that their projected strength in the population is not as high as claimed may be an important reason.

    Legal imperative for a caste count

    • The Supreme Court has been raising questions about the basis for reservation levels being high in various States.
    • In particular, it has laid down that there should be quantifiable data to justify the presence of a caste in the backward class list, as well as evidence of its under-representation in services.
    • It has also called for periodical review of community-wise lists so that the benefits do not perpetually go in favour of a few castes.

    Caste data for reservations

    • Legislators argue that knowing the precise number of the population of each caste would help tailor the reservation policy to ensure equitable representation of all of them.
    • While obtaining relevant and accurate data may be the major gain from a caste census, the possibility that it will lead to heartburn among some sections and spawn demands for larger or separate quotas.

  • New Parliament Building

    PM would on December 10 lay the foundation stone for the new Parliament building, which would be a symbol of “Atmanirbhar Bharat” and a “temple of democracy” for Independent India.

    Try this MCQ first:

    Q.The architecture of the present Parliament House of India is inspired from:

    a) Ekattarso Mahadeva Temple

    b) Virupaksa Temple

    c) Dilwara Temples

    d) Brihaddeswara Temple

    The new Parliament Building

    • The building, to be constructed by Tata Projects Ltd. would have a built-up area of 64,500 square metres over four floors and would be built adjacent to the existing building over 22 months.
    • Artisans and sculptors from across the country would contribute to the new building, showcasing the diversity and making it a symbol of “Atmanirbhar Bharat”.
    • The building would have modern equipment, be earthquake-safe and accommodate up to 1,224 MPs during joint sessions in the Lok Sabha chamber.
    • The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha chambers themselves would accommodate 888 and 384 MPs respectively.

    Issues with the old building

    • The existing British-built Parliament building, built in the 1920s, was designed for the Imperial Legislative Council and not for a bicameral Parliament.
    • The building has been modified over the years, including in 1956 when two floors were added.
    • While the number of Lok Sabha seats has remained 545 based on delimitation carried out on the basis of the 1971 Census, it is likely to increase after 2026 as the number of seats has been frozen till then.
    • The sources said the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha halls are packed and would not be able to accommodate additional seats when the number of seats goes up.

    Back2Basics: Parliament House (Sansad Bhavan)

    • The Sansad Bhavan is the seat of the Parliament of India. It houses the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha which represent lower and upper houses respectively in India’s bicameral parliament.
    • The existing building draws inspiration from Ekattarso Mahadeva Temple (in M.P.) and was built under the British empire for its Imperial Legislative Council in 1927.
    • The opening ceremony, which then housed the Imperial Legislative Council, was performed on 18 January 1927 by Lord Irwin, Viceroy of India.
    • Following the end of British rule in India, it was taken over by Constituent Assembly of India which was succeeded by the parliament of India once Constitution of India came into force in 1950.
    • In the 2010s, a proposal was introduced to revamp Central Vista and re-build or relocate a number of administrative buildings which initiated a program expecting completion in 2024.

    Architectural details:

    • Originally called the House of Parliament, it was designed by the British architects’ Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker in 1912-1913.
    • It was held as part of their wider mandate to construct a new administrative capital city for British India.
    • The perimeter of the building is circular, with 144 columns on the outside.
    • The building is surrounded by large gardens and the perimeter is fenced off by sandstone railings (jali).
    • Construction of the House began in 1921 and it was completed in 1927.