Healthy nation can be a wealthy nation: Naidu
Hyderabad, Oct 7 : Vice PresidentM Venkaiah Naidu Sunday urged doctors to create awareness among people on the dangers posed by lifestyle diseases, saying a healthy nation can become a wealthy nation but not vice-versa.
Speaking after inaugurating a free medical camp here, Naidu stressed on the need to pay greater attention towards one's health and wellness as prevention was better than cure, an official release said.
Naidu noted that the country's spending on healthcare would naturally come down if people were healthy.
He lauded the Centre for launching 'Ayushman Bharat' to provide health insurance cover to five crore families in rural and 2.5 crore families in urban areas.
The scheme would provide coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year.
Later, giving away 'Rythu Nestham' awards, Naidu warned that farmers would give up agriculture unless farming was made profitable and viable.
He also suggested that the focus should be on bringing down the input costs and not on increasing productivity alone.
"The indiscriminate use of fertilisers, pesticides, electricity and water also need to be curbed," the release quoted theVice-Presidentas saying.
On the initiative taken by him to conduct national consultations on making agriculture profitable, Naidu said scientists must ensure that research outcome directly reaches farmers (Lab to Land).
Noting that zero budget natural farming promoted by eminent agriculturist Subhash Palekar was beneficial, the Vice President pointed out that it would help reduce costs and provide a stable income to farmers.
"It would also protect the consumers from ill-effects of pesticides. As a matter of fact, only 10 per cent of water and electricity would be required for natural farming when compared to normal farming," he claimed.
The Vice President also emphasised the importance of creating awareness among farmers to diversify to allied activities to increase their income.
Hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi for increasing the Minimum Support Price of various crops and launching farmer-friendly schemes such as soil health cards and PM Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, the Vice President appealed to the private sector to step up investments in agriculture.
Observing that the Government, Parliament and the Media must accord the highest priority to health, education and agriculture, the Vice President said that scientists, agricultural research centres and Krishi Vigyan Kendras must make concerted efforts to make agriculture sustainable and profitable, the release added.
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UK Professor Nitasha Kaul's Overseas Citizenship of India cancelled
Academician decries move as "transnational repression"
London/New Delhi: Professor Nitasha Kaul, a London-based academic, announced on May 18, 2025, via a social media post that her Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card has been cancelled by the Indian government. She described the move as a "bad faith, vindictive, cruel example of transnational repression" intended to punish her for her scholarly work critical of the Modi government's policies concerning minorities and democracy.
The cancellation follows an incident in February 2024 when Professor Kaul, who holds a British passport and held an OCI card, was denied entry into India upon arrival at Bengaluru airport. She had been invited by the then Congress-led Karnataka state government to speak at a conference on "The Constitution and Unity in India."
According to an image of the letter shared by Professor Kaul, the Indian government stated that it had been "brought to the notice of the Government of India that you have been found indulging in anti-India activities, motivated by malice and complete disregard for facts or history." The letter further accused her of regularly targeting India and its institutions on matters of India's sovereignty through "numerous inimical writings, speeches and journalistic activities at various international forums and on social media platforms."
Professor Kaul, who is a Professor of Politics, International Relations, and Critical Interdisciplinary Studies and the Director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD) at the University of Westminster, London, vehemently rejects these accusations. She stated she had provided a 20,000-word response to what she termed the government's "ridiculous inanity about ‘anti-India’," but the OCI was cancelled through a "rigged process."
In her social media posts, Professor Kaul lamented the decision, questioning how the "mother of democracy" could deny her access to her mother in India. She characterized the action as stemming from "thin-skinned, petty insecurity with no respect for well-intentioned dissent."
The February 2024 denial of entry had already sparked controversy. At the time, immigration officials reportedly cited "orders from Delhi" without providing formal reasons, though Professor Kaul mentioned informal references to her past criticism of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The Ministry of External Affairs had then responded by stating that the entry of foreign nationals into India is a "sovereign decision." Unofficial government sources had indicated that a "preventive lookout circular" was issued against her due to her alleged "pro-separatist" and "anti-India" stance on Kashmir.
The BJP in Karnataka had criticised the state government for inviting her, labelling her an "anti-India element." Conversely, the then-Karnataka government and various international human rights organizations and academic bodies had condemned the denial of entry.
Professor Kaul has been an outspoken commentator on Indian politics, including the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, and has testified before international bodies such as the US Congress on human rights in the region. She maintains her work is academic and pro-democracy, not anti-India.
The cancellation of her OCI card effectively bars her from entering India, a country to which she has personal and academic ties. This incident adds to a growing list of academics, journalists, and activists of Indian origin whose OCI status has been revoked or who have been denied entry to India in recent years, raising concerns about freedom of speech and dissent. Reports indicate that over 100 OCI cards were cancelled by the Indian government between 2014 and May 2023. Furthermore, in 2021, new rules were introduced requiring OCI cardholders to obtain special permission for activities such as research and journalism.
