Why in News?

• The right to change one’s name or surname is a part of the right to life under Article 21, the High Courts (HC) of Allahabad and Delhi recently said.
• The Allahabad HC said that the fundamental right to keep/change one’s name is vested in every citizen under Articles 19(1)(a), 21, and 14 of the Constitution, while the Delhi HC ruled that the right to identity is an “intrinsic part” of Article 21.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• What are the Cases before the HCs?
• The Ruling of the HCs
• What did the HCs say about Article 21?
• What are the Restrictions on the Right to Change Names?

What are the Cases before the HCs?

• In ‘Sadanand & Anr. vs CBSE & Ors’, a plea was filed by two brothers before the Delhi HC.
  • Owing to caste atrocities suffered, the father had earlier changed his surname and published it in the newspaper and the Gazette of India as required.
  • His surname was changed across various public documents, such as Aadhaar, PAN, and Voter ID.
  • However, CBSE refused to update the brothers’ certificates with the father’s new surname as this would subsequently entail a change in their caste, which could be misused.
• In ‘Md. Sameer Rao vs. State of UP’, the Allahabad HC dealt with a petition filed against an order rejecting petitioner’s application to change his name in his High School and Intermediate certificates, seemingly for a higher sense of self-worth.
  • The state argued that a change in the name is not an absolute right and is subject to restrictions imposed by law.

The Ruling of the HCs:

• The Allahabad HC:
  • The authorities had arbitrarily rejected the application for a change of name, and such actions violated the fundamental rights of the petitioner guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a), Article 21, and Article 14 of the Constitution.
  • A name is an indispensable component of a person’s identity and falls within the realm of the right to privacy.
  • Congruence in all identity-related documents is essential. Allowing one to carry identification documents with separate names would lead to confusion/ mischief.
• The Delhi HC:
  • The father had decided to change his surname in order to overcome the social stigma and the disadvantage faced by his sons and that CBSE’s denial was totally unjustified.
  • The petitioners have every right to have an identity which gives them an honourable and respectable identity in the society.
  • If they suffered any disadvantage on account of their surname or faced social prejudices due to it, they are certainly entitled to a change of their identity.

 What did the HCs say about Article 21?

• In both the Delhi and Allahabad HC cases, a common thread of Article 21 was found running.
• The Allahabad HC observed that the right to keep a name of choice/ change the name according to personal preference comes within the mighty sweep of the right to life and personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21.
  • The court relied on the Kerala HC ruling (2020), which ruled that to have a name and to express the same is certainly a part of the right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19 (1)(a) and Article 21.
• The Delhi HC held that the “Right to Identity” is an intrinsic part of the Right to Life under Article 21.
  • There is no denying the fact that the Right to Life includes within its ambit, the Right to Live with Dignity, which includes not to be tied down by any casteism faced by a person due to the caste to which s/he belongs.

What are the Restrictions on the Right to Change Names?

• The Allahabad HC clarified that the right to change/ keep one’s name is not an absolute right and is subject to various reasonable restrictions.
• State or its instrumentalities cannot stand in the way of the use of any name/ change of name except to the extent prescribed under Article 19(2).
  • Article 19(2) allows for restrictions in the interests of the security and sovereignty of India, friendly relations with Foreign States, public order, decency or morality, etc.
• However, the restrictions imposed by law on fundamental rights have to be fair, just, and reasonable [K. S. Puttaswamy vs. Union of India (2017)].
• The principle of proportionality is an essential facet of the guarantee against arbitrary state action, since it ensures that the nature and quality of the right’s encroachment are not disproportionate to the law’s purpose

Why in news?

• The United Nations has adopted the first-ever international treaty to govern the high seas and protect remote ecosystems vital to humanity.
• The pact will establish a legal framework to extend environmental protections to international waters, known as the high seas.
• It will be opened for signatures on September 20, during the annual meeting of world leaders at the UN General Assembly.
  • The treaty will take effect once it is ratified by 60 countries.

What’s in today’s article?

• High Seas
• News Summary

What are high seas?

• The high seas are the parts of the ocean that are not included in the exclusive economic zones, territorial sea or internal waters of a State.
  • Water beyond 200 nautical miles from the coast of a country is known as high sea.
• High seas are the areas of the ocean for which no one nation has sole responsibility for management.

News Summary: UN adopts High Seas Treaty

Need for UN high seas treaty

• Ocean and biodiversity
  • The high seas comprise 64 per cent of the ocean surface, and about 43 per cent of the Earth.
  • These areas are home to about 2.2 million marine species and up to a trillion different kinds of microorganisms.
• Ocean and global climate
  • Oceans are an integral part of the global climate cycle, and perform a range of ecological services including absorption of carbon dioxide and excess heat.
  • Hence, this treaty is being considered as a landmark in the efforts to keep the planet habitable.
• Unregulated human activities
  • Climate change is already influencing, and is being influenced by, ocean systems, and is exacerbating the pressures on marine biodiversity from unregulated human activities.
  • It is these specific challenges — a combination of climate change, biodiversity, and pollution — that the High Seas Treaty seeks to address.
• UNCLOS and concerns regarding the biodiversity
  • Though UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) asks countries to protect the ocean ecology and conserve its resources, it does not provide the specific mechanisms or processes to do so.
  • Hence, it is believed that the High Seas Treaty will work as an implementation agreement under the UNCLOS.
    • This is similar to the Paris Agreement working under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

UN high seas treaty

• Agreed under the UNCLOS, this treaty is commonly known as the agreement on biodiversity beyond national jurisdictions (BBNJ).
  • UNCLOS is an international treaty that establishes a framework for the use and management of the world’s oceans and their resources.
  • It was adopted by the United Nations in 1982 and came into force in
• This treaty is the first international law to offer some protection to the nearly two-thirds of the ocean that is beyond national control.
• This treaty will be legally binding in nature.

Key provisions of the treaty

• Demarcation of marine protected areas (MPAs)
  • MPAs are where ocean systems, including biodiversity, are under stress, either due to human activities or climate change.
    • These can be called the national parks or wildlife reserves of the oceans.
  • Activities in these areas will be highly regulated, and conservation efforts similar to what happens in forest or wildlife zones, will be undertaken.
  • Only about 1.44 per cent of high seas are currently protected, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
  • In December 2022, at the meeting of the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) in Montreal, Canada, countries had agreed to put at least 30 per cent of degraded coastal and marine ecosystems under effective restoration by 2030.
    • MPAs will be helpful in achieving this objective.
• Sustainable use of marine genetic resources and equitable sharing of benefits arising from them
  • Genetic information from marine organisms is already being extracted, and their benefits are being investigated.
  • The treaty seeks to ensure that any benefits arising out of such efforts, including monetary gains, are free from strong intellectual property rights controls, and are equitably shared amongst all.
  • The knowledge generated from such expeditions are also supposed to remain openly accessible to all.
• Initiation of the practice of environmental impact assessments for all major activities in the oceans
  • The high seas are international waters that are open for use by all countries.
  • Under the new treaty, commercial or other activities that can have significant impact on the marine ecosystem would require an environmental impact assessment to be done.
  • The results of this exercise have to be shared with the international community.
• Capacity building and technology transfer
  • This will help small island states and landlocked nations, who do not have the resources or the expertise, to meaningfully participate in the conservation efforts.
• Creation of New body
  • The treaty will create a new body to manage conservation of ocean life and establish MPAs in the high seas.

Challenges

• Many issues remain unaddressed
  • Including the mechanisms for policing the protected areas, the fate of the projects that are assessed to be heavily polluting, and the resolution of disputes.
• Ratification is not expected to be easy
  • It took UNCLOS 12 years to become international law because the necessary number of ratifications was not reached.
• Provisions of this treaty do not overrule regulations laid down by the authorities that oversee existing high seas activities
  • Authorities overseeing high seas activities include:
    • International Maritime Organization, which is responsible for shipping;
    • International Seabed Authority, which oversees deep-sea mining;
    • 17 regional fisheries management organizations tasked with regulating fisheries in various parts of the ocean, including Antarctica.
  • Military activities and existing fishing and commercial shipping are, in fact, exempt from the treaty.
  • Hence, the treaty cannot create protected areas in places already covered by fishing agreements, even if that fishing is unsustainable and depleting stocks

Why in News?

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has headed to the United States for an official state visit on the invitation of President Joe Biden.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Introduction (About Indo-US Relations)
• India-US Bilateral Relationship (Trade, Security, Strategic, Challenges, etc.)
• Conclusion 

Introduction:

• At the heart of the Indo-US strategic partnership is the deepening economic engagement.
• India’s largest trading partner is the US and it is also one of the few countries with which India had a trade surplus in 2022-23.
  • For the US, India is the ninth largest trading partner.
• India’s major exports to the US include gems and jewelry, pharmaceutical products, light crude oil and petroleum, electrical and electronics goods, engineering products, apparel, frozen marine products, and others.

India-US Bilateral Trade Relationship:

• In 2022-23, the bilateral trade between India and the USA stood at a record US$ 191 billion as against US$ 119.42 billion in 2021-22.
• In 2021-22, India had a trade surplus of US$ 32.8 billion with the US
• American companies have invested around US$ 60 billion in India in sectors ranging from manufacturing to telecommunications and consumer goods to aerospace.
• And Indian companies have put in more than US$ 40 billion in sectors such as IT, pharmaceuticals, and green energy.
• In February, Air India announced the purchase of more than 200 Boeing aircrafts — a deal which is said to be the largest order placed by an airline in one go anywhere in the world.

India-US Strategic Relationship:

• The two governments are pursuing more than 50 bilateral dialogue mechanisms at various levels.
• Quadrilateral Security Dialogue –
  • The Quad began as a broad partnership after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, but gained strategic heft after the four-country grouping, which has Australia and Japan alongside India and the US.
  • It was repurposed in 2017, primarily as a counter to China’s growing influence in the Indian Ocean rim, and as a forum for redoubling focus on the Indo-Pacific region.
• I2U2 –
  • The I2U2 is a grouping of India, Israel, the US and the United Arab Emirates.
  • It is focused on joint investments and new initiatives in water, energy, transportation, space, health, and food security.
• Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) –
  • This January, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his US counterpart Jake Sullivan launched a new US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies.
  • These emerging technologies include artificial intelligence, quantum computing, semiconductors and wireless telecommunication.

Challenges/Issues w.r.t. India-US Relationship:

• The US still has significant export controls on India (instituted after the 1998 nuclear test), which inhibits the free transfer of technology.
• Among the outstanding trade issues that require resolution are visa delays and the revoking of India’s trade benefits under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programme in 2019.
  • The US has complained about India’s trade policy being overly protectionist, especially with regard to entry barriers for foreign investment and unsteady legal rules.
  • India has been raising tariffs over the last few years, reversing an earlier policy of lowering tariffs that endured for decades.
• India will likely be pursued to join the trade pillar of the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF).
  • India has signed up for three pillars of the IPEF — committed to building more resilient supply chains, tapping clean energy opportunities, and combating corruption.
  • However, it has opted out of the fourth pillar (trade) citing reservations about the commitments required on environment, labour, digital trade, and public procurement.
• There is growing disquiet within sections of the Union government over India not finding an entry into the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP).
  • MSP is a US-led partnership to secure supply chains of critical minerals that is aimed at reducing dependency on China.
  • The MSP is learnt to have weighed the possibility of collaborative work on some 150-odd projects and shortlisted a dozen where members are likely to commence work.

Conclusion:

• India-U.S. trade relations have developed into a “global strategic partnership“, based on shared democratic values and increasing convergence of interests on bilateral, regional, and global issues.
• Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, India-U.S. cooperation witnessed intense engagement under various bilateral dialogue mechanisms in a wide range of areas such as –
  • defence, security, health, trade, economic, science & technology, energy, and people-to-people ties.
• PM Modi’s visit to the US is expected to give India access to critical American technologies the US rarely shares with non-allies, strengthening a new bond that is underpinned by not just global politics but also business and economics.
• Major announcements expected during PM Modi’s visit are –
  • U.S. approval to General Electric (GE) to manufacture engines in India for its domestically produced fighter jets,
  • India’s purchase of 31 armed MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones made by General Atomics worth $3 billion, and
  • Removal of U.S. obstacles that prevent smoother trade in defence and high technology

Why in news?

• The 22nd Law Commission of India sought the views of religious organisations and the public on the issue of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC).
  • The Law Commission of India is a non-statutory body constituted by the Union government.
  • The 22^nd Law Commission is chaired by former Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi.
• Earlier, in October 2022, Centre told the Supreme Court that the Constitution obligated the State to have a UCC for its citizens.

What’s in today’s article?

• Uniform Civil Code (UCC)

What is Uniform Civil Code?

• About
  • A UCC would provide for one law for the entire country, applicable to all religious communities, in their personal matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption etc.
  • In other words, UCC is a set of rules/regulations, which proposes to replace the personal laws based on the scriptures and customs of each major religious community in the country with a common set governing every citizen.
• Current situation in India
  • Currently, Indian personal law is fairly complex, with each religion adhering to its own specific laws.
  • Separate laws/ customs govern Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhist, Muslims, Christians, and followers of other religions.
  • Moreover, there is diversity even within communities. All Hindus of the country are not governed by one law, nor are all Muslims or all Christians.
  • For instance, in the Northeast, there are more than 200 tribes with their own varied customary laws.
  • The Constitution itself protects local customs in Nagaland. Similar protections are enjoyed by Meghalaya and Mizoram.
  • The exception to this rule is the state of Goa, where all religions have a common law regarding marriages, divorces, and adoption.
• Constitutional position
  • Article 44 of the Constitution lays down that the state shall endeavour to secure a UCC for citizens throughout the territory of India.
    • Article 44 is among the Directive Principles of State Policy.
    • Directive Principles are not enforceable by court, but are supposed to inform and guide governance.

Previous efforts of UCC

• Shah Bano judgement
  • In 1986, the Supreme Court’s Shah Bano judgment for maintenance was considered as a first step towards UCC.
  • However, it was nullified by the Parliament by passing an amendment to maintain the status quo.
• Incremental changes over the years
  • Incremental change has happened over the decades.
  • Hindu succession was reformed by Parliament in 2005, and Christian divorce rights were made gender equal in 2001.
  • The courts have steadily affirmed women’s rights of maintenance, adoption, etc. in various judgments, strengthening reform in minority communities.
• Stand of the 21^stLaw Commission on the matter
  • In 2018, 21^st Law Commission underlined that the Uniform Civil Code is neither necessary nor desirable at this stage.
  • It argued for reform of family laws of every religion through amendments and codification of certain aspects so as to make them gender-just.
  • It further said that cultural diversity cannot be compromised to the extent that our urge for uniformity itself becomes a reason for threat to the territorial integrity of the nation.

Need for UCC

• To promote national unity
  • Historically, one of the factors that have kept India back from advancing to nationhood has been the existence of personal laws based on religion.
  • These laws keep the nation divided into watertight compartments in many aspects of life.
  • A uniform law made applicable to all would promote national unity.
• Different personal laws are put to subversive use
  • There have been instances of Hindus converting to Islam, as bigamy is permitted under Muslim personal laws in the country.
• To promote gender justice
  • A uniform civil code is needed for gender justice. The rights of women are usually limited under religious law, be it Hindu or Muslim.
• Not in the domain of religious activities
  • Matters such as inheritance, marriage, divorce etc. do not have to do anything with the religious activities.
  • Hence, any regulation on these aspects would not amount to the infringement on religious freedom extended by Article 25.
• Vision of constitution makers
  • The Constitution makers had a vision to enact UCC in future to have a same set of civil laws governing all irrespective of religion.
  • Enactment of UCC is needed in order to fulfil this dream.

Arguments against UCC

• Diversity cannot be compromised for uniformity
  • Imposition of UCC would amount to overlooking of the diversity of Indian cultures, customs, ethnicity, languages, religious ideologies etc.
  • From north to south and from east to west, each state in India has a different culture and a different outlook towards life.
• Violation of fundamental rights
  • Principles of marriage, talaq and polygamy are interwoven with religious and cultural rights of Muslims.
  • State intervention would be the violation of fundamental right (Article 25, 26, 29).
• Constitution recognises the customary laws and procedures prevailing in NE states
  • In North Eastern States, the constitution through VI schedule recognizes the customary laws and procedures prevailing in their society.
  • Hence, there will be practical difficulties in the formulation as well as implementation of UCC.
• Detrimental to communal harmony of India
  • Perception of UCC as encroachment on religious freedom is gaining momentum.
  • In this context, many believe that UCC will be detrimental to communal harmony of India.

Conclusion

• Religious traditions often respond to top-down reforms by growing more conservative and hence resist reforms.
  • Universal Civil Code after Shah Bano case became the ground for communal politics, forcing the then government to nullify the verdict.
• Hence, we need to follow a bottom-up approach. The demand for UCC must come from the people.
• It can only emerge through an evolutionary process, which preserves India’s rich legal heritage, of which all the personal laws are equal constituents.
• For this, a debate around the issue can be started among the communities. However, these debates must be started with utmost caution so as not to polarize the country

Indian Prime Minister heads to the United States for an official state visit on the invitation of American President.

Economic engagement

• The value of trade between the two countries has touched a record $191 billion, making the US India’s largest trading partner.
• For the US, India is the ninth largest trading partner.

• American companies have invested around $60 billion in India in sectors ranging from manufacturing to telecommunications and consumer goods to aerospace.
• Indian companies have put in more than $40 billion in sectors such as IT, pharmaceuticals, and green energy.
• Air India announced the purchase of more than 200 Boeing aircraft

Strategic underpinnings

• Quadrilateral Security Dialogue:
  • The flagbearer of the strategic engagement is the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.
  • The Quad began as a broad partnership after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
  • It gained strategic heft after the four-country grouping, which has Australia and Japan alongside India and the US, was repurposed in 2017, primarily as a counter to China’s growing influence in the Indian Ocean rim, and as a forum for redoubling focus on the Indo-Pacific region.
• The I2U2:
  • The I2U2, a grouping of India, Israel, the US and the United Arab Emirates, is focused on joint investments and new initiatives in water, energy, transportation, space, health, and food security.
• Critical and Emerging Technologies:
  • India and US launched a new US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies.
  • The two countries established a partnership to make the semiconductor supply chain more resilient through private sector cooperation.

• Defence sector:
  • Cooperation in areas such as armoured vehicles, ammunition, and air combat could include a deal for India, the world’s largest arms importer, to manufacture under licence GE’s F414 turbofan jet engine to power the indigenous Tejas Mk2 light combat aircraft that is under development.

Problem areas:

• The US still has significant export controls on India (instituted after the 1998 nuclear test), which inhibits the free transfer of technology.
• Among the outstanding trade issues that require resolution are visa delays and the revoking of India’s trade benefits under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) programme in 2019.
• The US has complained about India’s trade policy being overly protectionist, especially with regard to entry barriers for foreign investment and unsteady legal rules.
• India has been raising tariffs over the last few years, reversing an earlier policy of lowering tariffs that endured for decades.
• New Delhi will likely be nudged to join the trade pillar of the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF).
  • From Washington’s perspective, there is no political appetite for a full-scale free trade agreement (FTA), and it sees the IPEF as a more practical substitute for bilateral deals.
  • India has signed up for three pillars of the IPEF:
    • committed to building more resilient supply chains,
    • tapping clean energy opportunities, and
    • combating corruption
  • It has opted out of the fourth pillar (trade) citing reservations about the commitments required on environment, labour, digital trade, and public procurement.

• There is growing disquiet within sections of the Union government over India not finding an entry into the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP), a US-led partnership to secure supply chains of critical minerals.
  • It is aimed at reducing dependency on China.
  • The partnership has now been expanded to include a new member, Italy (along with the 11 founding countries and the European Union)

At least 68 people admitted to a district hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Ballia are suspected to have died between June 15 and 18 due to scorching heatwave conditions, with temperatures soaring up to 43.5 degree Celsius in the region.

What is a Heat Wave?

• A Heat Wave is a period of abnormally high temperatures, more than the normal maximum temperature that occurs during the summer season in the North-Western parts of India.
• Heat Waves typically occur between March and June, and in some rare cases even extend till July.
• The extreme temperatures and resultant atmospheric conditions adversely affect people living in these regions as they cause physiological stress, sometimes resulting in death.
• The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has given the following criteria for Heat Waves :
  • Heat Wave need not be considered till maximum temperature of a station reaches atleast 40°C for Plains and atleast 30°C for Hilly regions
  • When actual maximum temperature remains 45°C or more irrespective of normal maximum temperature, heat waves should be declared.

Occurrence of Heat waves:

• Heat waves are forms for one of two reasons:
  • warmer air is flowing in from elsewhere or
  • it is being produced locally.
• It is a local phenomenon when the air is warmed by higher land surface temperature or because the air sinking down from above is compressed along the way, producing hot air near the surface.
• Air mass and heat waves
  • The north-northwestern heatwaves are typically formed with air masses that come from 800-1,600 km away and are around two days old.
  • Heat waves over peninsular India on the other hand arrive from the oceans, which are closer (around 200-400 km) and are barely a day old and are on average less intense.

Why do heatwaves cause deaths?

• High temperatures alone aren’t fatal in nature.
• It’s when high temperatures are combined with high humidity, known as the wet bulb temperature, heatwaves become lethal.

Impact on humans:

• Humans lose heat generated within their bodies by producing sweat that evaporates on the skin.
• The cooling effect of this evaporation is essential in maintaining a stable body temperature.
• As humidity rises, sweat does not evaporate and makes it difficult to regulate body temperature.
• And this could cause a heat stroke.
  •  Heat stroke takes place only when the body temperature goes above 40 degrees Celsius.

• Excessive heat increases metabolic activity in the body, leading to a drop in blood pressure and oxygen levels with increased sweating.
  • This is a condition called hypoxia.
• Metabolism goes haywire (in such conditions), creating a toxin overload which affects multiple organs
• Prolonged exposure to even moderate heat, with poor nutrition and hydration levels in these circumstances, can lead to hypoxia.
• Those with pre-existing metabolic disorders like diabetes, the obese or the elderly, are more vulnerable.

Conclusion:

• Heat waves have a sophisticated anatomy with important implications for how well we can predict them.
• Early-warning systems can improve the quality of warnings and also increase how soon they can be issued.
• Sizeable investments in human and computational resources have already increased India’s forecast skills in the last decade.
• Mortality over India due to heat waves are substantially lower than those in other mid-latitude regions.
• India should further improve forecast warnings, issue them as soon as possible, and couple them with city-wide graded heat action plans to protect the vulnerable

Key- Highlights

Background

About

NASA’s Curiosity rover sends a beautiful postcard image from Mars.

• Launch Year – 2012.
• It is a part of Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission of NASA.
• It is the largest and most capable rover ever sent to Mars.
• Aim – To climb onto the layered deposit in the center of the Gale Crater to assess its possible origins.
• Gale crater, located just south of the Martian equator was formed by the impact of a large meteorite sometime between 3.5 and 3.8 billion years ago.
• Findings – Curiosity’s scientific tools found chemical and mineral evidence of past habitable environments on Mars.
• It continues to explore the rock record from a time when Mars could have been home to microbial life.

687 Earth days = One Mars year

ICMR’s recent study says that India has 101 million people living with diabetes

• Published by – The Madras Diabetes Research Foundation and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
• Findings – More than a quarter of the population was either diabetic or in pre-diabetic stage.
• 11.4% of India’s population or 101 million people are living with diabetes.
• Hypertension – Around 35.5% of the population or 315 million people are living with the hypertension or high blood pressure.
• Obesity – The study found that 28.6% of the population would be considered to be obese as per the BMI measure, 39.5% of the population had abdominal obesity.
• BMI (body mass index) – Generally used as a measure for obesity.
• Hypercholesterolemia – 24% of the population were living with hypercholesterolemia (a condition where the bad cholesterol or LDL levels are high).

Diabetes & its Types

• Diabetes is a condition that happens when your blood sugar (glucose) is too high.
• It develops when your pancreas doesn’t make enough insulin or any at all, or when your body isn’t responding to the effects of insulin properly.
• Diabetes affects people of all ages.
• Type 1 diabetes – It is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks and destroys insulin-producing cells in pancreas.
• It’s usually diagnosed in children and young adults, but it can develop at any age.
• It is non-curable.
• Type 2 diabetes – With this type the body doesn’t make enough insulin and body’s cells don’t respond normally to the insulin (insulin resistance).
• This is the most common type of diabetes.
• It mainly affects adults, but children can have it as well.
• Other types
  • Gestational diabetes
  • Type 3c diabetes
  • Latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA)
  • Maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY)
  • Neonatal diabetes
  • Brittle diabetes