- Only 20% of candidates accepted PM Internship Scheme offers: data
Context: While the PM Internship Scheme’s pilot project has exceeded its target of providing 1.25 lakh internship opportunities in a year, it has found few takers among India’s youth, data presented to Parliament show.
- Over two phases, 1.65 lakh internship offers were made by companies to applicants.
- Of these offers, only 20% were accepted. Candidates cited locations, roles, and duration as reasons for declining offers. Of those who accepted offers, one-fifth of participants left their internships before completing them.
- The Prime Minister Internship Scheme (PMIS) was announced in the Union Budget 2024 with the aim of providing internship opportunities to one crore youth in India’s top 500 companies in five years. In October 2024, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs launched a pilot project for the scheme, targeting 1.25 lakh internship opportunities in a year.
Low acceptance rates
- Under the first round of the pilot project, companies posted more than 1.27 lakh internship opportunities on the scheme portal, for which 6.21 lakh applications were received. The companies made 82,000 internship offers, of which 8,700 or 10.6% of the offers were accepted.
- The Minister’s reply noted that, as of November 26, 4,565 candidates from the first round had left their internships without completing them. That is, more than half the candidates that started their internships in the first round left before finishing their term.
- In the second round of the pilot scheme from January onwards, companies posted over 1.18 lakh internship opportunities for which they received over 4.55 lakh applications. As of November 26, companies have made over 83,000 offers, of which 24,600 offers or 30% were accepted.
- So far, 2,053 candidates — or 8.3% of the ones who accepted internships in the second round — have left without completing their internships, the government.
- Taken together, this means that over the two rounds, 1.65 lakh internship offers were made, of which 33,300 (20.2%) offers were accepted. Of those that were accepted, 6,618 (19.9%) candidates quit their internships prematurely.
- The government had initially budgeted ₹840 crore for the pilot project, which was revised down to ₹380 crore in the financial year 2024-25. Of this, the pilot project has so far utilised ₹73.72 crore.
- One doctor available per 811 persons in India, RS told
Context: The doctor-population ratio in the country is 1:811.
- Assuming 80% of registered practitioners in both modern medicine and AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy) systems are available, the doctor-population ratio in the country is estimated to be 1:811, the Health Ministry.
- There are 13,88,185 registered modern medicine doctors in the country, and 7,51,768 registered practitioners in the AYUSH system of medicine.
- Many measures had been taken to improve the availability of doctors in under-served areas, a “hard-area allowance” was given to specialist doctors for serving in remote areas.
- WHO backs use of GLP-1 drugs for weight loss
Context: In a much-anticipated development, the World Health Organization has finally issued global guidelines on the use of popular weight loss drugs. These glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) therapies are being used for the treatment of obesity in adults.
- The WHO guidelines released on December 1 posit equitable access as the key element of using such therapies, and read them as one element of a full complement of actions against obesity.
- “While medication alone won’t solve this global health crisis, GLP-1 therapies can help millions overcome obesity and reduce its associated harms,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhonom Ghebreysus.
- With the guidelines, the WHO recognises that the GLP-1 class of drugs are indeed effective, and that they are likely to have an impact on the global costs of obesity.
- Beyond its health impacts, the global economic cost of obesity is predicted to reach $3 trillion annually by 2030. The guidelines can help efforts to reduce the skyrocketing health costs associated with managing the condition and associated health complications, the WHO.
- There are two primary components to the WHO’s recommendations: that GLP-1 therapies may be used by adults, excluding pregnant women, conditionally, for the long-term treatment of obesity; and that intensive behavioural interventions in diet and physical activity must be continued alongside the drugs.
- The WHO also specified that while the efficacy of these therapies in treating obesity and improving metabolic and other outcomes was evident, it was making a conditional recommendation partly because of the limited data available on long-term efficacy, safety and probable outcomes when the drugs are discontinued, but also because of their costs which put them out of the reach of many people.
- Obesity is a complex chronic disease and a major driver of noncommunicable diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and some types of cancer. It also contributes to poorer outcomes for patients who have infectious diseases. It is only in recent years that the treatment for obesity has been revolutionised by the emergence of a class of drugs that not only effect significant weight loss, but also confer a whole range of metabolic benefits to individuals.
Equitable access
- A special communication in the recent issue of JAMA notes that “medication alone cannot solve the global obesity burden. The availability of GLP1 therapies should galvanise the global community to build a fair, integrated, and sustainable obesity ecosystem.
- Countries must ensure equitable access not only to comprehensive disease management, but also to health promotion and prevention policies and interventions targeting the general population and those at high risk.”
- For India, the costs of these drugs is a roadblock that needs more efforts, insurance coverage and development of generics. The real impact will be there only if a large segment of the population is able to afford these drugs.”
- The WHO clearly says no. Your diet and exercise are paramount, and only when those fail, and when you really need the help of a drug or if morbidly obese, then you go for these drugs.”