Concerned over the increasing antibiotic resistance among the patients, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has categorized antibiotics and announced a new advice on which antibiotics to use for common infections and which ones to preserve for the most serious circumstances. The new drugs and the advice has been added to the revised WHO Model List of Essential Medicines for 2017. Other additions include medicines for HIV, hepatitis C, tuberculosis and leukemia.   

The updated list adds 30 medicines for adults and 25 for children, and specifies new uses for 9 already-listed products, bringing the total to 433 drugs deemed essential for addressing the most important public health needs. The WHO Essential Medicines List (EML) is used by many countries to increase access to medicines and guide decisions about which products they ensure are available for their populations, a statement issued by the WHO has said.

Dubbed as the biggest revision of the antibiotics section in the EML’s 40-year history, WHO experts have grouped antibiotics into three categories—ACCESS, WATCH and RESERVE—with recommendations on when each category should be used. Initially, the new categories apply only to antibiotics used to treat 21 of the most common general infections. If shown to be useful, it could be broadened in future versions of the EML to apply to drugs to treat other infections, the statement has said.

“The change aims to ensure that antibiotics are available when needed, and that the right antibiotics are prescribed for the right infections. It should enhance treatment outcomes, reduce the development of drug-resistant bacteria, and preserve the effectiveness of “last resort” antibiotics that are needed when all others fail,’’ according to the WHO statement.

These changes are in line with the WHO’s Global Action Plan on antimicrobial resistance, which aims to fight the development of drug resistance by ensuring the best use of antibiotics.

The World Health Organisation recommends that antibiotics in the ACCESS group be available at all times as treatments for a wide range of common infections. For example, it includes amoxicillin, a widely-used antibiotic to treat infections such as pneumonia.

The WATCH group includes antibiotics that are recommended as first- or second-choice treatments for a small number of infections. For example, the use of ciprofloxacin, used to treat cystitis (a type of urinary tract infection) and upper respiratory tract infections (such bacterial sinusitis and bacterial bronchitis), should be dramatically reduced to avoid further development of resistance.

The third group, RESERVE, includes antibiotics such as colistin and some cephalosporins that should be considered last-resort options, and used only in the most severe circumstances when all other alternatives have failed, such as for life-threatening infections due to multidrug-resistant bacteria.

“The rise in antibiotic resistance stems from how we are using—and misusing—these medicines,” said Dr Suzanne Hill, Director of Essential Medicines and Health Products. “The new WHO list should help health system planners and prescribers ensure people who need antibiotics have access to them, and ensure they get the right one, so that the problem of resistance doesn’t get worse.”

The updated EML also includes several new drugs, such as two oral cancer treatments, a new pill for hepatitis C that combines two medicines, a more effective treatment for HIV as well as an older drug that can be taken to prevent HIV infection in people at high risk, new pediatric formulations of medicines for tuberculosis, and pain relievers.

These medicines are two oral cancer medicines (dasatinib and nilotinib) for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukaemia that has become resistant to standard treatment. In clinical trials, one in two patients taking these medicines achieved a complete and durable remission from the disease; sofosbuvir and velpatasvir combine as the first combination therapy to treat all six types of hepatitis C (WHO is currently updating its treatment recommendations for hepatitis C); dolutegravir for treatment of HIV infection, in response to the most recent evidence showing the medicine’s safety, efficacy, and high barrier to resistance; and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) with tenofovir alone, or in combination with emtricitabine or lamivudine, to prevent HIV infection.

Also in the list are delamanid for the treatment of children and adolescents with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and clofazimine for children and adults with MDR-TB; child-friendly fixed-dose combination formulations of isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol and pyrazinamide for treating paediatric TB; and fentanyl skin patches and methadone for pain relief in cancer patients with the aim of increasing access to medicines for end-of-life care.

“Safe and effective medicines are an essential part of any health system,” said Dr Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO Assistant Director-General for Health Systems and Innovation. “Making sure all people can access the medicines they need, when and where they need them, is vital to countries’ progress towards universal health coverage.”

The WHO Model List of Essential Medicines was launched in 1977, coinciding with the endorsement by governments at the World Health Assembly of “Health for all” as the guiding principle for WHO and countries’ health policies.

Making tall promises for political gains in bettering the lot of the farmers and then brushing it under the carpet is bound to hurt not only the Narendra Modi government at the centre but also the BJP governments in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.  
The agitating farmers in the two states have legitimate reasons to take to the streets in protest after a bumper harvest demanding loan waivers as the Narendra Modi government has done precious little in fulfilling its pledge of providing fifty per more over and above the minimum support price (MSP) for their produce. 
The farmers in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh believe their governments have been lackadaisical in considering the demands over the last three years. The agitators adopted aggressive posture even as the state governments in both the states tried to divide the farm leadership than being genuinely concerned. 
While in Madhya Pradesh the good crop of onions was left rotting on the streets, Maharashtra was witness to a healthy crop of tomatoes being strewn on the road. 
The farmer’s agitation at Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh led to five protestors being shot dead on June seventh threatening chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s core constituency of farmers which might become his nemesis. 
The state BJP believes it is now time to consider a change in leadership in MP especially if the saffron brigade wants to retain power in Madhya Pradesh in the assembly elections due in November 2018. Chouhan has survived many a crises including the controversial deaths of many Vyapam witnesses and corruption scandals. 
However, the present agrarian crises is not on account of natural causes but inept political and administrative management. The demand for loan relief has spread across several northern states after UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath fulfilled the BJP’s election promise with a Rs 36,359 crore waiver. 

Chouhan appears to have taken matters lightly pertaining to the farmers waiver demand of Rs 39,000 crores. Since the demonetisation on November 8 last year, cash transactions had fallen by 70 per cent at the mandis because of the liquidity crunch causing hardship to farmers. 
In Maharashtra the Fadnavis government can be in trouble with its ally Shiv Sena as its ministers boycotted the weekly cabinet meeting earlier in the week on Wednesday on the farmer issue. They made it clear they will not attend these meetings till a complete farm loan waiver is granted. 
Needless to say the farmers were deeply disappointed with the sops offered. Reneging on its promise, the ruling BJP leadership has made it clear that the Centre will not provide any help with loan waivers and that 50 per cent profit is not possible. 
Coupled with this is the heart rending increase in farmer suicides. The opposition has found a lever to stoke the discontent in the wake of drought for the last two years followed by a crash in crop prices. Compounding matters are the many unaffiliated farmers joining the strike blocking food supplies to cities. 
The BJP has reasons to be worried on the farmers front especially the loan waiver issue. Even as farmers in MP claimed that they had been fired upon, the state government insisted that the firing had not come from them but unknown quarters among the agitating farmers. 
On the other hand the chief minister claimed that the farmers had been incited by Congressmen who have been supporting the farmers agitation. Chouhan claimed that anti-social elements and not the farmers had fired upon the agitators. 
This was denied by MP BJP chief Nandkumar Singh Chouhan who said that he saw shots being fired by the administration. 
Farming being a state subject, the role of the states cannot be undermined. Carefully thought out farm insurance policies providing timely relief can mitigate the impact of adverse climate. 
The time has come for a national Agriculture policy to provide higher crop remuneration leading to an increase in food prices. In this clash between rural middle class interests, it is time for the Centre to evolve a formula that strikes a balance. 

NEW DELHI:  Boeing and Tata Advanced Systems Limited today announced the delivery of the first crown and tailcone assembly for the Indian configuration of the CH-47F Chinook helicopter. Manufactured by TASL in Hyderabad, the parts will be delivered to Boeing for final assembly of the 15 helicopters on delivery to the Indian Air Force. Â“This delivery is another significant step in our journey to increase defense capability and manufacturing capacity out of India with our strategic partners,” said Pratyush Kumar, President, Boeing India. “Tata Advanced Systems has demonstrated its ability to deliver high-quality components to the CH-47 Chinook program on schedule, which in turn helps Boeing meet commitments to our customers. We are clearly invested in leveraging the full potential of capability that exists in India to continue delivering greater value for less cost to our U.S. and international customers.” Sukaran Singh, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, TASL, said, “We are proud to deliver the first crown and tailcone assembly for CH-47F Chinook helicopter. Undertaking the responsibility of complete manufacture and assembly for Boeing gives us an excellent opportunity to display our capability of development and assembly projects in high technology areas to global quality standards.” 
Defence Ministry finalised an order with Boeing in 2015 for the production, training and support of 15 CH-47F Chinook heavy-lift helicopters to enhance India’s capabilities across a range of military and humanitarian missions. Deliveries will begin in 2019, Boeing said in a statement here. 
TASL is already delivering crown and tailcones for CH-47 Chinook helicopters for the U.S. Army and international customers. The CH-47F Chinook is the advanced multi-mission helicopter which is being operated by the U.S. Army and 18 other defense forces around the world. Boeing’s network in India includes 35 direct and 120 indirect suppliers from India that manufacture advanced and complex components and sub-assemblies for a range of various commercial and defense aircraft.  

NEW DELHI: (India Science Wire): The much expected South West monsoon has arrived ahead of its scheduled arrival date and is begun its four-month long over the Indian landmass.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) is tasked with keeping a track of the annual phenomenon and issue regular bulletins for the benefit of people. Since its inception in 1875, IMD has been striving to understand the phenomenon of monsoon and provide timely advance information on how the system wouldunravel.
In 1886, just 11 years after it was established,IMD came out with a monsoon forecast thus making India the first country in the world to introduce such a system of season-wise forecast. The model adopted for the forecast has been revised time and again as scientists keep acquiring newer knowledge on the science of monsoon system.
Scientists have predicted that the monsoon this year would be normal, with a rainfall of 96 per cent of the long period of average.
However, monsoon forecast is not the only forte of IMD. It has also been providing other short and medium range forecasts. Presently, the weather forecasters have a good skill for about four to five days. Efforts are underway to push the skills beyond to meet the requirements of various users.
Farmers particularly require weather forecast at the level of administrative block, which is one level higher than panchayat and one below the district. Presently, district level advisories are being issued. About 100 blocks would be covered by the end of this year and the rest will be covered by 2019.
In addition, the Department has been focusing on improving its capabilities for predicting severe weather events such as heavy rainfalls, severe convective storms and heat waves.
Rajeevan Madhavan Nair, secretary of MoES is an internationally acclaimed meteorologist. He says “there is growing evidence that extreme weather events are increasing. The world has already witnessed more hot days and heat waves since the 1950s and the fifth IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report of 2014 warns that we will see more changes to weather extremes by the end of 21st century”.
Apart from seeking to impart a quantum jump in weather forecast, the ministry has embarked on a mega project to explore and exploit deep oceans for living and non-living resources.
Noting that the oceans are full of mysteries and only five percent has been explored by human civilisation so far, Dr Rajeevan points out that oceans can be a good source for valuable minerals as well as for alternate energy sources. “Many geophysical activities, like under the sea earthquakes that trigger tsunamis take place at the bottom of the sea. We are planning a lab at the bottom of the sea”.
In the area of polar research too, research efforts would be stepped up. India has permanent stations in Antarctica, the Arctic and one in the Himalayas. “Among the large number of questions identified, temporal changes in the extent of sea ice and their influence on atmospheric and ocean circulation is a prime area of knowledge gap,” Rajeevan said. “Weneed to understand and document these changes and examine their possible effects on Indian climate using observations and models. The on-going scientific activities at Antarctic, Arctic and the Himalaya are, therefore, being further strengthened.”
Dr Rajeevan has over 30 years of operational experience in the different aspects of tropical meteorology. Before joining the Ministry, he was Director of Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology at Pune.
His main research contribution include understanding monsoon variability, development of monsoon prediction models, understanding extreme weather events like heavy rainfall, Heat waves also cloud radiation interactions. He has received various awards for his outstanding work, noted among them is Young Scientist Award in 2007 for his research contributions in Atmospheric Sciences.

NEW DELHI: The polling, if necessary, will be held on July 17 to elect the next President of India. The term of President Pranab Mukherjee, who is 13th in line, comes to an end on July 24. 
Announcing the poll schedule for the Presidential elections, the Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi said that votes will be counted on July 20. The poll process will begin from June 14 with the issue of the notification for the Presidential polls, he said at a press conference which was also attended by Election Commissioners O P S Rawat and A K Jyoti. The last date for the filing of nominations will be June 28 and the scrutiny will be taken up the next day. 
Dr Zaidi said that Lok Sabha Secretary General has been appointed as the returning officer for the election to the country’s top post. ”The Election Commission, in consultation with the Central government, appoints the Secretary General of the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha, by rotation, as the returning officer. Accordingly, the Secretary General of the Lok Sabha will be appointed the returning officer of the present election,” the CEC  said.
Dr. Zaidi said that political parties cannot issue whip to their member to vote a particular person in the Presidential election.”It is clarified that political parties cannot issue whip in the matter of the Presidential elections,” he said.
Opposition parties, led by the Congress President Sonia Gandhi, have been making efforts to put up a joint candidate. The BJP has kept its cards close to its chest so far with the party chief Amit Shah giving an indication that the ruling party will be holding consultations to elect the next President. After its landslide win in U.P. assembly elections, the BJP and its allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) are comfortably placed to get its nominee elected as the new President who would occupy the Rashtrapati Bhawan for the next five years. Negotiations of the BJP with regional parties have also been going on to enlist their support. 
The President is chosen through an Electoral College that includes national and state lawmakers.

NEW DELHI: Set up after the Modi government took office in May 2014, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) began carefully by taking baby steps like finding office space, arranging for logistics and infrastructure to make the newest kid on the block click. 
After two-and-a-half years of becoming operational, the Minister of State Rajiv Pratap Rudy who has independent charge of the MSDE can boast of taking big strides in setting up skill training centres across the country, turning around Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and making youth employable in a number of sectors. The MSDE has trained more than 1.17 crore aspirants in various skills since the inception of Skill India. This is apart from the numbers contributed through skill development schemes and initiatives under other Central Ministries.
Keenly aware of the cut-throat competition among job seekers, Mr. Rudy’s ministry is setting out new standards to vastly improve the quality of  new standards that would go a long way in revamping and toning up the quality of training being given in ITIs. 
“In July we are notifying new norms regarding building, equipment, training which all ITIs will have to confirm to,’’ Mr Rudy said here on Tuesday while addressing a press conference to mark the completion of the Modi Government’s three years in office.There are nearly 13,000 ITIs and the government wants them to do self-grading on at least 48 parameters. 
Mr Rudy said the policy makers had, over the years, done injustice to the ITIs, leading to deterioration in their quality, but his ministry was determined to see that the students passing out of ITIs come out well equipped both academically and technically.
Mr Rudy described his Ministry as  ”really a start up venture as it came into existence only two-and-half-years ago, but it had during this short period put up skill development infrastructure across the country.” The Minister said that industry linkage to skill development was the biggest challenge.
He said the Government had committed Rs 26000-crore for the Ministry.He said that his biggest partnership was with the Indian Army, which was the third largest in the world and whose 55000 personnel retire every year. The Ministry had trained 26000 retired Army personnel so far in various skills. 
Speaking about the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme as  being crucial for creation for a skilled workforce, he said the number of apprentices in India was very low as compared to other countries like Germany and Japan but the Government was now taking effective steps to see that companies took in more apprentices.
He said that India has partnered with 11 countries, including Germany, France , UK, Australia and China, in the skills agenda for training its workforce.These skilling will be in 86 trades at par with the transnational standards. 
Mr. Rudy said that Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), launched on July 15, 2015, alone has witnessed more than 26.5 lakh people getting trained in skills of their choice till date, of which 50 per cent are women candidates.
“The industry and private sector will only partner when they see quality workforce coming out from Skill India. We are seeing that transition happen gradually. More and more corporate are partnering with us on different levels whether is it on engaging with apprentices, extending infrastructure support, contribution through CSR funds and hiring of resources.”  
On keeping a check on fraudulent practices, Mr. Rudy said that a handful of organizations claiming to be PMKVY agencies promising jobs to unemployed youth were taking money and duping the youth in the name of MSDE. “Such advertisements were found more in vernacular dailies. We condemn such practices and have filed FIRs against them,” he said while cautioning the public at large to be vary of such frauds and join the right affiliated centres. 
The ministry officials stated that the effort was to move away from the supply driven skill development scenario to demand driven one.  More than 480 Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras have been announced which would be model centres for skilling and would be in each district of the country and 162 are already been established. The officials said that more than 1381 new ITIs have been opened with nearly half a million seats. 
To cater to the increasing demand for drivers, MSDE also launched Driver Training institutes across India with the target to open 50 of them by this year-end. 

NEW DELHI: Two days after the Election Commission of India (ECI) held its open challenge to prove that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) can be tampered with, the CPI(M) which had showed up at the event termed the exercise “too restrictive.” 
“If the exercise conducted by the EC was for the purpose of increasing the confidence of the political parties, this exercise was too restrictive,” the CPI(M) said in a statement here on Monday.
As many as 13 political parties had questioned the reliability of the EVMs, but only two parties showed up and later opted out of the June 3 open challenge.  
Later, in a press conference, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi maintained that the EVMs used by the EC are “non-tamperable” and with 100 per cent use of paper trail machines in all future elections the issue of tamperability of the machines “stands closed”.
The CEC’s remarks cleared the air with the assertion that there would be no such challenge to the reliability of the EVMs used in the elections. He said though the NCP and the CPI(M) had reported at the challenge venue they had backed out of the taking up the challenge.
On the other hand, CPI(M) said that a technical team comprising hardware, embedded systems and security experts had visited the ECI offices on June 3 for participating in the EVM testing exercise. 
“The team wanted to check not only the EVM’s but how the EVMs can be used with a set of safeguards, including Voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT). The issue is not whether EVMs are hackable, the issue is the need to examine the system in its entirety, including the EVMs, the physical and human checks. This is why the CPI(M) team was participating in this exercise,” the party said in a statement.
“In order to make a deeper analysis of the EVM’s, the team wanted to attach hardware probes to the EVM motherboard to develop a better understanding and the potential for hacking of the EVM’s. In any case, no EVM can be hacked without analysing the EVM, and simply pressing buttons; or using external wireless devices.The EC denied this request, saying that it was not included in this Phase. Under such restrictive conditions, the team was unable to make an independent assessment of the EVMs, and hence suggest technical improvements or other safeguards,” the party said.
“While we can accept that the EC’s contention that the hardware of the EVM should not be changed, as this would make it a different machine, we are unable to appreciate why a physical examination of the EVM as outlined in EC’s Challenge II should not have included attaching instruments and generating a better understanding of the EVM and its communication within its various sub units,” it said.
The CPI(M) admitted that prima facie there are robust precautions, but without a detailed technical examination as asked for by the CPI(M)’s technical team, this remains to be independently verified.
The CPI(M) has maintained that VVPAT EVM should be used in all elections as per the Supreme Court mandate in 2013. It expressed disappointment over the fact that the government took this long to release funds for the procuring the VVPAT EVMs.
The CPI(M) believes that technical discussions between the EC, political parties and other stakeholders regarding current and future EVM design choices should be held on a regular basis. 
The Challenge, Counter Challenge and Hackathons as it is being done by certain parties and the EC, builds an adversarial atmosphere which is not conducive to building confidence in the electoral process, it said.   

NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday ruled out any possibility of a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the forthcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit this month in Astana, Kazakhstan.  
“There is no proposal for such a meeting. Neither they (Pakistan) nor we have proposed a meeting at Astana,” she said while replying to a question at her annual press conference to mark the completion of three years of the NDA government in office. The Minister’s stand makes it clear that there would not be any chance for either a hand shake or a pull aside between Mr. Modi and Mr. Sharif at Astana. 
Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to attend the SCO summit at Astana beginning June 8 which will also be attended by Mr. Sharif. The two premiers had met briefly at SCO summit in Ufa, Russia in 2015. Besides Russia, China and Central Asian nations, SCO summit at Astana will formally admit India and Pakistan in the organisation. 
Tensions between India and Pakistan have been growing over the past couple of years, particularly after the Pathankot Air Force base terror attack and death sentence handed down to Kulbhushan Jadhav, a former Indian Navy officer who was reportedly picked up from Iran and taken to Pakistan. India had moved the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague, alleging violation of Vienna Convention as Islamabad had repeatedly denied consular access to Jadhav. The ICJ had stayed the implementation of the death sentence to Jadhav till the world court delivers its final verdict. 
Maintaining that there was no flip-flop in India-Pakistan bilateral ties, the External Affairs Minister reiterated three principles on which relations with Pakistan could be judged. Both India and Pakistan will solve all issues through talks, the bilateral dialogue will not need any mediation or interference by a third party and terror and talks do not go together. She said the NDA government always applied these three principles while assessing India’s ties with Pakistan. 
She clarified that Prime Minister Modi had decided for a stop-over at Lahore in December 2015 in response to an invitation by Mr. Nawaz Sharif. It was an out-of-the-box goodwill gesture by Prime Minister Modi who was returning home after a visit to Afghanistan, she said. “But we got Pathankot terror attack in the new year,” she said. 

NEW DELHI: India on Monday slammed US President Donald Trump for his view that it was getting benefits worth billions of rupees in the name of fighting climate change and reiterated its firm commitment to the Paris Climate Deal.
“India signed the Paris Accord not under any pressure or out of any consideration of monetary gains,’’ External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said here while replying to a question at her annual press conference. 
In India’s first direct response to President Trump’s announcement of withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement and his remarks against India on climate financing, Ms Swaraj said India’s commitment to the Paris Deal was unchanged irrespective of the US withdrawal from the Agreement.
The External Affairs Minister pointed out that protection of nature and environment was in the very ethos and ancient culture of India, and as Prime Minister Narendra Modi said this ethos dates back to 5000 years. 
“So if someone says that India signed the deal under pressure or for money, it was not true. And so whether the US remains in the Deal or not, India will continue to fulfill its commitment under the Paris Agreement,’’ she said.
Mr Trump, announcing the US withdrawal from the Paris Deal last week, had said that the deal was tilted against the US while countries like India would receive billions and billions of dollars in foreign aid,while at the same time it would be allowed to double its coal production.

The book — Sayyid Ahmad Barailvi : His Movement and the Legacy from the Pakhtun Perspective — seeks to unravel the interpretations of Jihad that has changed over the years. Its author Altaf Qadir has dealt with Sayyid Ahmad (1786-1831) who first propagated and led jihad during the 19th century in the then North West Frontier. 
It was initially led as a purely reformist movement in Northern India. Reform and jihad was intended to purify and protect Indian Muslims from the innovations and atrocities of the British and Sikhs respectively. The book draws perspectives from the immediate localities of the Pakhtun region and reasons the failure of the movement. It assesses the social, political, religious and economic impact of jihad on the Pakhtun region and whether Barailvi’s movement is solely responsible for the present day jihadi mindset. It uses historical information, narratives and perspectives from original texts written in regional languages and Pakhtu. 
Qadir, who is Assistant Professor in the History department at the University of Peshawar, believes during the long Muslim rule in northern India, the religious class was highly respected and appointed to high posts on the basis of their academic qualifications. 
The weakening of central Muslim authority in Northern India and Bengal alarmed both the Muslim elite and general public. Besides local forces of disruption, western colonisers were the major threat as they had developed economies along with being well equipped and highly skilled in diplomacy. 
The Marathas posed the most dangerous internal threat. They engaged Aurangzeb for years until his death in 1707. He did not succeed in destroying them. This accelerated the process of decline of the Mughal authority. Several of the Muslim aristocracy along with Shah Waliullah, a Muslim scholar of the 18th century asked Ahmad Shah Abdali, the Afghan ruler to intervene and save Muslims in India from complete devastation. 
The defeat of the Marathas at the battle of Panipat in 1761 did not stop the Moghul political decline. The rise of the Sikhs in the Punjab and the English in the south and east of India were not checked as the Muslim political elites were unable to respond adequately. 
The turn of the 19th century further alarmed the Muslims when the forces of the East India Company entered Delhi in 1803 and Shah Alam II, the Mughal Emperor, became a prisoner. The status of India was discussed by the ulema but no practical steps were taken. 
Belonging to a middle class family, Sayyid Ahmad emerged on the horizon in the second decade of the 19th century. He was widely travelled and knew the grievances of the Indian masses and the nobility alike. He stepped forward and organised the jihad movement on religious grounds. His initial activities to preach characterised the innovative nature of his movement. He never forgot the goal of spiritual attainment. 
After some initial success he diverted his attention to organising armed struggle against the infidels. His performance of Haj with several hundred followers was itself a new experience. It also implanted a seed of Jihad in Bengal which provided recruits to the Mujahidin for the North-West Frontier region. 
Sayyid Ahmad proved different from the contemporary Muslim religious elite as none of them declared jihad against the infidels. All of them including Shah Waliullah looked to the Muslim nobility and sought assistance from outsiders to stop the political decline of the Muslim establishment. He initiated mass mobilisation not only to reform society but also to pursue armed struggle against the Sikhs and the English. The most authentic sources regarding the objectives of his struggle are his own letters written to different people before and after his migration to the North West Frontier. 
The Sikhs of Punjab had compelled the Barakzai sardars of Peshawar to pay homage and tribute to Lahore but the majority of the people in the countryside were not subjugated. Sayyid Ahmad sent letters to the rulers of principalities around the North West Frontier. His sending envoys seeking their assistance against the ‘infidels’ are a testament to his wider perspective. His declaration of imarat was a turning point for the jihad movement. The ‘reformer’ who claimed to be the saviour of the Muslims of the area assumed political authority. 
The initial tribal enthusiasm on his arrival was taken for granted as indicative of their willingness to accept his authority. However, the declaration of imarat created two major problems: some of the tribal chiefs viewed it as an attempt to subordinate them while some of the ulemas found it illegal according to the sharia. 
One can easily see the legacies of Sayyid Ahmad’s imarat especially among the Deoband school of thought and the Ahl-e-Hadith. Masud Azhar (b. 1968) of Bahawalpur and Hafiz Mohammad Saeed (b. 1950 at Sargodha) are two examples. 
At different stages of the Jihad movement Sayyid Ahmad was indecisive on occasions. One is he never had a centre for jihadi activities. In several instances he acted in haste. He declared jihad on the Sikhs without proper tactical or strategic homework and faced severe defeat in his first encounter in the open field. 
This alienated local chiefs who viewed him as a competitor akin to previous invaders. His flight for personal safety in the face of defeat added to feelings of alienation from the Mujahidin. 
Wahid-ud-Din Khan of Delhi believed that Sayyid Ahmad’s movement was not legitimate jihad because his imarat was self proclaimed and opposed by many. Therefore, it is believed he restricted himself from reforming Muslim society and Islam. This school believed that Muslims were wasting their energy in useless struggles and hatred against western powers for the last two hundred and fifty years instead of mending the ways of fellow Muslims and preaching to the colonisers. 
The jihad movement by Sayyid Ahmad or later by others took a sectarian colour as their endeavours were diverted to declaring opponents ‘heretics’ and ‘infidels’. The major target of all such groups has usually been the Shia community. 
The jihad movement left both positive and negative cultural and religious impact. On the positive side was the initiation of the teaching of the Quran and ahadith in the North West Frontier.  
The most evident example of teaching Quran came from Mohammad Tahir (1913-87) in the current districts of Swabi and Mardan. He was known as the founder of Jama’at ak-Isha’at Tawheed wa Sunnah locally known as Panjpiri school of thought. They claimed to be the real followers of the Deoband school of thought. On the negative impact the most important is the polarisation of religious ideologues. 
The recent wave of militancy may not be directly attributed to Sayyid Ahmad and his Jihad movement. Many factors have combined to include state and non-state actors. His jihad movement was a new experience in the history of the subcontinent. It might have brought positive changes in the Muslims in South Asian Society if he had limited his efforts to reformation of society. 
The Jihad movement and its offspring have had a limited vision in action and strategy. There are differences between Sayyid Ahmad’s Jihad movement and present day militant organisations. They need to think their strategy in working for the upliftment of Muslims.