General Science Notes: Biology and Health for APPSC, DSC and Police

Biology and health questions make up a large share of the general science section in APPSC, AP DSC, AP Police and Sachivalayam papers. They reward clear textbook knowledge: which organelle does what, which vitamin lacks which disease, which vector carries which infection, and which public health programme began when. Most of the content sits in the Class 6 to Class 10 syllabus, with a few questions from national health programmes that are taken from Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) material.

This note follows a head-to-toe order: cell and tissues, human body systems, nutrition and vitamins, diseases, genetics, plant physiology, ecology and biodiversity, biotechnology, and finally public health programmes. Textbook facts were checked against the NCERT Class 10 Science textbook (reprint 2026-27); the disease-vector table was checked against the WHO vector-borne diseases fact sheet, and the programme facts on immunisation and tuberculosis against Press Information Bureau explainers prepared by MoHFW. This note gives only textbook-level facts. It is for examination study and is not medical advice; for any health concern, consult a qualified doctor.

1. The cell and tissues

The cell is the structural and functional unit of life. Robert Hooke saw cells in a slice of cork in 1665 and coined the word. Leeuwenhoek saw living cells, Schleiden and Schwann proposed the cell theory for plants and animals, and Virchow added that new cells arise from existing cells. Cells are prokaryotic (no membrane-bound nucleus, as in bacteria and blue-green algae) or eukaryotic (a true nucleus, as in plants, animals and fungi).

The plasma membrane is selectively permeable. Plant cells also have a cellulose cell wall, a large central vacuole and plastids, which animal cells lack. Animal cells have centrioles and small vacuoles. The nucleus holds the chromosomes and controls the cell. The mitochondrion is the powerhouse because it produces ATP in respiration. The ribosome makes proteins, the rough endoplasmic reticulum carries ribosomes, and the smooth endoplasmic reticulum makes lipids and detoxifies. The Golgi apparatus packs and dispatches material. The lysosome contains digestive enzymes and is the suicide bag when the cell is damaged. Chloroplasts hold chlorophyll and carry out photosynthesis.

Diffusion is the movement of molecules from a higher to a lower concentration. Osmosis is the diffusion of water through a selectively permeable membrane. A cell placed in a hypotonic solution swells, in a hypertonic solution it shrinks (plasmolysis in plants), and in an isotonic solution there is no net movement.

Tissues are groups of similar cells doing a specific job. Plant tissues divide into meristematic (growing: apical, lateral and intercalary) and permanent tissues. Permanent tissues include parenchyma (storage, photosynthesis), collenchyma (flexibility) and sclerenchyma (hardness), and the complex tissues are xylem (conducts water and minerals upward) and phloem (conducts food in both directions). Animal tissues are epithelial (covering and lining), connective (blood, bone, cartilage, tendon, ligament, adipose), muscular (striated or skeletal, smooth or unstriated, and cardiac) and nervous (the neuron).

Tissue	Job	Example
Epithelial	Covers and lines	Skin, lining of gut
Connective	Supports and links	Blood, bone, tendon
Muscular	Movement	Biceps, heart
Nervous	Conducts impulses	Brain, nerves

Trap: a tendon joins muscle to bone and a ligament joins bone to bone. Cardiac muscle is striated and involuntary. The red blood cell of a mammal has no nucleus.

2. Human body systems

Digestive system. Digestion starts in the mouth, where salivary amylase begins to break down starch. The stomach secretes hydrochloric acid, which kills germs and makes the medium acidic, and pepsin, which digests protein. The liver, the largest gland, makes bile, which emulsifies fats; bile is stored in the gall bladder. The pancreas secretes digestive enzymes and also the hormone insulin. The small intestine is where digestion is completed and most absorption occurs through the villi. The large intestine absorbs water.

Respiratory system. Air passes through the nostrils, pharynx, larynx, trachea and bronchi to the alveoli, where oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged. The diaphragm and rib muscles drive breathing. Haemoglobin carries oxygen. Respiration at the cell level releases energy from glucose as ATP; aerobic respiration needs oxygen, and anaerobic respiration in yeast gives ethanol and carbon dioxide, while in muscle during hard exercise it gives lactic acid.

Circulatory system. The human heart has four chambers, two atria and two ventricles, and gives double circulation. Arteries carry blood away from the heart, and veins carry it back. The pulmonary artery is an exception, since it carries deoxygenated blood, and the pulmonary vein carries oxygenated blood. Blood has plasma, red cells (haemoglobin), white cells (defence) and platelets (clotting). Blood groups A, B, AB and O were found by Landsteiner; O is the universal donor and AB is the universal recipient of the ABO system. The normal blood pressure is about 120/80 mm of mercury, measured with a sphygmomanometer. Lymph carries digested fat and is part of the immune defence.

Excretory system. The kidney is the main excretory organ. Its functional unit is the nephron, which filters blood and forms urine. A person has two kidneys, two ureters, one bladder and one urethra. Dialysis, an artificial kidney, is used in kidney failure.

Nervous and endocrine systems. The neuron is the unit of the nervous system. The brain has the cerebrum (thinking and memory), the cerebellum (balance and posture) and the medulla (involuntary actions such as heartbeat and breathing). A reflex action is a quick, automatic response, controlled by the spinal cord. The hormones are chemical messengers. Insulin, from the pancreas, lowers blood sugar. Thyroxine, from the thyroid, controls metabolism, and iodine is required to make it. The pituitary is the master gland. Adrenaline, from the adrenal glands, prepares the body for emergency. Growth hormone comes from the pituitary, and testosterone and oestrogen are sex hormones. In plants the hormones are auxin (cell elongation, bending towards light), gibberellin (stem growth), cytokinin (cell division) and abscisic acid (growth inhibitor, wilting), and ethylene ripens fruit.

Skeletal system. The adult human body has 206 bones. The femur in the thigh is the longest bone, and the stapes in the ear is the smallest. Joints include the ball and socket joint (shoulder, hip) and the hinge joint (knee, elbow).

Sense organs. The eye, ear, nose, tongue and skin. The retina has rods (dim light) and cones (colour and bright light). Vitamin A is needed for the pigment in the rods.

3. Nutrition, vitamins and deficiency diseases

A balanced diet has carbohydrates and fats for energy, proteins for growth and repair, vitamins and minerals for protection, fibre for the gut, and water. Proteins are made of amino acids, and carbohydrates supply about 4 kcal per gram while fats supply about 9 kcal per gram. Malnutrition covers both too little and too much food. The World Health Organization describes stunting as low height for age from chronic undernutrition, and wasting as low weight for height from recent severe weight loss. It names iodine, vitamin A and iron as the three most important micronutrients in global public health terms.

Vitamin	Source	Deficiency disease
A (retinol)	Carrot, papaya, liver, milk	Night blindness, xerophthalmia
B1 (thiamine)	Whole grains, pulses	Beriberi
B2 (riboflavin)	Milk, eggs	Cracks at mouth corners
B3 (niacin)	Meat, cereals	Pellagra
B12	Animal foods	Pernicious anaemia
C (ascorbic acid)	Amla, citrus, guava	Scurvy
D	Sunlight, fish oil	Rickets (children), osteomalacia (adults)
K	Green leafy vegetables	Delayed blood clotting

Vitamins A, D, E and K are fat-soluble, and the B group and C are water-soluble. Minerals: calcium and phosphorus for bones and teeth, iron for haemoglobin (deficiency gives anaemia), iodine for thyroxine (deficiency gives goitre), and sodium and potassium for nerve function. Protein deficiency causes kwashiorkor (swollen belly, with some calories present) and marasmus (a wasted body from deficiency of both calories and protein). Folic acid is important for pregnant women. Trap: scurvy is C, rickets is D, beriberi is B1, pellagra is B3; many aspirants confuse the numbers.

4. Communicable diseases: cause and vector

A communicable disease is caused by a pathogen and can spread from person to person, by air, water, food, contact or a vector. A vector is an organism, usually an insect, that carries the pathogen to the host. A non-communicable disease does not spread this way. The pathogens are viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa and worms. Antibiotics act on bacteria but not on viruses.

Disease	Cause	Vector or route
Malaria	Protozoan (Plasmodium)	Female Anopheles mosquito
Dengue	Virus	Aedes mosquito
Chikungunya	Virus	Aedes mosquito
Japanese encephalitis	Virus	Culex mosquito
Lymphatic filariasis	Parasitic worm	Mosquitoes (Culex, Anopheles, Aedes)
Kala-azar	Protozoan (Leishmania)	Sandfly
Tuberculosis	Bacterium	Air (droplets)
Cholera	Bacterium	Contaminated water
Typhoid	Bacterium	Contaminated food and water
Hepatitis A	Virus	Contaminated food and water
Hepatitis B	Virus	Blood and body fluids
Polio	Virus	Contaminated water
Measles	Virus	Air
Rabies	Virus	Bite of an infected animal
AIDS	HIV (a virus)	Blood, unsafe sex, mother to child

The vector information for mosquito-borne diseases and kala-azar matches the WHO vector-borne disease list. Plague (rat flea), the louse in typhus and the housefly in some diarrhoeal infections are older textbook examples; Ringworm and athlete's foot are fungal; amoebic dysentery and giardiasis are protozoal, and tapeworm and roundworm are helminths. Tuberculosis was shown to be caused by a bacterium by Robert Koch, and World TB Day on 24 March marks his announcement in 1882.

Immunity can be natural or acquired. Vaccination exposes the body to a weakened or inactive form so that memory cells form. Edward Jenner developed the first vaccine against smallpox, which WHO declared eradicated in 1980. The Universal Immunisation Programme in India now gives free vaccines against 12 diseases, as set out by the MoHFW explainer: tuberculosis, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), tetanus, polio, hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae type b infections (pneumonia and meningitis), measles, rubella, rotavirus diarrhoea, pneumococcal pneumonia and Japanese encephalitis in the endemic districts. Treat the exact list as one to check against the current immunisation schedule.

5. Non-communicable diseases

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are chronic and are caused by lifestyle, genetic and environmental factors. They include hypertension (high blood pressure), diabetes mellitus (insulin deficiency or resistance, high blood sugar), heart disease, stroke, cancer, chronic respiratory disease and obesity. Risk factors are tobacco, alcohol, an unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and air pollution. Cancer is uncontrolled cell division, and a tumour that spreads is malignant. Sickle cell anaemia, thalassaemia, haemophilia and colour blindness are genetic disorders. Haemophilia is a sex-linked recessive disorder in which blood clots slowly, and colour blindness is also X-linked, which is why it is more common in males. Down syndrome results from an extra chromosome 21 (trisomy), and Turner syndrome is a female with a single X chromosome.

India's programme for these diseases was the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke, which was renamed in 2023 to the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases. Its population-based screening covers people aged 30 and above for hypertension, diabetes and common cancers (oral, breast and cervical). Confirm any later extension on the MoHFW portal, because the programme's content has been expanded over time.

6. Genetics basics

Heredity is the passing of characters from parents to offspring and variation is the difference among individuals. Gregor Mendel, the father of genetics, worked on the garden pea and proposed the laws of dominance, segregation and independent assortment. In a monohybrid cross between a tall (TT) and a dwarf (tt) plant, all F1 plants are tall (Tt), and the F2 generation has a 3:1 phenotypic ratio and a 1:2:1 genotypic ratio. A dihybrid cross gives a 9:3:3:1 ratio in F2. Genotype is the genetic makeup and phenotype is the visible expression.

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) carries genetic information in the form of genes on chromosomes, in the double-helix structure described by Watson and Crick in 1953. The bases are adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine, with A pairing with T and G with C. In RNA, thymine is replaced by uracil. A human body cell has 46 chromosomes, or 23 pairs, and a gamete has 23. Sex determination in humans: women have XX and men have XY; a child inherits an X from the mother, and the sex is decided by the father's chromosome, which is X or Y. Mutation is a sudden change in the genetic material and it is the raw material of evolution, while sexual reproduction adds variation through the recombination of genes.

Evolution: Lamarck proposed the inheritance of acquired traits, which has been disproved, and Darwin proposed natural selection in "On the Origin of Species" (1859). Homologous organs have the same structure but different functions (a human arm and a bat's wing), whereas analogous organs have different structures but the same function (a bird's wing and an insect's wing). Fossils give evidence for evolution, and carbon dating helps to find the age of a fossil.

7. Plant physiology

Photosynthesis is the process by which green plants make food from carbon dioxide and water in the presence of sunlight and chlorophyll, releasing oxygen: carbon dioxide plus water gives glucose plus oxygen. It takes place in the chloroplast, and the stomata, tiny pores on the leaf, allow gas exchange. The oxygen released comes from the splitting of water. Light is absorbed best in the blue and red regions, and green light is reflected, which is why leaves look green. The stored form of food in plants is starch.

Transpiration is the loss of water vapour from the stomata, which creates a pull that draws water up the xylem and cools the plant. Translocation is the movement of food through the phloem. Respiration in plants takes place all the time, and photosynthesis takes place only in light. Roots absorb water by osmosis through root hairs. Plant nutrition needs nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and other elements. Legumes (pulses) host the bacterium Rhizobium in their root nodules, which fixes atmospheric nitrogen. Insectivorous plants, such as the pitcher plant and sundew, grow in nitrogen-poor soil, and parasitic plants such as Cuscuta take food from a host.

Plants respond to stimuli by tropisms. Phototropism is movement in response to light, geotropism is movement in response to gravity (roots grow down), hydrotropism is movement towards water and chemotropism is movement in response to a chemical (the pollen tube). The touch-me-not plant (Mimosa) folds its leaves on touch by a change in turgor, a non-growth movement.

Reproduction in plants can be asexual (vegetative propagation by cuttings, as in rose, or by runners, as in grass, tubers, as in potato, and bulbs, as in onion) or sexual through flowers. The flower's male part is the stamen (anther and filament) and the female part is the pistil (stigma, style and ovary). Pollination is the transfer of pollen to the stigma, followed by fertilisation, after which the ovule forms the seed and the ovary becomes the fruit.

8. Ecology and biodiversity

An ecosystem is the community of living things interacting with their non-living environment. Producers (green plants) make food, consumers (herbivores, carnivores, omnivores) feed on other organisms, and decomposers (bacteria and fungi) break down dead matter and recycle nutrients. A food chain is a linear sequence of who eats whom, and a food web is the interlinked set of chains. Energy flows in one direction, and only about 10 per cent of the energy passes from one trophic level to the next, which is why food chains are short. Chemicals such as pesticides accumulate at higher levels, which is called biological magnification, and top carnivores and humans carry the highest concentration.

The ozone layer in the stratosphere protects life from the Sun's ultraviolet radiation, and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) deplete it. The Montreal Protocol (1987) is the international agreement to phase out ozone-depleting substances. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane cause global warming. Waste can be biodegradable (broken down by microbes, such as kitchen waste) or non-biodegradable (plastic, DDT, glass).

Biodiversity is the variety of life at the levels of genes, species and ecosystems. In-situ conservation protects species in their natural habitat, through national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and biosphere reserves, and ex-situ conservation protects them outside, in zoos, botanical gardens and gene banks. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) publishes the Red List of threatened species. Extinct, critically endangered, endangered and vulnerable are the categories in descending order of threat. A hotspot is a region with a high number of endemic species under threat. Andhra Pradesh examples such as the Eastern Ghats, Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve and the Coringa mangroves are helpful for state-level papers; check the Andhra Pradesh geography note for those details and the forest department's latest list.

9. Biotechnology basics

Biotechnology uses living organisms or their products for human benefit. Traditional examples are the making of curd by Lactobacillus, bread and alcohol by yeast, and vinegar. Modern biotechnology uses genetic engineering, in which a gene from one organism is put into another. Recombinant DNA technology uses restriction enzymes (molecular scissors) and ligase (molecular glue). Human insulin is produced by genetically modified bacteria, and Bt cotton carries a gene from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis that protects it against bollworm. A transgenic organism carries a foreign gene, and a clone is a genetically identical copy: Dolly the sheep (1996) was the first mammal cloned from an adult cell. Tissue culture grows plants from a small piece of tissue. DNA fingerprinting identifies individuals from their DNA patterns and is used in forensics and paternity cases. Stem cells are cells that can develop into several kinds of cell. Genetically modified crops raise questions of biosafety, which are regulated by law. Treat these as textbook facts and avoid assuming any current regulatory status.

10. Public health programmes (national level)

Exam questions in this area typically ask for the year of launch, the target group and the expansion of an acronym. Verified details are given first and any remaining facts are hedged.

The National Rural Health Mission was launched on 12 April 2005, and in May 2013 it became part of the National Health Mission, which includes the National Rural Health Mission and the National Urban Health Mission as sub-missions, according to the NHM website. Its stated aim is accessible, affordable and quality health care, particularly for vulnerable groups, and it relies on community workers such as the ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist). Ayushman Arogya Mandirs (the renamed health and wellness centres) give comprehensive primary care.

Immunisation: the Universal Immunisation Programme is described by MoHFW as the largest in the world, with about 26.5 million infants and 29 million pregnant women as annual cohorts. Mission Indradhanush was launched in 2014 to raise full immunisation coverage to 90 per cent among children under two years and pregnant women, first against seven diseases and then against twelve, and it was followed by Intensified Mission Indradhanush rounds. National Vaccination Day is 16 March.

Tuberculosis: the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme was renamed the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP) in 2020, with a national goal to eliminate TB by 2025, five years before the global target of 2030. The Ni-kshay portal is its patient management system, and under the Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana, the nutrition support was raised from 500 rupees to 1,000 rupees a month, according to the MoHFW explainer of March 2025. World TB Day is 24 March.

Maternal and child health: the Janani Suraksha Yojana (2005, institutional delivery), the Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (2011, free entitlements), the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (2013, child health screening), the Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (2016, free antenatal check-up on the 9th of each month) and Anaemia Mukt Bharat (2018, with the 6 by 6 by 6 strategy against anaemia) are the commonly asked names. These years come from secondary summaries that we could not open on an official page, so confirm them on nhm.gov.in before the exam.

Insurance and non-communicable disease: Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY, launched on 23 September 2018, provides cover of 5 lakh rupees per family per year for secondary and tertiary hospital care to eligible families; check the pmjay.gov.in portal for the current cover and eligibility. The National Programme for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases is described in section 5.

Days to remember: World Health Day is 7 April (the founding of WHO), World Malaria Day 25 April, World No Tobacco Day 31 May, World Blood Donor Day 14 June, World AIDS Day 1 December.

Common traps at a glance

• Female Anopheles spreads malaria; Aedes spreads dengue and chikungunya; Culex spreads Japanese encephalitis.
• Malaria is protozoal, dengue is viral, cholera is bacterial; antibiotics do not treat viral diseases.
• Vitamin C scurvy, D rickets, B1 beriberi, B3 pellagra, A night blindness, K clotting.
• Pulmonary artery carries deoxygenated blood and pulmonary vein carries oxygenated blood.
• Tendons join muscle to bone; ligaments join bone to bone.
• Sex of the child is decided by the father's chromosome.
• Photosynthesis oxygen comes from water, not from carbon dioxide.
• Only about 10 per cent of energy passes to the next trophic level.
• Insulin is made in the pancreas, bile in the liver and stored in the gall bladder.
• Mission Indradhanush is for immunisation, not for nutrition.

Key facts for exams

• Unit of life: the cell; the powerhouse: the mitochondrion.
• Human chromosomes: 46 (23 pairs); bones: 206; heart chambers: 4.
• Mendel's ratio: 3:1 phenotypic and 1:2:1 genotypic in a monohybrid F2; 9:3:3:1 in a dihybrid F2.
• DNA structure: Watson and Crick, 1953.
• Largest gland: the liver; master gland: the pituitary.
• Universal donor of ABO: O; universal recipient: AB.
• Normal blood pressure: about 120/80 mm Hg.
• NHM started as NRHM on 12 April 2005; Mission Indradhanush 2014; NTEP renamed 2020.
• Bt cotton uses a gene from Bacillus thuringiensis.
• Montreal Protocol, 1987, concerns ozone-depleting substances.

10 practice MCQs

1. Which organelle is called the powerhouse of the cell? (a) Ribosome (b) Mitochondrion (c) Golgi apparatus (d) Lysosome Answer: (b). Mitochondria release energy as ATP.

2. Which tissue carries water and minerals upward in a plant? (a) Phloem (b) Parenchyma (c) Xylem (d) Collenchyma Answer: (c). Phloem carries food.

3. Deficiency of vitamin D in children causes (a) Scurvy (b) Rickets (c) Beriberi (d) Pellagra Answer: (b). Scurvy is vitamin C, beriberi vitamin B1 and pellagra niacin.

4. Dengue is spread by (a) Anopheles (b) Culex (c) Aedes (d) Sandfly Answer: (c). Anopheles carries malaria, Culex carries Japanese encephalitis and sandfly carries kala-azar.

5. Which blood vessel carries oxygenated blood from the lungs to the heart? (a) Pulmonary artery (b) Pulmonary vein (c) Aorta (d) Vena cava Answer: (b). The pulmonary vein is the exception among the veins.

6. The sex of a human child is determined by (a) the mother's X chromosome (b) the father's chromosome (c) both parents' autosomes (d) the environment Answer: (b). The father gives either X or Y.

7. In a monohybrid cross, the F2 phenotypic ratio is (a) 1:1 (b) 3:1 (c) 9:3:3:1 (d) 1:2:1 Answer: (b). 1:2:1 is the genotypic ratio.

8. The percentage of energy that passes from one trophic level to the next is about (a) 1 (b) 10 (c) 50 (d) 90 Answer: (b). This is the ten per cent rule.

9. The enzyme that cuts DNA at specific sites is (a) ligase (b) polymerase (c) restriction enzyme (d) amylase Answer: (c). Ligase joins the pieces.

10. The National Rural Health Mission was launched in (a) 1995 (b) 2000 (c) 2005 (d) 2014 Answer: (c). It began on 12 April 2005 and was later part of the National Health Mission.

Frequently asked questions

How many biology and health questions come in a general science paper? It differs by exam and year, so check the latest notification and the previous papers of your target exam rather than rely on a fixed number.

Do I need to know the Latin names of organisms? Only the common ones: Plasmodium, Anopheles, Aedes, Culex, Rhizobium, Lactobacillus and Bacillus thuringiensis.

Which diseases are asked most? Vector-borne diseases, vitamin deficiencies and the vaccine-preventable diseases are asked most often, because the question format is simple.

How should I learn the programmes? Make a table with four columns: name, year, target group and one-line purpose. Revise it weekly and verify each year on the official portal.

Is this note a medical guide? No. It has textbook facts for examinations only and gives no advice on diagnosis or treatment.

How are the Telugu terms handled? The Telugu version uses the standard SCERT Andhra Pradesh textbook terms with the English term in brackets at first use.

Related reading

• Andhra Pradesh GK: top 100 questions
• AP DSC syllabus 2026
• AP Paramedical, ANM, MPHA and Radiographer guide
• AP agriculture, irrigation and crops notes
• AP Police Constable guide
• General science physics and chemistry notes
• Telugu version of this post

Practise on pareeksha.in

Once you finish a section, attempt topic tests on that section and then a mock test, where the platform offers 10 Lakh+ MCQs, 100+ Exams and 5,000+ Full-Length Mocks. Keep the questions you miss in a notebook and return to the matching section.

Sources and verification

Pages opened for this revision:

• NCERT Science textbook for Class 10 (reprint 2026-27), chapters 5 to 8 and 13 (ncert.nic.in): life processes, control and coordination, reproduction, heredity (including sex determination and plant hormones), and the environment.
• Ministry of Health and Family Welfare explainer, "Mission Indradhanush: Ensuring Full Immunization coverage to Children and Women", National Vaccination Day, 16 March 2023 (Press Information Bureau).
• Ministry of Health and Family Welfare explainer, World Tuberculosis Day 2025, "Towards a TB-Free India", 24 March 2025 (Press Information Bureau).
• National Health Mission website, About NHM page (nhm.gov.in): launch of NRHM on 12 April 2005 and the 2013 National Health Mission framework.
• WHO fact sheet, Vector-borne diseases (who.int): vectors and agents.
• WHO fact sheet, Malnutrition (who.int): micronutrients, stunting and wasting.

Not verified and hedged in the text: the years of JSY, JSSK, RBSK, PMSMA and Anaemia Mukt Bharat, the PM-JAY launch date and cover (official pages did not open; secondary summaries only), the 2023 renaming and scope of the NP-NCD programme, the smallpox eradication year, the list of 12 vaccines in the current schedule, the date and scope of the Montreal Protocol, the ABO and genetic-disorder details (standard textbook facts not re-opened line by line), and the Andhra Pradesh protected-area examples. Check the latest official notice for any programme figure.