Background Men who have Sex with Men being sexual minorities are a vulnerable section of society and are at greater risk of ill-treatment if they are ‘out of the closet’ regarding their sexuality. Previous evidence suggests that they experienced heightened susceptibility to physical and mental illnesses owing to widespread discrimination and victimization across different walks of life, particularly in developing countries. However, there is a paucity of sound data and scientific understanding related to linkages between physical-mental health and awareness about Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Sexually Transmitted Infections among Men who have Sex with Men in the Indian context. Methods Using a mixed-method approach, the present study examined the association between physical-mental well-being and awareness of comprehensive Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Sexually Transmitted Infections/relevant health behaviours based on primary data collected from 300 respondents from six selected metro cities in India. Descriptive statistics, chi-square test and binary logistic regression model have been used for the quantitative data analyses. In-depth interviews were conducted to contextualize and appreciate the substantive meanings and significance coming out from the quantitative results with the lived experiences of the study respondents. Results Finding suggests that one-fourth of the respondents were experiencing long-term illnesses while close to four out of ten respondents experienced short-term illnesses. About one-third of the respondents experienced disordered eating behaviour and mood swings. Close to one-fifth of the respondents reportedly contemplated suicidal thoughts. Awareness related to Sexually Transmitted Infections and preventive measures related to Human Immunodeficiency Virus risk was considerably low among Men who have Sex with Men. Conclusion Awareness about sexual and reproductive health issues among Men who have Sex with Men needs to be strengthened to curtail the disproportionate risk and vulnerability of Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Sexually Transmitted Infections. The public healthcare system needs to be sensitized and upgraded to cater user-friendly quality healthcare services, without any discrimination against sexual minorities including Men who have Sex with Men. Furthermore, generating public awareness about gender and sexuality-related matters and reducing stigma and discrimination is critical for achieving the health-related sustainable development goals in India without leaving no one behind.

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Eri silk is the second highest contributor to the raw silk production of India. Presently the ericulture is mainly restricted to traditional states in North East region with minor production coming from non-traditional states.Ericulture has the scope and potential to spread in non-traditional states due to the availability of eri host plants. Major host plant of eri silkworm (Samia ricini) castor (Ricinus communis) is chiefly used as oil seed crop in the nontraditional states and grows in abundance as a weed in the waste lands, river catchment areas and road sides. Establishing block plantations of castor in non-traditional states will have the competition with the cash crops growing in these regions which will prove a bottle neck for spread of ericulture in these areas. Uttar Pradesh is one of these non-traditional states where castor grows in abundance on contaminated waste lands but the ericulture is presently restricted to castor seed farmers only. Phytoremediation potential of castor is well documented in literature. Therefore, the present study was under taken to ascertain the phytoremediation of heavy metals through castor and its suitability for ericulture. The soil analysis of the river catchment area has indicated that the concentration of heavy metals is higher than pond catchment area. Analysis of castor leaf growing on heavy metals contaminated catchment has shown the normal growth. The suitability of castor leaf growing on contaminated catchment towards ericulture was analyzed through bioassay studies and no significant impact on eri silkworm rearing was observed under the pilot study. However, the detail study is needed to understand the metals specific antagonistic effects as well as to identify the tolerance limit, phytoremediation potential under the specific contamination level.