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| Troubled voyage: HIV infected Indian seafarers increasing MUMBAI, Nov 30: Acquired Immuno Defeciency Syndrome (AIDS)-the so called major disease of 20th century is not......more AIDS drugs
to NEW DELHI, Nov 30: In a major initiative to tackle the dreaded AIDS, Government today announced that it will provide.....more CPI(M) to
work for VIJAYAWADA, Nov 30: The CPI (M) in Andhra Pradesh will contest on its own in its strongholds and support a "strong...more Fate of
817 candidates to NEW DELHI, Nov 30: The political fate of 817 candidates will be sealed tomorrow in ballot boxes in 70 assembly...more |
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Chhattisgarh all set for its first-ever assembly poll today RAIPUR, Nov 30: Amid unprecedented security, particularly in the Naxal areas, Chhattisgarh will go to polls for its first...more RMNH to
set up plant MYSORE, Nov 30: The Regional Museum of Natural History (RMNH) here will set up a ‘live plant bioresource centre’....more Protests
for the second CHENNAI, Nov 30: For the second day today, people protested in several parts of Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, to the.....more Centre-NSCN(IM)
peace KOHIMA, Nov 30: Uncertainty looms large over the next round of crucial peace talks between the Centre and the NSCN(IM)......more |
| Troubled voyage:
HIV infected Indian seafarers increasing MUMBAI, Nov 30: Acquired Immuno Defeciency Syndrome (AIDS)-the so called major disease of 20th century is not sparing even seafarers as it has no discrimination in affecting whether a man is on shore or at sea. In fact, the seafarers are more exposed to Human Immuno Defeciency Virus (HIV) as they are away from family and shore and most of the docks are directly or indirectly linked to red light areas. According to founder and general-secretary of People’s Health Organisation (PHO) Dr Ishwarprasad Gilada, the cases of seafarers infected to HIV is increasing year by year especially in Mumbai. Dr Gilada told UNI, "currently, there are about 25-30 cases of seafarers affected HIV under my treatment in Mumbai city. There are about atleast 10 to 12 hiv cases are been reported as new in this port city" in last year. Many of the cases are not reported and the number of HIV affected cases of seafarers may be more than what has been registered, he said. "Seafarers have access to more money and tend to indulge in heavy drinking which is the real precursor to the unsafe sexual acts," he said. Interestingly, merchant navy has not imposed any restrictions to seafarers sailing to any destinations. The Non Governmental Organisations (NGO) like PHO are demanding that the Government formulate a policy which will sensitise seafarers about the dangers of AIDS. "There should be compulsory education for all seafarers on aids and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD). More over there must be an option for testing the HIV and STD infection in sailors which will curb transmitting and receiving this dangerous disease", Dr Gilada said. When contacted, National Union for Seafarers of India (NUSI) officials said that they were conducting series of awareness seminars and lectures to senstise the seafarers sailing into various ports. The seminars aims at spreading of knowledge of safe sex and the dangers posed by AIDS. Though there is every possibility of HIV infection through unsafe sex, the seafarers hardly gets shore leave when they dock at a foreign port, said a Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) official. "Earlier, there was a saying that every seafarer will be having one wife at each port he visits. Now due to advancement of technology, he hardly gets shore leave as the vessel gets unloaded quickly," he said. Dr Gilada said, "primarily, the shipping fraternity must accept that there is a problem of HIV affected seafares. A strong political will and Government initiative only can curb spread of the disease. There is urgent need to take the the problem rather than shoving the matter under the carpet. The HIV cases can happen to any one who is away from the family and tempted by situations." According to International Maritime Organisation (IMO) sources, the IMO in association while the World Health Organisation and International Labour Organisation (ILO) agreed on a "consensus statement and recommendations" on AIDS and seafarers and among other things, concluded that seafarers are not at particular risk of HIV infection on occupational environment. But interestingly this was in the year of 1989. Meanwhile, Dr Leo Barnes foundation - set up by the late trade union activist Dr Leo Barnes in 1993 - had embarked on a 3-year research project to asses the magnitude of the AIDS problem by finding the incidence and cases of HIV among Indian seafares and their families. (UNI) |
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AIDS drugs to be provided in Govt hospitals NEW DELHI, Nov 30: In a major initiative to tackle the dreaded AIDS, Government today announced that it will provide drugs for the disease in Government hospitals as pharmaceutical industries pledged to lower their prices if incentives were provided. Addressing a press conference on the eve of World AIDS Day here, Union Health Minister Sushma Swaraj said that the programme to provide AIDS medicines in Government hospitals would first begin in the six high-prevalence states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Manipur and Nagaland. The programme is expected to begin from April next and about one lakh AIDS patients are likely to access the drugs through Government hospitals and ante-natal clinics in the first year. Swaraj said that representatives of pharmaceutical industry requested that they be provided with fiscal incentives structure equivalent to the incentives available to them through the Clinton foundation. The minister said that the industry agreed not only to bring down the prices to that of Clinton foundation but also to lower them further for domestic consumption. The Department of Health has taken up the issue with the Finance Ministry seeking appropriate fiscal concessions so that the programme "really takes off", Swaraj said adding her ministry would also be asking for enhanced budgetary support over and above the existing allocation made for the prevention and control of AIDS. She said the Government was also contemplating to bring about a comprehensive legislation on AIDS covering issues like stigma, discrimination, quacks, and drug safety. Her ministry is in touch with the Law Ministry in drafting the legislation which is likely to be introduced in the budget session, she said. "We will not only control this disease but eliminate this disease," Swaraj said adding her ministry has also taken up a Pilot project in Bellary, Karnataka, to make it AIDS-free in five years. The minister said that in the first year, the programme to provide AIDS drugs alone would cost about Rs 113 crore. But if expenditure on tests and machinery is included, the cost would be about Rs 200 crore, she said. She said that country was working on AIDS vaccine on which clinical trials were to begin. India may be the first in the world to produce an AIDS vaccine, she added. (PTI) |
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CPI(M) to work for defeat of TDP-BJP combine VIJAYAWADA, Nov 30: The CPI (M) in Andhra Pradesh will contest on its own in its strongholds and support a "strong secular" candidate in other places to ensure the defeat of the TDP-BJP combine in the coming state assembly elections. Revealing the party’s strategy decided at the crucial CPI(M) central committee meeting at Kolkata on November 14 and 15, veteran Marxist leader and central committee member Patturi Ramaiah told a party cadre preparatory meeting for the elections here today that a greater unity among left parties as also that of secular and democratic forces were needed to dethrone the "anti-people" Vajapyee and the caretaker Chandrababu Naidu Governments. Making it clear that the party opposed tooth and nail the creation of separate Telangana state, he said the party believed that development was possible in the backward regions only under a unified set up. The Chandrababu Naidu Government had advanced the polls in a bid to encash on the perceived sympathy in the wake of the attempt on Mr Naidu’s life, Mr Ramaiah contended, adding that "Naxalism is only a ruse for early polls." Accusing the Vajpayee Government of succumbing to pressure from America, Mr Ramaiah lamented that the Centre went on a spree of selling profit-making public sector units for a song to capitalists, throwing to streets lakhs of employees. Taking note of the opposition to the pro-western World Trade Organisation (WTO) in more than 20 developing countries the Centre should oppose the WTO regime and take steps to protect the interests the people, he added. (UNI) |
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Protests for the second day on opening new liquor shops CHENNAI, Nov 30: For the second day today, people protested in several parts of Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, to the opening of Government-owned liquor shops in residential colonies and at places close to schools and temples. The role of private sector in running the 8500 odd shops in the state ended yesterday with the Government deciding to entrust the job to the state-owned Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC), which was hitherto looking after only the wholesale business. With licensees closing down their shutters in many areas, people found it difficult to locate TASMAC shops in their localities. Those somehow managed to locate the shops, waited outside for hours before sales commenced. TASMAC managed to take over existing shops in several areas. In some places, it had to search for a rented building to do business as owners were unwilling to part with their shops preferring to keep the premises closed, especially in north Chennai. This resulted in delay in many shops being opened yesterday, according to officials. Several private licensees had filed a petition in the Madras High Court recently. The Court gave an order allowing TASMAC to run 7621 shops in the state. The remaining 879 shops were given one more week to do business as they had already deposited the "privilege amount" specified by the Government. The Government had recently promulgated an ordinance to take over the sale of liquor in the state, with a view to put an end to the illicit liquor consumption and ‘cartelisation’ of the trade. (PTI) |
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Centre-NSCN(IM) peace talks
under cloud KOHIMA, Nov 30: Uncertainty looms large over the next round of crucial peace talks between the Centre and the NSCN(IM), scheduled from December 5 at Bangkok, as the Naga outfit has threatened to pull out from the peace parleys. The NSCN (IM) threat is reaction to the reported statement by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at Kohima that re-organisation of the north-eastern states (integration of Naga inhabited areas) was not possible due to lack of consensus. Reacting sharply to the Prime Minister’s statement, NSCN(IM) general secretary Muivah, in a letter to the Centre’s emissary stated that "it was an attempt to switch the ongoing peace process off the tracks". "Under the circumstances", he cautioned, "the NSCN(IM) should not be expected to knock at the door that is closed against them". Sources at the NSCN(IM) said here today that after Mr Muivah’s letter, New Delhi, had immediately promised to enlighten the outfit on its policy on the issue of integration of the Naga areas at the next round of talks. "But the NSCN(IM) has asked the Centre to make a public statement or give in black and white its position on this critical issue so that the atmosphere of political talks between the two parties could be restored to normalcy," he said. While appreciating the Centre’s difficulties, we just cannot afford to accept the attempt at keeping the issue between us,’’ the letter from the NSCN (IM) general secretary said, adding, "the Nagas will not seek solution at the expense of their territories and their rights to other people." "To us, the policy that clearly tends towards making the future of Nagas to be determined according to the consensus of other people is ridiculous, and as such it shall be treated as the greatest insult to the Nagas of our time," Mr Muivah said. Claiming that there was a consensus among the Nagas, he said the insistence on consensus to determine the future of the Nagas was "irrelevant" and "rather an attempt at shifting responsibility to switch the ongoing process off the tracks". (UNI) Zimbabwe imbroglio likely to
dominate CHOGM, NEW DELHI, Nov 30: While President Robert Mugabe has not been invited and officials say the subject is unlikely to come up for discussion, the re-entry of Zimbabwe and perhaps Pakistan are expected to dominate the forthcoming 36th Common Wealth Heads of Government Meet (CHOGM) commencing in Abuja from December 5 to 8. There is a clear division between the developed and developing world on the issue with most African countries favouring the return of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe was suspended from the 54-nation Common Wealth after widespread violence and ballot-rigging in last year’s Presidential elections. Similarly, while India and some African nations oppose the re-entry of Pakistan which had been suspended from the councils of the 54-nation Common Wealth in October 1999 following the military coup by General Pervez Musharraf in that country, Britain and some countries like Australia feel the present Government has taken enough steps to merit re-admission. Pakistan was only suspended and not expelled from the 54-nation group, and no sanctions were imposed. Officially, the Pakistan Government feels its general elections in October last year should have been noted by the Common Wealth, while the opposition parties say this stand exposes the real state of democracy in Pakistan where the Army is firmly in control. The October elections were just a facade to put in place a puppet Government which practically has no powers, the opposition Pakistan People’s party says. Common Wealth Secretariat spokesperson Joel Kibazo was reported to have said in a interview then that the decision would depend on the aftermath of the election that was held last October in Pakistan, while Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan recently said Pakistan’s exclusion was the Common Wealth’s own loss. The eight-member ministerial action group of the Common Wealth (CMAG) which met in New York in September decided to continue the suspension, noting that Pakistan’s Parliament remained deadlocked over proposed constitutional amendments and this was an obstacle for a full return to democracy. The group, comprising foreign ministers of Botswana, Malta, India, Bangladesh, Bahamas, Samoa, Nigeria and Australia, monitors elections in member countries. Queen Elizabeth, who is head of the commonwealth, will inaugurate the summit which is on the theme of ‘democracy and development: partnerships for peace and prosperity’ on December 5. She and her husband, the duke of Edinburgh will be in Nigeria from December 3 to 6. The royal couple, who last visited Nigeria in 1956, though the duke of Edinburgh had visited the country in 1961 and 1989, will also attend other events during their visit. India, which is one of the oldest members of the Common Wealth, which had emerged as a grouping as early as the early 1920s but was formalised only around 1949 though the first Common Wealth heads of Government meet was held in London in 1944, has hosted the meet only once two decades ago from November 23 to 29, 1983. It is also the first time that Nigeria is hosting the biennial CHOGM at a recently renovated international conference centre in Abuja. While the first day will be an official and ministerial meet, the leaders will meet from December 6 to 8. After a public opening session, discussions will be held in camera. Formal social events will be limited to allow Heads of Government maximum opportunity to pursue their discussions bilaterally or in small groups. As in previous meets, there will be a ‘retreat’ at the Presidential villa (otherwise called aso rock) in Abuja on December 6 and 7. At the retreat, Common Wealth leaders will meet without any other ministers or officials being present. A report on Common Wealth activity will be issued on December 5, while a declaration may be issued at the conclusion of the retreat on December 7 and a final communiqui at the conclusion of CHOGM on December 8. The CHOGM will also see a lot of activity outside the main venue. There will be a one-day pre-CHOGM meet of journalists on democracy and development, organized by the Common Wealth Press Union in collaboration with the information department of the Common Wealth Secretariat in the media centre, Abuja. The Common Wealth Human Rights initiative will bring together similar Non-Government Organizations in a meet on December 3 and 4 besides presenting its report on Human Rights violations in member countries to the Common Wealth. The CHOGM meets are the main forum where heads of State and Government meet bi-annually to review global developments in relation to the group that comprises both developed and developing countries in every continent. With a population of 1.7 billion people or 30 per cent of the global total, the Common Wealth is a group of former British colonies and its satellite states. While the first 18 meets were held in London, it was only with the nineteenth meet in Singapore in 1971 that CHOGM moved out of Britain which subsequently hosted three other meets, one of which was in Edinburgh. While Australia and Canada have hosted two meets each, Africa hosted three meets — Durban, Harare, and Lusaka. Other countries to host the meet once each are New Zealand, Cyprus, Malaysia, Jamaica, Nassau, Singapore and India. Abuja, the federal capital territory and the capital of Nigeria was created in 1976 and officially replaced Lagos as capital in December 1991, after 15 years of planning and construction. The city has seen a major renovation drive over the past few months, which include a new terminal extension to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International airport where a logistics centre has also been reconstructed. (UNI) NEW DELHI, Nov 30: The stage is set for the much-hyped elections to the Delhi, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh assemblies tomorrow in which the BJP is engaged in a crucial battle with Congress to wrest power to bolster its prospects in the Lok Sabha polls next year. Projected by many as "semi-finals" to next year’s "finals" (general elections), the elections would reflect the political preference of voters and also decide the fate of political leaders of the Hindi heartland including Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit besides BJP’s Uma Bharti, Madan Lal Khurana and Vasundhara Raje Scindia. Over 5,000 candidates are vying to win the confidence of an estimated nine crore voters in the four states. The maximum number of 2171 candidates are in the fray for the 230 member Madhya Pradesh assembly, followed by 1541 for the 200 strong Rajasthan house, 819 for the 90 seats at stake in Chhattisgarh and 817 for the 70 constituencies in Delhi. The counting of votes for the four states and two assembly bypoll seats, one each in Kerala and Gujarat, polling for which will also be held on Monday, would be taken up on December 4 and all results are expected to be declared by the afternoon of December 4 itself as electronic voting machines would be used. A tight security umbrella has been thrown over the four states, particularly the Naxalite-prone areas of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, with the deployment of four lakh police and para-military personnel. Rajasthan has the highest number of 4410 ‘hyper sensitive’ polling stations followed by Chhattisgarh (1580) and Delhi (29). Madhya Pradesh has the largest number of 11,859 "sensitive" polling stations, followed by Rajasthan (4529), Chhattisgarh (3399) and Delhi (211). Over five lakh poll officials have been mobilised for the exercise in over 10.2 lakh polling booths in the four states. Two mi-8 and four Chetak helicopters have been taken from the Indian Air Force and polling personnel would be ferried to the interior areas of three Naxal-infected districts of Bastar, Kanker and Dantewda in Chhattisgarh where at least 70 companies of paramilitary forces (approximately 7,000) The poll marks the culmination of an acrimonious fortnight long campaign focusing among other things on the cash-on-camera scam involving senior BJP leader Dilip Singh Judeo. The BJP based its campaign primarily on the issue of lack of development in the four Congress-ruled states besides occasionally raising pet Hindutva issues and Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin. Preceded by surveys and opinion poll which mostly predicted return of the Congress, save for Madhya Pradesh, tomorrow’s elections may set off fresh thinking ahead of the Lok Sabha polls among certain parties. In Rajasthan, BJP is contesting 197 of the 200 seats, leaving three for NDA ally Janata Dal (United) while in Delhi, it has left four seats for another ally Akali Dal. Congress is contesting all seats in Madhya Pradesh, except the one it has left for Republican Party of India. Other NDA allies including Shiv Sena (27 seats) and Trinamool Congress (2) are pitted against BJP in Delhi. Candidates from BSP, NCP, INLD, SP, CPI, Social Justice Front and Independents are also in the fray. BJP general secretary Shivraj Singh Chauhan and senior party leader Nand Kumar Sai are contesting against the Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh respectively while business executive turned politician Mahendra Jhabak takes on Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Kirti Azad’s wife Poonam Azad challenges the Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. Other prominent candidates in the fray are BJP’s Vasundhara Raje in Rajasthan, Uma Bharti in Madhya Pradesh and Madan Lal Khurana in Delhi. (PTI) Voting for Rajasthan’s
first assembly of new JAIPUR, Nov 30: Five years after the Congress swept to power with its biggest ever majority in the 200-member Rajasthan assembly, 33 million people go to vote tomorrow in a referendum on the Government’s performance. As many as 126 of its sitting MLAs are among the 200 candidates fielded by the Congress, which is seeking another term in office citing its "excellent" work during the difficult drought period and the progress achieved in infrastructure and power sectors. With the slogan of change (Parivartan), the main opposition BJP, on the other hand, is contesting 197 seats under the leadership of its charismatic Chief Ministerial candidate Vasundhara Raje Scindia. The BJP has promised employment to 1,00,000 people a year and allocation of 60 per cent of the budget for development work in rural areas if voted to power. As the acrimonious campaigning came to an end last evening, the political leaders are busy assessing their victory chances in the polls. Both the congress and the BJP are expecting a comfortable majority while almost every small political party is claiming that it will have a deciding role in Government formation. Pre-poll surveys too have left a confusing picture with no two of them tallying about the outcome. In an atmosphere where there is no wave per SE for or against any party, the voter is keeping his cards close to his chest. While there is praise for the Government’s handling of the drought crisis, the most serious in a hundred years, a mood against the sitting MLA is evident in many constituencies. It now remains to be seen how much weight the Congress sheds. A host of senior leaders of the congress and the BJP — the two main parties — campaigned in the state over the past few days. It was the first election since Independence when the stalwart BJP leader Bhairon Singh Shekhawat was not in the scene. His absence saw a major change in the BJP, with the party giving tickets to many new faces as it sought to strengthen the leadership of Ms Scindia, who is expecting to gain from both the veneration still accorded to royalty in the state’s traditional society as well as the change aspired by the new generation. Voters had given an unprecedented 153 seats to the Congress in the 200-member assembly in the last polls, leaving the BJP with just 33 seats. The Rashtriya Janata Dal and the CPI(M) got one seat each while the Janata Dal won three seats and the BSP 2. The rest who won were independents. Altogether 3,39,13,887 electors, including 1,61,82,857 women and 60,779 service voters, are eligible to exercise their franchise through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) to decide the fate of the 1,541 contestants, of which 114 are women, at 35,689 polling stations tomorrow. Apart from the Congress and BJP, the Bahujan Samaj Party (124 candidates), the Rajasthan Samajik Nyay Manch (64), the Samajwadi Party (63), the INLD (50), the CPI (15), the CPM (19), the JD(U) (10), JD (S) (9) and 556 independents are also in the fray. Prominent among those facing tough contests are Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Ms Scindia, former Chief Ministers Shiv Charan Mathur, Jagannath Pahadia and Hira Lal Devpura, Congress MP Rama Pilot, assembly Deputy Speaker Devendra Singh, RCNM leader Devi Singh Bhati and a Horde of State Ministers and sitting legislators. For the first time an eunuch called Sushila spiced up the contest in the pilgrim city of Pushkar while a magician wooed the electorate with all the tricks at his command from Soorsagar in Jodhpur district. In Jaipur’s Bani park constituency, Independent Tej Prakash Kalla, who runs a motor driving school, occupied a sofa tied atop a moving car as he went around campaigning. Wrestler Natthan Singh is in the electoral arena from deeg in Bharatpur district as an Independent. Members of the former royal families have made the contest tough in a few constituencies. Lending support to the BJP against Mr Gehlot in the Sardarpura constituency is the former Jodhpur royalty, which commands much respect in the area. The contest has been made interesting also by rebel candidates of the Congress and the BJP. The rebels, who are contesting either as Independents or as nominees of different political parties, might even tilt the electoral balance in a few constituencies. Caste came to the fore once again and the traditional loyalties of caste groups towards political parties have been the subject of much speculation after the reservation movement and inter-community differences over which party is the best. As many as 8,939 of the polling stations in the state have been declared sensitive or hypersensitive. For the peaceful and smooth conduct of the polls, 110 companies of Central Para-Military Forces, besides State Police and Home Guard jawans have been deployed in the state and the election process being monitored by 131 EC observers. (UNI) Army sponsors ‘operation Sangam’ for Kashmiri children SRINAGAR, Nov 30: Fifteen-year-old Asif Khan from a remote village near Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir valley could hardly believe that his longing to visit other parts of the country was coming true as he alongwith other children embarked on a tour to New Delhi, Mumbai and Agra. Khan, hailing from Dardkote village in Kupwara district, was among 35 children sponsored by the army to tour the places of cultural and historical importance in the country under ‘operation Sangam’ from November 28-December 15, 2003. "I have been longing to see the sea (Mumbai), Taj Mahal and the Qutub Minar. It is yet to sink in that... I will be at these places which I have seen in pictures and read about in the books," Khan, a ninth class student, said. Khan said it would not have been possible for him to undertake such a tour as his father, a village numberdar, was not in a position to afford the expenses. Echoing similar feelings, another ninth Grader Tahir Mohiuddin Shiekh, from a village in Uri, said his father, a school teacher, is just able to meet the expenses of the ten family members. Travelling out of the state would be a luxury. Shiekh, who is last of the eight siblings, said his aim would be to understand the cultural diversity of other places and how people live there. "I have heard a lot about people of other places... Now I want to test that and see how much of it is true, he added. Sixteen-year-old Bilal Hussain from Tangdhar sector said around half the children in the group were to step out of the Valley for the first time. "We are very thankful to Army for giving us this learning opportunity. Most of us belong to poor families...Half of us had never been to even Srinagar before this day," he said. Asked where he would like to spend most of his time, he said Taj Mahal. Why? "because it is a symbol of eternal love...And I want to see that marvel". An Army official said the aim of the tour was to offer the benefits of its infrastructure to the vivacious and energetic minds and achieve their dreams. This group will proceed to Mumbai, Delhi and other places to witness the cultural, scientific and economic marvel of the country, he said. The Western Naval Command would host children in Mumbai and they will spend a day at sea aboard an aircraft carrier, he said, adding they will also visit Essel World Theme Park. From Mumbai, the group will make its way to Agra, from where they will visit the national capital, he added. (PTI) |
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