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No proposal under consideration for mandatory HIV test of groom NEW DELHI, Dec 8 Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss today told the Lok Sabha that ....more Government to consider request by states to ban gutka NEW DELHI, Dec 8: Expressing concern at the rising cases of cancer, Minister...more Govt
to consider request NEW DELHI, Dec 8: Expressing concern at the rising cases of cancer, Minister for ...more BJP’s bullock-cart procession halted, MLAs hurt PATNA, Dec 8: Two senior BJP MLAs, including its legislative party leader .....more |
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Exclusive clinic to treat Brachial plexus injuries COIMBATORE, Dec 8: An exclusive clinic to treat injuries to ‘Brachial plexus,’ (nerves going from spinal cord to the muscles of hands) and.......more Opposition walk out of LS on Lalu-Paswan spat NEW DELHI, Dec 8: The spat between cabinet ministers Lalu Prasad and Ramvilas Paswan rocked the Lok Sabha ....more Bihar House adjourns twice amid noisy scenes PATNA, Dec 8: Amid unruly scenes, Bihar Assembly was today adjourned twice in the first-half with the agitated .....more Defence forces need cost consciousness approach: Air Chief NEW DELHI, Dec 8: With a large portion of India’s citizens still living below the poverty line,.....more |
No proposal under consideration for mandatory HIV test of groom NEW DELHI, Dec 8 Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss today told the Lok Sabha that there is no proposal under consideration of the Government for making mandatory the blood test for HIV/AIDS of the groom at the time of marriage. "Its a social issue and needs more discussion before formulating a law," the minister said while replying to a question by a women member, who wanted that a legislation be enforced in this regard to protect women. The minister said there were a total of 91,080 AIDS patients in the country by the end of October, 2004. However, according to rough estimates, more than 5.1 million persons were affected in the country. Dr Ramadoss said the anti-retroviral medicines being manufactured in the country were cost effective in comparison to similar medicines manufactured in other countries. While Indian companies charged between Rs 5,967 and Rs 10,585 per patient per year, the cost of same medicines in other countries was between Rs 9,108 and Rs 15,347 per patient per year. The minister said the anti-AIDS vaccine was still under trial and had not been marketed so far anywhere in the world. (UNI) |
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Government to consider request by states to ban gutka NEW DELHI, Dec 8: Expressing concern at the rising cases of cancer, Minister for Health and Family Welfare Anbumani Ramadoss today told the Lok Sabha that the Central Government will consider favourably proposals from State Governments for banning ‘gutka’. Answering a spate of supplementaries, Mr Ramadoss admitted that resources were a constraint in meeting the requirements of tackling the dreaded disease. He said legislative measures relating to the treatment of the disease by quacks would be made more stringent. The minister said the Government proposed to set up at least one Regional Cancer Centre(RCC) in every state and in the bigger states, like Uttar Pradesh, two such centres will be provided. Mr Ramadoss admitted that the cost of treatment of cancer was on the rise and said effort was to increase the facilities in Government hospitals. This would help the poor patients, among whom the incidence of cancer cases was higher due to factors like greater use of tobacco, use of drugs and poor dietary habits. Mr Ramadoss said the cigarette companies were making no contribution towards treatment and reserach of cancer. Mr Ramadoss said at present there were 20 RCCs in different parts of the country which were recognised under the National Cancer Control Programme(NCCP) for comprehensive cancer treatment facilities and research. The programme was launched in 1975 with the objectives of prevention, early detection and treatment of cancer. The ministry had been assisting various RCCs with a grant of Rs 75 lakh per annum for procurement of equipment and research. Under the revised programme, a one time assistance of upto Rs three crore can be extended to the RCCs based on an action plan submitted by them for augmenting cancer treatment facilities. Mr Ramadoss said RCC, Trivandrum, had sent proposals for financial assistance for the year 2004-05. This entailed a grant of Rs three crore under the RCC scheme and a grant of Rs two crore under the oncology wing development scheme. He said these proposals were under the consideration of his ministry. Mr Ramadoss said assistance will would provided to them subject to technical evaluation and availability of funds. (UNI) |
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Govt to consider request by states to ban gutka NEW DELHI, Dec 8: Expressing concern at the rising cases of cancer, Minister for Health and Family Welfare Anbumani Ramadoss today told the Lok Sabha that the Central Government will consider favourably proposals from State Governments for banning ‘Gutka’. Answering a spate of supplementaries, Mr Ramadoss admitted that resources were a constraint in meeting the requirements of tackling the dreaded disease. He said legislative measures relating to the treatment of the disease by quacks would be made more stringent. The minister said the Government proposed to set up at least one Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) in every state and in the bigger states, like Uttar Pradesh, two such centres will be provided. Mr Ramadoss admitted that the cost of treatment of cancer was on the rise and said effort was to increase the facilities in Government hospitals. This would help the poor patients, among whom the incidence of cancer cases was higher due to factors like greater use of tobacco, use of drugs and poor dietary habits. Mr Ramadoss said the cigarette companies were making no contribution towards treatment and reserach of cancer. Mr Ramadoss said at present there were 20 rccs in different parts of the country which were recognised under the National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP) for comprehensive cancer treatment facilities and research. The programme was launched in 1975 with the objectives of prevention, early detection and treatment of cancer. The ministry had been assisting various RCCs with a grant of Rs 75 lakh per annum for procurement of equipment and research. Under the revised programme, a one time assistance of upto rs three crore can be extended to the rccs based on an action plan submitted by them for augmenting cancer treatment facilities. Mr Ramadoss said RCC, Trivandrum, had sent proposals for financial assistance for the year 2004-05. This entailed a grant of Rs three crore under the RCC scheme and a grant of Rs two crore under the oncology wing development scheme. He said these proposals were under the consideration of his ministry. Mr Ramadoss said assistance will would provided to them subject to technical evaluation and availability of funds. (UNI) BJP’s bullock-cart procession halted, MLAs hurt PATNA, Dec 8: Two senior BJP MLAs, including its legislative party leader in the Bihar Assembly, Ashvini Kumar Chaubey, were injured in a scuffle with policemen when they tried to force their way into the Bihar legislature complex on bullock carts to protest soaring prices and deteoriating law and order situation in the state. When Chaubey, at the head of the convoy of ten bullock carts, arrived near the complex housing the Vidhan Sabha and Vidhan Parishad, the procession was halted by the security personnel who pleaded with the BJP MLAs to return as it was a prohibited area where processions were not allowed. A scuffle ensued after heated exchanges between the slogan-shouting BJP legislators and the securitymen in which Chaubey and another MLA Dilip Verma received minor injures and their clothes got torn. As the shoving and jostling continued for some time, senior district officials, including Senior Superintendent of Police N H Khan, persuaded the MLAs to alight and allowed them to march in a procession to the Assembly where the angry legislators sat on a dharna at the portico chanting anti-Government slogans. When the house sat for the day, an agitated Verma lay on the official reporters’ table as Chaubey demanded resignation of the Government for the misbehaviour of the police with public representatives. The BJP MLAs were soon joined by their JD(U), LJP and CPI-ML counterparts in the well demanding resignation of the Rabri Devi Government for its alleged failure to check lawlessness, contain price rise and address the problems of the farmers. When repeated pleas by Speaker Sadanand Singh to restore order went unheeded, he ordered the Marshal to get Verma, who lay on the table, physically evicted. Even after Verma’s eviction, opposition MLAs showed no signs of relenting, forcing the Speaker to adjourn the house till noon within five minutes of commencement of today’s sitting. The vital question hour could not be taken up for the third day in a row on account of the noisy scenes created by the opposition over various issues. Later, the NDA members sat on a dharna in front of the official chamber of the speaker to protest against the "misconduct" of the security staff. (PTI) |
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Defence forces need cost consciousness approach: Air Chief NEW DELHI, Dec 8: With a large portion of India’s citizens still living below the poverty line, the defence forces had to adopt a cost conscious approach towards development which focussed more on the "upgradation" of manpower, Air Marshal’s Krishnaswamy said today. "Machines alone do not matter or the size of the force. It is the quality of the manpower. We cannot go on asking for more money, we have to get maximum mileage for our penny," he said addressing a national seminar on `air power in the new millennium’ here. In his speech read out in absentia, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee also expressed a similar opinion, saying "it is necessary to remember the dictum that man is more important than the machine." Krishnaswamy, who is the chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, said a large portion of the populace were still living on the margins. "Therefore, we need to be patient and demonstrate to our people that we are responsible for every penny we receive. Forty nine per cent of our machines are old ... They cannot be changed at one go. We need to be more cost conscious." Krishnaswamy said no single technology was superior to others but their effectiveness lay in how they were used. "Our MIG-21s have combatted even F-16s. At the end of the day, the mind matters and we have a winner there. "While we can induct new technology, it is very difficult to upgrade manpower. This has to be responsibility of the establishment," he said. Mukherjee said high technology alone could not provide competitive advantage and it was important to "internalise" it to the planning process. The Defence Minister said the country needed a much higher level of autonomy in design and development of military and aviation technology than at present. "The heavy capital costs of acquiring air power system itself demands that we try and invest as much of the expenditure within the country as possible. Long-term capacity building also assumes significance. "We are planning collaboration and joint projects not only for manufacture under license as was the case earlier, but also in the area of design and development of systems. At the same time, we have opened the defence industry for private sector participation," Mukherjee said in his speech. Krishnaswamy said "indigenization" should not remain limited to licensed production but original ideas had to be encouraged. "The end users have to be involved in the design process," he said. The Air Chief said the role of India’s Air Force was set to undergo a change as the country had acquired nuclear status and was facing the challenge of terrorism. "Speed, success and precision" had to be the Air Force’s cornerstones, he advocated. Mukherjee said: "Our aim in this country has always been to try and prevent wars through deterrence capabilities to support diplomatic activities. But deterrence must also cater for its own failure as we have witnessed so often in the past. "Our conventional military capability, therefore, should not only provide credible deterrence, but also the ability to defeat the enemy in case of deterrence failure," he said. (PTI) |
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NC accuses PDP of turning a blind eye to HR violations SRINAGAR, Dec 8: Defending its participation in a hunger strike sponsored by the moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference here, opposition National Conference today accused Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed of "turning a blind eye" to the alleged human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir. "We have joined the Hurriyat-sponsored hunger strike to express our resentment against the gross violation of human rights in the State and convey to the people that we are not going to compromise on the issues concerning them," senior party leader and former minister Ali Mohammad Sagar said. Flanked by several party leaders, including youth National Conference president Irfan Shah, Sagar alleged that the "coalition Government has miserably failed to put an end to the human rights violations in the State." "Human rights violations had taken place during our rule as well but we had initiated action as and when such incidents came to our notice," Sagar told reporters here. Charging the PDP and Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed with playing the human rights card for capturing power, he said "today the party (PDP) has not only failed to put an end to the violations, but Sayeed himself came defending the erring personnel whenever people raise their voice." On the human rights issue, he said National Conference was even ready to join hands with the hardline faction of Hurriyat Conference. "We are ready to join hands with Syed Ali Shah Geelani on the issue even as we have ideological differences with the separatists," he added. Sagar also backed Hurriyat’s demand to allow them to visit Pakistan, saying the separatists should be allowed to hold talks with Pakistan and militant leaders there. (PTI) Task force to promote India as health destination set up NEW DELHI, Dec 8: A task force has been set up by the Government to promote India as a global health destination and to gainfully utilise the health care expertise and the infrastructure available in the country. In a written reply to the Lok Sabha today, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Panabaka Lakshmi said the task force had been entrusted with issues relating to making available specific types of health facilities including super-speciality medical care, outsourcing of medical services and traditional medicine expertise. Indentification of the list of hospitals and institutions having standard facility had also been entrusted to the task force, the minister said. To another question she said the Health Ministry had focused on early detection, prevention, creating awareness and also assisting in augmentation of cancer treatment facilities in the country. The national cancer control programme had been revised with a total outlay of Rs 266 crores during the tenth five year plan and under under which emphasis was laid on prevention through health education and awareness, early detection of cancer under the district cancer control programme, augmentation of the cancer treatment facilities under the regional cancer centre and the strengthening of the oncology wing development schemes. Mr Mukherjee said he did not know whether the Government was poor-friendly or corporate friendly. "If the Government is poor-friendly then instead of raising the petrol prices, it should recover the tax arrears from the corporates which run into Rs 100,000 crore". Congress member V Narainswamy said the Government had to strike a balance between protecting consumers’ interest and the profitability of the oil companies. Former Finance Minister and senior BJP member Yashwant Sinha said it was the left which was doing politics on the issue of oil prices. He denied the charges by the Left parties that the BJP was supporting the price hike. "We do not run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. It is the Left parties which are hypocrites. They go and do indoor meetings with the Government touching its feet and come out and behave like lions on the streets. They show white flag inside the Government and red flag on the street," he said. The former Finance Minister said the people of the country had seen through the games of the Left parties which supported the Government in implementation of all its decisions, including the price hike of oil. He asked the CPI-M members whether the Left Government in West Bengal would abolish the sales tax if their "heart was bleeding for the poor". Mr Sinha asked the Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister to clarify whether the Government would continue with the policies of the NDA Government to allow private sector retailing. All India Trinamool Congress member Dinesh Trivedi said the consumer price index for rural areas had increased much more than the consumer price index for urban areas. Shiv Sena member Sanjay Nirupam wanted the Government to ensure that petrol prices were reduced in Mumbai where the consumers pay the most. "Why are prices in Mumbai, where headquarters of all refinery companies are located, the highest in the country". The minister said a study conducted by an international agency had found that diesel and gasoline engine exhaust was carcinogenic to human, however, the main environmental risk factor for leukaemia was the ionising radiation. To an another question on fluorosis, she said the Government was examining the proposal to formulate a national programme to control flurosis in the country. On the growing incidence of heart disease, she said the increase was due to change in the life style of the people and low intake of fibre and micro-nutrients. The Government, she said had undertaken a massive campaign for increasing health awarness about heart disease and healthy living practices. In another reply she said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had descriobed influenza as one of the scourages of mankind as it caused frequent epidemics and periodic pandemics. Nearly 0.5-1 million people die worldwide due to this disease. Considering the public health importance of influenza, the World Health Organisation had established a network of national influenza centres all over the world to assist the different countries in planning devises to control the menace. On diabetes, the minister said the current prevalance of disease stood at 12 percent in all urban adults. Prevalance of the disease was however low in the rural areas standing approximately three percent. (UNI) TCS chief for user-friendly storage solutions BANGALORE, Dec 8: The head of India’s largest software services company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) today stressed the need for simplification of storage networking solutions to ensure the ease of operation of such systems by customers. "The whole business of storage networking has become increasingly complex. The focus now should be to cut out the complexity," TCS chief executive officer and managing director S Ramadorai said at the third storage networking summit here. "If you cannot out the complexity, at least conceal it from the user: Create an interface which is very simple and let the machine handle the complexity," he added. On the process side, he suggested that ease of use could be brought about by the introduction of life-cycle management technology while the use of more self-diagnostic tools and remote monitoring could form part of contribution of software towards simplifying storage networking. Mr Ramadorai also urged the storage industry to come up with solutions depending on the size of a customer’s business. "Small and medium enterprises will require simple, affordable solutions while large companies will demand solutions that are vendor-neutral," he stated. Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) chairperson Sheila Childs said the global market for storage solutions was estimated at US dollar 50 billion. In India, she said the market was growing at 17 per cent and was projected to reach US dollar 450 million in 2005. SNIA-India chairperson P K Gupta observed that demand for storage in the country had gone up in the last two years from one petabyte (1,000 terabytes) to 5.2 petabytes. Each telecom company on average was currently storing 500 terabytes of data, he added. (UNI) Sweden hands over Tagore’s Nobel medal replicas to India NEW DELHI, Dec 8: The Swedish Government today handed over to the Indian Government two replicas of Rabindra Nath Tagore’s Nobel prize medal, which was stolen from Vishva Bharati University Museum earlier this year. Swedish Foreign Secretary Hans Dahlgren presented one gold and one gilded bronze reinstated replica of Tagore’s Nobel medal to External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh, at the latter’s north block office here this morning. "It is a great honour for Sweden to return Tagore’s medal. After the medal was stolen it had caused great sadness across India. With the handing over Indians will be extremely happy," Mr Dahlgren told reporters after handing over the replicas. "We handed over the medal two days ahead of Nobel day on December 10. So the timing is significant and moment of great pleasure for us," he said. Nobel prizes are handed over every year on December 10. "There is hardly any difference between the original medal and the replicas. They are exact replicas of the original medal," he said, adding, "it is a recognition to a great Indian and others will draw insipiration from his feats and emulate him." "The replicas are being presented on the request of Vishwa Bharti. This is a very exceptional gesture. In fact, it has never been done before by the Swedish Nobel foundation" Mr Dahlgren pointed out. Mr Natwar Singh said he was very happy to receive the replicas and it was a very important event. "I am accepting them on behalf of the Vishva Bharati University and would be travelling to Shantiniketan shortly to personally hand them over to authorities. The Swedish Ambassador to India Inga Eriksson Fogh would also accompany me," Mr Singh said. Ms Fogh said dates for this were being worked out. "Tagore was not only the first Indian to receive the Nobel prize, infact he was the first Asian to receive so. The Nobel prize awarded to him in 1913 was not only an acknowledgement of his poetry but also to the cultural renaissance movement in India at that time," the Foreign Minister said. "The gesture to hand over the replicas shows deep historical and cultural ties between two countries," he said. The Nobel prize medal, awarded to Tagore in 1913 for his literary creation ‘Gitanjali,’ and some other priceless artifacts were stolen from the university museum earlier this year resulting in a public outcry. Despite high-level investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) the medal could not be recovered till now. So the university, whose Chancellor is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, subsequently requested the Nobel foundation to explore the possibility of minting a replica of the medal for exhibition purposes which was accepted. Tagore was the first Indian to receive the Nobel prize followed by C V Raman (Physics 1930) Dr Hargobind Khurana (Medicine 1968), Mother Teresa (Peace 1979) Mr Subramanyan Chandrashekhar (Physics 1983), Mr Amartya Sen (Economics 1998) and Sir V S Naipaul (Literature 2001). (UNI) |
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