Tibetans
observe fast, 10 youths tonsure heads
UDHAGAMANDALAM, Apr 7:
Over
100 Tibetans, including 50 women, today
observed a one-day fast here, appealing
to the UN to "wake up and act
against the human rights violations
against their colleagues" in Tibet.
Police
said 112 Tibets sat on fast here, holding
placards like ‘save Tibet’ and
‘free Tibet from China.’ Ten
Tibetan youths tonsured their heads in
protest against the Chinese
‘crackdown’, writing on their
heads words such as ‘Wake up
UNO’ and ‘Save Tibet,’
police said.
Meanwhile,
about 450 members of the Tibetans Refugee
Welfare Association have sent fax
messages to the UN secretary general,
seeking his intervention in the issue,
immediately.
The
‘Tibetan market’ here,
comprising small shops set up by Tibetans
selling sweaters, has been closed for
nearly a fortnight, over the issue, the
sources said. (PTI)
Bird
flu spreads to Tripura, outbreak
confirmed
AGARTALA, Apr 7: Bird flu has spread
to Tripura after a new outbreak of the
deadly disease was confirmed in the
northeast state following which
authorities ordered culling of 25,000
birds.
Tests
after hundreds of birds died in the past
two weeks in Dhalai district bordering
Bangladesh showed that the avian disease
had killed them, official sources said
here today.
A red
alert was sounded by the State Government
to prohibit import of poultry from
outside the state which shares a
856-km-long porous border with
Bangladesh. Personnel of BSF and special
surveillance team are keeping a close
watch in these border areas, the sources
said.
Tripura
was gripped by the flu scare after at
least 3,000 birds, including poultry,
died in three villages of Mohanpur,
Malaya and Tilagang in Kamalpur
sub-division in Dhalai district bordering
Bangladesh, the sources said.
Samples of
the dead poultry were then sent to the
high-security Animal Disease Diagnostic
Laboratory in Bhopal, on Thursday. The
samples tested positive according to
preliminary reports received yesterday,
the sources added.
An alarmed
state administration has decided to cull
25,000 birds in eight gram panchayat
areas which falls within five-km radius
of the affected villages.
The
administration has also kept 200 teams
ready for culling and procured anti-flu
virus from Delhi to prepare for any
eventuality.
Bird flu
broke out in West Bengal in January
prompting the slaughter of about 4
million poultry in an attempt to control
the disease in rural areas of the state.
Commissioner
of Animal Resource Department U
Venkateswarlu reviewed the situation at a
high-level meeting. (PTI)
India
to see increase in vector, water-borne
diseases: WHO
NEW DELHI, Apr 7: Predicting a
plethora of health problems as a result
of climate change, the World Health
Organisation (WHO) today said countries
like India would see an increase in
vector and water-borne diseases specially
in the northern region as a result of
global warming.
"The
window of transmission for a disease like
malaria would go up by nearly three
months. Other vector-borne diseases would
see a rise in northern region of the
country," WHO representative in
India Salim Habayeb told a press
conference here on the occasion of World
Health Day.
Emphasising
on the "serious and damaging
effects" of climate change on human
health, WHO Regional Director Samlee
Pilanbangchang said, "air quality
will suffer greatly and respiratory
diseases will increase".
"Heat
waves will be more intense and of longer
duration, mainly affecting the most
vulnerable populations in children and
elderly through heat strokes and
cardiovascular complications," he
said.
According
to him, the six health outcomes which are
likely to be affected by climate change
in the region are-respiratory diseases,
vector-borne diseases, water-borne
diseases, malnutrition, injuries and
psychological stress.
The
majority of the diseases would be a
result of changing rain patterns due to
melting of glaciers and resultant natural
calamities like floods and cyclones, WHO
Deputy Regional Director Poonam Khetrapal
Singh said.
Cautioning
Governments against taking the threat of
climate change lightly, Chairperson of
the Inter-Governmental Panel for climate
change R K Pachauri said in a message,
"though as of now there is no
evidence to link the changing disease
patterns to climate change, if we wait
for evidence before taking any action, it
might be too late".
"We
definitely need to look at this entire
set of problems before waiting for
evidence to manifest itself," he
said.
Enumerating
the various measures which can be taken
by governments to curb the effects of
climate change, Singh said, countries
generally focus on adaptive measures and
mitigation.
While
mitigation includes steps like cutting
down on emissions, it is adaptive
measures like strengthening existing
health care facilities and building up of
a system of warnings which will deal with
natural calamities like cyclones and
floods.
"India
has already started working on these
steps," Habayeb said.
Singh said
it was not only India which needed to
work towards this end. "We can see
cases of Dengue and Chickenguya being
reported from places as far as Europe and
North America".
Food
shortage and malnutrition are some of the
other problems which would be the result
of climate change, she said.
Asserting
that preparedness is the key, Singh said
"we have developed benchmarks in
collaboration with countries which would
go a long way in handling these
incidents". (PTI)
Congress
waiting for allies’ reply: Mohan
Prakash
RANCHI, Apr 7: Congress today said
it was waiting for a formal reply from
its UPA allies the JMM and the RJD
In
Jharkhand after apprising them of the
party’s displeasure over the state
Government’s
‘performance’, five months
after delivering a ‘perform or
perish’ ultimatum to the Madhu Koda
regime.
"We
have conveyed our concerns and feelings
to the allies on the UPA Government in
Jharkhand, and are waiting for their
replies," Congress national
spokesman Mohan Prakash told reporters
here.
He was
replying to a query as to whether the
Congress’ dialogue with its allies
was concluded and when the party would
act on its 60-day ultimatum that was
given on November 15 last year and which
expired on January 15 this year.
Ajay
Maken, the Union Minister of State for
Urban Development and party’s
in-charge of Jharkhand affairs, had
delivered the ultimatum to Chief Minister
Madhu Koda.
Maken on
several occasions said the Congress would
take a final decision only after
discussing with its allies.
Last
month, Maken said that the Congress would
try to convince the JMM and the RJD that
it was not ‘happy’ with the
performance of the Koda Government,
particularly ‘failing in controlling
corruption’ and ‘tardy pace of
development’, and that the party
expected support from the allies on the
Congress’ stand.
On price
rise, Prakash said the Centre initiated
several steps like correcting the
imbalance in supply/demand, rectifying
the public distribution system and stop
hike in prices of essential commodities
to rein in price rise. (PTI)
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