After years of wait, India is all set to have a health programme for its
nine crore urban poor. The Expenditure
Finance Committee (EFC) cleared the Union health ministry's blue print of a
National Urban Health Mission
(NUHM). The ministry will soon take the Rs 22,000-crore proposal to the
Cabinet. Nearly 75% of this budget
will be funded by the Centre. NUHM will be launched in 779 cities or towns
that have a population of 50,000
or more along with seven mega cities Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai,
Bangalore, Hyderabad and
Ahmedabad. Contrary to popular belief, the health standards of the urban
poor in most cases are worse than
their rural counterparts. More than two million births occur annually among
the urban poor, and the health
indicators in this group are poor. Around 56% deliveries among the urban
poor take place at home. The
under-5 mortality among urban poor at 72.7% is significantly higher than
the urban average of 51.9%. Nearly
60% urban poor children do not receive complete immunization compared to
58% in rural areas, 47.1%
urban poor children less than three are underweight as compared to 45% in
rural areas and 59% of women
(15-49 age group) are anemic as compared to 57% in rural India. Over 285
million urban people in India
account for 28% of the country's total population. It is expected to
increase (371 million) to 33% by 2026.
Centre to maintain Army cover for Brar
The Union government has took stock of the security arrangements for Lt.
General (retd) K.S. Brar, who
survived an assassination attempt in London, and decided to maintain the
tight cover provided to him by
Army personnel. The issue of security cover for General Brar, who was
involved in ‘Operation Blue Star’ in
1984, was discussed threadbare at a high-level meeting chaired by Union
Home Secretary R.K. Singh.
General Brar, who was stabbed in the neck and cheek near Oxford Street in
London on September 30 when
he was walking down to his hotel with his wife, had said he was convinced
that the attackers were pro-
Khalistan elements and they had intended to kill him.
New M.P. Chief Justice
Justice Sharad Bobde of the Bombay High Court has been elevated as Chief
Justice of the Madhya Pradesh
High Court. He will be sworn in on October 16. Justice Bobde, 56, during
his stint at the Bombay High Court
has heard several important public interest cases pertaining to Adarsh
Housing Society, Lavasa Corporation
and Maval firing case among others.
Panel to go into all aspects of endosulfan
The Supreme Court has appointed an expert committee to go into all aspects
of the ban on endosulfan and
the disposal of the existing quantity of the pesticide. The court has asked
the Centre to spell out its stand on
the manufacture and use of endosulfan in the country. A Bench comprising
Justice Swatanter Kumar and
Justice Madan B. Lokur, hearing a writ petition filed by the Democratic
Youth Federation of India, said the
committee to be headed by the Director General of the Indian Council of
Medical Research (ICMR) would
have the Member-Secretary of the Centre Pollution Control Board, two
scientists, and the Joint Secretary of
Plant Protection from the Agriculture Ministry on it. The panel would also
recommend whether endosulfan
should be permitted or to be banned completely in human interest. In 2011,
the court had banned the
manufacture and sale of endosulfan in the country.
At 217 million, India houses largest number of
malnourished
Three key international organizations working on food security have revised
the number of people in hunger
globally downwards from 1 billion to 870 million as of 2010-12. The State
of Food Insecurity in the World is
an annual report brought out jointly by the UN's Food and Agricultural
Organization, the International Fund
for Agricultural Development and the World Food Programme. In 2009, the FAO
had announced that the
number of hungry people in the world had risen sharply and had for the
first time crossed 1 billion. The new
numbers show that the number of undernourished people in the world has
instead been falling continuously
since 1990. India remains home to the largest number of undernourished
people in the world: 217 million as
of 2012. It has reduced the number of undernourished people by less than
10% since 1990 and is one of the
countries, along with Congo, Namibia and others, that the FAO predicts will
not meet its MDG target. The
proportion of Indians who are undernourished now stands at 17.5%.
Pakistan to glow with ‘Lighting a Million Lives’ campaign
The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in collaboration with LEAD
Pakistan, the Alternative Energy
Development Board (AEDB) Pakistan and the Buksh Foundation will launch a
clean energy “Lighting a
Million Lives” (LaML) campaign in Pakistan on October 12. “The aim of these
initiatives is to create a
consensus in Pakistan in favour of a cross-border clean energy movement
while at the same time cementing
the civil, political and cultural ties between the two nations,”
Director-General of TERI R.K. Pachauri said.
TERI’s widely acclaimed LaBL campaign has garnered strong support across
India, and has been
instrumental in illuminating 3, 82,750 households across the invisible
interiors of rural India. It has made
successful interventions in Africa, South Asia and South East Asia. The
institute will also inaugurate a wide
range of renewable technologies and facilities established by its
researchers in the Pakistani village of Gah
the birthplace of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on October 13. TERI has
adopted Gah under the aegis of
its LaML initiative.
Australia all set to enter into civil nuclear cooperation
with India
After years of denying uranium to India - even ignoring Nuclear Suppliers
Group (NSG) waiver to India to
carry out nuclear commerce, Australia is all set to enter into civil
nuclear cooperation with the non-NPT
signatory. Australian PM Julia Gillard visit to India early will see a
formal announcement of negotiations
between the two countries for such a deal. The core of the cooperation will
be a uranium safeguards
agreement which will allow Australia to export uranium to India bypassing
opposition from various groups
that are opposing the Labor government's decision to overturn the ban on
uranium sale to India. Australia, a
member of NSG, had supported the group's waiver to India in 2008 but
continued with its ban on exporting
uranium to India saying that it will not be possible to reverse the ban
until India signs NPT. The uranium
agreement with Australia, apart from ensuring a steady supply of the
yellowcake, will also have great
symbolic significance for India as it will mark another international
acceptance of its nuclear weapons
programme.
Women more prone to depression than men, Indians worst
hit: WHO
Women are highly prone to depression, a significant contributor to disease
and even suicidal tendencies.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says the burden of depression is 50%
higher for females than males.
The World Mental Health Report adds that depression is two to three times
more common in women.
According to the WHO, Indians are among the world's most depressed. A study
conducted by the global
watchdogs found that while around 9% of people in India reported having an
extended period of depression
within their lifetime, around 36% suffered from what is called major
depressive episode (MDE). MDE is
characterized by sadness, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt
or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or
appetite, low energy and poor concentration besides feeling depressed. The
average age of depression in
India is 31.9 years compared to 18.8 years in China and in the US (22.7
years). By 2020, depression will be
the second leading cause of world disability, and by 2030 it is expected to
be the largest contributor to
disease burden. India's hidden burden of depression could seriously spike
the country's suicide figures.
Physics Nobel for quantum scientists
A French-American duo shared the 2012 Nobel Prize in physics for inventing
methods to observe the bizarre
properties of the quantum world research that has led to the construction
of extremely precise clocks and
helped scientists take the first steps toward building superfast computers.
Frenchman Serge Haroche and
American David Wineland (both 68) opened the door to new experiments in
quantum physics by showing
how to observe individual quantum particles while preserving their quantum
properties. A quantum particle is
one that is isolated from everything else. In this situation, an atom or
electron or photon takes on strange
properties. It can be in two places at once, for example. It behaves in
some ways like a wave. But these
properties are instantly changed when it interacts with something else,
such as when somebody observes it.
In an ordinary computer, information is represented in bits, each of which
is either a zero or a one. But in a
quantum computer, an individual particle can essentially represent a zero
and a one at the same time.
Making such particles work together, certain kinds of calculations could be
done with blazing speed.
Re-usable insulin pen from Sanofi
Sanofi India, has announced the launch of AllStar, its first
indigenously-manufactured reusable insulin pen.
AllStar was custom-made for patients in India. It would help improve
insulin initiation and compliance and
bring ease and reassurance to the lives of patents, giving them the
convenience of international standards at
an affordable price. Incidentally, India has the second highest number of
diabetics in the world estimated at
62 million.
CIL agrees to sign FSAs
Union Power Minister Veerappa Moily said Coal India Limited (CIL) had
agreed to sign the fuel supply
agreements (FSAs) even with those power companies which had not signed the
power purchase
agreements (PPAs) till date. Power Secretary P. Uma Shankar said even if
the PPA between power
generator and distribution companies was not signed by a power generator,
the FSA still could be signed
with CIL. However, he said power companies had to furnish PPA at the time
when fuel supply from CIL
started.
Security deposit on new LPG connection increased
The Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, has approved an increase
in the one-time security deposit
on cooking gas cylinder for those seeking new connections. Security deposit
on domestic (14.2 kg) cylinder
has been increased from Rs.900 to Rs.1,150 for those seeking new connection
in the North Eastern States,
and by Rs.200 to Rs.1,450 in the rest of the country. The increase,
applicable to new customers of IOC,
Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum, comes into effect from October 9.
SEBI restrains Arun Jain
The Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has held the Chairman
and Managing Director of Polaris
Software Labs (now Polaris Financial Technologies Ltd.) Arun Jain guilty of
insider trading, and banned him
from the stock market and prohibited him from dealing with shares for two
years.
Air India bonds get government guarantee
The Finance Ministry has approved the unconditional and irrevocable
guarantee for Air India’s nonconvertible
debentures (NCDs) worth Rs.7,400 crore. The NCDs will have tenure of 19
years and priced at a
spread over the applicable Government Securities. The government has capped
the spread at 70 basis
points. The NCD proceeds will be used to repay the short-term working
capital facility availed itself of by Air
India from the 19 banks.
Waive interest, penalty in cases of retro tax changes:
Shome
In a recommendation that could provide relief to firms like Vodafone, a
Government-appointed committee
favoured companies facing tax liability following retrospective amendment
to the Income Tax Act should be
exempted from payment of interest and penalty. Finance Minister P
Chidambaram had asked tax expert
Parthasarathi Shome to look into the retrospective amendment to tax laws
which had evoked sharp reaction
from the international business community. The Income Tax Department had
originally raised a demand of
`7,900 crore on Vodafone on its acquisition of Hutchinson’s stake in
Hutch-Essar through a deal in Cayman
Islands in 2007.
EGoM to take Attorney General view on one-time spectrum
fee
An Empowered Group of Ministers, headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram,
will seek legal opinion from
Attorney General on its decision to charge around `27,000 crore one-time
spectrum fee from existing telecom
operators. EGoM will take legal opinion on the decision taken for charging
one-time fee for the spectrum that
existing operators hold beyond the 4.4 Mhz threshold. EGoM has proposed
that telecom companies should
pay the amount in equal annual installments over a period of 10 years.
Magma Fincorp plans insurance joint venture
Kolkata-based Magma Fincorp is planning to launch a joint venture general
insurance company, Magma HDI
General Insurance Company. Besides marking Magma’s entry into the insurance
sector, the venture is slated
to be eastern region’s first private sector general insurance company.
Magma is also planning to get into the
housing finance sector by December 2012. For now, Magma would hold a 74 per
cent stake in the company
with its German joint venture partner holding the balance.
RINL IPO deferred over price band disparity
The initial public offer of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd. (RINL) has been
deferred for the third time as the Steel
Ministry and merchant bankers could not arrive at a consensus on the price
band. “The issue has been
deferred,” RINL Chairman and Managing Director A. P. Choudhary told.
Incidentally, the RINL issue was
supposed to begin the disinvestment process through which the government
was aiming to garner Rs.30,000
crore.
RBI fines ICICI Rs 30L, ING Vysya Rs 55L
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has slapped a penalty of Rs 30 lakh on
ICICI Bank and Rs 55 lakh on ING
Vysya Bank for violating certain norms related to Know Your Customer (KYC)
and anti-money laundering,
among others.
No. 1 spot tough to reach, says Murray
US Open champion Andy Murray admitted that winning his first Grand Slam had
been a huge relief but said
reaching the World No. 1 ranking would be tough in an era of such intense
competition. The 25-year-old’s
victory in New York was Britain’s first men’s singles win in a major since
the 1930s, and led to inevitable
speculation about when the Scot would reach the top spot for the first
time. The Shanghai Masters defending
champion, currently World No. 3 behind Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic,
whom he beat in the US Open
final.
Venturi in Hall of Fame
Ken Venturi, the 1964 U.S. Open champion who spent 35 years as a U.S.
television golf commentator, was
named as a 2013 inductee to the world golf Hall of Fame.
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