The World Animal Protection, along with the Department of Animal Husbandry of Kerala and Indian Red Cross Society – Kerala, are partnering on the recovery and reconstruction for animals affected by the recent floods. The Department of Animal Husbandry has said that 46,016 livestock and 2,500,000 poultry succumbed to the floods and continuous heavy rains.

“The impact on animals cannot be overstated. In some areas, virtually all animals were killed or suffered in the days following the deluge. We are in Kerala to provide relief to as many animals as possible and to see how this tragedy can be prevented from recurring in the future. Together with the Department of Animal Husbandry and the Indian Red Cross Society we are ensuring that animal welfare needs are met concurrent with the humanitarian effort,” said Gajender K Sharma, India Country Director at World Animal Protection.

Working across 12 locations in five districts – Alappuzha, Pathnamthitta, Kottayam, Ernakulam and Thrissur districts, our disaster response teams are addressing the persistent needs of livestock left stranded in evacuation camps following the record floods that began in July. Following intensive support from the government and humanitarian agencies the situation for affected people is slowly improving.

However, animals are facing prolonged hardships and suffering, working animals will be pushed to make up for all the loses in agriculture, and will need feed and mineral supplements, which World Animal Protection is providing to the most vulnerable of them.

“The Kerala floods remind us that disaster preparedness for animals is critically important. Many of these animals could have been saved if a disaster plan were in place that included their needs. We are engaging the Kerala government to ensure they develop a plan for protecting animals during disasters and to offer our technical support in developing the plan. Animals are often the forgotten victims of disasters. We are here to be a voice for the voiceless,” said Hansen Thambi Prem, Disasters Projects Manager India at World Animal Protection. 

India has led the way in many respects on animal protection. Following years of efforts, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in 2013 instructed all the States and Union Territories to integrate animals in their respective disaster management plans and programmes. Kerala has not yet done so, but we are closely working with State and district officials to enable them to launch plans and policies that will protect animals and the livelihoods of people who depend on them in future disasters. 

World Animal Protection has over 50 years of experience in protecting animals during disasters. In India, World Animal Protection works with the National Disaster Management Authority, and has also provided training to the National Disaster Response Force to manage animals during disasters throughout the subcontinent. 

The Union Cabinet has approved an ordinance making `triple talaq’ an offence. The ordinance was approved after making amendments to the draft Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017.

There were three contentious issues that had stalled the passage of the Bill in the Rajya Sabha though it was passed by the Lok Sabha in the last session of Parliament. The ordinance has to be passed in the next session of Parliament.

Briefing media after the Cabinet meeting, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said there was a “compelling necessity” to bring the measure as instances of ‘talaq-e-biddat’ continued unabated despite the Supreme Court striking it down.

The first change allows only a woman, or a close relative, to file a police case against her husband for instant triple talaq, the Islamic practice that allows men to divorce their wives immediately by uttering the word “talaq” (divorce) thrice.

The second amendment allows her to drop the case if the husband comes around later and they arrive at a compromise while the third amendment makes provision of bail for the erring husband, though by a magistrate.

The practice of triple talaq had been declared illegal and unconstitutional by the Supreme Court last August, prompting the government to bring a law.  

However, there were some dissenting voices on the move. “This ordinance is against the Muslim women. This ordinance will not provide justice to the Muslim women. In Islam, marriage is a civil contract and bringing penal provisions in it is wrong,” said Asaduddin Owaisi, MP and AIMIM chief.

“Modi government not making this an issue for justice for Muslim women, but making this into a political issue,” says Congress leader Randeep Surjewala.

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board has hinted that it would challenge the ordinance in the Supreme Court.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has commended India for its concerted efforts to reduce child deaths, which have resulted in under-five mortality estimates to have fallen below the one million mark.

As outlined in a report released by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, India’s share of global child deaths has been reduced from 22% in 2012 to 18% in 2017 ­– a rate that outpaces the global decline.

India’s remarkable achievement was made possible via a series of initiatives the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has taken in recent years, including to vaccinate each and every child with life-saving vaccines under Mission Indradhanush and to expand the reach of diarrhoea and pneumonia management across the country, with a focus on vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations, a statement issued by WHO has said.

Given recent reductions, the global percentage of under-five deaths that occur in India is commensurate with the percentage of global births the country accounts for (18%), and represents a dramatic breakthrough for India, the WHO South-East Asia Region and the world. 

Notably, India’s gender gap in child survival is now almost four times less than what it was five years ago, reflecting substantial advances in gender equity that the country can continue to build on, precisely as it has built on its successes in a range of other areas.

As India’s progress continues – including by concentrating on reducing neonatal deaths, which now account for 62% of under-five deaths — there is immense potential to go beyond ensuring children simply survive but can also thrive and enjoy their right to the highest attainable standard of health and wellbeing.

As outlined in the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health, among other priorities that means ensuring access to adequate nutrition and early childhood development services, at the same time as continuing to increase vaccination coverage for all. Ending preventable newborn and child deaths has been one of the WHO South-East Asia Region’s Flagship Priorities since 2014.

WHO is committed to supporting India and the Region consolidate the significant gains made in recent years, to accelerate further progress, and to ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages, the statement said.

Scientists have developed a novel approach using skin cell-based gene therapy to stifle the desire for cocaine and to protect against an overdose.

The study, successfully tested on mice, involved removing a small patch of skin and introducing genes that produce cocaine-degrading enzymes. Finally, grafting it back onto the patient.

“Our results show promise of cutaneous gene therapy as a safe and cost-effective therapeutic option for cocaine abuse in the future,” said researchers led by Ming Xu, Professor at the University of Chicago. 

For cocaine addicts or those prone to cocaine abuse, this approach could reduce drug-seeking and protect against cocaine overdose, potentially making them “immune” to further cocaine abuse. 

This skin cell-based approach can potentially be used to treat alcohol, nicotine and opioid abuse and co-abuse, the researchers said.

In the study, the team collected primary epidermal basal progenitor/stem cells from newborn mice and used CRISPR to deliver engineered human butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) — enzymes that can degrade cocaine — to the cells.

Then they prepared skin organdies and transplanted them back to the donor animals, where they acted as a depot for robust expression and secretion of hBChE into the blood stream. 

This efficiently protected the mice from cocaine-seeking and cocaine-induced relapse. It even prevented the death of mice exposed to uniformly lethal doses of cocaine, the researchers noted.

Mice who received the skin grafts were able to remove cocaine from the bloodstream much faster than normal mice.

They were able to withstand cocaine overdoses that would be lethal to 100 per cent of unprotected mice and were less likely than untreated mice to enter environments previously associated with cocaine use. 

However, mice exposed to alcohol retained a learned fondness for that drug.

“Our study demonstrates that transplantation of genome-edited skin stem cells can be used to deliver an active cocaine hydrolase long term in vivo,” the researchers said, in the paper published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering. 

The study showed that epidermal stem cells “can be successfully employed for ex vivo gene therapy, as efficient genetic manipulation is possible with minimal risk.”

The number of children dying under five has fallen dramatically from 12.6 million in 1990 to 5.4 million in 2017. The number of deaths in older children aged between 5 to 14 years dropped from 1.7 million to under a million in the same period.

An estimated 6.3 million children under 15 years of age died in 2017, or 1 every 5 seconds, mostly of preventable causes, according to released by UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Population Division and the World Bank Group.
 
The vast majority of these deaths – 5.4 million – occur in the first five years of life, with newborns accounting for around half of the deaths.

“Without urgent action, 56 million children under five will die from now until 2030 – half of them newborns,” said Laurence Chandy, UNICEF Director of Data, Research and Policy. “We have made remarkable progress to save children since 1990, but millions are still dying because of who they are and where they are born. With simple solutions like medicines, clean water, electricity and vaccines, we can change that reality for every child.”
 
Globally, in 2017, half of all deaths under five years of age took place in sub-Saharan Africa, and another 30 per cent in Southern Asia. In sub-Saharan Africa, 1 in 13 children died before their fifth birthday. In high-income countries, that number was 1 in 185.  
 
“Millions of babies and children should not still be dying every year from lack of access to water, sanitation, proper nutrition or basic health services,” said Dr. Princess Nono Simelela, Assistant Director-General for Family, Women and Children’s Health at WHO. “We must prioritize providing universal access to quality health services for every child, particularly around the time of birth and through the early years, to give them the best possible chance to survive and thrive.”
 
Most children under 5 die due to preventable or treatable causes such as complications during birth, pneumonia, diarrhea, neonatal sepsis and malaria. By comparison, among children between 5 and 14 years of age, injuries become a more prominent cause of death, especially from drowning and road traffic. Within this age group, regional differences also exist, with the risk of dying for a child from sub-Saharan Africa 15 times higher than in Europe.
 
“More than six million children dying before their fifteenth birthday is a cost we simply can’t afford,” said Timothy Evans, Senior Director and Head of the Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice at the World Bank Group. “Ending preventable deaths and investing in the health of young people is a basic foundation for building countries’ human capital, which will drive their future growth and prosperity.”
 
For children everywhere, the most risky period of life is the first month. In 2017, 2.5 million newborns died in their first month. A baby born in sub-Saharan Africa or in Southern Asia was nine times more likely to die in the first month than a baby born in a high-income country. And progress towards saving newborns has been slower than for other children under five years of age since 1990.
 
Even within countries, disparities persist. Under-five mortality rates among children in rural areas are, on average, 50 per cent higher than among children in urban areas. In addition, those born to uneducated mothers are more than twice as likely to die before turning five than those born to mothers with a secondary or higher education.
  
“This new report highlights the remarkable progress since 1990 in reducing mortality among children and young adolescents,” said UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Liu Zhenmin. “Reducing inequality by assisting the most vulnerable newborns, children and mothers is essential for achieving the target of the Sustainable Development Goals on ending preventable childhood deaths and for ensuring that no one is left behind.”

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has launched its second annual Goalkeepers Data Report, pointing to demographic trends that could stall unprecedented progress in reducing global poverty. While 1 billion people have lifted themselves out of poverty over the past 20 years, rapid population growth in the poorest countries, particularly in Africa, puts future progress at risk. If current trends continue, the number of extremely poor people in the world could stop its two-decade decline — and could even rise.

Despite the sobering projections, Bill and Melinda Gates express optimism that today’s growing youth populations could help drive progress. Investing in the health and education of young people in Africa could unlock productivity and innovation, leading to a ”third wave’’ of poverty reduction, which follows the first wave in China and the second in India.

“The conclusion is clear: To continue improving the human condition, our task now is to help create opportunities in Africa’s fastest-growing, poorest countries,” Bill and Melinda Gates write in the introduction. “This means investing in young people. Specifically, it means investing in their health and education.”

Goalkeepers: The Stories Behind the Data 2018 was co-authored and edited by Bill and Melinda Gates and produced in partnership with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington. Using new data projections, the report reveals that poverty within Africa is concentrating in just a handful of countries, which are among the fastest-growing in the world. By 2050, more than 40 percent of the extremely poor people in the world will live in just two countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria.

In the past, large youth populations have helped drive economic growth and poverty reduction. The report makes the case for leaders to invest in the power and potential of youth to continue progress. Through essays by experts and journalists, the report examines promising approaches in health and education, highlighting ways that young people could help transform the continent. According to the report, investments in health and education, or “human capital,” in sub-Saharan Africa could increase GDP in the region by more than 90 percent by 2050.

Each year, the report tracks 18 data points from the UN Sustainable Development Goals, or Global Goals, including child and maternal deaths, stunting, access to contraceptives, HIV, malaria, extreme poverty, financial inclusion, and sanitation. IHME projections provide three potential scenarios for indicators: better and worse scenarios based upon accelerating or reducing the rate of progress, and projections based upon current trends. This year’s report examines four topics in greater depth:

The Family Planning chapter includes an essay by Alex Ezeh, a visiting fellow with the Centre for Global Development. The essay focuses on the importance of empowering women so they can exercise their fundamental right to choose the number of children they will have, when they will have them, and with whom. Ezeh notes that according to data from the United Nations, Africa’s population is projected to double in size by 2050 and could double again by 2100. If every woman in sub-Saharan Africa were empowered to have the number of children she wants, the projected population increase could be up to 30 percent smaller, from 4 billion to 2.8 billion. Most critically, this would enable more girls and women to expand their horizons, stay in school longer, have children later, earn more as adults, and invest more in their children. The chapter also explores how a novel family planning program in Kenya is providing young women with access to contraceptives.

The HIV chapter includes modelling by Imperial College London for what Zimbabwe’s HIV epidemic might look like in 2050 and, thus, what the nation’s overall future holds. Its large number of young people have the potential to drive economic growth, but only if they remain healthy. More than half of Zimbabweans are under 25 years old and reaching the age when they are most at risk for HIV infection. If Zimbabwe scales up currently available prevention tools over the next five years, it could see new infections among 15 to 29-year-olds drop by a third within a decade. The introduction of new prevention tools by 2030, including a highly efficacious vaccine, could further reduce new cases to approximately 400 per year. Together, these interventions could avert up to 364,000 new cases of HIV among young people.

The educationchapter includes an essay by Ashish Dhawan, chairman of the Central Square Foundation in India. Although more students in low- and lower-middle-income countries are enrolled in school today than ever before, many are not learning what they need to succeed. Unfortunately, the strategy for improving school outcomes is not as clear-cut as the strategy for improving school access. The chapter examines Vietnam’s success in achieving system-wide improvements. Though the country’s per capita GDP is only slightly higher than India’s, Vietnam’s 15-year-olds outperform students from wealthy countries like the United States and the United Kingdom on international tests.

The agriculturechapter includes analysis by James Thurlow, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute, estimating that by doubling agricultural productivity, Ghana could cut poverty in half, create hundreds of thousands of jobs, and drive economic growth. An essay by a local journalist follows the journey of a tomato from a field in rural Burkina Faso to a plate in Ghana, illustrating how many jobs it creates along the way.

Bill and Melinda Gates will produce the Goalkeepers Data Report every year through 2030, timing it to the annual gathering of world leaders in New York City for the UN General Assembly. The report is designed to highlight best practices and help hold the Gates Foundation, its partners, and leaders around the world accountable. It aims to document not just what is working, but where the world is falling short.

In conjunction with the report, Bill and Melinda Gates are once again co-hosting the Goalkeepers event in New York City during the UN General Assembly. On September 26, dynamic young leaders from government, business, technology, media, entertainment, and the nonprofit sector will discuss innovations and approaches to achieve the Global Goals.

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that his parliamentary constituency Varanasi was witnessing all-round development under his watch but care was being taken not to disturb its ancient flavour by conserving its rich culture and heritage.

He added that the central government was making serious efforts to also develop Varanasi as the “gateway to East India”. 

Addressing a large gathering of vocal locals and BJP supporters at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) amphitheatre, Modi detailed the many projects being launched and inaugurated in the city and nearby villages to change the face of Varanasi.

“To make Varanasi a smart city, a gateway to East India, world class infrastructure is being brought in, transportation is being improved, LED Street lights are being installed, medical facilities are being improved and strengthened, roads are being laid and existing highways and roads are being expanded and widened,” Modi said.

He added that care was being taken not to disturb the temple city’s rich history and culture.

The Prime Minister, who celebrated his 68th birthday on Monday with school children and party workers here, also said he was doubly delighted each time he saw the people of Varanasi posting pictures of the city on social media.

He urged the people to roll out an unprecedented hospitality to the hundreds who would come here for the ‘Uttar Pradesh NRI [Non-Resident Indian] Divas’ in January 2019 so that they become brand ambassadors of tourism and goodwill for Varanasi.

He said the changing perception of Varanasi could be gauged by the fact that while in 2014 the footfall at the Babarpur airport was 8 lakh, it had grown to 21 lakh now.

Calling himself the “son of Kashi,” Modi said he felt blessed to have started a new year in his life with “the blessings of Lord Shiva and Ma Ganga”. 

“It also gives me a resolve to further work for the welfare and prosperity of the people of India.”

Speaking on various developmental projects since he was elected from Varanasi to the Lok Sabha in 2014, he said serious efforts were on to make the BHU a knowledge centre of the 21st century.

He accused the previous governments of leaving the fate of the city and its people to “Bholanath” (Lord Shiva). 

Modi said that before 2014, the city was in a mess and files pertaining to its development were buried. Without taking names, he accused the previous Samajwadi Party government of ignoring the constituency.

The Prime Minister said that it was only when a BJP government was voted to power in Uttar Pradesh that due attention was given to Kashi. 

Speaking about the underground cabling of electric wires in the city, he promised that the problem of low voltage in some localities and villages would soon be tackled.

A new bridge would be built over the Ganga to minimise the entry of trucks into the city and said that the Ring Road project was being expedited. 

Work on the Varanasi-Handi national waterway was on and soon ferries and cruises would be available along the route, Modi said. 

Efforts were on to clean the Ganga from Gangotri (its source) to Ganganagar (end point) for which Rs 21,000 crore worth of projects had been approved by his government. 

Earlier, the Prime Minister launched various projects and laid the foundation stones of a Vedic Science Centre at BHU and a Regional Institute of Ophthalmology. 

He gave away modern furnaces to potters and 500 honey bee boxes for honey collectors.

Modi started his address in Bhojpuri, to the delight of the hundreds of youngsters. 

The Prime Minister was on a two-day visit to Varanasi. On his birthday on Monday, he visited the Kashi Vishwanath temple.

Joining the country in observing the National Nutrition Month, the Akshaya Patra Foundation has started an outreach campaign on the critical cause of addressing hunger and malnutrition. As a part of this campaign, conscientious citizens are being encouraged to sign pledge cards committing to ‘no wastage of food’ and support under-served people by feeding them.

The signed pledge-cards will be sent to the Prime Minister’s Office to express the collective commitment and appeal to the Prime Minister to take up the topic, ‘ensuring access to nutrition for all’ in the upcoming ‘Mann ki Baat.’

The objective of the campaign is to spread awareness and create tangible action by involving thousands of people and critical stakeholders in the public and private sectors, in our movement against hunger and malnutrition (hidden hunger) on the occasion of National Nutrition Month. The campaign has found support from varied sections of society, ranging from private and Government schools, teachers, corporates, bureaucracy, and political leaders. As of now, over 15,000 signed pledge cards have been sent to the office of the Prime Minister. We are reaching out to more supporters for this campaign.

As of now, the Chief Ministers of Himachal Pradesh, Jai Ram Thakur;  Uttarakhand, Trivendra Singh Rawat;  Vasudev Devnani and  Arvind Pandey, the Education Ministers of Rajasthan and Uttarakhand respectively; Padma Shree awardee, Chef Sanjeev Kapoor; Mr. Mohit Anand – Managing Director, Kellogg’s India & South Asia; and several other prominent personalities have extended support to the campaign by taking the pledge.

Children with autism who indulge in drumming for just an hour a week are likely to have improved concentration, ability to follow instructions, as well as interaction with their peers, a study has showed.

The findings, led by Britain’s University of Chichester and University Centre Hartpury, showed that the students’ ability to follow their teachers’ instructions improved significantly and enhanced their social interactions between peers and members of school staff.

Observations of the weekly lessons also highlighted significant improvements in dexterity, rhythm and timing.

“This is a unique and remarkable research project that has demonstrated the positive impact on a pupil’s health and well-being following rock drumming practice,” said lead researcher Marcus Smith, from Chichester. 

“Rock drumming is a potent intervention for individuals experiencing brain disorders such as autism,” he added. 

The researchers found that drumming also enhanced movement control while performing daily tasks outside the school environment including an improved ability to concentrate during homework.

“Drumming has a unique blend of physical activity, coordination and musicality, all of which are known to be beneficial to well-being. It has been amazing to watch the children thrive and develop to this challenge,” explained Steve Draper, Dean Research and Knowledge Exchange from Hartpury. 

“Drumming has the potential to positively impact a wide range of people.”

For the study, published in the International Journal of Developmental Difficulties, the team involved pupils who took part in a 10-week drumming programme comprising two 30-minute sessions each week. 

Class teachers evaluated behavioural changes within the classroom across the 10-week drumming intervention, with preliminary evidence highlighting positive outcomes. 

 Almost all parties including the ruling BJP’s junior partner the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) on Friday demanded the rescheduling of the September 30 panchayat elections to ensure the participation of all parties.

The Opposition Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) led Left Front, the Congress and the IPFT, a tribal-based party, separately urged the State Election Commission to reschedule the ongoing election process as they claimed that “massive violence prevented their nominees to file papers”.

These parties alleged that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers prevented their candidates from submitting nomination papers in 35 blocks through violence on Monday and Tuesday. The BJP denied the accusation.

According to police, on Monday and Tuesday at least 25 workers of the BJP, IPFT and the Congress and over 10 policemen including two senior officers were injured in a series of clashes between the rival factions of political parties in at least 12 places across Tripura.

“There is no atmosphere of holding free and fair panchayat elections in Tripura. Out of 35 blocks, non-BJP parties were not allowed to file nomination papers by the ruling party supporters and their sponsored anti-socials in 28 blocks,” CPI-M central committee member Gautam Das told the media after the meeting with Tripura State Election Commissioner G. Kameswara Rao.

Das, who led a Left Front delegation to the State Election Commission, said that they have told the Election Commissioner that most candidates belonging to non-BJP parties were attacked and their nomination papers and other documents were snatched.

“Even all party meetings convened by the returning officers (BDOs) in seven blocks were attacked by the BJP supporters. We have been demanding free and fair elections but the state government and the state election commission failed to keep the situation conducive for conducting a smooth election,” the Left leader said.

He said despite the demand of almost all parties except the BJP to reschedule the panchayat elections, a farcical election process was going on. “Now elections must be deferred and full protection given to the candidates and ensure all parties’ candidates are able to submit their nomination papers.”

The IPFT and the Congress also separately urged the election commission to reschedule the panchayat polls “to uphold democracy in the rural areas”.

The by-elections to a record number of 3,386 seats in gram panchayats (3,207 seats), panchayat samitis (161) and zila parishads (18) were necessitated by large-scale resignations of elected representatives of Left parties and the death of some representatives.

According to a state election commission official, for the 3,386 seats the ruling BJP has put up 3381 candidates, the CPI-M fielded 110 candidates, the Congress 125, the IPFT 66 and independents four candidates.