The Communist Party of India (M) has welcomed the judgement of the Supreme Court striking down Section 377 of the IPC thus decriminalizing same sex consensual relations between adults.   

This constitutes a historic victory for the LGBT communities who have suffered humiliation, bigotry and even violence at the hands of retrograde forces, a statement issued by the party has said.

The CPI (M) has always supported the struggle against Section 377 which the Supreme Court has rightly held to be arbitrary and discriminatory. 

Meanwhile, the Population Foundation of India (PFI) has also congratulated LGBTQ citizens on the Supreme Court verdict setting aside provisions of Section 377 of the Indian Penal code that criminalises consenting sexual activities deemed ‘unnatural’.

It is a victory for LGBTQ individuals and those who have stood with them in a long and hard battle against an archaic provision of law, which infringes on individual bodily autonomy, sexual rights and identity. The judgement demonstrates the value of collective and persistent community activism, as with persons living with HIV/AIDS, who continue to collectively fight against stigmatisation worldwide to gain equal status on individual rights, a statement issued by PFI has said.

The SC verdict is heartening for PFI as a ray of hope on ensuring freedom of choice, equal rights and access to sexual and reproductive health services without prejudice or discrimination for other marginalised communities.

“We thank and congratulate the Honourable Justices in delivering this landmark judgement as the first step to ensuring that LGBTQ citizens are guaranteed the same constitutional rights as their fellow citizens. PFI also underlines that progressive changes to law are a necessary precondition, but not sufficient to ensure equal rights in practice. We must work on changing social norms that stigmatise or ghettoise individuals based on regressive perceptions of social acceptability and morality. We call upon all sections of society to ensure implementation of the law in its true spirit. The judgement needs to be followed through with policies that address the barriers faced by LGBTQ individuals, such as sensitising the medical fraternity, doing away with ‘conversion therapies’, seeking help on sexual and mental health services, redressal for workplace discrimination and broader legal rights’’, the statement has said.

PFI commits to including messages that shift social norms defining the space for LGBTQ individuals in all our programmes, especially related to social and behaviour change communication. We take this as the first step to a longer, and perhaps equally challenging, battle at the community level to ensure that LGBTQ citizens can fearlessly demand dignity, equality and respect.

Every one in four adults globally are physically inactive, accounting for 28% or 1.4 billion adults. In some countries it could be one in three individuals even, new data published in The Lancet Global Health has said.  

The paper, authored by four experts of the World Health Organization, reports data that update 2008 estimates on levels of activity and, for the first time, reports trend analyses showing that overall, the global level of inactivity in adults remains largely unchanged since 2001.

Women were less active than men, with an over 8% difference at the global level (32% men vs 23%, women). High income countries are more inactive (37%) compared with middle income (26%) and low income countries (16%).

These data show the need for all countries to increase the priority given to national and sub-national actions to provide the environments that support physical activity and increase the opportunities for people of all ages and abilities, to be active every day.

The new Global Action Plan on Physical Activity sets the target to reduce physical inactivity by 10% by 2025 and 15% by 2030, the report says. .

Regular physical inactivity increases risk of poor health, including cardiovascular disease, several types of cancer and diabetes, falls, as well as mental health conditions. Publication of levels of participation in children and young people are forthcoming.

“Unlike other major global health risks, levels of insufficient physical activity are not falling worldwide, on average, and over a quarter of all adults are not reaching the recommended levels of physical activity for good health,” warns the study’s lead author, Dr Regina Guthold of the WHO, Switzerland.

The new study is based on self-reported activity levels, including activity at work and at home, for transport, and during leisure time, in adults aged 18 years and older from 358 population-based surveys in 168 countries, including 1.9 million participants. 

Among the study’s main findings were that in 2016, levels of insufficient activity among adults varied widely across income groups – 16% in low-income countries compared to 37% in high-income countries.  In 55 (33%) of 168 countries, more than a third of the population was insufficiently physically active while in four countries, more than half of adults were insufficiently active – Kuwait (67%), American Samoa (53%), Saudi Arabia (53%), and Iraq (52%).

Countries with the lowest levels of insufficient physical activity in 2016 were Uganda and Mozambique (6% each). Women were less active than men in all regions of the world, apart from east and south east Asia. In 2016, there was a difference in levels of insufficient activity between women and men of 10 percentage points or more in three regions: South Asia (43% vs 24%), Central Asia, Middle East and north Africa (40% vs 26%), and high-income Western countries (42% vs 31%).  Across regions, many individual countries recorded large differences in insufficient activity between women and men. Examples include Bangladesh (40% vs 16%), Eritrea (31% vs 14%), India (44% vs 25%), Iraq (65% vs 40%), Philippines (49% vs 30%), South Africa (47% vs 29%), Turkey (39% vs 22%), the USA (48% vs 32%), and the UK (40% vs 32%), the study said. 

From 2001-2016, substantial changes in insufficient physical activity levels were recorded in multiple regions. The regions with the highest increase in insufficient activity over time were high-income Western countries (from 31% in 2001 to 37% in 2016), and Latin America and the Caribbean (33% to 39%). Countries from these regions driving this trend include Germany, New Zealand, the USA, Argentina, and Brazil. 

The region with the largest decrease in insufficient activity was east and south east Asia (from 26% in 2001 to 17% in 2016), which was largely influenced by uptake of physical activity in China, the most populated country in the region. There has been an increase of 5% in prevalence of insufficient activity in high-income countries, from 32% in 2001 to 37% in 2016. In comparison, there has been an average rise of just 0.2% amongst low-income countries (16.0% to 16.2%). 

In wealthier countries, the transition towards more sedentary occupations, recreation and motorised transport could explain the higher levels of inactivity, while in lower-income countries, more activity is undertaken at work and for transport, according to the authors. While declines in occupational and domestic physical activity are inevitable as countries prosper, and use of technology increases, governments must provide and maintain infrastructure that promotes increased walking and cycling for transport and active sports and recreation.

The study’s release comes ahead of the Third United Nations General Assembly High-level Meeting on NCDs and their risk factors, including physical inactivity, being held on 27 September 2018 in New York.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said that commercial vehicles such as buses, taxis and rickshaws powered by alternative fuels such as “Ethanol, Methanol, Bio-diesel and CNG” will be exempted from the requirement of a permit.

The Minister for Road Transport and Highways was speaking at the 58th annual convention of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).

“I am happy to announce that we have decided that electric vehicles and all vehicles which operate on Ethanol, Methanol, Bio-diesel, CNG will not require a permit,” Gadkari said.

The minister told the convention that the move will open more business opportunities for the industry. 

According to the minister, transport ministers of all the state governments have given their unanimous support to the criteria.

“Now, the states will implement it and there will be no need for any permits for electric auto rickshaw, buses and taxis….”

Besides, Gadkari informed the convention that the central government is going to cancel the requirement of speed governors. 

“We don’t need it as we are developing good roads. There is no need to limit the speed artificially,” he said.

In addition, the minister asked the automobile industry to offer better engines and produce high performance vehicles. 

(IANS)

The Supreme Court has unanimously decriminalised same sex relations between consenting adults. Homosexuality was criminalised under Section 377 of the IPC.  

A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, struck down a key component of the 158-year-old colonial law under Section 377 of the IPC.

The judgement termed the part of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalises same sex as “irrational, indefensible and manifestly arbitrary’’. The judgement, however, said other aspects of Section 377 of IPC dealing with unnatural sex with animals and children shall remain in force.  

The bench, which also comprised Justices R.F.Nariman, A.M. Khanwilkar, D.Y.Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra, struck down Section 377 as being violative for right of equality.

The Supreme Court set aside its own verdict of 2013. In 2017, the Apex Court had said privacy is a fundamental right, opening the door for fresh plea to decriminalise gay sex.

Section 377 refers to `unnatural offences’ and says whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal shall be punished with imprisonment with life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 10 years, and shall also be liable to pay a fine.

The judgement came on a batch of writ petitions filed by individuals who had sought decriminalisation of consensual sex between two consenting adults of the same sex by declaring Section 377 illegal and unconstitutional.

The issue had been first raised by Naaz Foundation, which approached the Delhi High Court in 2001. The Delhi High Court had in 2009 decriminalised sex between consenting adults of the same gender by holding the penal provision as “illegal.’’

This high court judgement was overturned in 2013 by the Apex Court which also dismissed the review plea against which the curative petitions were filed which are pending.

The writ petitions were opposed by Apostolic Alliance of Churches and Utkal Christian Association and some other NGOs and individuals, including Suresh Kumar Kaushal.

Important quotes in the judgement:

CJI Dipak Misra and Justice Khanwilkar:

“I am what I am. So take me as I am.”

“Only Constitutional morality and not social morality can be allowed to permeate rule of law…Sexual orientation is one of the many natural phenomena…any discrimination on basis of sexual orientation amounts to violation of fundamental rights.”

Justice Nariman:

“Homosexuals have right to live with dignity. They must be able to live without stigma.”

Justice Chandrachud:

“Human sexuality cannot be reduced to a binary formulation and decriminalising Section 377 is but a first step.”

Justice Indu Malhotra:

“History owes an apology to members of the community for the delay in ensuring their rights.”

Justice Indu Malhotra, the only woman on the five-judge bench, says history owes an apology to the members of the community for the delay in ensuring their rights. In her judgment, she iterates that Section 377 will continue govern non-consensual sexual acts, carnal intercourse with minors and acts of bestiality.

Meanwhile, the United Nations in India has welcomed the landmark ruling by of India on Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and hoped that the ruling will be the first step towards guaranteeing full range of fundamental rights to LGBTI ( lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) persons.

In a statement, UN in India said sexual orientation and gender expression form an integral part of an individual’s identity the world over, and violence, stigma and discrimination based on these attributes constitute an egregious violation of human rights. It added that LGBTI persons across the world continue to be the targets of violent attacks and are affected by multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination based on age, gender, ethnicity, disability and social status.

“The UN in India sincerely hopes that the court’s ruling will be the first step towards guaranteeing the full range of fundamental rights to LGBTI persons. We also hope that the judgment will boost efforts to eliminate stigma and discrimination against LGBTI persons in all areas of social, economic, cultural and political activity, thereby ensuring a truly inclusive society. The focus must now be on ensuring access to justice, including remedy; effective investigations of acts of violence and discrimination; and effective access to economic, social and cultural rights,” the organisation said.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who is now actively involved in an ambitious multilingual web series based on his book ‘Why I Am A Hindu”, says any criticism of the current government is frowned upon nowadays.

Tharoor’s next book on the four years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is all set for release.

Being known to be a vocal voice of dissent against the Narendra Modi government, does the author-politician foresee controversy for his new book?

He said: “Not from the readers, the people who read my books… No, they won’t see anything worthy of dissent. However, I can’t predict how the Government in power would react to the book.

“Nowadays, any hint of dissent is frowned upon by the government. Unfortunately, any criticism of the government’s policies, no matter how healthy and just, is taken as an attack on individuals who run the Government. This was not the case when we, of the Congress (I), were in power,” Tharoor said.

“Criticism of the government, was in fact, encouraged then. Now when we are in the opposition, the rules have changed,” he added.

As though the erudite and articulate parliamentarian-academic didn’t have enough on his plate, he has now involved in an adaptation of “Why I Am A Hindu”, for which he will also turn narrator.

He says he agreed to the web series because he believed in the producer, Sheetal Talwar.

“When Sheetal Talwar came to me, I liked his conviction. He made no tall promises. But he assured me the essence of my book would be captured in the series. I have not read the screenplay yet. 

“But I’m confident it will do justice to my thoughts on Hinduism. Nowadays this question of who is a real Hindu is being asked constantly. I want my thoughts on this subject to reach out a wider public than the one afforded by a book.”

Tharoor, who deals simultaneously and actively with his parliamentarian duties, has also authored a large volume of fictional and non-fictional work.

“If we include the book that is coming out in the next few months, it is 17 books. I’ve various other duties and obligations, including an ongoing legal battle to prove my innocence in the case where I’m being made out to be the person that I am not.”

Adding to his schedule is now the web series, which he says is important to him.

“There are many misconceptions about Hinduism in the current times. I am going to be the narrator for the English version of the series. A very distinguished voice will join in for the Hindi version,” he said.

Cinema is one of the pleasures that Tharoor has forfeited in the pursuit of a larger good.

“In the past few years, my work as a parliamentarian and my writings have occupied a large part of my time. Then there are various other imperative pursuits.

“For these, I’ve given up many pleasures, including cinema and cricket. But there is no regret over these losses. I cannot be a rubber stamp politician. Politics is a tool for me to try and improve the status quo to the best of my abilities. Likewise my writing, Tharoor said.

“It is important for me to ensure the thoughts in my book on Hinduism are put out there on a platform where the optimum would be able to receive them,” he added.

Tharoor’s tweets are perceived as works of art, carved and polished with the most chiseled words. 

Taking the compliment graciously, he said: “It’s kind of you to say that. But the truth is, I don’t toil over the tweets.

“The medium demands brevity and one has to finish what one has to say in the shortest possible way.”

In the meanwhile, there are miles and miles to go before Tharoor takes a long nap.

With the January 2014 case pertaining to the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar ongoing against him, he admits the bandwidth of his creativity is somewhat shrunk.

“There is much more that I want to do. But current circumstances restrain me from expressing myself fully. Because of the legal issues, I am not even allowed to speak about the case,” he said.

“My one reassurance in this whole situation is that the people I meet do not seem to believe in what I am being accused of. Wherever I go, I am met with the same warmth and goodwill that I experienced before,” Tharoor said.

 DMK President M.K. Stalin on Wednesday asked the Tamil Nadu Governor to sack Health and Family Welfare Minister C. Vijayabaskar and Director General of Police T.K. Rajendran if they don’t quit on their own after raids by the CBI.

Stalin said in a statement that the continuation of Vijayabaskar and Rajendran would be a blot on democracy and the police administration.

“If they do not resign, then the Governor (Banwarilal Purohit) should dismiss them without any delay,” he said after the Central Bureau of Investigation raided offices and homes in Tamil Nadu in connection with a gutkha scam.

Stalin said the CBI raids had brought shame to Tamil Nadu.

He alleged that the AIADMK government had tried various measures to stall investigation into the scam.

On Wednesday morning, CBI officials from New Delhi searched several places in Tamil Nadu including the houses of the Health Minister and Rajendran.

The case is related to an Income Tax Department raid on the offices, residences and godowns of a gutkha manufacturer in Tamil Nadu in 2016.

A diary seized then listed alleged bribes paid to officials amounting to Rs 39.31 crore.

The Tamil Nadu government has banned the manufacture and storage of gutkha — a tobacco product — since 2013. However, the product was reportedly available in the market with the alleged connivance of police officers and others.

DMK legislator J. Anbazhagan, on whose petition the Madras High Court ordered a CBI probe, also sought the resignation of Rajendran and Vijayabaskar.

“The probe seems to be proceeding on the right track under the CBI. Whether a case will be filed against the scamsters or not will have to be seen,” Anbazhagan told IANS. “If no case is filed, then we may have to approach the Madras High Court again.”

Several political parties had demanded a CBI probe into the issue but the AIADMK government did not agree.

In June, the Enforcement Directorate registered a money laundering case against unnamed government officials in Tamil Nadu based on a first information report (FIR) registered by the CBI in May.

Despite opposition from opposition parties, Rajendran was given a two-year extension in 2018.

An Indian Air Force (IAF) MiG-27 aircraft crashed near Jodhpur in Rajasthan during a routine mission on Tuesday but the pilot ejected safely, officials said.

Defence Ministry spokesperson Colonel Sombit Ghosh said a court of inquiry will investigate the cause of the accident.

He clarified that there was some misinformation earlier with respect to the number of pilots.

The MiG-27, which took off from Jodhpur, came down near Devriya village. Villagers were the first to rush to the site.

An eyewitness, Champalal, said two or three fighter planes were in the air when one of them was seen emitting smoke. It came down suddenly with a loud noise and the area was engulfed in thick smoke. 

The pilot was taken to a hospital. 

Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra on Tuesday sent a letter to the Centre recommending Justice Ranjan Gogoi as his successor.

Following the principle of seniority, Chief Justice Misra picked Justice Gogoi, the senior-most judge of the top court after him.

As per convention, the outgoing Chief Justice sends the recommendation for his successor 30 days before he is to demit office so that the Chief Justice-designate is named well in time.

If the recommendation is cleared by the Central government, Justice Gogoi will be administered the oath of office by President Ram Nath Kovind on October 3.

CJI Misra is retiring on October 2. But as the day is a national holiday on account of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary, October 1 will be his last working day.

The Union Law Ministry had in August last week urged the Chief Justice to recommend his successor.

Justice Gogoi is one of the four Supreme Court judges who had held an unprecedented press conference in January this year, raising concerns about the administration in the apex court, saying it was “not in order”. 

The other three were Justice J. Chelameswar (now retired), Justice M.B. Lokur and Justice Kurian Joseph.

Justice Gogoi is from Assam and he headed the special bench that is monitoring the updation of the National Register of Citizens to identify citizens in that state.

Born in 1954, Justice Gogoi joined the Bar in 1978. He was appointed a Permanent Judge of the Gauhati High Court on February 28, 2001.

He was transferred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court in September 2010 and went on to become its Chief Justice in February 2011. He was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court in April 2012.

Militants abducted two more relatives of Jammu and Kashmir policemen on Friday taking the number to 11 within the last three days, an official said. Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has termed the development “worrisome”.

Even when the security forces were working their strategy to recover the hostages safely, a statement purportedly issued by Hizbul operational commander Riyaz Naikoo, on the social media said that henceforth the militants would follow “an eye for an eye policy”.

“Police has compelled us to follow the course of an eye for an eye and an ear for an ear. 

“Policemen are advised in their own interest to give up their jobs or be prepared to face the worst,” Naikoo, whose father was arrested by police two days back, said.

The abducted relatives of policemen include two brothers of police officers and nine sons.

Reacting to the development, former state Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah tweeted: “11 abductions! This is a very worrying reflection of the situation in the valley. 

“What’s worse is the selective outrage — people/leaders who are so vocal about alleged security force excesses are silent about these abductions.”

Researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have devised a simple finger prick blood test for cancer. They have discovered the use of nano-particles to trace the levels of microRNA in a blood sample.
The research team used nanoparticles to latch on to the targeted microRNAs (miRNAs) which enabled them to be easily extracted.
RNAs are genetic material used to synthesise proteins. Impaired miRNA activity, or very low levels of microRNA in blood, has been linked with the formation of cancerous tumours as well as metastasis, the spread of cancer to other parts of the body.
One of the main benefits of the test is that it was effective even when the miRNA was in minuscule amounts in the blood sample, according to researchers at UNSW, a QS 50 ranked global university.
In a paper published in Nature Nanotechnology, the researchers reported modifying gold-coated magnetic nanoparticles (Au@MNPs) with DNA to match the miRNA they wanted to detect.
UNSW Professor Justin Gooding said the nanoparticles are, in effect, dispersible electrodes. When circulated through the blood they capture the miRNA. A magnet is then used to recapture the nanoparticles with the attached microRNA.
“Now we get more of the microRNA because the dispersible electrodes capture nearly everything in the sample,” Professor Gooding said.
“Because the capture is so effective, we get higher sensitivities and can detect much lower limits.
The new method, besides being far quicker would be cheaper too.
As one of the world’s leading research and teaching universities, UNSW researchers have done pioneering research and innovation in area as diverse as photovoltaic cells, quantum computing and e-waste management. 
“Our method takes 30 minutes compared with almost 12 hours for quantitative polymerase chain reaction,” Professor Gooding said.
Key to the new technology is not just the ability to detect lower concentrations of miRNA but the ability to detect a broad range of concentrations.
“We can do this very quickly compared with the gold-standard nucleic acid amplification methods. And we can do it in unprocessed blood.
“What this means is the technology has the potential to determine the levels of microRNA just from a finger prick test,” he added.
Professor Gooding said he would expect the technology to be available within three years, pending regulatory approvals.
The new diagnostic technique follows on the heels of a similar advance made by another UNSW research team exploring cancer detection in the blood.
In that study, published in Nature Communications, a team of medical researchers led by Professor Chris Heeschen developed a new way to detect early-stage cancer tumour cells in the blood using a malaria protein. This method, which targeted individual cancer cells found in a blood sample, also used a magnet to retrieve all the targeted cancer cells.
Professor Gooding believes the two methods, while working on very different scales, would be very complementary as tools to diagnose cancer.
“We are detecting small molecules found in the blood which could also identify the type of cancer, while they are looking for rare cells that are responsible for the spread of cancer. The two technologies could work very well together.”