The World Health Orgnaisation (WHO) has lauded India’s commitment to accelerated coverage of safe sanitation services which, assuming 100% coverage is achieved by October 2019, could avert up to 300 000 deaths due to diarrheal disease and protein-energy malnutrition (PEM).The country launched the Swachh Bharat Mission in 2014. 
As the initial results of a WHO modelling study on the health impact of the Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (SBM-G) outline, India’s accelerated coverage of safe sanitation services, and its determination to end open defecation, will have a substantial effect on the burden of diarrheal disease and PEM by reducing mortality and accumulative Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) – the sum of the years of life lost due to premature mortality and years lost due to disability or ill-health.
According to calculations, if all sanitation services are used, the initiative could result in over 14 million more years of healthy life in the period measured, with the benefits accruing yearly thereafter. That is especially remarkable given that before 2014 unsafe sanitation caused an estimated 199 million cases of diarrhea annually, with modelling showing the problem will almost be eliminated when universal use of safe sanitation facilities is achieved, a statement issued by WHO has said.
India’s commitment and progress towards these outcomes is reflected in the fact that household sanitation coverage has dramatically increased from an estimated 2% per year before the initiative to more than 13% annually between 2016 and 2018. The recent allocation of up to INR 15 000 crore as Extra Budgetary Resources for the SBM-G during the present financial year holds-out the potential for further gains, not only for India, but also the WHO South-East Asia Region and the world (globally, diarrheal disease is the second leading cause of under-five mortality, while lack of clean water and sanitation is also a major contributor to malnutrition).
Notably, the broader health impact of India’s commitment to accelerated sanitation coverage (which the present study does not consider) are likely to be significant. This includes improved overall nutritional status and reduced incidence of infectious diseases such as neglected tropical diseases and acute respiratory infections, as well as vector-borne diseases. Moreover, the estimations apply to the health impacts from improvements in sanitation coverage only, meaning it is possible that the broader Mission has produced additional health gains through changes in personal hygiene and the consumption of safe drinking water.
WHO has worked closely with the Government of India to scale up access to sanitation services, including by providing technical assistance via India’s 2017 participation in the Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water Survey (a tool to provide policymakers actionable data to help inform sound policy), as well as working with partners to support the government implement WHO’s guidelines for safe water and sanitation planning. WHO has also supported the piloting of TrackFin (Tracking financing to sanitation, hygiene and drinking-water) in Rajasthan and West Bengal to utilize resources more efficiently to reach those under threat of being left behind, the statement added.

That is especially important as India pursues WHO South-East Asia’s Flagship Priorities and strives to fulfil the Sustainable Development Goals, including Sustainable Development Goal 6, which obliges countries to ensure access to safe water and sanitation for all, and Sustainable Development Goal 3, which obliges them to ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages. WHO commends India’s continued commitment and high-level resolve to these ends, and to achieving 100% safe sanitation coverage country-wide.

Breastfeeding has reached its new low in the 21^st century. According to WHO, the majority of countries have an exclusive breastfeeding rate of below 50% in the first 6 months, which is the 2025 target of the World Health Assembly.  The gravity of the situation could be estimated by the fact that now we celebrate breastfeeding week from 1^st August to 8^th August every year to increase awareness. The evidence-based research has highlighted the importance of breastfeeding time and again. “The nutrition supply in the first thousand days of life, starting from conception to 2nd birthday, lays the foundation of the long-term health. Breastfeeding is an essential part of this initial nutrition as breast milk is a multi-facet combination of nutrients and bioactive markers that are essential for a newborn in the initial 6 months of life. Nutritional deficiencies early in life can result in long-lasting effects that can pass on to generations,” said Dr. Manjari Chandra, Senior Nutrition Advisor at IVH SeniorCare.

Why exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months?

Breast milk is a combination of macronutrients, micronutrients, bioactive components, growth factors, and immunological factors. The combination is a biological fluid that helps in ideal physical and mental growth and diminishes the infant programming of late metabolic disease.

Children who are not breastfed exclusively are believed to be prone to infections and have a low IQ. They have a diminished capacity to learn and perform poorly in school in comparison to their peers who are breastfed exclusively in the first six months of life. According to WHO data, more than 20 million infants are born weighing less than 2.5kg per year, sadly over 96% of them in developing countries. These infants are at increased risk of early growth retardation, infectious disease, developmental delay and death during infancy and childhood. There is enough evidence that highlight the importance of breastfeeding in the first 24 hours of life in these infants. The infants who are breastfed in the first 24 hours show a lower neonatal mortality than the infants who are breastfed after 24 hours. According to Dr Arun Gupta a senior paediatrician and coordinator of Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI), “Breastfeeding is essential to child health, survival and development, yet in India 3 out 5 women are not able to initiate breastfeeding within an hour of birth. Only 1 out 2 women can practice exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months. This happens because women continue to face multiple barriers to breastfeeding at home, work place and hospitals. Success lies in removing the barriers which can be done by governments and private health care providers” 

Nutrition requirements of a lactating mother

A lactating mother requires an additional 500 kcal/day. When mothers do not maintain the extra requirements in their diet, body stores are used to produce milk resulting in post-partum weight loss. Dr Chandra said, “Lactating mothers are advised to continue with the prenatal vitamin supplements daily. Vitamins are secreted in the breast milk and maternal deficiency affects the breast milk directly.  Vegetarian mothers also require the supplementation of vitamin D, B12, and calcium due to decreased intake from a vegan diet.”

Benefits of breastfeeding to mothers

Breastfeeding has always seen as a boon to the newborns and maternal benefits were not realized until recently. Dr. Manjari Chandra added Â“New evidence has suggested that breastfeeding is equally important to mothers and provides many short-term and long-term benefits. Immediate and early benefits for mothers include postpartum weight loss and mother-infant bonding. Pregnancy results in many physiological changes to support the new life in the womb. During pregnancy, the body goes in a hyperlipidemic and insulin resistant state, which increases the chances of developing cardiovascular diseases and type-2 diabetes later in the life. Breastfeeding has shown to decrease the risk of long-term metabolic and cardiovascular diseases and is associated with 4–12% reduction in the risk of type-2 diabetes”.

Encouraging breastfeeding is the need of the hour to ensure a healthy future for the next generations. World Breastfeeding Week is a remarkable initiative; however, just one week will not solve the problem for India who ranks lowest among Southeast nations in breastfeeding practices with only 44% infants having access to breastfeeding in the initial hour of the life. A collective effort by the government and society is required to improve the breastfeeding practices. To provide a propitious environment to nursing mothers, the government has to show commitment to building nursing rooms in the public places and society needs to stop treating public nursing as taboo.

(The Author is Dr Arun Gupta a senior paediatrician and coordinator of Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI))

NEW DELHI: A petition under Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking directions to the Central and State governments to formulate a policy for Cesarean deliveries.

The PIL, filed by advocate Dr. Ashutosh Garg, is scheduled to come up for hearing before the apex court on August 3.

The petition also sought a direction to the Central and State government to constitute a Medical Board for monitoring the activities of the private health institution with regard to Cesarean section also known as C-section. It sought appropriate direction to the Central government to make it mandatory for all doctors and hospitals to declare the percentage of Caesarean delivery rates to patients and post-cesarean health hazards.  

The petition said the apex Court  may also frame guidelines for conducting Caesarean to safeguard the health and rights of women and children because Article 21 of the Constitution recognizes every individual’s right to life and liberty, which the Supreme Court has held includes the right to health.

It said Article 47 of the Constitution provides that the State shall regard raising the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties. It also pointed out that there was no national plan or state plan in India for dealing with unnecessary cesarean deliveries.

It said it is the duty of the Central and State governments to provide affordable quality health care to people. It said the C-section surgeries have a serious impact not only on the health of the mother but also on her ability to continue work after delivery.

The petition stated that the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended that Caesarean section could be performed only when it is medical necessity and WHO norms prescribe that C-section deliveries should be ideally 10-15 per cent of the total number of deliveries whereas as per data maintained by government authority and news reports in India in private hospitals that rate is more than 50 per cent.

It pointed out that C-sections lead to a higher risk of post-partum depression and lower breastfeeding rate in women and diseases like obesity and diabetes in children.

NEW DELHI:  West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday called upon the people to effect a change in 2019 general elections for the betterment of the people.  

Addressing a conference on “Love Your Neighbour” at the Capital’s  Constitution Club, the Trinamool Congress supremo said: “India needs a change and that change must come in 2019 for the betterment of the world.”

Hitting out at the ruling party at the Centre without naming it, Mamata Banerjee sharply criticized the publication of the first draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam which has left out nearly 40 lakh people in the State who have to file their claims for proving their citizenship.

Sounding a note of caution, she said the situation developing in Assam was alarming and could envelope other States and unleash civil war in the country as the ruling party leaders were threatening to have NRC in Bengal, Bihar, Rajasthan U.P, Chhattisgarh and other States.

“Only to win polls people cannot be victimised. Don’t you think people whose  name is not in the list will lose a part of their identity? Please understand India-Pakistan-Bangladesh were one before partition. Whoever came from Bangladesh to India till March 1971 is an Indian citizen,’’ she said.

West Bengal Chief Minister who is on a visit here further said: “If  Bengalis say Biharis cannot stay in Bengal, South Indian people say North Indians cannot  stay there and North Indians say South Indians cannot stay here. What will be state of this country? Because we are together, our country is a family,’’ Mamata Banerjee said.

She said that she was surprised to see that the names of family members of former President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed were not on the NRC. “What else can I say? There are so many people whose names are not there. We will not allow this to happen in Bengal because we are there. Today, these people cannot vote. What will happen to children, they will not be able to go to school and get education, get health facilities.’’

Directing her criticism to the NRC in Assam, she said it is not only the Bengalis, it is the minorities, Hindus, Biharis. “More than 40 lakh people voted for the ruling party only yesterday and suddenly today they have been made refugees in their own country,’’ the West Bengal Chief Minister said.

She said the people have a right to live with dignity and respect and everybody should uphold the Constitution.  She appealed to the people to love their neighbours at every level from local to district to State to the national and international levels.

New Delhi : A bill that provides for stringent punishment, including death penalty for those convicted of raping girls below 12 years, was passed by the Lok Sabha on Monday.

The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2018 was passed after a reply by Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju. It will replace an ordinance brought by the government in April.

Rijiju said that the government should rise to the occasion when the nation feels pained by the incidents of rape on young girls.

“This is shameful for the country and pricks the collective conscience of the nation.

“New provision proposes that court where rape cases are being taken up should be presided by a woman judge. The statement in the rape cases should also be recorded by a woman police officer,” he said.

Deputy Speaker M. Thambidurai intervened in the middle and suggested the provisions of the amended law must be made available to the public in all regional languages and should be “publicised”.

The minister agreed to execute his suggestions. He also spoke about the quality of investigation and how it should be improved and talked about the importance of fast-track courts.

He also said forensic kits should be made available in all police stations for better investigation and forensic laboratories are proposed to be set up in all states and union territories.

AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi said: “Law cannot stop the rape of children and change the mentality of men. This is just symbolism and an eyewash.”

The bill seeks to amend the Indian Penal Code, Indian Evidence Act, 1872, the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 to provide that the minimum punishment for rape of a woman under 16 years will be rigorous imprisonment for at least 20 years which can extend to life.

The punishment for gang-rape of a girl below 16 years will be imprisonment for the rest of life of the convict.

The punishment for rape of a woman aged under 12 years will be rigorous imprisonment of at least 20 years but may extend to imprisonment for life or death. Gang-rape of a girl under 12 years of age will lead to punishment of jail term for the rest of life or death.

The minimum punishment in case of rape of woman has been increased from seven years to 10 years, extendable to imprisonment for life.

Under the new legislation, there will a two-month time limit for completion of investigation of rape cases.

The Trafficking of Persons (Prevention,Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018 was introduced in ,,Lok Sabha by the Minister of , ,Women and Child Development, Ms. Maneka Gandhi on July 18, 2018. The Bill provides, ,for the prevention, rescue, and rehabilitation of, ,trafficked persons. Key features of the Bill, ,include:
National Anti-Trafficking Bureau: The Bill, ,provides for the establishment of a National, ,Anti-Trafficking Bureau to investigate, ,trafficking cases and implement provisions of, ,the Bill. The Bureau will comprise of police, ,officers, and any other officers as required. It, ,may take over the investigation of any offence, ,under the Bill, that has been referred to it by, ,two or more states. Further, the Bureau may:
(i) request the state government to co-operate, ,in the investigation, or (ii) transfer the case to, ,the state government for investigation and trial,, ,with approval from the central government.
Functions of the Bureau: Key functions of, ,the Bureau include: (i) coordinating and monitoring surveillance along known routes,, ,(ii) facilitating surveillance, enforcement and, ,preventive steps at source, transit and, ,destination points, (iii) maintaining, ,coordination between law enforcement, ,agencies and non, ,governmental organisations, ,and other stakeholders, and (iv) increasing international cooperation with authorities, ,abroad for intelligence sharing, and mutual, ,legal assistance.

State Anti-Trafficking Officers: Under the, ,Bill, the state government will appoint a State, ,Nodal Officer. He will be responsible for: (i), ,follow up action under the Bill, as per the, ,instructions of the State Anti-Trafficking, ,Committee, and (ii) providing relief and, ,rehabilitation services. The state government, ,will also appoint a Police Nodal Officer at the, ,state and district levels. The state government, ,will also designate Anti-Trafficking Police, ,Officers for each district, to deal with all, ,matters related to trafficking in the district.
Anti-Trafficking Units: The Bill also, ,provides for the setting up of Anti-Trafficking Units (ATUs) at the district level. ATUs will, ,deal with the prevention, rescue, and protection, ,of victims and witnesses, and for the, ,investigation and prosecution of trafficking, ,offences. In districts where an ATU is not, ,functional, this responsibility will be taken up, ,by the local police station.
Anti-Trafficking Relief and Rehabilitation, ,Committee: The Bill provides for the establishment of Anti-Trafficking Relief and, ,Rehabilitation Committees (ATCs) at the, ,national, state, and district levels. These, ,Committees will be responsible for: (i) providing compensation to victims, (ii), ,repatriation of victims, and (iii) re-integration of victims in society, among others.
Search and rescue: An Anti-Trafficking, ,Police Officer or an ATU can rescue persons,, ,if there is an imminent danger to them. They, ,will be produced before a Magistrate or Child, ,Welfare Committee for medical examination.The district ATC will provide relief and, ,rehabilitation services to the rescued persons.
Protection and rehabilitation: The Bill, ,requires the central or state government to set, ,up Protection Homes. These would provide, ,shelter, food, counselling, and medical services, ,to victims. Further, the central or state, ,government will maintain Rehabilitation, ,Homes in each district, to provide long-term, ,rehabilitation to the victims. Rehabilitation of, ,victims will not be dependent on criminal, ,proceedings being initiated against the, ,accused, or the outcome of the proceedings., ,The central government will also create a, ,Rehabilitation Fund, which will be used to set up these Protection and Rehabilitation Homes.
Time-bound trial: The Bill provides for, ,setting up designated courts in each district, which will seek to complete trial within a year.
Penalties: The Bill specifies the penalties for, ,various offences including for (i) trafficking of, ,persons, (ii) promoting trafficking, (iii), ,disclosing the identity of the victim, and (iv), ,aggravated trafficking (such as trafficking for, ,bonded labour and begging). For example,, ,aggravated trafficking will be punishable with, ,rigorous imprisonment of 10 years up to life imprisonment, along with a minimum fine of one lakh rupees. Further, the publishing of any, ,material which may lead to the trafficking of a, ,person will be punishable with imprisonment, ,between five and 10 years, and a fine between, ,Rs 50,000 and one lakh rupees. 

(Source – PRS India)

A team of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) engineers with support from Indian Navy has successfully plugged a gas leakage on an unmanned offshore platform in Mumbai High South around 180 KM from the sea shore in the Arabian Sea.
A gas leakage was noticed in one of the unmanned wellhead platforms S1-6, in the south field of Mumbai High. As a safety measure, the platform team immediately initiated all remote actions to shut down the well platform and to bleed off the pressure in the pipe lines. Fire-fighting vessels were instantly deployed near the platform to provide water blanketing by continuously spraying water.
Due to extremely bad weather conditions with high wind speeds of up to 35 knots, swell of 3.5 meters and strong surface currents in sea, it was not safe for ONGC team to land at unmanned platform by helicopter or transfer them by Multi Support Vessel. Attempts were however being made to transfer ONGC team to the unmanned platform taking all safety precautions, a statement issued by the ONGC said.
Having exhausted all available options to transfer ONGC team to S1-6 Platform, ONGC approached Indian Navy for help. After detailed discussions between ONGC and Indian Navy, it was decided to winch down ONGC team with the help of Indian Navy commandos.  Â‘Sea king’ helicopter N555 of Indian Navy reached ONGC process platform and took ONGC technical team to S1-6. ONGC team consisting of Mr. BKB Patel, Mr. Sanjib Kumar, Mr. Ravindra Kumar and Mr. S K Khakhalary, well trained in all safety aspects in high seas however, had no previous training or experience of winching down from helicopter. The team displayed extreme courage in adverse conditions, quickly learnt the technique and in synergy with Navy commandos landed on the unmanned well head platform S1-6, the statement said.
Braving rough weather, the team identified the leakage source successfully and safely plugged it within one hour making the well ready to flow. The entire operation was planned and executed with utmost precision. ONGC Team displayed extreme courage, presence of mind and technical acumen in controlling the situation in the least possible time.

The Hijra – tall, athletic, muscular – is conspicuous at the street crossing near my home in Delhi. I get anxious when she approaches my car: the red coloured cheeks, matching lipstick and a glittering orange saree fail to camouflage her masculinity. Her hairy hands pound at the car window and she demands money. I feel extorted. If I were a legislator, my prejudice would pronounce her / him illegal, because my mind floods with repulsion against this shape of sexuality. But being a doctor, I try to understand: what make us so.
Most of us are heterosexual. But our sexuality can manifest in three other ways, often with overlap. First, we could be homo sexual, lesbian or bisexual; second, we could be intersex, when we carry internal organs of one gender, but external organs of the opposite; and third, we could be transgender if we have emotional urge to identify with the opposite gender. 
Let us start at the beginning. We carry 23 pairs of chromosomes in all our cells, the twenty-third pair determines our gender: females carry XX and males have XY chromosomes. At the first dance of fertilization, chromosomes split from their original mates and pair up with new partners. The sex chromosome, XX from the egg splits into X and X and the XY from the sperm, separates into X and Y. The new paring produces either a new male XY or a new female XX. 
When the embryo is six weeks old, the Y chromosome of XY pair signals to the latent embryonic tissue to start differentiating into a male. Testicular tissue sprouts and secrets testosterone, which initiates the formation of what would become future male genitalia: penis, testes and scrotum. The XX pair does not produce testosterone and the embryonic tissue continues to develop into female organs: ovaries, uterus and Fallopian tubes. 
The testosterone and other unknown chemicals also influence the growth of embryonic cells of brain; some cells in male hypothalamus become different from that of a female.
But fetal development is prone to missteps. Chromosomes may combine as XXY or XYY affecting the sexuality of the adult. Or the embryo may produce excessive or insufficient testosterone causing over or under-virilisation.
Disorder of embryonic development result in Intersex. We could carry an XX chromosome with an ovary but have male external genitals or have XY chromosomes with testes but female external genitalia. Or we could carry one ovary and one testes and undeterminable external sex organs.
Genes may also predispose a person to become homosexual, lesbian or transgender. Studies show similar sexual behavior among identical twins; chance of homosexuality in an identical twin of a homosexual male varies from 20% to 60 % in different studies.  Meta-analysis of all available data shows a presence of a marker (called Xq28) on the X chromosome of a significant number of homosexual brothers. And there is higher frequency of homosexuality among uncles and cousins from maternal side. Since these variations are not true in a hundred percent cases, scientists believe, other developmental factors may be at play.
We become sexually different because of our biology, on which we have no control. Should we make such genetic variations illegal? Prejudiced irrational legislation can push innocent individuals into trouble; section 377 of the Indian Penal Code is a prime example.
(Dr. Shiban Ganju is the Founder of Save a Mother Foundation. Opinion expressed in the article are his personal. )

President Donald Trump has warned his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani that if Tehran threatened the US again, it will suffer “consequences the likes of which few have ever suffered before”.
The tweet in all-caps was posted on Sunday night and followed an apparent warning by Rouhani, in which he cautioned that Americans “must understand that war with Iran is the mother of all wars and peace with Iran is the mother of all peace”, according to Iranian state media reports.
Rouhani also shared a message for Trump, saying “do not play with the lion’s tail, because you will regret it eternally”.
“In response, the US leader said: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE US AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE AND DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!” “
Trump’s tweet came shortly after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered his own blistering speech on Iran’s leaders, accusing the clerics that rule the country of using the country’s revenue to line their own pockets and fund terrorism at the expense of average Iranians, according to CNN.
“To the regime, prosperity, security and freedom for the Iranian people are acceptable casualties in the march to fulfill the Revolution,” Pompeo said on Sunday night at the Ronald Reagan National Library in California.
“The level of corruption and wealth among regime leaders shows that Iran is run by something that resembles the mafia more than a government.”
In May, Trump pulled the US out of the 2015 multilateral nuclear agreement with Iran and re-imposed sanctions on Tehran, which will come into force in August.
Trump criticized the earlier pact and demanded a more aggressive one which restricts the Iranian ballistic missile programme.
The 2015 nuclear agreement, signed by Iran and the P5+1 Group comprising the US, Russia, China, the UK, France and Germany, limited Tehran’s nuclear energy programme in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions. But now its future is unsure after Washington’s measures.

New Delhi : Virtually kicking of its campaign for the 2019 elections, the Congress on Sunday said it will oust the BJP-led alliance from power and authorised party chief Rahul Gandhi to take a final decision on both pre and post-poll alliances.
 Rahul Gandhi was also announced the party’s face and Prime Ministerial candidate.   The Congress’ decision to forge state-to-state alliances as also a larger alliance was taken at the meeting of an extended Congress Working Committee, also attended by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which discussed a poll strategy with a heavy focus on farmers, youth, women, minorities, backward classes and other weaker sections.    The decision about Rahul Gandhi being the final word on alliances came amid perceptions that Sonia Gandhi had a wider acceptability among present and potential allies and was better placed to negotiate with them.   The CWC discussed preparations for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as also its readiness to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh – where elections will be held at the end of this year. It also discussed Mizoram where elections are due this year.   With the party having suffered electorally due to “indiscreet remarks” of some of its leaders close to elections, Rahul Gandhi emphasised on “gravitas of the language and conduct” and to keeping the party line in mind while making statements.   While he asked party workers not to leave any stone unturned to oust the “failed” Narendra Modi government, party sources said several leaders stressed the need to strengthen the party at the booth-level, and outpace the BJP in poll management.      Announcing the decisions on alliances, Congress spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala said the party President was also authorised to form a small committee for the purpose, if needed as well as campaign committees and other panels for 2019 elections.    Sources said Gandhi is likely to form a committee with a leader from each state to get feedback on alliances.  The issue of alliances, which is crucial for Congress to come to power again, saw “widespread discussion at the CWC meeting,” said Surjewala, adding that Rahul Gandhi told the meeting that he will negotiate in this regard “without compromising on the interests of Congress” as also the national interest and had no hesitation in forging a “larger alliance”.    Asked about party’s stance to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s call to people to give all 42 Lok Sabha seats to Trinamool Congress, Surjewala said her statement should not be taken as final posture.    Asked if Rahul Gandhi will be face of the election, he said: “Congress will fight this election under the stewardship, leadership and by putting forward our leader Rahul Gandhi. On that we neither have a doubt, nor we have any second thoughts.    “Naturally the people of India will decide once the Congress becomes the single largest party, touches the magic figure of 200 or more… Naturally the Congress President will be the only face to be projected.   Meanwhile, in her remarks at the meeting, Sonia Gandhi cited “the reign of despair and fear heaped upon India’s deprived and poor” and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rhetoric “shows his desperation reflecting that reverse countdown of Modi government has begun”.    Manmohan Singh said the BJP-led NDA was unlikely to reach the average growth rate achieved by the UPA government.  The CWC also decided to support demand for special category status to Andhra Pradesh, while Surjewala said it identified some core issues affecting people – farmers’ distress, unemployment, performance of economy, “atrocities” on Dalits, tribals, and women, “indifference” to OBCs,  “failure on foreign policy”, continued disturbance in Kashmir, “lack of institutional integrity” and situation in the northeast  – and decided to build a mass movement.   About 35 members spoke in the meeting that lasted nearly five hours and was the first of the CWC re-constituted by Rahul Gandhi.