Lucknow : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday offered floral tributes at the ‘samadhi’ and ‘mazaar’ of the 15th-century saint Kabir Das at Maghar in Sant Kabir Nagar district in Uttar Pradesh.

Modi became the first Prime Minister to visit Maghar, where the mystic poet and saint breathed his last in 1518.

Dressed in white kurta and choodidaar payjama, the Prime Minister was flanked by the saffron-robed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aditytanath and priests at the shrine as he took a round of the place. He was gifted a ‘angawastra’ and some literature on the saint. 

Later, addressing a public gathering which drew thousands of locals and followers of the saint, Modi pointed out how Kabir became great not by his birth but by his ‘karma’s (deeds).

He began his address in Bhojpuri dialect, pleasing the gathering which cheered him. He said he had long wished to be at the shrine but could not and now that he was here, he was elated and was overwhelmed.

Mr. Modi said that Sant Kabir Academy, to be built at a cost of about Rs. 24 crore, would create an institution to preserve the legacy of Sant Kabir, as well as regional dialects and folk arts of Uttar Pradesh.

Prime Minister size that Sant Kabir represents the essence of India’s soul. He broke the barriers of caste, and spoke the language of the ordinary, rural Indian, Shri Narendra Modi added.

Making a strong statement against political opportunism, the Prime Minister recalled Sant Kabir’s teaching that the ideal ruler is one who understands the feelings and suffering of the people. He said Sant Kabir had criticised all social structures which discriminated among people. In this context, the Prime Minister mentioned the various schemes of the Union Government which seek to empower the poor and underprivileged sections of society, such as Jan Dhan Yojana, UjjwalaYojana, insurance schemes, toilet construction, and direct benefits transfer. He also mentioned the increase in pace in various infrastructure sectors such as roads, railways, optical fibre network etc. He said the Union Government is working to ensure that all parts of India receive the fruits of development.

“I have also seen the caves where Sant Kabir, Guru Nanak and Guru Gorakhnath held spiritual parleys,” he said.

His own government was driven by the basic tenets of equality and uplifting the poor, all of which were dear to Kabir.

Earlier, due to the flooding of the Gorakhpur airport runway, the Prime Minister’s aircraft landed in Lucknow where he was welcomed by Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik, Adityanath and others.

Bengaluru : Claiming that he had honestly tried to repay bank loans since 2016, beleaguered tycoon Vijay Mallya on Wednesday denied his offer to settle the dues was linked to the Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance.

“It is incorrect that my settlement offer before the Karnataka HC was motivated by the latest chargesheet under the media reported Fugitive Ordinance. I always had honest intentions to settle and there is ample proof,” tweeted Mallya, a day after he broke silence on defaulting bank loans.

The May 27 Ordinance gives the law enforcing agencies powers to attach and confiscate the proceeds of crime and properties of economic offenders like bank defaulters or bank fraudsters fleeing the country, and is aimed at deterring economic offenders from evading the process of law by remaining outside the jurisdiction of Indian courts, a probe agency official told IANS here.

The 62-year-old liquor baron, who fled the country on March 2, 2016, has been living in London since then despite summons from Indian courts and law enforcement agencies to appear before them for trial in various related cases.

“I am asked for comment on being labelled a fugitive economic offender. When I have placed assets on the table before the Karnataka High Court in excess of the bank claims, how can I be an economic offender? The fugitive part falls away,” said Mallya in another tweet.

Referring to some people asking him why he chose to make a statement at this time, he said he did so because he and his United Breweries Holding Ltd (UBHL) have filed an application before the high court on June 22, setting out assets worth Rs 13,900 crore.

“I made my media statement concurrent with my settlement offer now and was unable to make such an offer before due to various circumstantial changes about the value of my assets available,” he tweeted.

He stressed the chargesheets of the Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate allege criminality with no intention to repay banks although he had been making efforts to settle since 2016.

“As I have placed everything before the high court, where is the malafide? Are banks interested in repayment?” he asked.

Admitting that the government, courts and banks were rightfully concerned about public money loaned to his now defunct Kingfisher Airline by the state-run banks, Mallya said he showed to the high court having assets in excess of the banks’ claims and requested their sale under its supervision.

“The government wants to recover money loaned by the state-run banks. It used CBI and ED to attach and recover. I have placed all assets before the high court and submitted for sale. Banks should be very happy. But if the same CBI and ED object, what do I do?” he asked.

Regretting that the official narrative seemed to question his intentions, Mallya also denied delaying tactics or any agenda to score brownie points.

“What needs to be appreciated is a bona fide offer and commitment placed before the high court. Let Justice play its part,” he pointed out.

Responding to the comment of Minister of State for External Affairs M. J. Akbar that he had years to repay the loans, Mallya said his settlement initiatives date back to 2016.

India has trashed the recent poll titled ‘The world’s most dangerous countries for women 2018’ that claimed India as the most dangerous country for women.

This proclamation by Thomson Reuters Foundation is based on an opinion poll, rather than any reports or data, a statement issued by the Ministry of Women and Child Development said here while questioning the methodology of the survey.

“Reuters has used a flawed methodology to arrive at this claim. The ranking is based on a perception poll based on responses to simply six questions. The results are not derived from any kind of data and are solely based on inherently subjective opinions. Further, the poll has been conducted with 548 respondents, which have been defined by Reuters as ‘experts focused on women’s issues’. However, information on their designation, credentials, country of expertise or qualifications is not available thus reliability is an issue. The methodology given by the organisation also includes ‘policymakers’ as one of the respondents’’ the statement pointed out.

No information or opinion has been sought from this Ministry regarding this poll.

The six questions posed as part of the poll cannot fairly be applied to all countries. Such as the age bar for defining child marriage is different in every country, mutilation as a means of punishment, female genital mutilation, and stoning are not practiced in India.

Further, it is due to open data sharing, a consultative policy formulation process and transparent systems of the government that problems affecting women can be highlighted. There is open communication of the government with the media, researchers and NGOs thus creating the opportunity for public debate. The strong public discourse and independent media in the country are able to openly discuss sensitive issues of violence against women and debate is encouraged. It is due to this open system that issues of women are highlighted in India, thus perhaps building the perception that the situation in the country is particularly bad, the Ministry has pointed out.

The poll has collected opinions of 548 persons on healthcare, discrimination, cultural traditions, sexual violence, non-sexual violence and human trafficking. India is far ahead of many countries in most of these areas and has also seen significant improvement in indicators when compared with its own performance in previous years. Therefore, the ranking of India is a surprise and clearly inaccurate.

For example, as per Sample Registration Survey (SRS) released in June 2018, India has registered a significant reduction of 22% in Maternal Mortality Ratio since 2013. Further, sex ratio at birth has significantly increased across the country, pointing to a drop in sex selective abortions.

On the economic front too there has been huge progress – over 45.6 lakh SHGs have been promoted across the country for women’s livelihood with over Rs. 2000 crore available in their revolving funds. More than 1.26 crore bank accounts have been opened under SukanyaSamruddhiYojana to ensure financial inclusion of girls and more than half the Jan Dhan bank account holders in India are women. In primary and secondary levels of education, India has achieved Gender Parity with equal enrolment of girls and boys. It is thus not accurate to say that women in India lack access to economic resources, the statement said.

There is positive data in the areas of violence too. There has been a drastic reduction in child marriage over the years, with reports of marriage in the age group of 0-9 years now being nil. Further, the percentage of women age 15-19 years who were already mothers or pregnant has dropped from 16% in 2005-06 to 7.9% in 2015-16.

Quoting NCRB data, the statement said that 38,947 cases of rape have been registered in the year 2016. In the year 2014 and 2015, 36,735 and 34,651 cases were reported. The increase in reporting is a result of the favourable environment for women to access police authorities. Further, the rate of rape in India stands at 0.03 per 1000 population whereas US has reported a much higher figure of 1.2 rapes per 1000 population. The cases of acid attack are only incidental in the country and as mentioned earlier, practices of stoning, female genital mutilation etc. are not seen here. India can thus not possibly be the worst in the world in terms of violence.

Data on bonded and forced labour is also dropping drastically and the reports of crime are being dealt with seriously. Trafficking will also be comprehensively addressed through the recently prepared Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018.

Despite data to the contrary, the usage of an opinion poll to peg India as the most dangerous country for women is clearly an effort to malign the nation and draw attention away from real improvements seen in recent years, it said.

Ever since the unfortunate incident of 2012, the entire country has been alert about the safety of women and ensuring their equality at home, in the economy and in society at large. The government has been taking a lead in this direction.

The recently enacted Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012, the Criminal Law Amendment Act 2013 and the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance 2018 have provided more stringent punishment for rape, have broadened its definition and included new offences such as acid attack, stalking, sexual harassment, voyeurism, disrobing and sexual violence against boys below 18 years of age. Amendment in The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 has also broadened the definition of child in need of care and protection to include those children who are at imminent risk of child marriage. The Act also allow juveniles (16 years or older) to be tried as adults for heinous offences like rape and murder.

State Governments are increasing representation of women in police to 33% of the total strength, to make the force more women-friendly. Institutional support mechanisms have also been put in place like 193 One Stop Centres and Women Helplines in 31 States to provide 24 hour emergency and non-emergency response including police assistance, legal aid and legal counselling, medical aid, psycho-social counselling, temporary shelter etc. The institutions have provided support to over 12 lakh of women in the past ~3 years.

The bill making instant triple talaq a criminal offence has been approved which grants equality to Muslim women and is a powerful measure for women’s empowerment.

To ensure women have equal opportunities, loans worth Rs. 2,25,904 crore have been extended to 7.88 crore women entrepreneurs, under the MUDRA Yojana. Over 50% of the certifications provided under the PM KaushalVikasYojana have been to women. More women are joining the workforce and starting to control economic resources. Over 5 lakh women Directors currently appointed in companies, which is highest ever number in India.

Under PMAY (Urban), houses are being allotted in the name of the female head of the household or joint name of male head and wife. In PMAY (Grameen), this is being done where government land is allotted, and encouraged in other cases. Over 2 lakh houses for women sanctioned under PMAY (Grameen). The right of women to ancestral land is also being encouraged.

The government has further launched multiple scholarships with special focus on education of girl child in secondary as well as higher education which are showing significant positive outcomes. Dropout rates have come down dramatically and more women are carrying on their education to college level and beyond, the statement added.

Maternal health has also shown significant improvement with concerted efforts having been made by the government. In a major step, maternity leave has been extended to 6 months so women do not lose their jobs or income due to pregnancy. Cash incentives are also being given to mothers across the country to encourage them to register pregnancies, deliver in hospitals and access pre and post-natal care.

These efforts have shown results and the life of the average Indian woman is far improved from a decade ago. She is also in a much better position than a number of women in other countries around the world. Facts clearly show that the opinion of India as the most dangerous country for women is not a reflection of reality.

New Delhi : The National Capital Region may face a blackout as the coal reserves with the Delhi government were only for a-day-and-a-half, said Power Minister Satyendar Jain who has written to Union Power Minister R. K. Singh regarding the same.

In the letter, Jain informed the minister about the coal supply shortage to the NCR power plants — Dadri, Jhajjar and Badarpur.

“Since June 19, the coal stock is continuously declining and has reached approximate 90,000 MT on Wednesday, which is only one and a half days requirement,” Jain wrote adding that the “situation is extremely critical”.

The reason he gave for the shortage is the non-availability of transportation rakes with the railways.

Jain requested Singh to “intervene personally and take up the matter with the Railways for providing rakes on priority for transportation of coal to these power plants to avoid blackout in Delhi”.

While addressing the media on Wednesday, Jain said that ideally power plants should have a reserve coal stock for 15 days.

He also said that the power demand was high during this season.

It was the second time in the season that such a warning was issued. In May also, the issue had arisen as the coal reserves of the national capital had been reduced to a day.

New Delhi: Power Gummies, the famous new age, hair & nail vitamins doing rounds on instagram and all social media platforms these days are working towards breaking the old conventional way of consuming vitamin tablets by launching tasty chewable vitamins in the form of gummy bears.

First time in India, the new multivitamin product range is said to provide essential nutrients that supplement the dietary deficiencies of our body in a tasty and chewable way.  Power Gummies carter to today’s young and conscious generation and also provides them an alternative to hefty salon treatments for hair enhancement.

The company aims to combine vitamin and mineral to furnish all the nutritional requirements in a form of chewable gummy candies. It promises to bridge the nutritional gap in an individual’s diet mainly created due to changing lifestyle and food habits. These gummies fight deficiency of vitamins in the body that affect hair growth and metabolism in adults and decreased immunity,  stamina, energy and overall growth in children.

Divij Bajaj, Founder and CEO, Power Gummies, said, “Power Gummies are conceptualized with an aim to revolutionaries the hair care and healthcare industry, replacing the difficult to swallow pills with tasty and chewable multivitamins”.

The picture perfect biotin yummy bear, saw immense support from celebrities like: Sara Khan, DipikaKakkar, Jankee Parekh Mehta, Karishma Tanna, Neha Marda, Hiba Nawab, Sonal Vengulekar, Suyyash Rai, Kishwer Merchant, Nishtha Gandhi (Delhi based Blogger) for its sweet taste and serious hair helping results. Authenticating the campaign, celebrities used the hashtag #PowerGummyOhSoYummy to share their experiences with their social media followers.

According to the information, Power Gummies crossed more than 2 million impressions over all social media platforms strengthening the number of followers on Instagram. The brand bagged about ‘1000’ orders as the reviews were crediting the blue gummies for significantly less hair fall, thicker strands and an overall healthier look.

With a population of 1.3 billion, and possibly to become the world’s most populous country by 2025, India has puzzled the world, with its health indicators lagging behind its economic growth. Today, India ranks below most other nearby countries in life expectancy, maternal mortality, and infant mortality. The Indian health care system also offers sharp contrasts, with select urban hospitals offering world-class care as a destination for medical tourism, while many individuals have poor access to appropriate and affordable care. Health care reforms started around 2005 through programs aimed at strengthening rural health services and providing partial financial protection for health care to vulnerable families. Fresh initiatives proposed this year promise to open the road to universal health coverage (UHC).

The National Health Policy of 2017 (NHP) set the stage for the new wave of reforms. This policy not only underscored the high rates of child and maternal mortality, but also highlighted the increasing disease burdens of noncommunicable diseases, mental illness, and road traffic crashes. The threat of drug-resistant tuberculosis and vector-borne diseases was also recognized.

About 7% of Indians are pushed into poverty each year due to unaffordable health care, a figure that remained constant in the decade of 2004-2014. Only 27% of the population is covered by health insurance, and of those, 77% have coverage through government-subsidised schemes or implementation plans for protecting informal workers (ie, self-employed individuals or those who work for them, such as street vendors or farm workers) and some other vulnerable groups. The NHP called for comprehensive primary health care and strategic purchasing of secondary and tertiary care from public and private sectors. It committed to raising the public financing of health care from 1.15% of gross domestic product to 2.5% over 8 years. The government also aims to reduce out-of-pocket expenditures from 63% to 50% by 2020.

Health Care With Many Mixes

A mixed health system has evolved in India, by default rather than design. While the public sector served as the principal provider of health care in the first 4 decades after independence in 1947, rendering mostly free services, the private sector now provides 75% of outpatient and 55% of inpatient care. The private sector has grown rapidly in the past 3 decades but is very heterogeneous, ranging from individual clinicians and small nursing homes to large corporate hospital chains.

In India’s federal structure, the central government designs and partially funds major national programs, whereas the 29 states have the responsibility to deliver health care with a high level of autonomy. Public sector delivery channels use a 3-tier model of primary, secondary, and tertiary care facilities. Rural primary care links health outposts (subcenters) with a hierarchy of primary health care centers and community health centers. District hospitals offer secondary care while tertiary care is provided by large hospitals, usually linked to medical colleges. The organized private sector is concentrated in urban areas.

Health care practitioners include unqualified clinicians and persons trained in traditional Indian systems of medicine or homeopathy besides allopathic physicians, nurses, and allied health professionals. The availability of physicians and nurses varies widely across the country, with the central, northern, eastern, and northeastern states being poorly served. Rural areas have an especially severe shortage of qualified health professionals. Regulatory systems for training, accreditation, and quality assurance of health professionals have been weak and are under review for reform.

Reforms Over a Decade

The National Rural Health Mission was launched in 2005 to improve maternal and child health services by strengthening primary care infrastructure, staffing, and supplies and by financially incentivizing demand for institutional deliveries. While births in health care institutions increased, quality of care declined due to shortages in health workforce. The increasing burden of noncommunicable diseases remained unaddressed.

A high-level expert group was convened by the Planning Commission of India in 2011 to design a framework for UHC. This group recommended concerted initiatives to improve health financing, health workforce development and deployment, access to drugs and vaccines, health care infrastructure, governance, and community engagement. However, a slowing in India’s economic growth saw the plan for UHC shelved. After 2014, the new government reset the course for UHC through the NHP. Following through, the national budget of 2018 announced a major initiative, Aayushman Bharat (“Long Life to India”), with 2 components.

Strengthening Primary Care

The first component will create health and wellness centers (HWCs) at the subcenter level. A total of 150?000 subcenters will be upgraded to HWCs, offering free basic clinical and preventive services including simple diagnostic tests and provision of essential generic drugs to all. To overcome the health workforce shortage in HWCs, it is proposed to provide graduates from the nonallopathic systems of medicine (such as Ayurveda and homeopathy) with training in some elements of allopathic medicine through a bridge course. Nurse practitioners and other categories of midlevel care practitioners will also be used at this level in the future, when available. HWCs will also engage the community in health promotion.

“Health Assurance” to the Poor

The second component is the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS), which offers financial coverage to 100 million poor and near-poor families. This revamps a previous government-subsidized health insurance program aimed at protecting the large informal segment of the workforce. That scheme, Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana in operation since 2007, enrolled potential beneficiaries at a low annual premium of 50 cents per family and provided them yearly cost coverage up to US $500 per family for hospitalized care. Even though this program improved access of the poor to secondary care, it failed to provide anticipated financial protection because outpatient care and additional costs of inpatient care were not covered. Schemes initiated by some state governments to pay for tertiary care to the poor also had similar results. However, all of these schemes helped to develop robust information technology–enabled services and fraud detection mechanisms. They also engaged both public and private health care practitioners, for the first time, in large government-funded programs. This experience will benefit NHPS as it evolves.

The NHPS does not demand any premium or enrolment but registers families identified as economically vulnerable from government surveys. It offers a coverage of US $8000 to each such family annually for hospitalized health care. The government terms this entitlement as “health assurance,” distinct from “health insurance,” which requires premium paid enrolment. As in Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, both public and private sector hospitals will be empaneled as care practitioners. An “essential health package” to be developed by each state, based on its disease profiles and health care demands, will guide strategic purchasing for procuring services from these practitioners.

The central government will bear 60% of the cost of NHPS, while each state will contribute 40% of the funding needed in its territory. However, the merger of preexisting state insurance schemes with NHPS is still being debated by the states. Different states presently provide different ranges of free services to the population, often including those who fall outside the ambit of NHPS. How the states will reconcile these, and whether non-poor families will be encouraged to buy into NHPS through paid insurance premiums, are developments that will contribute to the evolving architecture of NHPS. Each state will choose whether to operate NHPS through a private insurance intermediary or through an autonomous trust established by the government. Both models exist in presently operating schemes.

Conclusions

Both HWC-led comprehensive primary health care and NHPS will increase access to health services. Regulatory systems will need to be strengthened to improve quality and accountability. Other levels of primary health care, beyond HWCs, will need investment. District hospitals will need to be upgraded to provide good-quality secondary care and form an effective link between primary and tertiary levels of care. The health workforce will need to be scaled up in numbers and quality, if the new schemes are to succeed.

India has committed to UHC but it may take years to achieve. Even the NHPS covers only 40% of the population. The rest of the population is mostly uninsured because private insurance covers only a small segment. Out-of-pocket spending on outpatient care and catastrophic expenditure on hospitalized care will continue to represent major problems that will need to be addressed. The budgetary allocations to HWCs and NHPS this year are very low and need to be increased at least 5-fold next year. Unless public financing increases to 2.5% of gross domestic product well before 2025, the journey toward UHC will be sluggish, despite the uplifting promises made in the reforms initiated this year.

(This article has been published in JAMA, the Author Dr Srinath Reddy is the President of Public Health Foundation of India)

A report commissioned by the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) has recommended amendments to the National Model Prison Manual, 2016 to bring it in line with international standards and norms as well as improving the lives of women under incarceration, addressing a wide range of issues pertaining to pregnancy and childbirth in prison, mental health, legal aid, reintegration in society and their care-giving responsibilities among others.

The report `Women in Prisons’ aims to build an understanding of the various entitlements of women in prisons, the various issues faced by them and possible methods for resolution of the same.

The report contains a comprehensive list of 134 recommendations and covers a wide range of issues that women face in prisons, and is inclusive of the needs of the elderly and the disabled. The report not only considers the needs of pregnant women, but also those who have recently given birth but whose children are not with them in prison, those who have miscarried, or those who have recently undergone abortion. Apart from this, due consideration has also been given to the religious and customary beliefs of inmates.

The report suggests that prior to their imprisonment, women with care-giving responsibilities must be allowed to make arrangements for their children, and a reasonable suspension of detention may also be provided for this purpose. In case there are no family/friends where the child (above 6 years of age) can be left, he must be placed in a Child Care Institution. To address the problems of loss of ties with the child, the report encourages greater links of the child with the mother throughout her incarceration through extended visits and frequent meetings.

The report proposes that bail should be granted to those under-trial women who have spent one-third of their maximum possible sentence in detention, by making necessary changes in Section 436A of the CrPC which provides for release after half of the maximum sentence has been served. The report also recommends that a maximum time frame may be decided for release of women prisoners after bail is granted but surety is not produced. This would ensure that poor or financially dependent women are not left to languish in prisons.

Considering the needs of women in their post-natal stages, the report recommends a separate accommodation for mothers in post-natal stage to maintain hygiene and protect the infant from contagion, for at least a year after childbirth. Apart from the needs of pregnant and lactating women, the report has also suggested that special provisions relating to health and nutrition be made for women who have recently given birth outside prison, or who have undergone abortion or miscarriage. The report recommends that instruments of restraint, punishment by close confinement or disciplinary segregation should never be used on pregnant and lactating women. The report also suggests that pregnant women must be given information and access to abortion during incarceration, to the extent permissible by law.

To make legal aid more effective, the report suggests that legal consultations must be conducted in confidentiality and without censorship. For persons with language barriers or sensory disabilities, adequate arrangements must be made by the prison administration to ensure that such persons do not face any disadvantage by providing an independent interpreter.

Re-integration of women in society is a grave problem, due to the stigma attached to incarceration. In the study conducted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, it was found that in many cases, women were abandoned by their families and were left to fend for themselves after their release. The report proposes a comprehensive after-care programme to be put in place, covering employment, financial support, regaining of child custody, shelter, counselling, and continuity of health care services. Counselling should also be provided to family members and employers to adequately receive the woman after release.

The report also recommends that prison authorities should coordinate with local police to ensure released prisoners are not harassed by them due to the attached stigma. At least one voluntary organisation should be designated in each district to help with integration of released prisoners. Prisoners must also be given the right to vote, so as not to disconnect them from the larger political process and to enable them to become equal citizens of a democracy.

The grievance redressal mechanism in prisons was found to be inadequate, with scope for abuse and retaliation. Thus, a need for a more robust grievance redressal system was felt. The report therefore recommends that apart from the prisoner herself, her legal adviser or family members should be allowed to make complaints regarding her stay in prison. An inmate register can also be placed at an accessible spot in the prison for submitting grievances. All official visitors must hold special one-on-one interviews with prisoners away from prison authorities during inspection visits.

Keeping in mind the mental needs of prisoners it has been recommended that inmates should have access to female counsellors/psychologists at least on a weekly basis or as frequently as needed by them.

It is widely known that women in prisons face greater hardships than their male counterparts due to many factors such as social stigma, financial dependence on their families or husbands. These difficulties are further exacerbated when the woman has children. In the study conducted for the purpose of this report, it was found that women have to face numerous problems in prisons owing to inadequacy of female staff which often translates to the reality that male staff becomes responsible for female inmates, which is undesirable. It was also found that women were not provided with meals that are nutritious and according to their bodily requirements. Apart from these issues, women are at a most disadvantageous position when it comes to their reintegration in society after release. Many are abandoned or harassed post-release, mainly due to the stigma attached with incarceration, which is even more pronounced in cases of women. Further, women tend to lose ties with their children over the years, due to inadequate child custody procedures. Also, a robust grievance redressal mechanism was required to tackle cases of sexual harassment, violence and abuse against women in jails.

This report would now be shared with the Ministry of Home Affairs for issuing advisory to the States for implementation of the recommendations made in the report.

As per most recent data available from the end of 2015, there are 4,19,623 persons in jail in India, of which, 17,834 (about 4.3%) are women. Of these, 11,916 (66.8%) are undertrial prisoners. In India, an analysis of prison statistics at five-year intervals reveals an increasing trend in the number of women prisoners – from 3.3% of all prisoners in 2000 to 4.3% in 2015. A majority of female inmates are in the age group of 30-50 years (50.5%), followed by 18-30 years (31.3%). Of the total 1,401 prisons in India, only 18 are exclusive for women, housing 2,985 female prisoners. Thus, a majority of women inmates are housed in women’s enclosures of general prisons.

In the making of this report, widespread deliberations and extensive consultations were held by the WCD Ministry with all relevant stakeholders for the purpose of this study. The officials of Ministry visited 5 prisons across NCR in September and October 2017 to understand the various issues faced by women and children in prisons. This was followed by a round of wide-ranging consultations with NCW, BPR&D, DIG Prisons, Delhi and select civil society organisations and representatives specialising in the subject.

In addition to this, the Ministry commissioned National Law University, Delhi to undertake a comprehensive review of Prison Manuals and International Norms, between March and June 2018. Further, the National Commission for Women was commissioned to conduct jail visits to 21 prisons across the nation between November 2017 and May 2018 to collect primary data on the current status of the conditions of women prisoners. The study also considered secondary data shared by Ministry of Home Affairs pertaining to the facilities available to women prisoners from nine States/UTs. Qualitative data on the conditions of prisoners was obtained from the National Crime Records Bureau, Bureau of Police Research and Development and National Human Rights Commission. In addition to this, various central level committees set up to review prison conditions as well as orders and judgements of the Supreme Court were also studied.

Qurbani (1980) was not only the biggest hit of the year but also sold the most number of records and tapes in that year and is said to have ushered in the “Disco Revolution” in India that lasted until the mid-80s. Qurbani was an adaptation of the Italian film, The Master Touch (1972) and was remade in Tamil as Viduthalai (1986) starring Sivaji Ganesan, Rajinikanth, and Vishnuvardhan in the lead roles.

The film begins on a somber note with a two-minute tribute to the 33-year-old politician Sanjay Gandhi, youngest son of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.  Sanjay Gandhi had passed away earlier that year in a glider crash. The actor, producer, director promised to donate the proceeds accruing from the collective premiere of Delhi and his home city of Bangalore in the ‘memory of the sleeping prince.’ Interestingly, the two debonair male leads,  33-year-old Vinod Khanna and FK then 40 came face to face only after half of the film almost eighty minutes into the movie. Feroz Khan had initially offered Amitabh Bachchan the role of Amar. But Amitabh was not available for next six months hence the role went to Vinod Khanna.

Feroz Khan met Biddu and Nazia Hassan at a party hosted by a close friend in England in 1980. Another version that floats around is that it was Zeenat Aman who had asked Feroz Khan to check out the teenager’s singing as Nazia was the daughter of her family friends. Anyway, Nazia’s parents did insist that Feroz listen to their daughter sing. Feroz did and was highly impressed. But Feroz had his eye on International star Biddu who was reluctant to score music for a single song in Qurbani. He was worn down due to Feroz’s persistence and emotional blackmailing that Biddu do the score for his mom who lived in India. Feroz upped the ante and played the Banglore card since Feroz and Biddu both hailed from Banglore. Many music directors including the film’s original music directors Kalyanji Anandji lobbied with Feroz Khan not to hire Biddu, a rank outsider to score a solo song in the film. Feroz Khan stuck to his choice or guns and history was to be created.

As it happened it was now Nazia Hasan who was most unwilling to sing and had to be goaded by Feroz Khan to show up at the recording studio with her guitarist brother where a harried Biddu played his composition, a rip-off of the popular Boney M hit, Rasputin for the teenage duo! Zoheb and Nazia already adept at writing, composing and singing their music refused to collaborate! An irate Biddu stomped out of the studio livid at the audacity of the teenagers and an exasperated Feroz Khan tried to placate Nazia by telling her that she was on the verge of blowing her big chance! Feroz Khan managed to convince Biddu to return to the studio and pacified him into listening to the teenagers’ music. Nazia sang Zoheb played the guitar and a visibly awed Biddu reassured a worried Feroz Khan that he was more than willing to collaborate with the sister-brother duo!

The arrival of the disco era in India is said to arrive with Aap jaisa koi recorded on 24 tracks when the norm was to record on 4-5 tracks sung by Nazia Hassan while Zeenat Aman shimmied in a golden dress designed by Feroze Khan’s first wife, Sundari. The song was monster of a hit and lore has it that 40,000 people gathered at the Santa Cruz airport the very day for the darshan of a 16-year-old Nazia whose flight had landed just minutes before Mrs.Indira Gandhi was scheduled to arrive in the city on an official tour!

Nazia Hassan (1965-2000) was a lawyer by profession when suffering from lung cancer she passed away in London at the age of 35. Her song Aap Jaisa Koi made her the first Pakistani, youngest singer and awardee to receive a Filmfare, a record that survives till date. Her first music album Disco Deewane (1981) sold 60 million copies globally! Nazia and her brother Zohaib Hassan released five albums before she quit music in 1992, got married in 1997 and was formally divorced days before her death.

The rest of the songs and the background score were set by Kalyanji-Anandji. The hit qawwali Qurbani Qurbani was penned by the Urdu poet, Faruk Kaiser and rendered by Anwar, Kishore Kumar and Aziz Nazan received a special award for ‘The Most Amazing Evergreen Song’ for the composer duo. Mohd. Rafi sang Kya Dekhte Ho, written by Indeevar. The hit song, Laila o Laila was rumored to be a lift of Black Blood (1975) by Chicano.

Feroz Khan loved showing oomph and style and both in large measures, as evident in Qurbani, a simple love triangle turned on its head and mounted as one of the most lavish productions of the 70s. From destroying brand new cars, filming extensive car chases in London to reconstructing lavish sets Feroz Khan as a producer saved the destruction of a brand new Mercedes as a cherry on the top! The scene where FK chastises a haughty Puri by demolishing his opulent Mercedes banging it against the walls and pillars of a basement parking without any remorse was something never attempted in an Indian film and of course, no producer would attempt later. The climax was shot in London. The UK stunts were designed and arranged by James Dowdall, photographed by Eric Van Herren and produced by Nick Farnes who, with James Dowdall, wrote the UK scenario. FK also turned a full-fledged editor with this film.

The mastermind villain in Qurbani was amazingly a woman, Aruna Irani with her screen sibling Shakti Kapoor as a psychotic henchman. Qurbani’s repeat value lies in its high-adrenaline action and seductive imagery against Kalyanji-Anandji’s snazzy background music score.

Shakti Kapoor grew up in Karol Bagh, Delhi. His father sold cloth and had a tailoring shop. After college, Shakti Kapoor trained for six months to start a travel agency with a portion of his father’s cloth shop for the travel agency, but his father refused and a hurt Shakti Kapoor joined FTTI, Pune and did a two-year diploma course in acting along with Naseeruddin Shah and Anil Verma. He signed his first film, Arjun Hingorani’s Khel Khilari Ka in 1975, while still at the institute.

Shakti Kapoor had done about 15 films before Qurbani. Shakti Kapoor met Feroz khan when his 1961 Fiat, bought from the modeling money collided with Feroz Khan’s brand new Mercedes on Linking Road in Bandra. Kapoor immediately got down looking for a fight but soon apologized to Feroz Khan, and expressed his desire to play a role in his upcoming film.

Feroz Khan at the time of the accident was busy writing Qurbani with his writer K K Shukla and left in his car as a crowd had accumulated. At his office, he mentioned to KK Shukla about the menace Kapoor’s eyes reflected and cast him as the film’s villain!

Amjad Khan’s performance is one of the coolest cop portrayals in Bollywood history. His rotund maverick police officer continually chews gum, wears a goofy grin, quotes Ghalib straightens a tilted jeep with his bare hands and changes disguise at the drop of a hat, he is like a Ustinov blended with Bruce Lee!

It can be called a quirk of cruel fate that Qurbani, unfortunately, starred three male leads, who most, unfortunately, died on the same date of 27th. Amjad Khan succumbed to Congestive heart failure on July 27, 1992. Feroz Khan died on April 27, 2009, at 69 after battling lung cancer and Vinod Khanna died of bladder cancer at 70 on April 27, 2017. 

Feroz Khanna and Vinod Khanna first worked together in the dacoit drama Shankar Shambhu (1976), in the title roles.

With Qurbani, FK hit the prime of his creativity. His following films crafted in his usual blustery style failed to match the originality of Apradh, Dharmatma or this one. The late legend wished to remake the film with his son, Fardeen and Saif Ali Khan but never came to realize his cherished dream.

As the world prepares for the International Yoga day on June 21, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said yoga is a valuable tool to increase physical activity and decrease noncommunicable disease, creating healthier individuals, communities and countries across the South-East Asia Region and for people of all ages.In a statement issued here, the WHO has said routine physical activity is central to life-long health and wellbeing. Among other benefits, adequate physical activity improves muscular and cardiorespiratory fitness, enhances bone and functional health, and helps prevent depression and promote mental health.
Crucially, it also reduces the risk of life-threatening non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as hypertension, stroke, heart attack and diabetes – conditions that already cause an estimated 8.5 million deaths across the WHO South-East Asia Region annually.
As highlighted in WHO’s recently released Global Action Plan on Physical Activity 2018-2030, the routine practice of yoga – a 5000-year-old tradition – is a valuable tool for people of all ages to make physical activity an integral part of life and reach the level needed to promote good health. For children aged 5-17 that means at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous-intensity activity daily. Adults require at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity weekly, the WHO has said. 
As Member States across the Region strive to reduce NCD-related premature mortality by a quarter by 2025, and one-third by 2030, yoga’s full potential should be harnessed. Importantly, and as outlined in a resolution unanimously endorsed at WHO South-East Asia’s Regional Committee in 2016, doing so should be part of a wider push to promote physical activity as a key preventive health measure.
To that end, each of the Region’s Member States must go from theory to practice and fully implement the multisectoral NCD action plans they have devised. That each Member State has now developed these plans – and has included specific points on promoting physical activity – is a tremendous achievement, but one that requires concerted efforts to ensure maximum impact.  
Of specific focus in promoting physical activity should be engaging more vigorously across sectors, especially with planning authorities in urban areas. By creating open-air gyms, bicycle paths and running tracks, for example, urban environments can facilitate and promote physical activity, including yoga. That is particularly important given the sedentary lifestyle urban living too often encourages.
Schools also have a vital role to play. Promoting physical activity among students – for instance, by keeping facilities open outside of school hours, or ensuring time for structured free play – can help create healthy habits that last a life-time. The importance of an active lifestyle is a lesson every pupil should learn and be encouraged to fully embrace, the statement said. 
Notably, the impact of efforts to promote physical activity should be monitored and evaluated on an ongoing basis. Doing so will allow national authorities to gauge the impact of their interventions and implement the right mix of policies. Achieving the target of a 15% increase in physical activity by 2030 demands all Member States stay on track or correct course where necessary.

A team of scientists and engineers led by Prof. Abhijit Chakraborty of Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad, have discovered a sub-Saturn or super-neputune size planet (mass of about 27 Earth Mass and size of 6 Earth Radii) around a Sun-like star.

The planet will be known as EPIC 211945201b or K2-236b. This was officially announced by the Department of Space on June 21.

The discovery was made by measuring the mass of the planet using the indigenously designed “PRL Advance Radial-velocity Abu-sky Search” (PARAS) spectrograph integrated with 1.2m Telescope at PRL’s Gurushikhar Observatory in Mount Abu, India.

Only 23 such planetary systems (including this discovery) are known to this date with masses between 10 and 70 Earth mass and size of 4 to 8 Earth radii with such precise measurement of mass This discovery is very important for understanding the formation mechanism of such super-Neptune or sub-Saturn kind of planets, that are too close to the host star and as well as planet formations around Sun-like stars.

With this discovery, India has joined a handful of countries, which have discovered planets around stars beyond our solar system. Further, PARAS is the first of its kind spectrograph in Asia, which can measure the mass of a planet going around a star. Very few spectrographs exist around the world that can do such precise measurements.

The research work has appeared online in Astronomical Journal of the American Astronomical Society and published by IOP publishing (the DOI of the article is 10.3847/1538-3881 /aac436).