The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has said that the decision of the BJP to withdraw from the coalition government with the PDP in Jammu & Kashmir at this particular moment has the potential of creating greater political instability in the State.

It signifies the total political failure of the BJP’s approach in Jammu & Kashmir, the CPI (M) said in a statement issued here. 

This alliance was untenable since the beginning. It was an alliance between forces that never saw eye to eye on any issue but came together in an act of sheer opportunism to share the spoils of office.

The BJP was party to all decisions of the state government during the past three years and hence cannot absolve any responsibility for contributing to a further deterioration in the state and towards deepening the
alienation of the people.

The BJP being a coalition partner of the State government and holding office in the central government had promised the people of Kashmir an immediate introduction of confidence building measures and immediate starting of a political process by initiating a comprehensive dialogue with all stakeholders in the valley. Neither of these two promises which were publicly announced by the Union Home Minister after the all Party delegation visited the valley in September 2017 have been fulfilled. If they were sincerely followed up the situation could have improved, the statement said. 

The BJP central government unilaterally announced, first, the ceasefire and later, its withdrawal.

Under these circumstances, plunging the state into greater uncertainty and the impending imposition of President’s rule may not help in addressing the issue of the deepening alienation of the people.

A tailor-made Monitoring and Evaluation framework forms one of the foremost components leading to the successful implementation of any project activity. Prior to suggesting tips for the implementation of Monitoring and evaluation in CSR activities, understanding the meaning of both monitoring and evaluation in the context of project framework is important.

Monitoring is a periodically recurring task that allows results, processes, and experiences to be documented and used as a basis to steer decision-making and learning. It is a progress checking mechanism created to see whether the project is on track and meeting the outputs set within the time limits as mentioned in the project design and implementation plan. 

Evaluation of a project revolves around how well or how badly has the project been implemented, to what extent it has achieved the results (outputs & outcomes), the challenges faced during the implementation and how they have or could have been mitigated. It also provides a base to see whether the same can be scaled up and if the model is replicable. 

One of the most pertinent factors to be kept in mind is that monitoring happens during project implementation while evaluation takes place after the project has been implemented. Thus, even mid-term evaluations falls in the category of monitoring as it is focused on what type of hindrances are occurring which is holding back the successful implementation of the project and what type of course corrections needs to take place in order to put the project implementation back on track. 

Without tailored performance indicators and specific parameters that reflect the context and focus of the program, both monitoring and evaluation is likely to produce generic results and be void of relevant lessons learned and useful recommendations for future programs. Thus, proper creation and management of a monitoring and evaluation framework is a critical element for the success of any developmental project. 

The 8 key factors that need to be kept in mind while formulating a monitoring and evaluation framework for a project are as follows:

1. Track necessary Information only: M&E tools often ends up capturing a lot of information that is not required or has no potential use for the program. For instance: if we are conducting an education program that works to improve student’s learning outcomes by providing books, then the M&E team doesn’t have to collect information about the student’s mid-day meals. The idea behind it is to collect only necessary information that is required to ascertain whether the project is on track in case of monitoring and whether it has achieved the results to address the issues successfully in case of evaluation. This would result in optimization of resources in terms of cost, effort and time deployed for M&E studies.

2. Selection of Appropriate Data Collection Tools: Selection of tools with respect to the requirement of the nature of the project is a vital component in any monitoring and evaluation framework. It is well known fact that one size does not fit all, in the same way, the tools selected have to be as per the nature of the project, budgetary constraints and available timeline. Defining the methods for data collection will have important implications for the entire study and will have a direct impact on how the results will be reported. 

3. Identifying M&E roles and responsibilities: It is imperative for any good monitoring and evaluation framework to assign specific roles & responsibilities within the project team personnel. Further, the assessment is to be done on the basis of specific indicators which are to be achieved within specified timelines. It is important to decide from the early planning stage who is responsible for collecting the data for each indicator. Data management roles should be decided with input from all team members so that everyone is on the same page and knows which indicators they are assigned and are supposed to record and keep track of. This way when it is time for reporting, appropriate actions can be taken based on real time data collected from the ground and learning’s can be synthesized.

4. Indicators should be SMART: The indicators to be decided for any monitoring and evaluation plan should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Accurate, Realistic & Time Bound). This implies that it should be specific in terms of what it wants to measure/assess, measurable quantitatively/qualitatively, able to accurately capture data, based on realistic parameters as per the on-ground situation and should have a specific timeline. These are the most significant elements to be considered while framing the performance indicators and parameters. 

5. Use of Logical Framework Matrix (LFM): It is one of the most critical tools for ensuring that the entire project implementation plan along with the results and the performance indicators are drawn up in a matrix so as to make it easier for any project implementation team to see if the project is going as per the plan. It aids in effective monitoring of the entire implementation phase by checking if the project results (outputs and outcomes) are being met in a timely fashion. Further, it also aids in assessing the risks and assumptions and creating a mitigation plan for the same. Moreover, it helps in analysing the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders and helps in the better management of the entire project. At the end of a project, it also helps in assessing whether the project has been successful in meeting the outcomes and objectives that the project had set out to achieve. 

6 Create a Comprehensive Analysis Plan: The accurate analysis of data is a key component for the success of any monitoring and evaluation plan. It is very important for the data to be analyzed by a management professional who has had prior experience in analyzing both qualitative and quantitative sets of data. The analysis of quantitative and qualitative sets of data requires different sets of competence and it is imperative for the data analysis personnel to be well versed with both of them. The inferences drawn from the analysis should be substantiated with data comprising of facts and figures (quantitative data) or/and views, opinions, perceptions of the relevant stakeholders (qualitative data). 

The M&E plan should include a section with details about what data will be analyzed and how the results will be presented. Do research staffs need to perform any statistical tests to get the needed answers? If so, what tests are they and what data will be used in them? What software program will be used to analyze data and make reporting tables. All these elements should also be given equal importance.

7. Verification through Triangulation of Data: One of the most important factors to be kept in mind while designing of the monitoring and evaluation framework is that the data collected needs to be verified from multiple sources both through primary and secondary research. This is imperative in order to increase the authenticity and accuracy of the data. 

8. Sharing of Data with Relevant Stakeholders- The data collected and the resulting analysis should be shared with all the relevant stakeholders. This will ensure that the data collected and analysed leads to real time change/course correction on the ground or leads to better planning and design of future similar projects. Data should always be collected for a particular purpose that will inform the staff and stakeholders about the success and progress of the program. It must also assist the staff to make modifications in real-time. The M&E plan should also include plans for internal dissemination among the program team, as well as wider dissemination among stakeholders and donors. 

For example, a program team may want to review data on a monthly basis to make programmatic decisions and develop future work plans, while meetings with the donor to review data and program progress might occur quarterly or annually. Dissemination of printed or digital materials might occur at more frequent intervals. These options should be discussed with stakeholders and the M&E team to ascertain reasonable expectations for data review and to develop plans for dissemination early in the program.

Thus, in a nutshell monitoring forms the lifeline of any project as it makes sure that the right decisions are taken at the right time in order to mitigate the risks and challenges facing the project in real time while evaluation shows to what extent the overall targets and outcomes set at the time of the project designing phase has been met post implementation of the project activities.(The Author Shariq Jamal is a Programme Management professional.)

Mr. Jaitley may not be back at North Block but is certainly making his presence felt through social media. His latest blog hits out at former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s idea of capping excise duties on petroleum products at Rs. 25 per litre. Describing it as a trap, he says such a plan will end up by pushing the country into unmanageable debt. No doubt he is alarmed by the idea, since it has been estimated that a one rupee cut in excise on oil products will lead to an annual revenue loss of Rs. 13000 crore. A drastic cut in excise duties can thus create serious shortfalls in revenue inflows and impact efforts to keep the fiscal deficit in check. So far the NDA government has been able to consistently keep reducing the deficit for the past four years. It is committed to keeping it within the target of 3.3 per cent in 2018-19 as compared to 4.5 per cent during the last year of the UPA regime.This has resonated well with foreign credit rating agencies and investors which have been impressed that it has not succumbed to populist pressures and kept to its fiscal targets.

But one of the main reasons for being able to maintain such discipline has been the bounty showered on this government by the crash in world oil prices shortly after it assumed power. Prices had reached a low of 40 dollars per barrel in 2014, a far cry from the peaks of 100 dollars per barrel that had to be dealt with by the UPA. To take full advantage of the low oil prices, the new government reduced fuel prices only marginally and instead increased excise duties on petroleum products. As Mr. Jaitley himself points out in his blog, duties were raised nine times since 2014. This brought in a revenue bonanza for the exchequer which has been used to balance the central budget. 

International prices started hardening, however, in the last quarter of 2017. These have now risen to about 73 dollars per dollar of the benchmark Brent crude, though it had reached a peak of nearly 80 dollars just a few weeks ago. Excise duty has only been reduced once since then so consumers are bearing the brunt of the high oil prices. This has naturally increased inflationary pressures on the economy. The inflation rate has recorded a rise of 4.28 per cent in March to 4.58 per cent in April 2 this year, largely due to higher fuel prices.The Reserve Bank of India has, in turn, raised interest rates at its latest meeting in line with its role of keeping a check on inflation, a move which has naturally not been viewed favourably by the Finance Ministry.

The question is, what is the government now going to do to deal with the situation. It should ideally try to shift crude oil and petroleum products  to the discipline of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). But there is no movement simply because states, of which a large number are ruled by the BJP are opposed to taking away this cash cow from their purview. The central government should ideally be able to convince at least the BJP ruled states, which are now in a majority, to put oil products under the new tax and hence easily have the proposal approved by the GST Council. But for some strange reason, there is little movement on this issue apart from declarations being made that the centre is keen to put petroleum under GST.

As a measure of relief to consumers, both retail and industrial, the government should at least cut excise duties to some extent and try to raise additional revenue from other sources such as disinvestment. But it appears that the Finance Ministry is watching the international market and waiting for prices to subside instead of taking any concrete action for the time being. The fact is that oil prices have already slid down from their peak of 80 dollars largely because there is a realization by major producers like Saudi Arabia and Russia that extremely high prices could lead to a drop in demand. Besides, shale oil production has also picked up recently in the U.S. which will contribute to the softening trend. Hopes are being pinned on the forthcoming meeting of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on June 22  where production quotas are expected to be raised significantly. Russia which has been acting in collaboration with OPEC since the middle of last year is also reported to be in favour of raising output in line with the cartel.

The future outlook for fuel prices for the Indian consumer thus depends right now more on OPEC rather than the government. In case the OPEC meeting brings some relief in terms of higher production quotas for members, world prices are bound to recede to some extent. This in turn should lead to a decrease in prices of petrol, diesel and other petroleum products at the retail level in this country within a few weeks. But if these hopes are belied, the government may need to take some hard decisions to provide relief to consumers, otherwise inflation will spiral out of control. In addition, it would be politically unwise to allow high oil prices to continue in a year when the ruling party faces elections in several states and ultimately the general elections next year. The OPEC meeting will thus have a high stakes outcome not just for the members of the cartel for the political future of this government.

(Views are personal.)

After one month of treatment for Lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease, a 29 year old young female from Iran gets a new lease of life at Wockhardt hospital, Mumbai central.

A young woman from Iran met doctor with symptoms of joint pains and swelling. She was treated as Rheumatoid arthritis for more than 1 year. 

Gradually her symptoms worsened and further investigations revealed she had Lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease due to which her internal organs were affected. She developed skin rashes; kidney function tests were high, and also she had heart involvement in form of valve dysfunction and fluid around her heart due to active inflammation of the disease. The patient travelled to India in very bad condition due to Lupus.

Dr. Dipti Patel, Consultant Rheumatologist at Wockhardt Hospital, SOBO Said “Patient came to me with complaints like joints pain, skin rashes, kidney damage, problem in heart and was very short of breath due to anaemia and heart problems secondary to her active lupus. It was a complicated case of lupus with multi system involvement. A detailed assessment and investigations were carried out at Wockhardt Hospital and a multidisciplinary treatment protocol was created with the help of other leading doctors Dr M M Bahadur, Dr Chandan Chaudhari – Consultant Nephrologists , Dr Nazir Juwale – Consultant Cardiologist

She was commenced on biologic drugs which are modern immuno suppressive drugs, now available to suppress the disease process and save damage to major organs. She underwent successful treatment for over a month. Eventually fluid around the heart decreased, creatinine levels (kidney function) was stabilised and the symptoms much improved.

Lupus normally affects young people, the age groups of 15-40 is the most vulnerable, more common in women than men. “The ratio of women to men is 9 to 1 or 90%. Lupus can often trigger after childbirth, at menopause or puberty due to hormonal activity and change. It is more common in Asian and black women than Caucasians. It is important to not ignore symptoms of joint pains with swelling and consult a Rheumatologist early as it could indicate different forms of inflammatory diseases one of them being lupus,” adds Dr Patel.

Mrs Haleema says, “I am really happy with the decision of coming to Wockhardt Hospital in Mumbai for the treatment. With the help of proper treatment now I can lead a normal life.”

Senior journalist Shujaat Bukhari was shot dead by unknown attackers in Srinagar on Thursday evening.

Shujaat Bukhari, the editor of “Rising Kashmir” was attacked when he had just stepped out of his office in Press Colony in the city. He was reportedly hit by multiple bullets fired at a close range. A security guard protecting him and his driver were also shot. One of them has died as well.

It was not immediately clear how many gunmen attacked Bukhari, who earlier worked with The Hindu newspaper as its Kashmir correspondent.

This is the first attack on a journalist in a long time in Kashmir and has shaken the entire fraternity

Shujaat Bukhari was given police protection since an attack on him in 2000. He was instrumental in organising several conferences for peace in the Kashmir valley. He was also part of the Track II process with Pakistan.

Press Club of India strongly condemns the killing of Shujaat Bukhari, Editor of Rising Kashmir, by a group of terrorists in Srinagar on Thursday evening. 

Press Club of India is shocked and saddened by this mindless terror attack that claimed the life of Shujaat Bukhari in the holy month of Ramzan. He had started his career as a young reporter with Kashmir Times and moved to The Hindu as its Kashmir correspondent in the 90s where his in-depth, analytical and objective reporting from the Valley got him recognition on the national and international level. 

Later, he established his own English daily Rising Kashmir. 

Press Club of India has time and again underlined the threat to the lives of journalists working under difficult and challenging circumstances and demanded protection for them.. Reports said that Mr. Bukhari’s two personal security guards also sustained injuries in the terror attack. 

Terror attack that took Shujaat Bukhari’s life shows that lives of journalists are not at all safe. Forces inimical to restoring peace in Kashmir Valley have silenced a voice of reason, logic and peace. 

Press Club of India deeply mourns the loss of Shujaat Bukhari’s life and extends its condolences to the bereaved family in this hour of crisis. 

TOKYO: Well known Indian Social worker and the man behind low cost toilet revolution “Sulabh Sauchalya “ Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak was on Wednesday honoured with this year’s prestigious “Nikkei Asia Prize for Culture and Community “ at an award ceremony here.

Japan’s Prestigious Nikkei Asia Prize is an award which recognizes the outstanding achievements of people and organizations that have improved the lives of people throughout Asia.

Launched in 1996 by the Nikkei Inc , the coveted prize honours people in Asia who have made significant contributions in one of the three areas: regional growth; science, technology and innovation; and culture and community. 

Former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Infosys Chairman   Narayan Murty are among a few Indians who have won this coveted prize in the past. 

The award was presented by Mr. Naotoshi Okada, President of Nikkei Inc, to Sulabh International founder here.

While conferring the award, the Chairman of the Award Committee Mr Fujio Mitarai said that Dr Pathak was being bestowed with the honour for “tackling two of his country’s biggest challenges—poor hygiene and discrimination.” 

He was awarded under the category of “Culture and Community”. 

The other two winners of the award are Ma Jun (Economic and Business Innovation), a Chinese environmentalist, for using the power of the internet to promote cleaner industry and Professor Nguyen Thanh Liem (Science and Technology), a Vietnamese doctor, for bringing cutting-edge medicine to children. 

Dr. Pathak invented two-pit pour-flush ecological compost toilets that have helped provide low cost environment friendly toilets to millions of people in the developing world.  

It has also ensured the safety for rural women and freedom from the manual labour of removing human waste. 

The Nikkei Asia Prizes were established in 1996 to commemorate the 120th anniversary of Nikkei Inc’s main Japanese-language newspaper. 

While accepting this award, Dr. Pathak dedicated it to the downtrodden section of the society for whom he has been waging campaign for more than five decades. 

“This award will be another milestone in my commitment to the service of the society in Asia in particular and world in general,” he added.

Childhood deaths from two leading bacterial causes of pneumonia and meningitis, pneumococcus and Hib, declined sharply during the period 2000 to 2015, especially as vaccines against these pathogens were introduced in high-burden countries, according to new estimates from a team led by scientists at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The findings, published in The Lancet Global Health, highlight the success of the global fight against these illnesses, and also provide a clear picture of the remaining disease burden, now largely concentrated in South Asia and Africa.

Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) are bacteria that can cause meningitis, pneumonia, sepsis and other serious complications, especially in children. They have been major causes of child mortality in developing countries. Estimates for the year 2000 showed about 2.1 million severe infections and 299,000 child deaths from Hib, and 6.6 million severe infections and 600,000 child deaths from pneumococcus—not including cases of opportunistic infection in children with HIV.

Conjugate vaccines against Hib have been used in the U.S., Europe and some other countries for almost three decades. They virtually eliminated Hib as a significant public health threat in areas of high and sustained coverage. However, children in several developing countries with high disease burdens have only started to receive Hib vaccine in the past decade. A vaccine against pneumococcus, known as the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV), began to be used in many low-income countries, where much of the disease burden is found, in 2009.

“Further progress against these diseases will depend on efforts in a few large countries,” says study lead author Brian Wahl, PhD, an assistant scientist at the International Vaccine Access Center in the Bloomberg School’s Department of International Health. “These bacteria still cause far too many child deaths.”

Researchers developed updated estimates—on a country-by-country basis, for each year from 2000 to 2015—of the numbers of Hib and pneumococcal disease cases and deaths in children. They used country-specific figures of children who died of pneumonia and meningitis, along with field-based evidence on the fraction of those deaths caused by pneumococcus and Hib, and WHO/UNICEF estimates of vaccine coverage to estimate the burden of pneumococcal and Hib deaths and cases.

Their primary findings were that both Hib and pneumococcus caused far fewer cases of severe disease and death in children ages one to 59 months in 2015 compared to 2000. For Hib in 2015, there were approximately 29,500 child deaths, and for pneumococcus an estimated 294,000 child deaths. These figures suggest declines of 90 percent and 51 percent, respectively, from the estimated deaths in the year 2000.

The researchers estimated that Hib and pneumococcal deaths among children with HIV/AIDS also declined sharply—75 percent—from about 95,000 in 2000 to about 23,000 in 2015.

The sharp declines in child mortality from Hib and pneumococcus were due not just to the introduction of vaccines but also to general factors that have reduced pneumonia and meningitis deaths from all causes, such as better hygiene and access to health care. “In 2015 compared to 2000 fewer children died from all causes, not just Hib and pneumococcus,” Wahl notes.

However, there was evidence that vaccines were specifically responsible for a considerable reduction in mortality. “The estimated average annual decline in child deaths from pneumococcus jumped from 3 percent during 2000-2010 to 8 percent after 2010 when many high-burden countries began widespread immunizations with PCV,” Wahl says.

The researchers estimated that during 2000-2015 PCV prevented a total of about 250,000 child deaths—mostly after 2010—while Hib vaccines prevented 1.2 million child deaths. These figures do not include the prevented cases of pneumococcal and Hib deaths among children who were HIV-infected.

The new estimates will guide ongoing efforts to reduce the burdens of Hib and pneumococcal diseases, which together still kill approximately 900 children per day around the world. The estimates suggest, for example, that about half of the pneumococcal child deaths in 2015 occurred in just four countries: India, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Pakistan. “The pneumoccocal disease burden is now limited to a small number of countries that have not introduced the vaccine or have not yet fully scaled the vaccines,” Wahl says.

The introduction of Hib vaccine and PCV into high-burden, low-income countries since 2009 has occurred with the support of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, a public-private partnership of countries, WHO, UNICEF and other partners.

“Burden of Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae type b disease in children in the era of conjugate vaccines: global, regional, and national estimates for 2000–15” was written by Brian Wahl, Katherine O’Brien, Adena Greenbaum, Anwesha Majumder, Li Liu, Yue Chu, Ivana Lukšic, Harish Nair, David McAllister, Harry Campbell, Igor Rudan, Robert Black, and Maria Deloria Knoll.

NEW DELHI: In what it could be called as weaning away  young minds from anti-social activities in Kashmir Valley, Army’s Super 30 coaching initiative has notched up an impressive success rate of getting 30 students selected for the elite IITs and other engineering colleges in the country. 

The Army began its collaboration five years ago with the Centre for Social Responsibility and Leadership (CSRL) and Petronet LNG Ltd (PLL) to train students from Kashmir Valley for engineering courses.

“We had identified 35 students from the valley for engineering examination and 32 have cleared their examination this year. Out of 32, seven have been selected for admission to IITs and the rest will enroll in the NITs and other engineering colleges,” said Meenakshi Shahi, Chief Manager (Project and HR) National 

Super 30 of CSRL. 

On being asked about the mission of Super 30, Ms Shahi said, “The CSRL wants to bridge the socio-economic gap prevailing in the society by providing free classes, food and lodging.” She also appreciated the efforts of the Indian Army for providing infrastructure, security and safe environment in training the students. 

“It is one of the successful projects undertaken by the Army in the valley which has impacted the lives of number of youths by providing them proper guidance and an opportunity to make a career for themselves,” Army officials said. The project has equally helped the families of these youths in their growth and prosperity. It is a major milestone towards bringing normalcy in the valley, they said.  

Zahra Batool, one of the students who cracked the JEE examination shared her experience as to how she was attracted to this course. She said, “Last year, some of my friends got selected into IITs through this project. They asked me to get enrolled into this organization. I got selected into this scheme and I had a wonderful experience with the students across the country.” While the boys are being trained at Srinagar campus, the girls are accommodated in Noida. 

The CSRL runs 15 centres across the country and will increase the number to 20 in July this year.

Along the lines of Kashmir Super 30 for engineering aspirants, Indian Army has recently signed a MoU for medical aspirants with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and National Integrity Educational Development Organisation (NIEDO), under which selected students will be provided with complete free residential coaching for National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for their selection in various medical colleges in the country. 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has commended India for its progress in recent years in reducing the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) by 77%, from 556 per 100 000 live births in 1990 to 130 per 100 000 live births in 2016. India’s present MMR is below the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target and puts the country on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of an MMR below 70 by 2030.

A statement issued by WHO said that four key actions are responsible for India’s remarkable achievement, according to Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director for South East Asia. 

First, India had made a concerted push to increase access to quality maternal health services. Since 2005, coverage of essential maternal health services has doubled, while the proportion of institutional deliveries in public facilities has almost tripled, from 18% in 2005 to 52% in 2016 (including private facilities, institutional deliveries now stand at 79%).

Second, state-subsidized demand-side financing like the Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram – which allows all pregnant women delivering in public health institutions to free transport and no-expense delivery, including caesarian section – has largely closed the urban-rural divide traditionally seen in institutional births. Overall, 75% of rural births are now supervised, as compared to 89% of urban deliveries.

Third, India has put significant emphasis on mitigating the social determinants of maternal health. Women in India are more literate than ever, with 68% now able to read and write. They are also entering marriage at an older age, with just 27% now wedded before the age of 18. These factors alone have enabled Indian women to better control their reproductive lives and make decisions that reflect their own interests and wants.

Finally, the government has put in substantive efforts to facilitate positive engagement between public and private health care providers. Campaigns such as the Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan have been introduced with great impact, allowing women access to antenatal check-ups, obstetric gynecologists and to track high-risk pregnancies – exactly what is needed to make further gains and achieve the SDG targets.

India’s achievements are already having wide-ranging human impact, and are of immense inspiration to WHO Member States, both in the Region and beyond. As per WHO South-East Asia’s Flagship Priority of advancing maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health, the Organization will continue to provide technical and operational support as and where needed in India and across the Region to end preventable deaths due to pregnancy and childbirth and to ensure every woman has full control over her reproductive life.

Meanwhile, Unicef, too, has appreciated the achievement.

“India has shown impressive progress in reducing maternal deaths, with nearly 1000 fewer women now dying of pregnancy related complications each month in India as compared to 2013” said Dr. Yasmin Ali Haque, country representative of UNICEF in India.

She further added, “What is even more heartening to see is that the State of Uttar Pradesh, which accounts for the highest share of home deliveries in the country has led the charts with a near 30 per cent reduction, which is even higher than the national average of 22 per cent”.

However, even one maternal death is too many and it is our shared responsibility to end these preventable maternal and newborn deaths.  Ensuring every women delivers with a safe pair of hands in an environment that treats her with respect and dignity going to be the key. It will be crucial that the same timely access and quality of care is afforded to every woman, especially those who live in the remotest and the poorest household of the country. The time for all of us to act is now, she added.

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee is going to establish a Design Innovation Center (DIC), named “Navonmesh” at a cost of Rs. 10 crore to address issues of Himalayan region.

Funded by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), It will address issues of the Himalayan Region using resources available locally as well as national priorities. The objective is to develop innovative designs primarily to address the local issues which need low cost solutions and to nurture and advance the culture of design and innovation in the region to improve the quality of life.

Highlighting the importance of this Center to the Himalayan Region and the country, Prof. Ajit K.Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee, said, “I am happy that IIT Roorkee has been selected for setting up a Design Innovation Center. We already have an ecosystem in place and I am sure our faculty members and students will take full advantage of the framework provided by DIC.”

“The DIC aims to produce region-specific products and will support innovative proposals for product development. It has also some unique outreach programs such as COMAL (Common MAn to Laboratory), under which DIC will connect with the common man, who often has innovative ideas, but usually gets deprived of proper mentoring, to takehis ideas to reality. I am sure the Design Innovation Center, along with the Spoke partners, will focus on the specific problems of the region which will benefit the society,” he said.

The DIC has already identified several products that are going to be developed including crop harvester for terrains, green furniture based on forest waste materials, assistive device differently-abled persons, high yield loom design for Uttarakhand local weavers, lab-on-chip and an inclusive Education Kit.

The DIC will also take up Industrial Consultancy and Collaborative Activities besides conducting Workshops/Seminars and U2U (Udbhavan to Utpadan).

Speaking about the vision of this Center, Prof Manoranjan Parida, Dean (Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy), IIT Roorkee, said, “The DIC will evolve a unique model of focusing on the development of a culture of collaborative partnership with society, industry and other stakeholders to develop state-of-the-art outcomes. Addressing the needs of differently-abled persons is among the priority areas.”

The MHRD approved the proposal of IIT Roorkee to establish the DIC under the National Initiative of the Ministry for setting up of Design Innovation Center, Open Design School and National Design Innovation Network. The DIC will have a laboratory with selected fabrication devices and testing facilities will be developed. These include – High-end Machining Center, Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM), Chip Fabrication Facility, and Simulation Facility.

The proposed DIC will operate in the ‘Hub and Spoke’ Model, in which IIT Roorkee will be the Hub Institute; three other premier Institutions of the region – National Institute of Technology Uttarakhand (NITUK), Indian Institute of Management Kashipur (IIM-Kashipur) and College of Technology, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (GBPUA&T), Pantnagar, shall participate as the Spokes. The other institutions have also developed their specific proposals –to address local problems. As per guidelines of MHRD, the Spokes are allocated one-third of the total budget.

Mr. Krishna Rao who just graduated (B.Tech., Production and Industrial Engineering), said, “The P2P (Prayogshala to Prayogkshetra) initiative gives students a chance to learn and develop productsfrom the research work that they’ve done for their final year project. It is an extraordinary chance for the student community to explore the field of product development by gaining first-hand experience from the designing stage to fabrication ofthe final product.”

The proposed activities of the DIC will be carried out under three major categories:

(i)            Supporting innovative product-based projects of faculty members and students,

(ii)           Academic activities, and

(iii)          Outreach activities.

A core team of faculty members led by Prof. Apurbba Kumar Sharma, DIC Coordinator (Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering) and members – Prof. Rajat Agrawal (Department of Management Studies), Prof. Gaurav Raheja (Department of Architecture and Planning), Prof. Sanjeev Manhas (Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering) and Prof. Inderdeep Singh (Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering) prepared the proposal under the overall supervision of Prof. Manoranjan Parida, Dean, Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy (SRIC). A number of faculty members from other departments and centers also contributed.