NEW DELHI: Making a strong pitch for pursuit of terror financing and following the drug money, Minister of State for External Affairs M.J.Akbar on Monday called for global cooperation to eliminate cross-border terrorism as terrorists do not believe in a nation state or nationalism but in faith-based space. 

“We must identify not only the frontline enemy but all its support systems. We must have honest answers to candid questions. Where does terror financing come from? We must follow the drug money. Steps currently being taken by Financial Action Task Force (FATF) are most welcome, and we cannot falter in our pursuit of terror financing. We must cooperate to eliminate cross-border terrorism,” Mr. Akbar said. 

He was participating in the high-level International Conference on Countering Terrorism and Preventing Violent Extremism, hosted by Tajikistan in Dushanbe in cooperation with the UN, OSCE and EU. Mr. Akbar thanked the Tajik Government for preventing radicalized elements from spreading into the Central Asian region and beyond by their historic struggle during the Tajik civil war. 

Mr Akbar said India is fighting terrorism in Afghanistan in many ways – but chief among them is people-oriented development. “Our assistance to Afghanistan is over three billion dollars and includes, at the moment, 116 new projects in 31 provinces,” he told the conference.

Pointing out that there are no short cuts in fighting terrorism, he said terrorists and their sponsors attract the economically vulnerable into their suicide factories through lies, distortion, illusion as well as the ‘romance of regression’.

“We in India face and blunt the threat of radicalization through our shared cultural ethos and an abiding commitment to equality of faith and equitable economic opportunity. In India, every morning begins with the azaan, followed by the temple bells of a mandir, followed by the recitation of the Guru Granth Sahib in a gurdwara, followed, on a Sunday, by the peal of church bells. And because it is India, it is audible,” Mr. Akbar said.

“We are gathered here, friends, to unite and defend our very lives and civilization. We must identify not only the frontline enemy but all its support systems,” he said. 

He said the long war against terrorism must be fought along three dimensions — the battlefield, the battlefield within the mind were seeds of radicalization are being planted and the economic front. He noted that Tajikistan has banned the Islamic Rebirth Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) as a terrorist organization, without ifs and buts. 

India has signed a loan deal worth $ 200 million with the World Bank for the National Nutrition Mission (POSHAN Abhiyaan). The loan would help the government in achieving its goal of reducing stunting in children 0-6 years of age from 38.4% to 25% by the year 2022.

The POSHAN (PM’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment)Abhiyaan was launched by the Prime Minister on 8^th March 2018 at Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan.

A large component of POSHAN Abhiyaan involves gradual scaling-up of the interventions supported by the ongoing World Bank assisted Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Systems Strengthening and Nutrition Improvement Project (ISSNIP) to all districts in the country over the next 3-year.  The loan will support the first phase scale up to 315 districts across all states and union territories (UTs). 

With a focus on improving the coverage and quality of ICDS nutrition services to pregnant and lactating women and children under 3 years of age, the project will include investments in improving the skills and capacities of ICDS staff and community nutrition workers, instituting mechanisms of community mobilization and behavior change communication, strengthening systems of citizen engagement and grievance redress and establishing mobile technology based tools for improved monitoring and management of services for better outreach to beneficiaries during the critical 1,000 day window for nutrition impact. 

The project will additionally ensure convergence of all nutrition related schemes and provide performance based incentives to states and community nutrition and health workers, facilitating a focus on results.

Health has never been an issue in India. It has not been a priority for the people, and neither has it ever been an election issue – barring an occasional mention in the manifestos of political parties during election time.

It has been the same in the field of journalism. Health is a `beat’ that no one wants to cover – or at least it was so until a decade ago. And, there was a `valid’ reason given for it: A health reporter would never make it to the Editor’s chair. It is still believed that only political reporters make to the top post. Honestly, we have not had any health reporters who have become Editors. But then, we hardly had any dedicated health reporters in major newspapers until recently except a handful of honourable exceptions.  

While some newspapers now have health reporters, regional newspapers still have none despite the fact that health impacts each one of us. Media coverage on public health issues is large event-based, particularly when the news is bad because `good news is no news’ for journalists—at least in the health sector.  Even worse, health news or any social sector news competes with advertisements. A rich advertisement will have a better chance of replacing a health story. 

Under the scenario, the launch of the online version of the `Critical Appraisal Skills’ course for health journalists is a much-needed step in the right direction. 

As a practitioner of journalism specialising in public health, I am aware of the huge gap that exists when it comes to training reporters on health issues. Not many journalism schools have specialised courses on health, hence, this initiative by UNICEF, Oxford University, Indian Institute of Mass Communication and Thomson Reuters Foundation deserves appreciation, and with a hope that the course if adopted by journalism schools and even media houses for better health reporting. 

Having had the privilege of being associated with the course right the beginning, I am privy to the hard work that has gone into producing this valuable document. Beginning with a survey on health reporting in India in 2014 to the launch of the online course, it has been a story of collaborations, agreements and disagreements, days of discussions and deliberations, as well as  involvement of journalism students in the pilot to ensure smooth roll-out. 

When I was asked to contribute, I was a little unsure of what my contribution would be—as were the other journalists– in the entire exercise that began with some lectures on different health issues to the journalism students at IIMC who had opted for Critical Appraisal Skill Programme (CASP) – as the pilot was known then—in addition to their regular academic course. 

As we proceeded with the workshops—led by Nicholas Phythian, Will Church and Royston Martin  from Thomson Reuters Foundation, and Premila Webster and Bharti Kumarvel from Oxford University – ideas emerged and issues cropped up. Every workshop had a new set of participants who brought with them rich experience and regional diversities enriching the deliberations. The entire exercise was a learning experience for the trainers as well. 

By now the course became everyone’s baby! 

After a series of workshops in India and a short training at Oxford University, things started falling in place. By the first half of 2017, the module had more or less taken shape with Nicholas Phythian taking the lead in finalising the course that has been beautifully and simply converged into three modules – critical skills, mother and child and immunisation — from a whole universe of health issues. 

The course has been integrated as a module within all the eight communication streams that the Indian Institute of Mass Communication offers at present.  

The online course is available for entry and mid-level health reporters and aims to enhance the capacities of media representatives to generate factual and non-sensational reports. It has modules on immunisation, mother and child health and critical appraisal. 

UNICEF says evidence shows that a well-researched news story, underpinned with an evidence-based approach can help mitigate any adverse perception about large scale public health initiatives such as the Routine Immunization programmes. It also helps dispel myths and fears and ensures pro-active public participation. Here, media has a critical role to play by way of shaping the conversation.

India has one of the largest immunization programmes in the world, in terms of the number of beneficiaries, geographical coverage and quantities of vaccine used, with nearly 25 million newborns targeted for immunization annually. Over nine million immunization sessions are held across the country to achieve this. However, only 62 per cent of the children in India receive full immunization during the first year of their life.

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee have identified a molecule that has the potential of antiviral activity against chikungunya virus. The antiviral activity achieved around 99 per cent reduction in the virus. At present, there are no drugs or vaccine available in the market to treat chikungunya disease.

The research team led by Prof Shailly Tomar, Department of Biotechnology, IIT Roorkee, used structure-based studies of chikungunya virus specific nsP2 protease to identify molecules — Pep-I and Pep-II — that exhibited protease inhibitory as well as antiviral activity.

Speaking about the importance of this research, Prof. Shailly Tomar said, “The nsP2 protease is a strict viral enzyme meaning it is absent in humans, and thus, is an excellent antiviral drug target for chikungunya virus. We identified a molecule that not only possesses anti-nsP2 activity but also effectively kills the chikungunya virus in the cell based assays.”

One of the two molecules — Pep-I — has higher antiviral activity against chikungunya virus.

Speaking about the future work that is going to be done in this direction, Prof Tomar said, “Derivatives of PeP-I and PeP-I like molecules are being developed that will be tested for their antiviral potential in animal model”

The research was funded by the grant from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and published recently in the Elsevier journal ‘Biochimie 

According to the researchers, any molecule that inhibits nsP2 protease should possess antiviral activity. To test the hypothesis they carried out antiviral studies using cell lines.

World Health Organisation (WHO) has appreciated India’s Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Scheme saying that the availability of clean household energy affects us all and our families and is a key to sustainable development. 

In the last two years 37 million women living below the poverty line were provided free LPG connections to support them to switch to clean household energy use. The country targets to reach 80 million households by 2020.

The WHO has called upon Member countries in its South-East Asia Region to aggressively address the double burden of household and ambient air pollution. The Region accounts for 34% or 2.4 million of the 7 million premature deaths caused by household and ambient air pollution together globally every year.
 
Of the 3.8 million deaths caused by household air pollution globally, the Region accounts for 1.5 million or 40% deaths, and of the 4.2 million global deaths due to ambient (outdoor) air pollution, 1.3 million or 30% are reported from the Region, as per the latest WHO report. 

The All countries in the Region are making efforts to expand availability of clean fuels and technologies, however, over 60% population do not have clean fuel.

The combined effects of household air pollution and ambient air pollution become increasingly hard to address if not tackled early.  The majority of countries in the Region are at early stages of accelerated urbanization and rapid industrialization. Hence, air pollution needs to be brought under control with urgent and effective action at the earliest to stand the best chance to prevent the situation from worsening as development proceeds.

“Though there is progress in the Region as most countries have national action plans for prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, which incorporate measures to address household air pollution, and more and more cities are now measuring air quality,  we need to do much more, and with an urgent and aggressive approach,” said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia.
 
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of deaths globally and in the Region, and air pollution contributes significantly to NCDs such as cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease and lung cancer.  Cleaning up the air we breathe will help prevent NCDs, particularly among women and vulnerable groups such as children, those already ill and the elderly.

A range of solutions exist. Governments need to invest in effective urban planning with energy-efficient housing and power generation; build safe and affordable public transport systems; improve industry and municipal waste management; eliminate emissions from coal and biomass energy systems; properly manage agricultural waste, forest fires and agro-forestry activities such as charcoal production; and support the transition to exclusive use of clean household energy for cooking, heating and lighting.

Individuals should also contribute by valuing the environment and adopting behavioral changes such as using public transport or ‘soot-free’ vehicles; using clean, low-or no-emission stoves and fuels for cooking; using clean household energies and technologies; and reducing and disposing of household waste in an environmentally sound manner.

The Union Cabinet has approved the mutual recognition agreement (MRA) between the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA).

Approval of the Cabinet has been granted in respect of Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) between ICAI and SAICA to establish a mutual co-operation framework for the advancement of accounting knowledge, professional and intellectual development, advancing the interests of their respective members and positively contributing to the development of the accounting profession in South Africa and India. 

The ICAI is the second largest professional body of Chartered Accountants in the world, with a strong tradition of service to the Indian economy in public interest. 

The Agreement will facilitate recognition of Indian Accountancy Professionals with local Accountancy qualification in addition to existing ICAI qualification, which will increase their professional avenues in South African markets. Foster strong working relations between the two accounting institutes. Increase mobility of professionals at either end and would herald a new dimension for small and medium businesses in both countries.

MRAs pave the way for recognition of the professional bodies of one country by the other. Regulatory bodies of various professional services like engineering, accountancy and architecture are encouraged to enter into these pacts.

These agreements are part of free trade pacts that India has signed with several regions, including Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Asean.

Strategically it is very important for the ICAI to maintain a close relationship with SAICA will significantly help the Institute to further the interests of its members and strengthen the ICAI brand in the region. The relationship developed over the past few years is strategic in nature and of Mutual benefit. The MRA is likely to lead to greater employment opportunities for the Indian Chartered Accountants in the region and also lead to greater remittances from them to India.

ICAI is a statutory body established by an Act of Parliament of India, The Chartered Accountants Act, 1949′, to regulate the profession of Chartered Accountancy in India. SAICA is the foremost accountancy body in South Africa and one of the leading Institutes in the world. 

In general, a skilled professional from sectors, including medical and accountancy, can currently get a job in other country but signing of such agreements make it more easier to find employment.

National Capital Delhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Parliamentary constituency Varanasi are among the most polluted cities that figure in the list of 20 most polluted cities in the world.

The listing has been done in terms of PM2.5 levels in 2016, data released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has shown. The WHO data also said that nine out of 10 people in the world breathe air containing high levels of pollutants. Other Indian cities that registered very high levels of PM2.5 pollutants were Kanpur, Faridabad, Gaya, Patna, Agra, Muzaffarpur, Srinagar, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Patiala and Jodhpur.

Other highly polluted cities include Ali Subah Al-Salem in Kuwait and some cities in China and Mongolia.

In terms of PM10 levels, 13 cities in India figured among the 20 most-polluted cities of the world in 2016. WHO has called upon member-countries in its Southeast Asia Region to aggressively address the double burden of household and ambient (outdoor) air pollution, saying the region, which comprises India, accounts for 34 pc or 2.4 million of the seven million premature deaths caused by household and ambient air pollution together globally every year.

Of the 3.8 million deaths caused by household air pollution globally, the region accounts for 1.5 million or 40% deaths, and of the 4.2 million global deaths due to ambient air pollution, 1.3 million or 30% are reported from the region, it said. The PM2.5 includes pollutants like sulfate, nitrate and black carbon, which pose the greatest risk to human health.

WHO’s global urban air pollution database measured the levels of fine particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) from more than 4,300 cities in 108 countries, according to which ambient air pollution alone caused some 4.2 million deaths in 2016, while household air pollution from cooking with polluting fuels and technologies caused an estimated 3.8 million deaths in the same period.

Since 2016, over 1,000 additional cities have been added to WHO’s database, which shows more countries are measuring and taking action to reduce air pollution than ever before. “WHO estimates that around 7 million people die every year from exposure to fine particles in polluted air that penetrate deep into the lungs and cardiovascular system, causing diseases including stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and respiratory infections, including pneumonia,” the report said.

More than 90% of air pollution-related deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries (including India), mainly in Asia and Africa, followed by low- and middle-income countries of the Eastern Mediterranean region, Europe and the Americas, the report said.

“Around 3 billion people—more than 40% of the world’s population—still do not have access to clean cooking fuels and technologies in their homes, the main source of household air pollution,” it said.

It said the WHO recognises air pollution is a critical risk factor for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), causing an estimated 24% of all adult deaths from heart disease, 25% from stroke, 43% from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and 29% from lung cancer.

“Air pollution threatens us all, but the poorest and most marginalised people bear the brunt of the burden. It is unacceptable that over 3 billion people—most of them women and children—are still breathing deadly smoke every day from using polluting stoves and fuels in their homes,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of WHO.

Major sources of air pollution from particulate matter include inefficient use of energy by households, industry, agriculture and transport sectors, and coal-fired power plants. In some regions, sand and desert dust, waste burning and deforestation are additional sources of air pollution.

For a very long time now, the social sector has been ably represented and identified by this all-encompassing term – NGO. It represents not just an organisational form, but the sum of all the work, ideas, cultures, mindsets and even lifestyles of an entire sector and its people. The kurta pyjama (or jeans & dhoti), sandal wearing NGO professional with a jhola/bag on their arm is the first image that emerges in many people’s minds when they hear this word.

However, over the last five to eight years, the sector has evolved at a rapid pace. While NGOs still represent an overwhelming majority of the work and people in this space, the sector is now much more diverse in terms of opportunities and thereby more open to accepting and providing these opportunities to people from different backgrounds, with different hopes, aspirations, skillsets and visions of change. The simplistic answer to the question “How do I work in the Development Sector?” is no longer “Join an NGO”. This question deserves a little more thought and careful analysis to find your sweet spot in this sector.

Unlike any other sector where tech innovation and automation is replacing man with machines, Development sector demands for a huge manpower along with a large brigade of professional leaders and managers so as to tackle development challenges and prevailing issues in the society. Today social sector is offering immense opportunities for young minds and professionals to build a meaningful career. It is gradually emerging as an exciting career which nurtures creative thinking, courageous action, collaboration and personal satisfaction at a large extent. One should follow a particular line of thinking and these four smart tips while making the decision to work in the development sector.

1. How Much Time Do You Have?

Almost everyone wants to help improve people’s lives and contribute in some way or the other. The easiest way to do that is through charity – which is also the least involved decision. Using time as a parameter for analysis, one can move from a zero-time contribution model (pure charity) to a small time commitment (volunteering), to a higher time commitment (part-time) to the highest time commitment (full-time). Your passion for social change combined with the realities and compulsions of your life will decide which of these options you take up at any point in your life. Some always remain at the charity level while others spend their whole life working full time in this space. You may also shift in and out of these phases.

2. What Issue (s) Are You Concerned About?

The UN has designated 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) which define the development agenda over the next 15 years for the world. Which goal(s) one chooses to work with will be determined by a combination of an emotional (what tugs at your heart? What bothers you the most?) and a cognitive (based on numbers, statistics, world realities, theory of change) decision-making process. Given the technical nature of each of these areas, it’s important to get an in depth understanding of some of them and combine that with an ability to view things systemically and design holistic change interventions.

3. What Kind Of Organization Works For You?

NGO: Even NGOs are not all homogenous, they can be categorised based on many different factors – geography (local, regional, national, international), theme (education, health, livelihood etc.), strategic orientation (rights-based, service delivery, advocacy etc). Each such category represents different kinds of work (working on the ground with communities versus coordinating with a group of implementing NGOs), requires different kinds of talent and has very different compensation levels.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Organisations: With India CSR budgets ranging from Rs. 15-20K Crore, they increasingly need people who understand field level realities and have the ability and the mindset to work in a corporate setting with the challenge of managing and internal stakeholders.

Social and Corporate Foundations: Typically, large organisations which either act as a source/funnel of funds or have their own funding and implementation teams, require the ability to identify and work with partner organisations to help deliver on the project mandate and budget.

Social Enterprises: Largely for-profit entities with a strong social mission. For example, microfinance, micro insurance, affordable schools etc. require people who have the ability to balance social and commercial goals.

Support Organisations: Includes a range of organisations like social consulting organisations, social investment bankers, social recruitment platforms/portals etc.

Think Tanks: Typically, these create and disseminate knowledge – conduct relevant research, publish papers etc.

4. What Kind Of Work Are You Really Good At?

Choosing the kind of work that one wants to do is one of the most important decisions to make. It should typically arise from what you really enjoy doing and where your actual skillsets lie. Some potential work areas are:

Research & Knowledge Creation: If you have an academic bent of mind and enjoy teaching and/or research (knowledge creation and dissemination), the sector now has lots of opportunities for your skillset. Like any other space, this sector continuously needs to refresh its knowledge base and develop and disseminate new theories and ways of working.

Social Work: If you are basically a technical person, enjoy delving into the meat of social issues to understand the reasons behind them, and love working at the grassroots level with communities to ideate and implement solutions, then training to become a Social Worker, with perhaps a deeper understanding of some of the sub-sectors (education, health, etc.), is a great idea for you.

Development Management: If you are excited about the idea of building world class social organisations, and you want to design, implement, evaluate and monitor large-scale social interventions and develop collaborative ecosystems which can together deliver sustainable social change at scale, then you should go down the path of Development Leadership and Management. This would include areas of work like Organization strategy, People Management, Communication and Engagement, Financial Management, Organization Design & Development, Program Design and Management, CSR Management, Fund Raising, Partnerships & Stakeholder Engagement etc.

Consulting/Investment Banking: If you like looking at the broader picture and not getting into actual operational roles (on the ground or the organization level), or if working on a variety of different problems gives you satisfaction (width versus depth), then social consulting roles could be for you. If a preference for number crunching, developing effective storyline presentations, and engaging with donors and investors sounds like your thing, then social investment banks might be a good fit for you.

However, focusing on some of these questions without getting stuck on them will potentially help you understand yourself, your aspirations, and your skillsets better – and thereby help in making a more informed choice about where you want to work.

While part of this thinking can be done individually, supplementing it with a lot of secondary research, this process should involve a lot of discussions and deliberations with people doing work in your area of interest and if possible, actual internship/volunteering stints in particular areas. This will introduce the realities and flavours of real life to your thinking and give it the depth required to make better and more appropriate decisions.

(The Author Gaurav Shah is Founder and Director, Indian School of Development Management (ISDM), Noida)

Indian Institute of Roorkee has developed a Mobile App that can remotely monitor patients at risk of heart failure and provide them with medical assistance. It can automatically send notification to both the doctor and the patient, in case of any drastic changes in patient’s data indicating a possibility of imminent heart failure.

The application has been developed by the Computational Biology group, led by Dr. Deepak Sharma, Assistant Professor, Department of Biotechnology. 

Named ‘Dhadkan’, this Mobile App will be of tremendous benefit to India which has about 10 million patients at risk of heart failure. The App is available for free and no charges are involved to avail the benefits of this App. About one-third of the admitted patients are likely to get re-admitted or die in the next 3-6 months. The mobile app has been designed to be ‘easy-to-use’ so that people in rural areas can also benefit, a statement issued by IIT Roorkee has said.

The Dhadkan Mobile App was developed in collaboration with Prof. Sandeep Seth and Mr. Gopichandran from All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi.

Commenting on the significance of this Project, Dr. Deepak Sharma said, Â“This Mobile App will help in saving the precious lives of heart failure patients. Dhadkan App will be of immense help to patients who live in distant areas and cannot come at regular intervals to tertiary care hospitals.”

Explaining how the App works, he said that it collects patient’s data (at any desired interval) on blood pressure, heart rate, and weight, and transmits it to the authorized caregiver (a doctor, nurse or paramedic) who is linked to the patient during the initial registration.

It also provides for two-way communication between doctors and patients. In addition, patients have the freedom to send ECG report(s) to the doctor (if needed). The App not only eliminates the need for manual monitoring of each patient by the doctor but also helps them in proactively recommending precautionary action during the treatment period.

The App will be used for conducting a randomized control trial on 100 heart failure patients at AIIMS to validate its utility and to suggest any new/useful feature(s) that can be incorporated. Mr. Somesh Chaturvedi (B.Tech Biotechnology 4th year student) and Ms. Shreya Srivastava (PhD Biotechnology 1st year student), in the Computational Biology Laboratory, have developed and designed the App in such a way that it can be easily used by rural people as well.

It will also help in the surveillance of incidence, prevalence and outcomes of heart failure in India. Dhadkan App is freely available on Google Play Store for the use of doctors and patients.

NEW DELHI : Telecom Commission has approved almost all the TRAI’s Recommendation on In-flight Connectivity in its meeting on 1st May 2018. With this, the airlines and the TSPs can offer voice and data services in India Airspace once an aircraft reaches an altitude of 3000 metres. It is expected that it will take 3 to 4 months to operationalise the service.

Suresh Prabhu, Minister for Civil Aviation has welcomed the Telecom Commission’s approval for offering in-flight connectivity within Indian airspace. He said that the decision would enable flyers to avail data and voice services during flights over Indian airspace and the government will now work towards creating the license framework for a special category of service providers called ‘In-flight connectivity provider.

He said that these developments mean that airlines are now equipped to bring dramatic, yet cost effective, enhancements to the passenger experience –with passengers ordering products from their phones and tablets and arranging to have them delivered to their homes, or the hotel on arrival at their destination. He said that connectivity to the ground means cabin crews can help passengers to change their onward transit plans to accommodate for changes to their flight, while they are still in the air.

In line with earlier decision of Committee of Secretaries, In-Flight voice and data services shall be provided through Indian Satellites or through satellites approved by Department of Space for communication purposes, with gateways in India.

A separate category of licensee called In-Flight Connectivity Provider shall be created with a token license fee of Re. 1. Such facility of voice and data connectivity shall also be extended to ships and other moving vehicles (Earth Stations in Motion).