Rahul Gandhi expected to take over the mantle of Congress president soon from his mother Sonia Gandhi.

The acid test for the Nehru-Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi following his elevation as the president of the Congress party by December or earlier is turning around its electoral fortunes. Can the 47-year-old leader galvanise the “Old Lady of Bori Bunder” which is in a shambles. 

Having ruled the country for more than five decades and been in the forefront of the struggle for Independence, the Congress has inexplicably steadily lost its sheen with the masses. 

On the other hand Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in the vanguard of the BJP bashing on regardless in winning major assembly elections including Uttar Pradesh with a stunning three-fourths majority. A cursory look at the India map shows large parts of the country swathed in the saffron colour. The BJP’s two failures initially were Delhi and Bihar, a battleground state in the Hindi heartland. 

However, the BJP is back in power in Patna having worked out a coalition arrangement with chief minister Nitish Kumar of the JD (U) bidding adieu to the “mahagatbandhan” and parting ways with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD. After losing the 2014 Lok Sabha elections with its lowest ever tally of 44 seats, the Congress failed to garner even one-tenth of the seats in the 543-member lok Sabha facing the ignominy of not being entitled to becoming the leader of the opposition.  

Nevertheless, the Congress remains the largest party in the opposition. At the same time Modi’s efforts in striving for a “Congress mukt Bharat” is nowhere near fruition. 

With the organisational elections in the Congress party expected to be completed by October 31, the  schedule for the election of party President is being finalised. The state units of the Congress forming part of the electoral college have begun adopting resolutions favouring Rahul Gandhi as the party president.  

The heir apparent had steered clear of becoming a minister in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Congress led UPA government preferring managing the party organisation for an extended period before his long awaited elevation as its numero uno. His mother Sonia Gandhi has been the longest serving Congress president for nearly 19 years. 

The Congress has been squeezed out politically with its government in only five states compared to the 14 ruled by the BJP. It may be recalled that former Congress chief Sitaram Kesri was ousted by the Congress Working Committee, the highest decision making body in the 132-year-old party and replaced by Sonia Gandhi. 

The abject decline of the Congress over the last three-and-a-half years and more has been sharp having failed to blunt the challenge posed by Modi. 

The party’s bane is not having mass leaders in the states because of the overbearing attitude of the Congress High Command over the years. 

The question is whether Rahul Gandhi as the new  Congress president has it in him to infuse confidence among the rank and file of the party leading to a desperate turnaround in the next general elections two years hence in 2019. Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh and Modi’s home state of Gujarat are round the corner. It is apparent Modi cannot afford to lose Gujarat which will be a major setback.

Rahul Gandhi will have to activate the party organisation which is no mean task as becoming Congress president is not going to bring about a instant transformation. The party needs radical, innovative changes for infusing confidence among the people at large.  

Even as the detractors of Rahul Gandhi at the AICC headquarters in the national capital believe making him Congress president will be disastrous, others exude confidence that he will emerge as a formidable leader. 

Senior party leaders maintain “the widespread opinion in the party is that Rahul Gandhi should be made the president at the earliest. This will afford him direly needed space and time to prepare for the next general elections”.  

This might well be the last chance for Rahul Gandhi who has been targeted for attack by the BJP leaders. The Congress desperately needs to enlarge its space which has become highly constricted over the last 42 months since the Modi government assumed power in May 2014. 

Can Rahul Gandhi prove the shenanigans of doom wrong and live up to the challenge staring him in the face! There is no denying the task is a formidable one. Also, can he get a Congress led opposition ready in time for the big battle with the BJP in 2019.

Cisco, software giant, has tied up with Akshaya Patra Foundation for accelerating digitization of their kitchens across 7 locations in India. The agreement is part of its global efforts to support non-profit organizations around the world that help meet critical human needs,

 

 Akshaya Patra Foundation is the world’s largest (non-profit) mid-day meal programme serving wholesome food to over 1.66 million children from 13,958 schools across 12 States in India. Digitization of Akshaya Patra kitchens and key offices will help them realize significant gains in productivity, scalability, and cost-efficiency and accelerate Akshaya Patra’s goal to reach 5 Million children by 2020.

 

As part of this agreement, Cisco will deploy an enterprise-grade network and collaboration suite connecting their kitchens and their offices by enabling end to end IT & process digitization.  The upgraded Akshaya Patra network will connect their offices in Bangalore, Gurgaon, and field kitchens across 7 locations (2 kitchens in Bangalore, one each in Lucknow, Vrindavan, Bellary, Guwahati, and Jigani) on a single network which will enable them to efficiently track their kitchen production, distribution, supply chain and logistics. 

 

Through digitization, Akshaya Patra will have faster and better connectivity in their field offices which is critical to the kitchen’s operational performance, and necessary to support virtual collaboration and knowledge sharing.  In addition, Akshaya Patra can now analyze, and operationalise disparate sets of data in near real-time helping them to improve the overall speed, security and responsiveness of the programme.  This digitization effort is expected to increase Akshaya Patra’s operational efficiency by about 5% in the initial phase, which will help them extend the mid-day meal program to over 28500 students everyday immediately. 

 

“We are excited to work with Cisco to digitize our operations. Small improvements in operational efficiency can have a big impact when you distribute at scale.  Currently most of the data collection and planning is manual; with a rapidly growing network of kitchens, the network platform we are putting in place today will help us in our digitization journey by enabling real-time data collection, streamline kitchen production, distribution and supply chain.  All of this will help us in our mission to reach more children,’’ says Sridhar Venkat, CEO, The Akshaya Patra Foundation.

 

Cisco has been associated with Akshaya Patra since 2007 through employee giving, volunteering and disaster relief assistance. In the aftermath of the 2015 Chennai floods, Cisco sponsored Akshaya Patra’s first kitchen-on-wheels. The kitchen-on-wheels can run around the clock, with un-interrupted power supply to provide 2000 meals every two hours when stationed at any site post a disaster. In the aftermath of the recent floods in Gorakhpur, this kitchen generated about 100,000 meals.

 

“In India, we focus on positively affecting and engaging with the communities in which we work, live, and play. Using the power of the network to digitally enable nonprofit organizations such as Akshaya Patra is a great example of how technology can help solve the world’s most challenging problems. We are committed to focusing on solutions that can be scaled to benefit millions in underserved communities around the world,’’ says V.C.Gopalratnam, SVP-IT and CIO-International, Cisco.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has released national guidelines for biomedical research involving human participants. These guidelines are aimed to protect and safeguard the interests of individuals, communities and society as a whole.

Two separate set of guidelines for adults and children respectively would help in understanding the complexities of ethical issues around research involving human participants. 

The ‘National Guidelines for Biomedical and Health Research Involving Human Participants Â– 2017’ and the ‘National Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Children’ are aimed to help strengthen the protection of rights, well-being and safety of research participants involved in all types of biomedical and health research. The revised ethical guidelines have been expanded to address newer emerging ethical challenges being faced in the country and to improve public trust in research.

The guidelines will ensure that the biomedical and health research is carried out in an ethical manner to maintain and improve the public trust towards medical research.

Research ethics is a dynamic subject and over the last decade many new concerns and issues have evolved over the ethical dilemmas faced by the scientific and ethics committees in the conduct and review of biomedical research. The ICMR undertook an extensive exercise by engaging with experts and diverse stakeholders such as patient groups, civil society, lawyers, clinicians, scientists, members of ethics committees and others through regional, national as well as public consultations in the process of preparing these guidelines.

According to Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Director General of ICMR, medical research is the need of the hour and therefore it ’s important to not only be responsive to emerging issues, but to also build greater trust towards research. It is thus important that every stakeholder, whether a researcher or a member of an ethics committee, or a sponsor, is aware of the provisions made in the revised ethical guidelines, which would help improve the conduct of biomedical research in India, she said.

The revised National Guidelines for Biomedical and Health Research Involving Human Participants, 2017 includes additions such as detailed guidance to help ethics committees in the process of review, guidance to researchers in conducting research, responsible conduct of research, obtaining informed consent, multicentre research, clinical trials of drugs and other interventions, public health research, socio behavioural research, genetics, bio-banking and datasets, research during humanitarian emergencies and disasters, etc. The document also highlights the needs for additional safeguards in the conduct and review of research carried out on vulnerable population including children, lower socioeconomic group, those with mental illness, or with rare disorders.

The National Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Children have been developed specifically to address ethical issues of conducting research in children. Benefit of research carried out in adult cannot be applied to children, as the doses and duration of therapy, pharmacodynamics, adverse effects of drugs in children vary from adults. Children are potentially vulnerable and carry a greater risk of harm during research. The guideline was prepared after extensive literature review and expert consensus, and also covers the ethical and legal dimensions. Other special scenarios like school based research, research using internet, research involving HIV positive children, children in emergency situations and research in neonates or adolescents are also covered.

These ICMR guidelines aim to improve the research quality as well as safeguard participants involved in research. Both the guidelines will also support regulatory agencies and all other stakeholders involved in research enterprise, in imparting better protection of our population.

New Delhi : One thousand children and teachers from schools and organisations received training using play based methodology at the pre-Global Handwashing Day (GHD) ‘Swachh Hand Mela 2017’ organized by WASH United (WU) in partnership with the UNICEF at the National Bal Bhavan.

The necessity of such a large-scale training had been felt after it was observed that children, though aware about WASH (Water, Health and Hygiene) principles, seldom practice hygiene or inculcates them on a regular basis in their day to day practice.

As part of the training, 3 games from an innovative kit called the ‘Team Swachh Vidyalya Action Kit’ were demonstrated before children to motivate them to always use toilets and wash hands with soap before eating and after toilet use. The games have positive messaging to make handwashing with soap exciting and turn it into a habit. Students learn critical WASH behaviour through a combination of team play, discussions and action.

The Team Swachh Bharat Action Kit is for use in schools and comes fully equipped with an introduction guide, a letter from Sachin Tendulkar, an activity playbook, a planner/timetable, a full set of modular materials/props and posters. Children learn “why” and “how” to practice good WASH behavior through repetitive activities. A step-by-step guide makes the toolkit extremely easy to use for teachers. Children can play in groups with each game lasting for about 20-25 minutes. The goal is completely focused on ‘doing’ rather than memorizing which in turn lead to positive habit formation.

The kits are being implemented by NGOs across some schools in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal and in Telangana where it is implemented by the Swachh Andhra Corporation. At the central level, the Ministry of Human Resource Development has acknowledged the importance of the Kit by giving them as gifts to schools that performed well in the Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar in September 2017. Interestingly, everything which is available in the kit can also be made by the children themselves using locally available material. A do-it-yourself guide called Hamara! Action Kit assist children and teachers to design the material themselves.

Nirmala Nair, India Director, WASH UNITED said, “Children learn better through play! Exciting and fun games enable them to be active and generate their own insights about WASH issues. Playful experiences and competition make WASH issues “stick” much better than lectures and motivate them to act together.”

Millions of school days are lost every year because students remain absent due to diarrhea and other diseases transmitted through dirty hands. Children are most severely affected by dirty water, poor hygiene and a lack of sanitation. In India, almost 400 children under five years of age die every day from preventable diarrhea linked to poor sanitation and hygiene; this is the highest number worldwide. Countless more are left physically stunted and mentally impaired for the rest of their lives.

Nicolas Osbert, Chief of WASH, UNICEF, said, “Good hygiene practices significantly reduce the incidence of diseases such as diarrhoeas, cholera, dysentery, pneumonia, trachoma, scabies, skin, eye infections as well as infections by worms, helminths and other parasites. Something as simple as handwashing saves lives. Washing hands with soap at critical times, like after going to the toilet or before eating and before preparing food has a significant impact on children’s health. Through simple games, songs and fun activities, such as those developed by UNICEF and WASH United, children can learn about how to properly wash their hands and become hand washing champions demonstrating the practice in their families, schools and communities. UNICEF continues to support the Government of India in its continued efforts to improve children’s access to clean water and sanitation across the country.”

To commemorate Global Handwashing Day, a new educational video on handwashing was also released by WASH UNITED and UNICEF on Team Swachh Bharat social media channels. The campaign was displayed on LED screens at the National Bal Bhavan. An online campaign was also simultaneously launched via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram account.

“Every school in India should have a Team Swachh Vidyalya Action Kit, so that every child can be trained in good sanitation and hygiene behaviour. We urge the corporate sector and the government to come forward and play a constructive role in building Swachh Bharat and ensure every child gets a good start in life,” said Nirmala Nair, India Director, WASH UNITED. “We want to make the WASH trainings affordable for everyone. Creating games from local and low-cost materials achieves exactly that, and increases children’s interest and ownership in the WASH games.”

The landmark judgment by the Supreme Court striking down a law that allowed men to have sex with their minor wives has been welcomed by women’s activists with the hope that the court would take cognizance of marital rape as well.

The judgment was delivered on the International Day of the Girl Child and will go a long way in curbing trafficking and child marriages.

Welcoming the decision that safeguards the rights of girls, Poonam Muttreja, Executive Director, Population Foundation of India described it a timely and positive step in the right direction for the discourse on marital rape and the subject of consent. “In addition, I would urge the courts to take cognisance of the predicament of adult women who live in fear of rape of sexual violence at the hands of their spouse and in the security of her home,’’ she said.

Delivering the judgment that struck down exception 2 in Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code that legalised sex with wife of 15 years and above—though the age of consent and age of marriage is 18 years – the court said it was in conflict with the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006. An adult having sex with someone below the age of 18 years is an offence under POCSO act.

However, the court did not make any remarks on criminalising rape in marriage which is being heard in a separate court at the moment.

The Census 2011 data suggested that there are over 13 million adolescent girls who are married between 10-19 years of age and 3.8 million were already mothers with 2 or more children during their adolescence.

Child marriages is an age old tradition in India and also often associated with economic status of the family as girls from economically weaker backgrounds are more likely to get married earlier. Child brides often lose out on education and live not so healthy lives because of early and frequent child bearing.  Specific days such as Akshaya Tritiya are considered auspicious for marriages and mass marriages of children is solemnised on these days.

The Hindi heartland comprising Rajasthan, Bihar, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh register the highest child marriages in the country.

“We are left with absolutely no other option but to harmonise the system of laws relating to children,” Justice Madan Lokur said in his decision.

“Young girls in the age group below 18 are still developing physically and mentally, and may not be in a position to make informed decisions and choices regarding their health and well-being. And while the trauma of forced sex for the minor is in itself an unfair burden, it could also jeopardise her health and that of the infant should an untimely and unwanted pregnancy occur. I wholeheartedly welcome the SC ruling that reiterates the need to safeguard the rights of girls and women, Ms Muttreja added.

Prof. Sanjeev Waghmare of Advanced Center for Treatment Research and Education in Cancer, Mumbai, and his team. 

New Delhi : A team of scientists from Mumbai has uncovered a cause for permanent hair loss. They have found that over expression of a protein called phospholipase A2-IIA could cause hair loss in mice. 

The scientists from Mumbai-based Advanced Center for Treatment Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC) and the Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI) have reached this conclusion after conducting studies with mice models. 

The mice that expressed high levels of phospholipaseA2-IIA protein showed progressive hair loss that commenced soon after birth. The hair loss began 18 days post birth and by 22 days, they had lost most of their hair. The hair re-grew by day 27 post-birth. But, it kept falling off repeatedly every 18-22 days.

Speaking to India Science Wire, Sanjeev Waghmare, Professor at ACTREC and leader of the research team, said hair loss was occurring due to loss of the functional hair follicle stem cells, which are present in the bulge region of hair root that produces hair throughout life. “When the secretory phospholipase protein is over-expressed or present in high quantities, it causes rapid and uncontrolled proliferation of the stem cells leading to an abnormally formed hair shaft and as a result, the mice kept losing hair soon after they grow them,” he added. 

“We were studying the phospholipase A2-IIA mediated signaling mechanism and found it plays an important role in development of alopecia or hair loss. This discovery can be extended to understand the mechanism involved in the development of human alopecia, which may help to design novel interventions in the future”, he added. 

Besides Dr. Waghmare, the team included Gopal Chovatiya, Rahul Sarate, Raghava Sunkara, Nilesh Gawas and Vineet Kala. The research is partly funded by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The researchers have published their findings in journal Scientific Reports.  

New Delhi : With exponential growth in financial frauds and well as growing requirement for background screening by companies and individuals, the private detective market is India is growing at a rate of around 30% annually and is expected to reach Rs.1,700 crore by 2020, this was revealed by speakers at the inaugural session of the 92^nd annual conference of the World Association of Detectives (WAD) here today.

 

 Â“The market of private investigation is huge in India. It should be in the range of Rs.500-600 crore. It is expected to grow by 30% annually. As there are now background screening of top and middle level executives who join a company, due diligence in mergers & acquisitions, keeping tab on counterfeit goods and trade, insurance and credit card frauds, marriage frauds due to influx of matrimonial websites etc. We need a lot of new detectives. The number could be around 50,000 in the coming years,” said Kunwar Vikram Singh, WAD President who will take over as WAD Chairman at the end of the three-day conference, a first for an Indian.

 

Mr. Singh, who is also the Chairman of Central Association of Private Security Industry (CAPSI), further said to provide licences to private detectives, as this business is growing and it needs to be a certified professional field, the government has brought an act in Parliament for licensing and create Dos & Dont’s for the sector. “We expect this act will be passed soon. This will pave way for government to work with private detectives. After the murder of a child in a school, many educational institutions are talking to private detective agencies to do a security audit and do background check of the employees. Work of private detectives will grow further in dealing with safety and security issues in the country,” he noted.

 

This year the WAD annual conference is witnessing participation from more than 150 detectives from over 50 countries to brainstorm on challenges and opportunities in the sector. Lt. Gen (retd) Rajinder Singh, former Director General (Infantry) in Indian Army and former Commander of UN Peace Keeping Forces, inaugurated the event.

 

In his inaugural speech WAD President Kunwar Vikram Singh said, “It is a honour to host this prestigious event in India. Here issues that hold significance for India such as black money, counterfeit currency, anti-corruption, cyber security threats will be discussed”.

 

On the future prospects for the private detective market in India, Singh said that financial crimes specifically have grown by leaps and bounds and this is an area that private detective agencies can tap more. Issues like tracking black money, people who disappear after embezzling money are a growing concern. “We can help the government in locating such individuals. We are here to support the government, like Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for a corruption free India,” he said.

 

Mr. Singh said, “Private investigators can play a big role in checking corruption in the corporate world. Besides, corporate world’s success today depends to a large extent on the novelty of an idea or intellectual property rights (IPRs) that they create and they need to protect it. Therefore, there are a number of people, competitors, etc, who would be interested to know what you are doing. So there are attempts to buyout people, bribe key officials, etc to get that information. Detectives come in here for protection and they have a great role in ensuring that ethical behaviour takes place.”

 

Cyber security is another domain that has become very important. So much data is being consumed today and there are measures that have been taken to encrypt it, but there is a need to ensure that attempts to invade this data be countered through private investigators, he added.

 

“In the last couple of decades the world has evolved exponentially, specifically in terms of how the society is governed and the role of citizens in it and how businesses are run. In this backdrop, there are entities and individuals who are tempted to take short cuts for reaping benefits in a short span of time and it is here that private detectives can play a major role in checking such illegal and undue influences on the society and businesses,” Lt Gen (retd) Singh said.

 

India has great scope for private investigators (PIs) to grow. The market worldwide is huge as corporate, insurance companies, lawyers and individuals are using PIs to gather information, whether it is for a legal case or to screen the background of a top executive who is joining a company or to ascertain the veracity of an insurance claim, he noted.

 

This is the second time that WAD is holding its annual conference in India. First was held in 1984 at New Delhi. WAD, the largest and longest established association of its kind in the world, represents investigation and security practitioners in more than 80 countries. It promotes and maintains the highest ethical practices among its members and fosters cooperation between investigators globally.

NEW DELHI: Assembly elections in the hilly State of Himachal Pradesh will be held on November 9 and the counting of votes will be held on December 18, the Election Commission announced on Thursday. 

Though the EC did not announce the dates of assembly polls for Gujarat, it said that polling there would be held before December 18. 

Announcing the schedule for Himachal Pradesh assembly polls, Chief Election Commissioner AK Jyoti said that a model code of conduct, a set of dos and don’ts for political parties for their election campaign, will come into effect from Thursday. 

For the 68 assembly constituencies in Himachal Pradesh, Electronic Voting Machines or EVMs with the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) system will be used in all polling stations. In the last assembly elections, the Congress had won 36 seats and the BJP 27 while independent candidates had bagged five seats.

Polling in Gujarat will be held before December 18, the day of counting of votes in Himachal Pradesh, so that the result of Himachal cannot affect the voting in Gujarat. The CEC said: “We will, in a few days, announce the dates for Gujarat election, but I can say for sure that voting in Gujarat will happen before December 18.”

Both the Congress and the BJP which has ruled Gujarat for the past one and a half decade have sounded poll bugle in the two poll-bound states.

Juvenile Arthritis (JA) usually affects individuals under 16 years of age; it can affect children at any age although rarely in the first six months post birth. It is a chronic inflammatory condition which may involve one or many joints. It usually manifests in children between 1 to 3 years of age and girls are more prone than male children. Due to the lack of standard diagnostic criteria, determining the exact prevalence becomes difficult. It affects approximately 1 in 1,000 children in any given year with about 1 in 10,000 taking a severe condition.

Diagnosis and test

The term juvenile arthritis encompasses several types of arthritis that occur in children or young individuals. Diagnosis of the condition is difficult as initial symptoms may not indicate arthritic pathology. Additionally, no diagnostic test is available presently. Individuals may show low red blood cell and elevated white blood cell counts in hematological investigations, but these findings are not characteristic of JA. It is often diagnosed only at advanced stages when joint inflammation becomes visible. Criteria for diagnosis include onset before age of 16, persistent, objective arthritis in 1 or more joints for at least 6 weeks, and exclusion of other potential causes of childhood arthritis.

Symptoms and Causes

Presentation of JA may begin with repeating fever, intermittent rash etc. Apart from these symptoms, typically an individual may complain of stiffness in joints especially in the morning, difficulty performing fine motor activities etc. Joint swelling however, may not be apparent until months or years of onset of symptoms and systemic inflammation. Overtime, disability progresses to the extent that movement is completely restricted. In addition to disability, JA also has an impact on the psychological well being of the child. In mild cases however, symptoms may not progress into adulthood and quality of life may remain unaffected.

 

Immune system dysfunction has been implicated as a cause of JA. Genetic predisposition has been suggested as a factor, but the condition develops only after exposure to an infection or other triggers. Synovial membrane, which is the lining of joints is targeted by the malfunctioning immune system. The end result of the pathogenic process is joint inflammation and destruction.

Treatment

Conventional treatment for JA involves use of anti-inflammatory medications and physiotherapy rehabilitation. These agents aid in temporarily alleviating an individual of symptoms, but do not halt progression of the disease. Disease modifying anti-rheumatoid drugs or agents, steroids may also be advised, however may be associated with adverse effects when used for long durations.

 

In recent years, regenerative medicine and cellular therapy has been showing promise in treatment of conditions previously thought to be untreatable. Cellular therapy aims to harness the power of the human body’s own reparative mechanisms to treat various conditions. Mesenchymal stem cells have anti-inflammatory, immune-modulatory and tissue repairing properties which are effective in treating arthritic pathology. Source of mesenchymal stem cells may be autologous (from one’s own body) or allogeneic. In addition, T cells which possess the ability to regulate or modulate the immune system may also be effective in treating JA.

 

This form of therapy is more effective in young individuals owing to better healing ability and general absence of co-morbid health conditions (as seen in older individuals) that may affect overall outcome of therapy.

 

The overall goal of cellular therapy and rehabilitation (physiotherapy etc.) is to control symptoms, prevent joint damage and maintain function. Being a non/minimally invasive therapy and cells being harvested from the patients’ own body, cellular therapy is a definitive and safe treatment modality for juvenile arthritis.

Prevention

There is no definite cause that has been implicated in disease pathogenesis. Therefore, prevention of the condition, currently, is not possible. Early identification of symptoms may aid in diagnosing the condition and planning appropriate interventions to limit disability.

 

Lifestyle and dietary modifications play an important role in autoimmune conditions as these are associated with modulating the core pathology of the disease. Moderate intensity exercises, swimming etc. can aid in maintaining strength of muscle groups and preventing disability. Additionally, maternal or paternal screening for presence of autoimmune antibodies is imperative in identifying possible manifestation of the condition in children.

Arthritis, apart from being an autoimmune condition, is also associated with our way of life. Sedentary lifestyle habits, improper dietary practices cause the condition to progress at a more rapid and severe rate. It is therefore important to follow a disciplined lifestyle along with regular monitoring of health in order to identify the condition at the earliest and plan appropriate interventions.

(The Author is Regenerative medicine researcher at StemRx)

In spite of an overall decline in the rate of marriage among young girls across most of Indian States, Bihar continues to have a comparatively higher percentage of marriage before girls reach the legally prescribed age of 18 years.

According to the recent National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4, 2015-16) data, 39.1% of women within the age-group of 20-24 years are married before 18 years. In simpler terms, 2 of every 5 adolescent girls are married off before they complete their higher secondary education.  

A comparative analysis done by CRY—Child Rights and You–the trend recorded by two consecutive National Family Health Surveys (NFHS-3, 2005-06 and NFHS-4, 2015-16) reveals that the State has registered an improvement of 20 percentage points in under-age marriage over the last decade. The findings of NFHS-3 had recorded that 60.3% of women within the age-group of 20-24 years were married within their teens.

Worryingly, 12.2% of women within the age-group of 15-19 years were already mothers or pregnant at the time of the survey. 

As per District Level Household Survey data (DLHS-4, 2015-16), the status of child marriage in the intervention areas of CRY-supported projects in Bihar, Supaul had the highest percentage of underage married, closely followed by Begusarai, Jamui, Samastipur and Gaya districts. Supaul accounted for more than 56% of girl child marriage, while Begusarai (53.2%), Jamui (50.8%), Samastipur (49.6%) and Gaya (47.6%) closely followed. 

In fact, statistics from DLHS-4 and DLHS-3 show that the percentage of child marriages had gone up in several districts. In Munger it went up from 30.5% (DLHS-3) to 32.6% (DLHS-4), Supaul from 44.2% to 56.9% during the same period, Begusarai (42.2%) to (53.2%), and Vaishali (41.2%) to (46%).

However, girls of Bihar will have one big reason to celebrate the Girl Child Day this year on a more positive note, as the State government has recently announced the launch of a full-fledged state-wide campaign against child marriage and dowry system prevalent in the society. 

Welcoming the govt. decision Mohua Chatterjee, program head, CRY (Eastern Region) said it was a positive move, as the government has actually taken into cognizance the gravity of child marriage situation in the state.

According to her, “Education can significantly play the role of a game-changer when it comes to adolescent girls getting married off and bearing children before they are prepared, both physically and mentally.”   

“As the latest Census (2011) data reveals, there are over 13 million adolescent girls who are married between 10 to 19 years of age and a startling 3.8 million adolescent girls in India have children and are shouldering the responsibilities of motherhood. Of these 3.8 million underage mothers 1.4 million had 2 or more children, even before completing adolescence. A brief analysis of their education profile reveals that, 39% of girls who were illiterate had begun child bearing, compared to 26% among the girls who were literate, proving that even a little education goes a long way in empowering girls,” she added.

Lack of access to school is a big reason why girls are often dropped out at the secondary and higher secondary levels. To address the issue, the state govt. should set up a residential school for girls’ at each block of all districts, she added. 

“While the campaign shows a strong political will and commitment towards the issue of child marriage, there is a need to direct this campaign towards developing and strengthening women’s agency and ensuring their access to all kinds of benefits, rights, entitlements, decision making – not only to reduce child marriage but also to bring in change in quality of lives for the girls and children,” she added. 

Meanwhile, to mark the International Day of the Girl Child on October 11, Ms Poonam Muttreja, Executive Director of the Population Foundation of India has said that the day  is a global opportunity for recognising both the value and power of girls and revisit the barriers and discrimination that girls face in the pursuit of their rights and happiness. The work and vision of the Population Foundation of India (PFI) has been guided by the principle of gender equality, and advocating a framework for policy that is empowering for women and girls.

The theme for this year is `The Power of the Adolescent Girl: Vision for 2030’ that calls upon all of us to think of our vision for girls and we see them grow into healthy, educated and empowered women. 

 We envision the end of sex-selective abortions; we see equal opportunities, a future where every girl has access to education and healthcare. We want to see them gainfully employed, confident about their bodies and minds, women who set an example for future generations of young girls and boys to come. Therefore, it is critical that we take a hard look at the progress so far and address the gaps to ensure that our girls have equal opportunities,’’ she has said. 

It is a priority for civil society organisations, governments and elected representatives, to join hands – forge effective collaborations that help girls remain in school, break away from the shackles of early marriage and unwanted pregnancy. “We have all seen how empowering girls and women enable improvements to their health, education, nutrition and employment. Girls can break the wheel of oppression, ensure that the possibilities are limitless, and change the narrative not only for them but for the generations to come; we just need to give them the chance,’’ Ms Muttreja has said.