NEW DELHI: NITI Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya wants to return to academia in the U.S. 

Two years into his job of heading the rejigged Planning Commission, Prof. Panagariya has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to relieve him of his post. 

Officials sources said today here that Prof. Panagariya could not get his leave from the Columbia University further extended, so he decided to quit to rejoin as professor of economics.

The 64-year-old Columbia University Professor had been chosen by the Prime Minister to head the erstwhile Planning panel in its new avatar as NITI Aayog in 2015. He was holding the rank of a Cabinet minister. 

He, has, however told the Prime Minister that he would be available for serving the nation in anyway possible while continuing his academic assignment. His last day in the office will be August 31.

Arvind Panagariya has resigned as vice chairman of Niti Aayog, reported the Press Trust of India today. The 64-year-old economist says he will return to academia in the US. August 31 will be his last day in office.

He has been chief economist at the Asian Development Bank and also has a PhD in economics from Princeton University.

A protege of economist Jagdish Bhagwati, Prof. Panagariya has also worked for the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organisation, and the UN Conference on Trade and Development. 

NEW DELHI:  The Government today denied any move to extend protocol for VIPs in private airlines in the country.

In written reply to a question by Harivansh in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha answered in an emphatic “No’’ when asked whether the ministry had sent a notice to private airlines and other stakeholders regarding protocol to be extended to VIPs in private airlines.

The Civil Aviation Ministry has been under pressure from MPs and other members of the political class that private carriers roll out the red carpet for them on the lines of the State-owned Air India.

In the recent past at least two MPs Ravindra Gaikwad and Diwakar Reddy were in the news for their alleged misbehaviour with airline staff. Lawmakers have been demanding that they should be extended privileges whenever they take flights to their destinations.

The Minister said there was no question of common people being put to any hardship because of protocol being extended to VIPs by private airlines.

The University of Central Lancashire has been awarded £1.9m from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), to support further implementation of best practice stroke care in India. The three-year research project is led by the University and will be a collaborative effort with the George Institute for Global Health in Australia and India, Christian Medical College in Ludhiana, clinicians from three hospitals across India, and other key colleagues in the UK, India and Australia.  

The research is due to start immediately and will build on existing stroke unit care, implementing and evaluating best practice stroke care, and developing research that will not only help developing countries, but will inform implementation of best practice globally.

“This study should help capacity development in management of stroke in India with specific focus on strategies that impact better health outcomes for people suffering from stroke. A key component would be to increase the skills of India’s frontline workers in stroke care,’’ said Dr Pallab Maulik, deputy Director, Head of Research, The George Institute for Global Health India.   

Stroke incidence in India is rising. The average age of people suffering a stroke in India is in the 50s, compared to the 70s in the UK. This is largely due to change in lifestyle of the population in addition to environmental factors such as poor living conditions, lack of  health awareness and fragmented healthcare infrastructure.

There are currently around 50 dedicated stroke units in India. As part of this project, researchers will be working with existing stroke units at CMC, Ludhiana; AIIMS, New Delhi and SCTIMST Trivandrum. They will look to determine the most effective processes for stroke assessment, care, monitoring and therapy, as well as determining the most economical approaches to assessment.

Professor Dame Caroline Watkins, Director of Research and Innovation in the Faculty of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Central Lancashire and Chief Investigator of the study, said: “A stroke is one of the most serious life-threatening conditions that people can suffer, which is why prompt and effective diagnosis and aftercare is incredibly important.”

For example, accurate diagnosis of whether a stroke is caused by a haemorrhage or blood clot, and precise assessment of associated disorders, will determine the correct type of treatment. This also provides invaluable insight into the most relevant acute stroke care for those most at risk of long-term damage.
A country the size of India should have around 3,500 dedicated stroke units to cater for the scale of the problem. The prevalence of stroke is becoming more common and funding is limited, so it is vital that we are able to assess the current working practices and outline the most cost-effective ways of providing high-quality care to stroke patients. “This grant is fundamental for future research in the faculty and will help us inform stroke care across the world.’’

The George Institute for Global Health is working across a broad health landscape by conducting clinical, population and health system research aimed at changing health practice and policy worldwide. The Institute has been ranked among the top 10 global institutes for impact for the last several years. 

The George Institute India partners with over sixty national and international institutions such as the Public Health Foundation of India, the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, University of Hyderabad; and affiliations with University of Sydney, Oxford and Peking.

NEW DELHI : Taking the technical glitches in filing the returns into account, the Government has extended the date for filing of Income Tax Returns (ITR) for 5 days up to August 5, 2017. 

After getting a lot of complaints from various part of the country, the Government today said that in order to facilitate the e-filing of the returns, it has decided to give extension of five days for e-filing of the returns. 

Similarly, for the purpose of e-filing return, it would be sufficient as of now to quote Aadhaar or acknowledgement number for having applied for Aadhaar in e-filing website.

The actual linking of PAN with Aadhaar can be done subsequently, but any time before 31st August, 2017. 

However, the returns will not be processed until the linkage of Aadhaar with PAN is done. 

In a statement issued by the Finance Ministry, it is said that there are some complaints that the taxpayers are not being able to log on to the e-filing website of Income Tax Department or not being able to link Aadhaar with PAN because of different names reflected in PAN and Aadhaar database.

While technical snags have been removed already, the main reason for failure of people to log in is because of last minute rush and panic in which those who have already logged in want to continue for the entire period for fear of losing it. 

NEW DELHI: Little did she know that her daily grind of going to her school nearly three kilometers from her non-descript village in a district in Uttar Pradesh would one day turn into her love for studies and make her dream of getting higher education. 
Exactly 12 years after the sprightly girl passed her intermediate examination, she can now easily boast of realizing her dream because by the sheer dint of her hard work, she obtained her doctorate in sociology from Lucknow University. 
Meet Dr. Supriya Singh who earlier this year topped in the Higher Education Commission examination held by the UP Higher Education Commission. It will make her eligible for direct appointment as an Assistant Professor in aided degree colleges of U.P., India’s most populous State where girls like Supriya may be few but are writing new success stories and making their families, clan and village proud.
It seems like yesterday when Supriya who was lovingly called Renu by everyone would return from her middle school in Dhanikhera, about three kilometers from her village Gahrenda. She found time to play with her younger brother and also visit neighbouring homes and play with children of her age. Whenever we visited our village during winter breaks, Renu would come and talk to us about her school, how she was doing in her studies and also play around with my daughter Apoorva who was couple of years younger to her. She would very keenly ask about schools  in metropolitan cities like Delhi.
As years rolled, we again met Renu who was now cycling daily to her new school – RRB Inter College in Bhagwantnagar, a town area and an assembly segment which is about four kilometers from Gahrenda village. Bhagwantnagar is represented in U.P. Assembly by BJP leader Hriydanarain Dikshit who also happens to be a veteran columnist in several leading Hindi dailies. 
“It was in 2004 that Renu shifted to Lucknow to study at Mahila Degree College. She did her graduation and then post-graduation. She wanted to go for M.Phil and Ph.D. and seeing her dedication and love for higher studies, we never stopped her and she never looked back. It was her courage, determination and single-minded devotion that made her sail through all tests,’’ recalls her father Anil Kumar Singh who takes care of the family’s agricultural land in the village and has pumped all his financial resources for his daughter’s education. 
The icing on the cake was that Supriya’s research work was chosen for publication by the prestigious Cambridge Scholar Publishing, U.K. in June this year in the form of a book titled “Commercialization of Hinterland and Dynamics of Class, Caste and Gender in Rural India.’’  
Asked if he has seen Supriya’s research work, her father said that she had brought some copies home. “It looked very impressive, we were all very happy over her achievement,’’ he said. Supriya recalled her that her research work made her undertake field visits and she had to spend hours waiting for authentic official data and figures and then collate and analyze it. Obviously, the rare honour of Cambridge Scholar publishing her work has made her proud.  
All major English and Hindi newspapers of Lucknow have highlighted Supriya’s achievements. After topping higher education exam, she told journalists that she was hopeful of making it among top 25 students. “But securing number one rank in this examination came as a bit of surprise,” the 29-year-old said. She had also scored highest marks in sociology during BA final year and was conferred a merit certificate and medal by the college.
She completed her M.Phil in 2010 and also qualified UGC-JRF and NET in Sociology in 2009 itself. She is now working as academic counsellor in Indira Gandhi National Open University at its Lucknow University centre. She has to her credit nine research papers and two book reviews. Supriya also presented papers in 18 national and international conferences and seminars and has attended two “Young Sociologists Workshops” at Cuttack and and IIT Delhi. 
In her spare time, she loves to click photographs as it gives her pleasure to capture natural beauty and freeze the special moments. “Penning everyday life experiences in my diary helps me to look back at my strenuous journey from a remote village of Unnao to a metropolis life in pursuit of my goal,’’ says Supriya. 
The young scholar has written about poverty, suicides among students, naxalism, problems of elderly and widows, honor killings, environmental issues, problems in higher education and issues relating to women. For Supriya the journey has just begun. She has set her sight on higher goals of spreading education and creating awareness on vital social issues, particularly among women.

Nitish Kumar makes a ‘ghar wapsi’ to the BJP which is now part of the government in Bihar. Nitish Kumar will have to bid adieu to his ambitions of becoming Prime Minister for some time.

With Nitish Kumar making a ‘ghar wapsi’ to the delight of the BJP making a mockery of the ‘mahagatbandhan’ formed by the JD (U), RJD and the Congress in 2015, he has dashed the hopes of a combined opposition taking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Lotus party in the 2019 general elections. 

While retaining the chief ministership of the battle ground state in the Hindi heartland after comfortably winning the vote of confidence in the Bihar assembly yesterday on Friday (July 28), he may have been compelled to bid adieu to his ambitions of occupying the Prime Minister’s “kursi” at least in the forseeable future. He has, however, maintained time and again in the past that he was not in the race for that office in the imposing South Block on the majestic Raisina Hill. 

There were ample indications of Lalu Prasd Yadav’s RJD being dumped in the wake of investigations against the members of the family allegedly involved in corruption scandals. Credit must be given to the strategists in the Lotus party for keeping the goings on close to their chest and regaining power in Patna in tandem with the Janata Dal (United). 

The inevitable has a happened. Lalu Prasad’s dynastic ambitions of reportedly feathering the family’s nest by being in power either in Bihar or at the Centre has suffered a severe setback. The raids by the Income Tax department and the Enforcement Directorate on the Lalu Prasad family including his wife Rabri Devi and the preliminarly findings point to grave financial irregularities led to the breakup. 

With the wily Nitish Kumar back as chief minister in tandem with the BJP led NDA, he is enjoying the best of both the worlds. Lalu brought upon himself the parting of ways with Nitish as he remained adamant asserting Tejaswi will not resign. For Nitish Kumar his pursuit of being clean and a person of integrity would have tarnished his image if he had associated himself with Tejaswi, who was no less than the Deputy chief minister in his government. 

However, if Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi knew three-four months back that something was cooking between Nitish Kumar and the saffron brigade, he cannot absolve himself of the responsibility for the breakup of the ‘mahagatbandhan’. He lacked the political acumen to intervene effectively rather than allowing matters to come to such a pass. It does not solve problems by observing “in this country leaders are only interested in protecting and preserving their ministerial births”. 

In the prevailing circumstances the reduced 17-party opposition is in no position to stop Modi and the BJP winning a second consecutive term in office because of their reverses in assembly elections and the skeletons tumbling out of the cupboards. 

At the same time Modi must realise the problems connected with the demands of the Sangh Parivar and his agenda of development was adversely affecting the credibility of his regime.

Government-run Anganwadis and privately managed preschools, two major models of early childhood education available in India, neither offers children the environment and inputs they need at this age. In particular, opportunities for planned play, a critical component of successful early childhood education programs, are almost entirely absent from both models.

A report `India early Childhood Education Impact study (2011-2016), released by UNICEF, has said on average, children’s school readiness levels at age 5 were far below expected levels. Most children participate in institutions that are of low quality and fail to use age appropriate methods, materials, and activities, and children thus enter school unequipped with the skills necessary to meet the demands of the  primary school curriculum.

While, regular preschool participation from age 4 to 5 years has a significant impact on children’s school readiness levels at age 5+, with quality of the preschool emerging as a key factor in enhancing impact, the report said almost every one of the villages sampled for IECEI had at least one government preschool facility,usually an Anganwadi. The majority also had one or more privately managed preschools. Most families were sending their children to these facilities, even at age 4. This is a major achievement.

The India Early Childhood Education Impact study (IECEI) is a longitudinal study that followed a cohort of 14,000 four year olds from age 4 to age 8 in rural areas of three states of India: Assam, Rajasthan and Telangana. The first of its kind in India for its scale, its longitudinal design and mixed methods it employed, the study documented children’s institutional participation; assessed their school readiness levels and subsequent early grade learning outcomes; and assessed the quality of preschool programmes, identifying specific programme characteristics that are associated with positive developmental outcomes for children.

The study was conceptualized in consultation with and with the support of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Human Resource Development, UNICEF and other partners, including the World Bank, CIFF, Bernard van Leer Foundation, CARE, UNESCO and SERP.  It was conducted by the Centre for Early Childhood Education and Development (CECED), Ambedkar University and ASER Centre.

However, children’s participation in preschool and early primary grades does not necessarily follow the linear age-based trajectory prescribed by policy (RTE, 2009 and National ECCE Policy, 2013). In some states, large numbers of 4 year olds are already in school. As a consequence, these children are expected to master curriculum content that is developmentally inappropriate. In other cases, significant proportions of 6 and 7 year olds are still in preschool. In all states, children attend irregularly.

Recommending inclusion of pre-school education as an integral part of Right to Education, 2009, the report says that experiences at the preschool stage influence children’s outcomes at the primary stage of education. Currently, the RTE covers only children in the age group 6-14, thus excluding children during the most important phase of brain development in violation of their right to a sound foundation for education.

Currently, many state governments allow children to enter school before the age of 6. The RTE stipulation requiring the entry age for grade 1 to be 6+ years should be made mandatory across the country, so that children entering primary education are better able to handle curriculum demands, the report calls for ensuring that children begin primary school only when they are developmentally ready.

Calling for planning for young children up to the age of 8 as an early learning continuum which requires early childhood care and education – as is now globally accepted – the report said such a curriculum would cover preschool to primary grades, thus building upward from what three year olds need, meeting the specific content and pedagogical requirements of this foundational stage with play-based opportunities and experiences for emergent and early literacy and numeracy.  It also calls for developing a customized Teacher Education curriculum and a cadre of trained teachers at par in status with primary school teachers.

Institute an effective quality regulation or accreditation system for early childhood care and education, which covers preschool education across private, public and voluntary sectors to ensure compliance with quality standards and prerequisites for developmentally appropriate practices in these critical years, the report said.

All stakeholders – policy makers, teachers, parents and others – need to understand why and how young children’s learning needs are different from what formal education provides, and why meeting these needs is critical to establishing a solid foundation for lifelong learning and development, the report said.

“Activities that should be prioritized and proactively supported include large-scale advocacy via public interest advertisements and media campaigns; mechanisms that facilitate direct communication between pre-primary education centres and parents; and the design and large-scale dissemination of simple methods and materials that enable parents to actively support their children’s learning,’’ it said.

NEW DELHI : An Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) has been signed in October 2007 between the Governments of India and the Russian Federation for Joint Development and production of Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA).

The project is planned to be executed in two phases (i) Preliminary Design (PD) Phase; and (ii) Detailed Design & Development Phase (called R & D Phase). The PD stage contract was signed in December, 2010. The work commenced in February 2011 and completed in June, 2013.

An amount of Rs.1535.45 Crore has been spent as on 31st March 2017.

Planned expenditure has been recommended in the IGA. Any future expenditure under R&D Contract will be known once the Commercial negotiation Committee (CNC) submits its recommendations to the Government.

This information was given by Minister of state for Defence Dr. Subhash Bhamre in a written reply to Shri Baijayant Jay Panda in Lok Sabha today.

The country is seeing a major shift in power equations with the President and Prime Minister belonging to backward classes. Come August fifth, history will be created with the Lotus party occupying the three crucial offices of the President, Vice President and the Prime Minister.  

After nearly seven decades of independence, ordinary citizens from backward classes are making their presence felt by occupying key constitutional positions in the country which invariably remained the preserve of the elite in the past. 

This is particularly so in the case of Ram Nath Kovind hailing from a poor family who has the distinction of being the first Head of State from Uttar Pradesh in his capacity as the country’s fourteenth President. 

The significance of the Bharatiya Janata party having one of its nominees occupying the majestic Rashtrapati Bhawan for the first time since last Tuesday, July 25, 2017, is a major milestone.

The Lotus party is expected to run away with the office of Vice – President on August fifth next month when the election takes place. It is a matter of great prestige for the saffron brigade that its leaders will not only be holding the offices of President, Prime Minister and very soon that of Vice President. 

History is being created in the country that the triumvirate of the top three leaders owe their allegiance to the BJP which was established less than four decades back in1980.   

The credit for this achievement viewed as a masterstroke must go to the indefatigable Prime Minister Narendra Modi for zeroing in on barrister Kovind from the RSS stable who had barely completed three years as the Governor of Bihar. 

Given his humble background coupled with being a low profile politician, his family was over the moon as they had least expected that Kovind will become the country’s President. He will be the second Dalit President of the country, the first being K R Narayanan. 

The underlying message is unmistakable. Anyone irrespective of their caste or creed can aspire to reach the top, thanks to this country’s democratic system. 

It has taken a long time for this country to reach a stage where both occupants of the office of President and Prime Minister are from backward classes. This represents a major shift in the country’s politics bringing about a change in power equations. With power percolating down to the grassroots away from the elite, it is bound to lead to forces and movements of its own.  

The question is can Kovind’s elevation as the country’s First Citizen provide the soothing effect in bringing round the 21 per cent oppressed and depressed Dalits in the country. On his part Kovind has spoken about ensuring equality of opportunity for everyone in the country. 

The lackadaisical and disjointed state of the opposition appears nowhere near getting its act together in challenging the BJP-led NDA anytime soon. NCP leader Omar Abdullah’s frustrated assertion recently to “forget 2019 and prepare for the 2024 (general elections)” appears to makes sense. 

The BJP gained enormously by naming its Presidential candidate well in advance with the Congress biding its time in naming the opposition nominee. For the 18-party opposition it was a losing battle which was apparent from the word go. Former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar knew it was a futile battle for her though she put up a brave front in the circumstances.  

The BJP’s resounding victory in the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh recently was on account of its gambit of wooing the most backward among the Dalits and other oppressed sections which paid rich dividends. It facilitated the party winning nearly three fourths of the seats in the 403-member state assembly while regaining power after a gap of 17 years. 

Being the largest state in the country, UP contributes the maximum number of 80 seats to the Lok Sabha. Being in power in UP with a stunning majority sidelining the regional satraps cannot be dismissed as a fluke. 

During the April-May general elections in 2014, the BJP managed a mind blowing 71 seats on its own with two more being garnered by its allies. This took the Lotus party’s tally to 73 out of the 80 seats. 

It was the Hindi heartland that made the day for Modi giving the BJP a majority of 282 seats on its own for the first time in the Lok Sabha. Along with its allies the BJP led NDA crossed the rubicon of 300 finishing with a comfortable 340 odd seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha. 

Modi became the undisputed leader of the saffron brigade and has enlarged its sphere of influence by bagging Assam for the first time seen as the gateway to the Northeast. The Modi wave in 2014 was unmistakable as he held sway over the masses making a multitude of pledges none of which have materialised over the last 36 months and more.  

Even though nothing can be taken for granted, the general elections in 2019 appears irretrievably tilted in Modi’s favour. The opposition has suffered a major setback with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar abandoning the ‘Mahagatbandhan’ and joining hands with the BJP in retaining power in Patna. For now Modi is way, way ahead of all the other leaders in the popularity charts.    

NEW DELHI : An all-woman team of Indian scientists has developed a novel antibiotic delivery system that enhances action of drugs at cellular level and overall efficiency of conventional antibiotics. The system could help improve cancer treatment in future.     

Development of antibiotic resistance due to inefficient and indiscriminate use of antibiotics poses a treatment challenge. The severity of the problem increases in patients with weak immune system like in cancers. In the absence of new and more potent antibiotics or other viable alternatives, scientists are focusing on improving efficacy of existing options.

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT-D) have used nanoconjugates – nanoparticle bound with molecules to render them with added biological features – in this context. The new study demonstrates that the nanoparticle-bound antibacterial agent, a short molecule called sushi-peptide, was more efficient than anti-bacterial agent alone.

“We used nanoparticles as efficient delivery vehicles for the antibiotic and cancer cell-specific biomarkers for specific targeting” explained Dr Shalini Gupta, one of the lead researchers of the study published in journal Scientific Reports.

The strategy, according to researchers, may specifically be useful in treating infected cancer cells where conventional antibacterial agents cannot reach. Dr Gupta elaborates “our strategy is to reach and kill these bacteria that lie hidden inside the cancer cells”.  The study demonstrates this by effectively eliminating E.Coli andS.typhi bacteria in cells under laboratory conditions.

The gold nanoparticle-based conjugate was efficiently taken up by the cell and demonstrated no toxicity. Adding to this, Dr Neetu Singh, another member of the research team, said “the nanoparticle system offers a platform for new generation of antibiotics, which are active at much lower dosages thus addressing a very common problem of bacteria developing resistance to most of the known antibiotics due to overdosing”.

The study team included Rohini Singh, Smita Patil, Dr Neetu Singh and Dr Shalini Gupta. 

(India Science Wire).