NEW DELHI : Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit later this month for the biannual inter-governmental consultancies (IGC), Germany on Tuesday made a strong pitch for resuming negotiations for an EU-India free trade agreement (FTA) and reaffirmed its support for New Delhi’s bid for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
 Germany is among the countries with which India has terminated bilateral investment protection treaties (BITs) following a new BIT model New Delhi released in December 2015.  Following the expiry of the India-Germany BIT in March this year, German Ambassador Martin Ney told the media here that while existing investments from India in Germany or vice-versa will be protected for the next 15 years under the old set of rules, all new investments will not have any protection until a new treaty is signed.  Stating that European Union (EU) member-states have passed on the responsibility of investment protection negotiations to the EU, Ney said that the European Commission and the Indian government should “sit down as soon as possible” to negotiate a free trade agreement.  Modi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will head the fourth round of IGC on May 29-30 in Berlin. Germany is the only country with which India has the IGC arrangement which started in 2011.    “In the last inter-governmental consultations (in 2015), Prime Minister Modi and Chancellor Merkel spoke out strongly in favour of resuming FTA negotiations between the EU and India,” Ney said.   He laid stress on the necessity of the FTA, and said the EU was India’s largest trading partner.  “If you want to shape globalisation, you do it by writing it into treaties,” the German Ambassador said, adding that there were strategic reasons for this too.  He cited the One Belt One Road (OBOR) summit hosted by China earlier this month as another reason for an FTA between India and the EU.  “India has not participated in the OBOR summit. The European countries have participated but have not signed up to the trade declaration of OBOR,” Ney said.  Describing the OBOR as a China-centred trade enhancement system, Ney said: “If both the EU and India have certain hesitations about it, it should give us extra incentive to sit down and resume negotiations on a free trade agreement.”  Giving a larger picture of the upcoming talks in Berlin, the ambassador said both India and Germany believed in the tenets of democracy and a rules-based international order.  He said both countries cooperate closely in terms of G20 coordination, UN Security Council reforms, freedom of navigation including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), strategic importance of the Indian Ocean region, the fight against terrorism and stability in Afghanistan.       “Germany supports India’s membership in different export control regimes, including the NSG,” he said.  The German envoy pointed out that the two countries have over 25 working groups, including in areas like climate change, energy, infrastructure and tourism.  He said that like in the last IGC in 2015, there will be “series of substantial MoUs (memorandums of understanding) and joint declarations of intent” after the talks in Berlin.  One of the most important areas in which these agreements are likely to be signed, according to Ney, is business.  “The Indo-German Chamber of Commerce is the biggest German bilateral chamber outside Germany. It has more than 7,000 German and Indian member companies,” he said, adding that over 1,800 German companies were doing business in India.  Since 2010, he said German companies have invested almost Rs 53,000 crore in India, including Rs 8,121 crore in last year alone.  “India is interested in German technology and knowhow and we are interested in sharing this,” he said.  According to the envoy, start-up ventures will be another area that will come under discussion with both countries having “great ecosystems” for this.  Other sectors which he mentioned might come up for discussion include vocational education and training, pollution control in the face of rapid urbanisation, renewable energy, agriculture, defence production and cultural cooperation.  In terms development cooperation, he said India was Germany’s largest development partner with Berlin giving around Rs 7,000 crore in development aid each year.

Prime Minister Theresa May convened an emergency COBRA meeting at Downing Street on Tuesday to discuss counter-terror strategy as a male suicide bomber killed 22 persons, including children, during a concert at Manchester Arena.
Fifty nine persons were injured in the attack that occurred at 22:35 BST just as a concert by American pop singer Ariana Grande had ended.
A male suicide bomber is suspected to have carried out the attack in the foyer of the Arena building as 20,000 fans were streaming towards the exit doors.
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and Chief Constable Ian Hopkins will attend the COBRA (a crisis response committee) meeting.
This was a major terror attack on British soil after four terrorists from Leeds killed 52 people in the London Tube and Bus on July 7, 2005. 
All major political parties suspended their election campaign on Tuesday. British Home Secretary Amber Rudd, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, former Lord Mayor Afzal Khan were among the senior politicians who condemned the attack.
Greater Manchester Police said the lone male attacker, who died in the blast, was carrying an improvised explosive device which he detonated.
Grande was not injured, a team member confirmed.
She tweeted several hours later: “Broken. From the bottom of my heart, I am so so sorry. I don’t have words.”
Home Secretary Amber Rudd said the attack was “barbaric, deliberately targeting some of the most vulnerable”.
“This was an evil act,” said Mayor Burnham. “Our first thoughts are with the families of those killed and injured and we will do whatever we can to support them. We are grieving today but we are strong. Today it will be business as usual as far as possible in our great city.”
In a statement, the Prime Minister said: “We are working to establish the full details of what is being treated by the police as an appalling terrorist attack.
“All our thoughts are with the victims and the families of those who have been affected.”
At least 60 ambulances attended the scene of the blast, as over 240 distress calls were received. The Manchester Royal Infirmary Hospital was blocked off to all but essential staff.
No group or individual has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but supporters of the Islamic State (IS) terror group were seen celebrating the blast on social media, the media reported.
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn tweeted: “Terrible incident in Manchester. My thoughts are with all those affected and our brilliant emergency services.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, condemning the attack said “our thoughts are with the families of the deceased and prayers with the injured”.
The US Department of Homeland Security said it was “closely monitoring” the situation.
Sir Richard Leese, leader of the Manchester City Council, said the “city will not allow terrorism to divide the communities”.
“The city has been through dark times but it’s difficult to remember anything that’s as bad as what’s happened last night,” Richard said. “We have to deal with the reality of that, at the same time as communities have to pull together with each other.
“We cannot allow what is believed to be a terror attack to divide us and we can’t allow them to win. I think that again, on the assumption that this is a deliberate attack, that the targets primarily were young girls and their families and it is almost beyond belief that anybody could target such a group of people with this appalling outrage,” Richard said.
Manchester Arena, formerly known as the MEN Arena, is the biggest indoor venue in the city with a capacity of around 18,000 for concerts.
Mancunians were showing their compassionate side just after the incident. Within an hour of reports of the blast, people began offering spare rooms and beds to people stranded in the city using the hashtag #RoomForManchester. 
Hundreds of tweets offering places to stay are being shared and re-tweeted thousands of times.
Local cab drivers were offering free rides to stranded young fans of the American diva.
Greater Manchester Police set up a hotline to help families to get details about their missing relatives – 0044 161 856 9400.
Universal Music Group, the parent company of Grande’s Republic Records label, posted on Facebook: “We are deeply saddened to learn of tonight’s devastating event in Manchester. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by this tragedy.”
Musicians such as Ed Sheeran, Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry and others offered supportive tweets.
The Manchester Victoria train station located close to the Arena was shut down on Tuesday, UK National Rail announced.
In June 1996, an Irish Republic Army (IRA) truck-bomb exploded not far from the Arena that left hundreds injured.

The Vice Chairman

Niti Aayog

Government of India

New Delhi

Civil society organizations have expressed concern over the possibility of India becoming a `SUN Country’ by joining the Scaling up Nutrition (SUN) movement.

In a memorandum submitted to the Vice Chairman of Niti Aayog, Secretaries to the Government of India and State Health Secretaries, the civil society has raised concerns regarding the visit of the global coordinator of SUN movement to India to `lobby’ for India joining the movement and its SUN Business Network (SBN).

If a country becomes a member of SUN, it is labeled as a “SUN country”. According to its roadmap, by 2020, all SUN countries will “Have a multi-stakeholder partnership for coordination at national level’’ and “have aligned policy, legislation and regulation, in support of nutrition”. As a key strategy, SUN encourages to set-up Multi -stakeholder platforms and SBN is identified stakeholder. SBN is convened by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and World Food Program (WFP), the memorandum has said.

Pointing out that majority of the SBN Members are in food businesses promoting ready-to-use foods, nutrition supplements, ingredients for formulas and highly processed products and snacks, the memorandum said SUN had failed to address the double burden of malnutrition, both under and over-nutrition. These members include Pepsi, Cargill, Nutriset, Britannia, Unilever, Edesia, General Mills, Glaxo SKB, Mars, Indofood, Nutrifood, DSM, Amul, and Valid Nutrition.

Moreover, and of deep concern, is that SUN, while claiming to support governments in taking the lead in policy setting, in reality facilitates the entry of businesses into the policy space. SUN does this by using an incorrect conflict of interest (CoI) concept– that calls on its members to be ‘inclusive’ and ‘predictable and mutually accountable, it said. `’We cannot see how the Government of India – or any other government claiming to uphold democratic principles – can allow themselves to be accountable to transnational corporations or philanthropic foundations rather than their citizens.  Nor can we see how effective nutrition and public health policies can be adopted if consensus must first be reached with transnational food corporations.’’   

The SUN approach results in its members sidelining the sustainable strategies for ‘prevention’ that IBFAN and other health NGOs focus on  – and instead promote ready to use foods and supplements as a solution for treatment of undernutrition. SUN Business Network members understand prevention only through ‘magic bullet’ and market-led approaches – ‘buy this product to prevent this micronutrient deficiency. Such approaches mislead and undermine local, bio-diverse and sustainable food cultures. Indian data for the treatment of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) children suggests that there little difference between commercial ready to use foods or home augmented foods to treat SAM, the memorandum said.

Also, there are negligible efforts to address obesity and related Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs including diabetes, hypertension, metabolic syndrome), which are assuming epidemic proportions. Paradoxically, an important contributor of this burden is the promotion and consumption of highly -processed foods, especially those with high sugar, salt and fat content.  “The companies producing and promoting such products are core members of SBN, who benefit financially from their association with SUN, camouflaging their marketing strategies as promotion of public nutrition. In the long term, this can cause irreparable financial damage to Indian economy because of inherent cost of treatment and rehabilitation from NCDs and suppression of local food industry,’’ the memorandum added.

SBN’s involvement at policy making will corrode India’s ability to protect its public health policy setting space from commercial influence.  We should be zealously guarding our own food sovereignty and economic interests. One of the reasons big food players would like to come to India is because the markets in the west are saturated and growth of processed food is projected in lower middle-income countries, the civil society members said.

Resonating these concerns, recently Brazil categorically refused to become a Â“SUN country”. India should question if SUN is a global Movement, then why SUN member countries are only aid recipients and does not have the donor countries join the Movement as members, the members said while welcoming the Niti Aayog’s stated health agenda aiming to shift the focus to prevention instead of treatment. “With this principle in mind, we make a strong plea that our country or individual States should not join ‘SUN’ even as it intensifies its efforts to rope in more countries.’’

Master Chef Sanjeev Kapoor has raised an unprecedented $ 2.1 million for Akshaya Patra during his 10-day tour of the US.

The Chef toured through Boston, four cities in the Bay Area and Los Angeles where he spoke, auctioned signed dinner plates, gala tables and memorabilia to raise the funds.

Padma awardee Sanjeev Kapoor charmed audiences everywhere with poignant stories from his career while bringing into focus the painful facts of hunger in India.

He spoke about his own childhood, with dramatic style narrated the three very different lives that his father led as he moved from Pakistan to India after the partition. The story emphasized the point that given a chance everyone could succeed.  Everyone deserved a chance; that no child should be denied an education because of hunger.

In the Bay Area, with notable executives and dignitaries from the Silicon Valley present, Chef appealed to the audience to give to Akshaya Patra, an NGO that serves 1.6 million midday meals to children in 13,200 government schools in 12 States in India. Akshaya Patra has scaled from serving 1,500 meals in 2002 to becoming the biggest midday meal program in the world, operating 29 centralized, ISO certified kitchens and transporting the food to schools up to a distance of 40 kms.

In a conversation with Chef at the Sanatan Dharma temple in Los Angeles with over 300 guests present, comedian and Emcee Rajiv Satyal asked “why Akshaya Patra?”. Chef replied his journey was about good food and Akshaya Patra was all about food. Just like his own journey where cooking food for his family and friends and also presenting it to millions of viewers on television show for over 20 years, the joy of giving is much more than the joy of receiving.

At the exclusive invitee only dinner at the Spice Affair restaurant in Beverly Hills with just under 100 donors present, Chef spoke about the circle of giving and receiving, everything he gave has come back to him many times over – something we often miss in our busy lives. His message to the audience was to give, because we could and to go even further, give for selfish reasons, because it felt good. Chef Sanjeev Kapoor raised over $925,000 within a half hour, auctioning off tables for Akshaya Patra’s Diwali benefit gala on October 28^th in Los Angeles. Vandana Tilak, a director of the Board for Akshaya Patra USA thanked the Chef and his wife Alyona for taking the time out in their busy schedules to support the march against hunger and going above and beyond to ensure every opportunity was explored and dedicated to serving a mid day meal to children in India.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation headquartered in Bengaluru, India. The organisation strives to fight issues like hunger and malnutrition in India. By implementing the Mid-Day Meal Scheme in the Government schools and Government aided schools, The Akshaya Patra Foundation aims not only to fight hunger but also to bring children to school. Since 2000, the organisation has worked towards reaching more children with wholesome food on every single school day. Akshaya Patra Foundation is continuously leveraging technology to cater to millions of children. Its state-of-the-art kitchens have become a subject of study and they attract curious visitors from around the world.  

In partnership with the Government of India and various State Governments and inestimable support from many philanthropic donors and well-wishers; Akshaya Patra has grown from humble beginnings serving just 1,500 school children across 5 schools. Today, The Akshaya Patra Foundation is the world’s largest (not-for-profit) run Mid-Day Meal Programme serving wholesome food to over 1.5 million children from 11,360 schools across 10 states in India.

With rapid developments in the field of medical sciences, cure of various diseases is now possible. It is now possible to revive a patient from crisis situations and treat ailments which were earlier considered to be life threatening. 

With these advancements in medical profession, the cases of medical negligence have also increased.

Described as the noblest profession in the world, medical professionals at many a times are able to infuse a new lease of life into a patient but at times doubts also appear on the horizon and friends and relatives level charges of negligence on the doctors and surgeons. 

With the increasing awareness among the people about their rights, there is a rise in the number of civil suits and criminal complaints against the doctors who show negligence in their work. After the judgment of Supreme Court in Indian Medical Association v. V.P. Santhara, cases are also filed under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 seeking compensation for the negligent act allegedly committed by the doctor. 

Negligence is the breach of a duty caused by the omission to do something which a reasonable man, guided by those considerations which ordinarily regulate the conduct of human affairs would do, or doing something which a prudent and reasonable man would not do.Negligence is failure to exercise the care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in like circumstances.Negligence in simple terms is a careless conduct on the part of one person which results in damage to another.

In a case of negligence the action arises only after the plaintiff has suffered some damage and that damage is on account of breach of a duty committed by the defendant. Here the ‘duty’ is not merely a social or a moral duty but a legal duty.

In Jacob Mathew v. State of Punjab, the Supreme Court pointed out the difference between civil and criminal liability,“for negligence to amount to an offence, the elements of mens rea must be shown to exist. For an act to amount to criminal negligence, the degree of negligence should be much higher i.e. gross or of a very high degree. Negligence which is neither gross nor of a higher degree may provide a ground for action in civil cases but cannot form the basis of prosecution.” 

A medical professional is a qualified doctor is fully committed to the ethical principles and values of medical profession. It is an occupation aimed at protecting, promoting and restoring good health with a focus on identifying, diagnosing and treating illness using scientific and highly specialized knowledge. 

An occupation where caring for the patients is the first concern and the following principles are applicable Scientific knowledge has to be instigated, used and transmitted, Permanent evaluation is used to improve service, knowledge gets used in an ethical and competent manner, Medical profession is always aimed at improving the health needs and providing well- being at communities and their individuals.

Medical professional in simple terms is person registered with respective medical field and having a license to practice in medicine.Medical negligence is when a doctor who has a duty of care towards his patients, commits a breach in that duty, resulting in damage to the patient. 

Medical negligence has become an issue of concern, though the cases of medical negligence were seen in the past also, but now these cases have increased due to the careless attitude of some doctors and also the hospitals which are now becoming corporate houses and whose primary aim is not to give health care facilities but to increase their profits, no matter if it is at the expense of a patient’s life. 

In Dr. LaxmanBalkrishnajoshi v. Dr. TrimbakBapuGodbole, the Supreme Court held that a person holding himself for giving a medical advice also impliedly holds forth that he is possessed of skill and knowledge for that purpose. Such a person when consulted by a patient owes certain duties of care in deciding whether to undertake the case, duty of care in deciding what treatment to give, duty of care in administration of that treatment. A breach of any of these duties gives rise to an action of negligence against him.

The standard of care required by a doctor is that of a reasonable prudent medical professional would exercise in like circumstances.

LIABILITY OF DOCTORS 

In India doctors are treated as God because of the noble profession they are in. A person gives his life in the hands of another person so that the person can revive his health back to normal with a consent that in the ongoing treatment if anything misshapen the responsibility would be on the person who so consented to that risk. 

The person who has so consented to undergo a medical risk has given the consent for all the acts which are necessary for the treatment but at the same time he has not consented for any sought of negligence committed by the doctor.

The field for the compensation and punishment for medical negligence was not developed in India, as it was in other countries; doctors were not punished even after doing a gross negligence taking name of God or blaming the destiny of the person, this made the doctors more careless in their attitude towards the patients but with the time and also when people became aware of their rights, this field has evolved and now people have started to report the cases of negligence of the doctors. Though the laws relating to doctors were available, but their enforcement was limited.

In Dr. Laxman Balkrishna Joshi v. Dr. Trimbak Bapu Godbole and anr, the Court laid down a few duties of a doctor namely — Duty in deciding whether to undertake the case, Duty in deciding what treatment to give, duty of administering the treatment. 

It was laid down that any breach of these duties by the medical practioner would result in the commission of negligence by him

In Poonamverma v. Ashwin Patel the defendant was a registered homeopathic doctor, prescribed the husband of the plaintiff allopathic drugs for the treatment of fever and then typhoid. As a result of these drugs the plaintiff’s husband died. The court in this case found the doctor to be negligent on the ground that doctor prescribed the drugs which he was not competent enough to administer.

In Sishir Rajan Saha v. The State of Tripura  the petitioner’s son, while riding on a scooter met with an accident. He was admitted to G.B. hospital in Agartala in the emergency ward. The Specialist Doctor did not attend him because he was busy attending his private patients. In this case, the court found the doctor to be negligent.

In Jacob Mathew v. State of Punjab  the Supreme Court in detail explained that a doctor can only be held liable for gross negligence committed by him and also, a doctor has to be put on equal footing as any other professional while deciding the question as to negligence. A doctor is not liable for simple lack of care, accident or error of judgment, but on the other hand the doctor would be liable if he has the skill but he did not exercise his skill or that the doctor has exercised his skill in a manner that no other expert in similar situation would administer.

The very logic behind not making the doctor guilty even for a simple negligence is based on following considerations:- the act of performing a surgery or administering a treatment is inherently a risky job, there are a lot of complications attached to every surgery, the doctor would not be able to administer proper treatment to a patient when he is continuously under fear of legal consequences and the doctor would be under an impression to leave the patient on his destiny rather than to take the risk of prosecution. A doctor who is a specialist, has considerable amount of experience, and good will is expected to be more cautious in his approach, the degree of care expected from him more than what is expected from a new, less experienced or a general physician. The degree of care and expectation of lesser negligence is directly proportional to the experience and specialization of the doctor, more the doctor (a specialized) is the care expected from him. 

The cases against the medical negligence committed by the doctors can be filed under the civil laws as well as the criminal laws. Under the civil law (Consumer Protection Act, 1986) the plaintiff can ask for the compensation for the deficiency in services and thereby for the damage subsequent to such deficiency while under the criminal law (Indian Penal Code, 1860) the complainant can file a case against the doctor if punishment of the accused is sought.

In JasbirKaur v. State of Punjab , a newly born child went missing from a Government run hospital, after a considerable time the child was found with an eye gouged out. It was found that the child was attacked by a cat, the hospital was found to be guilty of negligence and the parents of the child were awarded compensation for the act.

In Haripada Sahav. State of Tripura the patient developed an infection during the operation but it was contended by the doctor that the infection was developed after the discharge. An expert committee was constituted which found the doctor guilty of negligence and thereby the plaintiff was awarded compensation

For making a doctor liable under the criminal law the degree of negligence required should be graver than under the civil law. A medical professional here under the criminal negligence cannot be held guilty for a simple negligence or error of judgment and so on. 

In Juggan Khan v. State of Madhya Pradesh the appellant who was a registered homeopathic doctor was charged under section 302 (causing murder) of the Indian Penal Code. In this case, the accused doctor had administered 24 drops of mother tincture stramonium and dhatura leafs for the treatment of guinea worm. The plaintiff died within 24 hours of the said administration. The lower convicted the appellant and High Court upheld the decision of the lower court. The Supreme Court in appeal considering the fact that dhatura leaves are not used in Homeopathic but they are used in Ayurvedic treatments in avery limited quantity held that though the doctor was guilty but the conviction under section 302 of the Code is not proper and hence convicted the doctor under section 304-A of the code. 

Consent 

Before undergoing any surgery starting from a root canal treatment to surgery of any body part the patient or his attendants as the case may be are required to sign a form giving consent to the surgery or the treatment and also this serves as an undertaking accepting the risk which is inherently attached to the surgery or treatment.  By signing this form the doctor is given the power to take appropriate decisions and in good faith regarding the surgery or the treatment. 

It is often misunderstood by the people that by giving consent to the treatment, the doctor have been relieved from all his liabilities. The consent form is just an undertaking to accept the complications which are connected to the treatment and it is not an undertaking to accept the negligent acts of the doctor.

 In this matter regarding the signing of the consent form, the doctor and patient are clearly not at the equal footing. The patient is forced to sign the form even if he does not want to because of the fact that his treatment will not be started till he signs the form and as a consequence he would not get relief from his pain and sufferings.

Doctors often misinterpret that by making the patient sign the consent form they have been completely made free from any liability and patient has waived his right to sue for medical negligence. 

It is true that there have been cases where the doctors have been proved to be negligent but the truth is there are number of doctors who are performing their duty in the most honest way they can, they are serving the people with open hands and helping them in the best possible way. On the other side, there are professionals who are disobeying their professional and ethical code of conduct.

The issue of medical negligence is a serious one,  even today a huge number of cases relating to medical negligence go unreported majorly because of the fact that people are less aware of their rights and also that people are scared of coming forward to report against the doctor. This has indeed led to the doctors becoming more lenient and careless in their approach towards the patient. It is a matter of a person’s life and personal safety which cannot in any manner be taken in a casual manner. The law related to medical negligence is still not properly enforced in the country, it may be worth considering to enact a separate law relating to medical negligence. 

(The writer is pursuing LLM at the National Law School of India University)

NEW DELHi : Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday filed a second civil defamation suit of Rs 10 crore in the Delhi High Court against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over the word “crook” used by his lawyer.

Jaitley sought Rs 10 crore as damages after Ram Jethmalani used objectionable words against the Union Minister in an open court.

This is a separate case from the ongoing DDCA defamation suit against the Chief Minister and five other Aam Aadmi Party leaders that Jaitley filed in 2015.

On May 17, Jaitley and senior advocate Ram Jethmalani clashed in the court with the Minister taking strong objection to the word “crook” used during cross examination in the earlier defamation case.

“I intend to show that this man (Jaitley) is a crook,” Jethmalani had said, prompting strong objection from the Minister.

Jaitley, who was being cross-examined, furiously asked Jethmalani whether the word “crook” used by him was in his personal capacity or as per the instruction of Kejriwal. 

To which, Jethmalani had said that it was used by him on instructions from his client (Kejriwal).

Jaitley then threatened to seek higher damages. 

“I will aggravate the charges against the defendants (Kejriwal)… There is a limit to personal malice,” he had said after Jethmalani said he wanted to prove his point that the Union Minister was a “crook”.

Jaitley’s counsel had objected to Jethmalani referring to the Minister as being “guilty of crime and crookery”.

Jaitley was being cross-examined by Jethmalani in connection with the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) defamation case filed by the Minister.

In December 2015, Jaitley filed a civil defamation suit against Kejriwal and AAP leaders Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha and Deepak Bajpayee, claiming that they made “false and defamatory” statements in the case involving the DDCA, thereby harming his reputation.

Jaitley had sought Rs 10 crore in damages from Kejriwal and other AAP leaders in the DDCA case as well.

He had claimed that the AAP leaders attacked him over alleged irregularities and financial bungling in Delhi’s cricket association, of which he was the President for about 13 years.

Doctors on Saturday said consumption of tobacco products such as smoking causes infertility in both males and females.

Fertility experts have said tobacco and other types of narcotics can also cause occurrence of early menopause in women.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), till 2015, India had 12 per cent of the world’s tobacco users with over 108 million smokers.

“One should avoid using tobacco (cigarettes) and marijuana. They reduce fertility, especially by reducing sperm counts. Smoking damages sperm, making them less likely to fertilize eggs. The embryos they create are less likely to survive,” said Arvind Vaid, an In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) Specialist at Delhi-based Indira IVF Hospital.

Studies have also revealed that compared to non-smokers, active smokers were 14 per cent more likely to be infertile and 26 per cent more likely to have early menopause.

Noting that while cigarettes do not necessarily cause infertility, Vaid said they can have an adverse effect on a couple’s ability to conceive.

“The problem exists in men as much as in females,” said Vaid.

Parbeen Mehta, a gynaecologist at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, said human sperm cells carry two tiny, highly charged proteins called protamine 1 and protamine 2 which are in a perfectly balanced one-to-one relationship.

“However, sperms of the smokers carry very little protamine, which makes them highly vulnerable to DNA damage,” said Mehta.

She said passive smoking may also affect male fertility.

“Male smokers can suffer decreased sperm quality with lower mobility and it boots numbers of abnormally shaped sperms. Also, if one is a chain smoker then it might also decrease the sperm’s ability to fertilise eggs,” said Mehta.

According to Parth Joshi, another IVF expert, women who smoke tobacco, marijuana and several other narcotic products may have early menopause.

“Gradually, by the time a woman enters her 30s, her fertility starts declining which speeds up after she is 35 years and beyond. Tobacco can cause it early,” said Joshi.

(With Inputs from IANS)

It has been four years since Sachin Tendulkar retired from competitive cricket, but the game is so ingrained in his head that he only talks of his life and work in terms of innings. In his “second innings”, the master blaster says, he is focussed on doing whatever gives him satisfaction.

Whether it is about associating himself with events and activities involved in charities or supporting causes close to his heart — Sachin is looking to “give back”.

“The first innings of my life was in the middle of the field, constantly chasing targets set by the opposition. But my second innings is about satisfaction,” Sachin told IANS here as he opened up his emotional side.

“As long as there is a purpose behind doing something in life, that gives you satisfaction. And that you only get when the heart tells you that, ‘Okay, you’ve done something well,'” he said.

“That is another journey, another chapter that has started in my life. We all try our level best to do various things (for others) and these are things that give me satisfaction. And I’ll continue to do them because this is a longer journey,” added the 44-year-old as he delved into post-retirement life.

He feels he’s in a good space now. Sitting back and reflecting upon how life has played out for him, and how he has played it his way. Now he is going to share the journey with his fans worldwide with “Sachin: A Billion Dreams” — a documentary drama with real-time footage from his personal and professional highs and lows.

A billion hopes, perhaps, will be pinned on him — once again — when the movie releases on May 26. Sachin says he can feel the same edge-of-the-seat thrill and anticipation as he felt before he walked into a stadium full of people rooting “Sachin, Sachin” in unison.

“It’s good for people to have expectations… I felt that way even on the field. Can you imagine I am walking into the stadium and nobody from the stands is expecting anything from me? That would be a wrong place to walk out (from),” he said.

“Pre-match, I would tick all the boxes, and if I had done all those things, I could stand in front of the mirror and say, ‘Yes, I have prepared myself well.’ As for preparation for the film, you can say I’ve given 100 per cent. In cricketing terms, we have played the first innings and now you guys need to play it by watching it,” he said with a reassuring smile.

Emotions play a huge part in his life — evident when the star cricketer takes a long pause to reflect on the most emotional phases of his life.

“There were two moments, I would say. Since we’re discussing highs and lows… The lowest was when I had lost my father. That was an irreparable loss, and I knew whatever happens in my life post 1999, he won’t be there to share it. That was a huge loss,” he said.

“The highest point has to be the 2011 World Cup which we won,” said the young achiever, who has been feted with national honours like Bharat Ratna, Padma Shri, Padma Vibhushan, Arjuna Award and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna.

As a child, he remembers being notorious, but recounted how his parents’ patient way of dealing with him, has been responsible for strengthening his “foundation”.

“They were very patient with my ‘masti’. My father and mother would never get angry despite my mischief, and that doesn’t mean they didn’t tell me anything. They told me, but they had a nice way to convey anything and everything in life. And they continue to do so… My mother lives with me, Sachin said.

“I grew up watching my father and I was like a sponge absorbing information. He didn’t always have to tell me everything. But I was watching him all the time as I wanted to become like him. And that continues…” he added.

Sachin says it is such pre-cricket and post-cricket facets of his life that he felt should be shared with his fans. In that sense, he hopes the audience has something significant to take back after they watch the film.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday chaired the first security review meeting with Chief Ministers of five states bordering China, and enhanced the Central Assistance for Border Area Development Programmes (BADP) from Rs 990 crore to Rs 1,100 crore.

Terming the India-China border undemarcated, extremely cold and with very difficult terrain, he said it it is all the more important that impetus should be given to boost up infrastructure and peace in the border areas.

Singh also brought up the issue of connectivity in border areas and stressed the need to overcome these challenges.

Chief Ministers Mehbooba Mufti (Jammu and Kashmir), Virbhadra Singh (Himachal Pradesh), Trivendra Singh Rawat (Uttarakhand), Pawan Kumar Chamling (Sikkim) and Pema Khandu (Arunachal Pradesh) attended the meeting.

A Home Ministry official said the objective of the meeting was to strengthen coordination between the Ministry and the five states to improve overall border security.

Border infrastructure work undertaken by the Home Ministry, border area development programme, and coordination issues between the states and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police came up at the meeting.

The ITBP is responsible for the security of the 3,488 km India-China border stretching from Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh.

The Home Minister said that the Ministry, in the first stage, is building 27 roads near the border which will be completed by 2019-20. “Approval is being given for 48 other roads.”

He also stressed the need to strengthen basic infrastructure in the border areas in view of “thinning population and migration” from the border and also advocated development of model villages in border districts, asking the states to send more proposals to the central government in this regard.

He said that the states should remove obstacles in border infrastructure development and that the problems pertaining to land acquisition and clearances need to be resolved.

He advised the Chief Ministers to send senior officers every six months to border areas in their respective states to review and implement the developmental work done in the villages.

Earlier in the day, the Home Minister visited Nathula Pass and an ITBP border post at Lachung, where he met troopers deployed on the Sino-Indian border.

Book               :  RAGE OF THE RIVER : The Untold Story of KEDARNATH DISASTER.

Author            :  Hridayesh Joshi.

Publisher        :  Penguin Books.

Pages               :  209.

Price                :  Rs 399/-.

The book — RAGE OF THE RIVER : The Untold Story of the KEDARNATH DISASTER — was waiting to happen in Uttarakhand. This calamitous and frightening reprisal on June 16/17, 2013 had been building for days because of torrential rains and when all hell broke loose the inept administrative machinery headed by a clueless the then chief minister Vijay Bahuguna remained a floundering lot at the height of the tourist season. 

Survivors stuck at considerable heights were left to fend for themselves without food or water for days. The heroism of the people helped save adequate number of people from drowning or being washed away. They made available cooked food for the starving pilgrims along with providing as much succour as they could in the trying circumstances. 

Thousands of people perished and lakhs lost their employment. The normally calm Mandakini came crashing down from the hills and destroyed everything in its path: houses, bridges, dams and the town of Kedarnath. 

The government continues to remain in denial. The Kedarnath valley continues to haunt us — though the temple has been restored, given its religious importance and centrality in the local economy. Woven into this haunting and nerve wrecking narrative of the travails of the people from the most remote parts of the state including areas cut off from the rest of the world. 

Author Hridayesh Joshi, senior editor, National Affairs in NDTV India was among the first to reach when disaster struck Kedarnath. He stayed there for weeks travelling the length and breadth of Uttarakhand covering the calamity. This is his first hand account of those caught in the middle of nature’s fury. The book has been written in Hindi and translated by Vandana R Singh, who is head, English language dissemination, in an organisation involved in skill development, capacity building and upscaling the employability quotient of youth. 

It was in the evening on June 17 that a captain of a private airline was asked by the union government to assess the situation in the Kedar valley. After seeing all the destruction from the air it become difficult for him to maintain his composure. From 9000 ft to 12000 the pilot informed a senior official of the civil aviation ministry that thousands of people were stuck. Many had been swept away by the river and countless were buried under the debris. 

The next few days saw many lives in balance. It was obvious that the biggest ever air rescue mission would be carried out at such a height for the first time in the history of the world.

Joshi and his colleagues were on a ” journey without a path” as the violent tributary of the Ganges had left a sorded saga of destruction which had already been scripted on the hills of Uttarakhand and signs of disaster could be seen all around. The last few days had seen Mandakini at its destructive worst right from its source to its confluence with Alaknanda. 

Massive chunks of the road to Kedarnath had been washed away. Even though H S Rawat as a minister in the then Bahuguna government took graphic pictures of the disaster during an aerial tour, it was shocking that despite a minister being aware of the extent of damage caused the state government was trying to cover up the tragedy. 

This was specially true regarding the number of casualties and people stuck or stranded. They heard in Srinagar town 36 hours after the tragedy that the administration tried to close the chapter by offering a princely sum of Rs 2700 as compensation to each affected family. The author saw that all the roads had been damaged and the mountains had been stripped bare by the repeated landslides. 

A priest and survivor in Kedarnath Ravindra Bhatt recalled on June 16 a huge sheet of water gushed down from the upper reaches and the area around Kedarnath was flooded. “Bhaiji, we were face to face with death–it was as though Yamraj was actually in our midst. We tried to calm down people saying have courage…this dark night will end…soon it will be morning…we will survive this,” Bhatt said. 

The next morning on June 17 morning Kedarnath was filled with water and dotted with huge boulders. “To save myself I had to jump into the swirling waters. I was in the water for nearly 15 minutes. And then miraculously the water deposited me on a side and I lay there for a long time. The next day rescue workers found me and brought me to safety,” Bhatt said.  

After hearing several first person accounts Joshi and his colleagues were convinced about the gravity of the situation. The first helipad that they came across was on the morning of June 21 belonging to a private airline five days after the disaster had struck. Pilots doing sorties to get people out of Kedarnath disclosed that there were at least 1000 people stuck there and it would take a whole day of clear weather to bring them all back. This kind of a rescue job required large helicopters like the ALH or the Mi 17 which remained conspicuously absent even four days after the tragedy. 

The pilots in their small helicopters showed tremendous grit and will power in ferrying the affected to safe places. This facilitated mediapersons to meet the stranded pilgrims and hear their harrowing tales. When an elderly person was approached he initially chocked with emotion but gathered courage to say….”twelve of my family members were swept away. My relatives, friends, children, wife…all are gone, I have no one left.” This story had shaken “each one of us to the core”, recalled the author. They needed a helicopter to go to Kedarnath. Ethics did not allow them as it would block two people from being rescued. 

They decided that at such a critical time they could not obstruct rescue work in any way. Every pilot involved in the rescue mission was angry that the attitude of the government was extremely lax and had it been more pro active, many more lives could have been saved. 

Finally on reaching Kedarnath Joshi found it in ruins. “It was hopelessly trapped in a deathly silence. Armed with pictures of death and destruction Joshi and and his team were on their way back to Delhi. We could not help wondering how terrifying that day of destruction must have been.” 

The government shamelessly spread lies and Joshi and his colleagues decided to counter it vociferously and expose those making such claims. What has come to the fore is the country’s unpreparedness to handle calamities of this scale. “We need to rise from our stupor,” stresses Joshi. 

The phenomenon of climate change can no longer be seen as a piece of fiction or fantasy anymore. There are clear indications of an increase in extreme weather events and this is going to have a very disastrous impact on society. “Time is running out. Can we begin the task of course correction immediately — before talking about our noble plans of adaptation, mitigation and disaster management” emphasises the author. A must read book unmasking the shameful role of the political busy bodies in Uttarakhand.