Health Minister J. P. Nadda has allayed the apprehensions about vaccines and de-worming tablets having harmful side effects on children, and said that the government was seeking support from the community leaders and NGOs to deal with such misconceptions. He said immunization has given positive results in improving health of children.

   “In the new Health Policy there has been shift from being disease centric to prevention and promoting health care in the country. Mission Indradhanush, which is meant for immunization of children, plays a critical role in this prevention and promotion of health care,’’ he said.

 At present, the immunization coverage in the country is 71 percent which is targeted to go up to 90 percent by 2019. The Mission was  named Mission Indradhanush as originally only seven types of vaccines were included in it, but now eleven different vaccines are given under it by the government including those against MMR, Rota virus and against Japanese Encephalitis. These new vaccines have been added to check mortality among children. Rota virus caused diarrhea in ten lakh children of which about one lakh died every year,” Mr Nadda said while interacting with members of Indian Women’s Press Corps.

     He said that involving faith and community leaders and NGO has proved beneficial as they create awareness among the people about any misconception. He said for de-worming children are given Albendazole tablets once a year which is a cost effective means to keep them healthy and helps in reducing the school drop- out rates.  However, there were some complaints of children falling sick after taking the tablets, so we took support from NGOs to remove their misconceptions. Mr Nadda said all the programmes of the government go through a process of testing with committees looking into their various aspects.

   Mr Nadda also assured that India is on track as far as achieving Sustainable Development Goals on health is concerned.  The Infant Mortality Rate and Maternal Mortality Ratio as well as under-five mortality had gone down fast. He said that under the Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) 3750 gynecologists and 11,470 facilities have volunteered where specialists come on the 9^th of every month. They have conducted medical check up of about 2.7 lakh high risk pregnancies and provided treatment. He said that the total fertility rate has declined to 2.1 to 2.3 while 147 districts still have high TFR of 3 and above where a wider range of birth control choice is being provided to the people.

      Regarding the serious problem of stunting of children which impacts their health and development and in turn adversely impact the GDP of the country, the Health Minister said that the government is serious about the issue and the universal immunization and various other health programmes would reduce it in future. Moreover, Rs 6000 of financial support is now being given to all the pregnant women for their nutrition and that of the new born child which in turn would reduce stunting.

     He said that a life cycle approach has been adopted under which health assurance is given to women who become pregnant. The government provides weekly iron and folic acid supplement and vaccination for all kinds of diseases including tetanus. He said that programmes like Kilkari under which 72 messages are sent to pregnant women and new mothers at pre-natal and ante-natal stage to create awareness among them about mother and child health and MCTS (Mother and Child Tracking System) tracks crores of women.

    He said that the government had taken a number of steps to provide affordable medicines to the people through AMRIT which is digitally manage. At 54 outlets 18,71000 patients were sold generic medicines worth Rs 173.33 crore for just Rs 73 crore which meant a saving of Rs 105.95 crore which amounts to 60 to 90 percent saving.

NEW DELHI : The Supreme Court on Thursday heard a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of “triple talaq” and to know whether it was fundamental to Islam.  “We are going to decide the validity of triple talaq,” said Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, heading a Constitution bench.  He asked the parties concerned to focus on whether triple talaq was fundamental to Islamic religion.    The Chief Justice said that petitioners and respondents would address the court on whether triple talaq was an enforceable fundamental right.    The bench sought suggestions on the broad parameters of the directions the court may issue while deciding the validity of triple talaq.    Other judges on the Constitution bench are Justice Kurian Joseph, Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman, Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice S. Abdul Nazeer.    The court said both sides would get two days each to argue their case. Thereafter, both sides would get a day each to submit rejoinders.    Triple talaq is a practice under which a husband can verbally divorce his wife by uttering the word “talaq” thrice.  This has been opposed by a section of the Muslim society while others say it cannot be changed as it is part of Muslim personal law.  The Modi government wants triple talaq to go. The practice is not followed in many Muslim countries including Pakistan.

Road traffic crashes remain the number one cause of death among young people aged 15–29 years. They are estimated to cost countries from 3-5% of GDP and push many families into poverty.
Approximately 1.25 million people die on the world’s roads every year. Typically, 40-50% of the drivers go over posted speed limits, and if those on the driving seat are male, young and under the influence of alcohol are more likely to be involved in speed-related crashes.
These facts have be revealed in a new report, Managing speed, by the World Health Organization (WHO), which suggests that excessive or inappropriate speed contributes to one in every three road traffic fatalities worldwide. Measures to address speed prevent road traffic deaths and injuries, and make populations healthier and cities more sustainable.
Yet, only 47 countries of the world follow good practice on one of the main speed management measures, namely implementing an urban speed limit of 50 km/h or less and allowing local authorities to reduce these limits further on roads around schools, residences, and businesses.
The situation in India is no different, According to police data from 2015, 43.7 % of the total road crashed were due to over-speeding which caused 60,969 deaths and 2,12,815 persons injured. Â“The UN Road Safety Week theme this year is speed and the numbers above tell us exactly why the focus needs to be #slowdown. Between 50 km/hr to 80 km/hr, the chances of death in the case of a crash are increased from 20 to 60%. Doing the maths over 40 000 lives could have been saved in India in 2015 by just slowing down,” says Dr Jagnoor Jagnoor, Head of the Injury Division at the George Institute India. According to her, “There are 4E’s to road safety – education, engineering, enforcement and emergency medical services. So the approaches to managing speed include modifying roads that calm traffic such as round-about, speed bumps; establishing and enforcing speed limits, raising awareness about the dangers of speeding and assisting with in-vehicle technology to manage speed.” The George Institute for Global Health India conducted a study of 2200 people in three hospitals in North India with one of its collaborators Dr. Shankar Prinja, from PGI, Chandigarh highlighting the health, social and economic burden of road injuries. It was revealed that 10% of people die post- discharge and that more than a third of the family’s experienced financial distress due to injuries. It is the young economically productive age group that is highest at risk, 15-29-year-olds and it is estimated that the total cost of road injuries is 3% of India’s GDP, which is more than our entire health budget. Speed management measures include building or modifying roads to include features that calm traffic such as roundabouts, speed bumps, establishing speed limits appropriate to the function of each road and enforcing speed limits through the use of manual and automated controls.
Installing in-vehicle technologies in new cars, such as intelligent speed assistance and autonomous emergency braking in addition to raising awareness about the dangers of speed are some other measures to prevent road accidents, the report says.
 Road traffic fatality rates are nearly three times lower in Europe compared to Africa. Countries that have had the most success in drastically reducing rates of road traffic death and injury in recent decades – Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom among them – are those that have addressed the issue holistically. They have prioritized safe speed as one of four components of the safe system approach, along with safe roads and roadsides, safe vehicles, and safe road users. Within countries, municipal leaders have greatly contributed to a growing movement – often instigated at local level – to transform cities into more livable places for all. By reducing speed and improving safety, their populations benefit from the added advantages of increases in walking and cycling and reductions in air and noise pollution. Such actions, in turn, have positive health benefits on rates of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and other non-communicable diseases, the report suggests.

In a bid to curb the online Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has asked all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) having Cable Landing Station Gateways / International Long Distance licenses in India, to prevent the distribution and transmission of such content into India by adopting and implementing Internet Watch Foundation Resources on or before 31st July 2017. 
Containing the spread of online CSAM is an important public policy goal for India, and the government is taking immediate steps to control this menace, a statement issued by the Ministry has said. The publication or transmission of material depicting children in sexually explicit act or conduct in electronic form is a heinous crime, specifically prohibited by Section 67B of the Information Technology Act, 2000, the statement added.
The Supreme Court in Kamlesh Vaswani vs Union of India had also directed the Union of India to take positive steps to tackle the issue of CSAM.
The notification issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology instructs all ISP’s to observe the existing due diligence requirements prescribed by the Central government under the Information Technology Act, 2000 and Rules and Regulations, including the obligation to expeditiously remove or disable access to any unlawful content brought to its notice by relevant authorities.
In December 2016, the Central government had constituted an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) to recommend specific solutions to address the issue of online CSAM. The IMC observed that most of such online CSAM is being hosted outside India and the websites/URLs containing such content are dynamic in nature and frequently changing, making it difficult to identify and block such content.  No centralized mechanism exists in India to monitor online CSAM. Globally, there exist only a few major resources that provide a dynamic list of websites/URLs identifying online CSAM.  The IMC recommended that till such time a centralized mechanism is built in India to dynamically monitor websites/URLs containing online CSAM, the relevant ISP’s in India should adopt and disable/remove the online CSAM dynamically based on the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) list.
The Internet Watch Foundation maintains such a list of dynamically updated websites/URLs containing online CSAM.  The IWF has been adopted by many countries and is already being implemented by leading online service providers in other jurisdictions. IWF resources are available to ISPs on a subscription basis, either individually or collectively, the statement added.
Currently, all Internet Service Providers have an obligation to observe certain due diligence requirements and remove or disable access to content which is considered pedophilic or harms minors in any way as per the law.

ers to extend free legal aid to the poor litigants. 

“To make judiciary more effective, use of forensic science and technology is very important… the world is moving very fast and we have to cope up to avoid being left behind,” he said. 

Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar in his introductory remarks elaborating how the Integrated Case Management System (ICMS) would involve one time filing of the case said that it would be totally transparent and secure with all the stake holders knowing each other and every aspect of their case.

Khehar said that he proposes to take the system to all the high courts and the subordinate courts. 

Justice Dipak Misra in his welcome address said that paperless court is not an idea but an environment-friendly initiative coupled with empowering the litigant. 

Referring to a former Chief Justice, who had shelved the idea of WiFi use in the top court on security grounds, Justice J. Chelameswar wondered that if WiFi used in the Pentagon did not pose a threat, how could it pose a threat to the security of the top court.

(With Inputs from IANS)

NEW DELHI: After getting an interim stay in Kulbhushan Jadhav case from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on carrying out death sentence on the former Naval officer who is jailed in Pakistan. India will now have to  wait for the final ruling of the 15-judge ICJ whether Jadhav’s rights were violated. 

India has accused Pakistan of violating the Vienna Convention which allows consular access to foreign nationals. Islamabad has repeatedly turned down New Delhi’s request for consular access to Jadhav who is jailed in Pakistan and has been convicted of charges of subversion and espionage and given death sentence by a military court last month. 

India instituted proceedings against Pakistan in ICJ, accusing Islamabad of “egregious violations of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations” in the detention and trial of Kulbhushan Jadhav. Last month, Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Gautam Bambawale had asked for consular access to Jadhav for the 16th time.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted today that senior advocate Harish Salve would be representing India before ICJ in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case.  

India on Wednesday said the decision taken to move the ICJ was calculated and carefully considered.

“This is a course of action chosen after careful consideration to save the life of an Indian citizen, a son of India, who is in illegal detention and whose life is under threat,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay told mediapersons here.

India had sought relief asking for a suspension of the sentence of death awarded to Jadhav, the ICJ said in a press statement. India had stated that the sentence of the military court was in “brazen defiance” of the Vienna Convention rights under Article 36 and elementary human rights of an accused.

“The applicant also points out that it learned about the death sentence against Jadhav from a press release. India submits that it has information that Jadhav was `kidnapped from Iran, where he was carrying on business after retiring from the Indian Navy, and was then shown to have been arrested in Baluchistan’ on 3 March 2016, and that the Indian authorities were notified of that arrest on 25 March 2016,” said the ICJ in a press statement before it stayed the death sentence.

India also sought other “reliefs” from the ICJ including an immediate suspension of the death sentence,  restraining Pakistan from giving effect to the sentence awarded by the military court. 

India also sought directions from the ICJ to Pakistan to take steps to annul the decision of the military court as may be available to it under the law in Pakistan,  and if Pakistan is unable to annul the decision, then this court to declare the decision illegal being violative of international law and treaty rights and restrain Pakistan from acting in violation of the Vienna Convention and international law by giving effect to the sentence or the conviction in any manner, and directing it to release the convicted Indian National forthwith.”

India has contended that it was not informed of Jadhav’s detention until long after his arrest and that Pakistan failed to inform the accused of his rights. It further alleged that, in violation of the Vienna Convention, the authorities of Pakistan are denying India its right of consular access to Jadhav, despite its repeated requests. 

“The Applicant also points out that it learned about the death sentence against Mr. Jadhav from a press release. India submits that it has information that Mr. Jadhav was “kidnapped from Iran, where he was carrying on business after retiring from the Indian Navy, and was then shown to have been arrested in Baluchistan” on 3 March 2016, and that the Indian authorities were notified of that arrest on 25 March 2016. It claims to have sought consular access to Mr. Jadhav on 25 March 2016 and repeatedly thereafter,” the ICJ said in a press statement. 

India told ICJ that on January 23, 2017, Pakistan requested assistance in the investigation of Mr. Jadhav’s alleged “involvement in espionage and terrorist activities in Pakistan” and, by a Note Verbale of 21 March 2017, informed India that “consular access [to Mr. Jadhav would be considered in the light of the Indian side’s response to Pakistan’s request for assistance in the investigation process”. 

According to ICJ statement, India claimed that “linking assistance to the investigation process to the granting of consular access was by itself a serious violation of the Vienna Convention”. 

NEW DELHI : Road and Transport Secretary Sanjay Mitra will be the next Defence Secretary, it was announced on Wednesday.

Mitra, a 1982 batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre, will succeed G. Mohan Kumar whose tenure ends May 24, said a government order. He will have a fixed two-year tenure as Defence Secretary.

Appointment of Sanjay Mitra, lAS (WB:1982), Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways as Officer on Special Duty in the Ministry of Defence. The officer will take over as Secretary, Ministry of Defence on completion of tenure of the present incumbent Shri G. Mohan Kumar on 24.05.17.

NEW DELHI : The International Court of Justice, ICJ, in Hague has stayed the death sentence given by Pakistani Military Court (FGMC) to Kulbhushan Jadhav. The UN court at the Hague has sent a letter to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to put an embargo on the previous order as India had accused Pakistan to violating the norms of Vienna Convention. 

India Calls It ‘Premeditated Murder’
The Indian government has repeatedly rejected the charges on Jadhav and has also questioned his arrest. In the wake of this death sentence, India summoned the Pakistani High Commissioner in New Delhi, Abdul Basit, and issued a demarche, condemning the act as ‘farcical’. The demarche also stated: “If this sentence against an Indian citizen, awarded without observing basic norms of law and justice, is carried out, the government and people of India will regard it as a case of premeditated murder.”
India has always maintained that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran and had no link with Balochistan separatists (which Pakistan accused Jadhav of). Islamabad also repeatedly rejected India’s request to have access to Jadhav, who had allegedly possessed an Iranian residency permit and a passport in the name of Hussain Mubarak Patel. Apparently, the address given in the passport was that of Sangli, Maharashtra.
Some senior Pakistani journalists and leaders have also come to know that the Indian national was allegedly framed by the Pakistani army. They are also of the opinion that he hasn’t been given sufficient chances to defend himself.
The human rights watchdog Amnesty International has also condemned the death sentence given to Jadhav. It has stated: “Under Pakistan’s military courts, no information about the charges or evidence against suspects is made public.”
On the other hand, Pakistan’s defence minister, Khawaja Asif, has said that the death sentence should serve as a ‘warning’ to those ‘plotting against‘ Pakistan.
Pakistan’s Hurry Is Suspicious
In 2013, Indian national Sarabjit Singh, who was also sentenced to death for similar charges, was killed inside Lahore’s Lakhpat Jail in a cold-blooded attack by jail inmates.
Six months after India’s ‘surgical strike’, Pakistan again proved that no number of diplomatic talks can release the tension between the two countries. In the current scenario, bilateral talks between India and Pakistan seem to be a dream rather than a reality.
Pakistan has been continuously accusing India for fuelling violence in Balochistan without evidence. Moreover, despite the fact that India had submitted dossiers on the Pathankot and Uri attacks, which apparently contained sufficient evidence of Pakistani involvement in the attacks, Pakistan was unmoved and remained inactive for months.
Now this impulsive action by Pakistan’s army court may well worsen the diplomatic relations between the two nations.
Options before Kulbhushan Jadhav
According to the existing laws in Pakistan, the military court convicts are not eligible to appeal in the civilian court. But there are two options available to Jadhav. (Source- Indiatoday.in)
– Pakistan Army Act 1952 gives right to a convict to appeal in the Military Appellate Tribunal. – The second option is to appeal for a ‘review’ in the FGCM court. 

NEW DELHI : The Supreme Court on Tuesday held beleaguered liquor baron Vijay Mallya guilty of contempt on plea by consortium of banks.
The court asked Mallya to appear before it on July 10.
A bench of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit gave Mallya an opportunity to present his case on July 10, when the case will next be heard. 
The court order came on a petition by a consortium of 13 banks led by State Bank of India seeking the recovery of more than Rs 6,000 crore that they had given to now grounded Kingfisher Airlines.
The conviction was on the basis a contempt on plea filed by the consortium of banks.

Exposure to harmful environmental factors across multiple domains — including air, water and land quality — may increase risk of cancer, suggests new research.
  The researchers in the US found that poor environmental quality is particularly strongly linked to prostate and breast cancer cases.   “Our study is the first we are aware of to address the impact of cumulative environmental exposures on cancer incidence,” said one of the researchers Jyotsna Jagai of the University of Illinois, Chicago.  “This work helps support the idea that all of the exposures we experience affect our health, and underscores the potential for social and environmental improvements to positively impact health outcomes,” Jagai said.   Published online in the journal CANCER, the findings may help to reduce the burden of cancer by allowing officials to identify vulnerable communities in need of attention.  To investigate the effects of overall environmental quality across multiple domains, the researchers linked the Environmental Quality Index, a county-level measure of cumulative environmental exposures, with cancer incidence rates.  The average annual county-level incidence rate for all types of cancer was 451 cases per 100,000 people.   Counties with poor environmental quality demonstrated a higher incidence of cancer cases –on average 39 more cases per 100,000 people — than counties with high environmental quality over the study period.   Increased rates were seen for both males and females, and prostate and breast cancer demonstrated the strongest positive associations with poor environmental quality, the study said.

(With Inputs from IANS)